Thus preaching to Alfred, when he confided to her the fluctuations
of rapture and despair that were his lot in his intercourse with the
sometimes radiant and inviting, sometimes forbidding sprite, whose
wings he would fain bind with his embrace, and thus reassuring
herself, when perplexed by a flash of Rosa's native perverseness,
Mrs. Sutton was sanguine that all would come right in the end. What
was to be would be, and despite the rapids in their wooing, Alfred
would find in Rosa a faithful, affectionate little wife, while she
could never hope to secure a better, more indulgent, and, in most
respects, more eligible, partner than the Ayletts' well-to-do,
well-looking neighbor.
But the couple who occupied the central foreground of our
match-maker's thoughts were her niece, Mabel Aylott, and her own
departed husband's namesake, Frederic Chilton. She dilated to
herself and to Mabel with especial gusto upon the "wonderful
leading," the inward whisper that had prompted her to propose a trip
to the Rockbridge Alum Springs early in July. Neither she nor Mabel
was ailing in the slightest degree, but she imagined they would be
the brighter for a glimpse of the mountains and the livelier scenes
of that pleasant Spa--and whom should they meet there but the son of
"dear Frederic's" old friend, Mr. Chilton, and of course they saw a
great deal of him--and the rest followed as Providence meant it
should.
"The rest" expressed laconically the essence of numberless walks by
moonlight and starlight; innumerable dances in the great ball-room,
and the sweeter, more interesting confabulations that made the young
people better acquainted in four weeks than would six years of
conventional calls and small-talk. They stayed the month out,
although "Aunt Rachel" had, upon their arrival, named a fortnight as
the extreme limit of their sojourn. Frederic Chilton was their
escort to Eastern Virginia, and remained a week at Ridgeley--perhaps
to recover from the fatigue of the journey. So soon as he returned
to Philadelphia, in which place he had lately opened a law-office,
he wrote to Mabel, declaring his affection for her, and suing for
reciprocation. She granted him a gracious reply, and sanctioned by
fond, sympathetic Aunt Rachel, in the absence of Mabel's brother and
guardian, the correspondence was kept up briskly until Frederic's
second visit in September. Ungenerous gossips, envious of her
talents and influence, had occasionally sneered at Mrs. Sutton's
appropriation of the credit of other alliances--but this one was her
handiwork beyond dispute--hers and Providence's. She never forgot
the partnership. She had carried her head more erect, and there was
a brighter sparkle in her blue orbs since the evening Mabel had come
blushingly to her room, Fred's proposal in her hand--to ask counsel
and congratulations. Everybody saw through the discreet veil with
which she flattered herself she concealed her exultation when others
than the affianced twain were by--and while nobody was so unkind as
to expose the thinness of the pretence, she was given to understand
in many and gratifying ways that her masterpiece was considered, in
the Aylett circle, a suitable crown to the achievements that had
preceded it. Mabel was popular and beloved, and her betrothed, in
appearance and manner, in breeding and intelligence, justified Mrs.
Sutton's pride in her niece's choice.