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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Boys and girls from Thackeray , by Kate
+Dickinson Sweetser
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Boys and girls from Thackeray 
+
+Author: Kate Dickinson Sweetser
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2003  [eBook #10111]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOYS AND GIRLS FROM THACKERAY ***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+Boys and Girls from Thackeray
+
+By Kate Dickinson Sweetser
+
+Pictures by GEORGE ALFRED WILLIAMS
+
+1907
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+William Makepeace Thackeray--the name is dear to all lovers of classic
+fiction, who have wandered in enchanted lands, following the fortunes of
+Colonel Newcome, Becky Sharp, Henry Esmond, and a host of other familiar
+characters created by the great novelist.
+
+To an unusual degree, Thackeray dwells on the childhood and youth of the
+characters he depicts, lingering fondly and in details over the pranks
+and pastimes, the school and college days of his heroes and heroines, as
+though he wished to call especial attention to the interest of that
+portion of their career.
+
+That Thackeray has so emphasised his sketches of juvenile life, warrants
+the presentation of those sketches in this volume and as complete
+stories, without the adult intrigue and plot with which they are
+surrounded in the novels from which they are taken. The object in so
+presenting them is twofold: namely, to create an interest in Thackeray's
+work among young readers to whom he has heretofore been unknown, and to
+form a companion volume to those already given such a hearty
+welcome--Boys and Girls from Dickens and George Eliot.
+
+K.D.S.
+
+NEW YORK, 1907.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+HENRY ESMOND
+
+THE VIRGINIANS
+
+BECKY SHARP AT SCHOOL
+
+CUFF'S FIGHT WITH "FIGS"
+
+GEORGE OSBORNE--RAWDON CRAWLEY
+
+CLIVE AND ETHEL NEWCOME
+
+ARTHUR PENDENNIS
+
+CAROLINE
+
+
+
+
+BOYS AND GIRLS _from_ THACKERAY
+
+
+
+
+HENRY ESMOND
+
+
+[Illustration: HENRY ESMOND AND THE CASTLEWOODS.]
+
+When Francis, fourth Viscount Castlewood, came to his title, and,
+presently after, to take possession of his house of Castlewood, County
+Hants, in the year 1691, almost the only tenant of the place besides the
+domestics was a lad of twelve years of age, of whom no one seemed to take
+any note until my Lady Viscountess lighted upon him, going over the house
+with the housekeeper on the day of her arrival. The boy was in the room
+known as the book-room, or yellow gallery, where the portraits of the
+family used to hang.
+
+The new and fair lady of Castlewood found the sad, lonely little occupant
+of this gallery busy over his great book, which he laid down when he was
+aware that a stranger was at hand. And, knowing who that person must be,
+the lad stood up and bowed before her, performing a shy obeisance to the
+mistress of his house.
+
+She stretched out her hand--indeed, when was it that that hand would not
+stretch out to do an act of kindness, or to protect grief and
+ill-fortune? "And this is our kinsman, I believe," she said; "and what is
+your name, kinsman?"
+
+"My name is Henry Esmond," said the lad, looking up at her in a sort of
+delight and wonder, for she appeared the most charming object he had ever
+looked on. Her golden hair was shining in the gold of the sun; her
+complexion was of a dazzling bloom; her lips smiling and her eyes beaming
+with a kindness which made Harry Esmond's heart to beat with surprise.
+
+"His name is Henry Esmond, sure enough, my lady," says Mrs. Worksop, the
+housekeeper; and the new Viscountess, after walking down the gallery,
+came back to the lad, took his hand again, placing her other fair hand on
+his head, saying some words to him which were so kind, so sweet that the
+boy felt as if the touch of a superior being, or angel, smote him down to
+the ground, and he kissed the fair protecting hand as he knelt on one
+knee. To the very last hour of his life Esmond remembered the lady as she
+then spoke and looked: the rings on her fair hands, the very scent of her
+robe, the beam of her eyes lighting up with surprise and kindness, her
+lips blooming in a smile, the sun making a golden halo round her hair.
+
+As the boy was yet in this attitude of humility, enters behind him a
+portly gentleman, with a little girl of four years old. The gentleman
+burst into a great laugh at the lady and her adorer, with his little,
+queer figure, his sallow face, and long black hair. The lady blushed and
+seemed to deprecate his ridicule by a look of appeal to her husband, for
+it was my Lord Viscount who now arrived, and whom the lad knew, having
+once before seen him in the late lord's lifetime.
+
+"So this is the little priest!" says my lord, who knew for what calling
+the lad was intended, and adding: "Welcome, kinsman."
+
+"He is saying his prayers to mamma," says the little girl, and my lord
+burst out into another great laugh at this, and kinsman Harry looked very
+silly. He invented a half-dozen of speeches in reply, but 'twas months
+afterwards when he thought of this adventure; as it was, he had never a
+word in answer.
+
+"_Le pauvre enfant, il n'a que nous_," says the lady, looking to her
+lord; and the boy, who understood her, though doubtless she thought
+otherwise, thanked her with all his heart for her kind speech.
+
+"And he shan't want for friends here," says my lord in a kind voice.
+"Shall he, little Trix?"
+
+The little girl, whose name was Beatrix, and whom her papa called by this
+diminutive, looked at Henry Esmond solemnly with a pair of large eyes,
+and then a smile shone over her face, which was as beautiful as that of a
+cherub, and she came up and put out a little hand to him. A keen and
+delightful pang of gratitude, happiness, affection filled the orphan
+child's heart as he received these tokens of friendliness and kindness.
+But an hour since, he had felt quite alone in the world; when he heard
+the great peal of bells from Castlewood church ringing to welcome the
+arrival of the new lord and lady it had rung only terror and anxiety to
+him, for he knew not how the new owner would deal with him; and those to
+whom he formerly looked for protection were forgotten or dead. Pride and
+doubt, too, had kept him within doors, when the Vicar and the people of
+the village, and the servants of the house, had gone out to welcome my
+Lord Castlewood--for Henry Esmond was no servant, though a dependent; no
+relative, though he bore the name and inherited the blood of the house;
+and in the midst of the noise and acclamations attending the arrival of
+the new lord, for whom a feast was got ready, and guns were fired, and
+tenants and domestics huzzahed when his carriage rolled into the
+court-yard of the Hall, no one took any notice of young Henry Esmond, who
+sat alone in the book-room until his new friends found him.
+
+When my lord and lady were going away from the book-room, the little
+girl, still holding him by the hand, bade him come too.
+
+"Thou wilt always forsake an old friend for a new one, Trix," says her
+father good-naturedly, and went into the gallery, giving an arm to his
+lady. They passed thence through the music-gallery, long since
+dismantled, and Queen Elizabeth's rooms, in the clock-tower, and out into
+the terrace, where was a fine prospect of sunset and the great darkling
+woods with a cloud of rooks returning, and the plain and river with
+Castlewood village beyond, and purple hills beautiful to look at; and the
+little heir of Castlewood, a child of two years old, was already here on
+the terrace in his nurse's arms, from whom he ran across the grass
+instantly he perceived his mother, and came to her.
+
+"If thou canst not be happy here," says my lord, looking round at the
+scene, "thou art hard to please, Rachel."
+
+"I am happy where you are," she said, lovingly; and then my lord began to
+describe what was before them to his wife, and what indeed little Harry
+knew better than he--viz., the history of the house: how by yonder gate
+the page ran away with the heiress of Castlewood, by which the estate
+came into the present family; how the Roundheads attacked the
+clock-tower, which my lord's father was slain in defending. "I was but
+two years old then," says he, "but take forty-six from ninety, and how
+old shall I be, kinsman Harry?"
+
+"Thirty," says his wife, with a laugh.
+
+"A great deal too old for you, Rachel," answers my lord, looking fondly
+down at her. Indeed she seemed to be a girl, and was at that time scarce
+twenty years old.
+
+"You know, Frank, I will do anything to please you," says she, "and I
+promise you I will grow older every day."
+
+"You mustn't call papa Frank; you must call him 'my lord,' now," says
+Miss Beatrix, with a toss of her little head; at which the mother smiled,
+and the good-natured father laughed, and the little trotting boy laughed,
+not knowing why--but because he was happy, no doubt--as everyone seemed
+to be there.
+
+Presently, however, as the sun was setting, the little heir was sent
+howling to bed, while the more fortunate little Trix was promised to
+sit up for supper that night--"and you will come too, kinsman, won't
+you?" she said.
+
+Harry Esmond blushed: "I--I have supper with Mrs. Worksop," says he.
+
+But the new Viscount Castlewood refused to hear of that, and said, "Thou
+shalt sup with us, Harry, to-night! Shan't refuse a lady, shall he,
+Trix?"--and Harry enjoyed the unexpected pleasure of an evening meal with
+the new lord of Castlewood and his gracious family.
+
+Later, when Harry got to his little chamber, it was with a heart full of
+surprise and gratitude towards the new friends whom this happy day had
+brought him. The next morning he was up and watching long before the
+house was astir, longing to see that fair lady and her children again;
+and only fearful lest their welcome of the past night should in any way
+be withdrawn or altered. But presently little Beatrix came out into the
+garden, and her mother followed, who greeted Harry as kindly as before
+and listened while he told her the histories of the house, which he had
+been taught in the old lord's time, and to which she listened with great
+interest; and then he told her, with respect to the night before, that he
+understood French and thanked her for her protection.
+
+"Do you?" says she, with a blush; "then, sir, you shall teach me
+and Beatrix."
+
+And she asked him many more questions regarding himself, to which she
+received brief replies, the substance of which was afterward amplified
+into certain facts concerning the past of the orphan boy, which it is
+well to note here and now.
+
+It seemed that in former days, in a little cottage in the village of
+Ealing, near to London, for some time had dwelt an old French refugee, by
+name Mr. Pastoureau, one of those whom the persecution of the Huguenots
+by the French king had brought over to England. With this old man lived a
+little lad, who went by the name of Henry Thomas, but who was no other
+than Henry Esmond. He remembered to have lived in another place a short
+time before, near to London, too, amongst looms and spinning wheels, and
+a great deal of psalm-singing and church-going, and a whole colony of
+Frenchmen.
+
+There he had a dear, dear friend, who died, and whom he called Aunt.
+She used to visit him in his dreams sometimes; and her face, though it
+was homely, was a thousand times dearer to him than that of Mrs.
+Pastoureau, Bon Papa Pastoureau's new wife, who came to live with him
+after aunt went away. And there, at Spittlefields, as it used to be
+called, lived Uncle George, who was a weaver, too, but used to tell
+Harry that he was a little gentleman, and that his father was a
+captain, and his mother an angel.
+
+When he said so, Bon Papa used to look up from the loom, where he was
+embroidering beautiful silk flowers, and shake his head. He had a little
+room where he always used to preach and sing hymns out of his great old
+nose. Little Harry did not like the preaching; he liked better the fine
+stories which aunt used to tell him. Bon Papa's new wife never told him
+pretty stories; she quarrelled with Uncle George, and he went away.
+
+After this, Harry's Bon Papa, and his wife and two children of her own
+that she had brought with her, came to live at Ealing. The new wife gave
+her children the best of everything, and Harry many a whipping, he knew
+not why. So he was very glad when a gentleman dressed in black, on
+horseback, with a mounted servant behind him, came to fetch him away from
+Ealing. The unjust stepmother gave him plenty to eat before he went away,
+and did not beat him once, but told the children to keep their hands off
+him. One was a girl, and Harry never could bear to strike a girl; and the
+other was a boy, whom he could easily have beat, but he always cried out,
+when Mrs. Pastoureau came sailing to the rescue with arms like a flail.
+She only washed Harry's face the day he went away; nor ever so much as
+once boxed his ears. She whimpered rather when the gentleman in black
+came for the boy, and pretended to cry; but Harry thought it was only a
+sham, and sprung quite delighted upon the horse upon which the lackey
+helped him. This lackey was a Frenchman; his name was Blaise. The child
+could talk to him in his own language perfectly well. He knew it better
+than English, indeed, having lived hitherto among French people, and
+being called the Little Frenchman by other boys on Ealing Green.
+
+The lackey was very talkative and informed the boy that the gentleman
+riding before him was my lord's chaplain, Father Holt; that he was now to
+be called Master Harry Esmond; that my Lord Viscount Castlewood was his
+patron; that he was to live at the great house of Castlewood, in the
+province of ----shire, where he would see Madame the Viscountess, who was
+a grand lady, and that he was to be educated for the priesthood. And so,
+seated on a cloth before Blaise's saddle, Harry Esmond was brought to
+London, and to a fine square called Covent Garden, near to which his
+patron lodged.
+
+Mr. Holt, the priest, took the child by the hand and brought him to this
+grand languid nobleman, who sat in a great cap and flowered
+morning-gown, sucking oranges. He patted Harry on the head and gave him
+an orange, and directed Blaise to take him out for a holiday; and out
+for a holiday the boy and the valet went. Harry went jumping along; he
+was glad enough to go.
+
+He remembered to his life's end the delights of those days. He was taken
+to see a play, in a house a thousand times greater and finer than the
+booth at Ealing Fair; and on the next happy day they took water on the
+river, and Harry saw London Bridge, with the houses and book: sellers'
+shops on it, looking like a street, and the tower of London, with the
+Armour, and the great lions and bears in the moat--all under company of
+Monsieur Blaise.
+
+Presently, of an early morning, all the party set forth for the country,
+and all along the road the Frenchman told little Harry stories of
+brigands, which made the child's hair stand on end, and terrified him; so
+that at the great gloomy inn on the road where they lay, he besought to
+be allowed to sleep in a room with one of the servants, and Father Holt
+took pity on him and gave the child a little bed in his chamber.
+
+His artless talk and answers very likely inclined this gentleman in his
+favour, for next day Mr. Holt said Harry should ride behind him, and not
+with the French lackey; and all along the journey put a thousand
+questions to the child--as to his foster-brother and relations at Ealing;
+what his old grandfather had taught him; what languages he knew; whether
+he could read and write, and sing, and so forth. And Mr. Holt found that
+Harry could read and write, and possessed the two languages of French and
+English very well. The lad so pleased the gentleman by his talk that they
+had him to dine with them at the inn, and encouraged him in his prattle;
+and Monsieur Blaise, with whom he rode and dined the day before, waited
+upon him now.
+
+At length, on the third day, at evening, they came to a village on the
+green with elms around it, and the people there all took off their hats,
+and made curtsies to my Lord Viscount, who bowed to them all languidly;
+and there was one portly person that wore a cassock and a broad-leafed
+hat, who bowed lower than anyone, and with this one both my lord and Mr.
+Holt had a few words.
+
+"This, Harry, is Castlewood church," says Mr. Holt, "and this is the
+pillar thereof, learned Dr. Tusher. Take off your hat, sirrah, and salute
+Dr. Tusher!"
+
+"Come up to supper, Doctor," says my lord; at which the Doctor made
+another low bow, and the party moved on towards a grand house that was
+before them, with many grey towers, and vanes on them, and windows
+flaming in the sunshine, and they passed under an arch into a courtyard,
+with a fountain in the centre, where many men came and held my lord's
+stirrup as he descended, and paid great respect to Mr. Holt likewise.
+
+Taking Harry by the hand as soon as they were both descended from their
+horses, Mr. Holt led him across the court, to rooms on a level with the
+ground, one of which Father Holt said was to be the boy's chamber, the
+other on the other side of the passage being the Father's own. As soon
+as the little man's face was washed, and the Father's own dress arranged,
+Harry's guide took him once more to the door by which my lord had entered
+the hall, and up a stair, and through an ante-room to my lady's
+drawing-room--an apartment than which Harry thought he had never seen
+anything more grand--no, not in the Tower of London, which he had just
+visited. Indeed, the chamber was richly ornamented in the manner of Queen
+Elizabeth's time, with great stained windows at either end, and hangings
+of tapestry, which the sun shining through the coloured glass painted of
+a thousand hues; and here in state, by the fire, sat a lady to whom the
+priest took up Harry, who was indeed amazed by her appearance.
+
+My Lady Viscountess's face was daubed with white and red up to the eyes,
+to which the paint gave an unearthly glare. She had a tower of lace on
+her head, under which was a bush of black curls--borrowed curls--so that
+no wonder little Harry Esmond was scared when he was first presented to
+her, the kind priest acting as master of the ceremonies at that solemn
+introduction, and he stared at her with eyes almost as great as her own,
+as he had stared at the player woman who acted the wicked tragedy-queen,
+when the players came down to Ealing Fair. She sat in a great chair by
+the fire-corner; in her lap was a spaniel-dog that barked furiously; on
+a little table by her was her ladyship's snuff-box and her sugar-plum
+box. She wore a dress of black velvet, and a petticoat of flame-coloured
+brocade. She had as many rings on her fingers as the old woman of
+Banbury Cross; and pretty, small feet which she was fond of showing,
+with great gold clocks to her stockings, and white slippers with red
+heels; and an odour of musk was shaken out of her garments whenever she
+moved or quitted the room, leaning on her tortoise-shell stick, little
+Fury, the dog, barking at her heels, and Mrs. Tusher, the parson's wife,
+by her side.
+
+"I present to your ladyship your kinsman and little page of honour,
+Master Henry Esmond," Mr. Holt said, bowing lowly, with a sort of comical
+humility. "Make a pretty bow to my lady, Monsieur; and then another
+little bow, not so low, to Madame Tusher."
+
+Upon my lady the boy's whole attention was for a time directed. He could
+not keep his great eyes from her. Since the Empress of Ealing, he had
+seen nothing so awful.
+
+"Does my appearance please you, little page?" asked the lady.
+
+"He would be very hard to please if it didn't," cried Madame Tusher.
+
+"Have done, you silly Maria," said Lady Castlewood, adding, "Come and
+kiss my hand, child"; and little Harry Esmond took and dutifully kissed
+the lean old hand, upon the gnarled knuckles of which there glittered a
+hundred rings.
+
+"To kiss that hand would make many a pretty fellow happy!" cried Mrs.
+Tusher; on which my lady cried out, "Go, you foolish Tusher!" and tapping
+her with her great fan, Tusher ran forward to seize her hand and kiss it.
+Fury arose and barked furiously at Tusher; and Father Holt looked on at
+this queer scene, with arch, grave glances.
+
+The awe exhibited by the little boy perhaps pleased the lady on whom this
+artless flattery was bestowed, for, having gone down on his knee (as
+Father Holt had directed him, and the fashion then was) and performed his
+obeisance, she asked, "Page Esmond, my groom of the chamber will inform
+you what your duties are, when you wait upon my lord and me; and good
+Father Holt will instruct you as becomes a gentleman of our name. You
+will pay him obedience in everything, and I pray you may grow to be as
+learned and as good as your tutor."
+
+Harry then put his small hand into the Father's as he walked away from
+his first presentation to his mistress, and asked many questions in his
+artless, childish way. "Who is that other woman?" he asked. "She is fat
+and round; she is more pretty than my Lady Castlewood."
+
+"She is Madame Tusher, the parson's wife of Castlewood. She has a son of
+your age, but bigger than you."
+
+"Why does she like so to kiss my lady's hand? It is not good to kiss."
+
+"Tastes are different, little man. Madame Tusher is attached to my lady,
+having been her waiting-woman before she was married, in the old lord's
+time. She married Dr. Tusher, the chaplain. The English household divines
+often marry the waiting-women."
+
+"You will not marry the French woman, will you? I saw her laughing with
+Blaise in the buttery."
+
+"I belong to a church that is older and better than the English church,"
+Mr. Holt said (making a sign, whereof Esmond did not then understand the
+meaning, across his breast and forehead); "in our church the clergy do
+not marry. You will understand these things better soon."
+
+"Was not Saint Peter the head of your church?--Dr. Rabbits of Ealing
+told us so."
+
+The Father said, "Yes, he was."
+
+"But Saint Peter was married, for we heard only last Sunday that his
+wife's mother lay sick of a fever." On which the Father again laughed,
+and said he would understand this too better soon, and talked of other
+things, and took away Harry Esmond, and showed him the great old house
+which he had come to inhabit.
+
+It stood on a rising green hill, with woods behind it, in which were
+rooks' nests, where the birds at morning and returning home at evening
+made a great cawing. At the foot of a hill was a river, with a steep
+ancient bridge crossing it; and beyond that a large pleasant green flat,
+where the village of Castlewood stood, with the church in the midst, the
+parsonage hard by it, the inn with the blacksmith's forge beside it, and
+the sign of the "Three Castles" on the elm. The London road stretched
+away towards the rising sun, and to the west were swelling hills and
+peaks, behind which many a time Harry Esmond saw the same sun setting in
+after years.
+
+The Hall of Castlewood was built with two courts, whereof one only, the
+fountain-court, was now inhabited, the other having been battered down in
+the Cromwellian wars. In the fountain-court, still in good repair, was
+the great hall, near to the kitchen and butteries. A dozen of
+living-rooms looked to the north, and communicated with the little chapel
+that faced eastwards, and the buildings stretching from that to the main
+gate, and with the hall (which looked to the west) into the court, now
+dismantled. This court had been the more magnificent of the two until the
+Protector's cannon tore down one side of it before the place was taken
+and stormed. The besiegers entered at the terrace under the clock-tower,
+slaying every man of the garrison, and at their head, my lord's brother,
+Francis Esmond.
+
+The Restoration did not bring enough money to the Lord Castlewood to
+restore this ruined part of his house, where were the morning parlours,
+and above them the long music-gallery. Before this stretched the
+garden-terrace, where the flowers grew again which the boots of the
+Roundheads had trodden in their assault, and which was restored without
+much cost, and only a little care, by both ladies who succeeded the
+second viscount in the government of this mansion. Round the
+terrace-garden was a low wall with a wicket leading to a wooded height
+beyond, that is called Cromwell's Battery to this day.
+
+Young Harry Esmond soon learned the domestic part of his duty, which
+was easy enough, from the groom of her ladyship's chamber: serving the
+Countess, as the custom commonly was in his boyhood, as page, waiting
+at her chair, bringing her scented water and the silver basin after
+dinner--sitting on her carriage-step on state occasions, or on public
+days introducing her company to her. This was chiefly of the Catholic
+gentry, of whom there were a pretty many in the country and
+neighbouring city, and who rode not seldom to Castlewood to partake of
+the hospitalities there. In the second year of their residence, the
+company seemed especially to increase. My lord and my lady were seldom
+without visitors.
+
+Also there came in these times to Father Holt many private visitors,
+whom, after a little, Henry Esmond had no difficulty in recognising as
+priests of the Father's order, whatever their dresses (and they
+adopted all sorts) might be. They were closeted with the Father
+constantly, and often came and rode away without paying their respects
+to my lord and lady.
+
+Father Holt began speedily to be so much occupied with these meetings as
+rather to neglect the education of the little lad who so gladly put
+himself under the kind priest's orders. At first they read much and
+regularly, both in Latin and French; the Father not neglecting in
+anything to impress his faith upon his pupil, but not forcing him
+violently, and treating him with a delicacy and kindness which surprised
+and attached the child, always more easily won by these methods than by
+any severe exercise of authority. And his delight in their walks was to
+tell Harry of the glories of his order, of the Jesuits, an order founded
+by Ignatius Loyola, whose members were intimately associated with
+intrigues of church and state. He told Harry of its martyrs and heroes,
+of its brethren converting the heathen by myriads, traversing the desert,
+facing the stake, ruling the courts and councils, or braving the tortures
+of kings; so that Henry Esmond thought that to belong to the Jesuits was
+the bravest end of ambition; the greatest career here, and in heaven the
+surest reward; and began to long for the day, not only when he should
+enter into the one church and receive his first communion, but when he
+might join that wonderful brotherhood, which numbered the wisest, the
+bravest, the highest born, the most eloquent of men among its members.
+Father Holt bade him keep his views secret, and to hide them as a great
+treasure which would escape him if it was revealed; and, proud of this
+confidence and secret vested in him, the lad became fondly attached to
+the master who initiated him into a mystery so wonderful and awful. And
+when little Tom Tusher, his neighbour, came from school for his holiday,
+and said how he, too; like Harry, was to be bred up for an English
+priest, and would get a college scholarship and fellowship from his
+school, and then a good living--it tasked young Harry Esmond's powers of
+reticence not to say to his young companion, "Church! priesthood! fat
+living! My dear Tommy, do you call yours a church and a priesthood? What
+is a fat living compared to converting a hundred thousand heathens by a
+single sermon? What is a scholarship at Trinity by the side of a crown of
+martyrdom, with angels awaiting you as your head is taken off? Could your
+master at school sail over the Thames on his gown? Have you statues in
+your church that can bleed, speak, walk, and cry? My good Tommy, in dear
+Father Holt's church these things take place every day. You know Saint
+Philip of the Willows appeared to Lord Castlewood, and caused him to turn
+to the one true church. No saints ever come to you." And Harry Esmond,
+because of his promise to Father Holt, hiding away these treasures of
+faith from T. Tusher, delivered himself of them nevertheless simply to
+Father Holt; who stroked his head, smiled at him with his inscrutable
+look, and told him that he did well to meditate on these great things,
+and not to talk of them except under direction.
+
+Had time enough been given, and his childish inclinations been properly
+nurtured, Harry Esmond had been a Jesuit priest ere he was a dozen years
+older, and might have finished his days a martyr in China or a victim on
+Tower Hill; for, in the few months they spent together at Castlewood, Mr.
+Holt obtained an entire mastery over the boy's intellect and affections,
+and had brought him to think, as indeed Father Holt thought, with all his
+heart too, that no life was so noble, no death so desirable, as that
+which many brethren of his famous order were ready to undergo. By love,
+by a brightness of wit and good humour that charmed all, by an authority
+which he knew how to assume, by a mystery and silence about him which
+increased the child's reverence for him, he won Harry's absolute fealty,
+and would have kept it, doubtless, if schemes greater and more important
+than a poor little boy's admission into orders had not called him away.
+
+After being at home for a few months in tranquillity, my Lord Castlewood
+and Lady Isabella left the country for London, taking Father Holt with
+them: and his little pupil scarce ever shed more bitter tears in his life
+than he did for nights after the first parting with his dear friend, as
+he lay in the lonely chamber next to that which the Father used to
+occupy. He and a few domestics were left as the only tenants of the great
+house: and, though Harry sedulously did all the tasks which the Father
+set him, he had many hours unoccupied, and read in the library, and
+bewildered his little brain with the great books he found there.
+
+After a while, however, the little lad grew accustomed to the loneliness
+of the place; and in after days remembered this part of his life as a
+period not unhappy. When the family was at London the whole of the
+establishment travelled thither with the exception of the porter and his
+wife and children. These had their lodging in the gate-house hard by.
+with a door into the court. That with a window looking out on the green
+was the Chaplain's room; and next to this was a small chamber where
+Father Holt had his books, and Harry Esmond his sleeping-closet. The side
+of the house facing the east had escaped the guns of the Cromwellians,
+whose battery was on the height facing the western court; so that this
+eastern end bore few marks of demolition, save in the chapel, where the
+painted windows surviving Edward the Sixth had been broke by the
+Commonwealthmen. When Father Holt was at Castlewood little Harry Esmond
+acted as his familiar little servitor, beating his clothes, folding his
+vestments, fetching his water from the well long before daylight, ready
+to run anywhere for the service of his beloved priest. When the Father
+was away, he locked his private chamber; but the room where the books
+were was left to little Harry.
+
+Great public events were happening at this time, of which the simple
+young page took little count. But one day, before the family went to
+London, riding into the neighbouring town on the step of my lady's
+coach, his lordship and she and Father Holt being inside, a great mob
+of people came hooting and jeering round the coach, bawling out, "The
+Bishops forever!" "Down with the Pope!" "No Popery! no Popery!" so that
+my lord began to laugh, my lady's eyes to roll with anger, for she was
+as bold as a lioness, and feared nobody; whilst Mr. Holt, as Esmond saw
+from his place on the step, sank back with rather an alarmed face,
+crying out to her ladyship, "For God's sake, madam, do not speak or look
+out of window; sit still." But she did not obey this prudent injunction
+of the Father; she thrust her head out of the coach window, and screamed
+out to the coachman, "Flog your way through them, the brutes, James, and
+use your whip!"
+
+James the coachman was more afraid of his mistress than of the mob,
+probably, for he whipped on his horses as he was bidden, and the post-boy
+that rode with the first pair gave a cut of his thong over the shoulders
+of one fellow who put his hand out towards the leading horse's rein.
+
+It was a market-day, and the country-people were all assembled with
+their baskets of poultry, eggs, and such things; the postilion had no
+sooner lashed the man who would have taken hold of his horse, but a
+great cabbage came whirling like a bombshell into the carriage, at
+which my lord laughed more, for it knocked my lady's fan out of her
+hand, and plumped into Father Holt's stomach. Then came a shower of
+carrots and potatoes.
+
+The little page was outside the coach on the step, and a fellow in the
+crowd aimed a potato at him, and hit him in the eye, at which the poor
+little wretch set up a shout The man, a great big saddler's apprentice of
+the town, laughed, and stooped to pick up another potato. The crowd had
+gathered quite between the horses and the inn door by this time, and the
+coach was brought to a dead standstill. My lord jumped as briskly as a
+boy out of the door on his side of the coach, squeezing little Harry
+behind it; had hold of the potato-thrower's collar in an instant, and the
+next moment the brute's heels were in the air, and he fell on the stones
+with a thump.
+
+"You hulking coward!" says he, "you pack of screaming blackguards! how
+dare you attack children, and insult women? Fling another shot at that
+carriage, you sneaking pigskin cobbler, and by the Lord I'll send my
+rapier through you!"
+
+Some of the mob cried, "Huzzah, my Lord!" for they knew him, and the
+saddler's man was a known bruiser, near twice as big as my Lord Viscount.
+
+"Make way there," says he (he spoke with a great air of authority). "Make
+way, and let her ladyship's carriage pass."
+
+The men actually did make way, and the horses went on, my lord walking
+after them with his hat on his head.
+
+This mob was one of many thousands that were going about the country at
+that time, huzzahing for the acquittal of seven bishops who had been
+tried just then, and about whom little Harry Esmond knew scarce anything.
+The party from Castlewood were on their way to Hexton, where there was a
+great meeting of the gentry. My lord's people had their new liveries on
+and Harry a little suit of blue and silver, which he wore upon occasions
+of state; and the gentlefolks came round and talked to my lord: and a
+judge in a red gown, who seemed a very great personage, especially
+complimented him and my lady, who was mighty grand. Harry remembers her
+train borne up by her gentlewoman. There was an assembly and ball at the
+great room at the inn, and other young gentlemen of the county families
+looked on as he did. One of them jeered him for his black eye, which was
+swelled by the potato, and another called him a cruel name, on which he
+and Harry fell to fisticuffs. My lord's cousin, Colonel Esmond of
+Walcote, was there, and separated the two lads--a great, tall gentleman,
+with a handsome, good-natured face.
+
+Very soon after this my lord and lady went to London with Mr. Holt,
+leaving the page behind them. The little man had the great house of
+Castlewood to himself; or between him and the housekeeper, Mrs. Worksop,
+an old lady who was a kinswoman of the family in some distant way, and a
+Protestant, but a staunch Tory and kings-man, as all the Esmonds were.
+Harry used to go to school to Dr. Tusher when he was at home, though the
+Doctor was much occupied too. There was a great stir and commotion
+everywhere, even in the little quiet village of Castlewood, whither a
+party of people came from the town, who would have broken Castlewood
+Chapel windows, but the village people turned out, and even old
+Sievewright, the republican blacksmith, along with them; for my lady,
+though she was a Papist, and had many odd ways, was kind to the tenantry,
+and there was always plenty of protectors for Castlewood inmates in any
+sort of invasion.
+
+One day at dawn, not having been able to sleep for thinking of some lines
+for eels which he had placed the night before, the lad was lying in his
+little bed waiting for the hour when he and John Lockwood, the porter's
+son, might go to the pond and see what fortune had brought them. It might
+have been four o'clock when he heard the door of Father Holt's chamber
+open. Harry jumped up, thinking for certain it was a robber, or hoping
+perhaps for a ghost, and, flinging open his own door, saw a light inside
+Father Holt's room, and a figure standing in the doorway, in the midst of
+a great smoke which issued from the room.
+
+"Who's there?" cried out the boy.
+
+"_Silentium!_" whispered the other; "'tis I, my boy!" holding his hand
+out, and Harry recognised Father Holt. A curtain was over the window
+that looked to the court, and he saw that the smoke came from a great
+flame of papers burning in a bowl when he entered the Chaplain's room.
+After giving a hasty greeting and blessing to the lad, who was charmed
+to see his tutor, the Father continued the burning of his papers,
+drawing them from a cupboard over the mantelpiece wall, which Harry had
+never seen before.
+
+Father Holt laughed, seeing the lad's attention fixed at once on this
+hole. "That is right, Harry," he said; "see all and say nothing. You are
+faithful, I know."
+
+"I know I would go to the stake for you," said Harry.
+
+"I don't want your head," said the Father, patting it kindly; "all you
+have to do is to hold your tongue. Let us burn these papers, and say
+nothing to anybody. Should you like to read them?"
+
+Harry Esmond blushed, and held down his head; he _had_ looked, but
+without thinking, at the paper before him; but though he had seen it
+before, he could not understand a word of it. They burned the papers
+until scarce any traces of them remained.
+
+Harry had been accustomed to seeing Father Holt in more dresses than one;
+it not being safe, or worth the danger, for Popish priests to wear their
+proper dress; so he was in no wise astonished that the priest should now
+appear before him in a riding-dress, with large buff leather boots, and a
+feather to his hat, plain, but such as gentlemen wore.
+
+"You know the secret of the cupboard," said he, laughing, "and must be
+prepared for other mysteries"; and he opened a wardrobe, which he
+usually kept locked, but from which he now took out two or three dresses
+and wigs of different colours, and a couple of swords, a military coat
+and cloak, and a farmer's smock, and placed them in the large hole over
+the mantelpiece from which the papers had been taken.
+
+"If they miss the cupboard," he said, "they will not find these; if they
+find them, they'll tell no tales, except that Father Holt wore more
+suits of clothes than one. All Jesuits do. You know what deceivers we
+are, Harry."
+
+Harry was alarmed at the notion that his friend was about to leave him;
+but "No," the priest said, "I may very likely come back with my lord in a
+few days. We are to be tolerated; we are not to be persecuted. But they
+may take a fancy to pay a visit at Castlewood ere our return; and, as
+gentlemen of my cloth are suspected, they might choose to examine my
+papers, which concern nobody--at least not them." And to this day,
+whether the papers in cipher related to politics, or to the affairs of
+that mysterious society whereof Father Holt was a member, his pupil,
+Harry Esmond, remains in entire ignorance.
+
+The rest of his goods Father Holt left untouched on his shelves and in
+his cupboard, taking down--with a laugh, however--and flinging into the
+brazier, where he only half burned them, some theological treatises which
+he had been writing. "And now," said he, "Henry, my son, you may testify,
+with a safe conscience, that you saw me burning Latin sermons the last
+time I was here before I went away to London; and it will be daybreak
+directly, and I must be away before Lockwood is stirring."
+
+"Will not Lockwood let you out, sir?" Esmond asked. Holt laughed; he
+was never more gay or good-humoured than when in the midst of action
+or danger.
+
+"Lockwood knows nothing of my being here, mind you," he said; "nor would
+you, you little wretch! had you slept better. You must forget that I have
+been here; and now farewell. Close the door, and go to your own room, and
+don't come out till--stay, why should you not know one secret more? I
+know you will never betray me."
+
+In the Chaplain's room were two windows, the one looking into the court
+facing westwards to the fountain, the other a small casement strongly
+barred, and looking onto the green in front of the Hall. This window was
+too high to reach from the ground; but, mounting on a buffet which stood
+beneath it, Father Holt showed Harry how, by pressing on the base of the
+window, the whole framework descended into a cavity worked below, from
+which it could be restored to its usual place from without, a broken pane
+being purposely open to admit the hand which was to work upon the spring
+of the machine.
+
+"When I am gone," Father Holt said, "you may push away the buffet, so
+that no one may fancy that an exit has been made that way; lock the door;
+place the key--where shall we put the key?--under 'Chrysostom' on the
+book shelf; and if any ask for it, say I keep it there, and told you
+where to find it, if you had need to go to my room. The descent is easy
+down the wall into the ditch; and so once more farewell, until I see thee
+again, my dear son."
+
+And with this the intrepid Father mounted the buffet with great agility
+and briskness, stepped across the window, lifting up the bars and
+framework again from the other side, and only leaving room for Harry
+Esmond to stand on tiptoe and kiss his hand before the casement closed,
+the bars fixing as firmly as ever, seemingly, in the stone arch overhead.
+
+Esmond, young as he was, would have died sooner than betray his friend
+and master, as Mr. Holt well knew; so, then, when Holt was gone, and told
+Harry not to see him, it was as if he had never been. And he had this
+answer pat when he came to be questioned a few days later.
+
+The Prince of Orange was then at Salisbury, as young Esmond learned from
+seeing Dr. Tusher in his best cassock, with a great orange cockade in his
+broad-leafed hat, and Nahun, his clerk, ornamented with a like
+decoration. The Doctor was walking up and down in front of his parsonage
+when little Esmond saw him and heard him say he was going to Salisbury to
+pay his duty to his Highness the Prince. The village people had orange
+cockades too, and his friend, the blacksmith's laughing daughter, pinned
+one into Harry's old hat, which he tore out indignantly when they bade
+him to cry "God save the Prince of Orange and the Protestant religion!"
+But the people only laughed, for they liked the boy in the village, where
+his solitary condition moved the general pity, and where he found
+friendly welcomes and faces in many houses.
+
+It was while Dr. Tusher was away at Salisbury that there came a troop of
+dragoons with orange scarfs, and quartered in Castlewood, and some of
+them came up to the Hall, where they took possession, robbing nothing,
+however, beyond the hen-house and the beer-cellar: and only insisting
+upon going through the house and looking for papers. The first room they
+asked to look at was Father Holt's room, where they opened the drawers
+and cupboards, and tossed over the papers and clothes, but found nothing
+except his books and clothes, and the vestments in a box by themselves,
+with which the dragoons made merry, to Harry Esmond's horror. To the
+questions which the gentlemen put to Harry, he replied that Father Holt
+was a very kind man to him, and a very learned man, and Harry supposed
+would tell him none of his secrets if he had any. He was about eleven
+years old at that time, and looked as innocent as boys of his age.
+
+A kingdom was changing hands whilst my lord and lady were away. King
+James was flying; the Dutchmen were coming; awful stories about them and
+the Prince of Orange Mrs. Worksop used to tell to the idle little page,
+who enjoyed the exciting narratives. The family were away more than six
+months, and when they returned they were in the deepest state of
+dejection, for King James had been banished, the Prince of Orange was on
+the throne, and the direst persecutions of those of the Catholic faith
+were apprehended by my lady, who said that she did not believe there was
+a word of truth in the promises of toleration that Dutch monster made, or
+a single word the perjured wretch said. My lord and lady being loyal
+followers of the banished king, were in a manner prisoners in their own
+house, so her ladyship gave the little page to know, who was by this time
+growing of an age to understand what was passing about him, and something
+of the character of the people he lived with.
+
+Father Holt came to the Hall constantly, but officiated no longer openly
+as chaplain. Strangers, military and ecclesiastic--Harry knew the latter,
+though they came in all sorts of disguises--were continually arriving and
+departing. My lord made long absences and sudden reappearances, using
+sometimes the secret window in Father Holt's room, though how often Harry
+could not tell. He stoutly kept his promise to the Father of not prying,
+and if at midnight from his little room he heard noises of persons
+stirring in the next chamber, he turned round to the wall, and hid his
+curiosity under his pillow until he fell asleep. Of course, he could not
+help remarking that the priest's journeys were constant, and
+understanding by a hundred signs that some active though secret business
+employed him. What this was may pretty well be guessed by what soon
+happened to my lord.
+
+No garrison or watch was put into Castlewood when my lord came back, but
+a Guard was in the village; and one or other of them was always on the
+green keeping a lookout on the great gate, and those who went out and in.
+Lockwood said that at night especially every person who came in or went
+out was watched by the outlying sentries. It was lucky that there was a
+gate which their Worships knew nothing about. My lord and Father Holt
+must have made constant journeys at night: once or twice little Harry
+acted as their messenger and discreet aide-de-camp. He remembers he was
+bidden to go into the village with his fishing-rod, enter certain houses,
+ask for a drink of water, and tell the good man, "There would be a
+horse-market at Newbury next Thursday," and so carry the same message on
+to the next house on his list.
+
+He did not know what the message meant at the time, nor what was
+happening, which may as well, however, for clearness' sake, be explained
+here. The Prince of Orange being gone to Ireland, where the King was
+ready to meet him with a great army, it was determined that a great
+rising of his Majesty's party should take place in this country; and my
+lord was to head the force in the Castlewood's county. Of late he had
+taken a greater lead in affairs than before, having the indefatigable Mr.
+Holt at his elbow, who was the most considerable person in that part of
+the county for the affairs of the King.
+
+It was arranged that the regiment of Scots Greys and Dragoons, then
+quartered at Newbury, should declare for the King on a certain day, when
+likewise the gentry loyal to his Majesty's cause were to come in with
+their tenants and adherents to Newbury, march upon the Dutch troops at
+Reading under Ginckel; and, those overthrown, and their indomitable
+little master away in Ireland, it was thought that their side might move
+on London itself, and a confident victory was predicted for the King.
+
+While these great matters were in agitation, one day, it must have been
+about the month of July, 1600, my lord, in a great horseman's coat, under
+which Harry could see the shining of a steel breastplate he had on,
+called the boy to him, and kissed him, and bade God bless him in such an
+affectionate way as he never had used before. Father Holt blessed him
+too, and then they took leave of my Lady Viscountess, who came weeping
+from her apartment.
+
+"My lord, God speed you!" she said, stepping up and embracing my lord in
+a grand manner. "Mr. Holt, I ask your blessing," and she knelt down for
+that, whilst Mrs. Tusher tossed her head up.
+
+Mr. Holt gave the same benediction to the little page, who went down and
+held my lord's stirrups for him to mount--there were two servants waiting
+there, too--and they rode out of Castlewood gate.
+
+As they crossed the bridge, Harry could see an officer in scarlet ride up
+touching his hat, and address my lord.
+
+The party stopped, and came to some discussion, which presently ended, my
+lord putting his horse into a canter after taking off his hat to the
+officer, who rode alongside him step for step, the trooper accompanying
+him falling back, and riding with my lord's two men. They cantered over
+the green, and behind the elms, and so they disappeared.
+
+That evening those left behind had a great panic, the cow-boy coming at
+milking-time riding one of the Castlewood horses, which he had found
+grazing at the outer park-wall. It was quite in the grey of the morning
+when the porter's bell rang, and old Lockwood let him in. He had gone
+with him in the morning, and returned with a melancholy story. The
+officer who rode up to my lord had, it appeared, said to him that it was
+his duty to inform his lordship that he was not under arrest, but under
+watch, and to request him not to ride abroad that day.
+
+My lord replied that riding was good for his health, that if the Captain
+chose to accompany him he was welcome; and it was then that he made a
+bow, and they cantered away together.
+
+When he came on to Wansey Down, my lord all of a sudden pulled up, and
+the party came to a halt at the cross-way.
+
+"Sir," says he to the officer, "we are four to two; will you be so kind
+as to take that road, and leave me go mine?"
+
+"Your road is mine, my lord," says the officer.
+
+"Then--" says my lord; but he had no time to say more, for the officer,
+drawing a pistol, snapped it at his lordship; and at the same moment
+Father Holt, drawing a pistol, shot the officer through the head. It was
+done, and the man dead in an instant of time. The orderly, gazing at the
+officer, looked scared for a moment, and galloped away for his life.
+
+"Fire! Fire!" cries out Father Holt, sending another shot after the
+trooper, but the two servants were too much surprised to use their
+pieces, and my lord calling to them to hold their hands, the fellow got
+away. My lord's party rode on; shortly after midday heard firing, then
+met a horseman who told them that the regiments declared an hour too
+soon. General Ginckel was down upon them, and the whole thing was at an
+end. "We've shot an officer on duty, and let his orderly escape," says
+my lord. "Blaise," says Mr. Holt, writing two lines on his table-book,
+one for my lady and one for Harry, "you must go back to Castlewood and
+deliver these," and Blaise went back and gave Harry the two papers. He
+read that to himself, which only said, "Burn the papers in the cupboard;
+burn this. You know nothing about anything." Harry read this, ran
+upstairs to his mistress's apartment, where her gentlewoman slept near to
+the door, made her bring a light and wake my lady, into whose hands he
+gave the other paper.
+
+As soon as she had the paper in her hand, Harry stepped back to the
+Chaplain's room, opened the secret cupboard over the fireplace, burned
+all the papers in it, and, as he had seen the priest do before, took down
+one of his reverence's manuscript sermons, and half burnt that in the
+brazier. By the time the papers were quite destroyed it was daylight.
+Harry ran back to his mistress again. Her gentlewoman ushered him again
+into her ladyship's chamber; she told him to bid the coach be got ready,
+and that she would ride away anon.
+
+But the mysteries of her ladyship's toilet were as awfully long on this
+day as on any other, and, long after the coach was ready, my lady was
+still attiring herself. And just as the Viscountess stepped forth from
+her room, ready for her departure, young John Lockwood came running up
+from the village with news that a lawyer, three officers, and twenty or
+four-and-twenty soldiers were marching thence upon the house. John had
+but two minutes the start of them, and, ere he had well told his story,
+the troop rode into the court-yard.
+
+Her gentlewoman, Victoire, persuaded her that her prudent course was, as
+she could not fly, to receive the troops as though she suspected nothing,
+and that her chamber was the best place wherein to await them. So her
+black Japan casket, which Harry was to carry to the coach, was taken back
+to her ladyship's chamber, whither the maid and mistress retired.
+Victoire came out presently, bidding the page to say her ladyship was
+ill, confined to her bed with the rheumatism.
+
+By this time the soldiers had reached Castlewood, and, preceded by their
+commander and a lawyer, were conducted to the stair leading up to the
+part of the house which my lord and lady inhabited. The Captain and the
+lawyer came through the ante-room to the tapestry parlour, where now was
+nobody but young Harry Esmond, the page.
+
+"Tell your mistress, little man," says the Captain kindly, "that we must
+speak to her."
+
+"My mistress is ill a-bed," said the page.
+
+"What complaint has she?" asked the Captain.
+
+The boy said, "The rheumatism!"
+
+"Rheumatism! that's a bad complaint," continues the good-natured Captain;
+"and the coach is in the yard to fetch the doctor, I suppose?"
+
+"I don't know," says the boy.
+
+"And how long has her ladyship been ill?"
+
+"I don't know," says the boy.
+
+"When did my lord go away?"
+
+"Yesterday night."
+
+"With Father Holt?"
+
+"With Mr. Holt."
+
+"And which way did they travel?" asks the lawyer.
+
+"They travelled without me," says the page.
+
+"We must see Lady Castlewood."
+
+"I have orders that nobody goes in to her ladyship--she is sick," says
+the page; but at this moment her maid came out. "Hush!" says she; and, as
+if not knowing that any one was near, "What's this noise?" says she. "Is
+this gentleman the doctor?"
+
+"Stuff! we must see Lady Castlewood," says the lawyer, pushing by.
+
+The curtains of her ladyship's room were down, and the chamber dark,
+and she was in bed with a nightcap on her head, and propped up by
+her pillows.
+
+"Is that the doctor?" she said.
+
+"There is no use with this deception, madam," Captain Westbury said (for
+so he was named). "My duty is to arrest the person of Thomas, Viscount of
+Castlewood, of Robert Tusher, Vicar of Castlewood, and Henry Holt, known
+under various other names, a Jesuit priest, who officiated as chaplain
+here in the late king's time, and is now at the head of the conspiracy
+which was about to break out in this country against the authority of
+their Majesties King William and Queen Mary--and my orders are to search
+the house for such papers or traces of the conspiracy as may be found
+here. Your ladyship will please give me your keys, and it will be as well
+for yourself that you should help us, in every way, in our search."
+
+"You see, sir, that I have the rheumatism, and cannot move," said the
+lady, looking uncommonly ghastly as she sat up in her bed.
+
+"I shall take leave to place a sentinel in the chamber, so that your
+ladyship, in case you should wish to rise, may have an arm to lean on,"
+Captain Westbury said. "Your woman will show me where I am to look;" and
+Madame Victoire, chatting in her half-French and half-English jargon,
+opened while the Captain examined one drawer after another; but, as Harry
+Esmond thought, rather carelessly, as if he was only conducting the
+examination for form's sake.
+
+Before one of the cupboards Victoire flung herself down, and, with a
+piercing shriek, cried, "_Non, jamais, monsieur l'officier! Jamais!_ I
+will rather die than let you see this wardrobe."
+
+But Captain Westbury would open it, still with a smile on his face,
+which, when the box was opened, turned into a fair burst of laughter. It
+contained--not papers regarding the conspiracy--but my lady's wigs,
+washes, and rouge-pots, and Victoire said men were monsters, as the
+Captain went on with his search. He tapped the back to see whether or no
+it was hollow, and as he thrust his hands into the cupboard, my lady from
+her bed called out, with a voice that did not sound like that of a very
+sick woman:
+
+"Is it your commission to insult ladies as well as to arrest
+gentlemen, Captain?"
+
+"These articles are only dangerous when worn by your ladyship," the
+Captain said, with a low bow, and a mock grin of politeness. "I have
+found nothing which concerns the government as yet--only the weapons with
+which beauty is authorised to kill," says he, pointing to a wig with his
+sword-tip. "We must now proceed to search the rest of the house."
+
+"You are not going to leave that wretch in the room with me," cried my
+lady, pointing to the soldier.
+
+"What can I do, madam? Somebody you must have to smooth your pillow and
+bring your medicine--permit me--"
+
+"Sir!" screamed out my lady.
+
+"Madam, if you are too ill to leave the bed," the Captain then said,
+rather sternly, "I must have in four of my men to lift you off in the
+sheet. I must examine this bed, in a word; papers may be hidden in a bed
+as elsewhere; we know that very well, and--"
+
+Here it was her ladyship's turn to shriek, for the Captain, with his
+fist shaking the pillows and bolsters, at last wrenching away one of the
+pillows, said, "Look! did not I tell you so? Here is a pillow stuffed
+with paper. And now your ladyship can move, I am sure; permit me to give
+you my hand to rise. You will have to travel for some distance, as far as
+Hexton Castle to-night. Will you have your coach? Your woman shall attend
+you if you like--and the japan-box?"
+
+"Sir! you don't strike a _man_ when he is down," said my lady, with some
+dignity; "can you not spare a woman?"
+
+"Your ladyship must please to rise, and let me search the bed," said the
+Captain; "there is no more time to lose in bandying talk."
+
+And, without more ado, the gaunt old woman got up. Harry Esmond
+recollected to the end of his life that figure, with the brocade dress
+under the white nightdress, and the gold-clocked red stockings, and white
+red-heeled shoes, sitting up in the bed, and stepping down from it. The
+trunks were ready packed for departure in her ante-room, and the horses
+ready harnessed in the stable: about all which the Captain seemed to
+know, by information got from some quarter or other; and whence Esmond
+could make a pretty shrewd guess in after-times, when Dr. Tusher
+complained that King William's government had basely treated him for
+services done in that cause.
+
+And here we may relate, though he was then too young to know all that was
+happening, what the papers contained, of which Captain Westbury had made
+a seizure, and which papers had been transferred from the japan-box to
+the bed when the officers arrived.
+
+There was a list of gentlemen of the county, in Father Holt's
+handwriting, who were King James's friends; also a patent conferring the
+title of Marquis of Esmond on my Lord Castlewood and the heirs-male of
+his body; his appointment as Lord-Lieutenant of the County, and
+Major-General. There were various letters from the nobility and gentry,
+some ardent and some doubtful, and all valuable to the men who found
+them, for reasons which the lad knew little about; only being aware that
+his patron and his mistress were in some trouble, which had caused the
+flight of the one and the apprehension of the other by the officers of
+King William.
+
+The seizure of the papers effected, the gentlemen did not pursue their
+further search through Castlewood House very rigorously. They only
+examined Mr. Holt's room, being led thither by his pupil, who showed, as
+the Father had bidden him, the place where the key of his chamber lay,
+opened the door for the gentlemen, and conducted them into the room.
+
+When the gentlemen came to the half-burned papers in the bowl, they
+examined them eagerly enough, and their young guide was a little amused
+at their perplexity.
+
+"What are these?" says one.
+
+"They're written in a foreign language," says the lawyer. "What are
+you laughing at, little whelp?" he added, turning round as he saw the
+boy smile.
+
+"Mr. Holt said they were sermons," Harry said, "and bade me to burn
+them;" which indeed was true of those papers.
+
+"Sermons, indeed--it's treason, I would lay a wager," cries the lawyer.
+
+"Egad! it's Greek to me," says Captain Westbury. "Can you read it,
+little boy?"
+
+"Yes, sir, a little," Harry said.
+
+"Then read, and read in English, sir, on your peril," said the lawyer.
+And Harry began to translate:
+
+"Hath not one of your own writers said, 'The children of Adam are now
+labouring as much as he himself ever did, about the tree of the knowledge
+of good and evil, shaking the boughs thereof, and seeking the fruit,
+being for the most part unmindful of the tree of life.' O blind
+generation! 'tis this tree of knowledge to which the serpent has led
+you"--and here the boy was obliged to stop, the rest of the page being
+charred by the fire, and asked of the lawyer--"Shall I go on, sir?"
+
+The lawyer said, "This boy is deeper than he seems: who knows that he is
+not laughing at us?"
+
+"Let's have in Dick the Scholar," cried Captain Westbury, laughing, and
+he called to a trooper out of the window, "Ho, Dick, come in here and
+construe."
+
+A soldier, with a good-humoured face, came in at the summons, saluting
+his officer.
+
+"Tell us what is this, Dick Steele," says the lawyer.
+
+"'Tis Latin," says Dick, glancing at it, and again saluting his officer,
+"and from a sermon of Mr. Cudworth's," and he translated the words pretty
+much as Henry Esmond had rendered them.
+
+"What a young scholar you are," says the Captain to the boy.
+
+"Depend on't, he knows more than he tells," says the lawyer. "I think we
+will pack him off in the coach with the old lady."
+
+"For construing a bit of Latin?" said the Captain, very good-naturedly.
+
+"I would as lief go there as anywhere," Harry Esmond said, simply, "for
+there is nobody to care for me."
+
+There must have been something touching in the child's voice, or in this
+description of his solitude, for the Captain looked at him very
+good-naturedly, and the trooper called Steele put his hand kindly on the
+lad's head, and said some words in the Latin language.
+
+"What does he say?" says the lawyer.
+
+"I said I was not ignorant of misfortune myself, and had learned to
+succor the miserable, and that's not your trade, Mr. Sheepskin," said
+the trooper.
+
+"You had better leave Dick the Scholar alone, Mr. Corbett!" the Captain
+said. And Harry Esmond, always touched by a kind face and a kind word,
+felt very grateful to this good-natured champion.
