![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5583\/2021\/03\/02153317\/14-300x271.png\")
\r\n\r\nCatharine Maria Sedgwick was born after the Revolutionary War into a respected Massachusetts family. Her father, Theodore Sedgwick, served in the House of Representatives and in the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Sedgwick was educated at home and then at Payne\u2019s Finishing School, a boarding school in Boston, and New York.<\/p>\r\n
After her mother died and her father remarried in 1813, Sedgwick lived with her brothers, alternating between their respective households in Boston and New York. In 1821, she took the unusual step of converting to Unitarianism. The next year, she published her first novel, A New-England Tale. It established some constants in her writing: a New England setting, interest in the benefits of the Unitarian faith, and focus on domesticity.<\/p>\r\n
In most of her works, Sedgwick considers women\u2019s lives, both within and outside of marriage. In Married or Single? (1857), she asked her readers not to consider women as mere extensions of men or as vessels of civilization and virtue best confined to the domestic realm. She also wrote of minority groups, including Native Americans. Hope Leslie (1827) sympathetically depicts the religious and social customs of Native Americans, a depiction based on her own research on the Mohawks. She had a public life through her activities in various reform movements tied to Unitarianism. She also had a public life as a very well-received writer. Indeed, in a September 1846 notice of \u201cThe Literati of New York City,\u201d Edgar Allan Poe described Sedgwick as \u201cone of our most celebrated and meritorious writers.\u201d Besides her six novels, Sedgwick published biographies and children\u2019s literature. She never married.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Volume I, Chapter IV<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \u201cThe sisters\u2019 vows, the hours that we have spent,\r\nWhen we have chid the hasty-footed time\r\nFor parting us\u2014oh, and is all forgot?\u201d<\/p>\r\n Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/p>\r\n On quitting Everell, our heroine, quite unconscious that she was the subject of painful suspicion or affectionate anxiety, sought a sequestered spot, where she might indulge and tranquillize her feelings.<\/p>\r\n It has been said that the love of a brother and sister is the only platonic affection. This truth (if it be a truth) is the conviction of an experience far beyond our heroine\u2019s. She had seen in Esther the pangs of repressed and unrequited love, and, mistaking them for the characteristic emotions of that sentiment, it was no wonder that she perceived no affinity to it in the joyous affection that had animated her own soul. \u201cAfter a little while,\u201d she said, \u201cI shall feel as I did when we lived together in Bethel; if all that I love are happy, I must be happy too.\u201d If the cold and selfish laugh to scorn what they think the reasoning of ignorance and inexperience, it is because they have never felt that to meditate the happiness of others is to enter upon the ministry and the joy of celestial spirits. Not one envious or repining thought intruded into the heaven of Hope Leslie\u2019s mind. Not one malignant spirit passed the bounds of that paradise, that was filled with pure and tender affections, with projects of goodness, and all their cheerful train.<\/p>\r\n Hope was longer absorbed in her revery than perhaps was quite consistent with her philosophy; and when she was roused from it by Digby\u2019s voice, she blushed from the consciousness that her thoughts had been too long withdrawn from the purpose of her visit to the island. Digby came to say that his wife\u2019s supper-table was awaiting Miss Leslie. Hope embraced the opportunity, as they walked together towards his dwelling, to make her arrangements for the evening. \u201cDigby,\u201d she said, \u201cI have something to confide to you, but you must ask me no questions.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cThat\u2019s crossing human nature,\u201d replied the good fellow; \u201cbut I think I can swim against the current for you. Miss Hope.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cThank you, Digby. Then, in the first place, you must know, I expect some friends to meet me here this evening; all that I ask of you is to permit me to remain out unmolested as long as I may choose. You may tell your wife that I like to stroll in the garden by moonlight, or to sit and listen to the waves breaking on the shore\u2014 as you know I do, Digby.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cYes, Miss Hope, I know your heart always linked into such things; but it will be heathen Greek to my wife\u2014so you must make out a better reason for her.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cThen tell her that I like to have my own way.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cAh, that will I,\u201d replied Digby, chuckling; \u201cthat is what every woman can understand. I always said, Miss Hope, it was a pure mercy you chose the right way, for you always had yours.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cPerhaps you think, Digby, I have been too headstrong in my own way.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cOh, no! my sweet mistress, no; why, this having our own way is what everybody likes; it\u2019s the privilege we came to this wilderness world for; and though the gentles up in town there, with the governor at their head, hold a pretty tight rein, yet I can tell them that there are many who think what blunt Master Blackstone said, \u2018That he came not away from the Lord\u2019s-bishops to put himself under the Lord\u2019sbrethren.\u2019 No, no. Miss Hope, I watch the motions of the straws\u2014I know which way the wind blows. Thought and will are set free, it was but the other day, so to speak\u2014in the days of good Queen Bess, as they called her\u2014when, if her majesty did but raise her hand, the Parliament folk were all down on their knees to her; and now, thank God, the poorest and the lowest of us only kneel to Him who made us. Times are changed\u2014there is a new spirit in the world\u2014chains are broken\u2014fetters are knocked off\u2014and the liberty set forth in the blessed Word is now felt to be every man\u2019s birthright. But shame on my prating, that wags so fast when I might hear your nightingale voice.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Hope\u2019s mind was preoccupied, and she found it difficult to listen to Digby\u2019s speculations with interest, or to respond with animation; but she was too benignant to lose herself in sullen abstraction; and when they arrived at the cottage, she roused her faculties to amuse the children, and to listen to the mother\u2019s stories of their promising smartness. She commended the good wife\u2019s milk and cakes, and sat for half an hour after the table was removed, talking of the past, and brightening the future prospects of her good friends with predictions of their children\u2019s prosperity and respectability: predictions which, Digby afterward said, the dear young lady\u2019s bounty brought to pass.<\/p>\r\n Suddenly she sprang from her chair: \u201c Digby,\u201d she exclaimed, \u201cI think the east is lighting up with the rising moon\u2014is it not ?\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cIf it is not, it soon will,\u201d replied Digby, understanding and favouring her purpose.<\/p>\r\n \u201cThen,\u201d said Hope, \u201cI will take a walk around the island; and do not you, Betsy, sit up for me.