Lily Pearl and The Mistress of Rosedale

Colonel Hamilton could not leave his regiment, as they were engaged in active duty; and so the daughter laid her away in Woodland cemetery under the cool shadows, as the setting sun was scattering its last rays upon the sparkling waters at the base of the hill. As the birds were chanting their good-night songs the solemn cortege turned away – back to life with all of its coming and stirring events, yet with heavy hearts.

"Yes, darling, we will leave Aunt Vina sole mistress of all and go to Kirkham for a few weeks at least," Mrs. Hamilton said a few mornings after, in answer to her daughter's plea.

"Willie is so anxious to tell me something and ask me about it. It has been a whole year since my visit, and two since our separation, he writes. I am so glad you have consented."

Few preparations were needed, and in a week Willie and "Phebe" were once more sitting together in the little parlor, where as a diminutive waif she had entered more than twelve years before, alone and unattended. What power of prescience could have pictured the changes? What vicissitudes and pleasures; what a mixing up of joys and sorrows, of snarls and hair-breadth escapes there had been crowded into the rolling years.

"I guess I may better read the letter, for I can never tell you what is in it," said Willie, taking the well-worn missive from his pocket. "No, you may have that pleasure, while I will watch your face, reading as well as you."

"How you puzzle me, Willie. I have a good mind to run away alone to read it; you have made me nervous!"

"Not a step shall you go." But her quick eyes were following the page down at a rapid rate, and did not listen.

"O Willie!" she exclaimed as she turned the paper and went on. "Do you believe it? Can it be true?"

"He says so!"

"And he knows. 'I have written Mr. Palmer,' he says, 'and am informed that there will be no difficulty in the operation, but it will require considerable practice on your part to be able to walk firmly as he does.' I know that he has two cork feet or legs, as one day while behind him on Chestnut street a friend pointed him out with the expression, 'who would imagine that his walkers were artificial?' But those poor little feet! O Willie, there is no joy without its gloomy side!"

But Willie did walk; never without his cane, but his creeping days came to an end, and a thankful heart blessed God for its unexpected bliss. Social life now has no horrors for his sensitive nature, and he mingled freely with the refined and intelligent who frequented the parlors of the honored colonel and his lovely family.

Reader, are you curious to see him? If so look for him in one of the largest clothing stores in the city of Philadelphia. Not as clerk or seamster as in former days, but as half owner and proprietor. Be good, pure and noble if you would succeed in reaching the eminence ambition points out to you. "Carve out your niche and place yourself in it," was the advice of a true philosopher to his son, and will answer for the young of all ages. Look up, and if too weak to climb, the hand above you will lend its willing aid.

The war came to a close at last, and Mr. St. Clair with his wife and daughter returned to their southern home. Mrs. Mason received them joyfully, but declared that she could "never, never forgive George for his silly freak of connecting himself with such plebeianism! My daughter's governess! He may better remain where such follies are tolerated!" But the parents only laughed, and the sister remained silent.

Rosedale would be rebuilt, not in as magnificent style as before, for its owner's long stay in the north had taught him many lessons.

"It may be I shall not care to occupy it," the son had remarked at the parting; "but my sweet sister will make a noble mistress for it."

And so it proved. George St. Clair became a northern man in deed as well as in feelings. He proved a successful tradesman and government officer in New York city in company with Elmore Pierson, who had been spared to his mother.

A happy family gathered in the home circle, blessed with fresh young blossoms of human life who were to adorn the world and bring comfort into the declining years of those whose feet were going downward. It is but a short journey between the two great rival cities, and the friends bound together by so many vicissitudes kept up a pleasant intimacy, often reviving past memories by tales of pleasant scenes or strange coincidences that would otherwise fade from sight in the moving panorama of human existence.

"We will have that Christmas dinner we were to have had three years ago," exclaimed Colonel Hamilton a week before the world-famed day. "A regular house warming! Let me see! Can we not get Willie's sister here with her family, and not let the dear boy know anything about it until then? Gaylord and his wife have gone back to their home, and I suppose he would not come with any amount of coaxing! He has grown so sour and ugly during the last six years that I pity that feeble little wife of his! O my letter! I have not even told you what has set me in such a commotion! Just like one of my freaks of forgetfulness!"

"I was wondering," laughed Mrs. Hamilton, for he was skipping around the room with the joyousness of a little boy, while searching in his pockets for the letter that was to make the revelations.

"Where is the thing? Well I declare, if it is not down to the office on the desk, as true as the world! If Willie gets hold of it! But no matter."

"Do, tell me, Pearl! I am glad you have doffed your regimentals. How you would look in a Colonel's uniform at this moment!"

"Honor and glory must pass away, but the St. Clair's will not pass away; they are coming and may be here to-day, Mrs. Mason and all!"

"And remain till after the holidays?"

"Longer, my dear! Christmas dinner, however, is the main subject under consideration. Let me see; Vina is getting pretty old for such an occasion, and if she will keep little Charlie safe in the nursery, it is about all we ought to ask of her. Lizzie is good in her place, and little Bobby is a treasure; but we must have another cook. What makes you look so solemn, my dear wife?"

"O, no – only – ."

"Well – only what?"

"Is that Major Belknap to be here?"

"Do you not like him, Lillian? He was one of the bravest and noblest officers in the whole regiment."

"It is not that. But how can I ever spare my darling child?"

"This will have to be done some day; and I know of no one to whom I could more easily transfer our daughter's happiness. It is evident that her heart is not wholly her own, and it would not look well: for you or me to interfere with any arrangement of this kind," he laughed. The sunshine of the husband's cheerfulness fell into the chilly places of the mother's fears, warming them into brightness.

The Christmas festivities were a secured success.

George St. Clair came down from New York, to be clasped in the arms of his devoted mother; and receive the hearty hug from the dear old father, and loving embrace from one sister, and the cold salutations of the second. "If this does not take away my breath," he exclaimed, drawing his hesitating wife towards the stately Mrs. Mason, while disengaging herself from the demonstrative greetings of others.

"Sister," he said, "this is my wife, who has generously consented to add an additional lustre to the St. Clair escutcheon, and, without doubt, would as kindly place you on her list of friends!"

Anna extended her hand, which Mrs. Mason took with a stiff bow of recognition.

This did not escape the quick eye of Colonel Hamilton. "A trifle freezy for so warm a room," he whispered, sotto voce, as he turned to meet Willie, who was approaching, leaning on the arm of his foster-sister.

"This way, my boy. A Merry Christmas," and he opened the door into the family sitting-room, where Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins, with their own small Willie, were waiting his coming.

He drew back. "Am I dreaming! Fanny, my sister! Is this really you?" A tear found its way to the calm blue eyes, whose fountain had been closed for many a happy month by the blessings that had been piled upon it.

"We are all here, my brother! You would not come to us, so we came to you! If Mother could see – and know!"

Her voice choked and she turned to the window.

What a happy circle gathered around that bountifully-loaded table on that Christmas day! Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, friends and lovers! While the host stood with uplifted hands, asking the Lord to bless and draw all hearts together, an "Amen" found its way out of every answering soul; and the feast went on.

Here we leave them, gentle reader, – bid them all good bye, with a wish and a prayer for their future happiness and success.

[FINIS.]