A KNIGHT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by Edward Payson Roe (world of reading .txt) 📖

The Commonplace, Common-Sense World Had

Chastened her Innocent Fancies By Harsh And Disagreeable Experience. Her

Christian Training and Girlish Simplicity Lifted her Above The Ordinary

Romanticism Of Imagining Herself The Heroine In every Instance, And The

Object And End Of All Masculine Aspirations. On This Occasion She Simply

Desired to Act The Part Of A Humble Assistant Of Mrs. Arnot, Whom She

Regarded as Haldane'S Good Angel; And She Was Quite As Disinterested in

Her Hope For The Young Man'S Moral Improvement As Her Aunt Herself.

 

 

 

The Task, Moreover, Was Doubly Pleasing Since She Could Perform It In a

Way That Was So Womanly And Agreeable. She Could Scarcely Have Given

Haldane A Plain Talk On The Evils Of Fast Living To Save Her Life, But

If She Could Keep Young Men From Going To Destruction By Smiling Upon

Them, By Games Of Backgammon And By Music, She Felt In the Mood To Be A

Missionary All Her Life, Especially If She Could Have So Safe And

Attractive A Field Of Labor As Her Aunt'S Back Parlor.

 

 

 

But The Poor Child Would Soon Learn That Perverse Human Nature Is Much

The Same In a Drawing-Room And A Tenement-House, And That All Who Seek

To Improve It Are Doomed to Meet Much That Is Excessively Annoying and

Discouraging.

 

 

 

The Simple-Hearted girl No More Foresaw What Might Result From Her

Smiles Than An Ignorant Child Would Anticipate The Consequences Of Fire

Falling On Grains Of Harmless-Looking Black Sand. She Had Never Seen

Passion Kindling and Flaming Till It Seemed like A Scorching Fire, And

Had Not Learned by Experience That In some Circumstances Her Smiles

Might Be Like Incendiary Sparks To Powder.

 

 

 

In Seeking To Manage Her "Difficult Case," Mrs. Arnot Should Have

Foreseen The Danger Of Employing Such A Fascinating Young Creature As

Her Assistant; But In these Matters The Wisest Often Err, And Only

Comprehend The Evil After It Has Occurred. Laura Was But A Child In

Years, Having Passed her Fifteenth Birthday Only A Few Months Previous,

And Haldane Seemed to The Lady Scarcely More Than A Boy. She Did Not

Intend That Her Niece Should Manifest Anything More Than A Little

Winning Kindness And Interest, Barely Enough To Keep The Young Fellow

From Spending His Evenings Out She Knew Not Where. He Was At Just The

Age When The Glitter And Tinsel Of Public Amusements Are Most

Attractive. She Believed that If She Could Familiarize His Mind With The

Real Gold And Clear Diamond Flash Of Pure Home Pleasures, And Those

Which Are Enjoyed in good Society, He Would Eventually Become Disgusted

With Gilt, Varnish, And Paste. If Laura Had Been A Very Plain Girl, She

Might Have Seconded mrs. Arnot'S Efforts To The Utmost Without Any

Unpleasant Results, Even If No Good Ones Had Followed; And It May Well

Be Doubted whether Any Of The Latter Would Have Ensued. Haldane'S

Disease Was Too Deeply Rooted, And His Tastes Vitiated to Such A Degree

That He Had Lost The Power To Relish Long The Simple Enjoyments Of Mrs.

Arnot'S Parlor. He Already Craved the Pleasures Which First Kindle And

Excite And Then Consume.

 

 

 

Laura, However, Was Not Plain And Ordinary, And The Smiles Which Were

Intended as Innocent Lures From Snares, Instead Of Into Them, Might Make

Trouble For All Concerned. Haldane Was Naturally Combustible, To Begin

With, And Was Now At The Most Inflammable Period Of His Life.

 

 

 

The Profoundest Master Of Human Nature Portrayed to The World A Romeo

And A Juliet, Both Mastered by A Passion Which But A Few Words And

Glances Had Kindled. There Are Many Romeos Who Do Not Find Their Juliets

So Sympathetic And Responsive, And They Usually Develop At About The Age

Of Haldane. Indeed, Nearly All Young Men Of Sanguine Temperaments Go

Through The Romeo Stage, And They Are Fortunate If They Pass It Without

Doing anything Especially Ridiculous Or Disastrous. These Sudden Attacks

Are Exceedingly Absurd To Older And Cooler Friends, But To The Victims

Themselves They Are Tremendously Real And Tragic For The Time Being.

More Hearts Are Broken Into Indefinite Fragments Before Twenty Than Ever

After; But, Like The Broken Bones Of The Young, They Usually Knit

Readily Together Again, And Are Just As Good For All Practical Purposes.

