The Mask of Mr. Twelliger [pp. 74-78]

76 THE JJL4SK OF MR. TWELLIaER. [JANUARY 16,
"We were both in love with one man,
Herbert Eustace, the most graceful English man I have ever seen, the beau and pet of
Florence that winter. He was always with
us, and for a long time I believed he loved
Nadine, until one moonlit evening on the Cas cine he put the subject beyond all doubt by
telling me that hle loved me.
"My aunt was a very queer character. I
am telling you a story of'Masks and Faces.'
My aunt's mask was that of a prudish virtue.
She deceived herself, I think. She was very
religious, and would not go to balls and par ties in Lent; but then she hated them al ways. She would play whist in Lent, and
that she adored. So on with all self-renuncia tion-she renounced'the sin she had no
mind to.'
"She starved not her sin, but she starved
something else-a sort of heathen burnt-of fering went up interminably from her altars,
but she remained a self-satisfied and very
selfish woman. For some reason or other,
she hated Herbert Eustace.
"My uncle, good, easy-going man, was her
slave. His was the more generous nature, so
he yielded. He left his fortune to the care
of his agent, and his happiness to the care
of his wife; they both lost for him. So, in
the midst of my Florentine triumphs, came
the humiliating announcement to me, through
my kind uncle, that I had'better marry, and
not without a view to fortune,' for that, he
was not so rich as I supposed. My aunt went
on virtuously playing cards.
"There came off at this moment a superb
fancy-ball, and Nadine and I were to be the
belles, beauties, and attraction of it, we were
told so by a hundred tongues.
"My dress, taken from a description I
had read of that of Armande, wife to Mo.
lire, you have already seen. I had added to
it the perfume so admired at that period,
called'Soupirs au Roi.' It was composed
of heliotrope, attar of roses, and violet. The
perfume was subtile and delicious; the dress
was as becoming as beautiful.
"Forgive me if I have been trivial in
these details. It was the last illuminated
page in a volume full of gloomy recollections.
Remember that in that dress I bade adieu to
my happiness.
"' My Adelaide, you are a glorious-looking
woman!' said my proud old uncle, as I entered the room on his arm.
"What a glittering scene it was, that
fancy-ball of Madame de C in Florence!
As I look back at it, through years of chilling
sorrow and disappointment, and see again its
glittering lights, its jewels, its fair women
and noble men; as I see my own youthful
figure, with its waving, roseate plume; as I
hear again the murmur of admiration which
followed-I wonder at the cruelty of Fate
that can take a woman from such triumphs
as these to disappointments wholly disproportioned to her strength, her experience, and
wholly too great for punishment, when her
sins can only be those of her education and
surroundings. But I must not murmur.
"There is One who knows!
"Nadine was there, gloriously beautiful,
she was'L'Etoile du Nord.' The peasant
Catherine became an empress! Her jewels, i
the old ancestral, Russian, princely diamonds
-of course, the American girl could not cope
with those! and yet they said her dress did
not pale mine.
" The first stab I received under my dove colored jute au corps, was to see Herbert
Eustace bending over her, with an adoring
smile, and to notice that his bow to me was
cold and formal.
"However, the atmosphere of compliments,
of magnetic pleasure, began to envelop me.
The French embassador asked me to dance;
an English duke took me out; I was the
belle, there was no doubt of it, and my silly
little head was turned. When Herbert came
tardily to ask me to dance I refused him,
and felt delighted as I saw the flush of pain
on his face. For that one piece of folly I was
to suffer twenty years. How many a girl
yields to such an impulse, and is only the
greater belle!
"It was at this essentially womanish mo ment of my life, when I had plunged a dagger
into my own heart in order to bestow a pin prick on another, that my hostess presented
'Mr. Twelliger.' A man with a young face
and perfectly white hair; a face handsome,
perhaps, but which gave me the feeling that
it was a mask -so contradictory were its
expressions of eye and mouth, certainly an
extraordinary person-an eye like a basilisk,
thin, firm, cruel mouth, and the finest teeth
and sweetest voice I ever heard!
"' The dress of Armande, wife to Moliere,
and very accurately rendered,' said Mr. Twel.
liger.
