Flower and Jewel; or, Daisy Forrest's Daughter — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Flower and Jewel; or, Daisy Forrest's Daughter
John Stuart Mill · en
Poky had generously bestowed on her a little money, and with this she
made her way to the little Southern town where she had been born,
determined to learn something of her mother's history, and also
believing that she might make an humble living here better than among
the human wolves of a great city.
First of all, she sought humble lodgings at a little third-class hotel,
and here she soon learned the location of the cemetery, and set out to
visit the graves of her father and mother.
She had no difficulty in finding the handsome inclosure wherein all
of the dead and gone Fieldings were interred. It was the pride of the
cemetery, just as the Fieldings had been the pride of the town ere
their last descendant, handsome, erring, wretched Charley Fielding had
flung himself madly into a suicide's awful grave.
Flower sat down among the cold marble monuments, trailing vines, and
sweet tea-roses, and fixed her eyes on the small, unpretentious stone
that recorded the death of her wretched young father.
Out of her abundant wealth his widow had spared but little for his
grave-stone. Her resentment had been too strong and enduring, and
followed him beyond the grave.
Crushed and despairing, the unhappy girl sat among the graves of her
ancestors, with her golden head bowed low as she reflected that the
bond that united them was one of bitter shame and woe.
It was too hard to linger there long, bowed down with shame and sorrow.
She moved away presently to seek the place where her erring mother had
been laid to rest, and so came upon the old sexton busily digging a
grave. There were a few loiterers about, and a veiled lady sat in the
shadow of a weeping willow near by, but Flower noticed no one. She went
toward the old man, and asked, timidly:
"Will you tell me where to find the grave of Daisy Forrest?"
The old man looked up, their eyes met, he staggered back, and dropped
his spade, uttering a cry of terror:
"Good Lord deliver me!"
The veiled lady, under the drooping branches of the willow, did not
seem to notice, but some of the people who were walking about the paths
came closer, curious to know what had happened to the old sexton.
He was staring at Flower with frightened eyes, as if she had been a
ghost.
"My good man, I did not mean to startle you," Flower said, in her low
voice, that sounded like saddest music. "I am looking for my mother's
grave."
"Oh, my good Lord! this is surely her ghost!" gasped the sexton,
retreating still further. "Oh, I told Mrs. Fielding it was a sin to do
this, but she would not listen, she would have her way! It was a shame
for me to obey her. And now I'm punished, for Daisy Forrest has come
from her grave to look at me and reproach me!"
Some one touched his arm.
"Old man, you're daft. It's a living woman speaking to you."