【国外英文文学】Cousin Maude.doc

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1、【国外英文文学】Cousin MaudeCousin Maudeby Mary J. HolmesTo Morris W. Smith,of New Orleans,This story of life among the Northern Hills is repectfully dedicated by his friend The AuthorCONTENTSCHAPTER I. DR. KENNEDY II. THE JOURNEY III. THE NEW HOME IV. LITTLE LOUIS V. MRS. JANET BLODGETT VI. THE MOTHER VII.

2、 PAST AND PRESENT VIII. JAMES AND J.C. IX. THE MILKMANS HEIRESS X. THE ENGAGEMENT, REAL AND PROSPECTIVE XI. MAUD GLENDOWER XII. HOW THE ENGAGEMENTS PROSPERED XIII. HAMPTON XIV. THE DARK HOUR XV. THE NEW MISTRESS AT LAUREL HILL XVI. THE BLIND GIRL XVII. NELLIE癝 BRIDAL NIGHT XVIII. COUSIN MAUDE XIX. A

3、 SECOND BRIDAL XX. THE SEXTON XXI. HOME AGAINCHAPTER I.DR. KENNEDY.If you please, marm, the man from York State is comin afoot. Too stingy to ride, Ill warrant, and Janet, the housekeeper, disappeared from the parlor, just as the sound of the gate was heard, and an unusually fine-looking middle-aged

4、 man was seen coming up the box-lined walk which led to the cottage door.The person thus addressed was a lady, whose face, though young and handsome, wore a look which told of early sorrow. Matilda Remington had been a happy, loving wife, but the old churchyard in Vernon contained a grass-grown grav

5、e, where rested the noble heart which had won her girlish love. And she was a widow now, a fair-haired, blue-eyed widow, and the stranger who had so excited Janets wrath by walking from the depot, a distance of three miles, would claim her as his bride ere the morrows sun was midway in the heavens.

6、How the engagement happened she could not exactly tell, but happened it had, and she was pledged to leave the vine-wreathed cottage which Harry had built for her, and go with one of whom she knew comparatively little.Six months before our story opens she had spent a few days with him at the house of

7、 a mutual friend in an adjoining State, and since that time they had written to each other regularly, the correspondence resulting at last in an engagement, which he had now come to fulfill. He had never visited her before in her own home, consequently she was wholly unacquainted with his dispositio

8、n or peculiarities. He was intelligent and refined, commanding in appearance, and agreeable in manner whenever he chose to be, and when he wrote to her of his home, which he said would be a second Paradise were she its mistress, when he spoke of the little curly- headed girl who so much needed a mot

9、hers care, and when, more than all, he hinted that his was no beggars fortune, she yielded; for Matilda Remington did not dislike the luxuries which money alone can purchase. Her own fortune was small, and as there was now no hand save her own to provide, she often found it necessary to economize mo

10、re than she wished to do. But Dr. Kennedy was rich, and if she married him she would escape a multitude of annoyances, so she made herself believe that she loved him; and when she heard, as she more than once did hear, rumors of a sad, white-faced woman to whom the grave was a welcome rest, she said

11、 the story was false, and, shaking her pretty head, refused to believe that there was aught in the doctor of evil.To be sure, he was not at all like Harry-she could never find one who was-but he was so tall, so dignified, so grand, so particular, that it seemed almost like stooping, for one in his p

12、osition to think of her, and she liked him all the better for his condescension.Thus she ever reasoned, and when Janet said that he was coming, and she, too, heard his step upon the piazza, the bright blushes broke over her youthful face, and casting a hurried glance at the mirror, she hastened out

13、to meet him.Matty, my dear! he said, and his thin lips touched her glowing cheek, but in his cold gray eye there shone no love,-no feeling,- no heart.He was too supremely selfish to esteem another higher than himself, and though it flattered him to know that the young creature was so glad to meet hi

14、m, it awoke no answering chord, and he merely thought that with her to minister to him he should possibly be happier than he had been with her predecessor.You must be very tired, she said, as she led the way into the cozy parlor. Then, seating him in the easy chair near to the open window, she conti

15、nued: How warm you are. What made you walk this sultry afternoon?It is a maxim of mine never to ride when I can walk, said he, for I dont believe in humoring those omnibus drivers by paying their exorbitant prices.Two shillings surely is not an exorbitant price, trembled on Mrs. Remingtons lips, but