+
+The horses were by this time harnessed to the coach; and my Lady Isabella
+was consigned to that vehicle and sent off to Hexton, with her woman and
+the man-of-law to bear her company, a couple of troopers riding on either
+side of the coach. And Harry was left behind at the Hall, belonging, as
+it were, to nobody, and quite alone in the world. The Captain and a guard
+of men remained in possession there; and the soldiers, who were very
+good-natured and kind, ate my lord's mutton and drank his wine, and made
+themselves comfortable, as they well might do in such pleasant quarters.
+
+After the departure of the countess, Dick the Scholar took Harry Esmond
+under his special protection, and would talk to him both of French and
+Latin, in which tongues the lad found that he was even more proficient
+than Scholar Dick. Hearing that he had learned them from a Jesuit, in the
+praise of whom and whose goodness Harry was never tired of speaking,
+Dick, rather to the boy's surprise, showed a great deal of theological
+science, and knowledge of the points at issue between the Catholic and
+Protestant churches; so that he and Harry would have hours of
+controversy together, with which conversations the long days of the
+trooper's stay at Castlewood were whiled away. Though the other troopers
+were all gentlemen, they seemed ignorant and vulgar to Harry Esmond, with
+the exception of this good-natured Corporal Steele, Scholar, although
+Captain Westbury and Lieutenant Trant were always kind to the lad.
+
+They remained for some months at Castlewood, and Harry learned from them,
+from time to time, how Lady Isabella was being treated at Hexton Castle,
+and the particulars of her confinement there. King William was disposed
+to deal very leniently with the gentry who remained faithful to the old
+king's cause; and no Prince usurping a crown as his enemies said he did,
+ever caused less blood to be shed. As for women-conspirators, he kept
+spies on the least dangerous, and locked up the others. Lady Castlewood
+had the best rooms in Hexton Castle, and the gaoler's garden to walk in;
+and though she repeatedly desired to be led out to execution like Mary
+Queen of Scots, there never was any thought of taking her painted old
+head off. She even found that some were friends in her misfortune, whom
+she had, in her prosperity, considered as her worst enemies. Colonel
+Francis Esmond, my lord's cousin and her ladyship's hearing of his
+kinswoman's scrape, came to visit her in prison, offering any friendly
+services which lay in his power. He brought, too, his lady and little
+daughter, Beatrix, the latter a child of great beauty and many winning
+ways, to whom the old viscountess took not a little liking, and who was
+permitted after that to go often and visit the prisoner.
+
+And now there befell an event by which Lady Isabella recovered her
+liberty, and the house of Castlewood got a new owner, Colonel Francis
+Esmond, and fatherless little Harry Esmond, the new and most kind
+protector and friend, whom we met at the opening of this story. My Lord
+of Castlewood was wounded at the battle of the Boyne, flying from which
+field he lay for a while concealed in a marsh, and more from cold and
+fever caught in the bogs than from the steel of the enemy in the
+battle, died.
+
+In those days letters were slow of travelling, and that of a priest
+announcing my lord's death took two months or more on its journey from
+Ireland to England. When it did arrive, Lady Isabella was still
+confined in Hexton Castle, but the letter was opened at Castlewood by
+Captain Westbury.
+
+Harry Esmond well remembered the receipt of this letter, which was
+brought in as Captain Westbury and Lieutenant Trant were on the Green
+playing at Bowls, young Esmond looking on at the sport.
+
+"Something has happened to Lord Castlewood," Captain Westbury said, in a
+very grave tone. "He is dead of a wound received at the Boyne, fighting
+for King James. I hope he has provided for thee somehow. Thou hast only
+him to depend on now."
+
+Harry did not know, he said. He was in the hands of Heaven, as he had
+been all the rest of his life. That night as he lay in the darkness he
+thought with a pang how Father Holt and two or three soldiers, his
+acquaintances of the last six weeks, were the only friends he had in the
+great wide world. The soul of the boy was full of love, and he longed as
+he lay in the darkness there for someone upon whom he could bestow it.
+Lady Isabella was in prison, his patron was dead, Father Holt was
+gone,--he knew not where,--Tom Tusher was far away. To whom could he turn
+now for comradeship?
+
+He remembered to his dying day the thoughts and tears of that long
+night--was there any child in the whole world so unprotected as he?
+
+The next day the gentlemen of the guard, who had heard what had befallen
+him, were more than usually kind to the child, and upon talking the
+matter over with Dick they decided that Harry should stay where he was,
+and abide his fortune; so he stayed on at Castlewood after the garrison
+had been ordered away. He was sorry when the kind soldiers vacated
+Castlewood, and looked forward with no small anxiety to his fate when the
+new lord and lady of the house,--Colonel Francis Esmond and his
+wife,--should come to live there. He was now past twelve years old and
+had an affectionate heart, tender to weakness, that would gladly attach
+itself to somebody, and would not feel at rest until it had found a
+friend who would take charge of it.
+
+Then came my lord and lady into their new domain, and my lady's
+introduction to the little lad, whom she found in the book-room, as we
+have seen.
+
+The instinct which led Henry Esmond to admire and love the gracious
+person, the fair apparition, whose beauty and kindness so moved him when
+he first beheld her, became soon a passion of gratitude, which entirely
+filled his young heart. There seemed, as the boy thought, in her every
+look or gesture, an angelic softness and bright pity. In motion or repose
+she seemed gracious alike; the tone of her voice, though she spoke words
+ever so trivial, gave him a pleasure that amounted almost to pain. It
+could not be called love, that a lad of his age felt for his mistress:
+but it was worship. To catch her glance, to divine her errand and run on
+it before she had spoken it; to watch, follow, adore her, became the
+business of his life.
+
+As for my Lord Castlewood, he was good-humoured, of a temper naturally
+easy, liking to joke, especially with his inferiors, and charmed to
+receive the tribute of their laughter. All exercises of the body he could
+perform to perfection--shooting at a mark, breaking horses, riding at the
+ring, pitching the quoit, playing at all games with great skill. He was
+fond of the parade of dress, and also fond of having his lady well
+dressed; who spared no pains in that matter to please him. Indeed, she
+would dress her head or cut it off if he had bidden her.
+
+My Lord Viscount took young Esmond into his special favour, luckily for
+the lad. A very few months after my lord's coming to Castlewood in the
+winter time, little Frank being a child in petticoats, trotting about, it
+happened that little Frank was with his father after dinner, who fell
+asleep, heedless of the child, who crawled to the fire. As good fortune
+would have it, Esmond was sent by his mistress for the boy, just as the
+poor little screaming urchin's coat was set on fire by a log. Esmond,
+rushing forward, tore the dress off, so that his own hands were burned
+more than the little boy's, who was frightened rather than hurt by the
+accident. As my lord was sleeping heavily, it certainly was providential
+that a resolute person should have come in at that instant, or the child
+would have been burned to death.
+
+Ever after this, the father was loud in his expressions of remorse, and
+of admiration for Harry Esmond, and had the tenderest regard for his
+son's preserver. His burns were tended with the greatest care by his kind
+mistress, who said that Heaven had sent him to be the guardian of her
+children, and that she would love him all her life.
+
+And it was after this, and from the very great love and tenderness which
+grew up in this little household, that Harry came to be quite of the
+religion of his house, and his dear mistress, of which he has ever since
+been a professing member.
+
+My lady had three idols: her lord, the good Viscount of Castlewood,--her
+little son, who had his father's looks and curly, brown hair,--and her
+daughter Beatrix, who had his eyes--were there ever such beautiful eyes
+in the world?
+
+A pretty sight it was to see the fair mistress of Castlewood, her little
+daughter at her knee, and her domestics gathered around her, reading the
+Morning Prayer of the English Church. Esmond long remembered how she
+looked and spoke, kneeling reverently before the sacred book, the sun
+shining upon her golden hair until it made a halo round about her, a
+dozen of the servants of the house kneeling in a line opposite their
+mistress. For a while Harry Esmond as a good papist kept apart from these
+mysteries, but Dr. Tusher, showing him that the prayers read were those
+of the Church of all ages, he came presently to kneel down with the rest
+of the household in the parlour; and before a couple of years my lady had
+made a thorough convert. Indeed, the boy loved her so much that he would
+have subscribed to anything she bade him at that time, and the happiest
+period of all his life was this: when the young mother, with her daughter
+and son, and the orphan lad whom she protected, read and worked and
+played, and were children together.
+
+But as Esmond grew, and observed for himself, he found much to read and
+think of outside that fond circle of kinsfolk. He read more books than
+they cared to study with him; was alone in the midst of them many a time,
+and passed nights over labours, useless perhaps, but in which they could
+not join him. His dear mistress divined his thoughts with her usual
+jealous watchfulness of affection; began to forebode a time when he
+would escape from his home nest; and at his eager protestations to the
+contrary, would only sigh and shake her head, knowing that some day her
+predictions would come true.
+
+Meanwhile evil fortune came upon the inmates of Castlewood Hall; brought
+thither by no other than Harry himself. In those early days, before Lady
+Mary Wortley Montague brought home the custom of inoculation from Turkey,
+smallpox was considered, as indeed it was, the most dreadful scourge of
+the world. The pestilence would enter a village and destroy half its
+inhabitants. At its approach not only the beautiful, but the strongest
+were alarmed, and those fled who could.
+
+One day in the year 1694 Dr. Tusher ran into Castlewood House with a face
+of consternation, saying that the malady had made its appearance in the
+village, that a child at the Inn was down with the smallpox.
+
+Now there was a pretty girl at this Inn, Nancy Sievewright, the
+blacksmith's daughter, a bouncing, fresh-looking lass, with whom Harry
+Esmond in his walks and rambles often happened to fall in; or, failing to
+meet her, he would discover some errand to be done at the blacksmith's,
+or would go to the Inn to find her.
+
+When Dr. Tusher brought the news that smallpox was at the Inn, Henry
+Esmond's first thought was of alarm for poor Nancy, and then of disquiet
+for the Castlewood family, lest he might have brought this infection to
+them; for the truth is, that Mr. Harry had been sitting that day for an
+hour with Nancy Sievewright, holding her little brother, who had
+complained of headache, on his knee; and had also since then been drawing
+pictures and telling stories to little Frank Castlewood, who had occupied
+his knee for an hour after dinner, and was never tired of Henry's tales
+of soldiers and horses. As luck would have it, Beatrix had not that
+evening taken her usual place, which generally she was glad enough to
+take, upon her tutor's lap. For Beatrix, from the earliest time, was
+jealous of every caress which was given to her little brother Frank. She
+would fling away even from her mother's arms if she saw Frank had been
+there before her; she would turn pale and red with rage if she caught
+signs of affection between Frank and his mother; would sit apart and not
+speak for a whole night, if she thought the boy had a better fruit or a
+larger cake than hers; would fling away a ribbon if he had one too; and
+from the earliest age, sitting up in her little chair by the great
+fireplace opposite to the corner where Lady Castlewood commonly sat at
+her embroidery, would utter childish sarcasm about the favour shown to
+her brother. These, if spoken in the presence of Lord Castlewood, tickled
+and amused his humour; he would pretend to love Frank best, and dandle
+and kiss him, and roar with laughter at Beatrix's jealousy.
+
+So it chanced that upon this very day, when poor Harry Esmond had had the
+blacksmith's son, and the peer's son, alike upon his knee, little Beatrix
+had refused to take that place, seeing it had been occupied by her
+brother, and, luckily for her, had sat at the further end of the room
+away from him, playing with a spaniel dog which she had--for which by
+fits and starts she would take a great affection--and talking at Harry
+Esmond over her shoulder, as she pretended to caress the dog, saying that
+Fido would love her, and she would love Fido and no one but Fido all the
+rest of her life.
+
+When, then, Dr. Tusher brought the news that the little boy at the Inn
+was ill with the smallpox, poor Harry Esmond felt a shock of alarm, not
+so much for himself as for little Frank, whom he might have brought into
+peril. Beatrix, who had by this time pouted sufficiently (and who,
+whenever a stranger appeared, began from infancy almost to play off
+little graces to catch his attention), her brother being now gone to bed,
+was for taking her place upon Esmond's knee: for though the Doctor was
+very attentive to her, she did not like him because he had thick boots
+and dirty hands (the pert young miss said), and because she hated
+learning the catechism.
+
+But as she advanced toward Esmond, he started back, and placed the
+great chair on which he was sitting between him and her--saying in
+French to Lady Castlewood, "Madam, the child must not approach me; I
+must tell you that I was at the blacksmith's to-day, and had his little
+boy upon my lap."
+
+"Where you took my son afterwards!" Lady Castlewood cried, very angry,
+and turning red. "I thank you, sir, for giving him such company.
+Beatrix," she continued in English, "I forbid you to touch Mr. Esmond.
+Come away, child--come to your room. Come to your room--I wish your
+reverence good-night"--this to Dr. Tusher--adding to Harry: "and you,
+sir, had not you better go back to your friends at the Inn?"
+
+Her eyes, ordinarily so kind, darted flashes of anger as she spoke; and
+she tossed up her head with the mien of a Princess, adding such words of
+reproach and indignation that Harry Esmond, to whom she had never once
+before uttered a syllable of unkindness, stood for some moments
+bewildered with grief and rage at the injustice of her reproaches. He
+turned quite white from red, and answered her in a low voice, ending his
+little speech with these words, addressed to Lord Castlewood: "Heaven
+bless you and yours for your goodness to me. I have tired her ladyship's
+kindness out, and I will go;" and sinking down on his knee, took the
+rough hand of his benefactor and kissed it.
+
+Here my lady burst into a flood of tears, and quitted the room, as my
+lord raised up Harry Esmond from his kneeling posture, put his broad hand
+on the lad's shoulder, and spoke kindly to him. Then, suddenly
+remembering that Harry might have brought the infection with him, he
+stepped back suddenly, saying, "Keep off, Harry, my boy; there is no good
+in running into the wolf's jaws, you know!"
+
+My lady, who had now returned to the room, said: "There is no use, my
+lord. Frank was on his knee as he was making pictures, and was running
+constantly from Henry to me. The evil is done, if any."
+
+"Not with me!" cried my lord. "I've been smoking, and it keeps off
+infection, and as the disease is in the village, plague take it, I would
+have you leave it. We'll go to-morrow to Wolcott."
+
+"I have no fear, my lord," said my lady; "it broke out in our house when
+I was an infant, and when four of my sisters had it at home, two years
+before our marriage, I escaped it."
+
+"I won't run the risk," said my lord; "I am as bold as any man, but I'll
+not bear that."
+
+"Take Beatrix with you and go," said my lady. "For us the mischief is
+done."
+
+Then my lord, calling away Tusher, bade him come to the oak parlour and
+have a pipe. When my lady and Harry Esmond were alone there was a silence
+of some moments, after which her ladyship spoke in a hard, dry voice of
+her objections to his intimacy with the blacksmith's daughter, and she
+added, "Under all the circumstances I shall beg my lord to despatch you
+from this house as quick as possible; and will go on with Frank's
+learning as well as I can. I owe my father thanks for a little
+grounding, and you, I am sure, for much that you have taught me. And--I
+wish you a good-night."
+
+And with this she dropped a stately curtsy, and, taking her candle, went
+away through the tapestry door which led to her apartments. Esmond stood
+by the fireplace, blankly staring after her. Indeed, he scarce seemed to
+see until she was gone; and then her image was impressed upon him, and
+remained forever fixed upon his memory. He saw her retreating, the taper
+lighting up her marble face, her scarlet lip quivering, and her shining
+golden hair. He went to his own room, and to bed, where he tried to read,
+as his custom was; but he never knew what he was reading. And he could
+not get to sleep until daylight, and woke with a violent headache, and
+quite unrefreshed.
+
+He had brought the contagion with him from the Inn, sure enough, and was
+presently laid up with the smallpox, which spared the Hall no more than
+it did the cottage.
+
+When Harry Esmond passed through the crisis of that malady, and returned
+to health again, he found that little Frank Esmond had also suffered and
+rallied after the disease, and that Lady Castlewood was down with it,
+with a couple more of the household. "It was a Providence, for which we
+all ought to be thankful," Dr. Tusher said, "that my lady and her son
+were spared, while death carried off the poor domestics of the house;"
+and he rebuked Harry for asking in his simply way, for which we ought to
+be thankful; that the servants were killed or the gentlefolk were saved?
+Nor could young Esmond agree with the Doctor that the malady had not in
+the least impaired my lady's charms, for Harry thought that her
+ladyship's beauty was very much injured by the smallpox. When the marks
+of the disease cleared away, they did not, it is true, leave scars on
+her face, except one on her forehead, but the delicacy of her complexion
+was gone, her eyes had lost their brilliancy and her face looked older.
+When Tusher vowed and protested that this was not so, in the presence of
+my lady, the lad broke out impulsively, and said, "It is true; my
+mistress is not near so handsome as she was!" On which poor Lady
+Castlewood gave a rueful smile, and a look into a little glass she had,
+which showed her, I suppose, that what the stupid boy said was only too
+true, for she turned away from the glass, and her eyes filled with tears.
+
+The sight of these on the face of the lady whom he loved best filled
+Esmond's heart with a soft of rage of pity, and the young blunderer sank
+down on his knees and besought her to pardon him, saying that he was a
+fool and an idiot, that he was a brute to make such a speech, he, who
+caused her malady; and Dr. Tusher told him that he was a bear indeed, and
+a bear he would remain, after which speech poor young Esmond was so
+dumb-stricken that he did not even growl.
+
+"He is my bear, and I will not have him baited, Doctor," my lady said,
+patting her hand kindly on the boy's head, as he was still kneeling at
+her feet. "How your hair has come off!--and mine, too," she added, with
+another sigh.
+
+"Madam, you have the dearest, and kindest, and sweetest face in the
+world, I think," the lad said.
+
+"Will my lord think so when he comes back?" the lady asked with a sigh,
+and another look at her glass. Then turning to her young son she said,
+"Come, Frank, come, my child. You are well, praised be Heaven. _Your_
+locks are not thinned by this dreadful smallpox; nor your poor face
+scarred--is it, my angel?"
+
+Frank began to shout and whimper at the idea of such a misfortune, for
+from the very earliest time the young lord had been taught by his mother
+to admire his own beauty; and esteemed it very highly.
+
+At length, when the danger was quite over, it was announced that my lord
+and Beatrix would return. Esmond well remembered the day. My lady was in
+a flurry of fear. Before my lord came she went into her room, and
+returned from it with reddened cheeks. Her fate was about to be decided.
+Would my lord--who cared so much for physical perfection--find hers gone,
+too? A minute would say. She saw him come riding over the bridge, clad in
+scarlet, and mounted on his grey hackney, his little daughter beside him,
+in a bright riding dress of blue, on a shining chestnut horse. My lady
+put her handkerchief to her eyes, and withdrew it, laughing hysterically.
+She ran to her room again, and came back with pale cheeks and red eyes,
+her son beside her, just as my lord entered, accompanied by young Esmond,
+who had gone out to meet his protector, and to hold his stirrup as he
+descended from horseback.
+
+"What, Harry boy!" he exclaimed good-naturedly, "you look as gaunt as a
+greyhound. The smallpox hasn't improved your beauty, and you never had
+too much of it--ho!"
+
+And he laughed and sprang to the ground, looking handsome and red, with a
+jolly face and brown hair. Esmond, kneeling again, as soon as his patron
+had descended, performed his homage, and then went to help the little
+Beatrix from her horse.
+
+"Fie! how yellow you look," she said; "and there are one, two red holes
+in your face;" which indeed was very true, Harry Esmond's harsh
+countenance bearing as long as he lived the marks of the disease.
+
+My lord laughed again, in high good-humour, exclaiming with one of his
+usual oaths, "The little minx sees everything. She saw the dowager's
+paint t'other day, and asked her why she wore that red stuff--didn't you,
+Trix? And the Tower; and St. James's; and the play; and the Prince
+George; and the Princess Ann--didn't you, Trix?"
+
+"They are both very fat, and smelt of brandy," the child said.
+
+Papa roared with laughing.
+
+"Brandy!" he said. "And how do you know, Miss Pert?"
+
+"Because your lordship smells of it after supper, when I kiss you before
+I go to bed," said the young lady, who indeed was as pert as her father
+said, and looked as beautiful a little gipsy as eyes ever gazed on.
+
+"And now for my lady," said my lord, going up the stairs, and passing
+alone under the tapestry curtain that hung before the drawing-room door.
+Esmond always remembered that noble figure, handsomely arrayed in
+scarlet. Within the last few months he himself had grown from a boy to be
+a man, and with his figure his thoughts had shot up, and grown manly.
+
+After her lord's return, Harry Esmond watched my lady's countenance with
+solicitous affection, and noting its sad, depressed look realised that
+there was a marked change in her. In her eagerness to please her husband
+she practised a hundred arts which had formerly pleased him, charmed him,
+but in vain. Her songs did not amuse him, and she hushed them and the
+children when in his presence. Her silence annoyed him as much as her
+speech; and it seemed as if nothing she could do or say could please him.
+But for Harry Esmond his benefactress' sweet face had lost none of its
+charms. It had always the kindest of looks and smiles for him; not so gay
+and artless perhaps as those which Lady Castlewood had formerly worn, but
+out of her griefs and cares, as will happen when trials fall upon a
+kindly heart, grew up a number of thoughts and virtues which had never
+come into existence, had not her sorrow given birth to them.
+
+When Lady Castlewood found that she had lost the freshness of her
+husband's admiration, she turned all her thoughts to the welfare of her
+children, learning that she might teach them, and improving her many
+natural gifts and accomplishments that she might impart them. She made
+herself a good scholar of French, Italian, and Latin. Young Esmond was
+house-tutor under her or over her, as it might happen, no more having
+been said of his leaving Castlewood since the night before he came down
+with the smallpox. During my lord's many absences these school days would
+go on uninterruptedly: the mother and daughter learning with surprising
+quickness, the latter by fits and starts only, as suited her wayward
+humour. As for the little lord, it must be owned that he took after his
+father in the matter of learning, liked marbles and play and sport best,
+and enjoyed marshalling the village boys, of whom he had a little court;
+already flogging them, and domineering over them with a fine imperious
+spirit that made his father laugh when he beheld it, and his mother
+fondly warn him. Dr. Tusher said he was a young nobleman of gallant
+spirit; and Harry Esmond, who was eight years his little lordship's
+senior, had hard work sometimes to keep his own temper, and hold his
+authority over his rebellious little chief.
+
+Indeed, "Mr. Tutor," as my lady called Esmond, had now business enough on
+his hands in Castlewood house. He had his pupils, besides writing my
+lord's letters, and arranging his accounts for him, when these could be
+got from his indolent patron.
+
+Of the pupils the two young people were but lazy scholars, and as my
+lady would admit no discipline such as was then in use, my lord's son
+only learned what he liked, which was but little, and never to his life's
+end could be got to construe more than six lines of Virgil. Mistress
+Beatrix chattered French prettily, from a very early age; and sang
+sweetly, but this was from her mother's teaching, not Harry Esmond's, who
+could scarce distinguish one air from another, although he had no greater
+delight in life than to hear the ladies sing. He never forgot them as
+they used to sit together of the summer evenings, the two golden heads
+over the page, the child's little hand, and the mother's, beating the
+time with their voices rising and falling in unison.
+
+But these happy days were to end soon, and it was by Lady Castlewood's
+own decree that they were brought to a conclusion. It happened about
+Christmas time, Harry Esmond being now past sixteen years of age, that
+his old comrade, Tom Tusher, returned from school in London, a fair,
+well-grown and sturdy lad, who was about to enter college, with good
+marks from his school, and a prospect of after-promotion in the church.
+Tom Tusher's talk was of nothing but Cambridge now; and the boys examined
+each other eagerly about their progress in books. Tom had learned some
+Greek and Hebrew, besides Latin, in which he was pretty well skilled, and
+also had given himself to mathematical study under his father's guidance.
+Harry Esmond could not write Latin as well as Tom, though he could talk
+it better, having been taught by his dear friend the Jesuit Father, for
+whose memory the lad ever retained the warmest affection, reading his
+books, and keeping his swords clean. Often of a night sitting in the
+Chaplain's room, over his books, his verses, his rubbish, with which the
+lad occupied himself, he would look up at the window, wishing it might
+open and let in the good father. He had come and passed away like a
+dream; but for the swords and books Harry might almost think he was an
+imagination of his mind--and for two letters which had come from him, one
+from abroad, full of advice and affection, another soon after Harry had
+been confirmed by the Bishop of Hexton, in which Father Holt deplored his
+falling away from the true faith. But it would have taken greater
+persuasion than his to induce the boy to worship other than with his
+beloved mistress, and under her kind eyes he read many volumes of the
+works of the famous British divines of the last age. His mistress never
+tired of pursuing their texts with fond comments, or to urge those points
+which her fancy dwelt on most, or her reason deemed most important.
+
+In later life, at the University, Esmond pursued the subject in a very
+different manner, as was suitable for one who was to become a clergyman.
+But his heart was never much inclined towards this calling. He made up
+his mind to wear the cassock and bands as another man does to wear a
+breastplate and jack-boots, or to mount a merchant's desk for a
+livelihood--from obedience and necessity, rather than from choice.
+
+When Thomas Tusher was gone, a feeling of no small depression and
+disquiet fell upon young Esmond, of which, though he did not complain,
+his kind mistress must have guessed the cause: for, soon after, she
+showed not only that she understood the reason of Harry's melancholy,
+but could provide a remedy for it. All the notice, however, which she
+seemed to take of his melancholy, was by a gaiety unusual to her,
+attempting to dispel his gloom. She made his scholars more cheerful than
+ever they had been before, and more obedient, too, learning and reading
+much more than they had been accustomed to do. "For who knows," said
+the lady, "what may happen, and whether we may be able to keep such a
+learned tutor long?"
+
+Frank Esmond said he for his part did not want to learn any more, and
+cousin Harry might shut up his book whenever he liked, if he would come
+out a-fishing; and little Beatrix declared she would send for Tom
+Tusher, and _he_ would be glad enough to come to Castlewood, if Harry
+chose to go away.
+
+At last came a messenger from Winchester one day, bearer of a letter
+with a great black seal, from the Dean there, to say that his sister was
+dead, and had left her fortune among her six nieces, of which Lady
+Castlewood was one.
+
+When my lord heard of the news, he made no pretence of grieving.
+
+"The money will come very handy to furnish the music-room and the cellar,
+which is getting low, and buy your ladyship a coat, and a couple of new
+horses. And, Beatrix, you shall have a spinnet; and, Frank, you shall
+have a little horse from Hexton Fair; and, Harry, you shall have five
+pounds to buy some books," said my lord, who was generous with his own,
+and indeed with other folk's money.
+
+"I wish your aunt would die once a year, Rachel; we could spend your
+money, and all your sisters', too."
+
+"I have but one aunt--and--and I have another use for the money, my
+lord," said my lady.
+
+"Another use, my dear; and what do you know about money?" said my lord.
+"And what the devil is there that I don't give you which you want?"
+
+"I intend this money for Harry Esmond to go to college," says my lady.
+"You mustn't stay longer in this dull place, but make a name for
+yourself, and for us, too, Harry."
+
+"Is Harry going away? You don't mean to say you will go away?" cried out
+Frank and Beatrix in one breath.
+
+"But he will come back; and this will always be his home," cried my lady,
+with blue eyes looking a celestial kindness. "And his scholars will
+always love him, won't they?"
+
+"Rachel, you're a good woman!" exclaimed my lord, with an oath, seizing
+my lady's hand. "I wish you joy!" he continued, giving Harry Esmond a
+hearty slap on the shoulder. "I won't balk your luck. Go to Cambridge,
+boy, and when Tusher dies you shall have the living here, if you are not
+better provided by that time. We'll furnish the dining-room and buy the
+horses another year. I'll give thee a nag out of the stables; take any
+one except my hack and the bay gelding and the coach horses; and God
+speed thee, my boy!"
+
+"Have the sorrel, Harry; 'tis a good one. Father says 'tis the best in
+the stable," said little Frank, clapping his hands and jumping up.
+"Let's come and see him in the stable." And Harry Esmond in his delight
+and eagerness was for leaving the room that instant to arrange about
+his journey.
+
+The Lady Castlewood looked after him with sad penetrating glances.
+
+"He wishes to be gone already, my lord," said she to her husband.
+
+The young man hung back abashed. "Indeed, I would stay forever if your
+ladyship bade me," he said.
+
+"And thou wouldst be a fool for thy pains," said my lord. "Tut, tut, man.
+Go and see the world. Sow thy wild oats; and take the best luck that fate
+sends thee. I wish I were a boy again, that I might go to college and
+taste the Thumpington ale."
+
+"Indeed, you are best away," said my lady, laughing, as she put her hand
+on the boy's head for a moment. "You shall stay in no such dull place.
+You shall go to college and distinguish yourself as becomes your name.
+That is how you shall please me best; and--and if my children want you,
+or I want you, you shall come to us; and I know we may count on you."
+
+"May Heaven forsake me if you may not!" Harry said, getting up
+from his knee.
+
+"And my knight longs for a dragon this instant that he may fight," said
+my lady, laughing; which speech made Harry Esmond start, and turn red;
+for indeed the very thought was in his mind, that he would like that some
+chance should immediately happen whereby he might show his devotion. And
+it pleased him to think that his lady had called him "her knight," and
+often and often he recalled this to his mind, and prayed that he might be
+her true knight, too.
+
+My lady's bed-chamber window looked out over the country, and you could
+see from it the purple hills beyond Castlewood village, the green common
+betwixt that and the Hall, and the old bridge which crossed over the
+river. When Harry Esmond went away to Cambridge, little Frank ran
+alongside his horse as far as the bridge, and there Harry stopped for a
+moment, and looked back at the house where the best part of his life had
+been passed.
+
+It lay before him with its grey familiar towers, a pinnacle or two
+shining in the sun, the buttresses and terrace walls casting great blue
+shades on the grass. And Harry remembered all his life after how he saw
+his mistress at the window looking out on him in a white robe, the little
+Beatrix's chestnut curls resting at her mother's side. Both waved a
+farewell to him, and little Frank sobbed to leave him. Yes, he _would_
+be his lady's true knight, he vowed in his heart; he waved her an adieu
+with his hat. The village people had good-bye to say to him, too. All
+knew that Master Harry was going to college, and most of them had a kind
+word and a look of farewell. I do not stop to say what adventures he
+began to imagine, or what career to devise for himself before he had
+ridden three miles from home. He had not read the Arabian tales as yet;
+but be sure that there are other folks who build castles in the air, and
+have fine hopes, and kick them down, too, besides honest Alnaschar.
+
+This change in his life was a very fine thing indeed for Harry, who rode
+away in company of my lord, who said he should like to revisit the old
+haunts of his youth, and so accompanied Harry to Cambridge. Their road
+lay through London, where my Lord Viscount would have Harry stay a few
+days to see the pleasures of the town before he entered upon his
+university studies, and whilst here Harry's patron conducted the young
+man to my lady dowager's house near London. Lady Isabella received them
+cordially, and asked Harry what his profession was to be. Upon hearing
+that the lad was to take orders, and to have the living of Castlewood
+when old Dr. Tusher vacated it, she seemed glad that the youth should be
+so provided for.
+
+She bade Harry Esmond pay her a visit whenever he passed through London,
+and carried her graciousness so far as to send a purse with twenty
+guineas for him to the tavern where he and his lord were staying, and
+with this welcome gift sent also a little doll for Beatrix, who, however,
+was growing beyond the age of dolls by this time, and was almost as tall
+as Lady Isabella.
+
+After seeing the town, and going to the plays, my Lord Castlewood and
+Esmond rode together to Cambridge, spending two pleasant days upon the
+journey. Those rapid new coaches that performed the journey in a single
+day were not yet established, but the road was pleasant and short enough
+to Harry Esmond, and he always gratefully remembered that happy holiday
+which his kind patron gave him.
+
+Henry Esmond was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, to which famous
+college my lord had also in his youth belonged. My Lord Viscount was
+received with great politeness by the head master, as well as by Mr.
+Bridge, who was appointed to be Harry's tutor. Tom Tusher, who was by
+this time a junior Soph, came to take Harry under his protection; and
+comfortable rooms being provided for him, Harry's patron took leave of
+him with many kind words and blessings, and an admonition to have to
+behave better at the University than my lord himself had ever done.
+
+Thus began Harry Esmond's college career, which was in no wise different
+from that of a hundred other young gentlemen of that day. Meanwhile,
+while he was becoming used to the manners and customs of his new life and
+enjoying it thoroughly in his quiet way; at Castlewood Hall life was not
+so cheerful as it had been when he was there to note his mistress' sorrow
+or joy and act according to her need.
+
+Coming home to his dear Castlewood in the third year of his academic
+course, Harry was overjoyed to see again the kind blue eyes of his
+mistress, when she and the children came to greet him. He found Frank
+shooting up to be like his gallant father in looks and in tastes. He had
+his hawks, and his spaniel dog, his little horse, and his beagles; had
+learned to ride and to shoot flying, and had a small court made up of
+the sons of the huntsmen and woodsmen, over whom he ruled as imperiously
+as became the heir-apparent.
+
+As for Beatrix, Esmond found her grown to be taller than her mother, a
+slim and lovely young girl, with cheeks mantling with health and roses;
+with eyes like stars shining out of azure, with waving bronze hair
+clustered about the fairest young forehead ever seen; and a mien and
+shape haughty and beautiful, such as that of the famous antique statue of
+the huntress Diana.
+
+This bright creature was the darling and torment of father and mother.
+She intrigued with each secretly, and bestowed her fondness and withdrew
+it, plied them with tears, smiles, kisses, caresses; when the mother was
+angry, flew to the father; when both were displeased, transferred her
+caresses to the domestics, or watched until she could win back her
+parents' good graces, either by surprising them into laughter and
+good-humour, or appeasing them by submissive and an artful humility. She
+had been a coquette from her earliest days; had long learned the value of
+her bright eyes, and tried experiments in coquetry upon rustics and
+country 'squires until she should have opportunity to conquer a larger
+world in later years.
+
+When, then, Harry Esmond came home to Castlewood for his last vacation he
+found his old pupil shot up into this capricious beauty; her brother, a
+handsome, high-spirited, brave lad, generous and frank and kind to
+everybody, save perhaps Beatrix, with whom he was perpetually at war, and
+not from his, but her, fault; adoring his mother, whose joy he was. And
+Lady Castlewood was no whit less gracious and attractive to Harry than in
+the old days when as a lad he had first kissed her fair, protecting hand.
+
+Such was the group who welcomed Henry Esmond on his return from college.
+
+Not anticipating the future, not looking ahead, let us leave beautiful
+Beatrix, imperious young Frank, sweet Lady Castlewood, giving a glad
+welcome to their old friend and tutor. Truly we carry away a pretty
+picture as we finish this chapter of Esmond's youth.
+
+
+
+
+THE VIRGINIANS
+
+
+[Illustration: WARRINGTON AND GEORGE WASHINGTON.]
+
+Henry Esmond, Esq., an officer who had served with the rank of Colonel
+during the wars of Queen Anne's reign, found himself at its close
+involved in certain complications, both political and private. For this
+reason Mr. Esmond thought best to establish himself in Virginia, where he
+took possession of a large estate conferred by King Charles I. upon his
+ancestor. Mr. Esmond previously to this had married Rachel, widow of the
+late Francis Castlewood, Baronet, by whom he had one daughter, afterwards
+Madame Warrington, whose twin sons, George and Henry Warrington, were
+known as the Virginians.
+
+Mr. Esmond called his American house Castlewood, from the family estate
+in England. The whole customs of Virginia, indeed, were fondly modelled
+after the English customs. The Virginians boasted that King Charles II.
+had been king in Virginia before he had been king in England. The
+resident gentry were connected with good English families and lived on
+their great lands after a fashion almost patriarchal. For its rough
+cultivation, each estate had a multitude of hands, who were subject to
+the command of the master. The land yielded their food, live stock and
+game. The great rivers swarmed with fish for the taking. Their ships took
+the tobacco off their private wharves on the banks of the Potomac or the
+James River, and carried it to London or Bristol, bringing back English
+goods and articles of home manufacture in return for the only produce
+which the Virginian gentry chose to cultivate. Their hospitality was
+boundless. No stranger was ever sent away from their gates. The question
+of slavery was not born at the time of which we write. To be the
+proprietor of black servants shocked the feelings of no Virginian
+gentleman; nor, in truth, was the despotism exercised over the negro race
+generally a savage one. The food was plenty; the poor black people lazy
+and not unhappy. You might have preached negro-emancipation to Madame
+Esmond of Castlewood as you might have told her to let the horses run
+loose out of the stables; she had no doubt but that the whip and the
+corn-bag were good for both.
+
+Having lost his wife, his daughter took the management of the Colonel and
+his estate, and managed both with the spirit and determination which
+governed her management of every person and thing which came within her
+jurisdiction.
+
+After fifteen years' residence upon his great Virginian estate the
+Colonel agreed in his daughter's desire to replace the wooden house in
+which they lived, with a nobler mansion which would be more fitting for
+his heirs to inherit. His daughter had a very high opinion indeed of her
+ancestry, and her father, growing exquisitely calm and good-natured in
+his serene declining years, humoured his child's peculiarities and
+interests in an easy bantering way. Truth to tell, there were few
+families in England with nobler connections than the Esmonds. The
+Virginians, Madame Rachel Warrington's sons, inherited the finest blood
+and traditions, and the rightful king of England had not two more
+faithful little subjects than the young twins of Castlewood.
+
+At Colonel Esmond's death, Madame Esmond, as she was thereafter called,
+proclaimed her eldest son, George, heir of the estate; and Harry,
+George's younger brother by half an hour, was instructed to respect his
+senior. All the household was also instructed to pay him honour, and in
+the whole family of servants there was only one rebel, Harry's
+foster-mother, a faithful negro woman who never could be made to
+understand why her child should not be first, who was handsomer and
+stronger and cleverer than his brother, as she vowed; though in truth,
+there was not much difference in the beauty, strength, or stature of the
+twins. In disposition, they were in many points exceedingly unlike; but
+in feature they resembled each other so closely that, but for the colour
+of their hair, it had been difficult to distinguish them. In their beds,
+and when their heads were covered with those vast ribboned nightcaps
+which our great and little ancestors wore, it was scarcely possible for
+any but a nurse or a mother to tell the one from the other child.
+
+Howbeit, alike in form, we have said that they differed in temper. The
+elder was peaceful, studious and silent; the younger was warlike and
+noisy. He was quick at learning when he began, but very slow at
+beginning. No threats of the ferule would provoke Harry to learn in an
+idle fit, or would prevent George from helping his brother in his lesson.
+Harry was of a strong military turn, drilled the little negroes on the
+estate, and caned them like a corporal, having many good boxing-matches
+with them, and never bearing malice if he was worsted; whereas George was
+sparing of blows, and gentle with all about him. As the custom in all
+families was, each of the boys had a special little servant assigned
+him; and it was a known fact that George, finding his little wretch of a
+blackamoor asleep on his master's bed, sat down beside it and brushed the
+flies off the child with a feather-fan, to the horror of old Gumbo, the
+child's father, who found his young master so engaged, and to the
+indignation of Madame Esmond, who ordered the young negro off to the
+proper officer for a whipping. In vain George implored and entreated,
+burst into passionate tears and besought a remission of the sentence. His
+mother was inflexible regarding the young rebel's punishment, and the
+little negro went off beseeching his young master not to cry.
+
+A fierce quarrel between mother and son ensued out of this event. Her son
+would not be pacified. He said the punishment was a shame--a shame; that
+he was the master of the boy, and no one--no, not his mother--had a right
+to touch him; that she might order _him_ to be corrected, and that he
+would suffer the punishment, as he and Harry often had, but no one should
+lay a hand on his boy. Trembling with passionate rebellion against what
+he conceived the injustice of the procedure, he vowed that on the day he
+came of age he would set young Gumbo free; went to visit the child in the
+slaves' quarters, and gave him one of his own toys.
+
+The black martyr was an impudent, lazy, saucy little personage, who would
+be none the worse for a whipping, as the Colonel, who was then living, no
+doubt thought; for he acquiesced in the child's punishment when Madame
+Esmond insisted upon it, and only laughed in his good-natured way when
+his indignant grandson called out:
+
+"You let mamma rule you in everything, grandpapa."
+
+"Why so I do," says grandpapa. "Rachel, my love, the way in which I am
+petticoat-ridden is so evident that even this baby has found it out."
+
+"Then why don't you stand up like a man?" says little Harry, who always
+was ready to abet his brother.
+
+Grandpapa looked queerly.
+
+"Because I like sitting down best, my dear," he said. "I am an old
+gentleman, and standing fatigues me."
+
+On account of a certain apish drollery and humour which exhibited itself
+in the lad, and a liking for some of the old man's pursuits, the first of
+the twins was the grandfather's favourite and companion, and would laugh
+and talk out all his infantine heart to the old gentleman, to whom the
+younger had seldom a word to say. George was a demure, studious boy, and
+his senses seemed to brighten up in the library, where his brother was so
+gloomy. He knew the books before he could well-nigh carry them, and read
+in them long before he could understand them. Harry, on the other hand,
+was all alive in the stables or in the wood, eager for all parties of
+hunting and fishing, and promised to be a good sportsman from a very
+early age. The grandfather's ship was sailing for Europe once when the
+boys were children, and they were asked what present Captain Franks would
+bring them back? George was divided between books and a fiddle; Harry
+instantly declared for a little gun; and Madame Warrington (as she then
+was called) was hurt that her elder boy should have low tastes, and
+applauded the younger's choice as more worthy of his name and lineage.
+
+"Books, papa, I can fancy to be a good choice," she replied to her
+father, who tried to convince her that George had a right to his
+opinion, "though I am sure you must have pretty nigh all the books in
+the world already. But I never can desire--I may be wrong--but I never
+can desire, that my son, and the grandson of the Marquis of Esmond,
+should be a fiddler."
+
+"Should be a fiddlestick, my dear," the old Colonel answered. "Remember
+that Heaven's ways are not ours, and that each creature born has a little
+kingdom of thought of his own, which it is a sin in us to invade. Suppose
+George loves music? You can no more stop him than you can order a rose
+not to smell sweet, or a bird not to sing."
+
+"A bird! A bird sings from nature; George did not come into the world
+with a fiddle in his hand," says Mrs. Warrington, with a toss of her
+head. "I am sure I hated the harpsichord when a chit at Kensington
+school, and only learned it to please my mamma. Say what you will, I
+cannot believe that this fiddling is work for persons of fashion."
+
+"And King David who played the harp, my dear?"
+
+"I wish my papa would read him more, and not speak about him in that
+way," said Mrs. Warrington.
+
+"Nay, my dear, it was but by way of illustration," the father replied
+gently. It was Colonel's Esmond's nature always to be led by a woman,
+and he spoiled his daughter; laughing at her caprices, but humouring
+them; making a joke of her prejudices, but letting them have their way;
+indulging, and perhaps increasing, her natural imperiousness of
+character, which asserted itself to an unusual degree after her
+father's death.
+
+The Colonel's funeral was the most sumptuous one ever seen in the
+country. The little lads of Castlewood, almost smothered in black trains
+and hat bands, headed the procession, followed by Madame Esmond
+Warrington (as she called herself after her father's death), by my Lord
+Fairfax, by his Excellency the Governor of Virginia, by the Randolphs,
+the Careys, the Harrisons, the Washingtons, and many others, for the
+whole county esteemed the departed gentleman whose goodness, whose high
+talents, whose unobtrusive benevolence had earned for him the just
+respect of his neighbours.
+
+The management of the house of Castlewood had been in the hands of his
+daughter long before the Colonel slept the sleep of the just, for the
+truth is little Madame Esmond never came near man or woman but she tried
+to domineer over them. If people obeyed, she was their very good friend;
+if they resisted, she fought and fought until she or they gave in, and
+without her father's influence to restrain her she was now more despotic
+than ever. She exercised a rigid supervision over the estate; dismissed
+Colonel Esmond's English factor and employed a new one; built, improved,
+planted, grew tobacco, appointed a new overseer, and imported a new tutor
+for her boys. The little queen domineered over her little dominion, and
+over the princes her sons as well, thereby falling out frequently with
+her neighbours, with her relatives, and with her sons also.
+
+A very early difference which occurred between the queen and crown prince
+arose out of the dismissal of the lad's tutor, Mr. Dempster, who had also
+been the late Colonel's secretary. Upon his retirement George vowed he
+never would forsake his old tutor, and kept his promise. Another cause of
+dispute between George and his mother presently ensued.
+
+By the death of an aunt, the heirs of Mr. George Warrington became
+entitled to a sum of six thousand pounds, of which their mother was one
+of the trustees. She never could be made to understand that she was not
+the proprietor, but merely the trustee of this money; and was furious
+with the London lawyer who refused to send it over at her order. "Is not
+all I have my sons'?" she cried, "and would I not cut myself into little
+pieces to serve them? With the six thousand pounds I would have bought
+Mr. Boulter's estate and negroes, which would have given us a good
+thousand pounds a year, and made a handsome provision for my Harry." Her
+young friend and neighbour, Mr. Washington of Mount Vernon, could not
+convince her that the London agent was right, and must not give up his
+trust except to those for whom he held it.
+
+George Esmond, when this little matter was referred to him, and his
+mother vehemently insisted that he should declare himself, was of the
+opinion of Mr. Washington and Mr. Draper, the London lawyer. The boy said
+he could not help himself. He did not want the money; he would be very
+glad to give the money to his mother if he had the power. But Madame
+Esmond would not hear of these reasons. Here was a chance of making
+Harry's fortune--dear Harry, who was left with such a slender younger
+brother's pittance--and the wretches in London would not help him; his
+own brother, who inherited all his papa's estate, would not help him. To
+think of a child of hers being so mean at _fourteen years of age_!
+
+Into this state of mind the incident plunged Madame Warrington, and no
+amount of reasoning could bring her out of it. On account of the
+occurrence she at once set to work saving for her younger son, for whom
+she was eager to make a fortune. The fine buildings were stopped as well
+as the fine fittings which had been ordered for the interior of the new
+home. No more books were bought; the agent had orders to discontinue
+sending wine. Madame Esmond deeply regretted the expense of a fine
+carriage which she had from England, and only rode in it to church,
+crying out to the sons sitting opposite to her, "Harry, Harry! I wish I
+had put by the money for thee, my poor portionless child; three hundred
+and eighty guineas of ready money to Messieurs Hatchett!"
+
+"You will give me plenty while you live, and George will give me plenty
+when you die," says Harry gaily.
+
+"Not until he changes in _spirit_, my dear," says the lady grimly,
+glancing at her elder boy. "Not unless Heaven softens his heart and
+teaches him _charity_, for which I pray day and night; as Mountain knows;
+do you not, Mountain?"
+
+Mrs. Mountain, Ensign Mountain's widow, who had been a friend of Rachel
+Esmond in her school days, and since her widowhood had been Madame
+Esmond's companion in Castlewood house, serving to enliven many dull
+hours for that lady and enjoying thoroughly the home which Castlewood
+afforded her and her child. Mrs. Mountain, I say, who was occupying the
+fourth seat in the family coach, said, "Humph! humph! I know you are
+always disturbing yourself about this legacy, and I don't see that there
+is any need."
+
+"Oh, no! no need!" cries the widow, rustling in her silks; "of course I
+have no need to be disturbed, because my eldest born is _a disobedient
+son and an unkind brother;_ because he has an estate, and my poor Harry,
+bless him, but a _mess of pottage_."
+
+George looked despairingly at his mother until he could see her no more
+for eyes welled up with tears. "I wish you would bless me, too, O my
+mother!" he said, and burst into a passionate fit of weeping. Harry's
+arms were in a moment round his brother's neck, and he kissed George a
+score of times.
+
+"Never mind, George. I know whether you are a good brother or not. Don't
+mind what she says. She don't mean it."
+
+"I do mean it, child," cries the mother. "Would to Heaven--"
+
+"_Hold your tongue, I say_!" roars out Harry. "It's a shame to speak so
+to him, ma'am."
+
+"And so it is, Harry," says Mrs. Mountain, shaking his hand. "You never
+said a truer word in your life."
+
+"Mrs. Mountain, do you dare to set my children against me?" cries the
+widow. "From this very day, madam--"
+
+"Turn me and my child into the street? Do," says Mrs. Mountain. "That
+will be a fine revenge because the English lawyer won't give you the
+boy's money. Find another companion who will tell you black is white, and
+flatter you; it is not my way, madam. When shall I go? I shan't be long
+a-packing. I did not bring much into Castlewood house, and I shall not
+take much out."
+
+"Hush! the bells are ringing for church, Mountain. Let us try, if you
+please, and compose ourselves," said the widow, and she looked with eyes
+of extreme affection, certainly at one, perhaps at both, of her children.
+George kept his head down, and Harry, who was near, got quite close to
+him during the sermon, and sat with his arm round his brother's neck.
+
+From these incidents it may be clearly seen that Madame Esmond besides
+being a brisk little woman at business and ruling like a little queen in
+Castlewood was also a victim of many freaks and oddities, among them one
+of the most prominent being a great desire for flattery. There was no
+amount of compliment which she could not graciously receive and take as
+her due, and it was her greatest delight to receive attention from
+suitors of every degree. Her elder boy saw this peculiarity of his
+mother's disposition and chafed privately under it. From a very early
+day he revolted when compliments were paid to the little lady, and
+strove to expose them with his youthful satire; so that his mother would
+say gravely, "the Esmonds were always of a jealous disposition, and my
+poor boy takes after my father and mother in this."
+
+One winter after their first tutor had been dismissed Madame Esmond took
+them to Williamsburg for such education as the schools and colleges there
+afforded, and there they listened to the preaching and became acquainted
+with the famous Mr. Whitfield, who, at Madame Esmond's request, procured
+a tutor for the boys, by name Mr. Ward. For weeks Madame Esmond was never
+tired of hearing Mr. Ward's utterances of a religious character, and
+according to her wont she insisted that her neighbours should come and
+listen to him and ordered them to be converted to the faith which he
+represented. Her young favourite, Mr. George Washington, she was
+especially anxious to influence; and again and again pressed him to come
+and stay at Castlewood and benefit by the spiritual advantages there to
+be obtained. But that young gentleman found he had particular business
+which called him home or away from home, and always ordered his horse of
+evenings when the time was coming for Mr. Ward's exercises. And--what
+boys are just towards their pedagogue?--the twins grew speedily tired and
+even rebellious under their new teacher.
+
+They found him a bad scholar, a dull fellow, and ill-bred to boot. George
+knew much more Latin and Greek than his master; Harry, who could take
+much greater liberties than were allowed to his elder brother, mimicked
+Ward's manner of eating and talking, so that Mrs. Mountain and even
+Madame Esmond were forced to laugh, and little Fanny Mountain would crow
+with delight. Madame Esmond would have found the fellow out for a vulgar
+quack but for her son's opposition, which she, on her part, opposed with
+her own indomitable will.
+
+George now began to give way to a sarcastic method, took up Ward's
+pompous remarks and made jokes of them so that that young divine chafed
+and almost choked over his great meals. He made Madame Esmond angry, and
+doubly so when he sent off Harry into fits of laughter. Her authority was
+defied, her officer scorned and insulted, her youngest child perverted by
+the obstinate elder brother. She made a desperate and unhappy attempt to
+maintain her power.
+
+The boys were fourteen years of age, Harry being now taller and more
+advanced than his brother, who was delicate and as yet almost childlike
+in stature and appearance. The flogging method was quite a common mode
+of argument in these days. Our little boys had been horsed many a day by
+Mr. Dempster, their Scotch tutor, in their grandfather's time; and
+Harry, especially, had got to be quite accustomed to the practice, and
+made very light of it. But since Colonel Esmond's death, the cane had
+been laid aside, and the young gentlemen at Castlewood had been allowed
+to have their own way. Her own and her lieutenant's authority being now
+spurned by the youthful rebels, the unfortunate mother thought of
+restoring it by means of coercion. She took counsel of Mr. Ward. That
+athletic young pedagogue could easily find chapter and verse to warrant
+the course he wished to pursue,--in fact, there was no doubt about the
+wholesomeness of the practice in those days. He had begun by flattering
+the boys, finding a good berth and snug quarters at Castlewood, and
+hoping to remain there. But they laughed at his flattery, they scorned
+his bad manners, they yawned soon at his sermons; the more their mother
+favoured him, the more they disliked him; and so the tutor and the
+pupils cordially hated each other.
+
+Mrs. Mountain warned the lads to be prudent, and that some conspiracy was
+hatching against them; saying, "You must be on your guard, my poor boys.
+You must learn your lessons and not anger your tutor. Your mamma was
+talking about you to Mr. Washington the other day when I came into the
+room. I don't like that Major Washington, you know I don't. He is very
+handsome and tall, and he may be very good, but show me his wild oats I
+say--not a grain! Well, I happened to step in last Tuesday when he was
+here with your mamma, and I am sure they were talking about you, for he
+said, 'Discipline is discipline, and must be preserved. There can be but
+one command in a house, ma'am, and you must be the mistress of yours.'"
+
+"The very words he used to me," cries Harry. "He told me that he did not
+like to meddle with other folks' affairs, but that our mother was very
+angry, and he begged me to obey Mr. Ward, and to press George to do so."
+
+"Let him manage his own house, not mine," says George very haughtily. And
+the caution, far from benefiting him, only made the lad more scornful and
+rebellious.
+
+On the next day the storm broke. Words were passed between George and Mr.
+Ward during the morning study. The boy was quite disobedient and unjust.
+Even his faithful brother cried out, and owned that he was in the wrong.
+Mr. Ward bottled up his temper until the family met at dinner, when he
+requested Madame Esmond to stay, and laid the subject of discussion
+before her.
+
+He asked Master Harry to confirm what he had said; and poor Harry was
+obliged to admit all his statements.
+
+George, standing under his grandfather's portrait by the chimney, said
+haughtily that what Mr. Ward had said was perfectly correct.
+
+"To be a tutor to such a pupil is absurd," said Mr. Ward, making a long
+speech containing many scripture phrases, at each of which young George
+smiled scornfully; and at length Ward ended by asking her honour's leave
+to retire.
+
+"Not before you have punished this wicked and disobedient child," said
+Madame Esmond.
+
+"Punish!" exclaimed George.
+
+"Yes, sir, punish! If means of love and entreaty fail, other means must
+be found to bring you to obedience. I punish you now, rebellious boy, to
+guard you from greater punishment hereafter. The discipline of this
+family must be maintained. There can be but one command in a house, and I
+must be the mistress of mine. You will punish this refractory boy, Mr.
+Ward, as we have agreed, and if there is the least resistance on his part
+my overseer and servants will lend you aid."
+
+In the midst of his mother's speech George Esmond felt that he had been
+wronged. "There can be but one command in the house and you must be
+mistress. I know who said those words before you," George said slowly,
+and looking very white, "and--and I know, mother, that I have acted
+wrongly to Mr. Ward."
+
+"He owns it! He asks pardon!" cries Harry. "That's right, George! That's
+enough, isn't it?"
+
+"No, it is _not_ enough! I know that he who spares the rod spoils the
+child, ungrateful boy!" says Madame Esmond, with more references of the
+same nature, which George heard, looking very pale and desperate.
+
+Upon the mantelpiece stood a china cup, by which the widow set great
+store, as her father had always been accustomed to drink from it. George
+suddenly took it, and a strange smile passed over his pale face.