\u201d Betsy, of course, remonstrated. The night air was unwholesome; and, though the sky overhead was clear, yet she had heard distant thunder; the beach-birds had been in flocks on Shore all the day; and the breakers on the east side of the island made a boding sound. These and other signs were \u2018urged as arguments against the unseasonable walk. Of course they were unheeded by our heroine, who, declaring that, with shelter so near, she was in no danger, muffled herself in her cloak and sallied forth. She bent her steps around the cliff which rises at the western extremity of the island, leaving at its base a few yards of flat, rocky shore, around which the waters of the bay sweep, deeply indenting it, and forming a natural cove or harbour for small boats. As Hope passed around a ledge of rocks, she fancied she saw a shadow cast by a figure that seemed flying before her. \u201cThey are here already,\u201d she thought, and hastened forward, expecting to catch a glimpse of them as soon as she should turn the angle of the rock; but no figure appeared; and though Hope imagined she heard stones rattling, as if displaced by hurried steps, she was soon convinced the sound was accidental. Alive only to one expectation, she seated herself, without any apprehension, to await in this solitude the coming of her sister.<\/p>\r\n The moon rose unclouded, and sent her broad stream of light across the beautiful bay, kindling in her beams the islands that gemmed it, and disclosing with a dim, indefinite light, the distant town, rising over this fair domain of sea and land: hills, heights, jutting points, and islands then unknown to fame, but now consecrated in domestic annals, and illustrious in the patriot\u2019s story.<\/p>\r\n Whatever charms the scene might have presented to our heroine\u2019s eye at another moment, she was now only conscious of one emotion of feverish impatience. She gazed and listened till her senses ached; and at last, when anticipation had nearly yielded to despair, her ear caught the dash of oars, and at the next moment a canoe glanced around the headland into the cove: she darted to the brink of the water\u2014 she gazed intently on the little bark; her whole soul was in that look. Her sister was there. At this first assurance that she really beheld this loved, lost sister, Hope uttered a scream of joy; but when, at a second glance^ she saw her in her savage attire, fondly leaning on Oneco\u2019s shoulder, her heart died within her; a sickening feeling came over her\u2014an unthought of revolting of nature; and, instead of obeying the first impulse, and springing forward to clasp her in her arms, she retreated to the cliff, leaned her head against it, averted her eyes, and pressed her hands on her heart, as if she would have bound down her rebel feelings.<\/p>\r\n Magawisca\u2019s voice aroused her. \u201cHope Leslie,\u201d she said, \u201ctake thy sister\u2019s hand.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Hope stretched out her hand without lifting her eyes; but when she felt her sister\u2019s touch, the energies of nature awoke; she threw her arms around her, folded her to her bosom, laid her cheek on hers, and wept as if her heart would burst in every sob. Mary (we use the appellative by which Hope had known her sister) remained passive in her arms. Her eye was moistened, but she seemed rather abashed and confounded than excited; and when Hope released her, she turned towards Oneco with a look of simple wonder. Hope again threw her arm around her sister, and intently explored her face for some trace of those infantine features that were impressed on her memory.\u201d It is\u2014it is my sister !\u201d she exclaimed, and kissed her cheek again and again. \u201cOh, Mary! do you not remember when we sat together on mother\u2019s knee? Do you not remember when, with her own burning hand, the very day she died, she put those chains on our necks ? Do you not remember when they held us up to kiss her cold lips?\u201d<\/p>\r\n Mary looked towards Magawisca for an explanation of her sister\u2019s words.\u201d Look at me, Mary; speak to me,\u201d continued Hope.<\/p>\r\n \u201cNo speak Yengees,\u201d replied Mary, exhausting in this brief sentence all the English she could command.<\/p>\r\n Hope, in the impetuosity of her feelings, had forgotten that Magawisca had forewarned her not to indulge the expectation that her sister could speak to her; and the melancholy truth, announced by her own lips, seemed to Hope to open a new and impassable gulf between them. She wrung her hands: \u201cOh, what shall I do? what shall I say?\u201d she exclaimed.<\/p>\r\n Magawisca now advanced to her, and said, in a compassionate tone, \u201cLet me be thy interpreter, Hope Leslie, and be thou more calm. Dost thou not see thy sister is to thee as the feather borne on the torrent?\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cI will be more calm, Magawisca; but promise me you will interpret truly for me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n A blush of offended pride overspread Magawisca\u2019s cheek. \u201cWe hold truth to be the health of the soul,\u201d she said: \u201cthou mayst speak, maiden, without fear that I will abate one of thy words.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cOh, I fear nothing wrong from you, Magawisca; forgive me\u2014forgive me\u2014I know not what I say or do.\u201d She drew her sister to a rock, and they sat down together. Hope knew not how to address one so near to her by nature, so far removed by habit and education. She thought that if Mary\u2019s dress, which was singularly and gaudily decorated, had a less savage aspect, she might look more natural to her; and she signed to her to remove the mantle she wore, made of birds\u2019 feathers, woven together with threads of the wild nettle. Mary threw it aside, and disclosed her person, light and agile as a fawn\u2019s, clothed with skins, neatly fitted to her waist and arms, and ambitiously embellished with embroidery in porcupine\u2019s quills and beads. The removal of the mantle, instead of the effect designed, only served to make more striking the aboriginal peculiarities; and Hope, shuddering and heart-sick, made one more effort to disguise them by taking off her silk cloak and wrapping it close around her sister. Mary seemed instantly to comprehend the language of the action; she shook her head, gently disengaged herself from the cloak, and resumed her mantle. An involuntary exclamation of triumph burst from Oneco\u2019s lips. \u201cOh, tell her,\u201d said Hope to Magawisca; \u201cthat I want once more to see her in the dress of her own people\u2014of her own family\u2014from whose arms she was torn to be dragged into captivity.\u201d<\/p>\r\n A faint smile curled Magawisca\u2019s lip, but she interpreted faithfully Hope\u2019s communication and Mary\u2019s reply: \u201c\u2018She does not like the English dress,\u2019 she says.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cAsk her,\u201d said Hope, \u201cif she remembers the day when the wild Indians sprung upon the family at Bethel like wolves upon a fold of lambs? If she remembers when Mrs. Fletcher and her innocent little ones were murdered, and she stolen away?\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cShe says \u2018she remembers it well, for then it was Oneco saved her life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n Hope groaned aloud. \u201cAsk her,\u201d she continued, with unabated eagerness,\u201d if she remembers when we played together, and, read together, and knelt together at our mother\u2019s feet; when she told us of the God that made us, and the Saviour that redeemed us?\"<\/p>\r\n \u201cShe remembers something of all this, but she says \u2018it is faint and distant, like the vanishing vapour on the far-off mountain.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cOh, tell her, Magawisca, if she will come home and live with me, I will devote my life to her. I will watch over her in sickness and health. I will be mother\u2014 sister\u2014friend to her: tell her that our mother, now a saint in heaven, stoops from her happy place to entreat her to return to our God and our father\u2019s God.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Mary shook her head in a manner indicative of a more determined feeling than she had before manifested, and took from her bosom a crucifix, which she fervently pressed to her lips.