Daisy's Necklace - And What Came of It

thior - Thomas Bailey Aldrich

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Daisy's Necklace, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Daisy's Necklace And What Came of It Author: Thomas Bailey Aldrich Release Date: December 13, 2009 [EBook #30668] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAISY'S NECKLACE *** Produced by David Garcia, Woodie4 and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net DAISY'S NECKLACE: And What Came of It. (A LITERARY EPISODE.) BY T. B. ALDRICH. The little dogs and all, ........ see, they bark at me! King Lear. NEW-YORK: DERBY & JACKSON, 119 NASSAU STREET. Cincinnati: H. W. Derby & Co. 1857. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, By Derby & Jackson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. TO C. L. F., The Noble Merchant And The Good Friend, This Burlesque Of Things In General, Is Respectfully Inscribed. [Pg v]CONTENTS. PROLOGUE. CHAPTER I. THE LITTLE CASTLE-BUILDERS. The House by the Sea—The Round Window—God's eyes in Flowers—The Day-Dreamers—A Picture—An Angel—Old Nanny—On the Sea-Shore— Shell-Hunting—Bell's Freak and Mortimer's Dream—Asleep. CHAPTER II. THE DEAD HOPE.

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Publié par	thior
Publié le	08 décembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	42
Langue	English

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Cincinnati: H. W. Derby & Co.1857.Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856,By Derby & Jackson,in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for theSouthern District of New-York.PROLOGUE.TOC. L. F.,The Noble Merchant And The Good Friend,This Burlesque Of Things In General,Is Respectfully Inscribed.CONTENTS.CHAPTER I.THE LITTLE CASTLE-BUILDERS.The House by the Sea—The Round Window—God's eyes in Flowers—TheDay-Dreamers—A Picture—An Angel—Old Nanny—On the Sea-Shore—Shell-Hunting—Bell's Freak and Mortimer's Dream—Asleep.CHAPTER II.THE DEAD HOPE.Time's Changes—Fall-down Castles—Little Bell waiting—When will Fathercome Home?—Little Bell weary—What the Sea said—Nevermore.[Pg v]CHAPTER III.SOUL-LAND.Autumn and Winter—By the Fireside—Where little Bell is going—Nanny singsabout Chloe—Bell reads a poem—The flight of an Angel—The Funeral—Thegood Parson—The two Grave-stones.[Pg vi]

CHAPTER IV.A FEW SPECIMENS OF HUMANITY.Down Town—Messrs. Flint & Snarle—Tim, the Office Boy, and the pale Book-keeper—The Escritoire—The Purloined Package—Mr. Flint goes Home—Midnight—Miss Daisy Snarle—The Poor Author.CHAPTER V.DAISY SNARLE.Sunday morning—Harvey Snarle and Mortimer—A Tale of Sorrow—TheSnow-child—Mortimer takes Daisy's hand—Snarle's death.CHAPTER VI.THE PHANTOM AT SEA.A Storm in the Tropics—The Lone Ship—The Man at the Wheel—How he sangstrange Songs—The Apparition—The drifting Bark.CHAPTER VII.IN WHICH THERE IS A MADMAN.Mr. Flint sips vino d'oro—The Stranger—The Letter—Mr. Flint Outwitted—Mr.Flint's Photograph—The Madman's Story—The Wrecked Soul—How Mr. Flintis troubled by his Conscience, and dreams of a Pair of Eyes.[Pg vii]CHAPTER VIII.MR. FLINT IS PERFECTLY ASTONISHED, AND MORTIMER HAS A VISION.The Light Heart—A Scene—The Sunny Heart—A Dream of Little Bell—A Hint.CHAPTER IX.DAISY AND THE NECKLACE.Our petite Heroine—How she talked to the Poets—The Morocco Case—Daisy's Eyes make Pictures—Tears, idle Tears!