+
+"Stay one minute. Don't go away yet," he cried to his mother, who was
+leaving the room. "You are very fond of this cup, mother?" and Harry
+looked at him wondering. "If I broke it, it could never be mended, could
+it? My dear old grandpapa's cup! I have been wrong. Mr. Ward, I ask
+pardon. I will try and amend."
+
+The widow looked at her son indignantly. "I thought," she said, "I
+thought an Esmond had been more of a man than to be afraid, and--" Here
+she gave a little scream, as Harry uttered an exclamation and dashed
+forward with his hands stretched out towards his brother.
+
+George, after looking at the cup, raised it, opened his hand and let it
+fall on the marble slab before him. Harry had tried in vain to catch it.
+
+"It is too late, Hal," George said. "You will never mend that
+again--never. Now, mother, I am ready, as it is your wish. Will you come
+and see whether I am afraid? Mr. Ward, I am your servant. Your servant?
+Your slave! And the next time I meet Mr. Washington, Madame, I will thank
+him for the advice which he gave you."
+
+"I say, do your duty, sir!" cried Mrs. Esmond, stamping her little foot.
+And George, making a low bow to Mr. Ward, begged him to go first out of
+the room to the study.
+
+"Stop! For God's sake, mother, stop!" cried poor Hal. But passion was
+boiling in the little woman's heart, and she would not hear the boy's
+petition. "You only abet him, sir!" she cried. "If I had to do it
+myself, it should be done!" And Harry, with sadness and wrath in his
+countenance, left the room by the door through which Mr. Ward and his
+brother had just issued.
+
+
+The widow sank down in a great chair near it, and sat a while vacantly
+looking at the fragments of the broken cup. Then she inclined her head
+towards the door. For a while there was silence; then a loud outcry,
+which made the poor mother start.
+
+Mr. Ward came out bleeding from a great wound on his head, and behind him
+Harry, with flaring eyes, and brandishing a little ruler of his
+grandfather, which hung, with others of the Colonel's weapons, on the
+library wall.
+
+"I don't care. I did it," says Harry. "I couldn't see this fellow strike
+my brother; and as he lifted his hand, I flung the great ruler at him. I
+couldn't help it. I won't bear it; and if one lifts a hand to me or my
+brother, I'll have his life," shouts Harry, brandishing the hanger.
+
+The widow gave a great gasp and a sigh as she looked at the young
+champion and his victim. She must have suffered terribly during the few
+minutes of the boys' absence; and the stripes which she imagined had been
+inflicted on the elder had smitten her own heart. She longed to take both
+boys to it. She was not angry now. Very likely she was delighted with the
+thought of the younger's prowess and generosity. "You are a very naughty,
+disobedient child," she said in an exceedingly peaceable voice. "My poor
+Mr. Ward! What a rebel to strike you! Let me bathe your wound, my good
+Mr. Ward, and thank Heaven it was no worse. Mountain! Go fetch me some
+court-plaster. Here comes George. Put on your coat and waistcoat, child!
+You were going to take your punishment, sir, and that is sufficient. Ask
+pardon, Harry, of good Mr. Ward, for your wicked, rebellious spirit. I
+do, with all my heart, I am sure. And guard against your passionate
+nature, child, and pray to be forgiven. My son, oh my son!"
+
+Here with a burst of tears which she could no longer control the
+little woman threw herself on the neck of her first born, whilst Harry
+went up very feebly to Mr. Ward, and said, "Indeed, I ask your pardon,
+sir. I couldn't help it; on my honour, I couldn't; nor bear to see my
+brother struck."
+
+The widow was scared, as after her embrace she looked up at George's pale
+face. In reply to her eager caresses, he coldly kissed her on the
+forehead, and separated from her. "You meant for the best, mother," he
+said, "and I was in the wrong. But the cup is broken; and all the king's
+horses and all the king's men cannot mend it. There--put the fair side
+outwards on the mantelpiece, and the wound will not show."
+
+Then George went up to Mr. Ward, who was still piteously bathing his eye
+and forehead in the water. "I ask pardon for Hal's violence, sir," he
+said in great state. "You see, though we are very young, we are
+gentlemen, and cannot brook an insult from strangers. I should have
+submitted, as it was mamma's desire; but I am glad she no longer
+entertains it."
+
+"And pray, sir, who is to compensate me?" says Mr. Ward; "who is to
+repair the insult done to _me_?"
+
+"We are very young," says George, with another of his old-fashioned bows.
+"We shall be fifteen soon. Any compensation that is usual amongst
+gentlemen--"
+
+"This, sir, to a minister of the Word!" bawls out Ward, starting up, and
+who knew perfectly well the lad's skill in fence, having a score of times
+been foiled by the pair of them.
+
+"You are not a clergyman yet. We thought you might like to be considered
+as a gentleman. We did not know."
+
+"A gentleman! I am a Christian, sir!" says Ward, glaring furiously, and
+clenching his great fists.
+
+"Well, well, if you won't fight, why don't you forgive?" says Harry. "If
+you won't forgive, why don't you fight? That's what I call the horns of a
+dilemma." And he laughed his jolly laugh.
+
+But this was nothing to the laugh a few days afterwards, when, the
+quarrel having been patched up along with poor Mr. Ward's eye, the
+unlucky tutor was holding forth according to his custom, but in vain. The
+widow wept no more at his harangues, was no longer excited by his
+eloquence. Nay, she pleaded headache, and would absent herself of an
+evening, on which occasions the remainder of the little congregation were
+very cold indeed. One day Ward, still making desperate efforts to get
+back his despised authority, was preaching on the necessity of obeying
+our spiritual and temporal rulers. "For why, my dear friends," he asked,
+"why are the governors appointed, but that we should be governed? Why are
+tutors engaged, but that children should be taught?" (Here a look at the
+boys.) "Why are rulers--" Here he paused, looking with a sad, puzzled
+face at the young gentlemen. He saw in their countenances the double
+meaning of the unlucky word he had uttered, and stammered and thumped the
+table with his fist. "Why, I say are rulers--rulers--"
+
+"_Rulers_," says George, looking at Harry.
+
+"Rulers!" says Hal, putting his hand to his eye, where the poor tutor
+still bore marks of the late scuffle. "Rulers, o-ho!" It was too much.
+The boys burst out in an explosion of laughter. Mrs. Mountain, who was
+full of fun, could not help joining in the chorus; and little Fanny
+Mountain, who had always behaved very demurely and silently at these
+ceremonies, crowed again, and clapped her little hands at the others
+laughing, not in the least knowing the reason why.
+
+This could not be borne. Ward shut down the book before him; in a few
+angry but eloquent and manly words said he would speak no more in that
+place; and left Castlewood not in the least regretted by Madame Esmond,
+who had doted on him three months before.
+
+After the departure of her unfortunate spiritual adviser and chaplain,
+Madame Esmond and her son seemed to be quite reconciled: but although
+George never spoke of the quarrel with his mother, it must have weighed
+upon the boy's mind very painfully, for he had a fever soon after the
+last recounted domestic occurrences, during which illness his brain once
+or twice wandered, when he shrieked out, "Broken! Broken! It never,
+never, can be mended!" to the silent terror of his mother, who sat
+watching the poor child as he tossed wakeful upon his midnight bed. That
+night, and for some days afterwards, it seemed very likely that poor
+Harry would become heir of Castlewood; but by Mr. Dempster's skilful
+treatment the fever was got over, the intermittent attacks diminished in
+intensity, and George was restored almost to health again. A change of
+air, a voyage even to England, was recommended, but the widow had
+quarrelled with her children's relatives there, which made that trip
+impossible. A journey to the north and east was determined upon, and the
+two young gentleman, with Mr. Dempster reinstated as their tutor, and a
+couple of servants to attend them, took a voyage to New York, and thence
+up the beautiful Hudson River to Albany, where they were received by the
+first gentry of the province; and thence into the French provinces, where
+they were hospitably entertained by the French gentry. Harry camped with
+the Indians and took furs and shot bears. George, who never cared for
+field sports, and whose health was still delicate, was a special
+favourite with the French ladies, who were accustomed to see very few
+young English gentlemen speaking the French language so readily as our
+young gentleman. He danced the minuet elegantly. He learned the latest
+imported French catches and songs and played them beautifully on his
+violin; and to the envy of poor Harry, who was absent on a bear-hunt, he
+even had an affair of honour with a young ensign, whom he pinked on the
+shoulder, and with whom he afterwards swore an eternal friendship.
+
+When the lads returned home at the end of ten delightful months, their
+mother was surprised at their growth and improvement. George especially
+was so grown as to come up to his younger-born brother. The boys could
+hardly be distinguished one from another, especially when their hair was
+powdered; but that ceremony being too cumbrous for country-life, each of
+the lads commonly wore his own hair, George his raven black, and Harry
+his light locks, tied with a ribbon.
+
+Now Mrs. Mountain had a great turn for match-making, and fancied that
+everybody had a design to marry everybody else. As a consequence of this
+weakness she was able to persuade George Warrington that Mr. Washington
+was laying siege to Madame Esmond's heart, which idea was anything but
+agreeable to George's jealous disposition.
+
+"I beg you to keep this quiet, Mountain," said George, with great
+dignity. "Or you and I shall quarrel, too. Never to any one must you
+mention such an absurd suspicion."
+
+"Absurd! Why absurd? Mr. Washington is constantly with the widow. She
+never tires of pointing out his virtues as an example to her sons. She
+consults him on every question respecting her estate and its management.
+There is a room at Castlewood regularly called Mr. Washington's room.
+He actually leaves his clothes here, and his portmanteau when he goes
+away. Ah, George, George! The day will come when he won't go away!"
+groaned Mrs. Mountain, and in consequence of the suspicions which her
+words aroused in him Mr. George adopted toward his mother's favourite a
+frigid courtesy, at which the honest gentleman chafed but did not care to
+remonstrate; or a stinging sarcasm which he would break through as he
+would burst through so many brambles on those hunting excursions in which
+he and Harry Warrington rode so constantly together; while George,
+retreating to his tents, read mathematics and French and Latin, or sulked
+in his book-room.
+
+Harry was away from home with some other sporting friends when Mr.
+Washington came to pay a visit at Castlewood. He was so peculiarly
+tender and kind to the mistress there, and received by her with such
+special cordiality, that George Warrington's jealousy had well-nigh
+broken out into open rupture. But the visit was one of adieu, as it
+appeared. Major Washington was going on a long and dangerous journey,
+quite to the western Virginia frontier and beyond it. The French had
+been for some time past making inroads into our territory. The
+government at home, as well as those of Virginia and Pennsylvania, were
+alarmed at this aggressive spirit of the lords of Canada and Louisiana.
+Some of our settlers had already been driven from their holdings by
+Frenchmen in arms, and the governors of the British provinces were
+desirous of stopping their incursions, or at any rate to protest against
+their invasion.
+
+We chose to hold our American colonies by a law that was at least
+convenient for its framers. The maxim was, that whoever possessed the
+coast had a right to all the territory in hand as far as the Pacific; so
+that the British charters only laid down the limits of the colonies from
+north to south, leaving them quite free from east to west. The French,
+meanwhile, had their colonies to the north and south, and aimed at
+connecting them by the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence, and the great
+intermediate lakes and waters lying to the westward of the British
+possessions. In the year 1748, though peace was signed between the two
+European kingdoms, the colonial question remained unsettled, to be opened
+again when either party should be strong enough to urge it. In the year
+1753 it came to an issue on the Ohio River where the British and French
+settlers met.
+
+A company called the Ohio Company, having grants from the Virginia
+government of lands along that river, found themselves invaded in their
+settlement's by French military detachments, who roughly ejected the
+Britons from their holdings. These latter applied for protection to Mr.
+Dinwiddie, lieutenant governor of Virginia, who determined upon sending
+an ambassador to the French commanding officer on the Ohio demanding that
+the French should desist from their inroads upon the territories of his
+Majesty King George.
+
+Young Mr. Washington jumped eagerly at the chance of distinction which
+this service afforded him, and volunteered to leave his home and his
+rural and professional pursuits in Virginia, to carry the governor's
+message to the French officer. Taking a guide, an interpreter, and a few
+attendants, and following the Indian tracks, in the fall of the year 1753
+the intrepid young envoy made his way from Williamsburg almost to the
+shores of Lake Erie, and found the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf.
+That officer's reply was brief; his orders were to hold the place and
+drive all the English from it. The French avowed their intention of
+taking possession of the Ohio. And with this rough answer the messenger
+from Virginia had to return through danger and difficulty, across lonely
+forest and frozen river, shaping his course by the compass, and camping
+at night in the snow by the forest fires.
+
+On his return from this expedition, which he had conducted with an heroic
+energy and simplicity, Major Washington was a greater favourite than ever
+with the lady of Castlewood. She pointed him out as a model to both of
+her sons. "Ah, Harry!" she would say, "think of you, with your
+cock-fighting and your racing matches, and the Major away there in the
+wilderness, watching the French, and battling with the frozen rivers! Ah,
+George! learning may be a very good thing, but I wish my elder son were
+doing something in the service of his country!"
+
+Mr. Washington on his return home began at once raising such a regiment
+as, with the scanty pay and patronage of the Virginian government, he
+could get together, and proposed with the help of these men-of-war to put
+a more peremptory veto upon the French invaders than the solitary
+ambassador had been enabled to lay. A small force under another officer,
+Colonel Trent, had already been despatched to the west, with orders to
+fortify themselves so as to be able to resist any attack of the enemy.
+The French troops greatly outnumbering ours, came up with the English
+outposts, who were fortifying themselves at a place on the confines of
+Pennsylvania where the great city of Pittsburg now stands. A Virginian
+officer with but forty men was in no condition to resist twenty times
+that number of Canadians who appeared before his incomplete works. He was
+suffered to draw back without molestation; and the French, taking
+possession of his fort, strengthened it and christened it by the name of
+the Canadian governor, Du Quesne. Up to this time no actual blow of war
+had been struck. It was strange that in a savage forest of Pennsylvania a
+young Virginian officer should fire a shot and waken up a war which was
+to last for sixty years, which was to cover his own country and pass into
+Europe, to cost France her American colonies, to sever ours from us, and
+create the great Western Republic; to rage over the old world when
+extinguished in the new; and of all the myriads engaged in the vast
+contest, to leave the prize of the greatest fame with him who struck the
+first blow!
+
+He little knew of the fate in store for him. A simple gentleman, anxious
+to serve his king and do his duty, he volunteered for the first service,
+and executed it with admirable fidelity. In the ensuing year he took the
+command of the small body of provincial troops with which he marched to
+repel the Frenchmen. He came up with their advanced guard and fired upon
+them, killing their leader. After this he had himself to fall back with
+his troops, and was compelled to capitulate to the superior French
+force. On the 4th of July, 1754, the Colonel marched out with his troops
+from the little fort where he had hastily entrenched himself, and which
+they called Fort Necessity, gave up the place to the conqueror, and took
+his way home.
+
+His command was over, his regiment disbanded after the fruitless,
+inglorious march and defeat. Saddened and humbled in spirit, the young
+officer presented himself after a while to his old friends at Castlewood.
+
+But surely no man can have better claims to sympathy than bravery, youth,
+good looks, and misfortune. Mr. Washington's room at Castlewood was more
+than ever Mr. Washington's room now. Madame Esmond raved about him and
+praised him in all her companies. She more than ever pointed out his
+excellences to her sons, contrasting his sterling qualities with Harry's
+love of pleasure and George's listless musing over his books. George was
+not disposed to like Mr. Washington any better for his mother's
+extravagant praises. He coaxed the jealous demon within him until he must
+have become a perfect pest to himself and all his friends round about
+him. He uttered jokes so deep that his simple mother did not know their
+meaning, but sat bewildered at his sarcasms.
+
+Meanwhile the quarrel between the French and English North Americans,
+from being a provincial, had grown to be a national quarrel.
+Reinforcements from France had already arrived in Canada, and English
+troops were expected in Virginia. It was resolved to wrest from the
+French all the conquests they had made upon British dominion. A couple of
+regiments were raised and paid by the king in America, and a fleet with a
+couple more was despatched from home under an experienced commander. In
+February, 1755, Commodore Keppel, in the famous ship "Centurion,"
+anchored in Hampton Roads with two ships of war under his command, and
+having on board General Braddock, his staff, and a part of his troops.
+Mr. Braddock was appointed by the Duke. A fleet of transports speedily
+followed him bringing stores, and men and money in plenty.
+
+The arrival of the General and his little army caused a mighty excitement
+all through the provinces, and nowhere greater than at Castlewood. Harry
+was off forthwith to see the troops under canvas at Alexandria. The sight
+of their lines delighted him, and the inspiring music of their fifes and
+drums. He speedily made acquaintance with the officers of both regiments;
+he longed to join in the expedition upon which they were bound, and was
+a welcome guest at their mess.
+
+We may be sure that the arrival of the army and the approaching campaign
+formed the subject of continued conversation in the Castlewood family. To
+make the campaign was the dearest wish of Harry's life. He dreamed only
+of war and battle; he was forever with the officers at Williamsburg; he
+scoured and cleaned and polished all the guns and swords in the house; he
+renewed the amusements of his childhood and had the negroes under arms,
+but eager as he was to be a soldier, he scarcely dared touch on the
+subject with George, for he saw to his infinite terror how George, too,
+was occupied with military matters, and having a feudal attachment for
+his elder brother, and worshipping him with an extravagant regard, he
+gave way in all things to him as the chief, and felt that should George
+wish to make the campaign he would submit. He took note that George had
+all the military books of his grandfather brought down from his
+book-shelves, and that he and Dempster were practising with the foils
+again; and he soon found that his fears were true. Mr. Franklin of
+Philadelphia, having heard that Madame Esmond had beeves and horses and
+stores in plenty, which might be useful to General Braddock, recommended
+the General to conciliate her by inviting her sons to dinner, which he at
+once did. The General and the gentlemen of his family made much of them,
+and they returned home delighted with their entertainment; and so pleased
+was their mother at the civility shown them that she at once penned a
+billet thanking his Excellency for his politeness, and begging him to fix
+the time when she might have the honour of receiving him at Castlewood.
+
+Madame Esmond made her boys bearers of the letter in reply to his
+Excellency's message, accompanying her note with handsome presents for
+the General's staff and officers, which they were delighted to accept.
+
+"Would not one of the young gentlemen like to see the campaign?" the
+General asked. "A friend of theirs, who often spoke of them--Mr.
+Washington, who had been unlucky in the affair of last year--had already
+promised to join him as aide-de-camp, and his Excellency would gladly
+take another young Virginian gentleman into his family."
+
+Harry's eyes brightened and his face flushed at this offer. He would like
+with all his heart to go, he cried out. George said, looking hard at his
+younger brother, that one of them would be proud to attend his
+Excellency, whilst it would be the other's duty to take care of their
+mother at home. Harry allowed his senior to speak. However much he
+desired to go, he would not pronounce until George had declared himself.
+He longed so for the campaign that the actual wish made him timid. He
+dared not speak on the matter as he went home with George. They rode for
+miles in silence, or strove to talk upon indifferent subjects, each
+knowing what was passing in the other's mind, and afraid to bring the
+awful question to an issue.
+
+On their arrival at home the boys told their mother of General
+Braddock's offer.
+
+"I know it must happen," she said; "at such a crisis in the country our
+family must come forward. Have you--have you settled yet which of you is
+to leave me?" and she looked anxiously from one to another, dreading to
+hear either name.
+
+"The youngest ought to go, mother; of course I ought to go!" cries Harry,
+turning very red.
+
+"Of course, he ought," said Mrs. Mountain, who was present at their talk.
+
+"The head of the family ought to go, mother," says George, adding: "You
+would make the best soldier, I know that, dearest Hal. You and George
+Washington are great friends, and could travel well together, and he does
+not care for me, nor I for him, however much he is admired in the family.
+But, you see, 'tis the law of honour, my Harry. I must go. Had fate given
+you the benefit of that extra half hour of life which I have had before
+you, it would have been your lot, and you would have claimed your right
+to go first, you know you would."
+
+"Yes, George," said poor Harry; "I own I should."
+
+"You will stay at home, and take care of Castlewood and our mother. If
+anything happens to me, you are here to fill my place. I should like to
+give way, my dear, as you, I know, would lay down your life to serve me.
+But each of us must do his duty. What would our grandfather say if he
+were here?"
+
+The mother looked proudly at her two sons. "My papa would say that his
+boys were gentlemen," faltered Madame Esmond, and left the young men, not
+choosing perhaps to show the emotion which was filling her heart. It was
+speedily known amongst the servants that Mr. George was going on the
+campaign. Dinah, George's foster-mother, was loud in her lamentations at
+losing him; Phillis, Harry's old nurse, was as noisy, because Master
+George, as usual, was preferred over Master Harry. Sady, George's
+servant, made preparations to follow his master, bragging incessantly of
+the deeds which he would do; while Gumbo, Harry's boy, pretended to
+whimper at being left behind, though at home Gumbo was anything but a
+fire-eater.
+
+But of all in the house Mrs. Mountain was the most angry at George's
+determination to go on the campaign. She begged, implored, insisted that
+he should alter his determination; voted that nothing but mischief would
+come from his departure; and finally suggested that it was his duty to
+remain at home to protect his mother from the advances of Colonel
+Washington, whom she assured him she believed to desire a rich wife, and
+that if George would go away he would come back to find George Washington
+master of Castlewood. As a proof of what she said she produced part of a
+letter written by Colonel Washington to his brother, in which his words
+seemed to the romantic Mrs. Mountain to bear out her belief. This
+fragment, which she had found in the Colonel's room and with none too
+much honesty appropriated, she now showed to George, who after gazing at
+the document gave her a frightful look, saying, "I--I will return this
+paper to Mr. Washington." Mrs. Mountain was thoroughly scared then at
+what she had done and said, but it could not be taken back, so she was
+obliged to adjust herself to taking in good part whatever consequences
+might come of her dishonest act.
+
+On the day set for Madame Esmond's entertainment to General Braddock the
+House of Castlewood was set out with the greatest splendour; and Madame
+Esmond arrayed herself in a much more magnificent dress than she was
+accustomed to wear, while the boys were dressed alike in gold-corded
+frocks, braided waistcoats, silver-hilted sword, and wore each a
+solitaire.
+
+The General's new aide-de-camp was the first guest to arrive, and he and
+his hostess paced the gallery for some time. She had much to say to him,
+and also to hear from him a confirmation of his appointment as
+aide-de-camp to General Braddock, and to speak of her son's approaching
+departure. At length they descended the steps down to the rough lawn in
+front of the house, and presently the little lady re-entered her
+mansion, leaning upon Mr. Washington's arm. Here they were joined by
+George, who came to them accurately powdered and richly attired, saluting
+his parent and his friend alike with respectful bows, according to the
+fashion of that time.
+
+But George, though he made the lowest possible bow to Mr. Washington and
+his mother, was by no means in good humour with either of them, and in
+all his further conversation that day with Colonel Washington showed a
+bitter sarcasm and a depth of innuendo which the Colonel was at a loss to
+understand. A short time after George's entrance into the Colonel's
+presence Harry answered back a remark of George's to the effect that he
+hated sporting by saying, "I say one thing, George."
+
+"Say twenty things, Don Enrico," cries the other.
+
+"If you are not fond of sporting and that, being cleverer than me, why
+shouldst thou not stop at home and be quiet, and let me go out with
+Colonel George and Mr. Braddock? That's what I say," says Harry, flushing
+with excitement.
+
+"One of our family must go because honour obliges it, and my name being
+number one, number one must go first," says George, adding, "One must
+stay, or who is to look after mother at home? We cannot afford to be both
+scalped by Indians or fricasseed by French."
+
+"Fricasseed by French," cries Harry; "the best troops of the world are
+Englishmen. I should like to see them fricasseed by the French! what a
+mortal thrashing you will give them!" and the brave lad sighed to think
+he should not be present at the combat.
+
+George sat down to the harpsichord and was playing when the Colonel
+re-entered, saying that his Excellency's coach would be here almost
+immediately, and asking leave to retire to his apartment, to put himself
+in a fit condition to appear before her ladyship's company. As the widow
+was conducting Mr. Washington to his chamber, George gave way to a fit of
+wrath, ending in an explanation to his astonished brother of the reason
+of it, and telling him of Mrs. Mountain's suspicions concerning the
+Colonel's attitude towards their mother, which he confirmed by showing
+Harry the letter of Colonel Washington's which Mrs. Mountain had found
+and preserved.
+
+But to go back to Madame Esmond's feast for his Excellency; all the birds
+of the Virginia air, and all the fish of the sea in season, and all the
+most famous dishes for which Madame Esmond was famous, and the best wine
+which her cellar boasted, were laid on the little widow's board to feed
+her distinguished guest and the other gentlemen who accompanied him. The
+kind mistress of Castlewood looked so gay and handsome and spoke with
+such cheerfulness and courage to all her company that the few ladies who
+were present could not but congratulate Madame Esmond upon the elegance
+of the feast and upon her manner of presiding at it. But they were
+scarcely in the drawing-room, when her artificial courage failed her, and
+she burst into tears, exclaiming, "Ah, it may be an honour to have Mr.
+Braddock in my house, but he comes to take one of my sons away from me.
+Who knows whether my boy will return, or how? I dreamed of him last night
+as wounded, with blood streaming from his side."
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Washington was pondering deeply upon George's peculiar
+behaviour towards him. The tone of freedom and almost impertinence which
+young George had adopted of late towards Mr. Washington had very deeply
+vexed and annoyed that gentleman. There was scarce half a dozen years'
+difference of age between him and the Castlewood twins; but Mr.
+Washington had always been remarked for a discretion and sobriety much
+beyond his time of life, whilst the boys of Castlewood seemed younger
+than theirs. They had always been till now under their mother's anxious
+tutelage, and had looked up to their neighbour of Mount Vernon as their
+guide, director, friend, as, indeed, almost everybody seemed to do who
+came in contact with the simple and upright young man. Himself of the
+most scrupulous gravity and good-breeding, in his communication with
+other folks he appeared to exact, or, at any rate, to occasion, the same
+behaviour. His nature was above levity and jokes: they seemed out of
+place when addressed to him. He was slow of comprehending them: and they
+slunk as it were abashed out of his society. "He always seemed great to
+me," says Harry Warrington, in one of his letters many years after the
+date of which we are writing; "and I never thought of him otherwise than
+as a hero. When he came over to Castlewood and taught us boys surveying,
+to see him riding to hounds was as if he was charging an army. If he
+fired a shot, I thought the bird must come down, and if he flung a net,
+the largest fish in the river were sure to be in it. His words were
+always few, but they were always wise; they were not idle, as our words
+are; they were grave, sober and strong, and ready on occasion to do their
+duty. In spite of his antipathy to him, my brother respected and admired
+the General as much as I did--that is to say, more than any mortal man."
+
+Mr. Washington was the first to leave the jovial party which were doing
+so much honour to Madame Esmond's hospitality. Young George Esmond, who
+had taken his mother's place when she left the dining-room, had been free
+with the glass and with the tongue. He had said a score of things to his
+guest which wounded and chafed the latter, and to which Mr. Washington
+could give no reply. Angry beyond all endurance, he left the table at
+length, and walked away through the open windows into the broad veranda
+or porch which belonged to Castlewood as to all Virginian houses.
+
+Here Madame Esmond caught sight of her friend's tall frame as it strode
+up and down before the windows; and gave up her cards to one of the other
+ladies, and joined her good neighbour out of doors. He tried to compose
+his countenance as well as he could, but found it so difficult that
+presently she asked, "Why do you look so grave?"
+
+"Indeed, to be frank with you, I do not know what has come over George,"
+says Mr. Washington. "He has some grievance against me which I do not
+understand, and of which I don't care to ask the reason. He spoke to me
+before the gentlemen in a way which scarcely became him. We are going to
+the campaign together, and 'tis a pity we begin such ill friends."
+
+"He has been ill. He is always wild and wayward and hard to understand,
+but he has the most affectionate heart in the world. You will bear with
+him, you will protect him. Promise you will."
+
+"Dear lady, I will do so with my life," Mr. Washington said heartily.
+"You know I would lay it down cheerfully for you or any you love."
+
+"And my father's blessing and mine go with you, dear friend!" cried
+the widow.
+
+As they talked, they had quitted the porch and were pacing a walk before
+the house. Young George Warrington, from his place at the head of the
+table in the dining-room, could see them, and after listening in a very
+distracted manner for some time to the remarks of the gentlemen around
+him, he jumped up and pulled his brother Harry by the sleeve, turning him
+so that he, too, could see his mother and the Colonel.
+
+Somewhat later, when General Braddock and the other guests had retired to
+their apartments, the boys went to their own room, and there poured out
+to one another their opinions respecting the great event of the day. They
+would not bear such a marriage--No. Was the representative of the Marquis
+of Esmond to marry the younger son of a colonial family, who had been
+bred up as a land surveyor--Castlewood and the boys at nineteen years of
+age handed over to the tender mercies of a step-father of three and
+twenty? Oh, it was monstrous! Harry was for going straightway to his
+mother, protesting against the odious match, and announcing that they
+would leave her forever if the marriage took place.
+
+George had another plan for preventing it, which he explained to his
+admiring brother. "Our mother," he said, "can't marry a man with whom one
+or both of us has been out on the field, and who has wounded us or killed
+us, or whom we have wounded or killed. We must have him out, Harry."
+
+Harry saw the profound truth conveyed in George's statement, and admired
+his brother's immense sagacity. "No, George," says he, "you are right.
+Mother can't marry our murderer; she won't be as bad as that. And if we
+pink him, he is done for. Shall I send my boy with a challenge to Colonel
+George now?"
+
+"We can't insult a gentleman in our own house," said George with great
+majesty; "the laws of honour forbid such inhospitable treatment. But,
+sir, we can ride out with him, and, as soon as the park gates are closed,
+we can tell him our mind."
+
+"That we can, by George!" cries Harry, grasping his brother's hand, "and
+that we will, too. I say, Georgie--" Here the lad's face became very
+red, and his brother asked him what he would say.
+
+"This is _my_ turn, brother," Harry pleaded. "If you go to the campaign,
+I ought to have the other affair. Indeed, indeed, I ought." And he prayed
+for this bit of promotion.
+
+"Again the head of the house must take the lead, my dear," George said
+with a superb air. "If I fall, my Harry will avenge me. But I must fight
+George Washington, Hal; and 'tis best I should; for, indeed, I hate him
+the worst. Was it not he who counselled my mother to order that wretch,
+Ward, to lay hands on me?"
+
+"Colonel Washington is my enemy especially. He has advised one wrong
+against me, and he meditates a greater. I tell you, brother, we must
+punish him."
+
+The grandsire's old Bordeaux had set George's ordinarily pale countenance
+into a flame. Harry, his brother's fondest worshipper, could not but
+admire George's haughty bearing and rapid declamation, and prepared
+himself, with his usual docility, to follow his chief. So the boys went
+to their beds, the elder conveying special injunctions to his junior to
+be civil to all the guests so long as they remained under the maternal
+roof on the morrow.
+
+The widow, occupied as she had been with the cares of a great dinner,
+followed by a great breakfast on the morning ensuing, had scarce leisure
+to remark the behaviour of her sons very closely, but at least saw that
+George was scrupulously polite to her favourite, Colonel Washington, as
+to all the other guests of the house.
+
+Before Mr. Braddock took his leave he had a private audience with Madame
+Esmond, in which his Excellency formally arranged to take her son into
+his family; after which the jolly General good-naturedly shook hands
+with George, and bade George welcome and to be in attendance at
+Frederick three days hence; shortly after which time the expedition
+would set forth.
+
+And now the great coach was again called into requisition, the
+General's escort pranced round it, the other guests and their servants
+went to horse.
+
+As the boys went up the steps, there was the Colonel once more taking
+leave of their mother. No doubt she had been once more recommending
+George to his namesake's care; for Colonel Washington said: "With my
+life. You may depend on me," as the lads returned to their mother and the
+few guests still remained in the porch. The Colonel was booted and ready
+to depart. "Farewell, my dear Harry," he said. "With you, George, 'tis no
+adieu. We shall meet in three days at the camp."
+
+George Warrington watched his mother's emotion, and interpreted it with
+a pang of malignant scorn. "Stay yet a moment, and console our mamma,"
+he said with a steady countenance, "only the time to get ourselves
+booted, and my brother and I will ride with you a little way, George."
+George Warrington had already ordered his horses. The three young men
+were speedily under way, their negro grooms behind them, and Mrs.
+Mountain, who knew she had made mischief between them and trembled for
+the result, felt a vast relief that Mr. Washington was gone without a
+quarrel with the brothers, without, at any rate, an open declaration of
+love to their mother.
+
+No man could be more courteous in demeanour than George Warrington to his
+neighbour and name-sake, the Colonel, who was pleased and surprised at
+his young friend's altered behaviour. The community of danger, the
+necessity of future fellowship, the softening influence of the long
+friendship which bound him to the Esmond family, the tender adieux which
+had just passed between him and the mistress of Castlewood, inclined the
+Colonel to forget the unpleasantness of the past days, and made him more
+than usually friendly with his young companion. George was quite gay and
+easy: it was Harry who was melancholy now; he rode silently and wistfully
+by his brother, keeping away from Colonel Washington, to whose side he
+used always to press eagerly before. If the honest Colonel remarked his
+young friend's conduct, no doubt he attributed it to Harry's known
+affection for his brother, and his natural anxiety to be with George now
+the day of their parting was so near.
+
+They talked further about the war, and the probable end of the campaign;
+none of the three doubted its successful termination. Two thousand
+veteran British troops with their commander must get the better of any
+force the French could bring against them. The ardent young Virginian
+soldier had an immense respect for the experienced valour and tactics of
+the regular troops. King George II. had no more loyal subject than Mr.
+Braddock's new aide-de-camp.
+
+So the party rode amicably together, until they reached a certain rude
+log-house, called Benson's, where they found a rough meal prepared for
+such as were disposed to partake.
+
+A couple of Halkett's officers, whom our young gentlemen knew, were
+sitting under the porch, with the Virginian toddy bowl before them, and
+the boys joined them and sent for glasses and more toddy, in a very
+grown-up manner.
+
+George called out to Colonel Washington, who was at the porch, to join
+his friends and drink, with the intention of drawing Mr. Washington into
+some kind of a disagreement.
+
+The lad's tone was offensive, and resembled the manner lately adopted by
+him, which had so much chafed Mr. Washington. He bowed, and said he was
+not thirsty.
+
+"Nay, the liquor is paid for," says George; "never fear, Colonel."
+
+"I said I was not thirsty. I did not say the liquor was not paid for,"
+said the young Colonel, drumming with his foot.
+
+"When the King's health is proposed, an officer can hardly say no. I
+drink the health of his Majesty, gentlemen," cried George. "Colonel
+Washington can drink it or leave it. The King!"
+
+This was a point of military honour. The two British officers of
+Halkett's, Captain Grace and Mr. Waring, both drank "The King." Harry
+Warrington drank "The King." Colonel Washington, with glaring eyes,
+gulped, too, a slight draught from the bowl.
+
+Then Captain Grace proposed "The Duke and the Army," which toast there
+was likewise no gainsaying. Colonel Washington had to swallow "The Duke
+and the Army."
+
+"You don't seem to stomach the toast, Colonel," said George.
+
+"I tell you again, I don't want to drink," replied the Colonel. "It seems
+to me the Duke and the Army would be served all the better if their
+healths were not drunk so often."
+
+"A British officer," said Captain Grace, with doubtful articulation,"
+never neglects a toast of that sort, nor any other duty. A man who
+refuses to drink the health of the Duke--hang me, such a man should be
+tried by a court-martial!"
+
+"What means this language to me? You are drunk, sir!" roared Colonel
+Washington, jumping up and striking the table with his first.
+
+"A cursed provincial officer say I'm drunk!" shrieks out Captain Grace.
+"Waring, do you hear that?"
+
+"_I_ heard it, sir!" cried George Warrington. "We all heard it. We
+entered at my invitation--the liquor called for was mine; the table
+was mine--and I am shocked to hear such monstrous language used at it
+as Colonel Washington has just employed towards my esteemed guest,
+Captain Waring."
+
+"Confound your impudence, you infernal young jackanapes!" bellowed out
+Colonel Washington. "_You_ dare to insult me before British officers, and
+find fault with my language? For months past I have borne with such
+impudence from you, that if I had not loved your mother--yes, sir, and
+your good grandfather and your brother--I would--" Here his words
+failed him, and the irate Colonel, with glaring eyes and purple face, and
+every limb quivering with wrath, stood for a moment speechless before his
+young enemy.
+
+"You would what, sir," says George, very quietly, "if you did not love
+my grandfather, and my brother, and my mother? You are making her
+petticoat a plea for some conduct of yours! You would do what, sir, may
+I ask again?"
+
+"I would put you across my knee and whip you, you snarling little puppy!
+That's what I would do!" cried the Colonel, who had found breath by this
+time, and vented another explosion of fury.
+
+"Because you have known us all our lives, and made our house your own,
+that is no reason why you should insult either of us!" here cried Harry,
+starting up. "What you have said, George Washington, is an insult to me
+and my brother alike. You will ask our pardon, sir!"
+
+"Pardon!"
+
+"Or give us the reparation that is due to gentlemen," continues Harry.
+
+The stout Colonel's heart smote him to think that he should be at mortal
+quarrel, or called upon to shed the blood of one of the lads he loved. As
+Harry stood facing him, with his fair hair, flushing cheeks, and
+quivering voice, an immense tenderness and kindness filled the bosom of
+the elder man. "I--I am bewildered," he said. "My words, perhaps, were
+very hasty. What has been the meaning of George's behaviour to me for
+months back? Only tell me, and, perhaps--"
+
+The evil spirit was awake and victorious in young George Warrington; his
+black eyes shot out scorn and hatred at the simple and guileless
+gentleman before him. "You are shirking from the question, sir, as you
+did from the toast just now," he said. "I am not a boy to suffer under
+your arrogance. You have publicly insulted me in a public place, and I
+demand a reparation."
+
+"As you please, George Warrington--and God forgive you, George! God
+pardon you, Harry! for bringing me into this quarrel," said the Colonel,
+with a face full of sadness and gloom.
+
+Harry hung his head, but George continued with perfect calmness: "I, sir?
+It was not I who called names, who talked of a cane, who insulted a
+gentleman in a public place before the gentlemen of the army. It is not
+the first time you have chosen to take me for a negro, and talked of the
+whip for me."
+
+The Colonel started back, turning very red, and as if struck by a sudden
+remembrance.
+
+"Great heavens, George! is it that boyish quarrel you are still
+recalling?"
+
+"Who made you overseer of Castlewood?" said the boy, grinding his teeth.
+"I am not your slave, George Washington, and I never will be. I hated you
+then, and I hate you now. And you have insulted me, and I am a gentleman,
+and so are you. Is that not enough?"
+
+"Too much, only too much," said the Colonel, with a genuine grief on his
+face, and at his heart "Do you bear malice, too, Harry? I had not thought
+this of thee!"
+
+"I stand by my brother," said Harry, turning away from the Colonel's
+look, and grasping George's hand. The sadness on their adversary's face
+did not depart. "Heaven be good to us! 'Tis all clear now," he muttered
+to himself. "The time to write a few letters, and I am at your service,
+Mr. Warrington," he said.
+
+"You have your own pistols at your saddle. I did not ride out with any;
+but will send Sady back for mine. That will give you time enough, Colonel
+Washington?"
+
+"Plenty of time, sir." And each gentleman made the other a low bow, and,
+putting his arm in his brother's, George walked away. The Virginian
+officer looked towards Captain Benson, the master of the tavern, saying,
+"Captain Benson, you are an old frontier man, and an officer of ours,
+before you turned farmer and taverner. You will help me in this matter
+with yonder young gentleman?" said the Colonel.
+
+"I'll stand by and see fair play, Colonel. I won't have any hand in it,
+beyond seeing fair play. You ain't a-goin' to be very hard with them poor
+boys? Though I seen 'em both shoot; the fair one hunts well, as you
+know, but the old one's a wonder at an ace of spades."
+
+"Will you be pleased to send my man with my valise, Captain, into any
+private room which you can spare me? I must write a few letters before
+this business comes on. God grant it were well over!" And the Captain led
+the Colonel into a room of his house where he remained occupied with
+gloomy preparations for the ensuing meeting. His adversary in the other
+room also thought fit to make his testamentary dispositions, too,
+dictated by his own obedient brother and secretary, a grandiloquent
+letter to his mother, of whom, and by that writing, he took a solemn
+farewell. She would hardly, he supposed, pursue _the scheme which she had
+in view_, after the event of that morning, should he fall, as probably
+would be the case.
+
+"My dear, dear George, don't say that!" cried the affrighted secretary.
+
+"As probably will be the case," George persisted with great majesty. "You
+know what a good shot Colonel George is, Harry. I, myself, am pretty fair
+at a mark, and 'tis probable that one or both of us will drop--I scarcely
+suppose you will carry out the intentions you have at present in view."
+This was uttered in a tone of still greater bitterness than George had
+used even in the previous phrase, and he added in a tone of surprise:
+"Why, Harry, what have you been writing, and who taught thee to spell?"
+Harry had written the last words "in view," in _vew_, and a great blot of
+salt water from his honest, boyish eyes may have obliterated some other
+bad spelling.
+
+"I can't think about the spelling now, Georgy," whimpered George's clerk.
+"I'm too miserable for that. I begin to think, perhaps, it's all
+nonsense; perhaps Colonel George never--"
+
+"Never meant to take possession of Castlewood; never gave himself airs,
+and patronised us there; never advised my mother to have me flogged;
+never intended to marry her; never insulted me, and was insulted before
+the King's officers; never wrote to his brother to say that we should be
+the better for his parental authority? The paper is there," cried the
+young man, slapping his breast-pocket, "and if anything happens to me,
+Harry Warrington, you will find it on my corpse!"
+
+"Write, yourself, Georgie, I _can't_ write," says Harry, digging his
+fists into his eyes, and smearing over the whole composition, bad
+spelling and all, with his elbows.
+
+On this, George, taking another sheet of paper, sat down at his brother's
+place, and produced a composition in which he introduced the longest
+words, the grandest Latin quotations, and the most profound satire of
+which the youthful scribe was master. He desired that his negro boy,
+Sady, should be set free; that his "Horace," a choice of his books, and,
+if possible, a suitable provision should be made for his affectionate
+tutor, Mr. Dempster; that his silver fruit-knife, his music-books, and
+harpischord should be given to little Fannie Mountain; and that his
+brother should take a lock of his hair, and wear it in memory of his ever
+fond and faithfully attached George. And he sealed the document with the
+seal of arms that his grandfather had worn.
+
+"The watch, of course, will be yours," said George, taking out his
+grandfather's gold watch and looking at it. "Why, two hours and a half
+are gone! 'Tis time that Sady should be back with the pistols. Take the
+watch, Harry, dear."
+
+"It's no good!" cried out Harry, flinging his arms round his brother. "If
+he fights you, I'll fight him, too. If he kills my Georgie, he shall
+have a shot at me!" cried the poor lad.
+
+Meanwhile, Mr. Washington had written five letters in his large resolute
+hand, and sealed them with his seal. One was to his mother, at Mount
+Vernon; one to his brother; one was addressed M.C. only; and one to his
+Excellency, Major-General Braddock. "And one, young gentlemen, is for
+your mother, Madame Esmond," said the boys' informant.
+
+It was the landlord of the tavern who communicated these facts to the
+young men. The Captain had put on his old militia uniform to do honour to
+the occasion, and informed the boys that the "Colonel was walking up and
+down the garden a-waiting for 'em, and that the Reg'lars was a'most
+sober, too, by this time."
+
+A plot of ground near the Captain's log house had been enclosed with
+shingles, and cleared for a kitchen-garden; there indeed paced Colonel
+Washington, his hands behind his back, his head bowed down, a grave
+sorrow on his handsome face. The negro servants were crowded at the
+palings and looking over. The officers under the porch had wakened up
+also, as their host remarked.
+
+There, then, stalked the tall young Colonel, plunged in dismal
+meditation. There was no way out of his scrape, but the usual cruel one,
+which the laws of honour and the practice of the country ordered. Goaded
+into fury by the impertinence of a boy, he had used insulting words. The
+young man had asked for reparation. He was shocked to think that George
+Warrington's jealousy and revenge should have rankled in the young fellow
+so long; but the wrong had been the Colonel's, and he was bound to pay
+the forfeit.
+
+A great hallooing and shouting, such as negroes use, who love noise at
+all times, was now heard at a distance, and all heads were turned in the
+direction of this outcry. It came from the road over which our travellers
+had themselves passed three hours before, and presently the clattering of
+a horse's hoofs was heard, and now Mr. Sady made his appearance on his
+foaming horse. Presently he was in the court-yard, and was dismounting.
+
+"Sady, sir, come here!" roars out Master Harry.
+
+"Sady, come here, confound you!" shouts Master George.
+
+"Come directly, Mas'r," says Sady. He grins. He takes the pistols out of
+the holster. He snaps the locks. He points them at a grunter, which
+plunges through the farm-yard. He points down the road, over which he has
+just galloped, and says again, "Comin', Mas'r. Everybody a-comin'." And
+now, the gallop of other horses is heard. And who is yonder? Little Mr.
+Dempster, spurring and digging into his pony; and that lady in a
+riding-habit on Madame Esmond's little horse--can it be Madame Esmond?
+No. It is too stout. As I live it is Mrs. Mountain on Madame's grey!"
+
+"O Lor'! O Golly! Hoop! Here dey come! Hurray!"
+
+Dr. Dempster and Mrs. Mountain having clattered into the yard, jumped
+from their horses, and ran to the garden where George and Harry were
+walking, their tall enemy stalking opposite to them; and almost ere
+George Warrington had time sternly to say, "What do you here, Madame?"
+Mrs. Mountain flung her arms round his neck and cried: "Oh, George, my
+darling! It's a mistake! It's a mistake, and is all my fault!"
+
+"What's a mistake?" asks George, majestically separating himself from
+the embrace.
+
+"What is it, Mounty?" cries Harry, all of a tremble.
+
+"That paper I took out of his portfolio, that paper I picked up,
+children; where the Colonel says he is going to marry a widow with two
+children. Well, it's--it's not your mother. It's that little Widow Custis
+whom the Colonel is going to marry. It's not Mrs. Rachel Warrington. He
+told Madame so to-day, just before he was going away, and that the
+marriage was to come off after the campaign. And--and your mother is
+furious, boys. And when Sady came for the pistols, and told the whole
+house how you were going to fight, I told him to fire the pistols off;
+and I galloped after him, and I've nearly broken my poor old bones in
+coming to you."
+
+"What will Mr. Washington and those gentlemen think of my servant
+telling my mother at home that I was going to fight a duel?" growled Mr.
+George in wrath.
+
+"You should have shown your proofs before, George," says Harry,
+respectfully. "And, thank Heaven, you are not going to fight our old
+friend. For it was a mistake; and there is no quarrel now, dear, is
+there? You were unkind to him under a wrong impression."
+
+"I certainly acted under a wrong impression," owns George, "but--"
+
+"George! George Washington!" Harry here cries out, springing over the
+cabbage garden towards the bowling-green, where the Colonel was stalking,
+and though we cannot hear him, we see him, with both his hands out, and
+with the eagerness of youth, and with a hundred blunders, and with love
+and affection thrilling in his honest voice, we imagine the lad telling
+his tale to his friend.
+
+There was a custom in those days which has disappeared from our manners
+now, but which then lingered.
+
+When Harry had finished his artless story his friend the Colonel took
+him fairly to his arms, and held him to his heart; and his voice faltered
+as he said, "Thank God, thank God for this!"
+
+"Oh, George," said Harry, who felt now he loved his friend with all his
+heart, "how I wish I was going with you on the campaign!" The other
+pressed both the boy's hands in a grasp of friendship, which, each knew,
+never would slacken.
+
+Then the Colonel advanced, gravely holding out his hand to Harry's elder
+brother. But, though hands were joined, the salutation was only formal
+and stern on both sides.
+
+"I find I have done you a wrong, Colonel Washington," George said, "and
+must apologise, not for the error, but for much of my late behaviour,
+which has resulted from it."
+
+"The error was mine! It was I who found that paper in your room and
+showed it to George, and was jealous of you, Colonel. All women are
+jealous," cried Mrs. Mountain.
+
+"'Tis a pity you could not have kept your eyes off my paper, Madame,"
+said Mr. Washington. "You will permit me to say so. A great deal of
+mischief has come because I chose to keep a secret which concerned only
+myself and another person. For a long time George Warrington's heart has
+been black with anger against me, and my feeling towards him has, I own,
+scarce been more friendly. All this pain might have been spared to both
+of us had my private papers only been read by those for whom they were
+written. I shall say no more now, lest my feelings again should betray me
+into hasty words. Heaven bless thee, Harry! Farewell, George! And take a
+true friend's advice, and try to be less ready to think evil of your
+friends. We shall meet again at the camp, and will keep our weapons for
+the enemy. Gentlemen! if you remember this scene tomorrow, you will know
+where to find me." And with a very stately bow to the English officers,
+the Colonel left the abashed company, and speedily rode away.
+
+We must fancy that the parting between the brothers is over, that George
+has taken his place in Mr. Braddock's family, and Harry has returned home
+to Castlewood and his duty. His heart is with the army, and his pursuits
+at home offer the boy no pleasure. He does not care to own how deep his
+disappointment is, at being obliged to stay under the homely, quiet roof,
+now more melancholy than ever since George is away. Harry passes his
+brother's empty chamber with an averted face; takes George's place at the
+head of the table, and sighs as he drinks from his silver tankard. Madame
+Warrington calls the toast of "The King" stoutly every day; and on
+Sundays when Harry reads the Service, and prays for all travellers by
+land and by water, she says, "We beseech Thee to hear us," with a
+peculiar solemnity.
+
+Mrs. Mountain is constantly on the whimper when George's name is
+mentioned, and Harry's face frequently wears a look of the most ghastly
+alarm; but his mother's is invariably grave and sedate. She makes more
+blunders at piquet and backgammon than you would expect from her; and the
+servants find her awake and dressed, however early they may rise. She has
+prayed Mr. Dempster to come back into residence at Castlewood. She is not
+severe or haughty, as her wont certainly was, with any of the party, but
+quiet in her talk with them, and gentle in assertion and reply. She is
+forever talking of her father and his campaigns, who came out of them all
+with no very severe wounds to hurt him; and so she hopes and trusts will
+her eldest son.
+
+George writes frequent letters home to his brother, and, now the army is
+on its march, compiles a rough journal, which he forwards as occasion
+serves. This document is read with great eagerness by Harry, and more
+than once read out in family councils on the long summer nights as Madame
+Esmond sits upright at her tea-table; as little Fanny Mountain is busy
+with her sewing, as Mr. Dempster and Mrs. Mountain sit over their cards,
+as the hushed old servants of the house move about silently in the
+gloaming and listen to the words of the young master. Hearken to Harry
+Warrington reading out his brother's letter!
+
+"It must be owned that the provinces are acting scurvily by his Majesty
+King George, and his representative here is in a flame of fury. Virginia
+is bad enough, and poor Maryland not much better, but Pennsylvania is
+worst of all. We pray them to send us troops from home to fight the
+French; and we propose to maintain the troops when they come. We not only
+don't keep our promise, and make scarce any provision for our defenders,
+but our people insist upon the most exorbitant prices for their cattle
+and stores, and actually cheat the soldiers who are come to fight their
+battles. No wonder the General swears, and the troops are sulky. The
+delays have been endless. Owing to the failure of the several provinces
+to provide their promised stores and means of locomotion, weeks and
+months have elapsed, during which time no doubt the French have been
+strengthening themselves on our frontier and in the forts they have
+turned us out of. Though there never will be any love lost between me and
+Colonel Washington, it must be owned that _your favourite_ (I am not
+jealous, Hal) is a brave man and a good officer. The family respect him
+very much, and the General is always asking his opinion. Indeed, he is
+almost the only man who has seen the Indians in their war-paint, and I
+own I think he was right in firing upon Mons. Jumonville last year."
+
+Harry resumes: "We keep the strictest order here in camp, and the orders
+against drunkenness and ill behaviour on the part of the men are very
+severe. The roll of each company is called at morning, noon, and night,
+and a return of the absent and disorderly is given in by the officer to
+the commanding officer of the regiment, who has to see that they are
+properly punished. Each regiment has Divine Service performed at the head
+of its colours every Sunday. The General does everything in the power of
+mortal man to prevent plundering, and to encourage the people round about
+to bring in provisions. He has declared soldiers shall be shot who dare
+to interrupt or molest the market people. He has ordered the price of
+provisions to be raised a penny a pound, and has lent money out of his
+own pocket to provide the camp. Altogether he is a strange compound, this
+General, and shows many strange inconsistencies in his conduct.
+
+"Colonel Washington has had the fever very smartly, and has hardly been
+well enough to keep up with the march. When either of us is ill, we are
+almost as good friends again as ever, and though I don't love him as you
+do, I know he is a good soldier, a good officer, and a brave, honest man;
+and, at any rate, shall love him none the worse for not wanting to be our
+step-father."
+
+"'Tis a pretty sight," Harry continued, reading from his brother's
+journal, "to see a long line of red coats threading through the woods or
+taking their ground after the march. The care against surprise is so
+great and constant that we defy prowling Indians to come unawares upon
+us, and our advanced sentries and savages have on the contrary fallen in
+with the enemy and taken a scalp or two from them. They are such cruel
+villains, these French and their painted allies, that we do not think of
+showing them mercy. Only think, we found but yesterday a little boy
+scalped but yet alive in a lone house, where his parents had been
+attacked and murdered by the savage enemy, of whom--so great is his
+indignation at their cruelty--our General has offered a reward of £5 for
+all the Indian scalps brought in.
+
+"When our march is over, you should see our camp, and all the care
+bestowed on it. Our baggage and our General's tents and guard are placed
+quite in the centre of the camp. We have outlying sentries by twos, by
+threes, by tens, by whole companies. At the least surprise, they are
+instructed to run in on the main body and rally round the tents and
+baggage, which are so arranged themselves as to be a strong
+fortification. Sady and I, you must know, are marching on foot now, and
+my horses are carrying baggage. The Pennsylvanians sent such rascally
+animals into camp that they speedily gave in. What good horses were left
+'twas our duty to give up; and Roxana has a couple of packs upon her back
+instead of her young master. She knows me right well, and whinnies when
+she sees me, and I walk by her side, and we have many a talk together on
+the march.
+
+"July 4. To guard against surprises, we are all warned to pay especial
+attention to the beat of the drum; always halting when we hear the long
+roll beat, and marching at the beat of the long march. We are more on the
+alert regarding the enemy now. We have our advanced pickets doubled, and
+two sentries at every post. The men on the advanced pickets are
+constantly under arms, with fixed bayonets, all through the night, and
+relieved every two hours. The half that are relieved lie down by their
+arms, but are not suffered to leave their pickets. 'Tis evident that we
+are drawing near to the enemy now. This packet goes out with the
+General's to Colonel Dunbar's camp, who is thirty miles behind us; and
+will be carried thence to Frederick, and thence to my honoured mother's
+house at Castlewood, to whom I send my duty, with kindest remembrances,
+as to all friends there, and how much love I need not say to my dearest
+brother from his affectionate George E. Warrington."