<\/p>\r\n Every motive Hope offered was powerless, every mode of entreaty useless, and she leaned her head despondently on Mary\u2019s shoulder. The contrast between the two faces thus brought together was most striking. Hope\u2019s hat had slipped back, and her rich brown tresses fell about her neck and face; her full eye was intently fixed on Mary, and her cheek glowing with impassioned feeling, she looked like an angel touched with some mortal misery; while Mary\u2019s face, pale and spiritless, was only redeemed from absolute vacancy by an expression of gentleness and modesty. Hope\u2019s hand was lying on her sister\u2019s lap, and a brilliant diamond ring caught<\/p>\r\n Mary\u2019s attention. Hope perceived this, and instantly drew it from her own finger and placed it on Mary\u2019s; \u201cand here is another\u2014and another\u2014and another,\u201d she cried, making the same transfer of all her rings. \u201cTell her, Magawisca, if she will come home with me, she shall be decked with jewels from head to foot; she shall have feathers from the most beautiful birds that wing the air, and flowers that never fade: tell her that all I possess shall be hers.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cShall I tell her so ?\u201d asked Magawisca, with a mingled expression of contempt and concern, as if she herself despised the lure, but feared that Mary might be caught by it; for the pleased girl was holding her hand before her, turning it, and gazing with childlike delight on the gems, as they caught and reflected the moonbeams. \u201cShall I ask your sister to barter truth and love\u2014the jewels of the soul, that grow brighter and brighter in the land of spirits\u2014for these poor perishing trifles? Oh, Hope Leslie, I had better thoughts of thee.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cI cannot help it, Magawisca; I am driven to try every way to win back my sister: tell her, I entreat you, tell her what I have said.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Magawisca faithfully repeated all the motives Hope had urged, while Hope herself clasped her sister\u2019s hand, and looked in her face with a mute supplication more earnest than words could express. Mary hesitated, and her eye turned quickly to Oneco, to Magawisca, and then again rested on her sister. Hope felt her hand tremble in hers; Mary, for the first time, bent towards her, and laid her cheek to Hope\u2019s. Hope uttered a scream of delight: \u201cOh, she does not refuse; she will stay with me,\u201d she exclaimed. Mary understood the exclamation, and suddenly recoiled, and hastily drew the rings from her fingers. \u201cKeep them\u2014keep them,\u201d said Hope, bursting into tears; \u201cif we must be cruelly parted again, they will sometimes speak to you of me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n At this moment a bright light, as of burning flax, flamed up from the cliff before them, threw a momentary flash over the water, and then disappeared. Oneco rose: \u201cI like not this light,\u201d he said; \u201cwe must be gone; we have redeemed our promise;\u201d and he took Hope\u2019s cloak from the ground, and gave it to her as a signal that the moment of separation had arrived.<\/p>\r\n \u201cOh, stay one moment longer,\u201d cried Hope. Oneco pointed to the heavens, over which black and threatening clouds were rapidly gathering, and Magawisca said, \u201cDo not ask us to delay; my father has waited long enough.\u201d Hope now, for the first time, observed there was an Indian in the canoe, wrapped in skins, and listlessly awaiting, in a recumbent position, the termination of the scene. \u201c<\/p>\r\n Is that Mononotto?\u201d she said, shuddering at the thought of the bloody scenes with which he was associated in her mind; but, before her inquiry was answered, the subject of it sprang to his feet, and uttering an exclamation of surprise, stretched his hand towards the town. All at once perceived the object towards which he pointed. A bright strong light streamed upward from the highest point pf land, and sent a ruddy glow over the bay. Every eye turned inquiringly to Hope. \u201cIt is nothing,\u201d she said to Magawisca, \u201cbut the light that is often kindled on Beacon Hill to guide the ships into the harbour. The night is becoming dark, and some vessel is expected in; that is all, believe me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Whatever trust her visiters might have reposed in Hope\u2019s good faith, they were evidently alarmed by an appearance which they did not think sufficiently accounted for; and Oneco hearing, or imagining he heard, approaching oars, said, in his own language, to Magawisca, \u201cWe have no time to lose; I will not permit my white bird to remain any longer within reach of the net.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Magawisca assented: \u201cWe must go,\u201d she said, \u201cwe must no longer hazard our father\u2019s life.\u201d Oneco sprang into the canoe, and called to Mary to follow him.<\/p>\r\n \u201cOh, spare her one single moment!\u201d said Hope, imploringly, to Magawisca; and she drew, her a few paces from the shore, and knelt down with her, and, in a half articulate prayer, expressed the tenderness and sorrow of her soul, and committed her sister to God. Mary understood her action, and feeling that their separation was forever, nature for a moment asserted her rights; she returned Hope\u2019s embrace, and wept on her bosom.<\/p>\r\n While the sisters were thus folded in one another\u2019s arms, a loud yell burst from the savages; Magawisca caught Mary by the arms, and Hope, turning, perceived that a boat filled with armed men had passed the projecting point of land, and, borne in by the tide, it instantly touched the beach, and in another instant Magawisca and Mary were prisoners. Hope saw the men were in the uniform of the governor\u2019s guard. One moment before she would have given worlds to have had her sister in her power; but now, the first impulse of her generous spirit was an abhorrence of her seeming treachery to her friends. \u201cOh! Oneco,\u201d she cried, springing towards the canoe, \u201cI did not\u2014indeed I did not know of it.\u201d She had scarcely uttered the words, which fell from her neither understood nor heeded, when Oneco caught her in his arms, and shouting to Magawisca to tell the English that, as they dealt by Mary, so Would he deal by her sister, he gave the canoe the first impulse, and it shot out like an arrow, distancing and defying pursuit.<\/p>\r\n Oneco\u2019s coup-de-main seemed to petrify all present. They were roused by Sir Philip Gardiner, who, coming round the base of the cliff, appeared among them; and, learning the cause of their amazement, he ordered them, with a burst of passionate exclamation, instantly to man the boat, and proceed with him in pursuit. This one and all refused. \u201cDaylight and calm water,\u201d they said, \u201cwould be necessary to give any hope to such a pursuit, and the storm was now gathering so fast as to render it dangerous to venture out at all.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Sir Philip endeavoured to alarm them with threats of the governor\u2019s displeasure, and to persuade them with offers of high reward; but they understood too well the danger and hopelessness of the attempt to risk it, and they remained inexorable. Sir Philip then went in quest of Digby, and at the distance of a few paces met him. Alarmed by the rapid approach of the storm, he was seeking Miss Leslie; when he learned her fate from Sir Philip\u2019s hurried communication, he uttered a cry of despair. \u201cOh! I would go after her,\u201d he said, \u201cif I had but a cockle-shell; but it seems as if the foul fiends were at work:. my boat was this morning sent to town to be repaired. And yet, what could we do?\u201d He added, shuddering, \u201cThe wind is rising to that degree, that I think no boat could live in the bay; and it is getting as dark as Egypt. O God, save my precious young lady! God have mercy on her!