CHAPTER X.ST. AGNES' EVE.The Old Year—St. Agnes—Keats' Poem—The Circlet of Pearls—A Cloud—The Promise—Mrs. Snarle continues her Knitting.CHAPTER XI.MORTIMER HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE GREAT PUBLISHER, ANDMR. FLINT MAKES A DISCOVERY.H. H. Hardwill, Publisher—Criminal Literature—Alliterative Titles—Goldwood—Poor Authors—A Heaven for them in the Perspective—Flint's Discovery, andthe Horns of his Dilemma.CHAPTER XII.WHAT DAISY DID.The Arrest—Doubt and Love—Daisy and the Necklace—The Search—TheHeart of Daisy Snarle.[Pg viii]CHAPTER XIII.IN THE TOMBS.The Author's Summer Residence—The Egyptian Prison—Without and Within—A Picture—Sunshine in shadow—Joe Wilkes and his unique Proposal—Gloomy Prospects—The Face at the Cell-window.CHAPTER XIV.A CLOUD WITH A SILVER LINING.The Strange Visit—The Lawyer—Walters and Mr. Flint—The Clouds—A Stripof Sunshine—Mortimer.CHAPTER XV.IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES.A Picture—The Lawyer's Note—Mr. Hardwill once more—The Scene at theLaw Office—Mr. Flint Hors du Combat—Face to Face.

CHAPTER XVI.THE OLD HOUSE BY THE SEA.Clap-trap—John Flint—The Old House—Joe Wilkes—Strephon and Chloe—Tim enjoying himself—Edward Walters and Little Bell—A Last Word.EPILOGUE.TO THE[Pg 9]UNFORTUNATE READER.In this little Extravaganza, I have done just what I intended.I have attempted to describe, in an auto-biographical sort of way, a well-meaning, but somewhat vain young gentleman, who, having flirted desperatelywith the Magazines, takes it into his silly head to write a novel, all the chaptersof which are laid before the reader, with some running criticism by T. JamesBarescythe, Esquire, the book-noticer of "The Morning Glory," ("a journaldevoted to the Fine Arts and the Amelioration of all Mankind,") and the type of acertain class which need not be distinctly specified for recognition. I haveendeavored to make the novel of my literary hero such a one as a young manwith fine taste and crude talent might produce; and I think I have succeeded. Itis certainly sufficiently unfinished.[Pg 10]In drawing the character of Barescythe, the point of my quill may have pierced afriend; and if you ask, like Ludovico,"What shall be said of thee?"I shall answer, like Othello,"Why, anything:An honorable murderer, if you will;"For nought I did in hate, but all in honor.The only audacious thing I have done is the writing of this preface. If there isanything more stupid than a "preface," it is a book-critic. If anything could bemore stupid than a book-critic, it would be a preface. But, thank heaven, there isnot. In saying this, I refer to a particular critic; for I would not, for the sake of atenth edition, malign in such a wholesale manner those capital good fellows ofthe press—those verbal accoucheurs who are so pleasantly officious at thebirth of each new genius. Not I. I have"A fellow-feeling"and a love for them, which would seem like a bid for their good nature, ifexpressed here.I have put my name on the title-page of this trifle from principle. My pen-childrenare all mine, and I cannot thinkof disowning one, though it may happen to be[Pg 11] born hump-backed. But I beg of you, gentlest of unfortunate readers, not to takeDaisy's Necklace as a serious exponent of my skill at story-telling. It is notprinted at the "urgent request of numerous friends"—I am so fortunate as not to

