Speaker 1: This is section ten of A Gilded Age. This LibriVox
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age, A
Speaker 1: Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter ten. Only two or three days had elapsed since
Speaker 1: the funeral when something happened which was to change the
Speaker 1: drift of Laura's life somewhat and influence in a greater
Speaker 1: or lesser degree, the formation of her character. Major Lackland
Speaker 1: had once been a man of note in the state,
Speaker 1: a man of extraordinary natural ability and as extraordinary learning.
Speaker 1: He had been universally trusted and honored in his day,
Speaker 1: but had finally fallen into misfortune. While serving his third
Speaker 1: term in Congress, and while upon the point of being
Speaker 1: elevated to the Senate, which was considered the submit of
Speaker 1: earthly aggrandizement in those days, he had yielded to temptation
Speaker 1: when in distress for money wherewith to save his estate,
Speaker 1: and so his vote. His crime was discovered, and his
Speaker 1: fall followed instantly. Nothing could reinstate him in the confidence
Speaker 1: of the people. His ruin was irretrievable, his disgrace complete.
Speaker 1: All doors were closed against him, all men avoided him.
Speaker 1: After years of skulking, retirement and dissipation. Death had relieved
Speaker 1: him of his troubles at last, and his funeral followed
Speaker 1: close upon that of mister Hawkins. He died as he
Speaker 1: had latterly lived, wholly alone and friendless. He had no relatives,
Speaker 1: or if he had, they did not acknowledge him. The
Speaker 1: coroner's jury found certain memoranda upon his body and about
Speaker 1: the premises, which revealed a fact not suspected by the
Speaker 1: villagers before, viz. That Laura was not the child of
Speaker 1: mister and Missus Hawkins. The gossips were soon at work.
Speaker 1: They were but little hampered by the fact that the
Speaker 1: memoranda referred to trade nothing but the bare circumstance that
Speaker 1: Laura's real parents were unknown, and stopped there So far
Speaker 1: from being hampered by this, the gossips seemed to gain
Speaker 1: all the more freedom from it. They supplied all the
Speaker 1: missing information themselves. They filled up all the blanks. The
Speaker 1: town soon teemed with histories of Laura's origin and secret history.
Speaker 1: No two versions precisely alike, but all elaborate, exhaustive, mysterious
Speaker 1: and interesting, and all agreeing in one vital particular to
Speaker 1: wit that there was a suspicious cloud about her birth,
Speaker 1: not to say a disreputable one. Laura began to encounter
Speaker 1: cold looks, averted eyes, and peculiar nods and gestures which
Speaker 1: perplexed her beyond measure. But presently the pervading gossip found
Speaker 1: its way to her, and she understood them. Then her
Speaker 1: pride was stung. She was astonished and at first incredules.
Speaker 1: She was about to ask her mother if there was
Speaker 1: any truth in these reports, but upon second thought, held
Speaker 1: her peace. She soon gathered that Major Lachlan's memoranda seemed
Speaker 1: to refer to letters which had passed between himself and
Speaker 1: Judge Hawkins. She shaped her course without difficulty the day
Speaker 1: that that hint reached her. That night, she sat in
Speaker 1: her room till all was still, and then she stole
Speaker 1: into the garret and began a search. She rummaged long
Speaker 1: among boxes of musty papers relating to business matters of
Speaker 1: no interest to her, But at last she found several
Speaker 1: bundles of letters. One bundle was marked private, and in
Speaker 1: that she found what she wanted. She selected six or
Speaker 1: eight letters from the package and began to devour their contents,
Speaker 1: heedless of the cold. By the dates these letters were
Speaker 1: from five to seven years old. They were all from
Speaker 1: Major Lachland to mister Hawkins. The substance of them was
Speaker 1: that some one in the eaves had been inquiring of
Speaker 1: Major Lackland about a lost child and its parents, and
Speaker 1: that it was conjectured that the child might be Laura.
