Part 2 (1/2)
”Do you then suppose that there are no honest tradesmen?”
”I presume that there are,” was the reply; ”but the number is not large; and among them I am not likely to find a husband who will sympathize with me.”
”And what will you do if you do not find the idol of your imagination?”
”I will live single.”
”Perhaps you will not find that as pleasant as you imagine. You may think that there is time enough yet. But weariness will come at last.
The crowd of lovers will soon pa.s.s away and you know the fable.”
”Well, then, by meriting happiness, I will take revenge upon the injustice which would deprive me of it.”
”Oh! now you are in the clouds again, my child. It is very pleasant to soar to such a height, but it is not easy to keep the elevation.”
The judicious mother of Jane, anxious to see her daughter settled in life, endeavored to form a match for her with a young physician. Much maneuvering was necessary to bring about the desired result. The young pract.i.tioner was nothing loth to lend his aid. The pecuniary arrangements were all made, and the bargain completed, before Jane knew any thing of the matter. The mother and daughter went out one morning to make a call upon a friend, at whose house the prospective husband of Jane, by previous appointment, was accidentally to be. It was a curious interview. The friends so overacted their part, that Jane immediately saw through the plot. Her mother was pensive and anxious. Her friends were voluble, and prodigal of sly intimations.
The young gentleman was very lavish of his powers of pleasing, loaded Jane with flippant compliments, devoured confectionary with high relish, and chattered most flippantly in the most approved style of fas.h.i.+onable inanition. The high-spirited girl had no idea of being thus disposed of in the matrimonial bazaar. The profession of the doctor was pleasing to her, as it promised an enlightened mind, and she was willing to consent to make his acquaintance. Her mother urged her to decide at once.
”What, mother!” she exclaimed, ”would you have me take one for my husband upon the strength of a single interview?”
”It is not exactly so,” she replied. ”This young gentleman's intimacy with our friends enables us to judge of his conduct and way of life.
We know his disposition. These are the main points. You have attained the proper age to be settled in the world. You have refused many offers from tradesmen, and it is from that cla.s.s alone that you are likely to receive addresses. You seem fully resolved never to marry a man in business. You may never have another such offer. The present match is very eligible in every external point of view. Beware how you reject it too lightly.”
Jane, thus urged, consented to see the young physician at her father's house, that she might become acquainted with him. She, however, determined that no earthly power should induce her to marry him, unless she found in him a congenial spirit. Fortunately, she was saved all further trouble in the matter by a dispute which arose between her lover and her father respecting the pecuniary arrangements, and which broke off all further connection between the parties.
Her mother's health now began rapidly to decline. A stroke of palsy deprived her of her accustomed elasticity of spirits, and, secluding herself from society, she became silent and sad. In view of approaching death, she often lamented that she could not see her daughter well married before she left the world. An offer which Jane received from a very honest, industrious, and thrifty jeweler, aroused anew a mother's maternal solicitude.
”Why,” she exclaimed, with melancholy earnestness, ”will you reject this young man? He has an amiable disposition, and high reputation for integrity and sobriety. He is already in easy circ.u.mstances, and is in a fair way of soon acquiring a brilliant fortune. He knows that you have a superior mind. He professes great esteem for you, and will be proud of following your advice. You might lead him in any way you like.”
”But, my dear mother, I do not want a husband who is to be led. He would be too c.u.mbersome a child for me to take care of.”
”Do you know that you are a very whimsical girl, my child? And how do you think you would like a husband who was your master and tyrant?”
”I certainly,” Jane replied, ”should not like a man who a.s.sumed airs of authority, for that would only provoke me to resist. But I am sure that I could never love a husband whom it was necessary for me to govern. I should be ashamed of my own power.”
”I understand you, Jane. You would like to have a man _think_ himself the master, while he obeyed you in every particular.”
”No, mother, it is not that either. I hate servitude; but empire would only embarra.s.s me. I wish to gain the affections of a man who would make his happiness consist in contributing to mine, as his good sense and regard for me should dictate.”
”But, my daughter, there would be hardly such a thing in the world as a happy couple, if happiness could not exist without that perfect congeniality of taste and opinions which you imagine to be so necessary.”
”I do not know, mother, of a single person whose happiness I envy.”
”Very well; but among those matches which you do not envy, there may be some far preferable to remaining always single. I may be called out of the world sooner than you imagine. Your father is still young. I can not tell you all the disagreeable things my fondness for you makes me fear. I should be indeed happy, could I see you united to some worthy man before I die.”
This was the first time that the idea of her mother's death ever seriously entered the mind of Jane. With an eager gaze, she fixed her eye upon her pale and wasted cheek and her emaciate frame, and the dreadful truth, with the suddenness of a revelation, burst upon her.
Her whole frame shook with emotion, and she burst into a flood of tears. Her mother, much moved, tried to console her.
”Do not be alarmed, my dear child,” said she, tenderly. ”I am not dangerously ill. But in forming our plans, we should take into consideration all chances. A worthy man offers you his hand. You have now attained your twentieth year. You can not expect as many suitors as you have had for the last five years. I may be suddenly taken from you. Do not, then, reject a husband who, it is true, has not all the refinement you could desire, but who will love you, and with whom you can be happy.”
”Yes, my dear mother,” exclaimed Jane, with a deep and impa.s.sioned sigh, ”as happy as _you_ have been.”