have many—but a seductive little argument in the shape of a cheque is the solecause of its present form; otherwise, I should be content to let it die an easydeath in the columns of the journal which first had the temerity to publish it. Ifthe world could always know, as it may in this case, why a book is printed, itwould look with kindlier eyes on dullness bound in muslin. It would say, withhonest Sancho Panza: "Let us not look the gift-horse in the mouth."When the sunshine of this dear old world has reddened the wine in my heart—melted down its sparkles to a creamy flavor, I will give you a richer draught—mayhap a beaker of Hippocrene.Till then, may God's blessing be on us both, though neither of us deserve it.Clinton Place, 1856. PROLOGUE.[Pg 12][Pg 13]It hath beene sayed, and it seemeth soe untoe me, that ye man who[Pg 14]writes a booke maist have much vanitie and vexation of spirite.Ye Two Poore Authors.PROLOGUE.[Pg 15]"Mrs. Muggins!""Yes, sir"."Say that I am sick. Say I am dead—buried—out of town. In short, say anythingyou will; but deny my existence to every one who calls, with the exception ofMr. Barescythe.""Yes, sir"."I am going to write a novel, Mrs. Muggins!"That lady did not exhibit much emotion."Yes, sir."And Mrs. Muggins ambled out of the room-door, to which she had beensummoned by some peremptory appeals of my bell. I was somewhat shockedat the cool manner with which Mrs. Muggins received the literary intelligence;but she, poor, simple soul, did not know that my greatness was a-ripening.[Pg 16]"Some of these days," said I to myself, turning toward the window, "some ofthese days, mayhap a hundred years hence, as the stranger passes throughWashington Parade Ground, this house—wrinkled and old then—will bepointed out to his wonder-loving eyes as the one in which my novel waswritten; and the curious stranger will cut his name on the walls of the roomwhich I never occupied, and carry away a slice of the door-step!"I immediately fell in love with this fascinating thought, and followed it up.

The slender trees which now inhabit the Parade Ground had grown immensely—the trunks of some were three feet in diameter, and around them all was amassive iron railing. The brick and brownstone houses on Waverly Place andFourth-street had long been removed, and huge edifices with cast-iron frontssupplanted them. I looked in vain for the little drug-store on the corner with itsred and green bottles, and the fruit-man's below with its show of yellowbananas and sour oranges. The University, dimly seen through the interlacingbranches, was a classic ruin.Everything was changed and new.All the old land-marks were gone, save the Parade Ground, and one quaint oldhouse facing Mac Dougal-street: the which house was propped up with beams,for, long and long ago, before "the memory of the oldest inhabitant" even, anauthor, a sweet quiet man, once wrote a famous book there, and the world of1956 would preserve the very floors he trod on!And so I sat there by my window in the autumnal sunshine, and watched thegolden clouds as the wind blew them against the square white turrets of theUniversity, which peered above the trees.Ah, Mrs. Muggins, thought I, though you only said "yes, sir," when I spoke of mynovel—though your name is carved in solid brass on the hall-door, yet you willbe forgotten like a rain that fell a thousand years ago, when my name, onlystamped with printer's ink, on ephemeral slips of paper, is a household word.So I came to pity Mrs. Muggins, and harbored no ill feelings toward the simplecreature who was so speedily to be gathered under the dusty wings of oblivion.I wondered how she could be cheerful. I wondered if she ever thought of being"dead and forgotten," and if it troubled her.Lost in the aromatic fumes of a regalia, I sat waiting the advent of my friendBarescythe—Barry for short—to whom I had addressed a laconic note, begginghim to visit me at my rooms without delay.I like Barescythe.He is conceited, but that's a small fault with genius. His idea of literature doesnot exactly chime with mine, for he believes that there have been no novels, tospeak of, since Scott's, and little poetry since Pope's. But, aside from this, he isa noble fellow; he carries his heart, like a falcon, on his hand, where everybodycan see it. Barry is fond of wine—but that's a failing not peculiar to genius, andnot confined to book-critics. He is a trifle rough in speech, not always the thingin manners; but "the elements so mix in him"—that I have a great mind to finishthat excellent quotation.I heard his familiar step on the stairs, and a second afterwards he kicked openmy room-door with his characteristic disregard of ceremony."Ralph," said he, with some anxiety, "what's up?""Sit down!""Are you sick?"""No."Are you going to be?""No.""Then why, in the name of the many-headed Hydra, did you send me such an[Pg 17][Pg 18][Pg 19]