"It was a pretty compliment, and the first
detection of the origin of the dress.
"Mr. Twelliger asked me to dance, and, as
we parted, he pressed my handkerchief to his
lips and said, softly:
"' Soupirs au roi. You are, indeed, preRaphaelite-le grande monarque never had a
prettier compliment! "
"I detected Herbert's eyes fixed on me
with a sorrowful surprise. I was pained and
pleased-for, had he not been flirting with
Nadine?
"And so I appeared for a moment longer
to be absorbed in Mr. Twelliger.
"When we got home, we found my aunt in
a bad humor, and in a game of solitaire.
My uncle endeavored to propitiate her.
"' Our little Adelaide has had a brilliant
success, my dear. I think she has captivated
the rich Mr. Twelliger, of the South."
"' I hope my niece Adelaide will marry
for something better than money,' said my
aunt.
"Ah! it was years before I found out that
she had dismissed Herbert —had brought
about the interview with Mr. Twelliger, that
she was the evil genius of my life, under her
mask!
"However, I knew that it was a bad sign
when my aunt began in the highly-moral
strain; so, next morning at breakfast, she
told us of the bad news which she had received from home. Ruin was coming fast
upon us. It was not until long after that I
heard that Herbert had called, and had been
refused.
"Mr. Twelliger was, however, invited to
dinner. In a few days my uncle brought me |
a formal proposal of marriage from Mr. Twel liger.
"'Do not accept him if you do not love
him, Adelaide,' said the good old man, but
his pale face moved me more than words.
"I married him -married Mr. Twelliger!
I told him I did not love him, but he said he
would love me enough for both. He told me
of his great estates, of the position of power
and usefulness which I should have as a
Southern lady; he was gentle, considerate,
and full of tact, not worrying me with de mands for a love I could not give, but behav ing with such generosity that I could not but
respect him. Of one thing I was profoundly
convinced- his gentleness; I never heard
that sweet voice raised; I never saw him
startled from that dignified self-control. The.
violence which the world attributed to the
Southern planter was foreign to Mr. Twelliger.
He was a most accomplished person, speak ing the languages, and a perfect man of the
world. Every one congratulated my aunt on
having done so well by her niece, and, when
Mr. Twelliger sent me a beautiful parure of
diamonds, the world of Florence declared
that I had done well.
" saw Herbert but once after this.
"' So you are to marry Mr. Twelliger?'
said he, and then I heard, for the first time,
of his baffled efforts to see me, of letters re turned, of his mortified and wounded feelings.
'I am but a younger son,' said he.'I am
no match, like Mr. Twelliger.'
"We were married in Paris, and took a
tour through Switzerland; then I first made
the acquaintance of the colored servants
of Mr. Twelliger, who had, I found, accom panied him-Caesar, his valet, and Batavia,
Ctesar's wife, whom Mr. Twelliger wished me
to take for my attendant. She was so much
attached to her husband, Mr. Twelliger ex plained, that he had brought her with him to
Europe.
"Bat, as she was called, was an ugly, repulsive yellow woman, and I took a distaste
to her from the first. But she was clever
and attentive, and wholly capable. I had received a blow which had stunned my natural
energies; I did not care to fight for any
small thing. Bat took me, my trunks, my
dresses, every thing, into her own hands, and
I sank into acquiescence.
"Traveling was over, we were going home.
Mr. Twelliger was very much in love with
me, and I had grown to think of him with
kindness at least. I determined to do my
duty to him, and to accept the new conditions which were forced upon me.
"A long ride through low, tangled brushwood, parasitical plants hanging from the
branches of the high trees; a low, depressing feeling in the air, Mr. Twelliger sitting
by my side, gloomy and silent, and Csesar
and Bat chattering behind me-such was my
approach to my new home.
"I saw, at length, Standish Hall. The external effect was grand and imposing. Note
as now, tumbling to pieces, it then was externally handsome. Troops of negroes, starting as if from sleep, rushed toward the grand
avenue; a white overseer appeared, noisily
ordering them away.
I
I
~ THE -.4 SK 0F MR. T WELLI GER.
[JANUARY 16,
76