A happy marriage is, in truth, a lovely thing—
A forest of perfect joy from which all virtues spring.
The months of another year flew swiftly by and still nothing was heard of Maurice Sinclair. It was finally concluded by all that he had escaped to some foreign port and the search was finally abandoned.
In her new joy, Stella overlooked the past as only youth can overlook its sorrows, but in Mrs. Sinclair's heart there was always a bitter pain and a mother's prayer for her erring boy.
It was the second anniversary of that never to be forgotten ball, but it was Stella's wish that the crowning happiness of her life should take place on the recurrence of that night which brought them all so much of grief and misery, and, although torn with varied emotions, Mrs. Sinclair was well content that it should be.
Thus, in the grand drawing room of her foster mother's home, Stella and Sir Frederic were married.
The ceremony was strictly private, as the shadow of sin and sorrow still hung heavily above their heads.
But to Stella it was as the glorious dawn of another life, whose anticipated pleasures were far in excess of any she had heretofore experienced. Peace and joy spread their white wings about her and the haven of her husband's love seemed the very portals of Heaven itself.
For this night also, the shadows were lifted from Mrs. Sinclair's face, and banishing with a resolute will, the fears and anxieties of the past, she entertained the few guests with her old time gracious stateliness.
As for Sir Frederic, it mattered little to him that the world was full of sorrow; that every pleasure came attended with more or less of grief and pain; that rogues and rascals exceeded by far the honest members of society and all on earth was vanity and vexation of spirit. Into his life had come a bliss, capable in itself of turning bitter, sweet; of [Pg 142]overcoming evil with good and changing all the darker passions of life, chameleon like, beneath the rays of his rosy lenses.
It was Stella's own wish that they, Mrs. Sinclair, her husband and herself, should visit America on their wedding journey, and Sir Frederic, thinking it would be best for them all to leave for a time the scenes of so much sorrow, readily acceded to her wish. Not but that he would have consented just as readily to a trip across the Sahara or to some unexplored region in the mountains of the moon, but America was her wish, and to America they sailed on the first Cunarder that left Liverpool after their marriage.
Stella's marriage to Sir Frederic, although a quiet and unostentatious event, brought, both to Stella and Mrs. Sinclair, a sense of security and protection that was very grateful after the anxieties and excitement of the past.
Women may prate of independent self reliance, and scorn the assistance of man during their hours of success and pleasure, but seldom it is in the darker days, when danger threatens and the weakness of a delicate organism assumes alarming [Pg 143]proportions, that the willing hand and steady head of an honorable man, goes unappreciated.
Goodly numbers there be, whose only claim to manliness lies in body and garments, from the weakness of whose intellects, brave women turn with ill concealed disgust, but an unwomanly woman it is that does not value true masculine strength and bravery and turn with grateful heart to the protecting arm that is proffered so gladly in each and every disaster of life.
It seemed to Stella that forever and ever she was safe from the temptations and evils of life, and upon the rock of her husband's protection she threw herself with that tender helplessness so dear to an adoring husband's heart.
Woman has done much to increase man's femininety by her persistency in doing his duties for him, and if now her "lord and master" sits calmly by while she labors for the support of the family, the responsibility of this deplorable result rests, in nearly every instance, upon herself or some other self-sufficient member of her short sighted sisterhood.
Mrs. Sinclair had been an almost worshiping[Pg 144] wife, but her independent nature responded to the touch of necessity, and in the time of required bravery no woman could have acted with greater courage and judgment.
Thus, in Stella's childlike trust, Sir Frederic recognized the germs of noble womanhood, and respect and reverence blended deeply with his tender love and passion.
When at last the service was ended and man and wife were clasped in each other's arms, that measure of perfect and enduring love was felt by them that is rarely known in this world of thoughtless and misguided unions.
Little did they dream that on the very night of their perfect happiness, another terrible tragedy was being enacted, with Maurice Sinclair in the villain's role and Elizabeth Merril again the victim.