I knew not why I wept, but my soul knew. She heard what was coming from afar, and knew that I was now to leave the walled garden of my happiness, and to take my share in those great sorrows, which are needed to give life its true meaning.
I had noticed, when at breakfast, that Robert was unusually silent, and I had not felt able to rise above the atmosphere of gloom and worry; but in the afternoon it struck me, that perhaps I only was to blame, and I resolved to dress prettily and be ready to carry the evening through with songs and smiles. So I rose and put on a gown that Robert liked to see me wearing, a handsomer garment than I usually wore, but I told myself that if trouble should be coming, I would meet it dressed like one who meant to conquer. And I remember that all the time I was brushing out my hair, I was saying over and over a few lines that came ready to my lips, though I knew not when, or where, I had learned them:
"Empire o'er the land and main, Heaven who gave, can take again; But a mind that's truly brave, Stands despising, Storms arising, And defies the wind and wave."
I had forgotten the last line, but my mind involuntarily supplied it.
And at that moment I felt able to defy sorrow, and to shut the door against it. But alas! how poorly we love those whom we love most. Our love sinks below our earthly cares, and we bruise ourselves against the limitations of our own love, as well as against the limitations of others.
I was sitting very still, thinking these things out, and talking reproachfully to my soul--who has always been a talkative soul, fond of giving me from the little chest wherein she dwells, reproofs and admonitions more than I like--when I heard Robert put his latch-key in the lock, and enter the house. He was an hour before his time, and I wondered at the circumstance. Generally he came to me in the parlor first, and then went to dress for dinner, but this night he went straight to his room. I stood up and considered. Fear tormented me with cruel expectations, and I would not give place to that enemy, so I went quickly down the passage, singing as I went, and at the door asked cheerfully,
"Are you there, Robert?"
"Yes," he answered; "come in, Milly."
Then I entered smiling, and he looked at me with all his soul in his eyes, and, without speaking, covered his face with his hands.
"Robert!" I cried. "Dear Robert, are you sick?"
"No, no!" he answered. "Sit down here at my side, and I will tell you.
Milly, I have lost nearly all I possess. The Huddersfield mills have failed."
"Never mind them," I said; "your business here is sufficient, and you can pay it more attention."
"It has today been sequestered by the English creditors."
"What is 'sequestered'?" I asked. I had never heard the word before.
"It means that I cannot have any use of my business here, until the court decides, whether it can be made to pay the debts of the Huddersfield concern. O my dear, dear Milly, forgive me!"
"My love, you have done me no wrong."
"I have. I have taken risks that I ought not to have taken. You thought you were marrying a rich man, Milly."
"I married you, yourself, Robert. Rich or poor, you are dearer than all to me. I do not count money in the same breath with you."
"You love me, dear?"
"Better tonight, than ever before."
"I am sick with anxiety."
"Let me share it. That is all I ask. And you must be brave, Robert.
Things are never as bad as you think they are. You are only twenty-seven years old; you have health and friends. We can half the expenses. Let the English place go. You will get your business here back soon, will you not?"
"I hope so. I cannot tell. I must leave you, and go to England tomorrow and you ought not to be alone now."
"Nothing will harm me. Go, and find out the worst, then you know what you have to fight. Dinner is ready. You need a good meal; you will feel better after it."
"How can I? I fear that I am ruined."
"Now, Robert," I said, "that depends on _yourself_. No man was ever ruined from _without_; the final ruin comes from _within_, when you turn hopeless and lose courage. I have heard my father tell young men that, many times."
I suppose that most American husbands and wives would have spent the evening in talking over this trouble, and considering what steps were wisest to take. Robert did not speak of it again. During the meal, when the girl was coming in and out with the various dishes, he talked of a big fire in the High Street, and the appearance of Harrison in "The Bohemian Girl," saying he was sorry I could not hear him sing "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls." When dinner was over, he asked me to go on with the book I was reading to him. It was "The Newcomes," and I lifted it, and he lay down on the sofa with his cigar. But I did not know what I was reading. The lights seemed dim, my voice sounded far away, there was a tumult in my senses that was prelusive of fainting.