+
+The whole land was now lying parched and scorching in the July heat. For
+ten days no news had come from the column advancing on the Ohio. Their
+march, though it toiled but slowly through the painful forest, must bring
+ere long up with the enemy; the troops, led by consummate captains, were
+accustomed now to the wilderness, and not afraid of surprise. Every
+precaution had been taken against ambush. It was the outlying enemy who
+were discovered, pursued, destroyed, by the vigilant scouts and
+skirmishers of the British force. The last news heard was that the army
+had advanced considerably beyond the ground of Mr. Washington's
+discomfiture in the previous year, and two days after must be within a
+day's march of the French fort. About taking it no fears were
+entertained; the amount of the French reinforcements from Montreal was
+known. Mr. Braddock, with his two veteran regiments from Britain, and
+their allies of Virginia and Pennsylvania, was more than a match for any
+troops that could be collected under the white flag.
+
+Such continued to be the talk, in the sparse towns of our Virginian
+province, at the gentry's houses, and the rough road-side taverns, where
+people met and canvassed the war. The few messengers sent back by the
+General reported well of the main force. It was thought the enemy would
+not stand or defend himself at all. Had he intended to attack, he might
+have seized a dozen occasions for assaulting our troops at passes through
+which they had been allowed to go entirely free. So George had given up
+his favourite mare, like a hero as he was, and was marching a-foot with
+the line. Madame Esmond vowed that he should have the best horse in
+Virginia or Carolina in place of Roxana. There were horses enough to be
+had in the provinces, and for money. It was only for the King's service
+that they were not forthcoming.
+
+Although at their family meetings and repasts the inmates of Castlewood
+always talked cheerfully, never anticipating any but a triumphant issue
+to the campaign, or acknowledging any feeling of disquiet, yet it must be
+owned they were mighty uneasy when at home, quitting it ceaselessly, and
+forever on the trot from one neighbour's house to another in quest of
+news. It was prodigious how quickly reports ran and spread. For three
+weeks after the army's departure, the reports regarding it were cheerful;
+and when our Castlewood friends met at their supper their tone was
+confident and their news pleasant.
+
+But on the 10th of July a vast and sudden gloom spread over the province.
+A look of terror and doubt seemed to fall upon every face. Affrighted
+negroes wistfully eyed their masters and retired, to hum and whisper with
+one another. The fiddles ceased in the quarters; the song and laugh of
+those cheery black folk were hushed. Right and left everybody's servants
+were on the gallop for news. The country taverns were thronged with
+horsemen, who drank and cursed and brawled at the bars, each bringing his
+gloomy story. The army had been surprised. The troops had fallen into an
+ambuscade, and had been cut up almost to a man. All the officers were
+taken down by the French marksmen and the savages. The General had been
+wounded, and carried off the field in his sash. Four days afterwards the
+report was that the General was dead, and scalped by a French Indian.
+
+Ah, what a scream poor Mrs. Mountain gave when Gumbo brought this news
+from across the James River, and little Fanny sprang crying to her
+mother's arms! "Lord God Almighty, watch over us, and defend my boy!"
+said Mrs. Esmond, sinking down on her knees and lifting her rigid hands
+to heaven. The gentlemen were not at home when the rumour arrived, but
+they came in an hour or two afterwards, each from his hunt for news. The
+Scotch tutor did not dare to meet the widow's agonising looks. Harry
+Warrington was as pale as his mother. It might not be true about the
+manner of the General's death--but he was dead. The army had been
+surprised by Indians, and had fled, and been killed without seeing the
+enemy. An express had arrived from Dunbar's camp. Fugitives were pouring
+in there. Should he go and see? He must go and see. He and stout little
+Dempster armed themselves and mounted, taking a couple of mounted
+servants with them.
+
+They followed the northward track which the expeditionary army had hewed
+out for itself, and at every step which brought them nearer to the scene
+of action, the disaster of the fearful day seemed to magnify. The day
+after the defeat a number of the miserable fugitives from the fatal
+battle of the 9th of July had reached Dunbar's camp, fifty miles from the
+field. Thither poor Harry and his companions rode, stopping stragglers,
+asking news, giving money, getting from one and all the same gloomy tale.
+A thousand men were slain--two-thirds of the officers were down--all the
+General's aides-de-camp were hit. Were hit--but were they killed? Those
+who fell never rose again. The tomahawk did its work upon them. Oh,
+brother brother! All the fond memories of their youth, all the dear
+remembrances of their childhood, the love and the laughter, the tender
+romantic vows which they had pledged to each other as lads, were recalled
+by Harry with pangs inexpressibly keen. Wounded men looked up and were
+softened by his grief; rough men melted as they saw the woe written on
+the handsome young face; the hardy old tutor could scarcely look at him
+for tears, and grieved for him even more than for his dear pupil, who, he
+believed, lay dead under the savage Indian knife.
+
+At every step which Harry Warrington took towards Pennsylvania the
+reports of the British disaster were magnified and confirmed. Those two
+famous regiments which had fought in the Scottish and Continental wars
+had fled from an enemy almost unseen, and their boasted discipline and
+valour had not enabled them to face a band of savages and a few French
+infantry. The unfortunate commander of the expedition had shown the
+utmost bravery and resolution.
+
+Four times his horse had been shot under him. Twice he had been wounded,
+and the last time of the mortal hurt which ended his life three days
+after the battle. More than one of Harry's informants described the
+action to the poor lad,--the passage of the river, the long line of
+advance through the wilderness, the firing in front, the vain struggle of
+the men to advance, and the artillery to clear the way of the enemy; then
+the ambushed fire from behind every bush and tree, and the murderous
+fusillade, by which at least half of the expeditionary force had been
+shot down. But not all the General's suite were killed, Harry heard. One
+of his aides-de-camp, a Virginian gentleman, was ill of fever and
+exhaustion at Dunbar's camp.
+
+One of them--but which? To the camp Harry hurried, and reached it at
+length. It was George Washington Harry found stretched in a tent there,
+and not his brother. A sharper pain than that of the fever Mr. Washington
+declared he felt, when he saw Harry Warrington, and could give him no
+news of George.
+
+Mr. Washington did not dare to tell Harry all. For three days after the
+fight his duty had been to be near the General. On the fatal 9th of July
+he had seen George go to the front with orders from the chief, to whose
+side he never returned. After Braddock himself died, the aide-de-camp had
+found means to retrace his course to the field. The corpses which
+remained there were stripped and horribly mutilated. One body he buried
+which he thought to be George Warrington's. His own illness was
+increased, perhaps occasioned, by the anguish which he underwent in his
+search for the unhappy volunteer.
+
+"Ah, George! If you had loved him you would have found him dead or
+alive," Harry cried out. Nothing would satisfy him but that he, too,
+should go to the ground and examine it. With money he procured a guide or
+two. He forded the river at the place where the army had passed over; he
+went from one end to the other of the dreadful field. The horrible
+spectacle of mutilation caused him to turn away with shudder and
+loathing. What news could the vacant woods, or those festering corpses
+lying under the trees, give the lad of his lost brother? He was for
+going, unarmed, with a white flag, to the French fort, whither, after
+their victory, the enemy had returned; but his guides refused to advance
+with him. The French might possibly respect them, but the Indians would
+not. "Keep your hair for your lady-mother, my young gentleman," said the
+guide. "Tis enough that she loses one son in this campaign."
+
+When Harry returned to the English encampment at Dunbar's it was his turn
+to be down with the fever. Delirium set in upon him, and he lay some time
+in the tent and on the bed from which his friend had just risen
+convalescent. For some days he did not know who watched him; and poor
+Dempster, who had tended him in more than one of these maladies, thought
+the widow must lose both her children; but the fever was so far subdued
+that the boy was enabled to rally somewhat, and get on horseback. Mr.
+Washington and Dempster both escorted him home. It was with a heavy
+heart, no doubt, that all three beheld once more the gates of Castlewood.
+
+A servant in advance had been sent to announce their coming. First came
+Mrs. Mountain and her little daughter, welcoming Harry with many tears
+and embraces; but she scarce gave a nod of recognition to Mr. Washington;
+and the little girl caused the young officer to start, and turn deadly
+pale, by coming up to him with her hands behind her, and asking, "Why
+have you not brought George back, too?"
+
+Dempster was graciously received by the two ladies. "Whatever could be
+done, we know _you_ would do, Mr. Dempster," says Mrs. Mountain, giving
+him her hand. "Make a curtsey to Mr. Dempster, Fanny, and remember,
+child, to be grateful to all who have been friendly to our benefactors.
+Will it please you to take any refreshment before you ride, Colonel
+Washington?"
+
+Mr. Washington had had a sufficient ride already, and counted as
+certainly upon the hospitality of Castlewood as he would upon the shelter
+of his own house.
+
+"The time to feed my horse, and a glass of water for myself, and I will
+trouble Castlewood hospitality no farther," Mr. Washington said.
+
+"Sure, George, you have your room here, and my mother is above stairs
+getting it ready!" cries Harry. "That poor horse of yours stumbled with
+you, and can't go farther this evening."
+
+"Hush! Your mother won't see him, child," whispered Mrs. Mountain.
+
+"Not see George? Why, he is like a son of the house," cries Harry.
+
+"She had best not see him. I don't meddle any more in family matters,
+child; but when the Colonel's servant rode in, and said you were coming,
+Madame Esmond left this room and said she felt she could not see Mr.
+Washington. Will you go to her?" Harry took Mrs. Mountain's arm, and
+excusing himself to the Colonel, to whom he said he would return in a few
+minutes, he left the parlour in which they had assembled, and went to the
+upper rooms, where Madame Esmond was.
+
+He was hastening across the corridor, and, with an averted head, passing
+by one especial door, which he did not like to look at, for it was that
+of his brother's room; and as he came to it, Madame Esmond issued from
+it, and folded him to her heart, and led him in. A settee was by the bed,
+and a book of psalms lay on the coverlet. All the rest of the room was
+exactly as George had left it.
+
+"My poor child! How thin thou art grown--how haggard you look! Never
+mind. A mother's care will make thee well again. 'Twas nobly done to go
+and brave sickness and danger in search of your brother. Had others been
+as faithful, he might be here now. Never mind, my Harry; our hero will
+come back to us. I know he is not dead. He will come back to us, I know
+he will come." And when Harry pressed her to give a reason for her
+belief, she said she had seen her father two nights running in a dream,
+and he had told her that her boy was a prisoner among the Indians.
+
+Madame Esmond's grief had not prostrated her as Harry's had when first it
+fell upon him; it had rather stirred and animated her; her eyes were
+eager, her countenance angry and revengeful. The lad wondered almost at
+the condition in which he found his mother.
+
+But when he besought her to go downstairs, and give her a hand of welcome
+to George Washington, who had accompanied him, the lady's excitement
+painfully increased. She said she should shudder at touching his hand.
+She declared Mr. Washington had taken her son from her; she could not
+sleep under the same roof with him.
+
+"No gentleman," cried Harry, warmly, "was ever refused shelter under my
+grandfather's roof."
+
+"Oh, no, gentlemen!" exclaims the little widow; "well let us go down, if
+you like, son, and pay our respects to this one. Will you please to give
+us your arm?" and taking an arm which was very little able to give her
+support, she walked down the broad stairs and into the apartment where
+the Colonel sat.
+
+She made him a ceremonious curtsey, and extended one of the little hands,
+which she allowed for a moment to rest in his. "I wish that our meeting
+had been happier, Colonel Washington," she said.
+
+"You do not grieve more than I do that it is otherwise, Madame," said
+the Colonel.
+
+"I might have wished that the meeting had been spared, that I might not
+have kept you from friends whom you are naturally anxious to see, that my
+boy's indisposition had not detained you. Home and his good nurse
+Mountain, and his mother and our good Dr. Dempster will soon restore him.
+'Twas scarce necessary, Colonel, that you who have so many affairs on
+your hands, military and domestic, should turn doctor too."
+
+"Harry was ill and weak, and I thought it was my duty to ride by him,"
+faltered the Colonel.
+
+"You yourself, sir, have gone through the _fatigues_ and _dangers_ of the
+campaign in the most wonderful manner," said the widow, curtseying again,
+and looking at him with her impenetrable black eyes.
+
+"I wish to Heaven, Madame, someone else had come back in my place!"
+
+"Nay, sir, you have ties which must render your life more than ever
+valuable and dear to you, and duties to which, I know, you must be
+anxious to betake yourself. In our present deplorable state of doubt and
+distress Castlewood can be a welcome place to no stranger, much less to
+you, and so I know, sir, you will be for leaving us ere long. And you
+will pardon me if the state of my own spirits obliges me for the most
+part to keep my chamber. But my friends here will bear you company as
+long as you favour us, whilst I nurse my poor Harry upstairs. Mountain!
+you will have the cedar room on the ground floor ready for Mr. Washington
+and anything in the house is at his command. Farewell, sir. Will you be
+pleased to present my compliments to your mother, who will be thankful to
+have her son safe and sound out of the war?--as also to my young friend,
+Martha Custis, to whom and to whose children I wish every happiness.
+Come, my son!" and with these words, and another freezing curtsey, the
+pale little woman retreated, looking steadily at the Colonel, who stood
+dumb on the floor.
+
+Strong as Madame Esmond's belief appeared to be respecting her son's
+safety, the house of Castlewood naturally remained sad and gloomy. To
+look for George was hoping against hope. No authentic account of his
+death had indeed arrived, and no one appeared who had seen him fall, but
+hundreds more had been so stricken on that fatal day, with no eyes to
+behold their last pangs, save those of the lurking enemy and the comrades
+dying by their side. A fortnight after the defeat, when Harry was absent
+on his quest, George's servant, Sady, reappeared, wounded and maimed, at
+Castlewood. But he could give no coherent account of the battle, only of
+his flight from the centre, where he was with the baggage. He had no news
+of his master since the morning of the action. For many days Sady lurked
+in the negro quarters away from the sight of Madame Esmond, whose anger
+he did not dare to face. That lady's few neighbours spoke of her as
+labouring under a delusion. So strong was it that there were times when
+Harry and the other members of the little Castlewood family were almost
+brought to share in it. No. George was not dead; George was a prisoner
+among the Indians; George would come back and rule over Castlewood; as
+sure, as sure as his Majesty would send a great force from home to
+recover the tarnished glory of the British arms, and to drive the French
+out of the Americas.
+
+As for Mr. Washington, she would never, with her own good will, behold
+him again. He had promised to guard George's life with his own, and where
+was her boy.
+
+So, if Harry wanted to meet his friend, he had to do so in secret. Madame
+Esmond was exceedingly excited when she heard that the Colonel and her
+son absolutely had met, and said to Harry, "How you can talk, sir, of
+loving George, and then go and meet your Mr. Washington, I can't
+understand."
+
+So there was not only grief in the Castlewood House, but there was
+disunion. As a result of the gloom, and of his grief for the loss of his
+brother, Harry was again and again struck down by the fever, and all the
+Jesuits' bark in America could not cure him. They had a tobacco-house and
+some land about the new town of Richmond, and he went thither and there
+mended a little, but still did not get quite well, and the physicians
+strongly counselled a sea-voyage. Madame Esmond at one time had thoughts
+of going with him, but, as she and Harry did not agree very well, though
+they loved each other very heartily, 'twas determined that Harry should
+see the world for himself.
+
+Accordingly he took passage on the "Young Rachel," Virginian ship,
+Edward Franks master. She proceeded to Bristol and moored as near as
+possible to Trail's wharf, to which she was consigned. Mr. Trail, who
+could survey his ship from his counting-house windows, straightway took
+boat and came up her side, and gave the hand of welcome to Captain
+Franks, congratulating the Captain upon the speedy and fortunate voyage
+which he had made.
+
+Franks was a pleasant man, who loved a joke. "We have," says he, "but
+yonder ugly negro boy, who is fetching the trunks, and a passenger who
+has the state cabin to himself."
+
+Mr. Trail looked as if he would have preferred more mercies from Heaven.
+"Confound you, Franks, and your luck! The 'Duke William,' which came in
+last week, brought fourteen, and she is not half of our tonnage."
+
+"And this passenger, who has the whole cabin, don't pay nothin',"
+continued the Captain. "Swear now, it will do you good, Mr. Trail,
+indeed it will. I have tried the medicine."
+
+"A passenger take the whole cabin and not pay? Gracious mercy, are you a
+fool, Captain Franks?"
+
+"Ask the passenger himself, for here he comes." And as the master spoke,
+a young man of some nineteen years of age came up the hatchway. He had a
+cloak and a sword under his arm, and was dressed in deep mourning, and
+called out, "Gumbo, you idiot, why don't you fetch the baggage out of the
+cabin? Well, shipmate, our journey is ended. You will see all the little
+folks to-night whom you have been talking about. Give my love to Polly,
+and Betty, and little Tommy; not forgetting my duty to Mrs. Franks. I
+thought, yesterday, the voyage would never be done, and now I am almost
+sorry it is over. That little berth in my cabin looks very comfortable
+now I am going to leave it."
+
+Mr. Trail scowled at the young passenger who had paid no money for his
+passage. He scarcely nodded his head to the stranger, when Captain
+Franks said: "This here gentleman is Mr. Trail, sir, whose name you have
+a-heerd of."
+
+"It's pretty well known in Bristol, sir," says Mr. Trail, majestically.
+
+"And this is Mr. Warrington, Madame Esmond Warrington's son, of
+Castlewood," continued the Captain.
+
+The British merchant's hat was instantly off his head, and the owner of
+the beaver was making a prodigious number of bows, as if a crown-prince
+were before him.
+
+"Gracious powers, Mr. Warrington! This is a delight, indeed! What a
+crowning mercy that your voyage should have been so prosperous! You have
+my boat to go on shore. Let me cordially and respectfully welcome you to
+England! Let me shake your hand as the son of my benefactress and
+patroness, Mrs. Esmond Warrington, whose name is known and honoured on
+Bristol 'Change, I warrant you. Isn't it, Franks?"
+
+"There's no sweeter tobacco comes from Virginia," says Mr. Franks,
+drawing a great brass tobacco-box from his pocket, and thrusting a quid
+into his jolly mouth. "You don't know what a comfort it is, sir; you'll
+take to it, bless you, as you grow older. Won't he, Mr. Trail? I wish you
+had ten shiploads of it instead of one. You might have ten shiploads;
+I've told Madame Esmond so; I've rode over her plantation; she treats me
+like a lord when I go to the house. She is a real-born lady, she is; and
+might have a thousand hogsheads as easy as her hundreds, if there were
+but hands enough."
+
+"I have lately engaged in the Guinea trade, and could supply her ladyship
+with any number of healthy young negroes before next fall," said Mr.
+Trail, obsequiously.
+
+"We are averse to the purchase of negroes from Africa," said the young
+gentleman, coldly. "My grandfather and my mother have always objected to
+it, and I do not like to think of selling or buying the poor wretches."
+
+"It is for their good, my dear young sir! We purchased the poor creatures
+only for their benefit; let me talk this matter over with you at my own
+house. I can introduce you to a happy home, a Christian family, and a
+British merchant's honest fare. Can't I, Captain Franks?"
+
+"Can't say," growled the Captain. "Never asked me to take bite or sup at
+your table. Asked me to psalm-singing once, and to hear Mr. Ward preach:
+don't care for them sort of entertainments."
+
+Not choosing to take any notice of this remark, Mr. Trail continued in
+his low tone: "Business is business, my dear young sir, and I know 'tis
+only my duty, the duty of all of us, to cultivate the fruits of the earth
+in their season. As the heir of Lady Esmond's estate--for I speak, I
+believe, to the heir of the great property?"
+
+The young gentleman made a bow.
+
+"I would urge upon you, at the very earliest moment, the duty of
+increasing the ample means with which Heaven has blessed you. As an
+honest factor, I could not do otherwise: as a prudent man, should I
+scruple to speak of what will tend to your profit and mine? No, my dear
+Mr. George."
+
+"My name is not George; my name is Henry," said the young man as he
+turned his head away, and his eyes filled with tears.
+
+"Gracious powers! what do you mean, sir? Did you not say you were my
+lady's heir, and is not George Esmond Warrington, Esq.--?"
+
+"Hold your tongue, you fool!" cried Mr. Franks, striking the merchant a
+tough blow on his sleek sides, as the young lad turned away. "Don't you
+see the young gentleman a-swabbing his eyes, and note his black clothes?"
+
+"What do you mean, Captain Franks, by laying your hand on your owners?
+Mr. George is the heir; I know the Colonel's will well enough."
+
+"Mr. George is there," said the Captain, pointing with his thumb
+to the deck.
+
+"Where?" cries the factor.
+
+"Mr. George is there!" reiterated the Captain, again lifting up his
+finger towards the topmast, or the sky beyond. "He is dead a year, sir,
+come next 9th of July. He would go out with General Braddock on that
+dreadful business to the Belle Riviere. He and a thousand more never came
+back again. Every man of them was murdered as he fell. You know the
+Indian way, Mr. Trail?" And here the Captain passed his hand rapidly
+round his head.
+
+"Horrible! ain't it, sir? Horrible! He was a fine young man, the very
+picture of this one; only his hair was black, which is now hanging in a
+bloody Indian wigwam. He was often and often on board of the 'Young
+Rachel,' and would have his chests of books broke open on deck before
+they landed. He was a shy and silent young gent, not like this one, which
+was the merriest, wildest young fellow, full of his songs and fun. He
+took on dreadful at the news; went to his bed, had that fever which lays
+so many of 'em by the heels along that swampy Potomac, but he's got
+better on the voyage: the voyage makes everyone better; and, in course,
+the young gentleman can't be forever a-crying after a brother who dies
+and leaves him a great fortune. Ever since we sighted Ireland he has been
+quite gay and happy, only he would go off at times when he was most
+merry, saying, 'I wish my dearest Georgie could enjoy this here sight
+along with me,' and when you mentioned t'other's name, you see, he
+couldn't stand it." And the honest Captain's own eyes filled with tears,
+as he turned and looked towards the object of his compassion.
+
+Mr. Trail assumed a sad expression befitting the tragic compliment with
+which he prepared to greet the young Virginian; but the latter answered
+him very curtly, declining his offers of hospitality, and only stayed in
+Mr. Trail's house long enough to drink a glass of wine and to take up a
+sum of money of which he stood in need. But he and Captain Franks parted
+on the very warmest terms, and all the little crew of the "Young Rachel"
+cheered from the ship's side as their passenger left it.
+
+Again and again Harry Warrington and his brother had pored over the
+English map, and determined upon the course which they should take upon
+arriving at Home. All Americans of English ancestry who love their mother
+country have rehearsed their English travels, and visited in fancy the
+spots with which their hopes, their parents' fond stories, their friends'
+descriptions, have rendered them familiar. There are few things to me
+more affecting in the history of the quarrel which divided the two great
+nations than the recurrence of that word Home, as used by the younger
+towards the elder country. Harry Warrington had his chart laid out.
+Before London, and its glorious temples of St. Paul's and St. Peter's;
+its grim Tower, where the brave and loyal had shed their blood, from
+Wallace down to Balmerino and Kilmarnock, pitied by gentle hearts; before
+the awful window at Whitehall, whence the martyr Charles had issued, to
+kneel once more, and then ascended to Heaven; before playhouses, parks,
+and palaces, wondrous resorts of wit, pleasure and splendour; before
+Shakespeare's resting-place under the tall spire which rises by Avon,
+amidst the sweet Warwickshire pastures; before Derby, and Falkirk, and
+Culloden, where the cause of honour and loyalty had fallen, it might be
+to rise no more: before all these points in their pilgrimage there was
+one which the young Virginian brothers held even more sacred, and that
+was the home of their family, that old Castlewood in Hampshire, about
+which their parents had talked so fondly. From Bristol to Bath, from Bath
+to Salisbury, to Winchester, to Hexton, to Home; they knew the way, and
+had mapped the journey many and many a time.
+
+We must fancy our American traveller to be a handsome young fellow, whose
+suit of sables only makes him look the more interesting. The plump
+landlady looked kindly after the young gentleman as he passed through the
+inn-hall from his post-chaise, and the obsequious chamberlain bowed him
+upstairs to the "Rose" or the "Dolphin." The trim chambermaid dropped her
+best curtsey for his fee, and Gumbo, in the inn-kitchen, where the
+townsfolk drank their mug of ale by the great fire, bragged of his young
+master's splendid house in Virginia, and of the immense wealth to which
+he was heir. The post-chaise whirled the traveller through the most
+delightful home scenery his eyes had ever lighted on. If English
+landscape is pleasant to the American of the present day, who must needs
+contrast the rich woods and growing pastures and picturesque ancient
+villages of the old country with the rough aspect of his own, how much
+pleasanter must Harry Warrington's course have been, whose journeys had
+lain through swamps and forest solitudes from one Virginian ordinary to
+another log-house at the end of the day's route, and who now lighted
+suddenly upon the busy, happy, splendid scene of English summer? And the
+high-road, a hundred years ago, was not that grass-grown desert of the
+present time. It was alive with constant travel and traffic: the country
+towns and inns swarmed with life and gaiety. The ponderous waggon, with
+its bells and plodding team; the light post-coach that achieved the
+journey from the "White Hart," Salisbury, to the "Swan with Two Necks,"
+London, in two days; the strings of pack-horses that had not yet left the
+road; my lord's gilt post-chaise and six, with the outriders galloping on
+ahead; the country squire's great coach and heavy Flanders mares; the
+farmers trotting to market, or the parson jolting to the cathedral town
+on Dumpling, his wife behind on the pillion--all these crowding sights
+and brisk people greeted the young traveller on his summer journey.
+Hodge, the farmer's boy, took off his hat, and Polly, the milk-maid,
+bobbed a curtsey, as the chaise whirled over the pleasant village-green,
+and the white-headed children lifted their chubby faces and cheered. The
+church-spires glistened with gold, the cottage-gables glared in sunshine,
+the great elms murmured in summer, or cast purple shadows over the
+grass. Young Warrington never had had such a glorious day, or witnessed a
+scene so delightful. To be nineteen years of age, with high health, high
+spirits, and a full purse, to be making your first journey, and rolling
+through the country in a post-chaise at nine miles an hour--Oh, happy
+youth! almost it makes one young to think of him!
+
+And there let us leave him at Castlewood Inn, on ground hallowed by the
+footsteps of his ancestors. There he stands, with new scenes, new
+friends, new experiences ahead, rich in hope, in expectation, and in the
+enthusiasm of youth--youth that comes but once, and is so fleet of foot!
+
+And still more glad would he have been had he known that the near future
+was to verify his mother's belief; to restore to him the twin-brother now
+mourned as dead. And glad are we, in looking beyond this story of boyhood
+days, to find that though in the Revolutionary War the subjects of this
+sketch fought on different sides in the quarrel, they came out peacefully
+at its conclusion, as brothers should, their love never having materially
+diminished, however angrily the contest divided them.
+
+The colonel in scarlet and the general in blue and buff hang side by side
+in the wainscoted parlour of the Warringtons in England, and the
+portraits are known by the name of "The Virginians."
+
+
+
+
+BECKY SHARP AT SCHOOL
+
+
+[Illustration: BECKY SHARP LEAVING CHISWICK.]
+
+While the last century was in its teens, and on one sunshiny morning in
+June, there drove up to the great iron gate of Miss Pinkerton's Academy
+for young ladies, on Chiswick Mall, a large family coach, with two fat
+horses in blazing harness, driven by a fat coachman in a three-cornered
+hat and wig, at the rate of four miles an hour. A black servant, who
+reposed on the box beside the fat coachman, uncurled his bandy legs as
+soon as the equipage drew up opposite Miss Pinkerton's shining brass
+plate; and as he pulled the bell at least a score of young heads were
+seen peering out of the narrow windows of the stately old brick house.
+Nay, the acute observer might have recognised the little red nose of
+good-natured Miss Jemima Pinkerton herself, rising over some
+geranium-pots in the window of that lady's own drawing-room. "It is Mrs.
+Sedley's coach, sister," said Miss Jemima. "Sambo, the black servant, has
+just rung the bell; and the coachman has a new red waistcoat."
+
+"Have you completed all the necessary preparations incident to Miss
+Sedley's departure, Miss Jemima?" asked Miss Pinkerton, that majestic
+lady, the friend of the famous literary man, Dr. Johnson, the author of
+the great Dixonary of the English language, called commonly the great
+Lexicographer.
+
+"The girls were up at four this morning, packing her trunks, sister,"
+replied Miss Jemima; "we have made her a bow-pot."
+
+"Say a bouquet, sister Jemima, 'tis more genteel."
+
+"Well, a booky as big almost as a hay-stack; I have put up two bottles of
+the gillyflower-water for Mrs. Sedley, and the receipt for making it, in
+Amelia's box."
+
+"And I trust, Miss Jemima, you have made a copy of Miss Sedley's account.
+This is it, is it? Very good--ninety-three pounds, four shillings. Be
+kind enough to address it to John Sedley, Esquire, and to seal this
+billet which I have written to his lady."
+
+In Miss Jemima's eyes an autograph letter of her sister, Miss Pinkerton,
+was an object of as deep veneration as would have been a letter from a
+sovereign. Only when her pupils quitted the establishment, or when they
+were about to be married, and once, when poor Miss Birch died of the
+scarlet fever, was Miss Pinkerton known to write personally to the
+parents of her pupils; and it was Jemima's opinion that if anything
+could have consoled Mrs. Birch for her daughter's loss, it would have
+been that pious and eloquent composition in which Miss Pinkerton
+announced the event.
+
+In the present instance Miss Pinkerton's "billet" was to the
+following effect:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE MALL, CHISWICK, June 15, 18--.
+
+_Madam_: After her six years' residence at the Mall, I have the honour
+and happiness of presenting Miss Amelia Sedley to her parents, as a young
+lady not unworthy to occupy a fitting position in their polished and
+refined circle. Those virtues which characterise the young English
+gentlewoman; those accomplishments which become her birth and station,
+will not be found wanting in the amiable Miss Sedley, whose industry and
+obedience have endeared her to her instructors, and whose delightful
+sweetness of temper has charmed her aged and her youthful companions.
+
+In music, dancing, in orthography, in every variety of embroidery and
+needle-work, she will be found to have realised her friends' fondest
+wishes. In geography there is still much to be desired; and a careful and
+undeviating use of the back-board, for four hours daily during the next
+three years is recommended as necessary to the acquirement of that
+dignified deportment and carriage so requisite for every young lady of
+fashion.
+
+In the principles of religion and morality, Miss Sedley will be found
+worthy of an establishment which has been honoured by the presence of
+The Great Lexicographer, and the patronage of the admirable Mrs.
+Chapone. In leaving them all, Miss Amelia carries with her the hearts
+of her companions, and the affectionate regards of her mistress, who has
+the honour to subscribe herself, Madam, your most obliged humble
+servant,
+
+BARBARA PINKERTON.
+
+P.S.--Miss Sharp accompanies Miss Sedley. It is particularly requested
+that Miss Sharp's stay in Russell Square may not exceed ten days.
+The family of distinction with whom she is engaged as governess desire
+to avail themselves of her services as soon as possible.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+This letter completed, Miss Pinkerton proceeded to write her own name and
+Miss Sedley's in the fly-leaf of a Johnson's Dictionary, the interesting
+work which she invariably presented to her scholars on their departure
+from the Mall. On the cover was inserted a copy of "Lines addressed to a
+young lady on quitting Miss Pinkerton's school, at the Mall; by the late
+revered Dr. Samuel Johnson." In fact, the Lexicographer's name was always
+on the lips of this majestic woman, and a visit he had paid to her was
+the cause of her reputation and her fortune.
+
+Being commanded by her elder sister to get The Dixonary from the
+cupboard, Miss Jemima had extracted two copies of the book from the
+receptacle in question. When Miss Pinkerton had finished the
+inscription in the first, Jemima, with rather a dubious and timid air
+handed her the second.
+
+"For whom is this, Miss Jemima?" said Miss Pinkerton, with awful
+coldness.
+
+"For Becky Sharp," answered Jemima, trembling very much, and blushing
+over her withered face and neck, as she turned her back on her sister.
+"For Becky Sharp. She's going, too."
+
+"MISS JEMIMA!" exclaimed Miss Pinkerton, in the largest capitals. "Are
+you in your senses? Replace the Dixonary in the closet, and never venture
+to take such a liberty in future."
+
+"Well, sister, it's only two and nine-pence, and poor Becky will be
+miserable if she don't get one."
+
+"Send Miss Sedley instantly to me," was Miss Pinkerton's only answer.
+And, venturing not to say another word, poor Jemima trotted off,
+exceedingly flurried and nervous, while the two pupils, Miss Sedley and
+Miss Sharp, were making final preparation for their departure for Miss
+Sedley's home.
+
+Now, Miss Sedley's papa was a merchant in London, and a man of some
+wealth, whereas Miss Sharp was only an articled pupil, for whom Miss
+Pinkerton had done, as she thought, quite enough, without conferring
+upon her at parting the high honour of the dixonary. Miss Sharp's father
+had been an artist, and in former years had given lessons in drawing at
+Miss Pinkerton's school. He was a clever man, a pleasant companion, a
+careless student, with a great propensity for running into debt, and a
+partiality for the tavern. As it was with the utmost difficulty that he
+could keep himself, and as he owed money for a mile round Soho, where he
+lived, he thought to better his circumstances by marrying a young woman
+of the French nation, who was by profession an opera-girl, who had had
+some education somewhere, and her daughter Rebecca spoke French with
+purity and a Parisian accent. It was in those days rather a rare
+accomplishment, and led to her engagement with the orthodox Miss
+Pinkerton. For, her mother being dead, her father, finding himself
+fatally ill, as a consequence of his bad habits, wrote a manly and
+pathetic letter to Miss Pinkerton, recommending the orphan child to her
+protection, and so descended to the grave, after two bailiffs had
+quarrelled over his corpse. Rebecca was seventeen when she came to
+Chiswick, and was bound over as an articled pupil; her duties being to
+talk French, as we have seen; and her privileges to live cost free, and
+with a few guineas a year, to gather scraps of knowledge from the
+professors who attended the school.
+
+She was small, and slight in person; pale, sandy-haired, and with eyes
+almost habitually cast down. When they looked up, they were very large,
+odd, and attractive. By the side of many tall and bouncing young ladies
+in the establishment Rebecca Sharp looked like a child. But she had the
+dismal precocity of poverty. Many a dun had she talked to, and turned
+away from her father's door; many a tradesman had she coaxed and wheedled
+into good-humour, and into the granting of one meal more. She had sat
+commonly with her father, who was very proud of her wit, and heard the
+talk of many of his wild companions, often but ill-suited for a girl to
+hear; but she had never been a girl, she said; she had been a woman since
+she was eight years old.
+
+Miss Jemima, however, believed her to be the most innocent creature in
+the world, so admirably did Rebecca play the part of a child on the
+occasions when her father brought her to Chiswick as a young girl, and
+only a year before her father's death, and when she was sixteen years
+old, Miss Pinkerton majestically and with a little speech made her a
+present of a doll, which was, by the way, the confiscated property of
+Miss Swindle, discovered surreptitiously nursing it in school-hours. How
+the father and daughter laughed as they trudged home together after the
+evening party, and how Miss Pinkerton would have raged had she seen the
+caricature of herself which the little mimic, Rebecca, managed to make
+out of the doll. Becky used to go through dialogues with it; it formed
+the delight of the circle of young painters who frequented the studio,
+who used regularly to ask Rebecca if Miss Pinkerton was at home. Once
+Rebecca had the honour to pass a few days at Chiswick, after which she
+brought back another doll which she called Miss Jemmy; for, though that
+honest creature had made and given her jelly and cake enough for three
+children, and a seven-shillings piece at parting, the girl's sense of
+ridicule was far stronger than her gratitude; and she sacrificed Miss
+Jemmy as pitilessly as her sister.
+
+Then came the ending of Becky's studio days, and, an orphan, she was
+transplanted to the Mall as her home.
+
+The rigid formality of the place suffocated her; the prayers and meals,
+the lessons and the walks, which were arranged with the regularity of a
+convent, oppressed her almost beyond endurance; and she looked back to
+the freedom and the beggary of her father's old studio with bitter
+regret. She had never mingled in the society of women: her father,
+reprobate as he was, was a man of talent; his conversation was a thousand
+times more agreeable to her than the silly chat and scandal of the
+schoolgirls, and the frigid correctness of the governesses equally
+annoyed her. She had no soft maternal heart, this unlucky girl. The
+prattle of the younger children, with whose care she was chiefly
+entrusted, might have soothed and interested her; but she lived among
+them two years, and not one was sorry that she went away. The gentle,
+tender-hearted Amelia Sedley was the only person to whom she could attach
+herself in the least; and who could help attaching herself to Amelia?
+
+The happiness, the superior advantages of the young women round about
+her, gave Rebecca inexpressible pangs of envy. "What airs that girl
+gives herself, because she is an Earl's granddaughter," she said of
+one. "How they cringe and bow to the Creole, because of her hundred
+thousand pounds. I am a thousand times cleverer and more charming
+than that creature, for all her wealth. I am as well bred as the
+Earl's granddaughter, for all her fine pedigree; and yet everyone
+passes me by here."
+
+She determined to get free from the prison in which she found herself,
+and now began to act for herself, and for the first time to make
+connected plans for the future.
+
+She took advantage, therefore, of the means of study the place offered
+her; and as she was already a musician and a good linguist, she speedily
+went through the little course of study considered necessary for ladies
+in those days. Her music she practised incessantly; and one day, when the
+girls were out, and she remained at home, she was overheard to play a
+piece so well that Miss Minerva thought, wisely, she could spare herself
+the expense of a master for the juniors, and intimated to Miss Sharp that
+she was to instruct them in music for the future.
+
+The girl refused; and for the first time, and to the astonishment of the
+majestic mistress of the school. "I am here to speak French with the
+children," Rebecca said abruptly, "not to teach them music, and save
+money for you. Give me money, and I will teach them."
+
+Miss Minerva was obliged to yield, and of course disliked her from that
+day. "For five-and-thirty years," she said, and with great justice, "I
+never have seen the individual who has dared in my own house to question
+my authority. I have nourished a viper in my bosom."
+
+"A viper--a fiddlestick!" said Miss Sharp to the old lady, who was almost
+fainting with astonishment. "You took me because I was useful. There is
+no question of gratitude between us. I hate this place, and want to leave
+it. I will do nothing here but what I am obliged to do."
+
+It was in vain that the old lady asked her if she was aware she was
+speaking to Miss Pinkerton? Rebecca laughed in her face. "Give me a sum
+of money," said the girl, "and get rid of me. Or, if you like better, get
+me a good place as governess in a nobleman's family. You can do so if you
+please." And in their further disputes she always returned to this point:
+"Get me a situation--I am ready to go."
+
+Worthy Miss Pinkerton, although she had a Roman nose and a turban, and
+was as tall as a grenadier, and had been up to this time an irresistible
+princess, had no will or strength like that of her little apprentice, and
+in vain did battle against her, and tried to overawe her. Attempting once
+to scold her in public, Rebecca hit upon the plan of answering her in
+French, which quite routed the old woman, who did not understand or speak
+that language. In order to maintain authority in her school, it became
+necessary to remove this rebel, this firebrand; and hearing about this
+time that Sir Pitt Crawley's family was in want of a governess, she
+actually recommended Miss Sharp for the situation, firebrand and serpent
+as she was. "I cannot certainly," she said, "find fault with Miss Sharp's
+conduct, except to myself; and must allow that her talents and
+accomplishments are of a high order. As far as the head goes, at least,
+she does credit to the educational system pursued at my establishment."
+
+And so the schoolmistress reconciled the recommendation to her
+conscience, and the apprentice was free. And as Miss Sedley, being now in
+her seventeenth year, was about to leave school, and had a friendship for
+Miss Sharp ("'Tis the only point in Amelia's behaviour," said Miss
+Minerva, "which has not been satisfactory to her mistress"), Miss Sharp
+was invited by her friend to pass a week with her in London, before Becky
+entered upon her duties as governess in a private family; which
+thoughtfulness on the part of Amelia was only an additional proof of the
+girl's affectionate nature. In fact, Miss Amelia Sedley was a young lady
+who deserved not only all that Miss Pinkerton said in her praise, but had
+many charming qualities which that pompous old woman could not see, from
+the differences of rank and age between her pupil and herself. She could
+not only sing like a lark, and dance divinely, and embroider beautifully,
+and spell as well as a "Dixonary" itself, but she had such a kindly,
+smiling, tender, gentle, generous heart of her own as won the love of
+everybody who came near her, from Miss Minerva herself down to the poor
+girl in the scullery and the one-eyed tart woman's daughter, who was
+permitted to vend her wares once a week to the young ladies in the Mall.
+She had twelve intimate and bosom friends out of the twenty-four young
+ladies. Even envious Miss Briggs never spoke ill of her: high and mighty
+Miss Saltire allowed that her figure was genteel; and as for Miss Swartz,
+the rich woolly-haired mulatto from St. Kitts, on the day Amelia went
+away she was in such a passion of tears that they were obliged to send
+for Dr. Floss, and half-tipsify her with salvolatile. Miss Pinkerton's
+attachment was, as may be supposed, from the high position and eminent
+virtues of that lady, calm and dignified; but Miss Jemima had already
+whimpered several times at the idea of Amelia's departure; and but for
+fear of her sister would have gone off in downright hysterics, like the
+heiress of St. Kitts.
+
+As Amelia is not a heroine, there is no need to describe her person;
+indeed I am afraid that her nose was rather short than otherwise, and
+her cheeks a great deal too round and red for a heroine; but her face
+blushed with rosy health, and her lips with the freshest of smiles, and
+she had a pair of eyes which sparkled with the brightest and honestest
+good-humour, except indeed when they filled with tears, and that was a
+great deal too often; for the silly thing would cry over a dead canary
+bird; or over a mouse that the cat haply had seized upon; or over the
+end of a novel, were it ever so stupid; and as for saying an unkind word
+to her, were any persons hard-hearted enough to do so--why so much the
+worse for them. Even Miss Pinkerton, that austere woman, ceased scolding
+her after the first time, and, though she no more comprehended
+sensibility than she did capital Algebra, gave all masters and teachers
+particular orders to treat Miss Sedley with the utmost gentleness, as
+harsh treatment was injurious to her.
+
+So that when the day of departure came, between her two customs of
+laughing and crying, Miss Sedley was greatly puzzled how to act. She was
+glad to go home, and yet most woefully sad at leaving school. For three
+days before, little Laura Martin, the orphan, followed her about like a
+little dog. She had to make and receive at least fourteen presents, to
+make fourteen solemn promises of writing every week.
+
+"Send my letters under cover to my grandpa, the Earl of Dexter," said
+Miss Saltire.
+
+"Never mind the postage, but write every day, you dear darling," said the
+impetuous and woolly-headed, but generous and affectionate, Miss
+Schwartz; and little Laura Martin took her friend's hand and said,
+looking up in her face wistfully, "Amelia, when I write to you I shall
+call you mamma."
+
+All of these details, foolish and sentimental as they may seem, go to
+show the extreme popularity and personal charm of Amelia.
+
+Well then. The flowers, and the presents, and the trunks, and
+bonnet-boxes of Miss Sedley having been arranged by Mr. Sambo in the
+carriage, together with a very small and weather-beaten old cowskin trunk
+with Miss Sharp's card neatly nailed upon it, which was delivered by
+Sambo with a grin, and packed by the coachman with a corresponding sneer,
+the hour for parting came; and the grief of that moment was considerably
+lessened by the admirable discourse which Miss Pinkerton addressed to her
+pupil. Not that the parting speech caused Amelia to philosophise, or that
+it armed her in any way with a calmness, the result of argument; but it
+was intolerably dull, and having the fear of her schoolmistress greatly
+before her eyes, Miss Sedley did not venture, in her presence, to give
+way to any ablutions of private grief. A seed-cake and a bottle of wine
+were produced in the drawing-room, as on the solemn occasions of the
+visits of parents, and these refreshments being partaken of, Miss Sedley
+was at liberty to depart.
+
+"You'll go in and say good-bye to Miss Pinkerton, Becky!" said Miss
+Jemima to that young lady, of whom nobody took any notice, and who was
+coming downstairs with her own bandbox.
+
+"I suppose I must," said Miss Sharp calmly, and much to the wonder of
+Miss Jemima; and the latter, having knocked at the door, and receiving
+permission to come in, Miss Sharp advanced in a very unconcerned manner,
+and said in French, and with a perfect accent, _"Mademoiselle, je viens
+vous faire mes adieux."_
+
+Miss Pinkerton did not understand French, as we know; she only directed
+those who did; but biting her lips and throwing up her venerable and
+Roman-nosed head, she said: "Miss Sharp, I wish you a good-morning." As
+she spoke, she waved one hand, both by way of adieu and to give Miss
+Sharp an opportunity of shaking one of the fingers of the hand, which was
+left out for that purpose.
+
+Miss Sharp only folded her own hands with a very frigid smile and bow,
+and quite declined to accept the proffered honour; on which Miss
+Pinkerton tossed up her turban more indignantly than ever. In fact, it
+was a little battle between the young lady and the old one, and the
+latter was worsted. "Heaven bless you, my child," she exclaimed,
+embracing Amelia, and scowling the while over the girl's shoulder at
+Miss Sharp.
+
+"Come away, Becky," said Miss Jemima, pulling the young woman away in
+great alarm, and the drawing-room door closed upon them forever.
+
+Then came the struggle and parting below. Words refuse to tell it. All
+the servants were there in the hall--all the dear friends--all the young
+ladies--even the dancing master, who had just arrived; and there was such
+a scuffling, and hugging, and kissing, and crying, with the hysterical
+_yoops_ of Miss Schwartz, the parlour boarder, from her room, as no pen
+can depict, and as the tender heart would feign pass over. The embracing
+was over; they parted--that is, Miss Sedley parted from her friends. Miss
+Sharp had demurely entered the carriage some minutes before. Nobody
+cried for leaving _her_.
+
+Sambo of the bandy legs slammed the carriage door on his young weeping
+mistress. He sprang up behind the carriage.
+
+"Stop!" cried Miss Jemima, rushing to the gate with a parcel.
+
+"It's some sandwiches, my dear," she called to Amelia. "You may be
+hungry, you know; ... and Becky--Becky Sharp--here's a book for you, that
+my sister--that is, I--Johnson's Dixonary, you know; ... you mustn't
+leave us without that! Good-bye! Drive on, coachman!--God bless you!"
+
+And the kind creature retreated into the garden, overcome with emotion.
+
+But, lo! and just as the coach drove off, Miss Sharp suddenly put her
+pale face out of the window, and flung the book back into the
+garden--flung it far and fast--watching it fall at the feet of astonished
+Miss Jemima; then sank back in the carriage, exclaiming: "So much for the
+'Dixonary'; and, thank God, I am out of Chiswick!"
+
+The shock of such an act almost caused Jemima to faint with terror.
+
+"Well, I never--" she began. "What an audacious--" she gasped.
+Emotion prevented her from completing either sentence.
+
+The carriage rolled away; the great gates were closed; the bell rang for
+the dancing lesson. The world is before the two young ladies; and so,
+farewell to Chiswick Mall.
+
+
+
+
+CUFFS FIGHT WITH "FIGS"
+
+
+[Illustration: CUFF'S FIGHT WITH "FIGS."]
+
+Cuff's fight with Figs, and the unexpected issue of that contest, will
+long be remembered by every man who was educated at Dr. Swishtail's
+famous school. The latter youth (who used to be called Heigh-ho Dobbin,
+Gee-ho Dobbin, Figs, and by many other names indicative of puerile
+contempt) was the quietest, the clumsiest, and, as it seemed, the dullest
+of all Dr. Swishtail's young gentlemen. His parent was a grocer in the
+city: and it was bruited abroad that he was admitted into Dr. Swishtails
+academy upon what are called "mutual principles"--that is to say, the
+expenses of his board and schooling were defrayed by his father in goods,
+not money; and he stood there--almost at the bottom of the school--in his
+scraggy corduroys and jacket, through the seams of which his great big
+bones were bursting, as the representative of so many pounds of tea,
+candles, sugar, mottled-soap, plums (of which a very mild proportion was
+supplied for the puddings of the establishment), and other commodities. A
+dreadful day it was for young Dobbin when one of the youngsters of the
+school, having run into the town upon a poaching excursion for hardbake
+and polonies, espied the cart of Dobbin & Rudge, Grocers and Oilmen,
+Thames Street, London, at the Doctor's door, discharging a cargo of the
+wares in which the firm dealt.
+
+Young Dobbin had no peace after that. The jokes were frightful and
+merciless against him.
+
+"Hullo, Dobbin," one wag would say, "here's good news in the paper. Sugar
+is ris', my boy."
+
+Another would set a sum--"If a pound of mutton-candles cost
+sevenpence-halfpenny, how much must Dobbin cost?" and a roar would follow
+from all the circle of young knaves, usher and all, who rightly
+considered that the selling of goods by retail is a shameful and infamous
+practice, meriting the contempt and scorn of all real gentlemen.
+
+"Your father's only a merchant, Osborne," Dobbin said in private to the
+little boy who had brought down the storm upon him. At which the latter
+replied haughtily, "My father's a gentleman, and keeps his carriage;" and
+Mr. William Dobbin retreated to a remote out-house in the playground,
+where he passed a half-holiday in the bitterest sadness and woe.
+
+Now, William Dobbin, from an incapacity to acquire the rudiments of the
+Latin language, as they are propounded in that wonderful book, the Eton
+Latin Grammar, was compelled to remain among the very last of Dr.
+Swishtail's scholars, and was "taken down" continually by little fellows
+with pink faces and pinafores when he marched up with the lower form, a
+giant amongst them, with his downcast, stupefied look, his dog's-eared
+primer, and his tight corduroys. High and low, all made fun of him. They
+sewed up those corduroys, tight as they were. They cut his bed-springs.
+They upset buckets and benches, so that he might break his shins over
+them, which he never failed to do. They sent him parcels, which, when
+opened, were found to contain the paternal soap and candles. There was
+no little fellow but had his jeer and joke at Dobbin; and he bore
+everything quite patiently, and was entirely dumb and miserable.
+
+Cuff, on the contrary, was the great chief and dandy of the Swishtail
+Seminary. He smuggled wine in. He fought the town-boys. Ponies used to
+come for him to ride home on Saturdays. He had his top-boots in his room
+in which he used to hunt in the holidays. He had a gold repeater, and
+took snuff like the Doctor. He had been to the Opera, and knew the merits
+of the principal actors, preferring Mr. Kean to Mr. Kemble. He could
+knock you off forty Latin verses in an hour. He could make French poetry.
+What else didn't he know, or couldn't he do? They said even the Doctor
+himself was afraid of him.
+
+Cuff, the unquestioned king of the school, ruled over his subjects, and
+bullied them, with splendid superiority. This one blacked his shoes, that
+toasted his bread, others would fag out, and give him balls at cricket
+during whole summer afternoons. Figs was the fellow whom he despised
+most, and with whom, though always abusing him, and sneering at him, he
+scarcely ever condescended to hold personal communication.
+
+One day in private the two young gentlemen had had a difference. Figs,
+alone in the school-room, was blundering over a home letter, when Cuff,
+entering, bade him go upon some message, of which tarts were probably
+the subject.
+
+"I can't," says Dobbin; "I want to finish my letter."
+
+"You _can't?_" says Mr. Cuff, laying hold of that document (in which many
+words were scratched out, many were misspelt, on which had been spent I
+don't know how much thought, and labour, and tears; for the poor fellow
+was writing to his mother, who was fond of him, although she was a
+grocer's wife, and lived in a back parlour in Thames Street). "You
+_can't?"_ says Mr. Cuff. "I should like to know why, pray? Can't you
+write to old Mother Figs tomorrow?"
+
+"Don't call names," Dobbin said, getting off the bench, very nervous.
+
+"Well, sir, will you go?" crowed the cock of the school.
+
+"Put down the letter," Dobbin replied; "no gentleman readth letterth."
+
+"Well, _now_ will you go?" says the other.
+
+"No, I won't. Don't strike, or I'll _thmash_ you," roars out Dobbin,
+springing to a leaden inkstand, and looking so wicked that Mr. Cuff
+paused, turned down his coat sleeves again, put his hands into his
+pockets, and walked away with a sneer. But he never meddled personally
+with the grocer's boy after that; though we must do him the justice to
+say he always spoke of Mr. Dobbin with contempt behind his back.
+
+Some time after this interview it happened that Mr. Cuff, on a sunshiny
+afternoon, was in the neighbourhood of poor William Dobbin, who was lying
+under a tree in the playground, spelling over a favourite copy of the
+"Arabian Nights" which he had--apart from the rest of the school, who
+were pursuing their various sports--quite lonely, and almost happy.
+
+Well, William Dobbin had for once forgotten the world, and was away with
+Sindbad the Sailor in the Valley of Diamonds, or with Prince Ahmed and
+the Fairy Peribanou in that delightful cavern where the Prince found her,
+and whither we should all like to make a tour, when shrill cries, as of a
+little fellow weeping, woke up his pleasant reverie, and, looking up, he
+saw Cuff before him, belabouring a little boy.
+
+It was the lad who had peached upon him about the grocer's cart, but he
+bore little malice, not at least towards the young and small. "How dare
+you, sir, break the bottle?" says Cuff to the little urchin, swinging a
+yellow cricket-stump over him.
+
+The boy had been instructed to get over the playground wall (at a
+selected spot where the broken glass had been removed from the top, and
+niches made convenient in the brick), to run a quarter of a mile, to
+purchase a pint of rum-shrub on credit, to brave all the Doctor's
+outlying spies, and to clamber back into the playground again; during the
+performance of which feat his foot had slipped, and the bottle broken,
+and the shrub had been spilt, and his pantaloons had been damaged, and he
+appeared before his employer a perfectly guilty and trembling, though
+harmless, wretch.
+
+"How dare you, sir, break it?" says Cuff; "you blundering little thief.
+You drank the shrub, and now you pretend to have broken the bottle. Hold
+out your hand, sir."
+
+Down came the stump with a great heavy thump on the child's hand. A moan
+followed. Dobbin looked up. The Fairy Peribanou had fled into the inmost
+cavern with Prince Ahmed; the Roc had whisked away Sindbad, the Sailor,
+out of the Valley of Diamonds, out of sight, far into the clouds; and
+there was every-day life before honest William; and a big boy beating a
+little one without cause.
+
+"Hold out your other hand, sir," roars Cuff to his little school-fellow,
+whose face was distorted with pain. Dobbin quivered, and gathered himself
+up in his narrow old clothes.
+
+"Take that, you little devil!" cried Mr. Cuff, and down came the wicket
+again on the child's hand. Down came the wicket again, and Dobbin
+started up.
+
+I can't tell what his motive was. Perhaps his foolish soul revolted
+against that exercise of tyranny, or perhaps he had a hankering
+feeling of revenge in his mind, and longed to measure himself against
+that splendid bully and tyrant, who had all the glory, pride, pomp,
+circumstance, banners flying, drums beating, guards saluting, in the
+place. Whatever may have been his incentive, however, up he sprang,
+and screamed out, "Hold off, Cuff; don't bully that child any more,
+or I'll--"
+
+"Or you'll what?" Cuff asked in amazement at this interruption. "Hold out
+your hand, you little beast."