16、 she was prevented from saying so by his asking if everything were in readiness for the morrow.Yes, everything, she replied. The cottage is sold, and-Ah, indeed, sold! said he, interrupting her. If I mistake not you told me, when I met you in Rome, that it was left by will to you. May I, as your to-

17、morrows husband, ask how much you received for it? And he unbent his dignity so far as to wind his arm around her waist.But the arm was involuntarily withdrawn when, with her usual frankness, Matty replied; I received a thousand dollars, but there were debts to be paid, so that I had only five hundr

18、ed left, and this I made over to my daughter to be used for her education.Dr. Kennedy did not say that he was disappointed, and as Matty was not much of a physiognomist she did not read it in his face, and she continued: Janet will remain here a while, to arrange matters, before joining me in my new

19、 home. She wished me to leave my little girl to come with her, but I cant do that. I must have my child with me. Youve never seen her, have you? Ill call her at once. And stepping to the door she bade Janet bring Maude into the parlor.Maude! How Dr. Kennedy started at the mention of a name which dro

20、ve all thoughts of the five hundred dollars from his mind. There was feeling-passion-everything, now, in his cold gray eye, but quickly recovering his composure, he said calmly: Maude, Matty- Maude, is that your childs name?Why, yes, she answered laughingly. Didnt you know it before? How should I, h

21、e replied, when in your letters you have always called her daughter? But has she no other name? She surely was not baptized Maude?Ere Mrs. Remington could speak, the sound of little pattering feet was heard in the hall without, and in a moment Maude Remington stood before her stepfather-elect, looki

22、ng, as that rather fastidious gentleman thought, more like a wild gipsy than the child of a civilized mother. She was a fat, chubby child, not yet five years old; black-eyed, black-haired, black-faced, with short, thick curls, which, damp with perspiration, stood up all over her head, giving her a s

23、ingular appearance. She had been playing in the brook, her favorite companion, and now, with little spatters of mud ornamenting both face and pantalets, her sun-bonnet hanging down her back, and her hands full of pebble-stones, she stood furtively eyeing the stranger, whose mental exclamation was: M

24、ercy, what a fright!Maude! exclaimed the distressed Mrs. Remington, where have you been? Go at once to Janet, and have your dress changed; then come back to me.Nothing loath to join Janet, whose company was preferable to that of the stranger, Maude left the room, while Dr. Kennedy, turning to Mrs. R

25、emington, said: She is not at all like you, my dear.No, answered the lady; she is like her father in everything; the same eyes, the same hair, and-She was going on to say more, when the expression of Dr. Kennedys face stopped her, and she began to wonder if she had displeased him. Dr. Kennedy could

26、talk for hours of the late Mrs. Kennedy, accompanying his words with long-drawn sighs, and enumerating her many virtues, all of which he expected to be improved upon by her successor; but he could not bear to hear the name of Harry Remington spoken by one who was to be his wife, and he at once chang

27、ed the subject of Maudes looks to her name, which he learned was really Matilda. She had been called Maude, Matty said, after one who was once a very dear friend both of herself and her husband.Then we will call her Matilda, said he, as it is a maxim of mine never to spoil children by giving them pe

28、t names.But you call your daughter Nellie, suggested the little widow, and in her soft, blue eye there shone a mischievous twinkle, as if she fancied she had beaten him with his own argument.But if she thought to convince that most unreasonable man, she was mistaken. What he did was no criterion for

29、 others, unless he chose that it should be so, and he answered, That is sister Kelseys idea, and as she is very fond of Nellie I do not interfere. But, seriously, Matty, darling,-and he drew her to his side, with an uncommon show of fondness,- I cannot call your daughter Maude; I do not like the nam

30、e, and it is a maxim of mine, that if a person dislikes a name, tis an easy matter to dislike the one who bears it.Had Mrs. Remington cared less for him than she did, she might have wondered how many more disagreeable maxims he had in store. But love is blind, or nearly so; and when, as if to make a

31、mends for his remarks, he caressed her with an unusual degree of tenderness, the impulsive woman felt that she would call her daughter anything which suited him. Accordingly, when at last Maude returned to the parlor, with her dress changed, her curls arranged, and her dimpled cheeks shining with th

32、e suds in which they had been washed, she was prepared to say Matilda or whatever else pleased his capricious fancy.Little girl, he said, extending his hand toward her, little girl, come here. I wish to talk with you.But the little girl hung back, and when tier mother insisted upon her going to the

