Free Hearts Afire by J. D Rawden, Patrick Griffith Page B

duty, and
self-will against the law infinitely higher and purer.
    There are women who prefer secrecy to honesty, and sin to truthfulness; but
Charlotte was not one of them. If it had been possible to see her lover
honorably, she would have much preferred it. She was totally destitute of that
contemptible sentimentality which would rather invent difficulties in a
love-affair than not have them, but she knew well the storm of reproach and
disapproval which would answer any such request; and her thoughts were all bent
toward devising some plan which would enable her to leave home early on that
morning which she had promised her lover.
    But all her little arrangements failed; and it was almost at the last hour
of the evening previous, that circumstances offered her a reasonable excuse. It
came through Joris Morgan, who returned home later
than usual, bringing with him a great many patterns of damask and figured cloth
and stamped leather. At once he announced his intention of staying at home the
next morning in order to have Lysbet's aid in
selecting the coverings for their new chairs, and counting up their cost. He
had taken the strips out of his pocket with an air of importance and
complaisance; and Charlotte, glancing from them to her mother, thought she
perceived a fleeting shadow of a feeling very much akin to her own contempt of
the man's pronounced self-satisfaction. So when supper was over, and the house
duties done, she determined to speak to her mother.
    “Let me go away in the morning. Father dotting about the chairs I cannot
bear. Listen, how he will talk: 'See here, Charlotte. A fine piece is this; ten
shillings and sixpence the yard, and good enough for the governor's house. But
I am a man of some substance,—and fine chairs I will have' Mother , you
know how it will be. Tomorrow I cannot bear him. Very near quarreling have we
been for a week.”
    “I know, Charlotte, I know. Leave, then, and go first to the “Universal
Store” of Lady Denham, and ask her if the new fashions will arrive from London
this month. I heard also that Mary Blankaart has lost
a silk purse, and in it five gold pieces, and some half and quarter silver. Ask
kindly for her, and about the money; and so the morning could be passed. And
look now, Charlotte, peace is the best thing for this house.”
    “That will make me glad.”
    “Surly it shall.”
    “ My mother , sad and troubled are thy looks. What is thy sorrow?”
    “For thee my heart aches often,—mine and thy good father's, too. Dost thou
not suffer? Can thy mother be blind? Nothing hast thou eaten lately. Father
says thou art restless all the night long. Thou art so changed then, that were
ever such a happy little one. Once thou did love me, Charlotte.”
    “ Mother , still I love thee!”
    “But what of the young man, Harleigh Daly?”
    “Never can I cease to love him. See, now, the love I give him is his love.
It never was thine . For him I brought it into the
world. None of thy love have I given to him. My mother , thee I would not
rob for the whole world; not I!”
    “For all that, Charlotte , hard is the mother's lot. The dear child I
nursed on my breast, they go here and they go there, with this strange one and
that strange one. Last night, ere to our sleep we went, thy father read to me
some words of a book they are true words. Every good mother has said them, at
the grave or at the bridal, “we shall lose our daughters!'“
    The next morning was one of perfect beauty, and Charlotte awoke with a
feeling of joyful expectation. She dressed beautifully her pale brown hair; and
her intended visit to Mary Blankaart gave her an
excuse for wearing her India silk,—the pretty dress Harleigh had seen her first in, the dress he had so often admired. Her appearance caused
some remarks, and with much of her old gayety Charlotte walked between her
father and mother away from home.
    She paid a very short visit to the mantua-maker, and then went to Mistress
Gordon's. There was less