+
+"I'll give you the worst thrashing you ever had in your life," Dobbin
+said, in reply to the first part of Cuff's sentence; and the little
+lad, Osborne, gasping and in tears, looked up with wonder and
+incredulity at seeing this amazing champion put up suddenly to defend
+him, while Cuff's astonishment was scarcely less. Fancy our late
+monarch George III., when he heard of the revolt of the North American
+colonies; fancy brazen Goliath when little David stepped forward and
+claimed a meeting; and you have the feeling of Mr. Reginald Cuff when
+this encounter was proposed to him.
+
+"After school," says he, "of course," after a pause and a look, as much
+as to say, "Make your will, and communicate your last wishes to your
+friends between this time and that."
+
+"As you please," Dobbin said. "You must be my bottle-holder, Osborne."
+
+"Well, if you like," little Osborne replied; for you see his papa kept a
+carriage, and he was rather ashamed of his champion.
+
+Yes, when the hour of battle came he was almost ashamed to say, "Go it,
+Figs"; and not a single other boy in the place uttered that cry for the
+first two or three rounds of this famous combat; at the commencement of
+which the scientific Cuff, with a contemptuous smile on his face, and as
+light and as gay as if he was at a ball, planted his blows upon his
+adversary, and floored that unlucky champion three times running. At each
+fall there was a cheer, and everybody was anxious to have the honour of
+offering the conqueror a knee.
+
+"What a licking I shall get when it's over," young Osborne thought,
+picking up his man. "You'd best give in," he said to Dobbin; "it's only a
+thrashing, Figs, and you know I'm used to it." But Figs, all whose limbs
+were in a quiver, and whose nostrils were breathing rage, put his little
+bottle-holder aside, and went in for a fourth time.
+
+As he did not in the least know how to parry the blows that were aimed at
+himself, and Cuff had begun the attack on the three preceding occasions
+without ever allowing his enemy to strike, Figs now determined that he
+would commence the engagement by a charge on his own part; and,
+accordingly, being a left-handed man, brought that arm into action, and
+hit out a couple of times with all his might--once at Mr. Cuff's left
+eye, and once on his beautiful Roman nose.
+
+Cuff went down this time, to the astonishment of the assembly. "Well hit,
+by Jove," says little Osborne, with the air of a connoisseur, clapping
+his man on the back. "Give it to him with the left, Figs, my boy."
+
+Figs's left made terrific play during all the rest of the combat. Cuff
+went down every time. At the sixth round there were almost as many
+fellows shouting out, "Go it, Figs," as there were youths exclaiming, "Go
+it, Cuff." At the twelfth round the latter champion was all abroad, as
+the saying is, and had lost all presence of mind and power of attack or
+defence. Figs, on the contrary, was as calm as a Quaker. His face being
+quite pale, his eyes shining open, and a great cut on his under lip
+bleeding profusely, gave this young fellow a fierce and ghastly air,
+which perhaps struck terror into many spectators. Nevertheless, his
+intrepid adversary prepared to close for the thirteenth time.
+
+If I had the pen of a Napier, or a Bell's Life, I should like to describe
+this combat properly. It was the last charge of the Guard--(that is, it
+_would_ have been, only Waterloo had not yet taken place); it was Ney's
+column breasting the hill of La Haye Sainte, bristling with ten thousand
+bayonets, and crowned with twenty eagles; it was the shout of the
+beef-eating British, as, leaping down the hill, they rushed to hug the
+enemy in the savage arms of battle; in other words, Cuff, coming up full
+of pluck, but quite reeling and groggy, the Fig-merchant put in his left
+as usual on his adversary's nose, and sent him down for the last time.
+
+"I think _that_ will do for him," Figs said, as his opponent dropped as
+neatly on the green as I have seen Jack Spot's ball plump into the pocket
+at billiards; and the fact is, when time was called, Mr. Reginald Cuff
+was not able, or did not choose, to stand up again.
+
+And now all the boys set up such a shout for Figs as would have made you
+think he had been their darling champion through the whole battle; and as
+absolutely brought Dr. Swishtail out of his study, curious to know the
+cause of the uproar. He threatened to flog Figs violently, of course; but
+Cuff, who had come to himself by this time, and was washing his wounds,
+stood up and said, "It's my fault, sir--not Figs's--not Dobbin's. I was
+bullying a little boy; and he served me right." By which magnanimous
+speech he not only saved his conqueror a whipping, but got back all his
+ascendancy over the boys which his defeat had nearly cost him.
+
+Young Osborne wrote home to his parents an account of the transaction:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SUGARCANE HOUSE, RICHMOND, March 18--
+
+_Dear Mamma_: I hope you are quite well. I should be much obliged
+to you to send me a cake and five shillings. There has been a fight here
+between Cuff & Dobbin. Cuff, you know, was the Cock of the School.
+They fought thirteen rounds, and Dobbin Licked. So Cuff is now Only
+Second Cock. The fight was about me. Cuff was licking me for breaking
+a bottle of milk, and Figs wouldn't stand it. We call him Figs
+because his father is a Grocer--Figs & Rudge, Thames St., City. I
+think as he fought for me you ought to buy your Tea & Sugar at his
+father's. Cuff goes home every Saturday, but can't this, because he has
+2 Black Eyes. He has a white Pony to come and fetch him, and a groom
+and livery on a bay mare. I wish my Papa would let me have a Pony,
+and I am
+
+Your dutiful Son,
+
+GEORGE SEDLEY OSBORNE.
+
+P.S.--Give my love to little Emmy. I am cutting her out a Coach in
+card-board. Please not a seed-cake, but a plum-cake.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In consequence of Dobbin's victory, his character rose prodigiously in
+the estimation of all his school fellows, and the name of Figs, which had
+been a byword of reproach, became as respectable and popular a nickname
+as any other in use in the school. "After all, it's not his fault that
+his father's a grocer," George Osborne said, who, though a little chap,
+had a very high popularity among the Swishtail youth; and his opinion was
+received with great applause. It was voted low to sneer at Dobbin about
+this accident of birth. "Old Figs" grew to be a name of kindness and
+endearment, and the sneak of an usher jeered at him no longer.
+
+And Dobbin's spirit rose with his altered circumstances. He made
+wonderful advances in scholastic learning. The superb Cuff himself, at
+whose condenscension Dobbin could only blush and wonder, helped him on
+with his Latin verses, "coached" him in play-hours, carried him
+triumphantly out of the little-boy class into the middle-sized form, and
+even there got a fair place for him. It was discovered that, although
+dull at classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly quick. To
+the contentment of all he passed third in Algebra, and got a French
+prize-book at the public Midsummer examination. You should have seen his
+mother's face when Telemaque (that delicious romance) was presented to
+him by the Doctor in the face of the whole school and the parents and
+company, with an inscription to Guielmo Dobbin. All the boys clapped
+hands in token of applause and sympathy. His blushes, his stumbles, his
+awkwardness, and the number of feet which he crushed as he went back to
+his place, who shall describe or calculate? Old Dobbin, his father, who
+now respected him for the first time, gave him two guineas publicly; most
+of which he spent in a general tuck-out for the school: and he came back
+in a tail-coat after the holidays.
+
+Dobbin was much too modest a young fellow to suppose that this happy
+change in all his circumstances arose from his own generous and manly
+disposition; he chose, from some perverseness, to attribute his good
+fortune to the sole agency and benevolence of little George Osborne, to
+whom henceforth he vowed such a love and affection as is only felt by
+children, an affection as we read of in the charming fairy-book, which
+uncouth Orson had for splendid young Valentine, his conqueror. He flung
+himself down at little Osborne's feet, and loved him. Even before they
+were acquainted, he had admired Osborne in secret. Now he was his valet,
+his dog, his man Friday. He believed Osborne to be the possessor of
+every perfection, to be the handsomest, the bravest, the most active,
+the cleverest, the most generous of boys. He shared his money with him,
+bought him uncountable presents of knives, pencil cases, gold seals,
+toffee, little warblers, and romantic books, with large coloured
+pictures of knights and robbers, in many of which latter you might read
+inscriptions to George Sedley Osborne, Esquire, from his attached friend
+William Dobbin--which tokens of homage George received very graciously,
+as became his superior merit, as often and as long as they were
+proffered him.
+
+In after years Dobbin's father, the despised grocer, became Alderman, and
+Colonel of the City Light Horse, in which corps George Osborne's father
+was but an indifferent Corporal. Colonel Dobbin was knighted by his
+sovereign, which honour placed his son William in a social position above
+that of the old school friends who had once been so scornful of him at
+Swishtail Academy; even above the object of his deepest admiration,
+George Osborne.
+
+But this did not in the least alter honest, simple-minded William
+Dobbin's feelings, and his adoration for young Osborne remained
+unchanged. The two entered the army in the same regiment, and served
+together, and Dobbin's attachment for George was as warm and loyal then
+as when they were school-boys together.
+
+Honest William Dobbin,--I would that there were more such staunch
+comrades as you to answer to the name of friend!
+
+
+
+
+GEORGE OSBORNE--RAWDON CRAWLEY
+
+
+[Illustration: GEORGE OSBORNE AND RAWDON CRAWLEY.]
+
+Rebecca sharp, the teacher of French at Miss Pinkerton's Academy for
+young ladies, and intimate friend of Miss Amelia Sedley, the most popular
+scholar in Miss Pinkerton's select establishment, left the institution at
+the same time to become a governess in the family of Sir Pitt Crawley.
+Amelia was the only daughter of John Sedley, a wealthy London stock
+broker, and upon leaving school was to take her place in fashionable
+society. Being the sweetest, most kind-hearted girl in the world, Amelia
+invited Becky to visit her in London before taking up her new duties as
+governess; which invitation Becky was only too glad to accept.
+
+Now, Miss Sharp was in no way like the gentle Amelia, but as keen,
+brilliant, and selfish a young person of eighteen as ever schemed to have
+events turn to her advantage. These characteristics she showed so plainly
+while visiting at the Sedleys' that she left anything but a good
+impression behind her. In fact, her visit was cut short because of some
+unpleasant circumstances connected with her behaviour.
+
+From that time she and Amelia did not meet for many months, during which
+Amelia had become the wife of George Osborne, and Rebecca Sharp had
+married Rawdon Crawley, son of Sir Pitt Crawley, Baronet.
+
+The circumstances of Amelia's life during these months altered greatly,
+for shortly after she left school honest John Sedley met with such severe
+losses that his family were obliged to live in a much more modest way
+than formerly. Because of this misfortune, the course of Amelia's love
+affair with young Lieutenant Osborne did not run smoothly; for his father
+was far too ambitious to consent to his only son's marriage with the
+daughter of a ruined man, although John Sedley was his son's godfather,
+and George had been devoted to Amelia since early boyhood.
+
+Lieutenant Osborne therefore went away with his regiment, and poor little
+Amelia was left behind, to pine and mourn until it seemed there was no
+hope of saving her life unless happiness should speedily come to her.
+Then it was that Major Dobbin, George Osborne's staunch friend of
+schooldays, and also an ardent admirer of Amelia's, saw how she was
+grieving and took upon himself to inform George Osborne of the state of
+affairs. The young lieutenant came hurrying home just in time to save a
+gentle little heart from wearing itself away with sorrowing, and married
+Amelia without his father's consent. This so enraged the old gentleman
+that he refused to have his name mentioned in the home where the boy had
+grown up; the veriest tyrant and idol of his sisters and father.
+
+To Brighton George and Amelia went on their honeymoon, and there they met
+Becky Sharp and her husband. Though the circumstances of the two young
+women's career had altered, Amelia and Becky were unchanged in character,
+but that is of small concern to us, except as it affects their children,
+to whose lives we now turn with keen interest, noting how they reflect
+the dispositions, and are affected by the characters of their mothers.
+
+As for little Rawdon Crawley, Becky's only child, he had few early happy
+recollections of his mother. She had not, to say the truth, seen much of
+the young gentleman since his birth. After the amiable fashion of French
+mothers, she had placed him out at nurse in a village in the
+neighbourhood of Paris, where little Rawdon lived, not unhappily, with a
+numerous family of foster brothers in wooden shoes. His father, who was
+devotedly attached to the little fellow, would ride over many a time to
+see him here, and the elder Rawdon's paternal heart glowed to see him
+rosy and dirty, shouting lustily, and happy in the making of mud-pies
+under the superintendence of the gardener's wife, his nurse.
+
+Rebecca, however, did not care much to go and see her son and heir, who
+as a result preferred his nurse's caresses to his mamma's, and when
+finally he quitted that jolly nurse, he cried loudly for hours. He was
+only consoled by his mother's promise that he should return to his nurse
+the next day; which promise, it is needless to say, was not kept; instead
+the boy was consigned to the care of a French maid, Genevieve, while his
+mother was seldom with him, and the French woman was so neglectful of her
+young charge that at one time he very narrowly escaped drowning on Calais
+sands, where Genevieve had left and lost him.
+
+So with little care and less love his childhood passed until presently
+he went with his father and mother, Colonel and Mrs. Crawley, to London,
+to their new home in Curzon Street, Mayfair. There little Rawdon's time
+was mostly spent hidden upstairs in a garret somewhere, or crawling
+below into the kitchen for companionship. His mother scarcely ever took
+notice of him. He passed the days with his French nurse as long as she
+remained in the family, and when she went away, a housemaid took
+compassion on the little fellow, who was howling in the loneliness of
+the night, and got him out of his solitary nursery into her bed in the
+garret and comforted him.
+
+Rebecca, her friend, my Lord Steyne, and one or two more were in the
+drawing-room taking tea after the opera, when this shouting was heard
+overhead. "It's my cherub crying for his nurse," said his mother, who did
+not offer to move and go and see the child. "Don't agitate your feelings
+by going to look after him," said Lord Steyne sardonically. "Bah!"
+exclaimed Becky, with a sort of blush. "He'll cry himself to sleep"; and
+they fell to talking about the opera.
+
+Mr. Rawdon Crawley had stolen off, however, to look after his son and
+heir; and came back to the company when he found that honest Dolly was
+consoling the child. The Colonel's dressing-room was in those upper
+regions. He used to see the boy there in private. They had interviews
+together every morning when he shaved; Rawdon minor sitting on a box by
+his father's side, and watching the operation with never-ceasing
+pleasure. He and the sire were great friends. The father would bring him
+sweet-meats from the dessert, and hide them in a certain old epaulet box
+where the child went to seek them, and laughed with joy on discovering
+the treasure; laughed, but not too loud; for mamma was asleep and must
+not be disturbed. She did not go to rest until very late, and seldom rose
+until afternoon.
+
+His father bought the boy plenty of picture books, and crammed his
+nursery with toys. Its walls were covered with pictures pasted up by the
+father's own hand. He passed hours with the boy, who rode on his chest,
+pulled his great moustaches as if they were driving reins, and spent days
+with him in indefatigable gambols. The room was a low one, and once, when
+the child was not five years old, his father, who was tossing him wildly
+up in his arms, hit the poor little chap's scull so violently against the
+ceiling that he almost dropped him, so terrified was he at the disaster.
+
+Rawdon minor had made up his face for a tremendous howl, but just as he
+was going to begin, the father interposed.
+
+"For God's sake, Rawdy, don't wake mamma," he cried. And the child,
+looking in a very hard and piteous way at his father, bit his lips,
+clenched his hands, and didn't cry a bit. Rawdon told that story at the
+clubs, at the mess, to everybody in town. "By Gad, sir," he explained to
+the public in general, "what a good plucky one that boy of mine is. What
+a trump he is! I half sent his head through the ceiling, and he wouldn't
+cry for fear of disturbing mother!"
+
+Sometimes, once or twice in a week, that lady visited the upper regions
+in which the child lived. She came like a vivified picture, blandly
+smiling in the most beautiful new clothes and little gloves and boots.
+Wonderful scarfs, laces, and jewels glittered about her. She had always a
+new bonnet on; and flowers bloomed perpetually in it, or else magnificent
+curling ostrich feathers, soft and snowy as camellias. She nodded twice
+or thrice patronisingly to the little boy, who looked up from his dinner
+or from the pictures of soldiers he was painting. When she left the room,
+an odour of rose, or some other magical fragrance, lingered about the
+nursery. She was an unearthly being in his eyes, superior to his father,
+to all the world, to be worshipped and admired at a distance. To drive
+with that lady in a carriage was an awful rite. He sat in the back seat,
+and did not dare to speak; he gazed with all his eyes at the beautifully
+dressed princess opposite to him. Gentlemen on splendid prancing horses
+came up, and smiled and talked with her. How her eyes beamed upon all of
+them! Her hand used to quiver and wave gracefully as they passed. When he
+went out with her he had his new red dress on. His old brown holland was
+good enough when he stayed at home. Sometimes, when she was away, and
+Dolly the maid was making his bed, he came into his mother's room. It was
+as the abode of a fairy to him--a mystic chamber of splendour and
+delight. There in the wardrobe hung those wonderful robes--pink and blue
+and many-tinted. There was the jewel case, silver clasped; and a hundred
+rings on the dressing table. There was a cheval glass, that miracle of
+art, in which he could just see his own wondering head, and the
+reflection of Dolly, plumping and patting the pillows of the bed. Poor
+lonely little benighted boy! Mother is the name for God in the lips and
+hearts of little children; and here was one who was worshipping a stone!
+
+His father used to take him out of mornings, when they would go to the
+stables together and to the park. Little Lord Southdown, the best natured
+of men, who would make you a present of a hat from his head, and whose
+main occupation in life was to buy nicknacks that he might give them away
+afterwards, bought the little chap a pony, not much bigger than a large
+rat, and on this little black Shetland pony young Rawdon's great father
+would mount the boy, and walk by his side in the Park.
+
+One Sunday morning as Rawdon Crawley, his little son, and the pony were
+taking their accustomed walk, they passed an old acquaintance of the
+Colonel's, Corporal Clink, who was in conversation with an old gentleman,
+who held a boy in his arms about the age of little Rawdon. The other
+youngster had seized hold of the Waterloo medal which the Corporal wore,
+and was examining it with delight.
+
+"Good-morning, your honour," said Clink, in reply to the "How do,
+Clink?" of the Colonel. "This 'ere young gentleman is about the little
+Colonel's age, sir," continued the Corporal.
+
+"His father was a Waterloo man, too," said the old gentleman who carried
+the boy. "Wasn't he, Georgie?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Georgie. He and the little chap on the pony were looking
+at each other with all their might, solemnly scanning each other as
+children do.
+
+"His father was a captain in the--the regiment," said the old gentleman
+rather pompously. "Captain George Osborne, sir--perhaps you knew him. He
+died the death of a hero, sir, fighting against the Corsican tyrant"
+
+"I knew him very well, sir," said Colonel Crawley, "and his wife, his
+dear little wife, sir--how is she?"
+
+"She is my daughter, sir," said the old gentleman proudly, putting down
+the boy, and taking out his card, which he handed to the Colonel, while
+little Georgie went up and looked at the Shetland pony.
+
+"Should you like to have a ride?" said Rawdon minor from the saddle.
+
+"Yes," said Georgie. The Colonel, who had been looking at him with some
+interest, took up the child and put him on the pony behind Rawdon minor.
+
+"Take hold of him, Georgie," he said; "take my little boy around the
+waist; his name is Rawdon." And both the children began to laugh.
+
+"You won't see a prettier pair, I think, this summer's day, sir," said
+the good-natured Corporal; and the Colonel, the Corporal, and old Mr.
+Sedley, with his umbrella, walked by the side of the children, who
+enjoyed each other and the pony enormously. In later years they often
+talked of that first meeting.
+
+But this is anticipating our story, for between the time of their first
+ride together, and the time when circumstances brought them together
+again, the little chaps saw nothing of one another for a number of years,
+during which the incidents of their lives differed as widely as did the
+lives of their parents.
+
+About the time when the little boys first met, Sir Pitt Crawley,
+Baronet, father of Pitt and Rawdon Crawley, died, and Rebecca and her
+husband hastened to Queen's Crawley, the old family home, where Rebecca
+had once been governess, to shed a last tear over the departed Baronet.
+Rebecca was not bowed down with grief, we must confess, but keenly alive
+to the benefits which might come to herself and Rawdon if she could
+please Sir Pitt Crawley, the new Baronet, and Lady Jane his wife, a
+simple-minded woman mostly absorbed in the affairs of her nursery. This
+interest aroused Becky's private scorn, but the first thing that clever
+little lady did was to attack Lady Jane at her vulnerable point. After
+being conducted to the apartments prepared for her, and having taken off
+her bonnet and cloak, Becky asked her sister-in-law in what more she
+could be useful.
+
+"What I should like best," she added, "would be to see your dear little
+nursery," at which the two ladies looked very kindly at each other, and
+went to the nursery hand in hand.
+
+Becky admired little Matilda, who was not quite four years old, as the
+most charming little love in the world; and the boy, Pitt Blinkie
+Southdown, a little fellow of two years, pale, heavy-eyed, and
+large-headed, she pronounced to be a perfect prodigy in size,
+intelligence and beauty.
+
+The funeral over, Rebecca and her husband remained for a visit at Queen's
+Crawley, which assumed its wonted aspect. Rawdon senior received constant
+bulletins respecting little Rawdon, who was left behind in London, and
+sent messages of his own. "I am very well," he wrote. "I hope you are
+very well. I hope mamma is very well. The pony is very well. Grey takes
+me to ride in the Park. I can canter. I met the little boy who rode
+before. He cried when he cantered. I do not cry."
+
+Rawdon read these letters to his brother, and Lady Jane, who was
+delighted with them, gave Rebecca a banknote, begging her to buy a
+present with it for her little nephew.
+
+Like all other good things, the visit came to an end, and one night the
+London lamps flashed joyfully as the stage rolled into Piccadilly, and
+Briggs had made a beautiful fire on the hearth in Curzon Street, and
+little Rawdon was up to welcome back his papa and mamma.
+
+At this time he was a fine open-faced boy, with blue eyes and waving
+flaxen hair, sturdy in limb, but generous and soft in heart, fondly
+attaching himself to all who were good to him: to the pony, to Lord
+Southdown, who gave him the horse; to the groom who had charge of the
+pony; to Molly the cook, who crammed him with ghost stories at night and
+with good things from the dinner; to Briggs, his meek, devoted attendant,
+whom he plagued and laughed at; and to his father especially. Here, as he
+grew to be about eight years old, his attachment may be said to have
+ended. The beautiful mother vision had faded away after a while. During
+nearly two years his mother had scarcely spoken to the child. She
+disliked him. He had the measles and the whooping cough. He bored her.
+One day when he was standing at the landing-place, having crept down from
+the upper regions, attracted by the sound of his mother's voice, who was
+singing to Lord Steyne, the drawing-room door opening suddenly discovered
+the little spy, who but a moment before had been rapt in delight and
+listening to the music.
+
+His mother came out and struck him violently a couple of boxes on the
+ear. He heard a laugh from the Marquis in the inner room, and fled down
+below to his friends of the kitchen, bursting in an agony of grief.
+
+"It is not because it hurts me," little Rawdon gasped out,
+"only--only--" sobs and tears wound up the sentence in a storm. It was
+the little boy's heart that was bleeding. "Why mayn't I hear her
+singing? Why don't she ever sing to me, as she does to that bald-headed
+man with the large teeth?" He gasped out at various intervals these
+exclamations of grief and rage. The cook looked at the housemaid; the
+housemaid looked knowingly at the footman, who all sat in judgment on
+Rebecca from that moment.
+
+After this incident the mother's dislike increased to hatred; the
+consciousness that the child was in the house was a reproach and a pain
+to her. His very sight annoyed her. Fear, doubt, and resistance sprang up
+too, in the boy's own bosom.
+
+He and his mother were separated from that day of the boxes on the ear.
+
+Lord Steyne also disliked the boy. When they met he made sarcastic bows
+or remarks to the child, or glared at him with savage-looking eyes.
+Rawdon used to stare him in the face and double his little fists in
+return. Had it not been for his father, the child would have been
+desolate indeed, in his own home.
+
+But an unexpected good time came to him a day or two before Christmas,
+when he was taken by his father and mother to pass the holidays at
+Queen's Crawley. Becky would have liked to leave him at home, but for
+Lady Jane's urgent invitation to the youngster; and the symptoms of
+revolt and discontent manifested by Rawdon at her neglect of her son. "He
+is the finest boy in England," the father said reproachfully, "and you
+don't seem to care for him as much as you do for your spaniel. He shan't
+bother you much; at home he will be away from you in the nursery, and he
+shall go outside on the coach with me."
+
+So little Rawdon was wrapped up in shawls and comforters for the winter's
+journey, and hoisted respectfully onto the roof of the coach in the dark
+morning; with no small delight watched the dawn arise, and made his first
+journey to the place which his father still called home. It was a journey
+of infinite pleasure to the boy, to whom the incidents of the road
+afforded endless interest; his father answering all questions connected
+with it, and telling him who lived in the great white house to the right,
+and whom the park belonged to.
+
+Presently the boy fell asleep, and it was dark when he was wakened up to
+enter his uncle's carriage at Mudbury, and he sat and looked out of it
+wondering as the great iron gates flew open, and at the white trunks of
+the limes as they swept by, until they stopped at length before the
+lighted windows of the Hall, which were blazing and comfortable with
+Christmas welcome. The hall-door was flung open; a big fire was burning
+in the great old fireplace, a carpet was down over the chequered black
+flags, and the next instant Becky was kissing Lady Jane.
+
+She and Sir Pitt performed the same salute with great gravity, while Sir
+Pitt's two children came up to their cousin. Matilda held out her hand
+and kissed him. Pitt Blinkie Southdown, the son and heir, stood aloof,
+and examined him as a little dog does a big one.
+
+Then the kind hostess conducted her guests to snug apartments blazing
+with cheerful fires, and after some conversation with the fine young
+ladies of the house, the great dinner bell having rung, the family
+assembled at dinner, at which meal Rawdon junior was placed by his aunt,
+and exhibited not only a fine appetite, but a gentlemanlike behaviour.
+
+"I like to dine here," he said to his aunt when he had completed his
+meal, at the conclusion of which, and after a decent grace by Sir Pitt,
+the younger son and heir was introduced and was perched on a high chair
+by the Baronet's side, while the daughter took possession of the place
+prepared for her, near her mother. "I like to dine here," said Rawdon
+minor, looking up at his relation's kind face.
+
+"Why?" said the good Lady Jane.
+
+"I dine in the kitchen when I am at home," replied Rawdon minor, "or else
+with Briggs." This honest confession was fortunately not heard by Becky,
+who was deep in conversation with the Baronet, or it might have been
+worse for little Rawdon.
+
+As a guest, and it being the first night of his arrival, he was allowed
+to sit up until the hour when, tea being over and a great gilt book being
+laid on the table before Sir Pitt, all the domestics of the family
+streamed in and Sir Pitt read prayers. It was the first time the poor
+little boy had ever witnessed or heard of such a ceremonial.
+
+Queen's Crawley had been much improved since the young Baronet's brief
+reign, and was pronounced by Becky to be perfect, charming, delightful,
+when she surveyed it in his company. As for little Rawdon, who examined
+it with the children for his guides, it seemed to him a perfect palace of
+enchantment and wonder. There were long galleries, and ancient state
+bed-rooms; there were pictures and old china and armour which enchanted
+little Rawdon, who had never seen their like before, and who, poor child,
+had never before been in such an atmosphere of kindness and good cheer.
+
+On Christmas day a great family gathering took place, and one and all
+agreed that little Rawdon was a fine boy. They respected a possible
+Baronet in the boy between whom and the title there was only the little
+sickly, pale Pitt Blinkie.
+
+The children were very good friends. Pitt Blinkie was too little a dog
+for such a big dog as Rawdon to play with, and Matilda, being only a
+girl, of course not fit companion for a young gentleman who was near
+eight years old, and going into jackets very soon. He took the command of
+this small party at once, the little girl and the little boy following
+him about with great reverence at such times as he condescended to sport
+with them. His happiness and pleasure in the country were extreme. The
+kitchen-garden pleased him hugely, the flowers moderately; but the
+pigeons and the poultry, and the stables, when he was allowed to visit
+them, were delightful objects to him. He resisted being kissed by the
+Misses Crawley; but he allowed Lady Jane sometimes to embrace him, and it
+was by her side that he liked to sit rather than by his mother. Rebecca,
+seeing that tenderness was the fashion, called Rawdon to her one evening,
+and stooped down and kissed him in the presence of all the ladies.
+
+He looked her full in the face after the operation, trembling and turning
+very red, as his wont was when moved. "You never kiss me at home, Mamma,"
+he said; at which there was a general silence and consternation, and by
+no means a pleasant look in Becky's eyes; but she was obliged to allow
+the incident to pass in silence.
+
+But the greatest day of all was that on which Sir Huddlestone
+Fuddlestone's hounds met upon the lawn at Queen's Crawley.
+
+That was a famous sight for little Rawdon. At half-past ten Tom Moody,
+Sir Huddlestone Fuddlestone's huntsman, was seen trotting up the avenue,
+followed by the noble pack of hounds in a compact body, the rear being
+brought up by the two whips clad in stained scarlet frocks, light,
+hard-featured lads on well-bred lean horses, possessing marvellous
+dexterity in casting the points of their long, heavy whips at the
+thinnest part of any dog's skin who dared to straggle from the main body,
+or to take the slightest notice, or even so much as wink at the hares and
+rabbits starting under their noses.
+
+Next came boy Jack, Tom Moody's son, who weighed five stone, measured
+eight and forty inches, and would never be any bigger. He was perched on
+a large raw-boned hunter, half covered by a capacious saddle. This animal
+was Sir Huddlestone Fuddlestone's favourite horse, the Nob. Other horses
+ridden by other small boys arrived from time to time, awaiting their
+masters, who came cantering on anon.
+
+Tom Moody rode up presently, and he and his pack drew off into a
+sheltered corner of the lawn, where the dogs rolled on the grass, and
+played or growled angrily at one another, ever and anon breaking out into
+furious fights, speedily to be quelled by Tom's voice, unmatched at
+rating, or the snaky thongs of the whips.
+
+Many young gentlemen cantered up on thoroughbred hacks, spatter-dashed to
+the knee, and entered the house to pay their respects to the ladies, or,
+more modest and sportsmanlike, divested themselves of their mud-boots,
+exchanged their hacks for their hunters, and warmed their blood by a
+preliminary gallop round the lawn. Then they collected round the pack in
+the corner, and talked with Tom Moody of past sport, and the merits of
+Sniveller and Diamond, and of the state of the country and of the
+wretched breed of foxes.
+
+Sir Huddlestone presently appears mounted on a clever cob, and rides up
+to the Hall, where he enters and does the civil thing by the ladies,
+after which, being a man of few words, he proceeds to business. The
+hounds are drawn up to the hall-door, and little Rawdon descends among
+them, excited yet half alarmed by the caresses which they bestow upon
+him, at the thumps he receives from their waving tails, and at their
+canine bickerings, scarcely restrained by Tom Moody's tongue and lash.
+
+Meanwhile, Sir Huddlestone has hoisted himself unwieldily on the Nob.
+"Let's try Sowster's Spinney, Tom," says the Baronet; "Farmer Mangle
+tells me there are two foxes in it." Tom blows his horn and trots off,
+followed by the pack, by the whips, by the young gents from Winchester,
+by the farmers of the neighbourhood, by the labourers of the parish on
+foot, with whom the day is a great holiday; Sir Huddlestone bringing up
+the rear with Colonel Crawley; and the whole train of hounds and horsemen
+disappears down the avenue, leaving little Rawdon alone on the doorsteps,
+wondering and happy.
+
+During the progress of this memorable holiday little Rawdon, if he had
+got no special liking for his uncle, always awful and cold, and locked up
+in his study, plunged in justice business and surrounded by bailiffs and
+farmers, has gained the good graces of his married and maiden aunts, of
+the two little folks of the Hall, and of Jim of the Rectory, and he had
+become extremely fond of Lady Jane, who told such beautiful stories with
+the children clustered about her knees. Naturally, after having his first
+glimpse of happy home life and his first taste of genuine motherly
+affection, it was a sad day to little Rawdon when he was obliged to
+return to Curzon Street. But there was an unexpected pleasure awaiting
+him on his return. Lord Steyne, though he wasted no affection upon the
+boy, yet for reasons of his own concerning only himself and Mrs. Becky,
+extended his good will to little Rawdon. Wishing to have the boy out of
+his way, he pointed out to Rawdon's parents the necessity of sending him
+to a public school; that he was of an age now when emulation, the first
+principles of the Latin language, pugilistic exercises, and the society
+of his fellow boys would be of the greatest benefit to him. His father
+objected that he was not rich enough to send the child to a good school;
+his mother, that Briggs was a capital mistress for him, and had brought
+him on, as indeed was the fact, famously in English, Latin, and in
+general learning; but all these objections were overruled by the Marquis
+of Steyne. His lordship was one of the Governors of that famous old
+collegiate institution called the White Friars, where he desired that
+little Rawdon should be sent, and sent he was; for Rawdon Crawley, though
+the only book which he studied was the racing calendar, and though his
+chief recollections of learning were connected with the floggings which
+he received at Eton in his early youth, had that reverence for classical
+learning which all English gentlemen feel, and was glad to think that his
+son was to have the chance of becoming a scholar. And although his boy
+was his chief solace and companion, he agreed at once to part with him
+for the sake of the welfare of the little lad.
+
+It was honest Briggs who made up the little kit for the boy which he was
+to take to school. Molly, the housemaid, blubbered in the passage when he
+went away. Mrs. Becky could not let her husband have the carriage to take
+the boy to school. Take the horses into the city! Such a thing was never
+heard of. Let a cab be brought. She did not offer to kiss him when he
+went, nor did the child propose to embrace her, but gave a kiss to old
+Briggs and consoled her by pointing out that he was to come home on
+Saturdays, when she would have the benefit of seeing him. As the cab
+rolled towards the city Becky's carriage rattled off to the park. She
+gave no thought to either of them when the father and son entered at the
+old gates of the school, where Rawdon left the child, then walked home
+very dismally, and dined alone with Briggs, to whom he was grateful for
+her love and watchfulness over the boy. They talked about little Rawdon a
+long time, and Mr. Crawley went off to drink tea with Lady Jane, who was
+very fond of Rawdon, as was her little girl, who cried bitterly when the
+time for her cousin's departure came. Rawdon senior now told Lady Jane
+how little Rawdon went off like a trump, and how he was to wear a gown
+and little knee breeches, and Jack Blackball's son of the old regiment
+had taken him in charge and promised to be kind to him.
+
+The Colonel went to see his son a short time afterwards, and found the
+lad sufficiently well and happy, grinning and laughing in his little
+black gown and little breeches. As a protege of the great Lord Steyne,
+the nephew of a county member, and son of a Colonel and C.B. whose
+names appeared in some of the most fashionable parties in the Morning
+Post, perhaps the school authorities were disposed not to look unkindly
+on the child.
+
+He had plenty of pocket-money, which he spent in treating his comrades
+royally to raspberry tarts, and he was often allowed to come home on
+Saturdays to his father, who always made a jubilee of that day. When
+free, Rawdon would take him to the play, or send him thither with the
+footman; and on Sundays he went to church with Briggs and Lady Jane and
+his cousins. Rawdon marvelled over his stories about school, and fights,
+and fagging. Before long he knew the names of all the masters and the
+principal boys as well as little Rawdon himself. He invited little
+Rawdon's crony from school and made both the children sick with pastry,
+and oysters, and porter after the play. He tried to look knowing over the
+Latin grammar when little Rawdon showed him what part of that work he was
+"in." "Stick to it, my boy," he said to him with much gravity, "there's
+nothing like a good classical education! Nothing!"
+
+While little Rawdon was still one of the fifty gown-boys of White Friar
+school, the Colonel, his poor father, got into great trouble through no
+fault of his own, but as a result of which Mrs. Becky was obliged to make
+her exit from Curzon Street forever, and the Colonel in bitter dejection
+and humiliation accepted an appointment as Governor of Coventry Island.
+For some time he resisted the idea of taking this place, because it had
+been procured for him through the influence of Lord Steyne, whose
+patronage was odious to him, as he had been the means of ruining the
+Colonel's homelife. The Colonel's instinct also was for at once removing
+the boy from the school where Lord Steyne's interest had placed him. He
+was induced, however, not to do this, and little Rawden was allowed to
+round out his days in the school, where he was very happy. After his
+mother's departure from Curzon Street she disappeared entirely from her
+son's life, and never made any movement to see the child.
+
+He went home to his aunt, Lady Jane, for Sundays and holidays; and soon
+knew every bird's-nest about Queen's Crawley, and rode out with Sir
+Huddlestone's hounds, which he had admired so on his first
+well-remembered visit to the home of his ancestor. In fact, Rawdon was
+consigned to the entire guardianship of his aunt and uncle, to whom he
+was fortunately deeply devoted; and although he received several letters
+at various times from his mother, they made little impression upon him,
+and indeed it was easy to see where his affections were placed. When Sir
+Pitt's only boy died of whooping-cough and measles--then Mrs. Becky wrote
+the most affectionate letter to her darling son, who was made heir of
+Queen's Crawley by this accident, and drawn more closely than ever by it
+to Lady Jane, whose tender heart had already adopted him. Rawdon Crawley,
+then grown a tall, fine lad, blushed when he got the letter.
+
+"Oh, Aunt Jane, you are my mother!" he said; "and not--and not _that_
+one!" But he wrote a kind and respectful letter in response to Mrs.
+Becky, and the incident was closed. As for the Colonel, he wrote to the
+boy regularly every mail from his post on Coventry Island, and little
+Rawdon used to like to get the papers and read about his Excellency, his
+father, of whom he had been truly fond. But the image gradually faded as
+the images of childhood do fade, and each year he grew more tenderly
+attached to Lady Jane and her husband, who had become father and mother
+to him in his hour of need.
+
+As for George Osborne, the little boy whom Rawdon Crawley had given a
+ride on his pony long years before, the fates had been much kinder to him
+than to Rawdon. He had had no lonely childhood, for although he had no
+recollection of his handsome young father, from baby days he was
+surrounded by the utmost adoration by a doting mother. Poor Amelia,
+deprived of the husband whom she adored, lavished all the pent-up love of
+her gentle bosom upon the little boy with the eyes of George who was
+gone--a little boy as beautiful as a cherub, and there was never a moment
+when the child missed any office which love or affection could give him.
+His grandfather Sedley also adored the child, and it was the old man's
+delight to take out his little grandson to the neighbouring parks of
+Kensington Gardens, to see the soldiers or to feed the ducks. Georgie
+loved the red coats, and his grandpapa told him how his father had been a
+famous soldier, and introduced him to many sergeants and others with
+Waterloo medals on their breasts, to whom the old grandfather pompously
+presented the child; as on the occasion of their meeting with Colonel
+Rawdon Crawley and his little son.
+
+Old Sedley was disposed to spoil little Georgie, sadly gorging the boy
+with apples and peppermint to the detriment of his health, until Amelia
+declared that Georgie should never go out with his grandpapa again unless
+the latter solemnly promised on his honour not to give the child any
+cakes, lollipops, or stall produce whatever.
+
+Amelia's days were full of active employment, for besides caring for
+Georgie, she devoted much time to her old father and mother, with whom
+she and the child lived, and who were much broken by their financial
+reverses. She also personally superintended her little son's education
+for several years. She taught him to read and to write, and a little to
+draw. She read books, in order that she might tell him stories. As his
+eyes opened, and his mind expanded, she taught him to the best of her
+humble power to acknowledge the Maker of All; and every night and every
+morning he and she--the mother and the little boy--prayed to our Father
+together, the mother pleading with all her gentle heart, the child
+lisping after her as she spoke. And each time they prayed to God to bless
+dear papa, as if he were alive and in the room with them.
+
+Besides her pension of fifty pounds a year, as an army officer's widow,
+there had been five hundred pounds left with the agent of her estate for
+her, for which Amelia did not know that she was indebted to Major Dobbin,
+until years later. This same Major, by the way, was stationed at Madras,
+where twice or thrice in the year she wrote to him about herself and the
+boy, and he in turn sent over endless remembrances to his godson and to
+her. He sent a box of scarfs, and a grand ivory set of chess-men from
+China. The pawns were little green and white men, with real swords and
+shields; the knights were on horseback, the castles were on the backs of
+elephants. These chessmen were the delight of Georgie's life, who printed
+his first letter of acknowledgment of this gift of his godpapa. Major
+Dobbin also sent over preserves and pickles, which latter the young
+gentleman tried surreptitiously in the sideboard, and half killed himself
+with eating. He thought it was a judgment upon him for stealing, they
+were so hot. Amelia wrote a comical little account of this mishap to the
+Major; it pleased him to think that her spirits were rallying, and that
+she could be merry sometimes now. He sent over a pair of shawls, a white
+one for her, and a black one with palm-leaves for her mother, and a pair
+of red scarfs, as winter wrappers, for old Mr. Sedley and George. The
+shawls were worth fifty guineas apiece, at the very least, as Mrs. Sedley
+knew. She wore hers in state at church at Brompton, and was congratulated
+by her female friends upon the splendid acquisition. Amelia's, too,
+became prettily her modest black gown.
+
+Amidst humble scenes and associates Georgie's early youth was passed, and
+the boy grew up delicate, sensitive, imperious, woman-bred--domineering
+over the gentle mother whom he loved with passionate affection. He ruled
+all the rest of the little world round about him. As he grew, the elders
+were amazed at his haughty manner and his constant likeness to his
+father. He asked questions about everything, as inquiring youth will do.
+The profundity of his remarks and questions astonished his old
+grandfather, who perfectly bored the club at the tavern with stories
+about the little lad's learning and genius. He suffered his grandmother
+with a good-humoured indifference. The small circle round about him
+believed that the equal of the boy did not exist upon the earth. Georgie
+inherited his father's pride, and perhaps thought they were not wrong.
+
+When he grew to be about six years old, Dobbin began to write to him very
+much. The Major wanted to hear that Georgie was going to a school, and
+hoped he would acquit himself with credit there; or would he have a good
+tutor at home? It was time that he should begin to learn; and his
+godfather and guardian hinted that he hoped to be allowed to defray the
+charges of the boy's education, which would fall heavily upon his
+mother's straitened income. The Major, in a word, was always thinking
+about Amelia and her little boy, and by orders to his agents kept the
+latter provided with picture-books, paint-boxes, desks, and all
+conceivable implements of amusement and instruction. Three days before
+Georgie's sixth birthday a gentleman in a gig, accompanied by a servant,
+drove up to Mrs. Sedley's house and asked to be conducted to Master
+George Osborne. It was Woolsey, military tailor, who came at the Major's
+order, to measure George for a suit of clothes. He had had the honour of
+making for the Captain, the young gentleman's father.
+
+Sometimes, too, the Major's sisters, the Misses Dobbin, would call in the
+family carriage to take Amelia and the little boy a drive. The patronage
+of these ladies was very uncomfortable to Amelia, but she bore it meekly
+enough, for her nature was to yield; and besides, the carriage and its
+splendours gave little Georgie immense pleasure. The ladies begged
+occasionally that the child might pass a day with them, and he was always
+glad to go to that fine villa on Denmark Hill, where there were such
+fine grapes in the hot-house and peaches on the walls.
+
+Miss Osborne, Georgie's aunt, who, since old Osborne's quarrel with his
+son, had not been allowed to have any intercourse with Amelia or little
+Georgie, was kept acquainted with the state of Amelia's affairs by the
+Misses Dobbin, who told how she was living with her father and mother;
+how poor they were; but how the boy was really the noblest little boy
+ever seen; which praise raised a great desire to see the child in the
+heart of his maiden aunt, and one night when he came back from Denmark
+Hill in the pony carriage in which he rejoiced, he had round his neck a
+fine gold chain and watch. He said an old lady, not pretty, had been
+there and had given it to him, who cried and kissed him a great deal. But
+he didn't like her. He liked grapes very much and he only liked his
+mamma. Amelia shrunk and started; she felt a presentiment of terror, for
+she knew that Georgie's relations had seen him.
+
+Miss Osborne,--for it was indeed she who had seen Georgie,--went home
+that night to give her father his dinner. He was in rather a good-humour,
+and chanced to remark her excitement "What's the matter, Miss Osborne?"
+he deigned to ask.
+
+The woman burst into tears. "Oh, sir," she said, "I've seen little
+Georgie. He is as beautiful as an angel--and so like _him!_"
+
+The old man opposite to her did not say a word, but flushed up, and began
+to tremble in every limb, and that night he bade his daughter good-night
+in rather a kindly voice. And he must have made some inquiries of the
+Misses Dobbin regarding her visit to them when she had seen Georgie, for
+a fortnight afterwards he asked her where was her little French watch and
+chain she used to wear.
+
+"I bought it with my money, sir," she said in a great fright, not daring
+to tell what she had done with it.
+
+"Go and order another like it, or a better, if you can get it," said the
+old gentleman, and lapsed again into silence.
+
+After that time the Misses Dobbin frequently invited Georgie to visit
+them, and hinted to Amelia that his aunt had shown her inclination;
+perhaps his grandfather himself might be disposed to be reconciled to him
+in time. Surely, Amelia could not refuse such advantageous chances for
+the boy. Nor could she; but she acceded to their overtures with a very
+heavy and suspicious heart, was always uneasy during the child's absence
+from her, and welcomed him back as if he was rescued out of some danger.
+He brought back money and toys, at which the widow looked with alarm and
+jealousy; she asked him always if he had seen any gentleman. "Only old
+Sir William, who drove him about in the four-wheeled chaise, and Mr.
+Dobbin, who arrived on the beautiful bay horse in the afternoon, in the
+green coat and pink neckcloth, with the gold-headed whip, who promised to
+show him the Tower of London and take him out with the Surrey hounds." At
+last he said: "There was an old gentleman, with thick eyebrows and a
+brown hat and large chain and seals. He came one day as the coachman was
+leading Georgie around the lawn on the grey pony. He looked at me very
+much. He shook very much. I said, 'My name is Norval,' after dinner. My
+aunt began to cry. She is always crying." Such was George's report on
+that night.
+
+Then Amelia knew that the boy had seen his grandfather; and looked out
+feverishly for a proposal which she was sure would follow, and which
+came, in fact, a few days afterwards. Mr. Osborne formally offered to
+take the boy, and make him heir to the fortune which he had intended
+that his father should inherit. He would make Mrs. George Osborne an
+allowance, such as to assure her a decent competency. But it must be
+understood that the child would live entirely with his grandfather and be
+only occasionally permitted to see Mrs. George Osborne at her own home.
+This message was brought to her in a letter one day. She had only been
+seen angry a few times in her life, but now Mr. Osborne's lawyer so
+beheld her. She rose up trembling and flushing very much after reading
+the letter, and she tore the paper into a hundred fragments, which she
+trod on. "_I_ take money to part from my child! Who dares insult me
+proposing such a thing? Tell Mr. Osborne it is a cowardly letter, sir--a
+cowardly letter--I will not answer it! I wish you good-morning," and she
+bowed the lawyer out of the room like a tragedy queen.
+
+Her parents did not remark her agitation on that day. They were absorbed
+in their own affairs, and the old gentleman, her father, was deep in
+speculation, in which he was sinking the remittances regularly sent from
+India by his son, Joseph, for the support of his aged parents; and also
+that portion of Amelia's slender income which she gave each month to her
+father. Of this dangerous pastime of her father's Amelia was kept in
+ignorance, until the day came when he was obliged to confess that he was
+penniless. At once Amelia handed over to him what little money she had
+retained for her own and Georgie's expenses. She did this without a word
+of regret, but returned to her room to cry her eyes out, for she had made
+plans which would now be impossible, to have a new suit made for Georgie.
+This she was obliged to countermand, and, hardest of all, she had to
+break the matter to Georgie, who made a loud outcry. Everybody had new
+clothes at Christmas. The other boys would laugh at him. He would have
+new clothes, she had promised them to him. The poor widow had only
+kisses to give him. She cast about among her little ornaments to see if
+she could sell anything to procure the desired novelties. She remembered
+her India shawl that Dobbin sent her, which might be of value to a
+merchant with whom ladies had all sorts of dealings and bargains in these
+articles. She smiled brightly as she kissed away Georgie to school in the
+morning, and the boy felt that there was good news in her look.
+
+As soon as he had gone she hurried away to the merchant with her shawl
+hidden under her cloak. As she walked she calculated how, with the
+proceeds of her shawl, besides the clothes, she would buy the books that
+he wanted, and pay his half year's schooling at the little school to
+which he went; and how she would buy a new coat for her father. She was
+not mistaken as to the value of the shawl. It was a very fine one, for
+which the merchant gave her twenty guineas. She ran on, amazed and
+flurried with her riches, to a shop where she purchased the books Georgie
+longed for, and went home exulting. And she pleased herself by writing in
+the fly leaf in her neatest little hand, "George Osborne, A Christmas
+gift from his affectionate mother."
+
+She was going to place the books on Georgie's table, when in the passage
+she and her mother met. The gilt bindings of the little volumes caught
+the old lady's eye.
+
+"What are those?" she said.
+
+"Some books for Georgie," Amelia replied. "I--I promised them to him at
+Christmas."
+
+"Books!" cried the old lady indignantly; books! when the whole house
+wants bread! Oh, Amelia! You break my heart with your books, and that boy
+of yours, whom you are ruining, though part with him you will not! Oh,
+Amelia, may God send you a more dutiful child than I have had! There's
+Joseph deserts his father in his old age; and there's George, who might
+be rich, going to school like a lord, with a gold watch and chain round
+his neck, while my dear, dear, old man is without a sh-shilling."
+Hysterical sobs ended Mrs. Sedley's grief, which quite melted Amelia's
+tender heart.
+
+"Oh, mother, mother!" she cried. "You told me nothing. I--I promised
+him the books. I--I only sold my shawl this morning. Take the money--take
+everything--" taking out her precious golden sovereigns, which she
+thrust into her mother's hands, and then went into her room, and sank
+down in despair and utter misery. She saw it all. Her selfishness was
+sacrificing the boy. But for her, he might have wealth, station,
+education, and his father's place, which the elder George had forfeited
+for her sake. She had but to speak the words, and her father was restored
+to comfort, and the boy raised to fortune. Oh, what a conviction it was
+to that tender and stricken heart!
+
+The combat between inclination and duty lasted for many weeks in poor
+Amelia's heart. Meanwhile by every means in her power she attempted to
+earn money, but was always unsuccessful. Then, when matters had become
+tragic in the little family circle, she could bear the burden of pain no
+longer. Her decision was made. For the sake of others the child must go
+from her. She must give him up,--she must--she must.
+
+She put on her bonnet, scarcely knowing what she did, and went out to
+walk in the lanes, where she was in the habit of going to meet Georgie on
+his return from school. It was May, a half-holiday. The leaves were all
+coming out, the weather was brilliant. The boy came running to her
+flushed with health, singing, his bundle of school-books hanging by a
+thong. There he was. Both her arms were round him. No, it was impossible.
+They could not be going to part. "What is the matter, mother?" said he.
+"You look very sad."
+
+"Nothing, my child," she said, and stooped down and kissed him. That
+night Amelia made the boy read the story of Samuel to her, and how
+Hannah, his mother, having weaned him, brought him to Eli the High Priest
+to minister before the Lord. And he read the song of gratitude which
+Hannah sang; and which says: "Who is it who maketh poor and maketh rich,
+and bringeth low and exalteth, how the poor shall be raised up out of the
+dust, and how, in his own might, no man shall be strong." Then he read
+how Samuel's mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from
+year to year when she came up to offer the yearly sacrifice. And then, in
+her sweet, simple way, George's mother made commentaries to the boy upon
+this affecting story. How Hannah, though she loved her son so much, yet
+gave him up because of her vow. And how she must always have thought of
+him as she sat at home, far away, making the little coat, and Samuel, she
+was sure, never forgot his mother; and how happy she must have been as
+the time came when she should see her boy, and how good and wise he had
+grown. This little sermon she spoke with a gentle, solemn voice, and dry
+eyes, until she came to the account of their meeting. Then the discourse
+broke off suddenly, the tender heart overflowed, and taking the boy to
+her breast, she rocked him in her arms, and wept silently over him.
+
+Her mind being made up, the widow began at once to take such measures as
+seemed right to her for achieving her purpose. One day, Miss Osborne, in
+Russell Square, got a letter from Amelia, which made her blush very much,
+and look towards her father, sitting glooming in his place at the other
+end of the table.
+
+In simple terms, Amelia told her the reasons which had induced her to
+change her mind respecting her boy. Her father had met with fresh
+misfortunes which had entirely ruined him. Her own pittance was so small
+that it would barely enable her to support her parents and would not
+suffice to give George the advantages which were his due. Great as her
+sufferings would be at parting with him, she would, by God's help, endure
+them for the boy's sake. She knew that those to whom he was going would
+do all in their power to make him happy. She described his disposition,
+such as she fancied it; quick and impatient of control or harshness,
+easily to be moved by love and kindness. In a postscript, she stipulated
+that she should have a written agreement that she should see the child as
+often as she wished; she could not part with him under any other terms.
+
+"What? Mrs. Pride has come down, has she?" old Osborne said, when with a
+tremulous voice Miss Osborne read him the letter. "Reg'lar starved out,
+hey? Ha, ha! I knew she would!" He tried to keep his dignity and to read
+his paper as usual, but he could not follow it. At last he flung it down:
+and scowling at his daughter, as his wont was, went out of the room and
+presently returned with a key. He flung it to Miss Osborne.
+
+"Get the room over mine--his room that was--ready," he said.
+
+"Yes, sir," his daughter replied in a tremble.
+
+It was George's room. It had not been opened for more than ten years.
+Some of his clothes, papers, handkerchiefs, whips and caps, fishing-rods
+and sporting gear, were still there. An army list of 1814, with his name
+written on the cover; a little dictionary he was wont to use in writing;
+and the Bible his mother had given him, were on the mantelpiece; with a
+pair of spurs, and a dried inkstand covered with the dust of ten years.
+Ah! since that ink was wet, what days and people had passed away! The
+writing-book still on the table was blotted with his hand.
+
+Miss Osborne was much affected when she first entered this room. She sank
+quite pale on the little bed. "This is blessed news, ma'am--indeed,
+ma'am," the housekeeper said; "the good old times is returning! The dear
+little feller, to be sure, ma'am; how happy he will be! But some folks in
+Mayfair, ma'am, will owe him a grudge!" and she clicked back the bolt
+which held the window-sash, and let the air into the chamber.
+
+"You had better send that woman some money," Mr. Osborne said, before he
+went out. "She shan't want for nothing. Send her a hundred pound."
+
+"And I'll go and see her to-morrow?" Miss Osborne asked.
+
+"That's your lookout. She don't come in _here_, mind. But she mustn't
+want now. So look out, and get things right." With which brief speeches
+Mr. Osborne took leave of his daughter, and went on his accustomed way.
+
+That night, when Amelia kissed her father, she put a bill for a hundred
+pounds into his hands, adding, "And--and, mamma, don't be harsh with
+Georgie. He--he is not going to stop with us long." She could say nothing
+more, and walked away silently to her room.
+
+Miss Osborne came the next day, according to the promise contained in her
+note, and saw Amelia. The meeting between them was friendly. A look and a
+few words from Miss Osborne showed the poor widow that there need be no
+fear lest she should take the first place in her son's affection. She
+was cold, sensible, not unkind. Miss Osborne, on the other hand, could
+not but be touched with the poor mother's situation, and their
+arrangements were made together with kindness on both sides.