\u201d he continued. A sudden burst of thunder heightened his alarm: \u201c Man can do nothing for her. Why, in the name of Heaven,\u201d he added, with a natural desire to appropriate the blame of misfortune, \u201cwhy must they be forever meddling; why not let the sisters meet and part in peace?\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cOh, why not ?\u201d thought Sir Philip, who would have given his right hand to have retraced the steps that had led to this most unlooked-for and unhappy issue of the affair. They were now joined by the guard with their prisoners. Digby was requested to lead them instantly to a shelter. He did so; and, agitated as he was with fear and despair for Miss Leslie, he did not fail to greet Magawisca as one to whom all honour was due. She heeded him not; she seemed scarcely conscious of the cries of Faith Leslie, who was weeping like a child, and clinging to her. The treachery that had betrayed her rapt her soul in indignation, and nothing roused her but the blasts of wind and flashes of lightning, that seemed to her the deathknell of her father.<\/p>\r\n The storm continued for the space of an hour, and then died away as suddenly as it had gathered. In another hour the guard had safely landed at the wharf, and were conveying their prisoners to the governor. He and his confidential counsellors, who had been awaiting at his house the return of their emissaries, solaced themselves with the belief that all parties were safely sheltered on the island, and probably would remain there during the night. While they were whispering this conclusion to one another at one extremity of the parlour, Everell sat beside Miss Downing in the recess of a window that overlooked the garden. The huge projecting chimney formed a convenient screen for the lovers. The evening was warm, the windowsash thrown up. The moon had come forth, and shed a mild lustre through the dewy atmosphere; the very light that the young and sentimental, and, above all, young and sentimental lovers, most delight in. But in vain did Everell look abroad for inspiration; in vain did he turn his eyes to Esther\u2019s face, now more beautiful than ever, flushed as it was with the first dawn of happiness; in Tain did he try to recall his truant thoughts, to answer words to her timid but bright glances; he would not, he could not say what he did not feel, and the few sentences he uttered fell on his own ear like cold abstractions. While he was in this durance, his father was listening\u2014if a man stretched on a rack can be said to listen\u2014to Madam Winthrop\u2019s whispered and reiterated assurances of her entire approbation of her niece\u2019s choice.<\/p>\r\n This was the position of all parties, when a bustle was heard in the court, and the guard entered. The foremost advanced to the governor, and communicated a few sentences in a low tone. The governor manifested unusual emotion, turned round suddenly, and exclaimed, \u201cHere, Mr. Fletcher\u2014Everell;\u201d and then motioning to them to keep their places, he said, in an under voice, to those near to him, \u201cWe must first dispose of our prisoner: come forward, Magawisca.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cMagavnsca!\u201d echoed Everell, springing at one bound into the hall. But Magawisca shrunk back and averted her face. \u201cNow God be praised!\u201d he exclaimed, as he caught the first glance of a form never to be forgotten; \u201cit is\u2014it is Magawisca!\u201d She did not speak, but drew away, and leaned her head against the wall. \u201cWhat means this?\u201d he said, now for the first time espying Faith Leslie, and then looking round on the guard; \u201cwhat means it, sir?\u201d he demanded, turning somewhat imperiously to the governor.<\/p>\r\n \u201cIt means, sir,\u201d replied the governor, coldly, \u201cthat this Indian woman is the prisoner of the Common wealth\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cIt means that I am a prisoner, lured to the net, and betrayed.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cYou a prisoner\u2014here, Magawisca!\u201d Everell exclaimed. \u201cImpossible! Justice, gratitude, humanity forbid it. My father\u2014Governor Winthrop, you will not surely suffer this outrage?\u201d<\/p>\r\n The elder Fletcher had advanced, and, scarcely less perplexed and agitated than his son, was endeavouring to draw forth Faith Leslie, who had shrunk behind Magawisca. Governor Winthrop seemed not at all pleased with Everell\u2019s interference. \u201cYou will do well, young Mr. Fletcher, to bridle your zeal; private feelings must yield to the public good: this young woman is suspected of being an active agent in brewing the conspiracy forming against us among the Indian tribes; and it is somewhat bold in you to oppose the course of justice\u2014to intermeddle with the public welfare\u2014to lift your feeble judgment against the wisdom of Providence, which has led, by peculiar means, to the apprehension of the enemy. Conduct your prisoner to the jail,\u201d he added, turning to the guard, \u201cand bid Barnaby have her in close and safe keeping till farther orders.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cFor the love of God, sir,\u201d cried Everell, \u201cdo not this injustice. At least suffer her to remain in your own house, on her promise\u2014more secure than the walls of a prison.\u201d Governor Winthrop only replied by signing to the guards to proceed to their duty.<\/p>\r\n \u201cStay one moment,\u201d exclaimed Everell; \u201cpermit her, I beseech you, to remain here; place her in any one of your apartments, and I will remain before it, a faithful warder, night and day. But do not\u2014do not, I beseech you\u2014sully your honour by committing this noble creature to your jail.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cListen to my son, I entreat you,\u201d said the elder Fletcher, unable any longer to restrain his own feelings;\u201d certainly we owe much to this woman.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cYou owe much, undoubtedly,\u201d replied the governor; \u201cbut it yet remains to be proved, my friend, that your son\u2019s redeemed life is to be put in the balance against the public weal.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Esther, who had observed the scene with an intense interest, now overcame her timidity so far as to penetrate the circle that surrounded the governor, and to attempt to enforce Everell\u2019s prayer. \u201cMay not Magawisca,\u201d she said, \u201cshare our apartment\u2014Hope\u2019s and mine? She will then, in safe custody, await your farther pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cThanks, Esther\u2014thanks,\u201d cried Everell, with an animation that would have rewarded a far more difficult effort: but all efforts were unavailing, but not useless; for Magawisca said to Everell, \u201cYou have sent light into my darkened soul\u2014you have truth and gratitude; and for the rest, they are but what I deemed them; Send me,\u201d she continued, proudly turning to the governor, \u201cto your dungeon; all places are alike to me while I am your prisoner; but, for the sake of Everell Fletcher, let me tell you, that she who is dearer to him than his own soul, if, indeed, she has lived out the perils of this night, must answer for my safe keeping.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cHope Leslie!\u201d exclaimed Everell; \u201cwhat has happened? What do you mean, Magawisca?\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cShe was the decoy bird,\u201d replied Magawisca, calmly; \u201cand she, too, is caught in the net.\u201d<\/p>\r\n \u201cExplain, I beseech you!\u201d The governor answered Everell\u2019s appeal by a brief explanation. A bustle ensued: every other feeling was now lost in concern for Hope Leslie; and Magawisca was separated from her weeping and frightened companion, and conducted away without farther opposition; while the two Fletchers, as if life and death hung on every instant, were calling on the governor to aid them in the way and means of pursuit.