After they were married, Suzette and Matt went to live on his farm; and
it was then that she accomplished a purpose she had never really given
up. She surrendered the whole place at Hatboro' to the company her
father had defrauded. She had no sentiment about the place, such as had
made the act impossible to Adeline, and must have prevented the
sacrifice on Suzette's part as long as her sister lived. But suffering
from that and from all other earthly troubles was past for Adeline; she
was dead; and Suzette felt it no wrong to her memory to put out of her
own hands the property which something higher than the logic of the case
forbade her to keep. As far as her father was concerned, she took his
last act as a sign that he wished to make atonement for the wrong he had
committed; and she felt that the surrender of this property to his
creditors was in the line of his endeavor. She had strengthened herself
to bear his conviction and punishment, if he came back; and since he was
dead, this surrender of possessions tainted for her with the dishonesty
in which the unhappy man had lived was nothing like loss; it was rather
a joyful relief.
Yet it was a real sacrifice, and she was destined to feel it in the
narrowed conditions of her life. But she had become used to narrow
conditions; she had learned how little people could live with when they
had apparently nothing to live for; and now that in Matt she had
everything to live for, the surrender of all she had in the world left
her incalculably rich.
Matt rejoiced with her in her decision, though he had carefully kept
himself from influencing it. He was poor, too, except for the
comfortable certainty that his father could not let him want; but so far
as he had been able, he had renounced his expectations from his father's
estate in order that he might seem to be paying Northwick's indebtedness
to the company. Doubtless it was only an appearance; in the end the
money his father left would come equally to himself and Louise; but in
the meantime the restitution for Northwick did cramp Eben Hilary more
for the moment than he let his son know. So he thought it well to allow
Matt to go seriously to work on account of it, and to test his economic
theories in the attempt to make his farm yield him a living. It must be
said that the prospect dismayed neither Matt nor Suzette; there was that
in her life which enabled her to dispense with the world and its
pleasures and favors; and he had long ceased to desire them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account