Unveiling a Parallel: A Romance

ets dost thou t

kspe

ner was announced in the usual way; that is, the way which assumes without doubt that nothing else in the world is so important as dinner. It may be a bell, or a gong, or a verbal call, but it is as imperative as the command of an autocrat. It brings to the ground, with the suddenness of a mental shock, the finest flights of the imagination. It wakes the soul from transcendent dreams, cools the fervor o

the right moment in which to proclaim that the soup was served! There is a right moment, a happy moment, when the flock of intellectual

had never before shown ourselves off to each other to such striking advantage; we traveled miles in moments, we expanded, we unrolled reams of intelligence which were apprehended in a flash, as a whole landscape is apprehended in a gla

sion of which I was waiting for with tremors of delight,-for her views, as it happened, accorded with mine,-"t

t so," sai

d. "We set the dial to point at certain hours, and i

homes, but occasionally one of the three Natures waits upon another; the Mind may yield to s

ommented Elodia, with her usual air of not bein

glances of eyes mingle in a language more eloquent than speech,-and, to tell the truth, we ourselves have such moments, I'll not deny that; but the difference is, that they appreciate the value of them and hold them fast, while we

Thursia!" cried Elodia, "wher

l. They are in the nature of miracles, they are so wonderful,-and yet not so wonderful. We forget

ts. I should think those people would miss a great deal of the actual good of life in the pursuit of the una

nothing; they gather up into their lives all the treasures that nature scatters about. If a bird sings, they listen and say, 'That song is for me;' or, if a blossom opens, 'I will take its be

rove some distance through this, and then the road branched off and skirted round a magnificent park,-the finest I had seen,-bordered by a thick hedge, all abloom with white, fragrant flowers, and fenced with a fretwork of iron, finished with an inverted fringe of bristling points. Within, were evidences of costly and elaborate care; the trees were of noble growth and the greensward like stretches of velvet over

ogue in Thursia. Here and there, I espied a fawn; one pretty creature, with a ribbon round its neck, was drinking at a fo

. "What place is it, Severnius, an

eluctantly, I thought. "It

oes it mean

e replied. As I looked at him, a blush actually mantled his cheek.

ed for that purpose, or did the name get fastened upon it through accident? Surely you are

not their love

urious distin

ors, never their lovers,-any more

recede, and a cold perspiration broke out all over me. There was a que

ve you no houses of prostitution in you

ot for wome

peculiar discrimina

that in this matter, at least, ther

rating stubbornness one occasional

lied. "What possible reason is there why men, more

involved; you know,-it is a statistical fact,-that single men are neither so

more women do not m

Women!-that is quite another matter. Women are

, my friend, that your women were kept to a strict line of conduct, according to your account, by a severe discipline,-including even the

han death, thank

edged about by the wholesome restraints that have developed self-government in women. I cannot admit your 'hygienic' argument in this matter; life is a prin

I finally asked, nodding toward th

ut this business; do th

t is only the very wealthy who indulge in such 'luxuries,' and they try to seal the lips of servants a

creatures is found ou

res' is a harsh name to apply to women,

ell me, what happens when there is an exposé? Are

ne. If the woman's standing is high in other respects,-if she has money, political influence, talent, attractiveness,-there is very little made of i

a gentleman-ever marry suc

have a friend, a capital fellow, who was so unfortunate as to attract s

do the wom

ose to do so; what is the

ation, and that his denial of her would result in her total ruin; and that for his sake she would reform her life. He is both chivalrous and tender, and, withal, a little romantic, and he consented. My opinion is that, if she could have had him without marriage, she would have preferred i

?" I ex

w her. Well, yes, since I have gone so far, it is my friend Massilia's wife that I have been speaking of

ld damn a woman eternally, no matter what angelic qualities she might pos

erpart of the other sex?

ed this, an

ot get a

aris was shrewder than her husband; she made herself safe by confessing

rdon, but what

, "before the miserable business was consummated,-he made me his

oungsters we saw lounging about on the lawn back there?" I referred to several

ident surprise at the

ome of the profes

C?sar's

imilar institutions where lovely young girls are the victims. I do not know which is the more deplorable,-sometimes I think the latter is. A tender mother would wish that

d inquired, "What kind of standing h

re. In fact, they are on a level with the common, paid courtesan,-the lowest rank there is. I have often thought it

oralize on the subject, and he presently began

o say nothing of the flattery, which is sweeter. Still, few, if any, adopt it deliberately. Often they are wilily drawn into 'entanglements' outside; for the misery of it is, that good society, as I have said before, throws its cloak around these specious beguilers, and the unfortunate dupe does not dream whither he is b

accomplishes this horrible ruin!-and is 'received' in society, which, if to

covers caste by a course of penitence, by multiplying her subscriptions to

peace-offeri

crats, to withstand. The simply respectable, but weak-hearted,-who are a little below her level in point of wealth, position, or ancestry,-fall into her net. I have observed that a woman who has forfeited

I rejoined, but he had not finished; ther

ve one constructed, on a large and handsome scale, and invite a party to accompany her on an excursion to the Earth. And though she were the wors

you do," I repl

k off a good deal for a visit to

he dreadful things I had just listened to, I think I should have been in transports over the serene loveliness of the prospect around us. The view

gs, and the woods often hide it from view; but it reappears, again and again, afar off, in green meadows and yellowing fields,-opalescent jewels in gold or emerald setting. Here and there, in the distance, whit

but yet picturesque. They were half hidden in mammoth forest trees that had never been trimmed or trained, but spread their enormous limbs wheresoever they wou

der the trees, a little way back, I observed a group of young girls lolling in hammocks and idling in rustic chairs. They caught sight of us and sprang up, laughi

ius. "What does th

ndsome face again, "this place is the counte

ht so,"

I assure you that the sum total of the people who practice them constitutes but a small proportion of our population. And the good people here, the gr

egislation

tall advice. Though this is the only way to accomplish anything, I think. I have very little faith in legislative measures against secret vices; it is like trying to dam a stream which cannot be dammed but must break out somewhere

sked, with what seemed to me a mom

to them. "It was simply their personal influence I had reference to. I do not know that I can make you understand, but their presence always seemed to me

his last sentence, for to me he seemed entirely d