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14 - The Last Word · Queen Hildegarde

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen of Queen Hildegarde. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Queen
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  Speaker 1: Hildegarde by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards the last word. The
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  Speaker 1: lovely autumn is gone and winter is here. Mister and
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  Speaker 1: missus Graham have long since been settled at home, and
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  Speaker 1: Hildegarde is with them. How does it fare with her,
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  Speaker 1: the new Hildegarde, under the old influences and amid the
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  Speaker 1: old surroundings. For answer, let us take the word of
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  Speaker 1: her oldest friend, the friend who knows Hildegard. Marge Everton
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  Speaker 1: has just finished a long letter to Helen mac Ivor,
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  Speaker 1: who is spending the winter in Washington, and there can
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  Speaker 1: be no harm in our taking a peep into it.
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  Speaker 1: You ask me about Hilde Graham, but alas I have
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  Speaker 1: nothing pleasant to say. My dear Hilda is simply lost
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  Speaker 1: to us. It is all the result of that dreadful
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  Speaker 1: summer spent among swineherds. You know what the Bible says.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what, but something terrible about that
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  Speaker 1: sort of thing of course, it is partly her mother's
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  Speaker 1: influence as well. I have always dreaded it for Hilda,
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  Speaker 1: who is so sensitive to impressions. Why I remember as
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  Speaker 1: far back as the first year that we were at
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  Speaker 1: Madame Hautton's, Missus Graham saying to Mamma, I wish we
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  Speaker 1: could interest our girls a little insensible things, my dear.
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  Speaker 1: She meant hospitals and soup kitchens and things. And Mamma said,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Mamma isn't the least afraid of missus Graham,
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  Speaker 1: though I confess I am, my dear missus Graham. If
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  Speaker 1: there is one thing society will not tolerate, it is
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  Speaker 1: a sensible woman. Our girls might as well have the
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  Speaker 1: smallpox at once and be done with it. Wasn't it
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  Speaker 1: clever of Mamma and Missus Graham just looked at her
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  Speaker 1: as if she were a camel from Barnum's well. Paul
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  Speaker 1: Hildegarde is sensible enough now to satisfy even her mother.
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  Speaker 1: Ever since she came home from that audious place, it
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  Speaker 1: has been one round of hospitals and tenement houses and
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  Speaker 1: sloughs of horror. I don't mean that she has given
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  Speaker 1: up school, for she is studying harder than ever, but
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  Speaker 1: out of school she is simply swallowed up by these
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  Speaker 1: wretched things. I have remonstrated with her, almost on my knees, Hildegarde,
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  Speaker 1: I said, one day, do you realize that you are
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  Speaker 1: practically giving up your whole life? If you once lose
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  Speaker 1: your place in society among those of your own age
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  Speaker 1: and position, you never can regain it. Do you realize this, Hilda?
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  Speaker 1: For I feel it a solemn duty to warn you,
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  Speaker 1: my dear. She actually laughed and only said, dear Marge,
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  Speaker 1: I have only just begun to have any life. And
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  Speaker 1: that was all I could get out of her, for
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  Speaker 1: just then some one came in. But even this is
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  Speaker 1: not the worst, oh Helen. She has some of the
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  Speaker 1: creatures whom she saw this summer actually staying in the house,
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  Speaker 1: in that house which we used to call Castle Graham,
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  Speaker 1: and we're almost afraid to enter ourselves, so stately and
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  Speaker 1: beautiful it was. There are two of these creatures, a
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  Speaker 1: girl about our age, some sort of dreadful cripple who
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  Speaker 1: goes about in a bath chair, and a freckled imp
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  Speaker 1: of a boy. The girl is a blank hospital for treatment,
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  Speaker 1: but spends every Sunday at the Grahams, and Hilda devotes
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  Speaker 1: most of her spare time to her. The boy is
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  Speaker 1: at school, one of the best schools in the city.
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  Speaker 1: But who are these people, I hear you cry, my dear.
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  Speaker 1: They are simply ignorant paupers who are Hilda's constant companions
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  Speaker 1: through that disastrous summer. Now their mother is dead and
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  Speaker 1: the people with whom Hilda state have adopted them. The
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  Speaker 1: boy is to be a doctor, and the girl is
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  Speaker 1: going to get well. Doctor George says. He calls her
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful and interesting creature, but you know what that means.
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  Speaker 1: Any diseased creature is beautiful to him. Well, And these,
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  Speaker 1: my dear Helen, are Hill Graham's friends, for whom she
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  Speaker 1: has deserted her old ones for though she is unchanged
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  Speaker 1: towards me when I see her, I hardly ever do
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  Speaker 1: see her. She cares nothing for my pursuits, and I
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  Speaker 1: certainly have no intention of joining in hers. I met
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  Speaker 1: her the other day on Fifth Avenue, walking beside that
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  Speaker 1: audious bath chair which the freckled boy was pushing. She
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  Speaker 1: looked so lovely, for she is prettier than ever, with
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  Speaker 1: a fine color and eyes like stars, and was talking
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  Speaker 1: so earnestly, and walking somehow as if she were treading
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  Speaker 1: on air. It sent a punk through my heart. I
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  Speaker 1: just paused an instant, for though I trust I am
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  Speaker 1: not snobbish, Helen, still I draw the line at bath
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  Speaker 1: chairs and will not be seen standing by one, and said,
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  Speaker 1: in a low tone meant only for her ear, Ah,
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  Speaker 1: has Queinn Hildegarde come to this, my dear? She only laughed.
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  Speaker 1: But that girl that cripple looked up with a smile
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  Speaker 1: and a sort of flush over her face, and said,
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  Speaker 1: just as if she knew me, Yes, Miss Everton, the
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  Speaker 1: Queen has come to her kingdom. End of Chapter fourteen
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  Speaker 1: and of Queen Hildegarde by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards