The Cameron pride; or, purified by suffering : $b A novelHolmes, Mary Jane
General
The Cameron pride; or, purified by suffering : $b A novel
Holmes, Mary Jane
American fiction -- 19th century
“This afternoon the dresses came home, and they do look beautifully,
while every one has belt, and gloves, and ribbons, and sashes, and laces
or muslins to match—fashionable people are so particular about these
things. I have tried them on, and except that I think them too tight,
they fit admirably, and _do_ give me a different air from what Miss
Hazelton’s did. But I really believe I like the old ones best, because
_you_ helped to make them; and when Wilford said I must send them home,
I went where he could not see me and cried, because—well, I hardly know
why I cried, unless I feared you might feel badly. Dearest Helen, don’t,
will you? I love you just as much, and shall remember you the same as if
I wore the dresses. Dearest sister, I can fancy the look that will come
on your face, and I wish I could be present to kiss it away. Imagine me
there, will you? with my arms around your neck, and tell mother not to
mind. Tell her I never loved her so well as now, and that when I come
home from Europe I shall bring her ever so many things. There is a new
black silk for her in the trunk, and one for each of the aunties, while
for you there is a lovely brown, which Wilford said was just your style,
telling me to select as nice a silk as I pleased, and this he did, I
think, because he guessed I had been crying. He asked what made my eyes
so red, and when I would not tell him he took me with him to the silk
store and bade me get what I liked. Oh, he is the dearest, kindest
husband, and I love him all the more because I am the least bit afraid
of him.
“And now I must stop, for Wilford says so. Dear Helen, dear all of you,
I can’t help crying as I say good-bye. Remember little Katy, and if she
ever did anything bad, don’t lay it up against her. Kiss Morris and
Uncle Ephraim, and say how much I love them. Darling sister, darling
mother, good-bye.”
This was Katy’s letter, and it brought a gush of tears from the four
women remembered so lovingly in it, the mother and the aunts stealing
away to weep in secret, without ever stopping to look at the new dresses
sent to them by Wilford Cameron. They were very soft, very handsome,
especially Helen’s rich golden brown, and as she looked at it she felt a
thrill of satisfaction in knowing it was hers, but this quickly passed
as she took out one by one the garments she had folded with so much
care, wondering when Katy would wear each one and where she would be.
“She will never wear them, never—they are not fine enough for her now!”
she exclaimed, and as she just then came upon the little plaid, she laid
her head upon the trunk lid, while her tears dropped like rain in among
the discarded articles condemned by Wilford Cameron.
It seemed to her like Katy’s grave, and she was sobbing bitterly, when a
step sounded outside the window, and a voice called her name. It was
Morris, and lifting up her head Helen said passionately,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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