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Catharine Maria Sedgwick was born after the Revolutionary War into a respected Massachusetts family. Her father, Theodore Sedgwick, served in the House of Representatives and in the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Sedgwick was educated at home and then at Payne\u2019s Finishing School, a boarding school in Boston, and New York.<\/p>\n After her mother died and her father remarried in 1813, Sedgwick lived with her brothers, alternating between their respective households in Boston and New York. In 1821, she took the unusual step of converting to Unitarianism. The next year, she published her first novel, A New-England Tale. It established some constants in her writing: a New England setting, interest in the benefits of the Unitarian faith, and focus on domesticity.<\/p>\n In most of her works, Sedgwick considers women\u2019s lives, both within and outside of marriage. In Married or Single? (1857), she asked her readers not to consider women as mere extensions of men or as vessels of civilization and virtue best confined to the domestic realm. She also wrote of minority groups, including Native Americans. Hope Leslie (1827) sympathetically depicts the religious and social customs of Native Americans, a depiction based on her own research on the Mohawks. She had a public life through her activities in various reform movements tied to Unitarianism. She also had a public life as a very well-received writer. Indeed, in a September 1846 notice of \u201cThe Literati of New York City,\u201d Edgar Allan Poe described Sedgwick as \u201cone of our most celebrated and meritorious writers.\u201d Besides her six novels, Sedgwick published biographies and children\u2019s literature. She never married.<\/p>\n Volume I, Chapter IV<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe sisters\u2019 vows, the hours that we have spent, Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/p>\n On quitting Everell, our heroine, quite unconscious that she was the subject of painful suspicion or affectionate anxiety, sought a sequestered spot, where she might indulge and tranquillize her feelings.<\/p>\n It has been said that the love of a brother and sister is the only platonic affection. This truth (if it be a truth) is the conviction of an experience far beyond our heroine\u2019s. She had seen in Esther the pangs of repressed and unrequited love, and, mistaking them for the characteristic emotions of that sentiment, it was no wonder that she perceived no affinity to it in the joyous affection that had animated her own soul. \u201cAfter a little while,\u201d she said, \u201cI shall feel as I did when we lived together in Bethel; if all that I love are happy, I must be happy too.\u201d If the cold and selfish laugh to scorn what they think the reasoning of ignorance and inexperience, it is because they have never felt that to meditate the happiness of others is to enter upon the ministry and the joy of celestial spirits. Not one envious or repining thought intruded into the heaven of Hope Leslie\u2019s mind. Not one malignant spirit passed the bounds of that paradise, that was filled with pure and tender affections, with projects of goodness, and all their cheerful train.<\/p>\n Hope was longer absorbed in her revery than perhaps was quite consistent with her philosophy; and when she was roused from it by Digby\u2019s voice, she blushed from the consciousness that her thoughts had been too long withdrawn from the purpose of her visit to the island. Digby came to say that his wife\u2019s supper-table was awaiting Miss Leslie. Hope embraced the opportunity, as they walked together towards his dwelling, to make her arrangements for the evening. \u201cDigby,\u201d she said, \u201cI have something to confide to you, but you must ask me no questions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s crossing human nature,\u201d replied the good fellow; \u201cbut I think I can swim against the current for you. Miss Hope.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Digby. Then, in the first place, you must know, I expect some friends to meet me here this evening; all that I ask of you is to permit me to remain out unmolested as long as I may choose. You may tell your wife that I like to stroll in the garden by moonlight, or to sit and listen to the waves breaking on the shore\u2014 as you know I do, Digby.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Miss Hope, I know your heart always linked into such things; but it will be heathen Greek to my wife\u2014so you must make out a better reason for her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen tell her that I like to have my own way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh, that will I,\u201d replied Digby, chuckling; \u201cthat is what every woman can understand. I always said, Miss Hope, it was a pure mercy you chose the right way, for you always had yours.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps you think, Digby, I have been too headstrong in my own way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, no! my sweet mistress, no; why, this having our own way is what everybody likes; it\u2019s the privilege we came to this wilderness world for; and though the gentles up in town there, with the governor at their head, hold a pretty tight rein, yet I can tell them that there are many who think what blunt Master Blackstone said, \u2018That he came not away from the Lord\u2019s-bishops to put himself under the Lord\u2019sbrethren.\u2019 No, no. Miss Hope, I watch the motions of the straws\u2014I know which way the wind blows. Thought and will are set free, it was but the other day, so to speak\u2014in the days of good Queen Bess, as they called her\u2014when, if her majesty did but raise her hand, the Parliament folk were all down on their knees to her; and now, thank God, the poorest and the lowest of us only kneel to Him who made us. Times are changed\u2014there is a new spirit in the world\u2014chains are broken\u2014fetters are knocked off\u2014and the liberty set forth in the blessed Word is now felt to be every man\u2019s birthright. But shame on my prating, that wags so fast when I might hear your nightingale voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Hope\u2019s mind was preoccupied, and she found it difficult to listen to Digby\u2019s speculations with interest, or to respond with animation; but she was too benignant to lose herself in sullen abstraction; and when they arrived at the cottage, she roused her faculties to amuse the children, and to listen to the mother\u2019s stories of their promising smartness. She commended the good wife\u2019s milk and cakes, and sat for half an hour after the table was removed, talking of the past, and brightening the future prospects of her good friends with predictions of their children\u2019s prosperity and respectability: predictions which, Digby afterward said, the dear young lady\u2019s bounty brought to pass.<\/p>\n Suddenly she sprang from her chair: \u201c Digby,\u201d she exclaimed, \u201cI think the east is lighting up with the rising moon\u2014is it not ?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf it is not, it soon will,\u201d replied Digby, understanding and favouring her purpose.<\/p>\n \u201cThen,\u201d said Hope, \u201cI will take a walk around the island; and do not you, Betsy, sit up for me.\u201d Betsy, of course, remonstrated. The night air was unwholesome; and, though the sky overhead was clear, yet she had heard distant thunder; the beach-birds had been in flocks on Shore all the day; and the breakers on the east side of the island made a boding sound. These and other signs were \u2018urged as arguments against the unseasonable walk. Of course they were unheeded by our heroine, who, declaring that, with shelter so near, she was in no danger, muffled herself in her cloak and sallied forth. She bent her steps around the cliff which rises at the western extremity of the island, leaving at its base a few yards of flat, rocky shore, around which the waters of the bay sweep, deeply indenting it, and forming a natural cove or harbour for small boats. As Hope passed around a ledge of rocks, she fancied she saw a shadow cast by a figure that seemed flying before her. \u201cThey are here already,\u201d she thought, and hastened forward, expecting to catch a glimpse of them as soon as she should turn the angle of the rock; but no figure appeared; and though Hope imagined she heard stones rattling, as if displaced by hurried steps, she was soon convinced the sound was accidental. Alive only to one expectation, she seated herself, without any apprehension, to await in this solitude the coming of her sister.