article as this? Read it."The note ran as follows:"Mac Dougal-street,"June 30, 18—."Dear Barry,— "Come and see me without delay. I have got a—"Eternally,"Ralph.""O, yes!" said I, laughing; "I left out a word. I meant to have said, 'I have got anidea.'""Humph! I thought it was a colic."Mr. Barescythe had left a host of editorial duties in the middle and busiest timeof the day, expecting to find me lying at the point of death, and was quite out ofhumor because I was not.There is something extremely human in Barescythe."Criticus," I spoke as deliberately as the subject would allow, "I am going towrite a novel."This unfortunate avowal was the rose-leaf which caused the cup of hisindignation to overflow."If it had been a case of cholera," commenced Barescythe, with visible emotion,[Pg 20]"or the measles, or the croup, or the chicken-pox—if you had broken your thigh,spine, or neck, I wouldn't have complained. But a novel—"And Barry began whistling wildly,as he invariably does when annoyed. After using up a variety of popular airs,the shadow of his good-humor returned to him."Ralph," he said, taking my hand, "I have a great respect for you. I don't knowwhy, to be frank, but I have. I like your little song of—what do you call it?—inPutnam's Monthly, and your prose sketches in the Knickerbocker; but don't be afool, Ralph!"With which piece of friendly advice, he put on his brown felt hat, drew it over hisbrows, and stalked out of the room, with"A countenance moreIn sorrow than in anger,"like Mr. Hamlet's father.I saw no more of Barescythe for two weeks.

The summer months flew away.The nights were growing longer. The air had a vein of sparkling cold in it; atevery gust the trees in the Parade Ground shook down golden ingots; and thegrass-plots, and the graveled walks, and the marble bowl of the fountain, werepaved with emerald and amethyst—a mosaic flooring of tinted leaves. Theclouds were haggard faces, and the wind wailed like a broken heart. Indeed,"The melancholy days had come,The saddest of the year,"and Mrs. Muggins had made a fire in my grate!Blessings on him who invented fire-places! A poor day-dreamer's benedictiongo with him! The world in the grate! I have watched its fantastic palaces andcrimson inhabitants—dipped my pen, as it were, into its stained rivers, andwritten their grotesqueness! Dizzy bridges, feudal castles, great yawning caves,and red-hot gnomes, are to be found in the grate; mimic volcanos, and shipsthat sail into sparry grottos, and delicate fire-shells with pink and blue lips!Crash!The coals sink down, and new figures are born, like the transient pictures in akaleidescope. So it came to pass that I dozed over the metempsychosis of myfire-world, and commenced the novel.Give me crisp winter days for writing, and the long snowy nights for dreamyslumber.O antique humorist, quaint-mouthed Sancho Panza! with you, I say, "Blessingson the man who invented sleep!" Sleep, pleasant sleep!—that little airy nothingon the eyelids!—that little spell of thought which comes from no place and goesnowhere!—which comes upon us silently and splendidly, like a falling star, andtrails its golden fancies on our waking hours. Sleep for the young—fresh, dewysleep! Sleep for the sick! Sleep for the weary and disconsolate—sweet dreamsand sweet forgetfulness for them! Smooth the white hairs of the old; place thyinvisible fingers on their lips; close their eyes gently, gently. Sleep, and let thempass into nothingness!In a dreamy mood, half awake and half asleep, I filled sheet after sheet with mycurious back-handed chirography. The white feathery snow came down cygnet-soft, and I wrote. I heard the wind ditties in the chimney, the merry wrangling ofsleigh-bells, the sonorous clash of fire-bells, and the manuscript grew under mypen, as if by magic. I came to love the nurslings of my fancy as no one else will.I liked the cold, cynical features of Mr. Flint, with his undertaker's aspect; thechild-spirit, Bell; Daisy Snarle's eyes; the heart-broken old sailor; the pale book-keeper; Tim, the office boy; Mr. Hardwill, the great publisher; Joe Wilkes, andall of them!Mrs. Muggins occasionally looked in on me.Mrs. Muggins' regard for me was increasing. She never left the coal-scuttle onthe stairs for my benefit, as she used to; she was eternally hearing my bell ringwhen it didn't, and answering it so promptly when it did, that I began to thinkthat she lived night and day just outside my door.Pleasant Mrs. Muggins!I tried not to feel elated at these little widowy attentions; but los hombres sonmortales.[Pg 21][Pg 22][Pg 23]