 

 

 

There Was Nothing Unusual In the Fact, Therefore, That Haldane Was Soon

Deeply Enamored with His New Acquaintance. It Was True That Laura Had

Given Him The Mildest And Most Innocent Kind Of Encouragement--And The

Result Would Probably Have Been The Same If She Had Given Him None At

All--But His Vanity, And What He Chose To Regard As His "Undying Love,"

Interpreted all Her Actions, And Gave Volumes Of Meaning To A Kindly

Glance Or A Pleasant Word. Indeed, Before There Had Been Time To Carry

Out, To Any Extent, The Tactics Her Aunt Had Proposed, Symptoms Of His

Malady Appeared. While She Was Regarding Him Merely As One Of Her Aunt'S

"Cases," And A Very Hard One At Best, And Thought Of Herself As Trying

To Help A Little, As A Child Might Hold A Bandage Or A Medicine Phial

For Experienced hands, He, On The Contrary, Had Begun To Mutter To

Himself That She Was "The Divinest Woman God Ever Fashioned."

 

 

 

There Was Now No Trouble About His Spending Evenings Elsewhere, And The

Maiden Was Perplexed and Annoyed at Finding Her Winning Ways Far Too

Successful, And That The One She Barely Hoped to Keep From The

Vague--And To Her Mind, Horrible--Places Of Temptation, Was Becoming as

Adhesive As Sticking-Plaster. If She Smiled, He Smiled and Ogled far Too

Much In return. If She Chatted with One And Another Of The Young Men Who

Found Mrs. Arnot'S Parlor The Most Attractive Place Open To Them In the

Town, He Would Assume A Manner Designed to Be Darkly Tragical, But Which

To The Young Girl Had More The Appearance Of Sulking.

 

 

 

She Was Not So Much Of A Child As To Be Unable To Comprehend Haldane'S

Symptoms, And She Was Sufficiently A Woman Not To Be Excessively Angry.

And Yet She Was Greatly Annoyed and Perplexed. At Times His Action

Seemed so Absurd That She Was Glad To Escape To Her Room, That She Might

Give Way To Her Merriment; And Again He Would Appear So Much In earnest

That She Was Quite As Inclined to Cry And To Think Seriously Of Bringing

Her Visit To An Abrupt Termination.

 

 

 

While Under Mrs. Arnot'S Eye Haldane Was Distant And Circumspect, But

The Moment He Was Alone With Laura His Manner Became Unmistakably

Demonstrative.

 

 

 

At First She Was Disposed to Tell Her Aunt All About The Young Man'S

Sentimental Manner, But The Fact That It Seemed so Ridiculous Deterred

Her. She Still Regarded herself As A Child, And That Any One Should Be

Seriously In love With Her After But A Few Days' Acquaintance Seemed

Absurdity Itself. Her Aunt Might Think Her Very Vain For Even Imagining

Such A Thing, And, Perhaps, After All It Was Only Her Own Imagination.

 

 

 

"Mr. Haldane Has Acted queerly From The First," She Concluded, "And The

Best Thing I Can Do Is To Think No More About Him, And Let Auntie Manage

Her 'Difficult Case' Without Me. If I Am To Help In these Matters, I Had

Better Commence With A 'Case' That Is Not So 'Difficult.'"

 

 

 

She Therefore Sought To Avoid The Young Man, And Prove By Her Manner

That She Was Utterly Indifferent To Him, Hoping That This Course Would

Speedily Cure Him Of His Folly. She Would Venture Into The Parlor Only

When Her Aunt Or Guests Were There, And Would Then Try To Make Herself

Generally Agreeable, Without An Apparent Thought For Him.

 

 

 

While She Assured herself That She Did Not Like Him, And That He Was In

No Respect A Person To Be Admired and Liked, She Still Found Herself

Thinking about Him Quite Often. He Was Her First Recognized lover.

Indeed, Few Had Found Opportunity To Give More Than Admiring Glances To

The Little Nun, Who Thus Far Had Been Secluded almost Continuously In

The Safest Of All Cloisters--A Country Home. It Was A Decided novelty

That A Young Man, Almost Six Feet In height, Should Be Looking

Unutterable Things In her Direction Whenever She Was Present. She Wished

He Wouldn'T, But Since He Would, She Could Not Help Thinking about Him,

And How She Could Manage To Make Him "Behave Sensibly."

