"The manner in which the Van Bergs live,would be a revelation to you,"said Stanton,angrily,"and one undoubtedly not at all to your taste.In comparison with the Sibley show-rooms,which are stuffed and crowded with costly and incongruous trumpery,Mrs.Van Berg's house would seem very plain;but to one capable of distinguishing the difference,the evidence of mind and taste,instead of mere money,is seen on every side.Simplicity and beauty are united as far as possible.Everything is the best of its kind and devoid of veneer and sham.There is no lavish and vulgar profusion,and there is a harmony of color and decoration that makes every room a picture in itself.Moreover,the house does not grow suddenly shabby after you leave those parts which are seen by visitors.It is all genuine and high-toned,like the people who live in it.""What sort of people are Mrs.Van Berg and her daughter?"Ida asked,with averted face and low constrained voice.
"Mrs.Van Berg comes of a family that has been aristocratic for several generations,and one that has been singularly free from black sheep.She appears to strangers somewhat reserved and stately,but when you become better acquainted you find she has a warm,kind heart.But she has a perfect horror of vulgarity.If she had seen this Sibley take more wine than he ought and make a spectacle of himself at a public table,she would no more admit him to her parlor than a Bowery rough.Mere wealth would not turn the scale a hair in his favor.If she has impressed on her son one trait more than another,it is this disgust with all kinds of vulgar people and vulgar vice.I don't think Van will sit down at the same table with Sibley again,or permit Miss Burton to do so."Ida averted her face still farther,but said nothing.
"Indeed!"said Mrs.Mayhew;"and has Miss Burton given him the rights of a protector.""Sorry to disappoint you,aunt;but I have no nice bit of gossip to report.Miss Burton is an orphan,and so any friend of hers has a right to protect her.I would have taken this matter into my own hands were it not out of consideration for you and Ida,who unfortunately have permitted yourselves to be identified with Sibley as his especial friends.Indeed,most in the house regard him as Ida's favored or accepted suitor.But I warn you to cut loose from him at once or you may suffer a severe humiliation.If you and Ida will continue to encourage him,then I tell you plainly I shall follow you no further into the slough."The maiden stamped her foot and made an emphatic gesture of rage and protest,but did not trust herself to answer the cruel words,each one of which was like the thrust of a knife.
But Mrs.Mayhew,whose desire to be respectable was a ruling passion,now became thoroughly alarmed and said hastily:
"Mr.Sibley is certainly nothing to me,and I hope nothing to Ida.
Get rid of him any way you can,since things have reached the pass you represent.If society is going to put him under ban,we must cut him;that's all there is about it,and his behavior at dinner gives us an excuse."During this conversation Mr.Mayhew had been lying on the sofa with closed eyes,and as motionless as if he were dead.Now he said in low,bitter tones:
"Mark it well--an excuse,not a reason.O,virtue!how beautiful thou art!""You are the last one in the world to speak on this subject,"said Mrs.Mayhew,angrily.
"Right again.You see,Ik,my family never before met a man who promised to make such an appropriate addition to our number.It's a pity you are interfering;"and he poured out a large glass of brandy.
"Would to God I had died before I had seen this day!"cried Ida in a tone of such sharp agony that all turned towards her in a questioning surprise;but she rushed into her own room and locked the door after her.
"Things have gone farther between her and Sibley than we thought,"said Stanton,gloomily.
"Well,Ik,"said Mr.Mayhew with a laugh that was dreadful to hear,"you had better cut loose from us.We are all going to the devil by the shortest cut.""Would to heaven I had never seen you!"cried Mrs.Mayhew,hysterically."YOU are the one who is dragging us down.If my nephew deserts us,I will brand him as a coward and no gentleman.""I'll not desert you unless you desert yourself,"said Stanton,with a gesture of disgust and impatience;"but if you persist in going down into the deepest quagmires you can find,you cannot expect me to follow you;"and with these words he left the room.
Mr.Mayhew was soon sunk in the deepest lethargy,and his wife spent the afternoon in impotently fretting and fuming against her "miserable fate,"as she termed it,and in trying to devise some way of keeping up appearances.