33、gentleman, asking if she did not like him, she answered decidedly, No, I dont like him, and he shant be my pa, either!Maude, daughter! exclaimed Mrs. Remington, while Dr. Kennedy, turning slightly pale, thought wretch! but said, Matilda, come here, wont you?I aint Matilda, she answered. I wont be Ma

34、tilda-Im Maude, and her large black eyes flashed defiantly upon him.It was in vain that Dr. Kennedy coaxed and Mrs. Remington threatened. Maude had taken a dislike to the stranger, and as he persisted in calling her Matilda, she persisted in refusing to answer, until at last, hearing Janet pass thro

35、ugh the hall, she ran out to her, sure of finding comfort and sympathy there.I am afraid I have suffered Maude to have her own way too much, and for the future I must be more strict with her, said Mrs. Remington apologetically; while the doctor replied, I think, myself, a little wholesome discipline

36、 would not be amiss. Tis a maxim of mine, spare the rod and spoil the child; but, of course, I shall not interfere in the matter.This last he said because he saw a shadow flit over the fair face of the widow, who, like most indulgent mothers, did not wholly believe in Solomon. The sight of Janet in

37、the hall suggested a fresh subject to the doctors mind, and, after coughing a little, he said, Did I understand that your domestic was intending to join you at Laurel Hill?Yes, returned Mrs. Remington, Janet came to live with my mother when I was a little girl no larger than Maude. Since my marriage

38、 she has lived with me, and I would not part with her for anything.But do you not think two kinds of servants are apt to make trouble, particularly if one is black and the other white? and in the speakers face there was an expression which puzzled Mrs. Remington, who could scarce refrain from crying

39、 at the thoughts of parting with Janet, and who began to have a foretaste of the dreary homesickness which was to wear her life away.I cant do without Janet, she said; she knows all my ways, and I trust her with everything.The very reason why she should not go, re turned the doctor. She and old Hann

40、ah would quarrel at once. You would take sides with Janet, I with Hannah, and that might produce a feeling which ought never to exist between man and wife. No, my dear, listen to me in this matter, and let Janet remain in Vernon. Old Hannah has been in my family a long time. She was formerly a slave

41、, and belonged to my uncle, who lived in Virginia, and who, at his death, gave her to me. Of course I set her free, for I pride myself on being a man of humanity, and since that time she has lived with us, superintending the household entirely since Mrs. Kennedys death. She is very peculiar, and wou

42、ld never suffer Janet to dictate, as I am sure, from what you say, she would do. So, my dear, try and think all is for the best. You need not tell her she is not to come, for it is a maxim of mine to avoid all unnecessary scenes, and you can easily write it in a letter.Poor Mrs. Remington! she knew

43、intuitively that the matter was decided, and was she not to be forgiven if at that moment she thought of the grass-grown grave whose occupant had in life been only too happy granting her slightest wish? But Harry was gone, and the man with whom she now had to deal was an exacting, tyrannical master,

44、 to whose will her own must ever be subservient. This, however, she did not then understand. She knew he was not at all like Harry, but she fancied that the difference consisted in his being so much older, graver, and wiser than her husband had been, and so with a sigh she yielded the point, thinkin

45、g that Janet would be the greater sufferer of the two.That evening several of her acquaintances called to see the bridegroom-elect, whom, in Mrs. Remingtons hearing, they pronounced very fine looking and quite agreeable in manner; compliments which tended in a measure to soothe her irritated feeling

46、s and quiet the rapid beatings of her heart, which for hours after she retired to rest would occasionally whisper to her that the path she was about to tread was far from being strewn with flowers.He loves me, I know, she thought, though his manner of showing it is so different from Harry; but I sha

47、ll become accustomed to that after a while, and be very, very happy. And comforted with this assurance she fell asleep, encircling within her arms the little Maude, whose name had awakened bitter memories in the heart of him who in an adjoining chamber battled with thoughts of the dark past, which n

48、ow on the eve of his second marriage passed in sad review before his mind.Memories there were of a gentle, pale-faced woman, who, when her blue eyes were dim with coming death, had shudderingly turned away from him, as if his presence brought her more of pain than joy. Memories, too, there were of another-a peerlessly beautiful creature who, ere he had sought the white-faced woman for his wife, had trampled on his affections and spurned as a useless gift his offered love. He hated her now, he thought; and the little bl