Lemorne Versus Huell | Page 8

a phantasm."
"Margaret is fatigued," he said, rising. "May I come to-morrow?"
"It is my part only," replied Aunt Eliza, "to see that she is, or is not,
Cinderella."
"If you have ever thought of me, aunt, as an individual, you must have
seen that I am not averse to ashes."
He held my hand a moment, and then kissed me with a kiss of
appropriation.
"He is in love with you," she said, after he had gone. "I think I know
him. He has found beauty ignorant of itself; he will teach you to
develop it."
The next morning Mr. Uxbridge had an interview with Aunt Eliza
before he saw me.
When we were alone I asked him how her eccentricities affected him;
he could not but consider her violent, prejudiced, warped, and
whimsical. I told him that I had been taught to accept all that she did on
this basis. Would this explain to him my silence in regard to her?
"Can you endure to live with her in Bond Street for the present, or
would you rather return to Waterbury?"

"She desires my company while she is in Newport only. I have never
been with her so long before."
"I understand her. Law is a game, in her estimation, in which cheating
can as easily be carried on as at cards."
"Her soul is in this case."
"Her soul is not too large for it. Will you ride this afternoon?"
I promised, of course. From that time till he left Newport we saw each
other every day, and though I found little opportunity to express my
own peculiar feelings, he comprehended many of my wishes, and all
my tastes. I grew fond of him hourly. Had I not reason? Never was
friend so considerate, never was lover more devoted.
When he had been gone a few days, Aunt Eliza declared that she was
ready to depart from Newport. The rose-colored days were ended! In
two days we were on the Sound, coach, horses, servants, and ourselves.
It was the 1st of September when we arrived in Bond Street. A week
from that date Samuel Uxbridge, the senior partner of Uxbridge
Brothers, went to Europe with his family, and I went to Waterbury,
accompanied by Mr. Uxbridge. He consulted mother in regard to our
marriage, and appointed it in November. In October Aunt Eliza sent for
me to come back to Bond Street and spend a week. She had some fine
marking to do, she wrote. While there I noticed a restlessness in her
which I had never before observed, and conferred with Mrs. Roll on the
matter. "She do be awake nights a deal, and that's the reason," Mrs.
Roll said. Her manner was the same in other respects. She said she
would not give me any thing for my wedding outfit, but she paid my
fare from Waterbury and back.
She could not spare me to go out, she told Mr. Uxbridge, and in
consequence I saw little of him while there.
In November we were married. Aunt Eliza was not at the wedding,
which was a quiet one. Mr. Uxbridge desired me to remain in

Waterbury till spring. He would not decide about taking a house in
New York till then; by that time his brother might return, and if
possible we would go to Europe for a few months. I acquiesced in all
his plans. Indeed I was not consulted; but I was happy--happy in him,
and happy in every thing.
The winter passed in waiting for him to come to Waterbury every
Saturday; and in the enjoyment of the two days he passed with me. In
March Aunt Eliza wrote me that Lemorne was beaten! Van Horn had
taken up the whole contents of his snuff-box in her house the evening
before in amazement at the turn things had taken.
That night I dreamed of the scene in the hotel at Newport. I heard Aunt
Eliza saying, "If I gain, Margaret will be rich." And I heard also the
clock strike two. As it struck I said, "*My husband is a scoundrel*,"
and woke with a start.


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