 

 

 

She Did Not Maintain Her Air Of Indifference Very Perfectly, However,

For She Had Never Been Schooled by Experience, And Was Acting Solely On

The Intuitions Of Her Sex. She Could Not Forbear Giving a Quick Glance

Occasionally To See How He Was Taking His Lesson. At Times He Was

Scowling and Angry, And Then She Could Maintain Her Part Without

Difficulty; Again He Would Look So Miserable That, Out Of Pity, She

Would Relent Into A Half Smile, But Immediately Reproach Herself For

Being "So Foolish."

 

 

 

Haldane'S Manner Soon Attracted mrs. Arnot'S Attention, Notwithstanding

His Effort To Disguise From Her His Feeling and A Little Observation On

The Part Of The Experienced matron Enabled her To Guess How Matters

Stood. While Mrs. Arnot Was Perplexed and Provoked by This New

Complication In haldane'S Case, She Was Too Kindly In her Nature Not To

Feel Sorry For Him. She Was Also So Well Versed in human Nature As To Be

Aware That She Could Not Sit Down And Coolly Talk Him Out Of His Folly.

 

 

 

Besides It Was Not Necessarily Folly. The Youth Was But Following a Law

Of Nature, And Following It, Too, In much The Same Manner As Had His

Fathers Before Him Since The Beginning Of Time. There Would Not Be Any

Thing Essentially Wrong In an Attachment Between These Young People, If

It Sprang Up Naturally; Only It Would Be Necessary To Impress Upon Them

The Fact That They Were _Young_, And That For Years To Come Their

Minds Should Be Largely Occupied with Other Matters. Haldane Certainly

Would Not Have Been Her Choice For Laura, But If A Strong Attachment

Became The Means Of Steadying Him And Of Inciting To The Formation Of A

Fine Character, All Might Be Well In the End. She Was Morbidly Anxious,

However, That Her Niece Should Not Meet With Any Such Disappointment In

Life As Had Fallen To Her Lot, And Should The Current Of The Young

Girl'S Affection Tend Steadily In his Direction She Would Deeply Regret

The Fact.

 

 

 

She Would Regret Exceedingly, Also, To Have The Young Girl'S Mind

Occupied by Thoughts Of Such A Nature For Years To Come. Her Education

Was Unfinished; She Was Very Immature, And Should Not Make So Important

A Choice Until She Had Seen Much More Of Society, And Time Had Been

Given For The Formation Of Her Tastes And Character.

 

 

 

Mrs. Arnot Soon Concluded that It Would Be Wiser To Prevent Trouble Than

To Remedy It, And That Laura Had Better Return Speedily To The Safe

Asylum Of Her Own Home. She Could Then Suggest To Haldane That If He

Hoped to Win The Maiden In after Years He Must Form A Character Worthy

Of Her.

 

 

 

Had She Carried out Her Plan That Day All Might Have Turned out

Differently, But The Advanced in life Are Prone To Forget The

Impetuosity Of Youth. Haldane Was Already Ripe For A Declaration, Or,

More Properly, An Explosion Of His Pent-Up Feelings, And Was Only

Awaiting an Opportunity To Insist Upon His Own Acceptance. He Was So

Possessed and Absorbed by His Emotions That He Felt Sure They Would

Sweep Away All Obstacles. He Imagined himself Pleading His Cause In a

Way That Would Melt A Marble Heart; And Both Vanity And Hope Had

Whispered that Laura Was A Shy Maiden, Secretly Responsive To His

Passion, And Only Awaiting His Frank Avowal Before Showing Her Own

Heart. Else Why Had She Been So Kind At First? Having Won His Love, Was

She Not Seeking Now To Goad Him On To Its Utterance By A Sudden Change

Of Manner?

 

 

 

Thus He Reasoned, As Have Many Others Equally Blind.

 

 

 

On Becoming aware Of Haldane'S Passion, Mrs. Arnot Resolved to

Sedulously Guard Her Niece, And Prevent Any Premature And Disagreeable

Scenes. She Was Not Long In discovering That The Feeling, As Yet, Was

All On The Young Man'S Side, And Believed that By A Little Adroitness

She Could Manage The Affair So That No Harm Would Result To Either

Party.

 

 

 

But On The Day Following The One During Which She Had Arrived at The

Above Conclusions She Felt Quite Indisposed, And While At Dinner Was

Obliged to Succumb To One Of Her Nervous Headaches. Before Retiring To

Her Private Room She Directed the Waitress To Say To Such Of Her Young

Friends As Might Call That She Was Too Ill To See Them.

 

 

 

Haldane'S Expressions Of Sympathy Were Hollow, Indeed, For He Hoped

That, As A Result Of Her Indisposition, He Would Have Laura All To

Himself That Evening. With An Insinuating Smile He Said To The Young

Girl, After Her Aunt Had Left The