"I am not well, Robert," I murmured, "I must stop," and I laid "The Newcomes" down, and have never touched a book of Thackeray's since.
Robert rose immediately. "I must leave for England very early in the morning," he said. "I will try and get some sleep first."
The next morning he went away before daylight, and I had to bear the uncertainty and suspense as well as I could; and these journeys continued until the twentieth of December, when all court business stopped until after the twelfth day in January. I did not write home about this trouble. Father had been ill, and Mother was coming to me, on the second or third day of the New Year; and I hoped afresh every morning, that some good news would come to brighten the sad story. But all I heard was that professional accountants were going over the books of both the Glasgow and the Huddersfield business, and that it was tedious work, and required Robert's presence constantly to explain transactions. This appeared sensible and necessary, and I made the best of the week ends, when Robert usually hurried home, traveling all night, so as to reach me early Saturday morning.
So Christmas came and went, the saddest Christmas I ever spent in all my life; but Christmas was not Christmas in Scotland, at that date. It had too strong a likeness to Episcopacy, yes, even to Popery, for the Calvinistic Scot; and savored of monkish festivals, and idolatrous symbols. I never saw a nativity pie in Glasgow, but those I made; and I really think they caused Robert a twinge of conscience to have them on the table. He certainly never tasted them. But the New Year was a modest kind of saturnalia, kept very much as the Calvinistic Dutch settlers of New York kept it in the days of the Dutch governors. It was a quiet day with us, and I could not help contrasting it with the previous New Year's when we had our minister, and the Blackies and Brodies, and a few others to dinner, and all drank the New Year in, standing with full glasses. At the moment we did so, my conscience smote me. I was cold and trembled as the clock slowly struck twelve, for I had always been used to solemnly keep the Watch Night, and, if not on my knees in the chapel, I was certain to be praying in my own room. "The ill year comes in swimming," says an old proverb, and I have proved its truth.
On the third day of the New Year, Robert's mother called in the afternoon. Robert had gone to Stirling, and I was alone and much astonished to see her; but I said, as cheerfully as possible, "Good afternoon, Mother, and a Happy New Year to you." Then, noticing that she was much agitated, I grew frightened about Robert, and said anxiously, "You look troubled, Mother; is anything wrong with Robert?"
"Is there anything right with the man now? I got this letter from him on New Year's Day--a nice-like greeting it was to send me."
I looked at her inquiringly, but did not speak, and she asked, "Do you know what is in it?"
"No; Robert did not tell me he had written to you at all."
"Of course, he didn't! Mother may be heartbroken with shame and sorrow, but you! You must not have your precious feelings hurt."
"Robert," I answered, "would not willingly hurt a hair of your head, Mother. I know that. If he has told you of more trouble, I wish to share it with you."
"You shall," she replied. "He writes me that he fears the creditors--sorrow take them!--are trying to attach the furniture of this house, and he asks me, if they do, to buy it for him, at their valuation. That is a modest request to make, on the first of the year!"
"Mother, no one can touch this furniture. It is mine. It was given to me before my marriage, made legally over to me in my antenuptial contract. The furniture, silver, napery, books, and every item in the house is especially and carefully named, as the property of Amelia Huddleston."
"Where is the contract?"
"With John Forbes, the writer. Go and see it."
"I am thinking that the English law makes all that was yours, on your marriage day, become Robert's, and all that is Robert's belongs to his creditors, until the creatures are satisfied. But I came on a kind errand, if you will take it so. I came to tell you that, though you have been the ruin of my son, I will not see you put on the street. I will buy the furniture and rent it to you."
"I would not rent it from any one. It is mine. If I am robbed of it, I will not countenance the robbery, by renting it."
"What will you do with yourself?"
"I shall come to no harm."
"You can maybe find a boarding-house?"
"I shall not need one."
"And there is your own home."
"I shall not go there."
"I think Robert might have told you of this sore strait."