第63章 A Vain Wish.(1)

As the witch-hazel is believed to have the power of indicating springs of water however far beneath the surface,so Miss Burton,by a subtle affinity,seemed to become speedily conscious of the sorrows and troubles of others,even when sedulously hidden from general observation.

She discovered that something was amiss with Ida almost as soon as did the troubled girl herself;but for once her quick perception of causes failed her.She had explained Ida's apparent antipathy to Van Berg on the ground of the natural resentment of a frivolous society girl toward the man who had,by his manner and character,asked her to think and be a woman.It appeared to her,from her limited acquaintance,that Ida was developing into the counterpart of her mother;and for such a person as Mrs.Mayhew,Van Berg could never have anything more than polite toleration.

Miss Burton was aware that the artist's manner toward Ida had indeed been humiliating.During the previous week he had sought her society;but in the emphatic language of his action,he had almost the same as said of late:

"Even for the sake of your beauty I cannot endure your shallowness and moral deformity."Little wonder that the flattered belle should feel hate or at least spite toward the man who had virtually given her such a stinging rebuke.

But while this fact and the differences of character explained Ida's manner toward the artist,it did not account for the expression of pain and perplexity that she occasionally detected in the young girl's face.It did not explain why she should sit for an hour at a time,as she had that morning in the parlor,her eyes fixed on vacancy,and her face full of dread and trouble,as if there were something present to her mind from which she shrank inexpressibly.

She tried several times to make advances toward the unhappy girl,but was in every instance repelled,coldly and decidedly.

"What IS preying upon Miss Mayhew's mind?"she queried with increasing frequency.Her experience as a teacher of young girls made her quick to detect the presence of those dangerous thoughts which beset the entrance on mature womanhood.With a frown that formed a marked contrast with her customary gentle and genial expression,she surmised:"Can Sibley,or any one else,be seeking to tempt and lead her astray?"As the most plausible explanation she finally concluded that Ida was brooding over her father's unhappy tendencies.Mrs.Burleigh had told Miss Burton the whole story;and she had listened,not as to a bit of scandal,but as to another instance of that kind of trouble which ever evoked from her more of sympathy than censure.

Ida might treat her fancied rival,therefore,as coldly as she chose,but the fact of suffering and the shadow resting upon her from her father's course,would bind Jennie Burton to her as a watchful friend with a tie that only returning happiness could sunder.

Stanton and Van Berg were standing together on Saturday evening,when Mrs.Mayhew and her daughter came down to await the arrival of the stage.Ida did not see them at first,and Van Berg was again struck by the pallor and stony apathy of her face.She looked like one wearied by conflict of mind;but the quiet of her face was not that of peace or decision.It was simply the vacancy and languor of one worn out with contending emotions.

"I once said,"thought Van Berg,"that she would be beautiful if she were dead,and her frivolous mind could no longer mar the repose of her features with the suggestion of petty thoughts and ignoble vices.By Jove,I never realized how true my words were.As her motionless figure and pallid expression appear in yonder door-way,she would make a good picture of the clay of Eve,before God breathed life into the perfect form.Oh!that I had such power!I would give years to light up that face there with the expressions of which it is capable."Then Ida saw him,and she turned hastily away,but not before he caught a glimpse of the blood mounting swiftly to her face.She was beginning to puzzle him,and to suggest that possibly his estimate of her character had been superficial.

"Your cousin has not seemed well for the past few days,"he remarked to Stanton.

"Oh!Ida is as full of moods as an April day,only they scarcely have a vernal simplicity,"was the satirical answer.From some caprice or other she is affecting the pale and interesting style now.