<\/p>\n The moon rose unclouded, and sent her broad stream of light across the beautiful bay, kindling in her beams the islands that gemmed it, and disclosing with a dim, indefinite light, the distant town, rising over this fair domain of sea and land: hills, heights, jutting points, and islands then unknown to fame, but now consecrated in domestic annals, and illustrious in the patriot\u2019s story.<\/p>\n Whatever charms the scene might have presented to our heroine\u2019s eye at another moment, she was now only conscious of one emotion of feverish impatience. She gazed and listened till her senses ached; and at last, when anticipation had nearly yielded to despair, her ear caught the dash of oars, and at the next moment a canoe glanced around the headland into the cove: she darted to the brink of the water\u2014 she gazed intently on the little bark; her whole soul was in that look. Her sister was there. At this first assurance that she really beheld this loved, lost sister, Hope uttered a scream of joy; but when, at a second glance^ she saw her in her savage attire, fondly leaning on Oneco\u2019s shoulder, her heart died within her; a sickening feeling came over her\u2014an unthought of revolting of nature; and, instead of obeying the first impulse, and springing forward to clasp her in her arms, she retreated to the cliff, leaned her head against it, averted her eyes, and pressed her hands on her heart, as if she would have bound down her rebel feelings.<\/p>\n Magawisca\u2019s voice aroused her. \u201cHope Leslie,\u201d she said, \u201ctake thy sister\u2019s hand.\u201d<\/p>\n Hope stretched out her hand without lifting her eyes; but when she felt her sister\u2019s touch, the energies of nature awoke; she threw her arms around her, folded her to her bosom, laid her cheek on hers, and wept as if her heart would burst in every sob. Mary (we use the appellative by which Hope had known her sister) remained passive in her arms. Her eye was moistened, but she seemed rather abashed and confounded than excited; and when Hope released her, she turned towards Oneco with a look of simple wonder. Hope again threw her arm around her sister, and intently explored her face for some trace of those infantine features that were impressed on her memory.\u201d It is\u2014it is my sister !\u201d she exclaimed, and kissed her cheek again and again. \u201cOh, Mary! do you not remember when we sat together on mother\u2019s knee? Do you not remember when, with her own burning hand, the very day she died, she put those chains on our necks ? Do you not remember when they held us up to kiss her cold lips?\u201d<\/p>\n Mary looked towards Magawisca for an explanation of her sister\u2019s words.\u201d Look at me, Mary; speak to me,\u201d continued Hope.<\/p>\n \u201cNo speak Yengees,\u201d replied Mary, exhausting in this brief sentence all the English she could command.<\/p>\n Hope, in the impetuosity of her feelings, had forgotten that Magawisca had forewarned her not to indulge the expectation that her sister could speak to her; and the melancholy truth, announced by her own lips, seemed to Hope to open a new and impassable gulf between them. She wrung her hands: \u201cOh, what shall I do? what shall I say?\u201d she exclaimed.<\/p>\n Magawisca now advanced to her, and said, in a compassionate tone, \u201cLet me be thy interpreter, Hope Leslie, and be thou more calm. Dost thou not see thy sister is to thee as the feather borne on the torrent?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will be more calm, Magawisca; but promise me you will interpret truly for me.\u201d<\/p>\n A blush of offended pride overspread Magawisca\u2019s cheek. \u201cWe hold truth to be the health of the soul,\u201d she said: \u201cthou mayst speak, maiden, without fear that I will abate one of thy words.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I fear nothing wrong from you, Magawisca; forgive me\u2014forgive me\u2014I know not what I say or do.\u201d She drew her sister to a rock, and they sat down together. Hope knew not how to address one so near to her by nature, so far removed by habit and education. She thought that if Mary\u2019s dress, which was singularly and gaudily decorated, had a less savage aspect, she might look more natural to her; and she signed to her to remove the mantle she wore, made of birds\u2019 feathers, woven together with threads of the wild nettle. Mary threw it aside, and disclosed her person, light and agile as a fawn\u2019s, clothed with skins, neatly fitted to her waist and arms, and ambitiously embellished with embroidery in porcupine\u2019s quills and beads. The removal of the mantle, instead of the effect designed, only served to make more striking the aboriginal peculiarities; and Hope, shuddering and heart-sick, made one more effort to disguise them by taking off her silk cloak and wrapping it close around her sister. Mary seemed instantly to comprehend the language of the action; she shook her head, gently disengaged herself from the cloak, and resumed her mantle. An involuntary exclamation of triumph burst from Oneco\u2019s lips. \u201cOh, tell her,\u201d said Hope to Magawisca; \u201cthat I want once more to see her in the dress of her own people\u2014of her own family\u2014from whose arms she was torn to be dragged into captivity.\u201d<\/p>\n A faint smile curled Magawisca\u2019s lip, but she interpreted faithfully Hope\u2019s communication and Mary\u2019s reply: \u201c\u2018She does not like the English dress,\u2019 she says.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAsk her,\u201d said Hope, \u201cif she remembers the day when the wild Indians sprung upon the family at Bethel like wolves upon a fold of lambs? If she remembers when Mrs. Fletcher and her innocent little ones were murdered, and she stolen away?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe says \u2018she remembers it well, for then it was Oneco saved her life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Hope groaned aloud. \u201cAsk her,\u201d she continued, with unabated eagerness,\u201d if she remembers when we played together, and, read together, and knelt together at our mother\u2019s feet; when she told us of the God that made us, and the Saviour that redeemed us?”<\/p>\n \u201cShe remembers something of all this, but she says \u2018it is faint and distant, like the vanishing vapour on the far-off mountain.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, tell her, Magawisca, if she will come home and live with me, I will devote my life to her. I will watch over her in sickness and health. I will be mother\u2014 sister\u2014friend to her: tell her that our mother, now a saint in heaven, stoops from her happy place to entreat her to return to our God and our father\u2019s God.\u201d<\/p>\n Mary shook her head in a manner indicative of a more determined feeling than she had before manifested, and took from her bosom a crucifix, which she fervently pressed to her lips.