Speaker 1: Evidently some of the letters were missing, for the name
Speaker 1: of the inquirer was not mentioned. There was a casual
Speaker 1: reference to this handsome, featured, aristocratic gentleman, as if the
Speaker 1: reader and the writer were accustomed to speak of him
Speaker 1: and knew who was meant. In one letter, the Major
Speaker 1: said he agreed with mister Hawkins that the inquirer seemed
Speaker 1: not altogether on the wrong track, but he also agreed
Speaker 1: that it would be best to keep quiet until more
Speaker 1: convincing developments were forthcoming. Another letter said that the poor
Speaker 1: soul broke completely down when he saw Laura's picture and
Speaker 1: declared it must be she Still Another said, he seems
Speaker 1: entirely alone in the world, and his heart is so
Speaker 1: wrapped up in this thing that I believe that if
Speaker 1: it proved a false hope, it would kill him. I
Speaker 1: have persuaded him to wait a little while and go west.
Speaker 1: When I go. Another letter had this paragraph in it.
Speaker 1: He is better one day and worse the next, and
Speaker 1: is out of his mind a good deal of the time.
Speaker 1: Lately his case has developed a something which is a
Speaker 1: wonder to the hired nurses, but which will not be
Speaker 1: much of a marvel to you if you have read
Speaker 1: medical philosophy much. It is this His lost memory returns
Speaker 1: to him when he is delirious, and goes away again
Speaker 1: when he is himself. Just as old Canada Joe used
Speaker 1: to talk the French patois of his boyhood in the
Speaker 1: delirium of typhus fever, though he could not do it
Speaker 1: when his mind was clear. Now this poor gentleman's memory
Speaker 1: has always broken down. Before he reached the explosion of
Speaker 1: the steamer, he could only remember starting up the river
Speaker 1: with his wife and child, and he had an idea
Speaker 1: that there was a race, but he was not certain.
Speaker 1: He could not name the boat he was on. There
Speaker 1: was a dead blank of a month or more that
Speaker 1: supplied not an item to his recollection. It was not
Speaker 1: for me to assist him, of course, But now in
Speaker 1: his delirium, it all comes out the names of the boats.
Speaker 1: Every incident of the explosion and likewise the details of
Speaker 1: his astonishing escape, that is up to where, just as
Speaker 1: a yawl boat was approaching him, he was clinging to
Speaker 1: the starboard wheel of the burning wreck at the time
Speaker 1: a falling timber struck him on the head. But I
Speaker 1: will write out his wonderful escape in full tomorrow or
Speaker 1: next day. Of course, the physicians will not let me
Speaker 1: tell him now that our Laura is indeed his child.
Speaker 1: That must come later, when his health is thoroughly restored.
Speaker 1: His case is not considered dangerous at all. He will
Speaker 1: recover presently, the doctors say. But they insist that he
Speaker 1: must travel a little when he gets well. They recommend
Speaker 1: a short sea voyage, and they say he can be
Speaker 1: persuaded to try it if we continue to keep him
Speaker 1: in ignorance and promise to let him see l as
Speaker 1: soon as he returns the letter that bore the last
Speaker 1: date of all this clause. It is the most unaccountable
Speaker 1: thing in the world. The mystery remains as impenetrable as ever.
Speaker 1: I have hunted high and low for him, and inquired
Speaker 1: of everybody, but in vain all trace of him ends
Speaker 1: at that hotel in New York. I never have seen
Speaker 1: or heard of him, since up to this day he
Speaker 1: could hardly have sailed, for his name does not appear
Speaker 1: upon the books of any shipping office in New York,
Speaker 1: or Boston or Baltimore. How fortunate it seems now that
Speaker 1: we kept this thing to ourselves. Laura still has a
Speaker 1: father in you, and it is better for her that
Speaker 1: we drop this subject here forever. That was all random
Speaker 1: remarks here and there, being pieced together, gave Laura a
Speaker 1: vague impression of a man of fine presence, about forty
Speaker 1: three or forty five years of age, with dark hair
Speaker 1: and eyes, and a slight limp in his walk. It
Speaker 1: was not stated which lake was defective, and this indistinct
Speaker 1: shadow represented her father. She made an exhaustive search for
Speaker 1: the missing letters, but found none. They had probably been burned,
Speaker 1: and she doubted not that the ones she had ferreted
Speaker 1: out would have shared the same fate if mister Hawkins
Speaker 1: had not been a dreamer, a void of method, whose
Speaker 1: mind was perhaps in a state of conflagration over some
Speaker 1: bright new speculation when he received them. She sat long
Speaker 1: with the letters in her lap, thinking and unconsciously freezing.