+
+Georgie was kept from school the next day, and saw his aunt. Days were
+passed in talks, visits, preparations. The widow broke the matter to him
+with great caution; and was saddened to find him rather elated than
+otherwise. He bragged about the news that day to the boys at school; told
+them how he was going to live with his grandpapa, his father's father,
+not the one who comes here sometimes; and that he would be very rich, and
+have a carriage, and a pony, and go to a much finer school, and when he
+was rich he would buy Leader's pencil-case, and pay the tart woman.
+
+At last the day came, the carriage drove up, the little humble packets
+containing tokens of love and remembrance were ready and disposed in the
+hall long since. George was in his new suit, for which the tailor had
+come previously to measure him. He had sprung up with the sun and put on
+the new clothes. Days before Amelia had been making preparations for the
+end; purchasing little stores for the boy's use; marking his books and
+linen; talking with him and preparing him for the change, fondly fancying
+that he needed preparation.
+
+So that he had change, what cared he? He was longing for it. By a
+thousand eager declarations as to what he would do when he went to live
+with his grandfather, he had shown the poor widow how little the idea of
+parting had cast him down. He would come and see his mamma often on the
+pony, he said; he would come and fetch her in the carriage; they would
+drive in the Park, and she would have everything she wanted.
+
+George stood by his mother, watching her final arrangements without the
+least concern, then said a gay farewell, went away smiling, and the widow
+was quite alone.
+
+The boy came to see her often, after that, to be sure. He rode on a pony
+with the coachman behind him, to the delight of his old grandfather,
+Sedley, who walked proudly down the lane by his side. Amelia saw him, but
+he was not her boy any more. Why, he rode to see the boys at the little
+school, too, and to show off before them his new wealth and splendour. In
+two days he had adopted a slightly imperious air and patronising manner,
+and once fairly established in his grandfather Osborne's mansion in
+Russell Square, won the grandsire's heart by his good looks, gallant
+bearing, and gentlemanlike appearance. Mr. Osborne was as proud of him as
+ever he had been of the elder George, and the child had many more
+luxuries and indulgences than had been awarded to his father. Osborne's
+wealth and importance in the city had very much increased of late years.
+He had been glad enough to put the elder George in a good private school,
+and a commission in the army for his son had been a source of no small
+pride to him; but for little George and his future prospects the old man
+looked much higher. He would make a gentleman of the little chap, a
+collegian, a parliament man--a baronet, perhaps. He would have none but a
+tip-top college man to educate him. He would mourn in a solemn manner
+that his own education had been neglected, and repeatedly point out the
+necessity of classical acquirements.
+
+When they met at dinner the grandfather used to ask the lad what he had
+been reading during the day, and was greatly interested at the report the
+boy gave of his studies, pretending to understand little George when he
+spoke regarding them. He made a hundred blunders, and showed his
+ignorance many a time, which George was quick to see and which did not
+increase the respect which the child had for his senior.
+
+In fact, as young George had lorded it over the tender, yielding nature
+of his mother, so the coarse pomposity of the dull old man with whom he
+next came in contact, made him lord over the latter, too. If he had been
+a prince royal, he could not have been better brought up to think well of
+himself, and while his mother was yearning after him at home, he was
+having a number of pleasures and consolations administered to him which
+made the separation from Amelia a very easy matter to him. In fact,
+Master George Osborne had every comfort and luxury that a wealthy and
+lavish old grandfather thought fit to provide. He had the handsomest pony
+which could be bought, and on this was taught to ride, first at a
+riding-school, then in state to Regent's Park, and then to Hyde Park with
+Martin the coachman behind him.
+
+Though he was scarcely eleven years of age, Master George wore straps,
+and the most beautiful little boots, like a man. He had gilt spurs and a
+gold-headed whip and a fine pin in his neckerchief, and the neatest
+little kid gloves which could be bought. His mother had given him a
+couple of neckcloths, and carefully made some little shirts for him; but
+when her Samuel came to see the widow, they were replaced by much finer
+linen. He had little jewelled buttons in the lawn shirt fronts. Her
+humble presents had been put aside--I believe Miss Osborne had given them
+to the coachman's boy.
+
+Amelia tried to think she was pleased at the change. Indeed, she was
+happy and charmed to see the boy looking so beautiful. She had a little
+black profile of him done for a shilling, which was hung over her bed.
+One day the boy came galloping down on his accustomed visit to her, and
+with great eagerness pulled a red morocco case out of his coat pocket.
+
+"I bought it with my own money, mamma," he said. "I thought you'd like
+it."
+
+Amelia opened the case, and giving a little cry of delighted affection,
+seized him and embraced him a hundred times. It was a miniature of
+himself, very prettily done by an artist who had just executed his
+portrait for his grandfather. Georgie, who had plenty of money, bethought
+him to ask the painter how much a copy of the portrait would cost, saying
+that he would pay for it out of his own money, and that he wanted to give
+it to his mother. The pleased painter executed it for a small price, and
+old Osborne himself, when he heard of the incident, growled out his
+satisfaction, and gave the boy twice as many sovereigns as he paid for
+the miniature.
+
+At his new home Master George ruled like a lord, and charmed his old
+grandfather by his ways. "Look at him," the old man would say, nudging
+his neighbour with a delighted purple face, "did you ever see such a
+chap? Lord, Lord! he'll be ordering a dressing-case next, and razors to
+shave with; I'm blessed if he won't."
+
+The antics of the lad did not, however, delight Mr. Osborne's friends so
+much as they pleased the old gentleman. It gave Mr. Justice Coffin no
+pleasure to hear Georgie cut into the conversation and spoil his stories.
+Mr. Sergeant Toffy's lady felt no particular gratitude when he tilted a
+glass of port wine over her yellow satin, and laughed at the disaster;
+nor was she better pleased, although old Osborne was highly delighted,
+when Georgie "whopped" her third boy, a young gentleman a year older than
+Georgie, and by chance home for the holidays. George's grandfather gave
+the boy a couple of sovereigns for that feat, and promised to reward him
+further for every boy above his own size and age whom he whopped in a
+similar manner. It is difficult to say what good the old man saw in these
+combats; he had a vague notion that quarrelling made boys hardy, and that
+tyranny was a useful accomplishment for them to learn. Flushed with
+praise and victory over Master Toffy, George wished naturally to pursue
+his conquests further, and one day as he was strutting about in new
+clothes, near St. Paneras, and a young baker's boy made sarcastic
+comments upon his appearance, the youthful patrician pulled off his dandy
+jacket with great spirit, and giving it in charge to the friend who
+accompanied him (Master Todd, of Great Coram Street, Russell Square, son
+of the junior partner of the house of Osborne & Co.), tried to whop the
+little baker. But the chances of war were unfavourable this time, and the
+little baker whopped Georgie, who came home with a rueful black eye and
+all his fine shirt frill dabbled with the claret drawn from his own
+little nose. He told his grandfather that he had been in combat with a
+giant; and frightened his poor mother at Brampton with long, and by no
+means authentic, accounts of the battle.
+
+This young Todd, of Coram Street, Russell Square, was Master George's
+great friend and admirer. They both had a taste for painting theatrical
+characters; for hardbake and raspberry tarts; for sliding and skating in
+the Regent's Park and the Serpentine, when the weather permitted; for
+going to the play, whither they were often conducted, by Mr. Osborne's
+orders, by Rowson, Master George's appointed body-servant, with whom they
+sate in great comfort in the pit.
+
+In the company of this gentleman they visited all the principal theatres
+of the metropolis--knew the names of all the actors from Drury Lane to
+Sadler's Wells; and performed, indeed, many of the plays to the Todd
+family and their youthful friends, with West's famous characters, on
+their pasteboard theatre.
+
+A famous tailor from the West End of the town was summoned to ornament
+little Georgie's person, and was told to spare no expense in so doing.
+So, Mr. Woolsey, of Conduit Street, gave a loose rein to his imagination,
+and sent the child home fancy trowsers, fancy waistcoats, and fancy
+jackets enough to furnish a school of little dandies. George had little
+white waistcoats for evening parties, and little cut velvet waistcoats
+for evening parties, and little cut velvet waistcoats for dinners, and a
+dear little darling shawl dressing-gown, for all the world like a little
+man. He dressed for dinner every day, "like a regular West End swell," as
+his grandfather remarked; one of the domestics was affected to his
+special service, attended him at his toilette, answered his bell, and
+brought him his letters always on a silver tray.
+
+Georgie, after breakfast, would sit in the arm-chair in the dining-room,
+and read the Morning Post, just like a grown-up man. Those who remembered
+the Captain, his father, declared Master George was his pa, every inch of
+him. He made the house lively by his activity, his imperiousness, his
+scolding, and his good-nature.
+
+George's education was confided to the Reverend Lawrence Veal, a private
+pedagogue who "prepared young noblemen and gentlemen for the
+Universities, the Senate, and the learned professions; whose system did
+not embrace the degrading corporal severities still practised at the
+ancient places of education, and in whose family the pupils would find
+the elegances of refined society and the confidence and affection of a
+home," as his prospectus stated.
+
+Georgie was only a day pupil; he arrived in the morning, and if it was
+fine would ride away in the afternoon, on his pony. The wealth of his
+grandfather was reported in the school to be prodigious. The Reverend Mr.
+Veal used to compliment Georgie upon it personally, warning him that he
+was destined for a high station; that it became him to prepare for the
+lofty duties to which he would be called later; that obedience in the
+child was the best preparation for command in the man; and that he
+therefore begged George would not bring toffee into the school and ruin
+the health of the other pupils, who had everything they wanted at the
+elegant and abundant table of Mrs. Veal.
+
+Whenever Mr. Veal spoke he took care to produce the very finest and
+longest words of which the vocabulary gave him the use, and his manner
+was so pompous that little Georgie, who had considerable humour, used to
+mimic him to his face with great spirit and dexterity, without ever being
+discovered. Amelia was bewildered by Mr. Veal's phrases, but thought him
+a prodigy of learning, and made friends with his wife, that she might be
+asked to Mrs. Veal's receptions, which took place once a month, and where
+the professor welcomed his pupils and their friends to weak tea and
+scientific conversation. Poor little Amelia never missed one of these
+entertainments, and thought them delicious so long as she might have
+George sitting by her.
+
+As for the learning which George imbibed under Mr. Veal, to judge from
+the weekly reports which the lad took home, his progress was remarkable.
+The name of a score or more of desirable branches of knowledge were
+printed in a table, and the pupil's progress in each was marked by the
+professor. In Greek Georgie was pronounced _Aristos_, in Latin
+_Optimus_, in French _Très bien_, etc.; and everybody had prizes for
+everything at the end of the year. Even that idle young scapegrace of a
+Master Todd, godson of Mr. Osborne, received a little eighteen-penny
+book, with _Athene_ engraved on it, and a pompous Latin inscription from
+the professor to his young friend. An example of Georgie's facility in
+the art of composition is still treasured by his proud mother, and reads
+as follows:
+
+_Example_: The selfishness of Achilles, as remarked by the poet Homer,
+occasioned a thousand woes to the Greeks (Hom. II A 2). The selfishness
+of the late Napoleon Bonaparte occasioned innumerable wars in Europe, and
+caused him to perish himself in a miserable island--that of St. Helena in
+the Atlantic Ocean.
+
+We see by these examples that we are not to consult our own interest
+and ambition, but that we are to consider the interests of others as
+well as our own.
+
+GEORGE SEDLEY OSBORNE.
+
+ATHENE HOUSE, 24 April, 1827.
+
+While Georgie's days were so full of new interests, Amelia's life was
+anything but one of pleasure, for it was passed almost entirely in the
+sickroom of her mother, with only the gleams of joy when little George
+visited her, or with an occasional walk to Russell Square. Then came the
+day when the invalid was buried in the churchyard at Brompton and
+Amelia's little boy sat by her side at the service in pompous new sables
+and quite angry that he could not go to a play upon which he had set his
+heart, while his mother's thoughts went back to just such another rainy,
+dark day, when she had married George Osborne in that very church.
+
+After the funeral the widow went back to the bereaved old father, who
+was stunned and broken by the loss of his wife, his honour, his
+fortune, in fact, everything he loved best. There was only Amelia now
+to stand by the tottering, heart-broken old man. This she did, to the
+best of her ability, all unconscious that on life's ocean a bark was
+sailing headed towards her with those aboard who were to bring change
+and comfort to her life.
+
+One day when the young gentlemen of Mr. Veal's select school were
+assembled in the study, a smart carriage drove up to the door and two
+gentlemen stepped out. Everybody was interested, from Mr. Veal himself,
+who hoped he saw the fathers of some future pupils arriving, down to
+Master George, glad of any pretext of laying his book down.
+
+The boy who always opened the door came into the study, and said: "Two
+gentlemen want to see Master Osborne." The Professor had had a trifling
+dispute in the morning with that young gentleman, owing to a difference
+about the introduction of crackers in school-time; but his face resumed
+its habitual expression of bland courtesy, as he said, "Master Osborne, I
+give you full permission to go and see your carriage friends,--to whom I
+beg you to convey the respectful compliments of myself and Mrs. Veal."
+
+George went into the reception room, and saw two strangers, whom he
+looked at with his head up, in his usual haughty manner. One was fat,
+with moustaches, and the other was lean and long in a blue frock coat,
+with a brown face, and a grizzled head.
+
+"My God, how like he is!" said the long gentleman, with a start. "Can you
+guess who we are, George?"
+
+The boy's face flushed up, and his eyes brightened. "I don't know the
+other," he said, "but I should think you must be Major Dobbin."
+
+Indeed, it _was_ Major Dobbin, who had come home on urgent private
+affairs, and who on board the Ramchunder, East Indiaman, had fallen in
+with no other than the Widow Osborne's stout brother, Joseph, who had
+passed the last ten years in Bengal. A voyage to Europe was pronounced
+necessary for him, and having served his full time in India, and having
+laid by a considerable sum of money, he was free to come home and stay
+with a good pension, or to return and resume that rank in the service to
+which he was entitled.
+
+Many and many a night as the ship was cutting through the roaring dark
+sea, the moon and stars shining overhead, and the bell singing out the
+watch, Mr. Sedley and the Major would sit on the quarter deck of the
+vessel, talking about home as they smoked. In these conversations, with
+wonderful perseverance, Major Dobbin would always manage to bring the
+talk round to the subject of Amelia. Jos was a little testy about his
+father's misfortunes and application to him for money, but was soothed
+down by the Major, who pointed out the elder's ill fortunes in old age.
+He pointed out how advantageous it would be for Jos Sedley to have a
+house of his own in London, and how his sister Amelia would be the very
+person to preside over it; how elegant, how gentle she was, and of what
+refined good manners. He then hinted how becoming it would be for Jos to
+send Georgy to a good school and make a man of him. In a word, this
+artful Major made Jos promise to take charge of Amelia and her
+unprotected child before that pompous civilian made the discovery that he
+was binding himself.
+
+Then came the arrival of the Ramchunder, the going ashore, and the
+entrance of the two men into the little home where Amelia was keeping her
+faithful watch over her feeble father. The excitement and surprise were a
+great shock to the old man, while to Amelia they were the greatest
+happiness that could have come to her. Of course the first thing she did
+was to show Georgie's miniature, and to tell of his great
+accomplishments, and then she secured the promise that the Major and her
+brother would visit the Reverend Mr. Veal's school at the earliest
+possible moment. This promise we have seen redeemed. Major Dobbin and
+Joseph Sedley, having become acquainted with the details of Amelia's
+lonely life, and of Georgie's happy one, lost no time in altering such
+circumstances as were within their power to change. Jos Sedley,
+notwithstanding his pompous selfishness and egoism, had a very tender
+heart, and shortly after his first appearance at Brompton, old Sedley and
+his daughter were carried away from the humble cottage in which they had
+passed the last ten years of their life to the handsome new home which
+Jos Sedley had provided for himself and them.
+
+Good fortune now began to smile upon Amelia. Jos's friends were all from
+three presidencies, and his new house was in the centre of the
+comfortable Anglo-Indian district. Owing to Jos Sedley's position numbers
+of people came to see Mrs. Osborne who before had never noticed her. Lady
+Dobbin and her daughters were delighted at her change of fortune, and
+called upon her. Miss Osborne, herself, came in her grand chariot; Jos
+was reported to be immensely rich. Old Osborne had no objection that
+George should inherit his uncle's property as well as his own. "We will
+make a man of the fellow," he said; "and I will see him in parliament
+before I die. You may go and see his mother, Miss Osborne, though _I'll_
+never set eyes on her"; and Miss Osborne came. George was allowed to dine
+once or twice a week with his mother, and bullied the servants and his
+relations there, just as he did in Russell Square.
+
+He was always respectful to Major Dobbin, however, and more modest in
+his demeanour when that gentleman was present. He was a clever lad, and
+afraid of the Major. George could not help admiring his friend's
+simplicity, his good-humour, his various learning quietly imparted, his
+general love of truth and justice. He had met no such man as yet in the
+course of his experience, and he had an instinctive liking for a
+gentleman. He hung fondly by his god-father's side; and it was his
+delight to walk in the Parks and hear Dobbin talk. William told George
+about his father, about India and Waterloo, about everything but
+himself. When George was more than usually pert and conceited, the Major
+joked at him, which Mrs. Osborne thought very cruel. One day taking him
+to the play, and the boy declining to go into the pit because it was
+vulgar, the Major took him to the boxes, left him there, and went down
+himself to the pit. He had not been seated there very long before he
+felt an arm thrust under his, and a dandy little hand in a kid-glove
+squeezing his arm. George had seen the absurdity of his ways, and come
+down from the upper region. A tender laugh of benevolence lighted up old
+Dobbin's face and eyes as he looked at the repentant little prodigal. He
+loved the boy very deeply.
+
+If there was a sincere liking between George and the Major, it must be
+confessed that between the boy and his Uncle Joseph no great love
+existed. George had got a way of blowing out his cheeks, and putting his
+hands in his waistcoat pockets, and saying, "God bless my soul, you don't
+say so," so exactly after the fashion of old Jos, that it was impossible
+to refrain from laughter. The servants would explode at dinner if the
+lad, asking for something which wasn't at table, put on that countenance
+and used that favourite phrase. Even Dobbin would shoot out a sudden peal
+at the boy's mimicry. If George did not mimic his uncle to his face, it
+was only by Dobbin's rebukes and Amelia's terrified entreaties that the
+little scapegrace was induced to desist. And Joseph, having a dim
+consciousness that the lad thought him an ass, and was inclined to turn
+him into ridicule, used to be of course doubly pompous and dignified in
+the presence of Master George. When it was announced that the young
+gentleman was expected to dine with his mother, Mr. Jos commonly found
+that he had an engagement at the Club, and perhaps nobody was much
+grieved at his absence.
+
+Before long Amelia had a visiting-book, and was driving about regularly
+in a carriage, from which a buttony boy sprang from the box with Amelia's
+and Jos's visiting cards. At stated hours Emmy and the carriage went to
+the Club, and took Jos for an airing; or, putting old Sedley into the
+vehicle, she drove the old man round the Regent's Park. We are not long
+in growing used to changes in life. Her lady's-maid and the chariot, her
+visiting book, and the buttony page became soon as familiar to Amelia as
+the humble routine of Brompton. She accommodated herself to one as to the
+other, and entertained Jos's friends with the same unselfish charm with
+which she cared for and amused old John Sedley.
+
+Then came the day when that poor old man closed his eyes on the familiar
+scenes of earth, and Major Dobbin, Jos, and George followed his
+remains-to the grave in a black cloth coach. "You see," said old Osborne
+to George, when the burial was over, "what comes of merit and industry
+and good speculation, and that. Look at me and my bank account. Look at
+your poor Grandfather Sedley, and his failure. And yet he was a better
+man than I was, this day twenty years--a better man, I should say, by ten
+thousand pounds." And this worldly wisdom little George received in
+profound silence, taking it for what it was worth.
+
+About this time old Osborne conceived much admiration for Major Dobbin,
+which he had acquired from the world's opinion of that gentleman. Also
+Major Dobbin's name appeared in the lists of one or two great parties of
+the nobility, which circumstance had a prodigious effect upon the old
+aristocrat of Russell Square. Also the Major's position as guardian to
+George, whose possession had been ceded to his grandfather, rendered some
+meetings between the two gentleman inevitable, and it was in one of these
+that old Osborne, from a chance hint supplied by the blushing Major,
+discovered that a part of the fund upon which the poor widow and her
+child had subsisted during their time of want, had been supplied out of
+William Dobbin's own pocket. This information gave old Osborne pain, but
+increased his admiration for the Major, who had been such a loyal friend
+to his son's wife. From that time it was evident that old Osborne's
+opinion was softening, and soon Jos and the Major were asked to dinner at
+Russell Square,--to a dinner the most splendid that perhaps ever Mr.
+Osborne gave; every inch of the family plate was exhibited and the best
+company was asked. More than once old Osborne asked Major Dobbin about
+Mrs. George Osborne,--a theme on which the Major could be very eloquent.
+
+"You don't know what she endured, sir," said honest Dobbin; "and I hope
+and trust you will be reconciled to her. If she took your son away from
+you, she gave hers to you; and however much you loved your George, depend
+on it, she loved hers ten times more."
+
+"You are a good fellow, sir!" was all Mr. Osborne said. But it was
+evident in later events that the conversation had had its effect upon the
+old man. He sent for his lawyers, and made some changes in his will,
+which was well, for one day shortly after that act he died suddenly.
+
+When his will was read it was found that half the property was left to
+George. Also an annuity of five hundred pounds was left to his mother,
+"the widow of my beloved son, George Osborne," who was to resume the
+guardianship of the boy.
+
+Major William Dobbin was appointed executor, "and as out of his kindness
+and bounty he maintained my grandson and my son's widow with his own
+private funds when they were otherwise without means of support" (the
+testator went on to say), "I hereby thank him heartily, and beseech him
+to accept such a sum as may be sufficient to purchase his commission as a
+Lieutenant Colonel, or to be disposed of in any way he may think fit."
+When Amelia heard that her father-in-law was reconciled to her, her heart
+melted, and she was grateful for the fortune left to her. But when she
+heard how George was restored to her, and that it had been William's
+bounty that supported her in poverty, that it was William who had
+reconciled old Osborne to her, then her gratitude and joy knew no bounds.
+
+When the nature of Mr. Osborne's will became known to the world, once
+more Mrs. George Osborne rose in the estimation of the people forming her
+circle of acquaintance; even Jos himself paid her and her rich little
+boy, his nephew, the greatest respect, and began to show her much more
+attention than formerly.
+
+As George's guardian, Amelia begged Miss Osborne to live in the Russell
+Square house, but Miss Osborne did not choose to do so. And Amelia also
+declined to occupy the gloomy old mansion. But one day, clad in deep
+sables, she went with George to visit the deserted house which she had
+not entered since she was a girl. They went into the great blank rooms,
+the walls of which bore the marks where pictures and mirrors had hung.
+Then they went up the great stone staircase into the upper rooms, into
+that where grandpapa died, as Georgie said in a whisper, and then higher
+still into George's own room. The boy was still clinging by her side, but
+she thought of another besides him. She knew that it had been his
+father's room before it was his.
+
+"Look here, mother," said George, standing by the window, "here's
+G.O. scratched on the glass with a diamond; I never saw it before. I
+never did it."
+
+"It was your father's room long before you were born, George," she said,
+and she blushed as she kissed the boy.
+
+She was very silent as they drove back to Richmond, where they had
+taken a temporary house, but after that time practical matters occupied
+her mind. There were many directions to be given and much business to
+transact, and Amelia immediately found herself in the whirl of quite a
+new life, and experienced the extreme joy of having George continually
+with her, as he was at that time removed from Mr. Veal's on an
+unlimited holiday.
+
+George's aunt, Mrs. Bullock, who had before her marriage been Miss
+Osborne, thought it wise now to become reconciled with Amelia and her
+boy. Consequently one day her chariot drove up to Amelia's house, and
+the Bullock family made an irruption into the garden, where Amelia
+was reading.
+
+Jos was in an arbour, placidly dipping strawberries into wine, and the
+Major was giving a back to George, who chose to jump over him. He went
+over his head, and bounded into the little group of Bullocks, with
+immense black bows on their hats, and huge black sashes, accompanying
+their mourning mamma.
+
+"He is just the age for Rosa," the fond parent thought, and glanced
+towards that dear child, a little miss of seven years. "Rosa, go and kiss
+your dear cousin," added Mrs. Bullock. "Don't you know me, George? I am
+your aunt."
+
+"I know you well enough," George said; "but I don't like kissing,
+please," and he retreated from the obedient caresses of his cousin.
+
+"Take me to your dear mamma, you droll child," Mrs. Bullock said; and
+those ladies met, after an absence of more than fifteen years. During
+Emmy's poverty Mrs. Bullock had never thought about coming to see her;
+but now that she was decently prosperous in the world, her sister-in-law
+came to her as a matter of course.
+
+So did many others. In fact, before the period of grief for Mr. Osborne's
+death had subsided, Emmy, had she wished, could have become a leader in
+fashionable society. But that was not her desire: worn out with the long
+period of poverty, care, and separation from George, her one wish was a
+change of scene and thought.
+
+Because of this wish, some time later, on a fine morning, when the
+Batavier steamboat was about to leave its dock, we see among the
+carriages being taken on, a very neat, handsome travelling carriage, from
+which a courier, Kirsch by name, got out and informed inquirers that the
+carriage belonged to an enormously rich Nabob from Calcutta and Jamaica,
+with whom he was engaged to travel. At this moment a young gentleman who
+had been warned off the bridge between the paddle-boxes, and who had
+dropped thence onto the roof of Lord Methusala's carriage, from which he
+made his way over other carriages until he had clambered onto his own,
+descended thence and through the window into the body of the carriage to
+the applause of the couriers looking on.
+
+"_Nous allons avoir une belle traversée_, Monsieur George," said Kirsch
+with a grin, as he lifted his gold laced cap.
+
+"Bother your French!" said the young gentleman.
+
+"Where's the biscuits, ay?" Whereupon Kirsch answered him in such
+English as he could command and produced the desired repast.
+
+The imperious young gentleman who gobbled the biscuits (and indeed it was
+time to refresh himself, for he had breakfasted at Richmond full three
+hours before) was our young friend George Osborne. Uncle Jos and his
+mamma were on the quarter-deck with Major Dobbin, and the four were about
+to make a summer tour. Amelia wore a straw bonnet with black ribbons, and
+otherwise dressed in mourning, but the little bustle and holiday of the
+journey pleased and excited her, and from that day throughout the entire
+journey she continued to be very happy and pleased. Wherever they stopped
+Dobbin used to carry about for her her stool and sketch book, and admired
+her drawings as they never had been admired before. She sat upon steamer
+decks and drew crags and castles, or she mounted upon donkeys and
+descended to ancient robber towers, attended by her two escorts, Georgie
+and Dobbin. Dobbin was interpreter for the party, having a good military
+knowledge of the German language, and he and the delighted George, who
+was having a wonderful trip, fought over again the campaigns of the Rhine
+and the Palatinate. In the course of a few weeks of constant conversation
+with Herr Kirsch on the box of the carriage, George made great advance in
+the knowledge of High Dutch, and could talk to hotel waiters and
+postilions in a way that charmed his mother and amused his guardian.
+
+At the little ducal town of Pumpernickel our party settled down for a
+protracted stay. There each one of them found something especially
+pleasing or interesting them, and there it was that they encountered an
+acquaintance of other days,--no other than Mrs. Rawdon Crawley; and
+because of Becky's experiences since she had quitted her husband, her
+child, and the little house in Curzon Street, London, of which he knew
+the details, Major Dobbin was anything but pleased at the meeting.
+
+But Becky told Amelia a pathetic little tale of misery, neglect, and
+estrangement from those she loved, and tenderhearted Amelia, who quivered
+with indignation at the recital, at once invited Becky to join their
+party. To this Major Dobbin made positive objections, but Amelia remained
+firm in her resolve to shelter the friend of her school-days, the mother
+who had been cruelly taken away from her boy by a misjudging
+sister-in-law. This decision brought about a crisis in Amelia's affairs:
+Major Dobbin, who had been so devotedly attached to Amelia for years,
+also remained firm, and insisted not only that Amelia have no more to do
+with Mrs. Crawley, but that if she did, he would leave the party. Amelia
+was firm and loyal, and honest Dobbin made preparations for his
+departure.
+
+When the coach that was to carry old Dob away drew up before the door,
+Georgie gave an exclamation of surprise.
+
+"Hello!" said he, "there's Dob's trap! There's Francis coming out with
+the portmanteau, and the postilion. Look at his boots and yellow
+jacket--why--they are putting the horses to Dob's carriage. Is he going
+anywhere?"
+
+"Yes," said Amelia, "he is going on a journey."
+
+"Going on a journey! And when is he coming back?"
+
+"He is--not coming back," answered Amelia.
+
+"Not coming back!" cried out Georgie, jumping up.
+
+"Stay here," roared out Jos.
+
+"Stay, Georgie," said his mother, with a very sad face.
+
+The boy stopped, kicked about the room, jumped up and down from the
+window seat, and finally, when the Major's luggage had been carried out,
+gave way to his feelings again. "By Jove, I _will_ go!" screamed out
+George, and rushed downstairs and flung across the street in a minute.
+
+The yellow postilion was cracking his whip gently. William had got into
+the carriage, George bounded in after him, and flung his arms around the
+Major's neck, asking him multiplied questions. William kissed Georgie,
+spoke gently and sadly to him, and the boy got out, doubling his fists
+into his eyes. The yellow postilion cracked his whip again, up sprang
+Francis to the box, and away Dobbin was carried, never looking up as he
+passed under Amelia's window; and Georgie, left alone in the street,
+burst out crying in the face of all the crowd and continued his
+lamentations far into the night, when Amelia's maid, who heard him
+howling, brought him some preserved apricots to console him.
+
+Thus honest Dobbin passed out of the life of Amelia and her boy, but
+not forever. Gentle Amelia was soon disillusioned in regard to the old
+schoolmate whom she had taken under her care, and found that in all the
+world there was no one who meant so much to her as faithful Dobbin. One
+morning she wrote and despatched a note, the inscription of which no
+one saw; but on account of which she looked very much flushed and
+agitated when Georgie met her coming from the Post; and she kissed him
+and hung over him a great deal that night. Two mornings later George,
+walking on the dyke with his mother, saw by the aid of his telescope an
+English steamer near the pier. George took the glass again and watched
+the vessel.
+
+"How she does pitch! There goes a wave slap over her bows. There's a man
+lying down, and a--chap--in a--cloak with a--Hurrah! It's _Dob_, by
+jingo!" He clapped to the telescope and flung his arms round his mother,
+then ran swiftly off; and Amelia was left to make her peace alone with
+the faithful Major, who had returned at her request.
+
+Some days later Becky Sharp felt it wise to leave for Bruges, and in the
+little church at Ostend there was a wedding, at which the only witnesses
+were Georgie and his Uncle Jos. Amelia Osborne had decided to accept the
+Major's protection for life, to the never-ending satisfaction of George,
+to whom the Major had always been comrade and father.
+
+Immediately after his marriage Colonel Dobbin quitted the service and
+rented a pretty little country place in Hampshire, not far from Queen's
+Crawley, where Sir Pitt and his family constantly resided now, and where
+Rawdon Crawley was regarded as their son.
+
+Lady Jane and Mrs. Dobbin became great friends, and there was a perpetual
+crossing of pony chaises between the two places. Lady Jane was godmother
+to Mrs. Dobbin's little girl, who bore her name, and the two lads, George
+Osborne and Rawdon Crawley, who had met so many years before as children
+when little Rawdon invited George to take a ride on his pony, and whose
+lives had been filled with such different experiences since that time,
+now became close friends. They were both entered at the same college at
+Cambridge, hunted and shot together in the vacations, confided in each
+other; and when we last see them, fast becoming young men, they are deep
+in a quarrel about Lady Jane's daughter, with whom they were both, of
+course, in love.
+
+No further proof of approaching age is needed than a quarrel over a young
+lady, and the lads, George and Rawdon, now give place forever to men.
+Though the circumstances of their lives had been unlike, though George
+had had all the love that a devoted mother could give, and all the
+luxury which money could supply: and Rawdon had been without a mother's
+devotion; without the surroundings which had made George's life
+luxurious,--on the threshold of manhood we find them on an equal footing,
+entering life's arena, strong of limb, glad of heart, eager for what
+manhood was to bring them.
+
+
+
+
+CLIVE AND ETHEL NEWCOME
+
+
+[Illustration: CLIVE AND ETHEL NEWCOME.]
+
+When one is about to write the biography of a certain person, it seems
+but fair to give as its background such facts concerning the hero's
+antecedents as place the details of his life in their proper setting. And
+so, having the honour to be the juvenile biographer of Mr. Clive Newcome,
+I deem it wise to preface the story of his life with a brief account of
+events and persons antecedent to his birth.
+
+Thomas Newcome, Clive's grandfather, had been a weaver in his native
+village, and brought the very best character for honesty, thrift, and
+ingenuity with him to London, where he was taken into the house of Hobson
+Brothers, cloth-manufacturers; afterwards Hobson & Newcome. When Thomas
+Newcome had been some time in London, he quitted the house of Hobson, to
+begin business for himself. And no sooner did his business prosper than
+he married a pretty girl from his native village. What seemed an
+imprudent match, as his wife had no worldly goods to bring him, turned
+out a very lucky one for Newcome. The whole countryside was pleased to
+think of the marriage of the prosperous London tradesman with the
+penniless girl whom he had loved in the days of his own poverty; the
+great country clothiers, who knew his prudence and honesty, gave him
+much of their business, and Susan Newcome would have been the wife of a
+rich man had she not died a year after her marriage, at the birth of her
+son, Thomas.
+
+Newcome had a nurse for the child, and a cottage at Clapham, hard by Mr.
+Hobson's house, and being held in good esteem by his former employers,
+was sometimes invited by them to tea. When his wife died, Miss Hobson,
+who since her father's death had become a partner in the firm, met Mr.
+Newcome with his little boy as she was coming out of meeting one Sunday,
+and the child looked so pretty, and Mr. Newcome so personable, that Miss
+Hobson invited him and little Tommy into the grounds; let the child frisk
+about in the hay on the lawn, and at the end of the visit gave him a
+large piece of pound-cake, a quantity of the finest hot-house grapes, and
+a tract in one syllable. Tommy was ill the next day; but on the next
+Sunday his father was at meeting, and not very long after that Miss
+Hobson became Mrs. Newcome.
+
+After his father's second marriage, Tommy and Sarah, his nurse, who was
+also a cousin of Mr. Newcome's first wife, were transported from the
+cottage, where they had lived in great comfort, to the palace hard by,
+surrounded by lawns and gardens, graperies, aviaries, luxuries of all
+kinds. This paradise was separated from the outer world by a, thick hedge
+of tall trees and an ivy-covered porter's gate, through which they who
+travelled to London on the top of the Clapham coach could only get a
+glimpse of the bliss within. It was a serious paradise. As you entered at
+the gate, gravity fell on you; and decorum wrapped you in a garment of
+starch. The butcher boy who galloped his horse and cart madly about the
+adjoining lanes, on passing that lodge fell into an undertaker's pace,
+and delivered his joints and sweetbreads silently at the servant's
+entrance. The rooks in the elms cawed sermons at morning and evening; the
+peacocks walked demurely on the terraces; the guinea fowls looked more
+Quaker-like than those birds usually do. The lodge-keeper was serious,
+and a clerk at the neighbouring chapel. The pastor, who entered at that
+gate and greeted his comely wife and children, fed the little lambkins
+with tracts. The head gardener was a Scotch Calvinist, after the
+strictest order. On a Sunday the household marched away to sit under his
+or her favourite minister, the only man who went to church being Thomas
+Newcome, with Tommy, his little son. Tommy was taught hymns suited to his
+tender age, pointing out the inevitable fate of wicked children and
+giving him a description of the punishment of little sinners, which poems
+he repeated to his step-mother after dinner, before a great shining
+mahogany table, covered with grapes, pineapples, plum cake, port wine,
+and madeira, and surrounded by stout men in black, with baggy white
+neckcloths, who took the little man between their knees and questioned
+him as to his right understanding of the place whither naughty boys were
+bound. They patted his head if he said well, or rebuked him if he was
+bold, as he often was.
+
+Then came the birth of Mrs. Newcome's twin boys, Hobson and Bryan, and
+now there was no reason why young Newcome, their step-brother, should not
+go to school, and to Grey Friars Thomas Newcome was accordingly sent,
+exchanging--O ye gods! with what delight--the splendour of Clapham for
+the rough, plentiful fare of the new place. The pleasures of school-life
+were such to him that he did not care to go home for a holiday; for by
+playing tricks and breaking windows, by taking the gardener's peaches and
+the housekeeper's jam, by upsetting his two little brothers in a go-cart
+(of which injury the Baronet's nose bore marks to his dying day), by
+going to sleep during the sermons, and treating reverend gentlemen with
+levity, he drew down on himself the merited anger of his step-mother; and
+many punishments. To please Mrs. Newcome, his father whipped Tommy for
+upsetting his little brothers in the go-cart; but, upon being pressed to
+repeat the whipping for some other prank, Mr. Newcome refused, saying
+that the boy got flogging enough at school, with which opinion Master
+Tommy fully agreed. His step-mother, however, determined to make the
+young culprit smart for his offences, and one day, when Mr. Newcome was
+absent, and Tommy refractory as usual, summoned the butler and footman to
+flog the young criminal. But he dashed so furiously against the butler's
+shins as to cause that menial to limp and suffer for many days after;
+and, seizing the decanter, he threatened to discharge it at Mrs.
+Newcome's head before he would submit to the punishment she desired
+administered. When Mr. Newcome returned, he was indignant at his wife's
+treatment of Tommy, and said so, to her great displeasure. This affair,
+indeed, almost caused a break in their relations, and friends and clergy
+were obliged to interfere to allay the domestic quarrel. At length Mrs.
+Newcome, who was not unkind, and could be brought to own that she was
+sometimes in fault, was induced to submit to the decrees of her husband,
+whom she had vowed to love and honour. When Tommy fell ill of scarlet
+fever she nursed him through his illness, and uttered no reproach to her
+husband when the twins took the disease. And even though Tommy in his
+delirium vowed that he would put on his clothes and run away to his old
+nurse Sarah, Mrs. Newcome's kindness to him never faltered. What the boy
+threatened in his delirium, a year later he actually achieved. He ran
+away from home, and appeared one morning, gaunt and hungry, at Sarah's
+cottage two hundred miles away from Clapham. She housed the poor prodigal
+with many tears and kisses, and put him to bed and to sleep; from which
+slumber he was aroused by the appearance of his father, whose instinct,
+backed by Mrs. Newcome's intelligence, had made him at once aware whither
+the young runaway had fled. Seeing a horsewhip in his parent's hand,
+Tommy, scared out of a sweet sleep and a delightful dream of cricket,
+knew his fate; and getting out of bed, received his punishment without a
+word. Very likely the father suffered more than the child; for, when the
+punishment was over, the little man yet quivering with the pain, held out
+his little bleeding hand, and said, "I can--I can take it from you, sir,"
+saying which his face flushed, and his eyes filled, whereupon the father
+burst into a passion of tears, and embraced the boy, and kissed him,
+besought him to be rebellious no more, flung the whip away from him, and
+swore, come what would, he would never strike him again. The quarrel was
+the means of a great and happy reconciliation. But the truce was only a
+temporary one. War very soon broke out again between the impetuous lad
+and his rigid, domineering step-mother. It was not that he was very bad,
+nor she so very stern, but the two could not agree. The boy sulked and
+was miserable at home, and, after a number of more serious escapades than
+he had before indulged in, he was sent to a tutor for military
+instruction, where he was prepared for the army and received a fairly
+good professional education. He cultivated mathematics and fortification,
+and made rapid progress in his study of the French language. But again
+did our poor Tommy get into trouble, and serious trouble indeed this
+time, for it involved his French master's pretty young daughter as well
+as himself. Frantic with wrath and despair at the unfortunate climax of
+events, young Newcome embarked for India, and quitted the parents whom he
+was never more to see. His name was no more mentioned at Clapham, but he
+wrote constantly to his father, who sent Tom liberal private remittances
+to India, and was in turn made acquainted with the fact of his son's
+marriage, and later received news of the birth of his grandson, Clive.
+
+Old Thomas Newcome would have liked to leave all his private fortune to
+his son Thomas, for the twins were only too well provided for, but he
+dared not, for fear of his wife, and he died, and poor Tom was only
+secretly forgiven.
+
+So much for the history of Clive Newcome's father and grandfather. Having
+related it in full detail, we can now proceed to the narrative of Clive's
+life, he being the hero of this tale.
+
+From the day of his birth until he was some seven years old, Clive's
+English relatives knew nothing about him. Then, Colonel Newcome's wife
+having died, and having kept the boy with him as long as the climate
+would allow, Thomas Newcome, now Lieutenant-Colonel, decided that it was
+wise to send Clive to England, to entrust him to the boy's maternal aunt,
+Miss Honeyman, who was living at Brighton, that Clive might have the
+superior advantages of school days in England.
+
+Let us glance at a few extracts from letters received by Colonel Newcome
+after his boy had reached England. The aunt to whose care he was
+entrusted wrote as follows:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With the most heartfelt joy, my dear Major, I take up my pen to
+announce to you the happy arrival of the Ramchunder and the dearest
+and handsomest little boy who, I am sure, ever came from India. Little
+Clive is in perfect health. He speaks English wonderfully well. He cried
+when he parted from Mr. Sneid, the supercargo, who most kindly brought
+him from Southhampton in a postchaise, but these tears in childhood are
+of very brief duration!...
+
+You may be sure that the most liberal sum which you have placed to
+my credit with the Messrs. Hobson & Co. shall be faithfully expended
+on my dear little charge. Of course, unless Mrs. Newcome,--who can
+scarcely be called his grandmamma, I suppose,--writes to invite dear
+Clive to Clapham, I shall not think of sending him there. My brother,
+who thanks you for your continuous bounty, will write next month, and
+report progress as to his dear pupil. Clive will add a postscript of his
+own, and I am, my dear Major,
+
+Your grateful and affectionate,
+
+MARTHA HONEYMAN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a round hand and on lines ruled with pencil:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Dearest Papa_ I am very well I hope you are Very Well. Mr. Sneed
+brought me in a postchaise I like Mr. Sneed very much. I like Aunt
+Martha I like Hannah. There are no ships here I am your affectionate
+son CLIVE NEWCOME.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was also a note from Colonel Newcome's stepbrother, Bryan,
+as follows:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_My Dear Thomas_: Mr. Sneid, supercargo of the Ramchunder, East
+Indiaman, handed over to us yesterday your letter, and, to-day, I have
+purchased three thousand three hundred and twenty-three pounds 6
+and 8, three per cent Consols, in our joint names (H. and B. Newcome),
+held for your little boy. Mr. S. gives a favourable account of
+the little man, and left him in perfect health two days since, at the
+house of his aunt, Miss Honeyman. We have placed £200 to that lady's
+credit, at your desire. I dare say my mother will ask your little boy to
+the Hermitage; and when we have a house of our own I am sure Ann
+and I shall be very happy to see him.
+
+Yours affectionately,
+
+B. NEWCOME.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And another from Miss Honeyman's brother, containing the following:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MAJOR NEWCOME:
+
+_My Dear Colonel_: ... Clive is everything that a father's and
+uncle's, a pastor's, a teacher's, affections could desire. He is not a
+premature genius; he is not, I frankly own, more advanced in his
+classical and mathematical studies than some children even younger than
+himself; but he has acquired the rudiments of health; he has laid in a
+store of honesty and good-humour which are not less likely to advance him
+in life than mere science and language ... etc., etc.,
+
+Your affectionate brother-in-law,
+
+CHARLES HONEYMAN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another letter from Miss Honeyman herself said:
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_My Dear Colonel_: ... As my dearest little Clive was too small
+for a great school, I thought he could not do better than stay with his
+old aunt and have his uncle Charles for a tutor, who is one of the finest
+scholars in the world. Of late he has been too weak to take a curacy,
+so I thought he could not do better than become Clive's tutor, and agreed
+to pay him out of your handsome donation of £250 for Clive, a sum of
+one hundred pounds per year. But I find that Charles is too kind to
+be a schoolmaster, and Master Clive laughs at him. It was only the
+other day after his return from his grandmamma's that I found a picture
+of Mrs. Newcome and Charles, too, and of both their spectacles, quite
+like. He has done me and Hannah, too. Mr. Speck, the artist, says he
+is a wonder at drawing.
+
+Our little Clive has been to London on a visit to his uncles and to
+Clapham, to pay his duty to his step-grandmother, the wealthy Mrs.
+Newcome. She was very gracious to him, and presented him with a five
+pound note, a copy of Kirk White's poems and a work called Little
+Henry and his Bearer, relating to India, and the excellent catechism of
+our Church. Clive is full of humour, and I enclose you a rude scrap
+representing the Bishopess of Clapham, as Mrs. Newcome is called.
+
+Instead then of allowing Clive to be with Charles in London next
+month I shall send him to Doctor Timpany's school, Marine Parade, of
+which I hear the best account; but I hope you will think of soon sending
+him to a great school. My father always said it was the best place for
+boys, and I have a brother to whom my poor mother spared the rod, and
+who I fear has turned out but a spoiled child.
+
+I am, dear Colonel, your most faithful servant,
+
+MARTHA HONEYMAN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Besides the news gleaned from these letters we gather the main facts
+concerning little Clive's departure from the Colonel's side. He had kept
+the child with him until he felt sure that the change would be of
+advantage to the pretty boy, then had parted from him with bitter pangs
+of heart, and thought constantly of him with longing and affection. With
+the boy, it was different. Half an hour after his father had left him and
+in grief and loneliness was rowing back to shore, Clive was at play with
+a dozen other children on the sunny deck of the ship. When two bells rang
+for their dinner, they were all hurrying to the table, busy over their
+meal, and forgetful of all but present happiness.
+
+But with that fidelity which was an instinct of his nature, Colonel
+Newcome thought ever of his absent child and longed after him. He never
+forsook the native servants who had had charge of Clive, but endowed them
+with money sufficient to make all their future lives comfortable. No
+friends went to Europe, nor ship departed, but Newcome sent presents to
+the boy and costly tokens of his love and thanks to all who were kind to
+his son. His aim was to save money for the youngster, but he was of a
+nature so generous that he spent five rupees where another would save
+them. However, he managed to lay by considerable out of his liberal
+allowances, and to find himself and Clive growing richer every year.
+
+"When Clive has had five or six years at school"--that was his
+scheme--"he will be a fine scholar, and have at least as much classical
+learning as a gentleman in the world need possess. Then I will go to
+England, and we will pass three or four years together, in which he will
+learn to be intimate with me, and, I hope, to like me. I shall be his
+pupil for Latin and Greek, and try and make up for lost time. I know
+there is nothing like a knowledge of the classics to give a man good
+breeding. I shall be able to help him with my knowledge of the world,
+and to keep him out of the way of sharpers and a pack of rogues who
+commonly infest young men. And we will travel together, first through
+England, Scotland, and Ireland, for every man should know his own
+country, and then we will make the grand tour. Then by the time he is
+eighteen he will be able to choose his profession. He can go into the
+army, or, if he prefers, the church, or the law--they are open to him;
+and when he goes to the university, by which time I shall be, in all
+probability, a major-general, I can come back to India for a few years,
+and return by the time he has a wife and a home for his old father; or,
+if I die, I shall have done the best for him, and my boy will be left
+with the best education, a tolerable small fortune, and the blessing of
+his old father."
+
+Such were the plans of the kind schemer. How fondly he dwelt on them, how
+affectionately he wrote of them to his boy! How he read books of travels
+and looked over the maps of Europe! and said, "Rome, sir, glorious Rome;
+it won't be very long, major, before my boy and I see the Colosseum, and
+kiss the Pope's toe. We shall go up the Rhine to Switzerland, and over
+the Simplon, the work of the great Napoleon. By jove, sir, think of the
+Turks before Vienna, and Sobieski clearing eighty thousand of 'em off the
+face of the earth! How my boy will rejoice in the picture galleries
+there, and in Prince Eugene's prints! The boy's talent for drawing is
+wonderful, sir, wonderful. He sent me a picture of our old school. The
+very actual thing, sir; the cloisters, the school, the head gown boy
+going in with the rods, and the doctor himself. It would make you die of
+laughing!"
+
+He regaled the ladies of the regiment with dive's letters, and those of
+Miss Honeyman, which contained an account of the boy. He even bored some
+of his hearers with this prattle; and sporting young men would give or
+take odds that the Colonel would mention Clive's name, once before five
+minutes, three times in ten minutes, twenty-five times in the course of
+dinner, and so on. But they who laughed at the Colonel laughed very
+kindly; and everybody who knew him, loved him; everybody that is, who
+loved modesty, generosity and honour.
+
+As to Clive himself, by this time he was thoroughly enjoying his new life
+in England. After remaining for a time at Doctor Timpany's school, where
+he was first placed by his aunt, Miss Honeyman, he was speedily removed
+to that classical institution in which Colonel Newcome had been a student
+in earlier days. My acquaintance with young Clive was at this school,
+Grey Friars, where our acquaintance was brief and casual. He had the
+advantage of being six years my junior, and such a difference of age
+between lads at a public school puts intimacy out of the question, even
+though we knew each other at home, as our school phrase was, and our
+families were somewhat acquainted. When Newcome's uncle, the Reverend
+Charles Honeyman, brought Newcome to the Grey Friars School, he
+recommended him to my superintendence and protection, and told me that
+his young nephew's father, Colonel Thomas Newcome, C.B., was a most
+gallant and distinguished officer in the Bengal establishment of the
+honourable East India Company; and that his uncles, the Colonel's
+half-brothers, were the eminent bankers, heads of the firm of Hobson
+Brothers & Newcome, Hobson Newcome, Esquire, Brianstone Square, and
+Marblehead, Sussex, and Sir Brian Newcome, of Newcome, and Park Lane,
+"whom to name," says Mr. Honeyman, with the fluent eloquence with which
+he decorated the commonest circumstances of life, "is to designate two of
+the merchant princes of the wealthiest city the world has ever known; and
+one, if not two, of the leaders of that aristocracy which rallies round
+the throne of the most elegant and refined of European sovereigns."
+
+I promised Mr. Honeyman to do what I could for the boy; and he proceeded
+to take leave of his little nephew in my presence in terms equally
+eloquent, pulling out a long and very slender green purse, from which he
+extracted the sum of two and sixpence, which he presented to the child,
+who received the money with rather a queer twinkle in his blue eyes.
+
+After that day's school I met my little protege in the neighbourhood of
+the pastry cook's, regaling himself with raspberry tarts. "You must not
+spend all the money, sir, which your uncle gave you," said I, "in tarts
+and ginger-beer."
+
+The urchin rubbed the raspberry jam off his mouth, and said, "It don't
+matter, sir, for I've got lots more."
+
+"How much?" says the Grand Inquisitor: for the formula of interrogation
+used to be, when a new boy came to the school, "What's your name? Who's
+your father? and how much money have you got?"
+
+The little fellow pulled such a handful of sovereigns out of his pocket
+as might have made the tallest scholar feel a pang of envy. "Uncle
+Hobson," says he, "gave me two; Aunt Hobson gave me one--no, Aunt Hobson
+gave me thirty shillings; Uncle Newcome gave me three pound; and Aunt Ann
+gave me one pound five; and Aunt Honeyman sent me ten shillings in a
+letter. And Ethel wanted to give me a pound, only I wouldn't have it, you
+know; because Ethel's younger than me, and I have plenty."
+
+"And who is Ethel?" I ask, smiling at the artless youth's confessions.
+
+"Ethel is my cousin," replied little Newcome; "Aunt Ann's daughter.
+There's Ethel and Alice, and Aunt Ann wanted the baby to be called
+Boadicea, only uncle wouldn't; and there's Barnes and Egbert and little
+Alfred, only he don't count; he's quite a baby, you know. Egbert and me
+was at school at Timpany's; he's going to Eton next half. He's older than
+me, but I can lick him."
+
+"And how old is Egbert?" asks the smiling senior.
+
+"Egbert's ten, and I'm nine, and Ethel's seven," replied the little
+chubby-faced hero, digging his hands deep into his trousers, and jingling
+all the sovereigns there. I advised him to let me be his banker; and,
+keeping one out of his many gold pieces, he handed over the others, on
+which he drew with great liberality till his whole stock was expended.
+The school hours of the upper and under boys were different at that time;
+the little fellows coming out of their hall half an hour before the Fifth
+and Sixth Forms; and many a time I used to find my little blue-jacket in
+waiting, with his honest square face, and white hair, and bright blue
+eyes, and I knew that he was come to draw on his bank. Ere long one of
+the pretty blue eyes was shut up, and a fine black one substituted in its
+place. He had been engaged, it appeared, in a pugilistic encounter with a
+giant of his own form whom he had worsted in the combat. "Didn't I pitch
+into him, that's all?" says he in the elation of victory; and, when I
+asked whence the quarrel arose, he stoutly informed me that "Wolf Minor,
+his opponent, had been bullying a little boy, and that he, the gigantic
+Newcome, wouldn't stand it."
+
+So, being called away from the school, I said "Farewell and God bless
+you," to the brave little man, who remained a while at the Grey Friars,
+where his career and troubles had only just begun, and lost sight of him
+for several years. Nor did we meet again until I was myself a young man
+occupying chambers in the Temple.
+
+Meanwhile the years of Clive's absence had slowly worn away for Colonel
+Newcome, and at last the happy time came which he had been longing more
+passionately than any prisoner for liberty, or schoolboy for holiday. The
+Colonel had taken leave of his regiment. He had travelled to Calcutta;
+and the Commander-in-Chief announced that in giving to Lieutenant-Colonel
+Thomas Newcome, of the Bengal Cavalry, leave for the first time, after no
+less than thirty-four years' absence from home, he could not refrain from
+expressing his sense of the great services of this most distinguished
+officer, who had left his regiment in a state of the highest discipline
+and efficiency.
+
+This kind Colonel had also to take leave of a score, at least, of adopted
+children to whom he chose to stand in the light of a father. He was
+forever whirling away in post-chaises to this school and that, to see
+Jack Brown's boys, of the Cavalry; or Mrs. Smith's girls, of the Civil
+Service; or poor Tom Hick's orphan, who had nobody to look after him now
+that the cholera had carried off Tom and his wife, too. On board the ship
+in which he returned from Calcutta were a dozen of little children, some
+of whom he actually escorted to their friends before he visited his own,
+though his heart was longing for his boy at Grey Friars. The children at
+the schools seen, and largely rewarded out of his bounty (his loose white
+trousers had great pockets, always heavy with gold and silver, which he
+jingled when he was not pulling his moustaches, and to see the way in
+which he tipped children made one almost long to be a boy again) and when
+he had visited Miss Pinkerton's establishment, or Doctor Ramshorn's
+adjoining academy at Chiswick, and seen little Tom Davis or little Fanny
+Holmes, the honest fellow would come home and write off straightway a
+long letter to Tom's or Fanny's parents, far away in the country, whose
+hearts he made happy by his accounts of their children, as he had
+delighted the children themselves by his affection and bounty. All the
+apple and orange-women (especially such as had babies as well as
+lollipops at their stalls), all the street-sweepers on the road between
+Nerot's and the Oriental, knew him, and were his pensioners. His brothers
+in Threadneedle Street cast up their eyes at the cheques which he drew.
