The White Rose of Memphis. Falkner William Clark

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СКАЧАТЬ me? What right have I, a poor half-educated clerk, to expect such a brilliant, beautiful heiress to lavish her favors on me, when men of wealth and high position are ready to lay their honors and wealth at her feet? What right have I to aspire so high?’ ‘None – none – none!’ was thundered in my ear by Common Sense, as the answer to my mental questions. ‘Miss Charlotte Wallingford is not for your sort,’ said Reason. ‘She is fit for the wife of a king!’ ‘Yes, but I saved her life,’ said my Mind, ‘and she is under obligations to me.’ ‘True enough,’ Reason replies, ‘but it does not follow that she must marry you. Women’s lives are often saved by their servants, yet they do not marry them.’ ‘But it will kill me if Miss Wallingford marries any other man.’ ‘No matter if it does – why should she care? the world will never feel the loss – the sun will shine as bright, the flowers grow as sweet, and the seasons will come and go after you are dead just as they did when you were alive.’ With such unpleasant reflections as these I had managed to work my mind up to an unusual degree of excitement. I became gloomy and unhappy to such an extent as to attract the attention of my good mother (as I called Mrs. Dodson), and she begged me to tell her the cause of my misery. I evaded her questions, and sought solitude, where I could give vent to my sorrow unmolested. She cast many an imploring look at me when I would leave my food untasted. My cheeks grew pale and my appetite failed, and I hugged my misery to my breast, and told my secret to none. I was proud, and felt offended, but had no reasons to give for it. No one had been unkind to, or in any manner maltreated me, yet I was querulous, melancholy and despairing.

      “‘Ah, ha! here we come, my boy,’ said Doctor Dodson one morning as he came into the store. ‘What’s the matter, what’s the matter, Ed, my boy? speak it out, speak it out, let it come; what makes you look like a ghost, my boy? Pshaw! don’t tell me such a tale as that, my boy, ah, ha! don’t you do it, I say; indigestion! did you ever know a Russian bear to have bad digestion? No, no, Ed, my boy, you needn’t try to fool me – you can’t do it. The disease is in your mind, ah, ha! don’t you see? Yes, yes, that’s what’s the matter. Something has gone wrong. I’d say it was a love scrape, if it was any other boy; but my old booby has too much sense for anything of that sort; ah, ha! don’t you see how it is, my boy?’

      “I soon became convinced that the good old doctor would pry the secret out of me unless I resorted to falsehood, which I resolved not to do; therefore I begged him to let me alone, promising to tell him everything at the end of ten days.

      “‘Ah, ha! very good, my boy; I won’t press you further just now, but I mean to hold you down to your promise, don’t you see? I won’t let you go to Philadelphia while you are looking like a defunct specimen of humanity, ah, ha! don’t you see? You look more like a fit subject for a grave-yard than a medical school, ah, ha! yes, that you do, my boy. There now, go to work, and quit this moping about as if you wanted to sneak into a tomb.’

      “I was glad when the doctor was called to see one of his patients.

      “At last the time for the grand ball arrived, and I had arranged my toilet with unusual care. My good mother had been persuading me to send my card to Miss Ella Willchester, a charming young lady residing just across the street from our house, but it would have required the strength of a forty horse-power engine to make me escort any other girl to Lottie’s ball. I thought it would be treason to her if I offered any favors to any other girl. The fact is, I could not think of anybody else but Lottie; her image was floating before my eyes by day, and swimming in my mind when I was asleep. I did not make my appearance at the ball until after ten o’clock, for I wanted to slip in quietly, unobserved, in order that I might see whether Lottie had even so much as thought about me. I must acknowledge that I felt rather sheepish when I was going round so as to come in at the side entrance, hoping to get in unnoticed. The band commenced playing a lively waltz as I stepped on the veranda at the end of the ball-room, and a dozen couples went whirling round and floating gracefully through the hall. I took a seat on a chair near a window, where I could peep between the folds of the rich lace curtains and watch the movements of the guests within. I noticed a half dozen young men crowd round a young lady whose back was toward me. They were struggling with, and jostling each other, all apparently eager to get a word with the young lady. Who was the fair one that attracted such attention? was the question that came up in my mind. I could see the tall, queen-like form, but could not get a view of her face. The square shoulders and straight body, the beautiful arms and bright golden hair were visible, but my mind was full of curiosity to know who she was. I thought it might be Lottie, but then she was too tall – or at least I concluded that after a moment’s reflection. It was Lottie, nevertheless, and I had lost sight of the fact that it had been nearly a year since I had seen her. She abruptly left the crowd of admirers.

      “‘Excuse me a moment, please,’ I heard her say as she went to her brother, who occupied a seat just inside the room, and within six feet of where I was. ‘Brother, has Eddie come yet?’ I heard the question distinctly.

      “‘No; I don’t think he has,’ was the reply.

      “‘I am afraid he is ill, else he would have been here long ago.’

      “‘Pshaw! sister, never mind Ed; he isn’t the sort that gets sick.’

      “‘Oh, I am so sorry he is not here!’

      “I could bear it no longer; my heart was again in my throat, and I thrust my hand in between the curtains, and said: ‘I did not expect you would have time to spare a thought about me on such an occasion as this.’

      “She uttered a smothered scream, sprang through the door, and seized both of my hands and began to jerk them up and down. Never had my eyes beheld such a lovely object as the one then before me, such radiant beauty, such lofty, dazzling charms, such large, liquid blue eyes and bright golden hair, such round, pretty arms, such a tall, stately form! Nothing could match this angelic creature! I was stunned – surprised, and almost paralyzed, as I stood staring with open mouth at the wonderful beauty before me. ‘Is this Lottie? Can this be the same little blue-eyed thing who tramped so many miles by my side long, long ago?’ That was the question that naturally forced itself on my mind. I could not realize the fact that this radiant model of perfection and the little sore-footed tramp were one and the same person.

      “‘I am going to give you a real good scolding, Eddie,’ she said as she still held both of my hands tightly clasped in hers. ‘Why have you not come to see me before now; and what made you come so late to-night; and what made you slip in here and hide as if you had been doing a mean thing?’

      “All I could do was to stand like an idiot, staring at the indescribable beauty before me, unable to utter a word. I then and there concluded that she never would be mine. No such woman could ever come down low enough to be the wife of a half-educated pill-maker.

      “‘What is the matter, Eddie?’ she exclaimed in an anxious tone, as she cast a look of surprise at me. ‘You are ill – your hands are very cold, and your face is as pale as death.’

      “‘No, I am very well, I thank you,’ I managed with a struggle to say.

      “‘You are trying to deceive me, but you cannot do it; you have been ill?’

      “‘Partners for a quadrille!’ exclaimed the leader of the band, and three young men made a dash toward Lottie, each one claiming her as a partner. She took the arm of Mr. Heartsell, after some little controversy as to whose turn it was to dance with her, and soon was floating through the waltz with him.

      “‘By Jupiter! She is a stunner, ain’t she, Sam?’ exclaimed a dandyfied youth as Heartsell led her away.

      “‘Your head’s level, and don’t you forget it!’ replied the one addressed, who was a little, hook-nosed law student with but a small amount of brains and lots of brass.

      “Wherever СКАЧАТЬ