Speaker 1: She felt like a lost person who has traveled down
Speaker 1: a long lane in good hope of escape, and just
Speaker 1: as the night descends, finds his progress barred by a
Speaker 1: bridgeless river, whose further shore, if it has one, is
Speaker 1: lost in the darkness. If she could only have found
Speaker 1: these letters a month sooner, that was her thought. But
Speaker 1: now the dead had carried their secrets with them, a
Speaker 1: dreary melancholy settled down upon her, an undefined sense of
Speaker 1: injury crept into her heart. She grew very miserable. She
Speaker 1: had just reached the romantic age, the age when there
Speaker 1: is a sad sweetness, a dismal comfort to a girl
Speaker 1: to find out that there is a mystery connected with
Speaker 1: her birth which no other piece of good luck can afford.
Speaker 1: She had more than her rightful share of practical good sense,
Speaker 1: but still she was human, And to be human is
Speaker 1: to have one's little modicum of romance secreted away in
Speaker 1: one's composition. One never ceases to make a hero of
Speaker 1: one's self in private during life, but only alters the
Speaker 1: style of his heroism from time to time, as the
Speaker 1: drifting years belittle certain gods of his admiration and raise
Speaker 1: up others in their stead that seem greater. The recent
Speaker 1: wearing days and nights of watching, and the wasting grief
Speaker 1: that had possessed her, combined with the profound depression that
Speaker 1: naturally came with the reaction of idleness, made Laura peculiarly
Speaker 1: susceptible at this time to romantic impression. She was a
Speaker 1: heroine now with a mysterious father somewhere. She could not
Speaker 1: really tell whether she wanted to find him and spoil
Speaker 1: it all or not. But still all the traditions of
Speaker 1: romance pointed to the making the attempt as the usual
Speaker 1: and necessary course to follow. Therefore, she would some day
Speaker 1: begin the search when opportunity should offer. Now a former
Speaker 1: thought struck her, she would speak to Missus Hawkins, And
Speaker 1: naturally enough, Missus Hawkins appeared on the stage. At that moment.
Speaker 1: She said she knew all she knew that Laura had
Speaker 1: discovered the secret that mister Hawkins, the elder children, Colonel Sellars,
Speaker 1: and herself had kept so long and so faithfully. And
Speaker 1: she cried and said that now that troubles had begun,
Speaker 1: they would never end. Her daughter's love would wean itself
Speaker 1: away from her, and her heart would break. Her grief
Speaker 1: so wrought upon Laura that the girl almost forgot her
Speaker 1: own troubles for the moment in her compassion for her
Speaker 1: mother's distress. Finally, Missus Hawkins said, speak to me, child,
Speaker 1: Do not forsake me, Forget all this miserable talk. Say
Speaker 1: I am your mother. I have loved you so long,
Speaker 1: and there is no other. I am your mother in
Speaker 1: the sight of God, and nothing shall ever take you
Speaker 1: from me. All barriers fell before this appeal. Laura put
Speaker 1: her arms about her mother's neck and said, you are
Speaker 1: my mother and always shall be. We will be as
Speaker 1: we have always been, and neither this foolish talk, nor
Speaker 1: any other thing shall part us or make us less
Speaker 1: to each other than we are this hour there was
Speaker 1: no longer any sense of separation or estrangement between them. Indeed,
Speaker 1: their love seemed more perfect now than it had ever
Speaker 1: been before. By and by they went down stairs and
Speaker 1: sat by the fire and talked long and earnestly about
Speaker 1: Laura's history and the letters. But it transpired that Missus
Speaker 1: Hawkins had never known of this correspondence between her husband
Speaker 1: and Major Lackland. With his usual conceer sideration for his wife,
Speaker 1: mister Hawkins had shielded her from the worry the matter
Speaker 1: would have caused her. Laura went to bed at last
Speaker 1: with a mind that had gained largely in tranquility and
Speaker 1: had lost correspondingly in morbid romantic exultation. She was pensive
Speaker 1: the next day and subdued, but that was not matter
Speaker 1: for remark, for she did not differ from the mournful
Speaker 1: friends about her in that respect. Clay and Washington were
Speaker 1: the same loving and admiring brothers now that they had
Speaker 1: always been. The great secret was new to some of
Speaker 1: the younger children, but their love suffered no change under
Speaker 1: the wonderful revelation. It is barely possible that things might
Speaker 1: have presently settled down into their old rot and the
Speaker 1: mystery have lost the bulk of its romantic sublimity in
Speaker 1: Laura's eyes, if the village gossips could have quieted down.