+
+The Colonel had written to his brothers from Portsmouth, announcing his
+arrival, and three words to Clive, conveying the same intelligence. The
+letter was served to the boy along with one bowl of tea and one buttered
+roll, of eighty such which were distributed to fourscore other boys,
+boarders of the same house with our young friend. How the lad's face must
+have flushed and his eyes brightened when he read the news! When the
+master of the house, the Reverend Mister Popkinson, came into the
+lodging-room, with a good-natured face, and said, "Newcome, you're
+wanted," he knew who had come. He did not heed that notorious bruiser,
+old Hodge, who roared out, "Confound you, Newcome: I'll give it you for
+upsetting your tea over my new trousers." He ran to the room where the
+stranger was waiting for him. We will shut the door, if you please, upon
+that scene.
+
+If Clive had not been as fine and handsome a young lad as any in that
+school or country, no doubt his fond father would have been just as well
+pleased and endowed him with a hundred fanciful graces; but, in truth, in
+looks and manners he was everything which his parent could desire. He was
+the picture of health, strength, activity, and good-humour. He had a good
+forehead shaded with a quantity of waving light hair; a complexion which
+ladies might envy; a mouth which seemed accustomed to laughing; and a
+pair of blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence and frank kindness. No
+wonder the pleased father could not refrain from looking at him.
+
+The bell rang for second school, and Mr. Popkinson, arrayed in cap and
+gown, came in to shake Colonel Newcome by the hand, and to say he
+supposes it was to be a holiday for Newcome that day. He said not a word
+about Clive's scrape of the day before, and that awful row in the
+bedrooms, where the lad and three others were discovered making a supper
+off a pork pie and two bottles of prime old port from the Red Cow
+public-house in Grey Friars Lane.
+
+When the bell was done ringing, and all these busy little bees swarmed
+into their hive, there was a solitude in the place. The Colonel and his
+son walked the play-ground together, that gravelly flat, as destitute of
+herbage as the Arabian desert, but, nevertheless, in the language of the
+place, called the green. They walked the green, and they paced the
+cloisters, and Clive showed his father his own name of Thomas Newcome
+carved upon one of the arches forty years ago. As they talked, the boy
+gave sidelong glances at his new friend, and wondered at the Colonel's
+loose trousers, long moustaches, and yellow face. He looked very odd,
+Clive thought, very odd and very kind, and like a gentleman, every inch
+of him:--not like Martin's father, who came to see his son lately in
+highlows, and a shocking bad hat, and actually flung coppers amongst the
+boys for a scramble. He burst out a-laughing at the exquisitely ludicrous
+idea of a gentleman of his fashion scrambling for coppers.
+
+And now enjoining the boy to be ready against his return, the Colonel
+whirled away in his cab to the city to shake hands with his brothers,
+whom he had not seen since they were demure little men in blue jackets
+under charge of a serious tutor.
+
+He rushed into the banking house, broke into the parlour where the lords
+of the establishment were seated, and astonished these trim, quiet
+gentlemen by the warmth of his greeting, by the vigour of his handshake,
+and the loud tones of his voice, which might actually be heard by the
+busy clerks in the hall without. He knew Bryan from Hobson at once--that
+unlucky little accident in the go-cart having left its mark forever on
+the nose of Sir Bryan Newcome. He had a bald head and light hair, a short
+whisker cut to his cheek, a buff waistcoat, very neat boots and hands,
+and was altogether dignified, bland, smiling, and statesmanlike.
+
+Hobson Newcome, Esquire, was more portly than his elder brother, and
+allowed his red whiskers to grow on his cheeks and under his chin. He
+wore thick shoes with nails in them, and affected the country gentleman
+in his appearance. His hat had a broad brim, and his ample pockets always
+contained agricultural produce, samples of bean or corn, or a whiplash or
+balls for horses. In fine, he was a good old country gentleman, and a
+better man of business than his more solemn brother, at whom he laughed
+in his jocular way; and said rightly that a gentleman must get up very
+early to get ahead of him.
+
+These gentlemen each received the Colonel in a manner consistent with his
+peculiar nature. Sir Bryan regretted that Lady Ann was away from London,
+being at Brighton with the children, who were all ill of the measles.
+Hobson said, "Maria can't treat you to such good company as Lady Ann
+could give you; but when will you take a day and come and dine with us?
+Let's see, to-day is Wednesday; to-morrow we are engaged. Friday, we dine
+at Judge Budge's; Saturday I am going down to Marblehead to look after
+the hay. Come on Monday, Tom, and I'll introduce you to the missus and
+the young uns."
+
+"I will bring Clive," says Colonel Newcome, rather disturbed at this
+reception. "After his illness my sister-in-law was very kind to him."
+
+"No, hang it, don't bring boys; there's no good in boys; they stop the
+talk downstairs, and the ladies don't want 'em in the drawing-room. Send
+him to dine with the children on Sunday, if you like, and come along down
+with me to Marblehead, and I'll show you such a crop of hay as will make
+your eyes open. Are you fond of farming?"
+
+"I have not seen my boy for years," says the Colonel; "I had rather pass
+Saturday and Sunday with him, if you please, and some day we will go to
+Marblehead together."
+
+"Well, an offer's an offer. I don't know any pleasanter thing than
+getting out of this confounded city and smelling the hedges, and looking
+at the crops coming up, and passing the Sunday in quiet." And his own
+tastes being thus agricultural, the worthy gentleman thought that
+everybody else must delight in the same recreation.
+
+"In the winter, I hope, we shall see you at Newcome," says the elder
+brother, blandly smiling. "I can't give you any tiger-shooting, but I'll
+promise you that you shall find plenty of pheasants in our jungle," and
+he laughed very gently at this mild sally.
+
+At this moment a fair-haired young gentleman, languid and pale, and
+dressed in the height of fashion, made his appearance and was introduced
+as the Baronet's oldest son, Barnes Newcome. He returned Colonel
+Newcome's greeting with a smile, saying, "Very happy to see you, I am
+sure. You find London very much changed since you were here? Very good
+time to come, the very full of the season."
+
+Poor Thomas Newcome was quite abashed by his strange reception. Here was
+a man, hungry for affection, and one relation asked him to dinner next
+Monday, and another invited him to shoot pheasants at Christmas. Here was
+a beardless young sprig, who patronised him and asked him whether he
+found London was changed. As soon as possible he ended the interview with
+his step-brothers, and drove back to Ludgate Hill, where he dismissed his
+cab and walked across the muddy pavements of Smithfield, on his way back
+to the old school where his son was, a way which he had trodden many a
+time in his own early days. There was Cistercian Street, and the Red Cow
+of his youth; there was the quaint old Grey Friars Square, with its
+blackened trees and garden, surrounded by ancient houses of the build of
+the last century, now slumbering like pensioners in the sunshine.
+
+Under the great archway of the hospital he could look at the old Gothic
+building; and a black-gowned pensioner or two crawling over the quiet
+square, or passing from one dark arch to another. The boarding-houses of
+the school were situated in the square, hard by the more ancient
+buildings of the hospital. A great noise of shouting, crying, clapping
+forms and cupboards, treble voices, bass voices, poured out of the
+schoolboys' windows; their life, bustle, and gaiety contrasted strangely
+with the quiet of those old men, creeping along in their black gowns
+under the ancient arches yonder, whose struggle of life was over, whose
+hope and noise and bustle had sunk into that grey calm. There was Thomas
+Newcome arrived at the middle of life, standing between the shouting boys
+and the tottering seniors and in a situation to moralise upon both, had
+not his son Clive, who espied him, come jumping down the steps to greet
+his sire. Clive was dressed in his very best; not one of those four
+hundred young gentlemen had a better figure, a better tailor, or a neater
+boot. Schoolfellows, grinning through the bars, envied him as he walked
+away; senior boys made remarks on Colonel Newcome's loose clothes and
+long moustaches, his brown hands and unbrushed hat. The Colonel was
+smoking a cheroot as he walked; and the gigantic Smith, the cock of the
+school, who happened to be looking majestically out of the window, was
+pleased to say that he thought Newcome's governor was a fine
+manly-looking fellow.
+
+"Tell me about your uncles, Clive," said the Colonel, as they walked on
+arm in arm.
+
+"What about them, sir?" asks the boy. "I don't think I know much."
+
+"You have been to stay with them. You wrote about them. Were they
+kind to you?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I suppose they are very kind. They always tipped me: only you
+know when I go there I scarcely ever see them. Mr. Newcome asks me the
+oftenest--two or three times a quarter when he's in town, and gives me a
+sovereign regular."
+
+"Well, he must see you to give you the sovereign," says Clive's
+father, laughing.
+
+The boy blushed rather.
+
+"Yes. When it's time to go back to Smithfield on a Saturday night, I go
+into the dining-room to shake hands, and he gives it to me; but he don't
+speak to me much, you know, and I don't care about going to Bryanstone
+Square, except for the tip (of course that's important), because I am
+made to dine with the children, and they are quite little ones; and a
+great cross French governess, who is always crying and shrieking after
+them, and finding fault with them. My uncle generally has his dinner
+parties on Saturday, or goes out; and aunt gives me ten shillings and
+sends me to the play; that's better fun than a dinner party." Here the
+lad blushed again. "I used," said he, "when I was younger, to stand on
+the stairs and prig things out of the dishes when they came out from
+dinner, but I'm past that now. Maria (that's my cousin) used to take the
+sweet things and give 'em to the governess. Fancy! she used to put lumps
+of sugar into her pocket and eat them in the schoolroom! Uncle Hobson
+don't live in such good society as Uncle Newcome. You see, Aunt Hobson,
+she's very kind, you know, and all that, but I don't think she's what you
+call _comme il faut_"
+
+"Why, how are you to judge?" asks the father, amused at the lad's candid
+prattle, "and where does the difference lie?"
+
+"I can't tell you what it is, or how it is," the boy answered, "only one
+can't help seeing the difference. It isn't rank and that: only somehow
+there are some men gentlemen and some not, and some women ladies and some
+not. There's Jones now, the fifth-form master, every man sees he's a
+gentleman, though he wears ever so old clothes; and there's Mr. Brown,
+who oils his hair, and wears rings, and white chokers--my eyes! such
+white chokers!--and yet we call him the handsome snob! And so about Aunt
+Maria, she's very handsome and she's very finely dressed, only somehow
+she's not the ticket, you see."
+
+"Oh, she's not the ticket?" says the Colonel, much amused.
+
+"Well, what I mean is--but never mind," says the boy. "I can't tell you
+what I mean. I don't like to make fun of her, you know, for after all
+she's very kind to me; but Aunt Ann is different, and it seems as if what
+she says is more natural; and though she has funny ways of her own, too,
+yet somehow she looks grander,"--and here the lad laughed again. "And do
+you know, I often think that as good a lady as Aunt Ann herself, is old
+Aunt Honeyman at Brighton--that is, in all essentials, you know? And she
+is not a bit ashamed of letting lodgings, or being poor herself, as
+sometimes I think some of our family--"
+
+"I thought we were going to speak no ill of them," says the
+Colonel, smiling.
+
+"Well, it only slipped out unawares," says Clive, laughing, "but at
+Newcome when they go on about the Newcomes, and that great ass, Barnes
+Newcome, gives himself his airs, it makes me die of laughing. That time I
+went down to Newcome I went to see old Aunt Sarah, and she told me
+everything, and do you know, I was a little hurt at first, for I thought
+we were swells till then? And when I came back to school, where perhaps I
+had been giving myself airs, and bragging about Newcome, why, you know, I
+thought it was right to tell the fellows."
+
+"That's a man," said the Colonel, with delight; though had he said,
+"That's a boy," he had spoken more correctly. "That's a man," cried the
+Colonel; "never be ashamed of your father, Clive."
+
+"_Ashamed of my father_!" says Clive, looking up to him, and walking on
+as proud as a peacock. "I say," the lad resumed, after a pause--
+
+"Say what you say," said the father.
+
+"Is that all true what's in the Peerage--in the Baronetage, about Uncle
+Newcome and Newcome; about the Newcome who was burned at Smithfield;
+about the one that was at the battle of Bosworth; and the old, old
+Newcome who was bar--that is, who was surgeon to Edward the Confessor,
+and was killed at Hastings? I am afraid it isn't; and yet I should like
+it to be true."
+
+"I think every man would like to come of an ancient and honourable race,"
+said the Colonel in his honest way. "As you like your father to be an
+honourable man, why not your grandfather, and his ancestors before him?
+But if we can't inherit a good name, at least we can do our best to leave
+one, my boy; and that is an ambition which, please God., you and I will
+both hold by."
+
+With this simple talk the old and young gentleman beguiled their way,
+until they came into the western quarter of the town, where Hobson
+Newcome lived in a handsome and roomy mansion. Colonel Newcome was bent
+on paying a visit to his sister-in-law, although as they waited to be let
+in they could not but remark through the opened windows of the
+dining-room that a great table was laid and every preparation was made
+for a feast.
+
+"My brother said he was engaged to dinner to-day," said the Colonel.
+
+"Does Mrs. Newcome give parties when he is away?"
+
+"She invites all the company," answered Clive. "My uncle never asks any
+one without aunt's leave."
+
+The Colonel's countenance fell. "He has a great dinner, and does not ask
+his own brother!" Newcome thought. "Why, if he had come to India with all
+his family, he might have stayed for a year, and I should have been
+offended had he gone elsewhere."
+
+A hot menial in a red waistcoat came and opened the door, and without
+waiting for preparatory queries said, "Not at home."
+
+"It's my father, John," said Clive. "My aunt will see Colonel Newcome."
+
+"Missis is not at home," said the man. "Missis is gone in carriage--Not
+at this door!--Take them things down the area steps, young man!"
+
+This latter speech was addressed to a pastry cook's boy with a large
+sugar temple and many conical papers containing delicacies for
+dessert. "Mind the hice is here in time; or there'll be a blow-up with
+your governor,"--and John struggled back, closing the door on the
+astonished Colonel.
+
+"Upon my life, they actually shut the door in our faces," said the poor
+gentleman.
+
+"The man is very busy, sir. There's a great dinner. I'm sure my aunt
+would not refuse you," Clive interposed. "She is very kind. I suppose
+it's different here from what it is in India. There are the children in
+the Square,--those are the girls in blue,--that's the French governess,
+the one with the yellow parasol. How d'ye do, Mary? How d'ye do, Fanny?
+This is my father,--this is your uncle."
+
+The Colonel surveyed his little nieces with that kind expression which
+his face always wore when it was turned toward children.
+
+"Have you heard of your uncle in India?" he asked them.
+
+"No," says Maria.
+
+"Yes," says Fannie. "You know mademoiselle said that if we were naughty
+we should be sent to our uncle in India. I think I should like to go
+with you."
+
+"Oh, you silly child!" cries Maria.
+
+"Yes, I should, if Clive went, too," says little Fanny.
+
+"Behold madame, who arrives from her promenade!" mademoiselle exclaimed,
+and, turning round, Colonel Newcome beheld, for the first time, his
+sister-in-law, a stout lady with fair hair and a fine bonnet and a
+pelisse, who was reclining in her barouche with the scarlet plush
+garments of her domestics blazing before and behind her.
+
+Clive ran towards his aunt. She bent over the carriage languidly towards
+him. She liked him. "What, you, Clive!" she said, "How come you away from
+school of a Thursday, sir?"
+
+"It is a holiday," said he. "My father is come; and he is come to see
+you."
+
+She bowed her head with an expression of affable surprise and majestic
+satisfaction. "Indeed, Clive!" she exclaimed, and the Colonel stepped
+forward and took off his hat and bowed and stood bareheaded. She surveyed
+him blandly, and put forward a little hand, saying, "You have only
+arrived to-day, and you came to see me? That was very kind. Have you had
+a pleasant voyage? These are two of my girls. My boys are at school. I
+shall be so glad to introduce them to their uncle. _This_ naughty boy
+might never have seen you, but that we took him home after the scarlet
+fever, and made him well, didn't we Clive? And we are all very fond of
+him, and you must not be jealous of his love for his aunt. We feel that
+we quite know you through him, and we know that you know us, and we hope
+you will like us. Do you think your papa will like us, Clive? Or, perhaps
+you will like Lady Ann best? Yes; you have been to her first, of course?
+Not been? Oh! because she is not in town." Leaning fondly on Clive's
+arm, mademoiselle standing with the children hard by, while John with his
+hat off stood at the opened door, Mrs. Newcome slowly uttered the above
+remarkable remarks to the Colonel, on the threshold of her house, which
+she never asked him to pass.
+
+"If you will come in to us about ten this evening," she then said, "you
+will find some men not undistinguished, who honour me of an evening.
+Perhaps they will be interesting to you, Colonel Newcome, as you are
+newly arriven in Europe. A stranger coming to London could scarcely have
+a better opportunity of seeing some of our great illustrations of science
+and literature. We have a few friends at dinner, and now I must go in and
+consult with my housekeeper. Good-bye for the present. Mind, not later
+than ten, as Mr. Newcome must be up betimes in the morning, and _our_
+parties break up early. When Clive is a little older I dare say we shall
+see him, too. Goodbye!"
+
+And again the Colonel was favoured with a shake of the hand, and the lady
+sailed up the stair, and passed in at the door, with not the faintest
+idea but that the hospitality which she was offering to her kinsman was
+of the most cordial and pleasant kind.
+
+Having met Colonel Newcome on the steps of her house, she ordered him to
+come to her evening party; and though he had not been to an evening party
+for five and thirty years--though he had not been to bed the night
+before--he never once thought of disobeying Mrs. Newcome's order, but was
+actually at her door at five minutes past ten, having arrayed himself, to
+the wonderment of Clive, and left the boy to talk to Mr. Binnie, a friend
+and fellow-passenger, who had just arrived from Portsmouth, who had
+dined with him, and taken up his quarters at the same hotel.
+
+Well, then, the Colonel is launched in English society of an intellectual
+order, and mighty dull he finds it. During two hours of desultory
+conversation and rather meagre refreshments, the only bright spot is his
+meeting with Charles Honeyman, his dead wife's brother, whom he was
+mighty glad to see. Except for this meeting there was little to entertain
+the Colonel, and as soon as possible he and Honeyman walked away
+together, the Colonel returning to his hotel, where he found his friend
+James Binnie installed in his room in the best arm-chair,
+sleeping-cosily, but he woke up briskly when the Colonel entered. "It is
+you, you gadabout, is it?" cried Binnie. "See what it is to have a real
+friend now, Colonel! I waited for you, because I knew you would want to
+talk about that scapegrace of yours."
+
+"Isn't he a fine fellow, James?" says the Colonel, lighting a cheroot as
+he sits on the table. Was it joy, or the bedroom candle with which he
+lighted his cigar, which illuminated his honest features so, and made
+them so to shine?
+
+"I have been occupied, sir, in taking the lad's moral measurement: and I
+have pumped him as successfully as ever I cross-examined a rogue in my
+court. I place his qualities thus:--Love of approbation, sixteen.
+Benevolence, fourteen. Combativeness, fourteen. Adhesiveness, two.
+Amativeness is not yet of course fully developed, but I expect will be
+prodigiously strong. The imaginative and reflective organs are very
+large; those of calculation weak. He may make a poet or a painter, or you
+may make a sojor of him, though worse men than him's good enough for
+that--but a bad merchant, a lazy lawyer, and a miserable mathematician.
+My opinion, Colonel, is that young scapegrace will give you a deal of
+trouble; or would, only you are so absurdly proud of him, and you think
+everything he does is perfection. He'll spend your money for you; he'll
+do as little work as need be. He'll get into scrapes with the sax. He's
+almost as simple as his father, and that is to say that any rogue will
+cheat him; and he seems to me to have your obstinate habit of telling the
+truth, Colonel, which may prevent his getting on in the world; but on the
+other hand will keep him from going very wrong. So that, though there is
+every fear for him, there's some hope and some consolation."
+
+"What do you think of his Latin and Greek?" asked the Colonel. Before
+going out to his party Newcome had laid a deep scheme with Binnie, and it
+had been agreed that the latter should examine the young fellow in his
+humanities.
+
+"Wall," cries the Scot, "I find that the lad knows as much about Greek
+and Latin as I knew myself when I was eighteen years of age."
+
+"My dear Binnie, is it possible? You, the best scholar in all India!"
+
+"And which amounted to exactly nothing. By the admirable seestem purshood
+at your public schools, just about as much knowledge as he could get by
+three months' application at home. Mind ye, I don't say he would apply;
+it is most probable he would do no such thing. But, at the cost of--how
+much? two hundred pounds annually--for five years--he has acquired about
+five and twenty guineas' worth of classical leeterature--enough, I dare
+say, to enable him to quote Horace respectably through life, and what
+more do you want from a young man of his expectations? I think I should
+send him into the army, that's the best place for him--there's the least
+to do and the handsomest clothes to wear," says the little wag, daintily
+taking up the tail of his friend's coat. "In earnest now, Tom Newcome, I
+think your boy is as fine a lad as I ever set eyes on. He seems to have
+intelligence and good temper. He carries his letter of recommendation in
+his countenance; and with the honesty--and the rupees, mind ye,--which he
+inherits from his father, the deuce is in it if he can't make his way.
+What time's the breakfast? Eh, but it was a comfort this morning not to
+hear the holystoning on the deck. We ought to go into lodgings, and not
+fling our money out of the window of this hotel. We must make the young
+chap take us about and show us the town in the morning, eh, Colonel?"
+
+With this the jolly gentleman nodded over his candle to his friend, and
+trotted off to bed.
+
+The Colonel and his friend were light sleepers and early risers. The next
+morning when Binnie entered the sitting-room he found the Colonel had
+preceded him. "Hush," says the Colonel, putting a long finger up to his
+mouth, and advancing towards him as noiselessly as a ghost.
+
+"What's in the wind now?" asks the little Scot; "and what for have ye not
+got your shoes on?"
+
+"Clive's asleep," says the Colonel, with a countenance full of
+extreme anxiety.
+
+"The darling boy slumbers, does he?" said the wag. "Mayn't I just step in
+and look at his beautiful countenance whilst he's asleep, Colonel?"
+
+"You may if you take off those confounded creaking, shoes," the other
+answered, quite gravely: and Binnie turned away to hide his jolly round
+face, which was screwed up with laughter.
+
+"Have ye been breathing a prayer over your rosy infant's slumbers, Tom?"
+asks Mr. Binnie.
+
+"And if I have, James Binnie," the Colonel said gravely, and his sallow
+face blushing somewhat, "if I have I hope I've done no harm. The last
+time I saw him asleep was nine years ago, a sickly little pale-faced
+boy, in his little cot, and now, sir, that I see him again, strong and
+handsome and all that a fond father can wish to see a boy, I should be an
+ungrateful villain, James, if I didn't do what you said just now, and
+thank God Almighty for restoring him to me."
+
+Binnie did not laugh any more. "By George! Tom Newcome," said he, "you're
+just one of the saints of the earth. If all men were like you there'd be
+an end of both our trades; and there would be no fighting and no
+soldiering, no rogues, and no magistrates to catch them." The Colonel
+wondered at his friend's enthusiasm, who was not used to be
+complimentary; indeed what so usual with him as that simple act of
+gratitude and devotion about which his comrade spoke to him? To ask a
+blessing for his boy was as natural to him as to wake with the sunrise,
+or to go to rest when the day was over. His first and his last thought
+was always the child.
+
+The two gentlemen were home in time enough to find Clive dressed, and his
+uncle arrived for breakfast. The Colonel said a grace over that meal; the
+life was begun which he had longed and prayed for, and the son smiling
+before his eyes who had been in his thoughts for so many fond years.
+
+If my memory serves me right it was at about this time that I, the humble
+biographer of Mr. Clive Newcome's life, met him again for the first time
+since my school days at Grey Friars.
+
+Going to the play one night with some fellows of my own age, and laughing
+enthusiastically at the farce, we became naturally hungry at midnight,
+and a desire for Welch Rabbits and good old glee-singing led us to the
+"Cave of Harmony," then kept by the celebrated Hoskins, with whom we
+enjoyed such intimacy that he never failed to greet us with a kind nod.
+We also knew the three admirable glee-singers. It happened that there was
+a very small attendance at the "Cave" that night, and we were all more
+sociable and friendly because the company was select. The songs were
+chiefly of the sentimental class; such ditties were much in vogue at the
+time of which I speak.
+
+There came into the "Cave" a gentleman with a lean brown face and long
+black moustaches, dressed in very loose clothes, and evidently a stranger
+to the place. At least he had not visited it for a long time. He was
+pointing out changes to a lad who was in his company; and, calling for
+sherry and water, he listened to the music, and twirled his moustaches
+with great enthusiasm.
+
+At the very first glimpse of me the boy jumped up from the table, bounded
+across the room, ran to me with his hands out, and, blushing, said,
+"Don't you know me?"
+
+It was little Newcome, my school-fellow, whom I had not seen for six
+years, grown a fine tall young stripling now, with the same bright blue
+eyes which I remembered when he was quite a little boy.
+
+"What the deuce brings you here?" said I.
+
+He laughed and looked roguish. "My father--that's my father--would come.
+He's just come back from India. He says all the wits used to come here. I
+told him your name, and that you used to be very kind to me when I first
+went to Smithfield. I've left now: I'm to have a private tutor. I say,
+I've got such a jolly pony. It's better fun than old Smiffle."
+
+Here the whiskered gentleman, Newcome's father, strode across the room
+twirling his moustaches, and came up to the table where we sat, making a
+salutation with his hat in a very stately and polite manner, so that
+Hoskins himself felt obliged to bow; the glee-singers murmured among
+themselves, and that mischievous little wag, little Nadab the
+Improvisatore, began to mimic him, feeling his imaginary whiskers, after
+the manner of the stranger, and flapping about his pocket-handkerchief in
+the most ludicrous manner. Hoskins checked this sternly, looking towards
+Nadab, and at the same time calling upon the gents to give their orders.
+
+Newcome's father came up and held out his hand to me, and he spoke in a
+voice so soft and pleasant, and with a cordiality so simple and sincere,
+that my laughter shrank away ashamed; and gave place to a feeling much
+more respectful and friendly.
+
+"I have heard of your kindness, sir," says he, "to my boy. And whoever is
+kind to him is kind to me. Will you allow me to sit down by you? And may
+I beg you to try my cheroots?" We were friends in a minute, young Newcome
+snuggling by my side, his father opposite, to whom, after a minute or two
+of conversation, I presented my three college friends.
+
+"You have come here, gentlemen, to see the wits," says the Colonel. "Are
+there any celebrated persons in the room? I have been five and thirty
+years from home, and want to see all there is to be seen."
+
+King of Corpus (who was an incorrigible wag) was about to point out a
+half dozen of people in the room, as the most celebrated wits of that
+day; but I cut King's shins under the table, and got the fellow to hold
+his tongue, while Jones wrote on his card to Hoskins, hinted to him that
+a boy was in the room, and a gentleman who was quite a greenhorn: hence
+that the songs had better be carefully selected.
+
+And so they were. A lady's school might have come in, and have taken no
+harm by what happened. It was worth a guinea to see the simple Colonel
+and his delight at the music. He forgot all about the distinguished wits
+whom he had expected to see, in his pleasure over the glees, and joined
+in all the choruses with an exceedingly sweet voice.
+
+And now young Nadab commenced one of those surprising feats of
+Improvisation with which he used to charm audiences. He took us all off
+and had rhymes pat about all the principal persons in the room; when he
+came to the Colonel himself, he burst out--
+
+A military gent I see, and while his face I scan,
+I think you'll all agree with me he came from Hindostan.
+And by his side sits laughing free a youth with curly head,
+I think you'll all agree with me that he was best in bed.
+Ritolderol, etc., etc.
+
+The Colonel laughed immensely at this sally, and clapped his son, young
+Clive, on the shoulder. "Hear what he says of you, sir? Clive, best be
+off to bed, my boy--ho, ho! No, no. We know a trick worth two of that.
+'We won't go home till morning, till daylight does appear.' Why should
+we? Why shouldn't my boy have innocent pleasure? I was allowed none when
+I was a young chap, and the severity was nearly the ruin of me. I must go
+and speak with that young man--the most astonishing thing I ever heard in
+my life. What's his name? Mr. Nadab? Mr. Nadab; sir, you have delighted
+me. May I make so free as to ask you to come and dine with me to-morrow
+at six. I am always proud to make the acquaintance of men of genius, and
+you are one or my name is not Newcome!"
+
+"Sir, you do me the Honour," says Mr. Nadab, "and perhaps the day will
+come when the world will do me justice,--may I put down your Honoured
+name for my book of poems?"
+
+"Of course, my dear sir," says the enthusiastic Colonel, "I'll send them
+all over India. Put me down for six copies and do me the favour to bring
+them to-morrow when you come to dinner."
+
+And now Mr. Hoskins, asking if any gentleman would volunteer a song, what
+was our amazement when the simple Colonel offered to sing himself, at
+which the room applauded vociferously; whilst methought poor Clive
+Newcome hung down his head, and blushed as red as a peony.
+
+The Colonel selected the ditty of "Wapping Old Stairs," which charming
+old song he sang so pathetically that even the professional gentlemen
+buzzed a sincere applause, and some wags who were inclined to jeer at the
+beginning of the performance, clinked their glasses and rapped their
+sticks with quite a respectful enthusiasm. When the song was over, Clive
+held up his head too; looked round with surprise and pleasure in his
+eyes; and we, I need not say, backed our friend, delighted to see him
+come out of his queer scrape so triumphantly. The Colonel bowed and
+smiled with very pleasant good-nature at our plaudits. There was
+something touching in the naivetée and kindness of the placid and simple
+gentleman.
+
+Whilst the Colonel had been singing his ballad there had come into the
+room a gentleman, by name Captain Costigan, who was in his usual
+condition at this hour of the night. Holding on by various tables, he had
+sidled up without accident to himself or any of the jugs and glasses
+round about him, to the table where we sat, and seated himself warbling
+the refrain of the Colonel's song. Then having procured a glass of
+whiskey and water he gave what he called one of his prime songs. The
+unlucky wretch, who scarcely knew what he was doing or saying, selected
+the most offensive song in his repertoire. At the end of the second verse
+the Colonel started up, clapping on his hat, seizing his stick, and
+looking ferocious. "Silence!" he roared out.
+
+"Hear, hear!" cried certain wags at a farther table. "Go on, Costigan!"
+said others.
+
+"Go on!" cries the Colonel in his high voice, trembling with anger. "Does
+any gentleman say go on? Does any man who has a wife and sisters or
+children at home, say go on? Do you dare, sir, to call yourself a
+gentleman, and to say that you hold the King's commission, and to sit
+amongst Christians and men of honour, and defile the ears of young boys
+with this wicked balderdash?"
+
+"Why do you bring young boys here, old boy?" cries a voice of the
+malcontents.
+
+"Why? Because I thought I was coming to a society of gentlemen," cried
+out the indignant Colonel. "Because I never could have believed that
+Englishmen could meet together and allow a man, and an old man, so to
+disgrace himself. For shame, you old wretch! Go home to your bed, you
+hoary old sinner! And for my part, I'm not sorry that my son should see,
+for once in his life, to what shame and degradation and dishonour,
+drunkenness and whiskey may bring a man. Never mind the change,
+sir!--Curse the change!" says the Colonel, facing the amazed waiter.
+"Keep it till you see me in this place again; which will be never--by
+George, never!" And shouldering his stick, and scowling round at the
+company of scared bacchanalians, the indignant gentleman stalked away,
+his boy after him.
+
+Clive seemed rather shamedfaced, but I fear the rest of the company
+looked still more foolish. For if the truth be told that uplifted cane
+of the Colonel's had somehow fallen on the back of every man in the room.
+
+While Clive and his father are becoming better acquainted let us pass on
+to Brighton, and glance at the household of that good, brisk old lady,
+Clive's Aunt Honeyman. Now Aunt Honeyman was a woman of spirit and
+resolution, and when she found her income sadly diminished by financial
+reverses she brought her furniture to Brighton, also a faithful maid
+servant who had learned her letters and worked her first sampler under
+Miss Honeyman's own eye, and whom she adored all through her life. With
+this outfit the brisk little lady took a house, and let the upper floors
+to lodgers, and because of her personal attractions and her good
+housekeeping her rooms were seldom empty.
+
+On the morning when we first visit Miss Honeyman's a gentleman had just
+applied there for rooms. "Please to speak to mistress," says Hannah, the
+maid, opening the parlour door with a curtsey. "A gentleman about the
+apartments, mum."
+
+"Fife bet-rooms," says the man entering. "Six bets, two or dree
+sitting-rooms? We gome from Dr. Good-enough."
+
+"Are the apartments for you, sir?" says Miss Honeyman, looking up at the
+large gentleman.
+
+"For my lady," answers the man.
+
+"Had you not better take off your hat?" asks Miss Honeyman.
+
+The man grins and takes off his hat. Whereupon Miss Honeyman, having
+heard also that a German's physician has especially recommended Miss
+Honeyman's as a place in which one of his patients can have a change of
+air and scene, informs the man that she can let his mistress have the
+desired number of apartments. The man reports to his mistress, who
+descends to inspect the apartments, and pronounces them exceedingly neat
+and pleasant and exactly what are wanted. The baggage is forthwith
+ordered to be brought from the carriages. The little invalid, wrapped in
+his shawl, is carried upstairs as gently as possible, while the young
+ladies, the governess, the maids, are shown to their apartments. The
+eldest young lady, a slim black-haired young lass of thirteen, frisks
+about the rooms, looks at all the pictures, runs in and out of the
+veranda, tries the piano, and bursts out laughing at its wheezy jingle.
+She also kisses her languid little brother laid on the sofa, and performs
+a hundred gay and agile motions suited to her age.
+
+"Oh, what a piano! Why, it is as cracked as Miss Quigley's voice!"
+
+"My dear!" says mamma. The little languid boy bursts out into a
+jolly laugh.
+
+"What funny pictures, mamma! Action with Count de Grasse; the death of
+General Wolfe; a portrait of an officer, an old officer in blue, like
+grandpapa; Brasenose College, Oxford; what a funny name."
+
+At the idea of Brasenose College, another laugh comes from the invalid.
+"I suppose they've all got _brass noses_ there," he says; and he explodes
+at this joke. The poor little laugh ends in a cough, and mamma's
+travelling basket, which contains everything, produces a bottle of syrup,
+labelled "Master A. Newcome. A teaspoonful to be taken when the cough is
+troublesome."
+
+"Oh, the delightful sea! the blue, the fresh, the ever free," sings the
+young lady, with a shake. "How much better is this than going home and
+seeing those horrid factories and chimneys! I love Dr. Goodenough for
+sending us here. What a sweet house it is. What nice rooms!"
+
+Presently little Miss Honeyman makes her appearance in a large cap
+bristling with ribbons, with her best chestnut front and her best black
+silk gown, on which her gold watch shines very splendidly. She curtseys
+with dignity to her lodger, who vouchsafes a very slight inclination of
+the head, saying that the apartments will do very well.
+
+"And they have such a beautiful view of the sea!" cries Ethel.
+
+"As if all the houses hadn't a view of the sea, Ethel! The price has been
+arranged, I think? My servants will require a comfortable room to dine
+in--by themselves mam, if you please. My governess and the younger
+children will dine together. My daughter dines with me--and my little
+boy's dinner will be ready at two o'clock precisely if you please. It is
+now near one."
+
+"Am I to understand--?" interposed Miss Honeyman.
+
+"Oh! I have no doubt we shall understand each other, mam," cried Lady Ann
+Newcome, for it was no other than that noble person, with her children,
+who had invaded the precincts of Miss Honeyman's home. "Dr. Goodenough
+has given me a most satisfactory account of you--more satisfactory,
+perhaps, than you are aware of. Breakfast and tea, if you please, will be
+served in the same manner as dinner, and you will have the kindness to
+order fresh milk every morning for my little boy--ass's milk. Dr.
+Goodenough has ordered ass's milk. Anything further I want I will
+communicate through the man who first spoke to you--and that will do."
+
+A heavy shower of rain was descending at this moment, and little Miss
+Honeyman, looking at her lodger, who had sat down and taken up her book,
+said, "Have your ladyship's servants unpacked your trunks?"
+
+"What on earth, madam, have you--has that to do with the question?"
+
+"They will be put to the trouble of packing again, I fear. I cannot
+provide--three times five are fifteen--fifteen separate meals for seven
+persons--besides those of my own family. If your servants cannot eat
+with mine, or in my kitchen, they and their mistress must go elsewhere.
+And the sooner the better, madam, the sooner the better!" says Miss
+Honeyman, trembling with indignation, and sitting down in a chair,
+spreading her silks.
+
+"Do you know who I am?" asks Lady Ann, rising.
+
+"Perfectly well, madam," says the other, "And had I known, you should
+never have come into my house, that's more."
+
+"Madam!" cries the lady, on which the poor little invalid, scared and
+nervous, and hungry for his dinner, began to cry from his sofa.
+
+"It will be a pity that the dear little boy should be disturbed. Dear
+little child, I have often heard of him, and of you, miss," says the
+little householder, rising. "I will get you some dinner, my dear, for
+Clive's sake. And meanwhile your ladyship will have the kindness to seek
+for some other apartments--for not a bit shall my fire cook for any one
+else of your company." And with this the indignant little landlady sailed
+out of the room.
+
+"Gracious goodness! Who is the woman?" cries Lady Ann. "I never was so
+insulted in my life."
+
+"Oh, mamma, it was you began!" says downright Ethel. "That is--Hush,
+Alfred dear,--Hush my darling!"
+
+"Oh, it was mamma began! I'm so hungry! I'm so hungry!" howled the little
+man on the sofa, or off it rather, for he was now down on the ground
+kicking away the shawls which enveloped him.
+
+"What is it, my boy? What is it, my blessed darling? You _shall_ have
+your dinner! Give her all, Ethel. There are the keys of my desk, there's
+my watch, there are my rings. Let her take my all. The monster! The child
+must live! It can't go away in such a storm as this. Give me a cloak, a
+parasol, anything--I'll go forth and get a lodging. I'll beg my bread
+from house to house, if this fiend refuses me. Eat the biscuits, dear! A
+little of the syrup, Alfred darling; it's very nice, love, and come to
+your old mother--your poor old mother."
+
+Alfred roared out, "No, it's not n--ice; it's n-a-a-sty! I won't have
+syrup. I _will_ have dinner." The mother, whose embraces the child
+repelled with infantine kicks, plunged madly at the bells, rang them all
+four vehemently, and ran downstairs towards the parlour, whence Miss
+Honeyman was issuing.
+
+The good lady had not at first known the names of her lodgers, until one
+of the nurses intrusted with the care of Master Alfred's dinner informed
+her that she was entertaining Lady Ann Newcome; and that the pretty girl
+was the fair Miss Ethel; the little sick boy, the little Alfred of whom
+his cousin spoke, and of whom Clive had made a hundred little drawings in
+his rude way, as he drew everybody. Then bidding Sally run off to St.
+James Street for a chicken, she saw it put on the spit, and prepared a
+bread sauce, and composed a batter-pudding, as she only knew how to make
+batter puddings. Then she went to array herself in her best clothes, as
+we have seen; then she came to wait upon Lady Ann, not a little flurried
+as to the result of that queer interview; then she whisked out of the
+drawing-room, as before has been shown; and, finding the chicken roasted
+to a turn, the napkin and tray ready spread by Hannah the neat-handed,
+she was bringing them up to the little patient when the frantic parent
+met her on the stair.
+
+"Is it--is it for my child?" cried Lady Ann, reeling against the
+bannister.
+
+"Yes, it's for the child," says Miss Honeyman, tossing up her head. "But
+nobody else has anything in the house."
+
+"God bless you! God bless you! A mother's bl--l-ess-ings go with you,"
+gurgled the lady, who was not, it must be confessed, a woman of strong
+moral character.
+
+It was good to see the little man eating the fowl. Ethel, who had never
+cut anything in her young existence, except her fingers now and then with
+her brother's and her governess's penknives, bethought her of asking Miss
+Honeyman to carve the chicken. Lady Ann, with clasped hands and streaming
+eyes, sat looking on at the ravishing scene.
+
+"Why did you not let us know you were Clive's aunt?" Ethel asked, putting
+out her hand. The old lady took hers very kindly, and said, "Because you
+didn't give me time,--and do you love Clive, my dear?"
+
+The reconciliation between Miss Honeyman and her lodger was perfect, and
+for a brief season Lady Ann Newcome was in rapture with her new lodgings
+and every person and thing which they contained. The drawing-rooms were
+fitted with the greatest taste; the dinner was exquisite; were there ever
+such delicious veal cutlets, such fresh French beans?
+
+"Indeed they were very good," said Miss Ethel, "I am so glad you like the
+house, and Clive, and Miss Honeyman."
+
+Ethel's mother was constantly falling in love with new acquaintances; so
+these raptures were no novelty to her daughter. Ethel had had so many
+governesses, all darlings during the first week, and monsters afterwards,
+that the poor child possessed none of the accomplishments of her age.
+She could not play on the piano; she could not speak French well; she
+could not tell you when gunpowder was invented; she had not the faintest
+idea of the date of the Norman Conquest, or whether the earth went round
+the sun, or vice versa. She did not know the number of counties in
+England, Scotland and Wales, let alone Ireland; she did not know the
+difference between latitude and longitude. She had had so many
+governesses; their accounts differed; poor Ethel was bewildered by a
+multiplicity of teachers, and thought herself a monster of ignorance.
+They gave her a book at a Sunday school, and little girls of eight years
+old answered questions of which she knew nothing. The place swam before
+her. She could not see the sun shining on their fair flaxen heads and
+pretty faces. The rosy little children, holding up their eager hands and
+crying the answer to this question and that, seemed mocking her. She
+seemed to read in the book, "Oh, Ethel, you dunce, dunce, dunce!" She
+went home silent in the carriage, and burst into bitter tears on her bed.
+Naturally a haughty girl of the highest spirit, resolute and imperious,
+this little visit to the parish school taught Ethel lessons more valuable
+than ever so much arithmetic and geography.
+
+When Ethel was thirteen years old she had grown to be such a tall girl
+that she overtopped her companions by a head or more, and morally
+perhaps, also, felt herself too tall for their society. "Fancy myself,"
+she thought, "dressing a doll like Lily Putland, or wearing a pinafore
+like Lucy Tucker!" She did not care for their sports. She could not walk
+with them; it seemed as if everyone stared; nor dance with them at the
+academy; nor attend the _Cours de Litterature Universelle et de Science
+Comprehensive_ of the professor then the mode. The smallest girls took
+her up in the class. She was bewildered by the multitude of things they
+bade her learn. At the youthful little assemblies of her sex, when, under
+the guide of their respected governesses, the girls came to tea at six
+o'clock, dancing, charades, and so forth, Ethel herded not with the
+children of her own age, nor yet with the teachers who sat apart at these
+assemblies, imparting to each other their little wrongs. But Ethel romped
+with the little children, the rosy little trots, and took them on her
+knees, and told them a thousand stories. By these she was adored, and
+loved like a mother almost, for as such the hearty, kindly girl showed
+herself to them; but at home she was alone, and intractable, and did
+battle with the governesses, and overcame them one after another.
+
+While Lady Ann Newcome and her children were at Brighton, Lady Kew,
+mother of Lady Ann, was also staying there, but refused to visit the
+house in which her daughter was stopping for fear that she herself might
+contract the disease from which her grandchildren were recovering. She
+received news of them, however, through her grandson, Lord Kew, and his
+friend Jack Belsize, who enjoyed dining with the old lady whenever they
+were given the opportunity. Having met their cousins one day before
+dining with Lady Kew their news was most interesting and enthusiastic.
+
+"That little chap who has just had the measles--he's a dear little
+brick," said Jack Belsize. "And as for Miss Ethel--"
+
+"Ethel is a trump, mam," says Lord Kew, slapping his hand on his knee.
+
+"Ethel is a brick, and Alfred is a trump, I think you say," remarks Lady
+Kew, "and Barnes is a snob. This is very satisfactory to know."
+
+"We met the children out to-day," cries the enthusiastic Kew, "as I was
+driving Jack in the drag, and I got out and talked to 'em. The little
+fellow wanted a drive and I said I would drive him and Ethel, too, if she
+would come. Upon my word she's as pretty a girl as you can see on a
+summer's day. And the governess said, no, of course; governesses always
+do. But I said I was her uncle, and Jack paid her such a fine compliment
+that she finally let the children take their seats beside me, and Jack
+went behind. We drove on to the Downs; my horses are young, and when they
+get on the grass they are as if they were mad. They ran away, ever so
+far, and I thought the carriage must upset. The poor little boy, who has
+lost his pluck in the fever, began to cry; but that young girl, though
+she was as white as a sheet, never gave up for a moment, and sat in her
+place like a man. We met nothing, luckily; and I pulled the horses in
+after a mile or two, and I drove 'em into Brighton as quiet as if I had
+been driving a hearse. And that little trump of an Ethel, what do you
+think she said? She said: 'I was not frightened, but you must not tell
+mamma.' My aunt, it appears, was in a dreadful commotion. I ought to have
+thought of that."
+
+There is a brother of Sir Brian Newcome's staying with them, Lord Kew
+perceives; an East India Colonel, a very fine-looking old boy. He was on
+the lookout for them, and when they came in sight he despatched a boy who
+was with him, running like a lamplighter, back to their aunt to say all
+was well. And he took little Alfred out of the carriage, and then helped
+out Ethel, and said, "My dear, you are too pretty to scold; but you have
+given us all a great fright." And then he made Kew and Jack a low bow,
+and stalked into the lodgings. Then they went up and made their peace and
+were presented in form to the Colonel and his youthful cub.
+
+"As fine a fellow as I ever saw," cries Jack Belsize. "The young chap is
+a great hand at drawing--upon my life the best drawings I ever saw. And
+he was making a picture for little What-do-you-call-'im, and Miss Newcome
+was looking over them. And Lady Ann pointed out the group to me, and said
+how pretty it was."
+
+In consequence of this conversation, which aroused her curiosity, Lady
+Kew sent a letter that night to Lady Ann Newcome, desiring that Ethel
+should be sent to see her grandmother; Ethel, who was no weakling in
+character despite her youth, and who always rebelled against her
+grandmother and always fought on her Aunt Julia's side when that amiable
+invalid lady, who lived with her mother, was oppressed by the dominating
+older woman.
+
+From the foregoing facts we gather that Thomas Newcome had not been many
+weeks in England before he favoured good little Miss Honeyman with a
+visit, to her great delight. You may be sure that the visit was an event
+in her life. And she was especially pleased that it should occur at the
+time when the Colonel's kinsfolk were staying under her roof. On the day
+of the Colonel's arrival all the presents which Newcome had ever sent his
+sister-in-law from India had been taken out of the cotton and lavender in
+which the faithful creature kept them. It was a fine hot day in June, but
+I promise you Miss Honeyman wore her blazing scarlet Cashmere shawl; her
+great brooch, representing the Taj of Agra, was in her collar; and her
+bracelets decorated the sleeves round her lean old hands, which trembled
+with pleasure as they received the kind grasp of the Colonel of colonels.
+How busy those hands had been that morning! What custards they had
+whipped! What a triumph of pie-crusts they had achieved! Before Colonel
+Newcome had been ten minutes in the house the celebrated veal-cutlets
+made their appearance. Was not the whole house adorned in expectation of
+his coming? The good woman's eyes twinkled, the kind old hand and voice
+shook, as, holding up a bright glass of Madeira, Miss Honeyman drank the
+Colonel's health. "I promise you, my dear Colonel," says she, nodding her
+head, adorned with a bristling superstructure of lace and ribbons, "I
+promise you, that I can drink your health in good wine!" The wine was of
+his own sending, and so were the China firescreens, and the sandal-wood
+work-box, and the ivory card case, and those magnificent pink and white
+chessmen, carved like little sepoys and mandarins, with the castles on
+elephants' backs, George the Third and his queen in pink ivory against
+the Emperor of China and lady in white--the delight of Clive's
+childhood, the chief ornament of the old spinster's sitting-room.
+
+Miss Honeyman's little feast was pronounced to be the perfection of
+cookery; and when the meal was over, came a noise of little feet at the
+parlour door, which being opened, there appeared: first, a tall nurse
+with a dancing baby; second and third, two little girls with little
+frocks, little trowsers, long ringlets, blue eyes, and blue ribbons to
+match; fourth, Master Alfred, now quite recovered from his illness and
+holding by the hand, fifth, Miss Ethel Newcome, blushing like a rose.
+
+Hannah, grinning, acted as mistress of the ceremonies, calling out the
+names of "Miss Newcome, Master Newcome, to see the Colonel, if you
+please, ma'am," bobbing a curtsey, and giving a knowing nod to Master
+Clive, as she smoothed her new silk apron. Miss Ethel did not cease
+blushing as she advanced towards her uncle; and the honest campaigner
+started up, blushing too. Mr. Clive rose also, as little Alfred, of whom
+he was a great friend, ran towards him. Clive rose, laughed, nodded at
+Ethel, and ate ginger-bread nuts all at the same time. As for Colonel
+Thomas Newcome and his niece, they fell in love with each other
+instantaneously, like Prince Camaralzaman and the Princess of China.
+
+"Mamma has sent us to bid you welcome to England, uncle," says Miss
+Ethel, advancing, and never thinking for a moment of laying aside that
+fine blush which she brought into the room, and which was her pretty
+symbol of youth and modesty and beauty.
+
+He took a little slim white hand and laid it down on his brown palm,
+where it looked all the whiter; he cleared the grizzled moustache from
+his mouth, and stooping down he kissed the little white hand with a great
+deal of grace and dignity, after which he was forever the humble and
+devoted admirer of that bright young girl.
+
+Raising himself from his salute, he heard a pretty little infantile
+chorus. "How do you do, uncle?" said girls number two and three, while
+the dancing baby in the arms of the bobbing nurse babbled a welcome.
+Alfred looked up for a while at his uncle in the white trousers, and then
+instantly proposed that Clive should make some drawings; and was on his
+knees at the next moment. He was always climbing on somebody or
+something, or winding over chairs, curling through bannisters, standing
+on somebody's head, or his own head; as his convalescence advanced, his
+breakages were fearful. Miss Honeyman and Hannah talked about his
+dilapidations for years after. When he was a jolly young officer in the
+Guards, and came to see them at Brighton, they showed him the blue dragon
+Chayny jar on which he would sit, and over which he cried so fearfully
+upon breaking it.
+
+When this little party had gone out smiling to take its walk on the sea
+shore, the Colonel from his balcony watched the slim figure of pretty
+Ethel, looked fondly after her, and as the smoke of his cigar floated in
+the air, formed a fine castle in it, whereof Clive was Lord, and Ethel
+Lady. "What a frank, generous, bright young creature is yonder!" thought
+he. "How cheering and gay she is; how good to Miss Honeyman, to whom she
+behaved with just the respect that was the old lady's due. How
+affectionate with her brothers and sisters! What a sweet voice she had!
+What a pretty little white hand it is! When she gave it me, it looked
+like a little white bird lying in mine."
+
+Thus mused the Colonel, upon the charms of the young girl who was
+henceforth to occupy the first place in his affection.
+
+His admiration for her might have been still further heightened had he
+been at Lady Ann's breakfast table some four or five weeks later, when
+Lady Ann and her nursery had just returned to London, little Alfred being
+perfectly set up by a month of Brighton air. Barnes Newcome had just
+discovered an article in the Newcome Independent commenting warmly upon a
+visit which Colonel Newcome and Clive had recently paid to Newcome, the
+object of that visit having been the Colonel's desire to gladden the eyes
+of his old nurse Sarah with a sight of him. Inhabitants of Newcome,
+feeling that the same Sarah Mason, who was a much respected member of the
+community, was much neglected by her rich and influential relatives in
+London, took great delight in commenting upon the Colonel's attention to
+the aged woman. The article in the Independent on that subject was
+anything but pleasing to the family pride of Mr. Barnes, who remarked in
+a sneering tone, "My uncle the Colonel, and his amiable son, have been
+paying a visit to Newcome. That is the news which the paper announces
+triumphantly," said Mr. Barnes.
+
+"You are always sneering about our uncle," broke in Ethel, impetuously,
+"and saying unkind things about Clive. Our uncle is a dear, good, kind
+man, and I love him. He came to Brighton to see us, and went out every
+day for hours and hours with Alfred; and Clive, too, drew pictures for
+him. And he is good, and kind, and generous, and honest as his father.
+Barnes is always speaking ill of him behind his back; and Miss Honeyman
+is a dear little old woman too. Was not she kind to Alfred, mamma, and
+did not she make him nice jelly?"
+
+"Did you bring some of Miss Honeyman's lodging-house cards with you,
+Ethel?" sneered her brother, "and had we not better hang up one or two in
+Lombard Street; hers and our other relation's, Mrs. Mason?"
+
+"My darling love, who _is_ Mrs. Mason?" asks Lady Ann.
+
+"Another member of the family, ma'am. She was cousin--"
+
+"She was no such thing, sir," roars Sir Brian.
+
+"She was relative and housemaid of my grandfather during his first
+marriage. She has retired into private life in her native town of
+Newcome. The Colonel and young Clive have been spending a few days with
+their elderly relative. It's all here in the paper, by Jove!" Mr. Barnes
+clenched his fist and stamped upon the newspaper with much energy.
+
+"And so they should go down and see her, and so the Colonel should love
+his nurse and not forget his relations if they are old and poor!"
+cries Ethel, with a flush on her face, and tears starting in her eyes.
+"The Colonel went to her like a kind, dear, good brave uncle as he is.
+The very day I go to Newcome I'll go to see her." She caught a look of
+negation in her father's eye. "I will go--that is, if papa will give me
+leave," says Miss Ethel, adding simply, "if we had gone sooner there
+would not have been all this abuse of us in the papers." To which
+statement her worldly father and brother perforce agreeing, we may
+congratulate good old nurse Sarah upon adding to the list of her
+friends such a frank, open-hearted, high-spirited young woman as Miss
+Ethel Newcome.
+
+In spite of the notoriety given him in the newspapers by his visit to
+Nurse Sarah, at his native place, he still remained in high favour with
+Sir Brian Newcome's family, where he paid almost daily visits, and was
+received with affection at least by the ladies and children of the house.
+Who was it that took the children to Astley's but Uncle Newcome? I saw
+him there in the midst of a cluster of these little people, all children
+together, the little girls, Sir Brian's daughters, holding each by a
+finger of his hands, young Masters Alfred and Edward clapping and
+hurrahing by his side; while Mr. Clive and Miss Ethel sat in the back of
+the box enjoying the scene, but with that decorum which belonged to their
+superior age and gravity. As for Clive, he was in these matters much
+older than the grizzled old warrior his father. It did one good to hear
+the Colonel's honest laughs at Clown's jokes, and to see the tenderness
+and simplicity with which he watched over this happy brood of young ones.
+How lavishly did he supply them with sweetmeats between the acts! There
+he sat in the midst of them, and ate an orange himself with perfect
+satisfaction, and was eager to supply any luxury longed for by his young
+companions.