<\/p>\n Every motive Hope offered was powerless, every mode of entreaty useless, and she leaned her head despondently on Mary\u2019s shoulder. The contrast between the two faces thus brought together was most striking. Hope\u2019s hat had slipped back, and her rich brown tresses fell about her neck and face; her full eye was intently fixed on Mary, and her cheek glowing with impassioned feeling, she looked like an angel touched with some mortal misery; while Mary\u2019s face, pale and spiritless, was only redeemed from absolute vacancy by an expression of gentleness and modesty. Hope\u2019s hand was lying on her sister\u2019s lap, and a brilliant diamond ring caught<\/p>\n Mary\u2019s attention. Hope perceived this, and instantly drew it from her own finger and placed it on Mary\u2019s; \u201cand here is another\u2014and another\u2014and another,\u201d she cried, making the same transfer of all her rings. \u201cTell her, Magawisca, if she will come home with me, she shall be decked with jewels from head to foot; she shall have feathers from the most beautiful birds that wing the air, and flowers that never fade: tell her that all I possess shall be hers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShall I tell her so ?\u201d asked Magawisca, with a mingled expression of contempt and concern, as if she herself despised the lure, but feared that Mary might be caught by it; for the pleased girl was holding her hand before her, turning it, and gazing with childlike delight on the gems, as they caught and reflected the moonbeams. \u201cShall I ask your sister to barter truth and love\u2014the jewels of the soul, that grow brighter and brighter in the land of spirits\u2014for these poor perishing trifles? Oh, Hope Leslie, I had better thoughts of thee.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot help it, Magawisca; I am driven to try every way to win back my sister: tell her, I entreat you, tell her what I have said.\u201d<\/p>\n Magawisca faithfully repeated all the motives Hope had urged, while Hope herself clasped her sister\u2019s hand, and looked in her face with a mute supplication more earnest than words could express. Mary hesitated, and her eye turned quickly to Oneco, to Magawisca, and then again rested on her sister. Hope felt her hand tremble in hers; Mary, for the first time, bent towards her, and laid her cheek to Hope\u2019s. Hope uttered a scream of delight: \u201cOh, she does not refuse; she will stay with me,\u201d she exclaimed. Mary understood the exclamation, and suddenly recoiled, and hastily drew the rings from her fingers. \u201cKeep them\u2014keep them,\u201d said Hope, bursting into tears; \u201cif we must be cruelly parted again, they will sometimes speak to you of me.\u201d<\/p>\n At this moment a bright light, as of burning flax, flamed up from the cliff before them, threw a momentary flash over the water, and then disappeared. Oneco rose: \u201cI like not this light,\u201d he said; \u201cwe must be gone; we have redeemed our promise;\u201d and he took Hope\u2019s cloak from the ground, and gave it to her as a signal that the moment of separation had arrived.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, stay one moment longer,\u201d cried Hope. Oneco pointed to the heavens, over which black and threatening clouds were rapidly gathering, and Magawisca said, \u201cDo not ask us to delay; my father has waited long enough.\u201d Hope now, for the first time, observed there was an Indian in the canoe, wrapped in skins, and listlessly awaiting, in a recumbent position, the termination of the scene. \u201c<\/p>\n Is that Mononotto?\u201d she said, shuddering at the thought of the bloody scenes with which he was associated in her mind; but, before her inquiry was answered, the subject of it sprang to his feet, and uttering an exclamation of surprise, stretched his hand towards the town. All at once perceived the object towards which he pointed. A bright strong light streamed upward from the highest point pf land, and sent a ruddy glow over the bay. Every eye turned inquiringly to Hope. \u201cIt is nothing,\u201d she said to Magawisca, \u201cbut the light that is often kindled on Beacon Hill to guide the ships into the harbour. The night is becoming dark, and some vessel is expected in; that is all, believe me.\u201d<\/p>\n Whatever trust her visiters might have reposed in Hope\u2019s good faith, they were evidently alarmed by an appearance which they did not think sufficiently accounted for; and Oneco hearing, or imagining he heard, approaching oars, said, in his own language, to Magawisca, \u201cWe have no time to lose; I will not permit my white bird to remain any longer within reach of the net.\u201d<\/p>\n Magawisca assented: \u201cWe must go,\u201d she said, \u201cwe must no longer hazard our father\u2019s life.\u201d Oneco sprang into the canoe, and called to Mary to follow him.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, spare her one single moment!\u201d said Hope, imploringly, to Magawisca; and she drew, her a few paces from the shore, and knelt down with her, and, in a half articulate prayer, expressed the tenderness and sorrow of her soul, and committed her sister to God. Mary understood her action, and feeling that their separation was forever, nature for a moment asserted her rights; she returned Hope\u2019s embrace, and wept on her bosom.<\/p>\n While the sisters were thus folded in one another\u2019s arms, a loud yell burst from the savages; Magawisca caught Mary by the arms, and Hope, turning, perceived that a boat filled with armed men had passed the projecting point of land, and, borne in by the tide, it instantly touched the beach, and in another instant Magawisca and Mary were prisoners. Hope saw the men were in the uniform of the governor\u2019s guard. One moment before she would have given worlds to have had her sister in her power; but now, the first impulse of her generous spirit was an abhorrence of her seeming treachery to her friends. \u201cOh! Oneco,\u201d she cried, springing towards the canoe, \u201cI did not\u2014indeed I did not know of it.\u201d She had scarcely uttered the words, which fell from her neither understood nor heeded, when Oneco caught her in his arms, and shouting to Magawisca to tell the English that, as they dealt by Mary, so Would he deal by her sister, he gave the canoe the first impulse, and it shot out like an arrow, distancing and defying pursuit.<\/p>\n Oneco\u2019s coup-de-main seemed to petrify all present. They were roused by Sir Philip Gardiner, who, coming round the base of the cliff, appeared among them; and, learning the cause of their amazement, he ordered them, with a burst of passionate exclamation, instantly to man the boat, and proceed with him in pursuit. This one and all refused. \u201cDaylight and calm water,\u201d they said, \u201cwould be necessary to give any hope to such a pursuit, and the storm was now gathering so fast as to render it dangerous to venture out at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Philip endeavoured to alarm them with threats of the governor\u2019s displeasure, and to persuade them with offers of high reward; but they understood too well the danger and hopelessness of the attempt to risk it, and they remained inexorable. Sir Philip then went in quest of Digby, and at the distance of a few paces met him. Alarmed by the rapid approach of the storm, he was seeking Miss Leslie; when he learned her fate from Sir Philip\u2019s hurried communication, he uttered a cry of despair. \u201cOh! I would go after her,\u201d he said, \u201cif I had but a cockle-shell; but it seems as if the foul fiends were at work:. my boat was this morning sent to town to be repaired. And yet, what could we do?\u201d He added, shuddering, \u201cThe wind is rising to that degree, that I think no boat could live in the bay; and it is getting as dark as Egypt. O God, save my precious young lady! God have mercy on her!\u201d he continued. A sudden burst of thunder heightened his alarm: \u201c Man can do nothing for her. Why, in the name of Heaven,\u201d he added, with a natural desire to appropriate the blame of misfortune, \u201cwhy must they be forever meddling; why not let the sisters meet and part in peace?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, why not ?