Speaker 1: But they could not quiet down, and they did not.
Speaker 1: Day after day they called at the house, ostensibly upon
Speaker 1: visits of condolence, and they pumped away at the mother
Speaker 1: and the children, without seeming to know that their questionings
Speaker 1: were in bad taste. They meant no harm. They only
Speaker 1: wanted to know. Villagers always want to know. The family
Speaker 1: fought shy of the questionings, and of course that was
Speaker 1: high testimony. If the duchess was respectably born, why didn't
Speaker 1: they come out and prove it? Why did they stick
Speaker 1: to that poor thin story about picking her up out
Speaker 1: of a steamship explosion. Under this ceaseless persecution, Laura's morbid
Speaker 1: self communing was renewed. At night. The day's contribution of detraction, innuendo,
Speaker 1: and malicious conjecture would be canvassed in her mind, and
Speaker 1: then she would drift into a course of thinking. As
Speaker 1: her thoughts ran on, the indignant tears would spring to
Speaker 1: her eyes, and she would spit out fierce little ejaculations
Speaker 1: at intervals. But finally she would grow calmer and say
Speaker 1: some comforting, disdainful thing, something like, but who are they animals?
Speaker 1: What are their opinions? To me? Let them talk? I
Speaker 1: will not stoop to be affected by it. I could
Speaker 1: hate blank blank nonsense, nobody I care for, or in
Speaker 1: any way respect is changed toward me. I fancy. She
Speaker 1: may have supposed she was thinking of many individuals, but
Speaker 1: it was not so. She was thinking of only one,
Speaker 1: and her heart warmed somewhat too. The while. One day
Speaker 1: a friend overheard a conversation like this, and naturally came
Speaker 1: and told her all about it. Ned. They say, you
Speaker 1: don't go there any more? How is that? Well, I don't,
Speaker 1: But I tell you it's not because I don't want to,
Speaker 1: and it's not because I think it is any matter
Speaker 1: who her father was or who he wasn't either, It's
Speaker 1: only on account of this talk talk talk. I think
Speaker 1: she is a fine girl every way, and so would
Speaker 1: you if you knew her as well as I do.
Speaker 1: But you know how it is. When a girl once
Speaker 1: gets talked about, it's all up with her. The world
Speaker 1: won't ever let her alone after that. The only comment
Speaker 1: Laura made upon this revelation was, then it appears that
Speaker 1: if this trouble had not occurred, I could have had
Speaker 1: the happiness of mister ned Thurston's serious attentions. He is
Speaker 1: well favored in person, and well liked too, I believe,
Speaker 1: and comes of one of the first families of the village.
Speaker 1: He is prosperous too. I hear has been a doctor
Speaker 1: a year now and has had two patients, no three,
Speaker 1: I think, yes, it was three. I attended their funerals. Well,
Speaker 1: other people have hoped and been disappointed. I am not
Speaker 1: alone in that I wish you could stay to dinner, Maria.
Speaker 1: We are going to have sausages, and besides, I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk to you about Hawkeye and make you promise
Speaker 1: to come and see us when we are settled there.
Speaker 1: But Maria could not stay. She had come to mingle
Speaker 1: romantic tears with Laura's over the lover's defection, and had
Speaker 1: found herself dealing with a heart that could not rise
Speaker 1: to an appreciation of affliction because its interest was all
Speaker 1: centered in sausages. But as soon as was gone, Laura
Speaker 1: stamped her expressive foot and said, the coward are all
Speaker 1: books lies? I thought he would fly to the front
Speaker 1: and be brave and noble, and stand up for me
Speaker 1: against all the world, and defy my enemies. And wither
Speaker 1: these gossips with his scorn, poor crawling thing let him go.
Speaker 1: I do begin to despise this world. She lapsed into thought,
Speaker 1: and presently she said, if the time ever comes and
Speaker 1: I get a chance, oh I'll She could not find
Speaker 1: a word that was strong enough. Perhaps by and by
Speaker 1: she said, well, I am glad of it. I am
Speaker 1: glad of it. I never cared anything for him anyway,
Speaker 1: And then with small consistency she cried a little and
Speaker 1: patted her foot more indignantly than ever. End of Chapter
Speaker 1: ten