A Canadian Heroine, Volume 2

A Canadian Heroine, Volume 2

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Title: A Canadian Heroine, Volume 2 A Novel
Author: Mrs. Harry Coghill
Release Date: April 5, 2006 [EBook #18122]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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CANADIAN HEROINE, VOLUME 2 ***

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A CANADIAN HEROINE.
A Novel.

BY
THE AUTHOR OF "LEAVES FROM THE BACKWOODS."
"Questa chiese Lucia in suo dimando, E disse: Or ha bisogno il tuo
fedele Di te, e io a te lo raccomando."--Inferno. Canto II.
"Qu'elles sont belles, nos campagnes; En Canada qu'on vit content!
Salut ô sublimes montagnes, Bords du superbe St. Laurent! Habitant de
cette contrée Que nature veut embellir, Tu peux marcher tête levée, Ton
pays doit t'enorgueillir."--J. Bedard.
IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I.
LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE STREET.
STRAND. 1873. [All rights Reserved.]
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND CO., LITTLE QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.

A CANADIAN HEROINE.
CHAPTER I.
Mrs. Costello had felt it a kind of reprieve when she heard from Mr.
Strafford that they might delay their journey safely for a month. The
sober middle age which had come upon her before its time, as her life
rolled on out of the anguish and tumult of the past, made home and
quietness the most desirable things on earth to her, and her health and
spirits, neither yet absolutely broken, but both strained almost to the
extent of their endurance, unfitted her for the changes and excitements
of long travel. So she clung to the idea of delay with an
unacknowledged hope that some cause might deliver them from their
present terrors, and yet suffer them to remain at Cacouna.
In the meantime all went on outwardly as usual. The duties and
courtesies of every-day life had to be kept up,--the more carefully

because it was not desirable to attract attention. Besides, Mrs. Costello
felt that an even flow of occupation was the best thing for Lucia, whom
she watched, with the keenest and tenderest solicitude, passing through
the shadow of that darkness which she herself knew so well. Doctor
Morton brought his wife home most opportunely for her wishes. A
variety of such small dissipations as Cacouna could produce, naturally
celebrated the event; and Lucia as principal bridesmaid at the wedding
could not, if she would, have shut herself out from them. She had,
indeed, dreaded the first meeting with Bella, but it passed off without
embarrassment. To all appearance Mrs. Morton had lost either the
sharpness of observation or the readiness of tongue that had formerly
belonged to her, for the change which Lucia felt in herself was allowed
to remain unremarked.
Mrs. Bellairs had long ago got over her displeasure with Lucia. She had
watched her narrowly at the time of Percy's leaving, and became
satisfied that there was some trouble of a sterner kind than regret for
him now weighing heavily upon her heart.
Although Mrs. Bellairs told her sister of the intended journey of Mrs.
Costello and Lucia, the preparations for that journey were being made
with as little stir as possible, and except herself, her husband, and Mr.
Leigh, few persons dreamed of such an improbable event. Bella even
received a hint to speak of it to no one but her husband, for Mrs.
Costello was anxious to avoid gossip, and had taken much thought how
to attain the juste milieu between secrecy and publicity. In the
meantime there was much to be done in prospect of a long, an
indefinitely long, absence, and the needful exertion both of mind and
body was good for Lucia. Under no circumstances, perhaps, could she
have sat quietly down to bewail her misfortunes, or have allowed
herself to sink under them, but, as it was, there was no temptation to
indolent indulgence of any kind. Bitter hours came still--came
especially with the silence and darkness of night, when her thoughts
would go back to the sweet days of the past summer and linger over
them, till some word, or look, or trifling incident coming to her
memory more distinctly, would bring with it the sudden recollection of
the barren, dreary present,--of the irreparable loss.

In all her thoughts of Percy there was comfort. He had loved her
honestly and sincerely, and if his nature was really lower than her