\u201d thought Sir Philip, who would have given his right hand to have retraced the steps that had led to this most unlooked-for and unhappy issue of the affair. They were now joined by the guard with their prisoners. Digby was requested to lead them instantly to a shelter. He did so; and, agitated as he was with fear and despair for Miss Leslie, he did not fail to greet Magawisca as one to whom all honour was due. She heeded him not; she seemed scarcely conscious of the cries of Faith Leslie, who was weeping like a child, and clinging to her. The treachery that had betrayed her rapt her soul in indignation, and nothing roused her but the blasts of wind and flashes of lightning, that seemed to her the deathknell of her father.<\/p>\n The storm continued for the space of an hour, and then died away as suddenly as it had gathered. In another hour the guard had safely landed at the wharf, and were conveying their prisoners to the governor. He and his confidential counsellors, who had been awaiting at his house the return of their emissaries, solaced themselves with the belief that all parties were safely sheltered on the island, and probably would remain there during the night. While they were whispering this conclusion to one another at one extremity of the parlour, Everell sat beside Miss Downing in the recess of a window that overlooked the garden. The huge projecting chimney formed a convenient screen for the lovers. The evening was warm, the windowsash thrown up. The moon had come forth, and shed a mild lustre through the dewy atmosphere; the very light that the young and sentimental, and, above all, young and sentimental lovers, most delight in. But in vain did Everell look abroad for inspiration; in vain did he turn his eyes to Esther\u2019s face, now more beautiful than ever, flushed as it was with the first dawn of happiness; in Tain did he try to recall his truant thoughts, to answer words to her timid but bright glances; he would not, he could not say what he did not feel, and the few sentences he uttered fell on his own ear like cold abstractions. While he was in this durance, his father was listening\u2014if a man stretched on a rack can be said to listen\u2014to Madam Winthrop\u2019s whispered and reiterated assurances of her entire approbation of her niece\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n This was the position of all parties, when a bustle was heard in the court, and the guard entered. The foremost advanced to the governor, and communicated a few sentences in a low tone. The governor manifested unusual emotion, turned round suddenly, and exclaimed, \u201cHere, Mr. Fletcher\u2014Everell;\u201d and then motioning to them to keep their places, he said, in an under voice, to those near to him, \u201cWe must first dispose of our prisoner: come forward, Magawisca.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMagavnsca!\u201d echoed Everell, springing at one bound into the hall. But Magawisca shrunk back and averted her face. \u201cNow God be praised!\u201d he exclaimed, as he caught the first glance of a form never to be forgotten; \u201cit is\u2014it is Magawisca!\u201d She did not speak, but drew away, and leaned her head against the wall. \u201cWhat means this?\u201d he said, now for the first time espying Faith Leslie, and then looking round on the guard; \u201cwhat means it, sir?\u201d he demanded, turning somewhat imperiously to the governor.<\/p>\n \u201cIt means, sir,\u201d replied the governor, coldly, \u201cthat this Indian woman is the prisoner of the Common wealth\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt means that I am a prisoner, lured to the net, and betrayed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou a prisoner\u2014here, Magawisca!\u201d Everell exclaimed. \u201cImpossible! Justice, gratitude, humanity forbid it. My father\u2014Governor Winthrop, you will not surely suffer this outrage?\u201d<\/p>\n The elder Fletcher had advanced, and, scarcely less perplexed and agitated than his son, was endeavouring to draw forth Faith Leslie, who had shrunk behind Magawisca. Governor Winthrop seemed not at all pleased with Everell\u2019s interference. \u201cYou will do well, young Mr. Fletcher, to bridle your zeal; private feelings must yield to the public good: this young woman is suspected of being an active agent in brewing the conspiracy forming against us among the Indian tribes; and it is somewhat bold in you to oppose the course of justice\u2014to intermeddle with the public welfare\u2014to lift your feeble judgment against the wisdom of Providence, which has led, by peculiar means, to the apprehension of the enemy. Conduct your prisoner to the jail,\u201d he added, turning to the guard, \u201cand bid Barnaby have her in close and safe keeping till farther orders.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor the love of God, sir,\u201d cried Everell, \u201cdo not this injustice. At least suffer her to remain in your own house, on her promise\u2014more secure than the walls of a prison.\u201d Governor Winthrop only replied by signing to the guards to proceed to their duty.<\/p>\n \u201cStay one moment,\u201d exclaimed Everell; \u201cpermit her, I beseech you, to remain here; place her in any one of your apartments, and I will remain before it, a faithful warder, night and day. But do not\u2014do not, I beseech you\u2014sully your honour by committing this noble creature to your jail.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cListen to my son, I entreat you,\u201d said the elder Fletcher, unable any longer to restrain his own feelings;\u201d certainly we owe much to this woman.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou owe much, undoubtedly,\u201d replied the governor; \u201cbut it yet remains to be proved, my friend, that your son\u2019s redeemed life is to be put in the balance against the public weal.\u201d<\/p>\n Esther, who had observed the scene with an intense interest, now overcame her timidity so far as to penetrate the circle that surrounded the governor, and to attempt to enforce Everell\u2019s prayer. \u201cMay not Magawisca,\u201d she said, \u201cshare our apartment\u2014Hope\u2019s and mine? She will then, in safe custody, await your farther pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThanks, Esther\u2014thanks,\u201d cried Everell, with an animation that would have rewarded a far more difficult effort: but all efforts were unavailing, but not useless; for Magawisca said to Everell, \u201cYou have sent light into my darkened soul\u2014you have truth and gratitude; and for the rest, they are but what I deemed them; Send me,\u201d she continued, proudly turning to the governor, \u201cto your dungeon; all places are alike to me while I am your prisoner; but, for the sake of Everell Fletcher, let me tell you, that she who is dearer to him than his own soul, if, indeed, she has lived out the perils of this night, must answer for my safe keeping.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHope Leslie!\u201d exclaimed Everell; \u201cwhat has happened? What do you mean, Magawisca?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe was the decoy bird,\u201d replied Magawisca, calmly; \u201cand she, too, is caught in the net.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cExplain, I beseech you!\u201d The governor answered Everell\u2019s appeal by a brief explanation. A bustle ensued: every other feeling was now lost in concern for Hope Leslie; and Magawisca was separated from her weeping and frightened companion, and conducted away without farther opposition; while the two Fletchers, as if life and death hung on every instant, were calling on the governor to aid them in the way and means of pursuit.<\/p>\n\r\nquestions to consider<\/h3>\r\n
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Introduction: Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1789-1867)<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\nHope Leslie, or Early Times in Massachusetts – Excerpt (1827)<\/h2>\n
\nWhen we have chid the hasty-footed time
\nFor parting us\u2014oh, and is all forgot?\u201d<\/p>\n\nquestions to consider<\/h3>\n
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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t CC licensed content, Original<\/div>CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div>