She handed me my coffee with a motherly tenderness that was perfectlytouching. She looked at me with the eyes of Solicitude, and spoke with the lipsof culminating Respect; and once, in a burst of confidence, she told me that shehad six orphan sons, who were "sealurs."My respect increased for Mrs. Muggins. My novel might run through only oneedition, but she,—she had six editions of herself afloat! And I thought that, afterall, a woman like her who had produced a half a dozen Neptunes, foundedperhaps a half a dozen races, was rendering more service to this apple-likeglobe, than one poor devil of an author prolifically pregnant with indifferentbooks.I spoke to Barescythe about it, and it was pleasant to have him coincide withme once.It is an agreeable fact, that"The world goes up and the world goesdown,And the sunshine follows the rain."The new year was four months old. The flowers were teething: the tiny robinswere able to go alone, and above the breezy hum of many thousand voices,above the monotonous and ocean-like jar of omnibus wheels, I could hear thebabbling of hyaline rills in pleasant woodland places! I could not see the silverthreads of water winding in and out among the cool young grass; I could notguess where they were; but through the city smoke, over the dingy chimney-tops, they spake to me with kindly voices!I knew that daisies were fulling in sunny meadows, and that the dandeliontrailed its gold by the dusty road-sides: for"The delicate-footed Spring was come."I knew it by the geranium at my window. It had put forth two sickly leaves. Twosickly leaves for me, and the world alive with vernal things! Spring, thou Queenof the Twelve! Dainty, dewy Spring—"Give me a golden pen, and let me leanOn heaped-up flowers,"when I write of thee! Thy breath is the amber sunshine, and thy foot-prints areviolets! Hide Winter in thy mantle: crown his cold brow with mignionette: hangmorning-glories on his icicles: keep him from me forever!"For winter maketh the light heart sad,And thou—thou makest the sad heartgay!""Barry," said I, "the sunshine has taken me by the hand, to lead me into a sweetNew-England village. There is my manuscript. Read it, if you can, condemn it, ifyou will, and tell me what you think of it when I return."That awful critic put Daisy's Necklace under his arm, and walked away—avictim to friendship, a literary Damon of the Nineteenth Century. [Pg 24][Pg 25][Pg 26][Pg 27]

I.As children gathering pebbles on theshore.Milton.No daintie flower or herbe that groweson grownd,No arborett with painted blossomesdrestAnd smelling sweete, but there it mightbe foundTo bud out faire, and throwe her sweetesmels al around.Edmund Spencer.I.THE LITTLE CASTLE-BUILDERS.The House by the Sea—the Round Window—God's Eyes inFlowers—the Day-Dreamers—A Picture—An Angel—Old Nanny—On the Sea-Shore—Shell-Hunting—Bell's Freak and Mortimer'sDream—Asleep.Imagine, if you will, one of the quaintest old country mansions that was everbuilt—a big-chimneyed, antique-gabled, time-browned old pile, and you have apicture of the Ivyton House as it was in summers gone by.The pillars of the porch were not to be seen for the fragrant vines whichclambered over them; lip-tempting grapes purpled[A] on the southern gable ofthe house, and the full, bright cherries clustered thicker than stars among theleaves. The walks of the garden were white with pebbles brought from the sea-shore; the dewy clover-beds, on each side, lay red with luscious strawberries,as if some one had sprinkled drops of fire over them; and among the larchesand the cherry trees there was a salt sea-smell pleasantly mingled with thebreathing of wild roses.A large, round window in one of the gables looked toward the ocean—a fineplace for a summer view, or to watch, of a gusty afternoon, the billows as theyswell and break in long waving battalions on the beach.One evening near the end of summer, two children were sitting at this circularwindow. Ten Aprils had half ripened them. The boy had dark hair, and a touchof sunlight in his darker eyes. The girl was light and delicate—with a face ofspiritual beauty, dream-like, heavenly, like the pictures of the Madonna whichgenius has hung on the chapel walls of the Old World."Bell," said the boy, "we never grow weary of looking at the sea.""No; because while we are watching, we think that father may be coming hometo us across its bosom; and we count the waves as if they were moments. We[Pg 28][Pg 29][Pg 30][Pg 31]