+
+The Colonel's organ of benevolence was so large that he would have
+liked to administer bounties to the young folks his nephews and nieces
+in Brianstone Square, as well as to their cousins in Park Lane; but
+Mrs. Newcome was a great deal too virtuous to admit of such spoiling of
+children. She took the poor gentleman to task for an attempt upon her
+boys when those lads came home for their holidays, and caused them
+ruefully to give back the shining gold sovereigns with which their
+uncle had thought to give them a treat. So the Colonel was obliged to
+confine his benevolence to that branch of the family where it was
+graciously accepted.
+
+Meanwhile the Colonel had a new interest to absorb his attention. He had
+taken a new house at 120 Fitzroy Square in connection with that Indian
+friend of his, Mr. Binnie. The house being taken, there was fine
+amusement for Clive, Mr. Binnie, and the Colonel, in frequenting sales,
+in inspection of upholsterers' shops, and the purchase of furniture for
+the new mansion. There were three masters with four or five servants
+under them. Irons for the Colonel and his son, a smart boy with boots
+for Mr. Binnie; Mrs. Irons to cook and keep house, with a couple of
+maids under her. The Colonel himself was great at making hash mutton,
+hotpot, and curry. What cosy pipes did we not smoke in the dining-room,
+in the drawing-room, or where we would! What pleasant evenings did we
+not have together.
+
+Clive had a tutor--Grindley of Corpus--with whom the young gentleman did
+not fatigue his brains very much, his great talent lying decidedly in
+drawing. He sketched the horses, he sketched the dogs, all the servants,
+from the bleer-eyed boot-boy to the rosy cheeked lass whom the
+housekeeper was always calling to come downstairs. He drew his father in
+all postures, and jolly little Mr. Binnie too. Young Ridley, known to his
+young companions as J.J., was his daily friend now, to the great joy of
+that young man, who considered Clive Newcome to be the most splendid,
+fortunate, beautiful, high-born and gifted youth in the world. What
+generous boy in his time has not worshipped somebody? Before the female
+enslaver makes her appearance, every lad has a friend of friends, a crony
+of cronies, to whom he writes immense letters in vacation, whom he
+cherishes in his hearts of hearts; whose sister he proposes to marry in
+after life; whose purse he shares; for whom he will take a thrashing if
+need be; who is his hero. Clive was John James's youthful divinity; when
+he wanted to draw Thaddeus of Warsaw, a Prince, Ivanhoe, or some one
+splendid and egregious, it was Clive he took for a model. His heart leapt
+when he saw the young fellow. He would walk cheerfully to Grey Friars
+with a letter or message for C. on the chance of seeing him and getting a
+kind word from him or a shake of the hand. The poor lad was known by the
+boys as Newcome's Punch. He was all but hunchback, long and lean in the
+arm; sallow, with a great forehead and waving black hair, and large
+melancholy eyes. But his genius for drawing was enormous, which fact
+Clive fully appreciated. Because of J. J.'s admiration for Clive it was
+his joy to be with Clive constantly; and after Grindley's classics and
+mathematics in the morning, the young men would attend Gandish's Drawing
+Academy, together.
+
+"Oh," says Clive, if you talk to him now about those early days, "it
+was a jolly time! I do not believe there was any young fellow in London
+so happy."
+
+Clive had many conversations with his father as to the profession which
+he should follow. As regarded mathematical and classical learning, the
+elder Newcome was forced to admit that out of every hundred boys there
+were fifty as clever as his own, and at least fifty more industrious;
+the army in time of peace Colonel Newcome thought a bad trade for a
+young fellow so fond of ease and pleasure as his son. His delight in the
+pencil was manifest to all. Were not his school books full of caricatures
+of the masters? While his tutor was lecturing him, did he not draw
+Grindley instinctively under his very nose? A painter Clive was
+determined to be, and nothing else; and Clive, being then some sixteen
+years of age, began to study art under the eminent Mr. Gandish of Soho.
+
+It was that well-known portrait painter, Andrew Smee, Esq., R.A., who
+recommended Gandish to Colonel Newcome one day when the two gentleman met
+at dinner at Lady Ann Newcome's. Mr. Smee happened to examine some of
+Clive's drawings, which the young fellow had executed for his cousins.
+Clive found no better amusement than in making pictures for them and
+would cheerfully pass evening after evening in that direction. He had
+made a thousand sketches of Ethel before a year was over; a year every
+day of which seemed to increase the attractions of the fair young
+creature. Also, of course Clive drew Alfred and the nursery in general,
+Aunt Ann and the Blenheim spaniels, the majestic John bringing in the
+coal-scuttle, and all persons or objects in that establishment with which
+he was familiar.
+
+"What a genius the lad has," the complimentary Mr. Smee averred; "what a
+force and individuality there is in all his drawings! Look at his horses!
+Capital, by Jove, capital! And Alfred on his pony, and Miss Ethel in her
+Spanish hat, with her hair flowing in the wind! I must take this sketch,
+I positively must now, and show it to Landseer."
+
+And the courtly artist daintily enveloped the drawing in a sheet of
+paper, put it away in his hat, and vowed subsequently that the great
+painter had been delighted with the young man's performance. Smee was not
+only charmed with Clive's skill as an artist, but thought his head would
+be an admirable one to paint. Such a rich complexion, such fine turns in
+his hair! Such eyes! To see real blue eyes was so rare now-a-days! And
+the Colonel too, if the Colonel would but give him a few sittings, the
+grey uniform of the Bengal Cavalry, the silver lace, the little bit of
+red ribbon just to warm up the picture! It was seldom, Mr. Smee declared,
+that an artist could get such an opportunity for colour. But no
+cajoleries could induce the Colonel to sit to any artist save one. There
+hangs in Clive's room now, a head, painted at one sitting, of a man
+rather bald, with hair touched with grey, with a large moustache and a
+sweet mouth half smiling beneath it, and melancholy eyes. Clive shows
+that portrait of their grandfather to his children, and tells them that
+the whole world never saw a nobler gentleman.
+
+Well, then; Clive having decided to become an artist, on a day marked
+with a white stone, Colonel Newcome with his son and Mr. Smee, R. A.,
+walked to Gandish's and entered the would-be artist on the roll call of
+that famous academy, and of J. J. as well, for the Colonel had insisted
+upon paying his expenses as an art student together with his son.
+
+Mr. Gandish was an excellent master and the two lads made great progress
+under his excellent training. Clive used to give droll accounts of the
+young disciples at Gandish's, who were of various ages and conditions,
+and in whose company the young fellow took his place with that good
+temper and gaiety which seldom deserted him and put him at ease wherever
+his fate led him. Not one of the Gandishites but liked Clive, and at that
+period of his existence he enjoyed himself in all kinds of ways, making
+himself popular with dancing folks and with drawing folks, and the jolly
+king of his company everywhere. He gave entertainments in the rooms in
+Fitzroy Square which were devoted to his use, inviting his father and Mr.
+Binnie now and then, but the good Colonel did not often attend those
+parties. He saw that his presence rather silenced the young men, and went
+away to play his rubber of whist at the club. And although time hung a
+bit heavily on the good Colonel's hands, now that Clive's interests were
+separate from his own, yet of nights as he heard Clive's companions
+tramping by his bedchamber door, where he lay wakeful within, he was
+happy to think his son was happy. As for Clive, those were glorious days
+for him. If he was successful in the Academy, he was doubly victorious
+out of it. His person was handsome, his courage high, his gaiety and
+frankness delightful and winning. His money was plenty and he spent it
+like a young king. He was not the most docile of Mr. Gandish's pupils,
+and if the truth must be told about him, though one of the most frank,
+generous and kind-hearted persons, was somewhat haughty and imperious. He
+had been known to lament since that he was taken from school too early
+where a further course of thrashings would, he believed, have done him
+good. He lamented that he was not sent to college, where if a young man
+receives no other discipline at least he meets his equals in society and
+assuredly finds his betters; whereas in Mr. Gandish's studio our young
+gentleman scarcely found a comrade that was not in one way or other his
+flatterer, his inferior, his honest or dishonest admirer. The influence
+of his family's rank and wealth acted more or less on all these simple
+folks, who would run on his errands and vied with each other winning his
+favour. His very goodness of heart rendered him a more easy prey to
+their flattery, and his kind and jovial disposition led him into company
+from which he had much better have been away. In fact, as the Colonel did
+not attempt in any way to check him in his youthful career of
+extravagance and experiences which were the result of an excessive high
+spirit, our young gentleman at this time brought down upon himself much
+adverse criticism for his behaviour, especially from his uncles. Because
+of this and other reasons there was not much friendliness exhibited by
+the several branches of the family for Clive and his father. Colonel
+Newcome, in spite of coldness, felt it his duty to make constant attempts
+to remain on friendly terms at least with the wives of his stepbrothers.
+But after he had called twice or thrice upon his sister-in-law in
+Brianstone Square, bringing as was his wont a present for this little
+niece or a book for that, Mrs. Newcome gave him to understand that the
+occupation of an English matron would not allow her to pass the mornings
+in idle gossip, and with curtseys and fine speeches actually bowed her
+brother out of doors; and the honest gentleman meekly left her, though
+with bewilderment as he thought of the different hospitality to which he
+had been accustomed in the East, where no friend's house was ever closed
+to him, where no neighbour was so busy but he had time to make Thomas
+Newcome welcome.
+
+When Hobson Newcome's boys came home for the holidays, their kind uncle
+was for treating them to the sights of the town, but here Virtue again
+interposed, and laid his interdict upon pleasure. "Thank you, very much,
+my dear Colonel," says Virtue; "there never was surely such a kind,
+affectionate, unselfish creature as you are, and so indulgent for
+children, but my boys and yours are brought up on a _very different
+plan_. Excuse me for saying that I do not think it is advisable that
+they should even see too much of each other, Clive's company is not good
+for them."
+
+"Great heavens, Maria!" cries the Colonel, starting up, "do you mean that
+my boy's society is not good enough for any boy alive?"
+
+Maria turned very red; she had said not more than she meant, but more
+than she meant to say. "My dear Colonel, how hot we are! how angry you
+Indian gentlemen become with us poor women! Your boy is much older than
+mine. He lives with artists, with all sorts of eccentric people. Our
+children are bred on _quite a different plan_. Hobson will succeed his
+father in the bank, and dear Samuel, I trust, will go into the church. I
+told you before the views I had regarding the boys; but it was most kind
+of you to think of them--most generous and kind."
+
+"That nabob of ours is a queer fish," Hobson Newcome remarked to his
+nephew Barnes. "He is as proud as Lucifer; he is always taking huff about
+one thing or the other. He went off in a fume the other night because
+your aunt objected to his taking the boys to the play. And then he flew
+out about his boy, and said that my wife insulted him! I used to like
+that boy. Before his father came he was a good lad enough--a jolly, brave
+little fellow. But since he has taken this madcap freak of turning
+painter there is no understanding the chap. I don't care what a fellow
+is, if he is a good fellow, but a painter is no trade at all! I don't
+like it, Barnes!"
+
+To Lady Ann Newcome the Colonel's society was more welcome than to her
+sister-in-law, and the affectionate gentleman never tired of doing
+kindnesses for her children, and consoled himself as best he might for
+Clive's absences with his nephews and nieces, especially with Ethel, for
+whom his admiration conceived at first sight never diminished. He found
+a fine occupation in breaking a pretty little horse for her, of which he
+made her a present, and there was no horse in the Park that was so
+handsome, and surely no girl who looked more beautiful than Ethel Newcome
+with her broad hat and red ribbon, with her thick black locks waving
+round her bright face, galloping along the ride on "Bhurtpore."
+Occasionally Clive was at their riding-parties, but Ethel rallied him and
+treated him with such distance and dignity, at the same time looking
+fondly and archly at her uncle, that Clive set her down as a very
+haughty, spoiled, aristocratic young creature. In fact, the two young
+people were too much alike in disposition to agree perfectly, and Ethel's
+parents were glad that it was so.
+
+It was pleasant to watch the kind old face of Clive's father, that
+sweet young blushing lady by his side, as the two rode homewards at
+sunset talking happily together. Ethel wanted to know about battles;
+about lover's lamps, which she had read of in "Lalla Rookh." "Have you
+ever seen them, uncle, floating down the Ganges of a night? About
+Indian widows, did you actually see one burning, and hear her scream as
+you rode up?"
+
+She wonders whether he will tell her anything about Clive's mother; how
+she must have loved Uncle Newcome! Rambling happily from one subject to
+another Ethel commands: "Next year, when I am presented at Court, you
+must come, too, sir! I insist upon it, you must come, too!"
+
+"I will order a new uniform, Ethel," says her uncle.
+
+The girl laughs. "When little Egbert took hold of your sword, and asked
+you how many people you had killed, do you know I had the same question
+in my mind? I thought perhaps the King would knight you instead of that
+horrid little Sir Danby Jilks, and I won't have you knighted anymore!"
+
+The Colonel, laughing, says he hopes Egbert won't ask Sir Danby Jilks how
+many men he has killed; then thinking the joke too severe upon Sir Danby,
+hastens to narrate some anecdotes about the courage of surgeons in
+general. Ethel declares that her uncle always will talk of other people's
+courage, and never say a word about his own. So the pair talked kindly
+on, riding homewards through the pleasant summer twilight. Mamma had gone
+out to dinner and there were cards for three parties afterward.
+
+"Oh, how I wish it was next year!" says Miss Ethel.
+
+Many a splendid assembly and many a brilliant next year will the young
+creature enjoy; but in the midst of her splendour and triumphs she will
+often think of that quiet happy season before the world began for her,
+and of that dear old friend on whose arm she leaned while she was yet a
+young girl.
+
+On account of the ugly rumours spread abroad concerning young Clive's
+extravagant habits and gaiety of living, also on account of the
+profession he had chosen, Sir Bryan Newcome's family preferred to have
+young Clive see as little of his handsome Cousin Ethel as possible, and
+Ethel's brother, Barnes, whose hatred for Clive was not untinged by
+jealousy, was the most vigorous of the family in spreading disagreeable
+reports about his cousin, whom he spoke of as an impudent young puppy.
+
+Even old Lady Kew was particularly rude to Colonel Newcome and Clive. On
+Ethel's birthday she had a small party chiefly of girls of her own age
+who came and played and sang together and enjoyed such mild refreshments
+as sponge cake, jellies, tea, and the like. The Colonel, who was invited
+to this little party, sent a fine present to his favourite Ethel; and
+Clive and his friend J. J. made a funny series of drawings, representing
+the life of a young lady as they imagined it, and drawing her progress
+from her cradle upwards: now engaged with her doll, then with her dancing
+master; now marching in her backboard; now crying over her German
+lessons; and dressed for her first ball finally, and bestowing her hand
+upon a dandy of preternatural ugliness, who was kneeling at her feet as
+the happy man. This picture was the delight of the laughing, happy girls;
+except, perhaps, the little cousins from Brianstone Square, who were
+invited to Ethel's party, but were so overpowered by the prodigious new
+dresses in which their mamma had attired them that they could admire
+nothing but their rustling pink frocks, their enormous sashes, their
+lovely new silk stockings.
+
+Lady Kew, coming to London, attended on the party, and presented her
+granddaughter with a sixpenny pincushion. The Colonel had sent Ethel a
+beautiful little gold watch and chain. Her aunt had complimented her with
+that refreshing work, "Allison's History of Europe," richly bound. Lady
+Kew's pincushion made rather a poor figure among the gifts, whence
+probably arose her ladyship's ill-humour.
+
+Ethel's grandmother became exceedingly testy, when, the Colonel
+arriving, Ethel ran up to him and thanked him for the beautiful watch,
+in return for which she gave him a kiss, which I daresay amply repaid
+Colonel Newcome; and shortly after him Mr. Clive arrived. As he entered,
+all the girls who had been admiring his pictures began to clap their
+hands. Mr. Clive Newcome blushed, and looked none the worse for that
+indication of modesty.
+
+Lady Kew had met Colonel Newcome a half-dozen times at her daughter's
+house; but on this occasion she had quite forgotten him, for when the
+Colonel made a bow, her ladyship regarded him steadily, and beckoning her
+daughter to her, asked who the gentleman was who had just kissed Ethel.
+
+With the clapping of hands that greeted Clive's arrival, the Countess was
+by no means more good-humoured. Not aware of her wrath, the young fellow,
+who had also previously been presented to her, came forward presently to
+make her his compliments. "Pray, who are you?" she said, looking at him
+very earnestly in the face. He told her his name.
+
+"H'm," said Lady Kew, "I have heard of you, and I have heard very little
+good of you."
+
+"Will your ladyship please to give me your informant?" cried out
+Colonel Newcome.
+
+Barnes Newcome, who had condescended to attend his sister's little party,
+and had been languidly watching the frolics of the young people, looked
+very much alarmed, and hastened to soften the incident by a change of
+conversation.
+
+But the attitude of Lady Kew and young Barnes was only a reflection of
+the attitude of Ethel's parents concerning Clive, and Ethel, who was
+really friendly towards him, found it difficult to deny the charges which
+were constantly brought against the boy. The truth was the young fellow
+enjoyed life, as one of his age and spirit might be expected to do; but
+he did very little harm and meant less; and was quite unconscious of the
+reputation which he was gaining.
+
+There had been a long-standing promise that Clive and his father were to
+go to Newcome at Christmas; and I daresay Ethel proposed to reform the
+young prodigal, if prodigal he was, for she busied herself delightedly in
+preparing the apartments for their guests and putting off her visit to
+this pleasant neighbour, or that pretty scene in the vicinity, until her
+uncle should come and they might enjoy the excursion together. And before
+the arrival of her relatives, Ethel, with one of her young brothers, went
+to see Mrs. Mason and introduced herself as Colonel Newcome's niece, and
+came back charmed with the old lady and eager once more in defence of
+Clive, for had she not seen the kindest letter which Clive had written to
+old Mrs. Mason, and the beautiful drawing of his father on horseback, and
+in regimentals, waving his sword in front of the gallant Bengal Cavalry,
+which the lad had sent down to the good old woman? He could not be very
+bad, Ethel thought, who was so kind and thoughtful for the poor. And the
+young lady went home quite fired with enthusiasm for her cousin, but
+encountered Barnes, who was more than usually bitter and sarcastic on the
+subject. Ethel lost her temper, and then her firmness, while bursting
+into tears she taxed Barnes with cruelty for uttering stories to his
+cousin's disadvantage and for pursuing with constant slander one of the
+very best of men. But notwithstanding her defence of the Colonel and
+Clive, when they came to Newcome for the Christmas holidays, there was no
+Ethel there. She had gone on a visit to her sick aunt. Colonel Newcome
+passed the holidays sadly without her, and Clive consoled himself by
+knocking down pheasants with Sir Brian's keepers; and increased his
+cousin's attachment for him by breaking the knees of Barnes's favourite
+mare out hunting. It was a dreary holiday; father and son were glad
+enough to get away from it, and to return to their own humbler quarters
+in London.
+
+Thomas Newcome had now been for three years in the possession of that joy
+which his soul longed after, and yet in spite of his happiness, his
+honest face grew more melancholy, his loose clothes hung only the looser
+on his lean limbs; he ate his meals without appetite; his nights were
+restless and he would sit for hours silent, and was constantly finding
+business which took him to distant quarters of England. Notwithstanding
+this change in him the Colonel insisted that he was perfectly happy and
+contented, but the truth was, his heart was aching with the knowledge
+that Clive had occupations, ideas, associates, in which the elder could
+take no interest. Sitting in his blank, cheerless bedroom, Newcome could
+hear the lad and his friends making merry and breaking out in roars of
+laughter from time to time. The Colonel longed to share in the merriment,
+but he knew that the party would be hushed if he joined it, that the
+younger men were happier and freer without him, and without laying any
+blame upon them for this natural state of affairs, it saddened the days
+and nights of our genial Colonel.
+
+Clive, meanwhile, passed through the course of study prescribed by Mr.
+Gandish and drew every cast and statue in that gentleman's studio.
+Grindley, his tutor, getting a curacy, Clive did not replace him, but
+took a course of modern languages, which he learned with great rapidity.
+And now, being strong enough to paint without a master, Mr. Clive must
+needs have a studio, as there was no good light in the house in Fitzroy
+Square. If his kind father felt any pang even at this temporary parting,
+he was greatly soothed and pleased by a little mark of attention on
+Clive's part. He walked over with Colonel Newcome to see the new studio,
+with its tall centre window, and its curtains and hard wardrobes, china
+jars, pieces of armour, and other artistic properties, and with a very
+sweet smile of kindness and affection lighting up his honest face, took
+out a house-key and gave it to his father: "That's _your_ key, sir," he
+said to the Colonel; "and you must be my first sitter, please, father;
+for, though I am to be a historical painter, I shall condescend to do a
+few portraits, you know." The Colonel grasped his son's hand as Clive
+fondly put the other hand on his father's shoulder. Then Colonel Newcome
+walked away for a minute or two, and came back wiping his moustache with
+his handkerchief, and still holding the key in the other hand. He spoke
+about some trivial subject when he returned; but his voice quite
+trembled, his face glowed with love and pleasure, and the little act of
+affection compensated him for many weary hours of solitude. It is certain
+that Clive worked much better after he had this apartment of his own, and
+meals at home were gayer; and the rides with his father more frequent and
+agreeable. The Colonel used his key not infrequently, and found Clive and
+his friend J. J. as a general thing absorbed in executing historical
+subjects on the largest possible canvases. Meanwhile Colonel Newcome was
+preparing his mind to leave his idol, who he knew would be happy without
+as with him. During the three years since he had come from India the
+Colonel had spent money lavishly and had also been obliged to pay dearly
+for some of Clive's boyish extravagances. At first, the Colonel had
+thought he might retire from the army altogether, but experience showed
+him that he could not live upon his income. He proposed now to return to
+India to get his promotion as full Colonel when the thousand a year to
+which that would entitle him, together with his other investments, would
+be ample for Clive and himself to live on. While the Colonel's thoughts
+were absorbed in this matter his favourite Ethel was constantly away with
+her grandmother. The Colonel went to see her at Brighton, and once,
+twice, thrice, Lady Kew's door was denied to him. Once when the Colonel
+encountered his pretty Ethel with her riding master she greeted him
+affectionately, but when he rode up to her she looked so constrained,
+when he talked about Clive she was so reserved, when he left her, so sad,
+he could only feel pain and regret. Back he went to London, having in a
+week only caught this single glance of his darling, but filled with
+determination to have a frank talk with his sister-in-law, Lady Ann, and
+if possible to mend the family disagreement and turn the tide of Lady
+Ann's affection again towards his son. This he attempted to do, and would
+have succeeded had not Barnes Newcome been the head of the house. As we
+know, his opinion of Clive was not to that young man's advantage. These
+opinions were imparted to his Uncle Hobson at the bank, and Uncle Hobson
+carried them home to his wife, who took an early opportunity of repeating
+them to the Colonel, and the Colonel was brought to see that Barnes was
+his boy's enemy, and words very likely passed between them, for Thomas
+Newcome took a new banker at this time, and was very angry because Hobson
+Brothers wrote to him to say that he had overdrawn his account. "I am
+sure there is some screw loose," remarked Clive to a friend, "and that my
+father and the people in Park Lane have disagreed, because he goes there
+very little now; and he promised to go to Court when Ethel was presented
+and he didn't go." This state of affairs between the members of the
+Newcome family continued for some months. Then, happily, a truce was
+declared, the quarrel between the Newcome brothers came to an end--for
+that time at least--and was followed by a rather showy reconciliation and
+a family dinner at Brianstone Square. Everybody was bent upon being happy
+and gracious. It was "My dear brother, how do you do?" from Sir Brian.
+"My dear Colonel, how glad we are to see you! How well you look!" from
+Lady Ann. Ethel Newcome ran to him with both hands out, an eager welcome
+on her beautiful face. And even Lady Kew held out her hand to Colonel
+Newcome, saying briskly: "Colonel, it is an age since we met," and
+turning to Clive with equal graciousness to say, "Mr. Clive, let me shake
+hands with you; I have heard all sorts of good of you, that you have been
+painting the most beautiful things, that you are going to be quite
+famous." There was no doubt about it,--it was an evening of
+reconciliation on every side.
+
+Ethel was so happy to see her dear uncle that she had no eyes for any
+one else, until Clive advancing, those bright eyes became brighter still
+as she saw him; and as she looked she saw a very handsome fellow, for
+Clive at that time was of the ornamental class of mankind--a customer to
+tailors, a wearer of handsome rings, shirt studs, long hair, and the
+like; nor could he help, in his costume or his nature, being
+picturesque, generous, and splendid. Silver dressing cases and brocade
+morning gowns were in him a sort of propriety at this season of his
+youth. It was a pleasure to persons of colder temperament to sun
+themselves in the warmth of his bright looks and generous humour. His
+laughter cheered one like wine. I do not know that he was very witty;
+but he was pleasant. He was prone to blush; the history of a generous
+trait moistened his eyes instantly. He was instinctively fond of
+children and of the other sex from one year old to eighty. Coming from
+the Derby once and being stopped on the road in a lock of carriages
+during which the people in a carriage ahead saluted us with many
+insulting epithets, and seized the heads of our leaders, Clive in a
+twinkling jumped off the box, and the next minute we saw him engaged
+with a half dozen of the enemy: his hat gone, his fair hair falling off
+his face, his blue eyes flashing fire, his lips and nostrils quivering
+with wrath. His father sat back in the carriage looking on with delight
+and wonder while a policeman separated the warriors. Clive ascended the
+box again, with his coat gashed from waist to shoulder. I hardly ever
+saw the elder Newcome in such a state of triumph.
+
+While we have been making this sketch of Clive, Ethel was standing
+looking at him, and the blushing youth cast down his eyes before hers
+while her face assumed a look of arch humour. And now let us have a
+likeness of Ethel. She was seventeen years old; rather taller than the
+majority of girls; her face somewhat grave and haughty, but on occasion
+brightening with humour or beaming with kindliness and affection. Too
+quick to detect affectation or insincerity in others, too impatient of
+dulness or pomposity, she was more sarcastic now than she became when
+after-years of suffering had softened her nature. Truth looked out of her
+bright eyes, and rose up armed and flashed scorn or denial when she
+encountered flattery or meanness or imposture.
+
+But those who had no cause to fear her keenness or her coldness admired
+her beauty; nor could the famous Parisian model whom Clive said she
+resembled be more perfect in form than this young lady. Her hair and
+eyebrows were jet black, but her complexion was dazzlingly fair and her
+cheeks as red as those belonging by right to a blonde. In her black hair
+there was a slight natural ripple. Her eyes were grey; her mouth rather
+large; her teeth were regular and white, her voice was low and sweet; and
+her smile, when it lighted up her face and eyes, as beautiful as spring
+sunshine; also her eyes could lighten and flash often, and sometimes,
+though rarely, rain. As for her figure, the tall, slender form clad in a
+simple white muslin robe in which her fair arms were enveloped, and which
+was caught at her slim waist by a blue ribbon, let us make a respectful
+bow to that fair image of youth, health, and modesty, and fancy it as
+pretty as we will.
+
+Not yet overshadowed by the cloud of Colonel Newcome's departure,
+light-hearted in the joy of reconciliation and meeting, once again full
+of high spirits and mindful of no moment beyond the present, the two
+cousins never looked brighter or happier, and as Colonel Newcome gazed
+upon them in the freshness of their youth and vigour his heart was filled
+with delight.
+
+Not many days after the dinner the good Colonel found it necessary to
+break the news of his intended departure to Clive. His resolution to go
+being taken, and having been obliged to dip somewhat deeply into the
+little purse he had set aside for European expenses to help a kinsman in
+distress, the Colonel's departure came somewhat sooner than he had
+expected. But, as he said, "A year sooner or later, what does it matter?
+Clive will go away and work at his art, and see the great schools of
+painting while I am absent. I thought at one time how pleasant it would
+be to accompany him. I fancy now a lad is not the better for being always
+tied to his parents' apron-strings. You young fellows are too clever for
+me. I haven't learned your ideas or read your books. I feel myself very
+often an old damper in your company. I will go back, sir, where I have
+some friends, and where I am somebody still. I know an honest face or
+two, white and brown, that will lighten up in the old regiment when they
+see Tom Newcome again."
+
+With this resolution taken, the Colonel began saying farewell to his
+friends. He and Clive made a pilgrimage to Grey Friars; and the Colonel
+ran down to Newcome to give Mrs. Mason a parting benediction; went to all
+the boys' and girls' schools where his little protégés were, so as to be
+able to take the very latest account of the young folks to their parents
+in India; and thence proceeded to Brighton to pass a little time with
+good Miss Honeyman. With Sir Brian's family he parted on very good terms.
+I believe Sir Brian even accompanied him downstairs from the drawing-room
+in Park Lane, and actually saw his brother into his cab, but as for
+Ethel, _she_ was not going to be put off with this sort of parting; and
+the next morning a cab dashed up to Fitzroy Square and she was closeted
+with Colonel Newcome for five minutes, and when he led her back to the
+carriage there were tears in his eyes. Then came the day when Clive and
+his father travelled together to Southampton, where a group of the
+Colonel's faithful friends were assembled to say a "God bless you" to
+their dear old friend, and see the vessel sail. To the end Clive remained
+with his father and went below with him, and when the last bell was
+ringing, came from below looking very pale. The plank was drawn after him
+almost as soon as he stepped on land, and the vessel had sailed.
+
+Although Thomas Newcome had gone back to India in search of more money,
+he was nevertheless rather a wealthy man and was able to leave a hundred
+a year in England to be transferred to his boy as soon as he came of
+age. He also left a considerable annual sum to be paid to the boy, and
+so as soon as the parting was over and his affairs were settled, Clive
+was free to start on his travels, to study art in new lands, accompanied
+by his faithful friend J.J. They went first to Antwerp; thence to
+Brussels, and next Clive's correspondents received a letter from Bonn:
+in which Master Clive said, "And whom should I find here but Aunt Ann,
+Ethel, Miss Quigley and the little ones. Uncle Brian is staying at Aix,
+and, upon my conscience, I think my pretty cousin looks prettier every
+day. J.J. and I were climbing a little hill which leads to a ruin, when
+I heard a little voice cry, 'Hello! it's Clive! Hooray, Clive,' and an
+ass came down the incline with a little pair of white trousers at an
+immensely wide angle over the donkey's back, and there was little Alfred
+grinning with all his might.
+
+"He turned his beast and was for galloping up the hill again, I suppose
+to inform his relations; but the donkey refused with many kicks, one of
+which sent Alfred plunging amongst the stones, and we were rubbing him
+down just as the rest of the party came upon us. Miss Quigley looked very
+grim on an old white pony; my aunt was on a black horse that might have
+turned grey, he is so old. Then came two donkeys-full of children, with
+Kuhn as supercargo; then Ethel on donkey back, too, with a bunch of wild
+flowers in her hand, a great straw hat with a crimson ribbon, a white
+muslin jacket, you know, bound at the waist with a ribbon of the first,
+and a dark skirt, with a shawl round her feet, which Kuhn had arranged.
+As she stopped, the donkey fell to cropping greens in the hedge; the
+trees there chequered her white dress and face with shadow. Her eyes,
+hair, and forehead were in shadow, too, but the light was all upon her
+right cheek. Upon her shoulder down to her arm, which was of a warmer
+white, and on the bunch of flowers which she held, blue, yellow, and red
+poppies, and so forth.
+
+"J. J. says, 'I think the birds began to sing louder when she came.' We
+have both agreed that she is the handsomest woman in England. It's not
+her form merely, which is certainly as yet too thin and a little angular;
+it is her colour. I do not care for women or pictures without colour. Oh,
+ye carnations! Oh, such black hair and solemn eyebrows. It seems to me
+the roses and carnations have bloomed again since we saw them last in
+London, when they were drooping from the exposure to night air, candle
+light, and heated ballrooms.
+
+"Here I was in the midst of a regiment of donkeys bearing a crowd of
+relations; J. J. standing modestly in the background, beggars completing
+the group. Throw in the Rhine in the distance flashing by the Seven
+Mountains--but mind and make Ethel the principal figure: if you make her
+like she certainly _will_ be, and other lights will be only minor fires.
+You may paint her form, but can't paint her colour."
+
+Thus wrote Clive from Bonn, and now that the old Countess and Barnes were
+away, the barrier between Clive and this family was withdrawn. The young
+folks who loved him were free to see him as often as he would come. They
+were going to Baden: would he come, too? He was glad enough to go with
+them, and to travel in the orbit of such a lovely girl as Ethel Newcome,
+whose beauty made all the passengers on all the steamers look round and
+admire. The journey was all sunshine and pleasure and novelty; and I like
+to think of the pretty girl and the gallant young fellow enjoying this
+holiday. Few sights are more pleasant than to watch a happy, manly
+English youth, freehanded and generous-hearted, content and good-humour
+shining in his honest face, pleased and pleasing, eager, active, and
+thankful for services, and exercising bravely his noble youthful
+privilege to be happy and to enjoy. As for J. J., he, too, had his share
+of enjoyment. Clive was still his hero as ever, his patron, his splendid
+young prince and chieftain. Who was so brave, who was so handsome,
+generous, witty as Clive? To hear Clive sing, as the lad would whilst
+they were seated at their work, or driving along on this happy journey,
+through fair landscapes in the sunshine, gave J. J. the keenest pleasure;
+his wit was a little slow, but he would laugh with his eyes at Clive's
+sallies, or ponder over them and explode with laughter presently, giving
+a new source of amusement to these merry travellers, and little Alfred
+would laugh at J.J.'s laughing; and so, with a hundred harmless jokes to
+enliven, and the ever-changing, ever-charming smiles of Nature to cheer
+and accompany it, the happy day's journey would come to an end.
+
+So they travelled by the accustomed route to the prettiest town of all
+places where Pleasure has set up her tents, and there enjoyed themselves
+to the fullest extent.
+
+Among Colonel Newcome's papers to which the family biographer has had
+access, there are a couple of letters from Clive, dated Baden this time,
+and full of happiness, gaiety, and affection. Letter No. 1 says: "Ethel
+is the prettiest girl here. At the Assemblies all the princes, counts,
+dukes, etc., are dying to dance with her. She sends her dearest love to
+her uncle." By the side of the words "Prettiest girl" are written in a
+frank female hand the monosyllable "_stuff_"; and as a note to the
+expression "dearest love," with a star to mark the text and the note, are
+squeezed in the same feminine characters at the bottom of Clive's page
+the words "_that I do_. E. N."
+
+In letter No. 2, Clive, after giving amusing details of life at Baden and
+the company whom he met there, concludes with this: "Ethel is looking
+over my shoulder. She thinks me such a delightful creature that she is
+never easy without me. She bids me to say that I am the best of sons and
+cousins, and am, in a word, a darling du--" The rest of this important
+word is not given, but "_goose_" is added in the female hand.
+
+Ethel takes up the pen. "My dear uncle," she says, "while Clive is
+sketching out of the window, let me write to you a line or two on his
+paper, _though I know you like to hear no one speak_ but him. I wish I
+could draw him for you as he stands yonder looking the picture of good
+health, good spirits, and good-humour. Everybody likes him. He is quite
+unaffected; always gay, always pleased, and he draws more beautifully
+every day."
+
+When these letters were received by the good Colonel in India we can well
+imagine the joy that warmed his fond heart. He, himself, was comfortably
+settled in the only place which would ever be home to him,--his son, the
+idol of his heart, was with Ethel, his darling. The objects of his
+tenderest affection were gay, happy, together, and, best of all, thinking
+of him. That he was not with them gave him no regrets; his love was too
+great for that. That their youth was soon to give place to the soberer
+experiences of life, gave him no pang of fear for them. Reading their
+letters, the Colonel was filled with quiet contentment; their future he
+could trust to the care of that Guiding Hand to whom he had entrusted his
+boy in childhood's earliest days.
+
+
+
+
+ARTHUR PENDENNIS
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTHUR PENDENNIS AT FAIR-OAKS.]
+
+Early in the Regency of George the Magnificent there lived in a small
+town in the west of England, called Clavering, a gentleman whose name was
+Pendennis. At an earlier date Mr. Pendennis had exercised the profession
+of apothecary and surgeon, and had even condescended to sell a plaster
+across the counter of his humble shop, or to vend tooth-brushes,
+hair-powder, and London perfumery. And yet that little apothecary was a
+gentleman with good education, and of as old a family as any in the
+county of Somerset. He had a Cornish pedigree which carried the
+Pendennises back to the time of the Druids. He had had a piece of
+University education, and might have pursued that career with honour, but
+in his second year at Oxford his father died insolvent, and he was
+obliged to betake himself to the trade which he always detested. For some
+time he had a hard struggle with poverty, but his manners were so
+gentleman-like and soothing that he was called in to prescribe for some
+of the ladies in the best families of Bath. Then his humble little shop
+became a smart one; then he shut it up altogether; then he had a gig with
+a man to drive in; and before she died his poor old mother had the
+happiness of seeing her beloved son step into a close carriage of his
+own; with the arms of the family of Pendennis handsomely emblazoned on
+the panels. He married Miss Helen Thistlewood, a very distant relative
+of the noble family of Bareacres, having met that young lady under Lady
+Pentypool's roof.
+
+The secret ambition of Mr. Pendennis had always been to be a gentleman.
+By prudence and economy, his income was largely increased, and finally he
+sold his business for a handsome sum, and retired forever from handling
+of the mortar and pestle, having purchased as a home the house of
+Fair-Oaks, nearly a mile out of Clavering.
+
+The estate was a beautiful one, and Arthur Pendennis, his son, being then
+but eight years of age, dated his earliest recollections from that place.
+
+Fair-Oaks lawn comes down to the little river Brawl, and on the other
+side were the plantations and woods of Clavering Park. The park was let
+out in pasture when the Pendennises came first to live at Fair-Oaks.
+Shutters were up in the house; a splendid free stone palace, with great
+stairs, statues and porticos. Sir Richard Clavering, Sir Francis's
+grandfather, had commenced the ruin of the family by the building of this
+palace: his successor had achieved the ruin by living in it. The present
+Sir Francis was abroad somewhere, and until now nobody could be found
+rich enough to rent that enormous mansion; through the deserted rooms,
+mouldy, clanking halls, and dismal galleries of which Arthur Pendennis
+many a time walked trembling when he was a boy. At sunset from the lawn
+of Fair-Oaks there was a pretty sight: it and the opposite park of
+Clavering were in the habit of putting on a rich golden tinge, which
+became them both wonderfully. The upper windows of the great house flamed
+so as to make your eyes wink; the little river ran off noisily westward
+and was lost in sombre wood, behind which the towers of the old abbey
+church of Clavering (whereby that town is called Clavering St. Mary's to
+the present day) rose up in purple splendour. Little Arthur's figure and
+his mother's cast long blue shadows over the grass: and he would repeat
+in a low voice (for a scene of great natural beauty always moved the boy,
+who inherited this sensibility from his mother) certain lines beginning,
+"These are thy glorious works. Parent of Good; Almighty! thine this
+universal frame," greatly to Mrs. Pendennis's delight. Such walks and
+conversation generally ended in a profusion of filial and maternal
+embraces; for to love and to pray were the main occupations of this dear
+woman's life; and I have often heard Pendennis say in his wild way, that
+he felt that he was sure of going to heaven, for his mother never could
+be happy there without him.
+
+As for John Pendennis, as the father of the family, and that sort of
+thing, everybody had the greatest respect for him: and his orders were
+obeyed like those of the Medes and Persians. His hat was as well brushed
+perhaps as that of any man in this empire. His meals were served at the
+same minute every day, and woe to those who came late, as little Pen, a
+disorderly little rascal, sometimes did. Prayers were recited, his
+letters were read, his business despatched, his stables and garden
+inspected, his hen-houses and kennel, his barn and pig-sty visited,
+always at regular hours. After dinner he always had a nap with the Globe
+newspaper on his knee, and his yellow bandanna handkerchief on his face.
+And so, as his dinner took place at six o'clock to a minute, and the
+sunset business alluded to may be supposed to have occurred at half-past
+seven, it is probable that he did not much care for the view in front of
+his lawn windows, or take any share in the poetry and caresses which were
+taking place there.
+
+They seldom occurred in his presence. However frisky they were before,
+mother and child were hushed and quiet when Mr. Pendennis walked into the
+drawing-room, his newspaper under his arm. And here, while little Pen,
+buried in a great chair, read all the books on which he could lay hold,
+the Squire perused his own articles in the Gardener's Gazette, or took a
+solemn hand at piquet with Mrs. Pendennis, or an occasional friend from
+the village.
+
+As for Mrs. Pendennis, she was conspicuous for her tranquil beauty, her
+natural sweetness and kindness, and that simplicity and dignity which
+purity and innocence are sure to bestow upon a handsome woman, and
+during her son's childhood and youth the boy thought of her as little
+less than an angel, a supernatural being, all wisdom, love and beauty.
+But Mrs. Pendennis had one weakness,--pride of family. She spoke of Mr.
+Pendennis as if he had been the Pope of Rome on his throne, and she a
+cardinal kneeling at his feet, and giving him incense. Mr. Pendennis's
+brother, the Major, she held to be a sort of Bayard among Majors, and
+as for her son Arthur, she worshipped that youth with an ardour which
+the young scapegrace accepted almost as coolly as the statue of the
+saint in St. Peter's receives the rapturous kisses which the faithful
+deliver on his toe.
+
+Notwithstanding his mother's worship of him, Arthur Pendennis's
+school-fellows at the Grey Friars School state that as a boy he was in no
+way remarkable either as a dunce or as a scholar. He never read to
+improve himself out of school-hours, but on the contrary devoured all the
+novels, plays and poetry he could get hold of. He never was flogged, but
+it was a wonder how he escaped the whippingpost. When he had money he
+spent it royally in tarts for himself and his friends, and had been known
+to disburse nine and sixpence out of ten shillings awarded to him in a
+single day. When he had no funds he went on tick. When he could get no
+credit he went without, and was almost as happy. He had been known to
+take a thrashing for a crony without saying a word; but a blow ever so
+slight from a friend would make him roar. To fighting he was averse from
+his earliest youth, and indeed to physic, the Greek Grammar, or any other
+exertion, and would engage in none of them, except at the last extremity.
+He seldom if ever told lies, and never bullied little boys. Those masters
+or seniors who were kind to him, he loved with boyish ardour. And though
+the Doctor, when he did not know his Horace, or could not construe his
+Greek play, said that that boy Pendennis was a disgrace to the school, a
+candidate for ruin in this world, and perdition in the next; a profligate
+who would most likely bring his venerable father to ruin and his mother
+to a dishonoured grave, and the like--yet as the Doctor made use of these
+compliments to most of the boys in the place, little Pen, at first uneasy
+and terrified by these charges, became gradually accustomed to hear them;
+and he has not, in fact, either murdered his parents or committed any act
+worthy of transportation or hanging up to the present day.
+
+Thus with various diversions and occupations his school days passed until
+he was about sixteen years old, when he was suddenly called away from his
+academic studies.
+
+It was at the close of the forenoon school, and Pen had been unnoticed
+all the previous part of the morning till now, when the Doctor put him on
+to construe in a Greek play. He did not know a word of it, though little
+Timmins, his form-fellow, was prompting him with all his might. Pen had
+made a sad blunder or two, when the awful chief broke out upon him.
+
+"Pendennis, sir," he said, "your idleness is incorrigible and your
+stupidity beyond example. You are a disgrace to your school, and to your
+family, and I have no doubt will prove so in after-life to your country.
+If that vice, sir, which is described to us as the root of all evil, be
+really what moralists have represented, what a prodigious quantity of
+future crime and wickedness are you, unhappy boy, laying the seed!
+Miserable trifler! A boy, sir, who does not learn his Greek play cheats
+the parent who spends money for his education. A boy who cheats his
+parent is not very far from robbing or forging upon his neighbour. A man
+who forges on his neighbour pays the penalty of his crime at the
+gallows. And it is not such a one that I pity, for he will be deservedly
+cut off, but his maddened and heartbroken parents, who are driven to a
+premature grave by his crimes, or, if they live, drag on a wretched and
+dishonoured old age. Go on, sir, and I warn you that the very next
+mistake that you make shall subject you to the punishment of the rod.
+Who's that laughing? What ill-conditioned boy is there that dares to
+laugh?" shouted the Doctor.
+
+Indeed, while the master was making this oration, there was a general
+titter behind him in the schoolroom. The orator had his back to the door
+of this ancient apartment, which was open, and a gentleman who was quite
+familiar with the place (for both Major Arthur, Pen's uncle, and Mr. John
+Pendennis had been at the school) was asking the fifth-form boy who sat
+by the door for Pendennis. The lad, grinning, pointed to the culprit
+against whom the Doctor was pouring out the thunders of his just wrath.
+Major Pendennis could not help laughing. He remembered having stood under
+that very pillar where Pen the younger now stood, and having been
+assaulted by the Doctor's predecessor years and years ago. The
+intelligence was "passed round" in an instant that it was Pendennis's
+uncle, and a hundred young faces, wondering and giggling, between terror
+and laughter, turned now to the newcomer and then to the awful Doctor.
+
+The Major asked the fifth-form boy to carry his card up to the Doctor,
+which the lad did with an arch look. Major Pendennis had written on the
+card: "I must take A.P. home; his father is very ill."
+
+As the Doctor received the card, and stopped his harangue with rather a
+scared look, the laughter of the boys, half constrained until then, burst
+out in a general shout. "Silence!" roared out the Doctor, stamping with
+his foot. Pen looked up and saw who was his deliverer; the Major beckoned
+to him gravely, and, tumbling down his books, Pen went across.
+
+The Doctor took out his watch. It was two minutes to one. "We will take
+the Juvenal at afternoon school," he said, nodding to the Captain, and
+all the boys, understanding the signal, gathered up their books and
+poured out of the hall.
+
+Young Pen saw by his uncle's face that something had happened at home.
+"Is there anything the matter with--my mother?" he said. He could hardly
+speak for emotion and the tears which were ready to start.
+
+"No," said the Major, "but your father's very ill. Go and pack your trunk
+directly; I have got a post-chaise at the gate."
+
+Pen went off quickly to his boarding-house to do as his uncle bade him;
+and the Doctor, now left alone in the schoolroom, came out to shake hands
+with the Major.
+
+"There is nothing serious, I hope," said the Doctor. "It is a pity to
+take the boy otherwise. He is a good boy, rather idle and unenergetic,
+but an honest, gentleman-like little fellow, though I can't get him to
+construe as I wish. Won't you come in and have some luncheon? My wife
+will be very happy to see you."
+
+But Major Pendennis declined the luncheon. He said his brother was very
+ill, and had had a fit the day before, and it was a great question if
+they should see him alive.
+
+"There's no other son, is there?" said the Doctor. The Major
+answered "No."
+
+"And there's a good eh--a good eh--property, I believe?" asked the other
+in an off-hand way.
+
+"H'm--so-so," said the Major. Whereupon this colloquy came to an end. And
+Arthur Pendennis got into a post-chaise with his uncle, never to come
+back to school any more.
+
+As the chaise drove through Clavering, the ostler standing whistling
+under the archway of the Clavering Arms winked to the postilion
+ominously, as much as to say all was over. The gardener's wife came and
+opened the lodge-gates and let the travellers through with a silent shake
+of the head. All the blinds were down at Fair-Oaks; and the face of the
+old footman was as blank when he let them in. Arthur's face was white,
+too, with terror more than with grief. Whatever of warmth and love the
+deceased man might have had, and he adored his wife, and loved and
+admired his son with all his heart, he had shut them up within himself;
+nor had the boy ever been able to penetrate that frigid outward barrier.
+
+A little girl, who was Mrs. Pendennis's adopted daughter, the child of
+a dear old friend, peered for a moment under the blinds as the chaise
+came up, opened the door from the stairs into the hall, and there
+taking Arthur's hand silently as he stooped down to kiss her, led him
+upstairs to his mother. What passed between that lady and the boy is
+not of import; a veil should be thrown over those sacred emotions of
+love and grief.
+
+As for Arthur Pendennis, after that awful shock which the sight of his
+dead father must have produced on him, and the pity and feeling which
+such an event no doubt occasioned, I am not sure that in the very moment
+of the grief, and as he embraced his mother and tenderly consoled her and
+promised to love her forever, there was not springing up in his breast a
+sort of secret triumph and exultation. He was the chief now and lord. He
+was Pendennis; and all round about him were his servants and handmaids.
+
+"You'll never send me away," little Laura said, tripping by him and
+holding his hand. "You won't send me to school, will you, Arthur?"
+
+Arthur kissed her and patted her head. No, she shouldn't go to school. As
+for going himself that was quite out of the question. He had determined
+that his life should be all holidays for the future; that he wouldn't get
+up till he liked, or stand the bullying of the Doctor any more; and made
+a hundred such day-dreams and resolves for the future. Then in due time
+they buried John Pendennis, Esquire, in the Abbey Church of Clavering St.
+Mary's, and Arthur Pendennis reigned in his stead.
+
+Arthur was about sixteen years old when he began to reign; in person he
+had what his friends would call a dumpy, but his mamma styled, a neat
+little figure. His hair was of a healthy brown colour, which looked like
+gold in the sunshine. His face was round, rosy, freckled, and
+good-humoured. In fact, without being a beauty, he had such a frank,
+good-natured, kind face and laughed so merrily at you out of his honest
+blue eyes that no wonder Mrs. Pendennis thought him the pride of the
+whole country. You may be certain he never went back to school; the
+discipline of the establishment did not suit him, and he liked being at
+home much better. The question of his return was debated, and his uncle
+was for his going back. The Doctor wrote his opinion that it was most
+important for Arthur's success in after life that he should know a Greek
+play thoroughly, but Pen adroitly managed to hint to his mother what a
+dangerous place Grey Friars was, and what sad wild fellows some of the
+chaps there were, and the timid soul, taking alarm at once, acceded to
+his desire to stay at home.
+
+Then Pen's uncle offered to use his influence with his Royal Highness,
+the Commander-in-Chief, to get Pen a commission in the Foot Guards. Pen's
+heart leaped at this: he had been to hear the band at St. James's play on
+a Sunday, when he went out to his uncle. He had seen Tom Ricketts, of the
+fourth form, who used to wear a jacket and trousers so ludicrously tight
+that the elder boys could not forbear using him in the quality of a butt
+or "cockshy"--he had seen this very Ricketts arrayed in crimson and gold,
+with an immense bearskin cap on his head, staggering under the colours of
+the regiment. Tom had recognised him and gave him a patronising nod--Tom,
+a little wretch whom he had cut over the back with a hockey-stick last
+quarter, and there he was in the centre of the square, rallying round the
+flag of his county, surrounded by bayonets, cross-belts, and scarlet, the
+band blowing trumpets and banging cymbals--talking familiarly to immense
+warriors with tufts to their chins and Waterloo medals. What would not
+Pen have given to enter such a service?
+
+But Helen Pendennis, when this point was proposed to her by her son, put
+on a face full of terror and alarm, and confessed that she should be very
+unhappy if he thought of entering the army. Now Pen would as soon have
+cut off his nose and ears as deliberately and of malice aforethought have
+made his mother unhappy; and as he was of such a generous disposition
+that he would give away anything to any one, he instantly made a present
+of his visionary red coat and epaulettes to his mother.
+
+She thought him the noblest creature in the world. But Major Pendennis,
+when the offer of the commission was acknowledged and refused, wrote back
+a curt and somewhat angry letter to the widow, and thought his nephew was
+rather a spooney.
+
+He was contented, however, when he saw the boy's performances out hunting
+at Christmas, when the Major came down as usual to Fair-Oaks. Pen had a
+very good mare, and rode her with uncommon pluck and grace. He took his
+fences with great coolness and judgment. He wrote to the chaps at school
+about his topboots, and his feats across country. He began to think
+seriously of a scarlet coat: and his mother must own that she thought it
+would become him remarkably well; though, of course, she passed hours of
+anguish during his absence, and daily expected to see him brought home on
+a shutter.
+
+With these amusements, in rather too great plenty, it must not be assumed
+that Pen neglected his studies altogether. He had a natural taste for
+reading every possible kind of book which did _not_ fall into his school
+course. It was only when they forced his head into the waters of
+knowledge that he refused to drink. He devoured all the books at home and
+ransacked the neighbouring book-cases. He found at Clavering an old cargo
+of French novels which he read with all his might; and he would sit for
+hours perched on the topmost bar of Dr. Portman's library steps with an
+old folio on his knees.
+
+Mr. Smirke, Dr. Portman's curate, was engaged at a liberal salary to pass
+several hours daily with the young gentleman. He was a decent scholar and
+mathematician, and taught Pen as much as the lad was ever disposed to
+learn, which was not much. Pen soon took the measure of his tutor, who,
+when he came riding into the court-yard at Fair-Oaks on his pony, turned
+out his toes so absurdly, and left such a gap between his knees and the
+saddle, that it was impossible for any lad endowed with a sense of humour
+to respect such a rider. He nearly killed Smirke with terror by putting
+him on his mare, and taking him a ride over a common where the county
+fox-hounds happened to meet.
+
+Smirke and his pupil read the ancient poets together, and rattled through
+them at a pleasant rate, very different from that steady grubbing pace
+with which he was obliged to go over the _classis_ ground at Grey Friars,
+scenting out each word and digging up every root in the way. Pen never
+liked to halt, but made his tutor construe when he was at fault, and thus
+galloped through the Iliad and the Odyssey and the charming, wicked
+Aristophanes. But he went so fast that though he certainly galloped
+through a considerable extent of the ancient country, he clean forgot it
+in after life. Besides the ancient poets, Pen read the English with great
+gusto. Smirke sighed and shook his head sadly both about Byron and Moore.
+But Pen was a sworn fire-worshipper and a corsair; he had them by heart,
+and used to take little Laura into the window and say, "Zuleika, I am not
+thy brother," in tones so tragic that they caused the solemn little maid
+to open her great eyes still wider. She sat sewing at Mrs. Pendennis's
+knee, listening to Pen reading to her without understanding one word of
+what he said.
+
+He read Shakespeare to his mother, and Byron and Pope, and his favourite
+"Lalla Rookh" and Bishop Heber and Mrs. Hemans, and about this period of
+his existence began to write verses of his own. He broke out in the
+poet's corner of the County Chronicle with some verses with which he was
+perfectly well satisfied. His are the verses signed NEP addressed "To a
+Tear," "On the Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo," "On St.
+Bartholomew's Day," etc., etc., all of which masterpieces Mrs. Pendennis
+kept along with his first socks, the first cutting of his hair, his
+bottle and other interesting relics of his infancy. His genius at this
+time was of a decidedly gloomy cast. He brought his mother a tragedy in
+which, though he killed sixteen people before the second act, she laughed
+so that he thrust the masterpiece into the fire in a pet. He also
+projected an epic poem in blank verse, and several other classical pieces
+of a gloomy character, and was altogether of an intense and sentimental
+turn of mind quite in contrast with his practical and merry appearance.
+The sentimental side of his nature, fed by the productions of his
+favourite poets and fanned by the romantic temperament of his tutor, soon
+found an object to kindle the spark into a blaze, and a most unfortunate
+blaze for Pen.
+
+While Mrs. Pendennis was planning her son's career and had not yet
+settled in her mind whether he was to be Senior Wrangler and Archbishop
+of Canterbury, or Double First Class at Oxford and Lord Chancellor, young
+Pen himself was starting out on quite a different career, which seemed
+destined to lead him in the opposite direction from that of his mother's
+day-dreams, who had made up her mind that in time he was to marry little
+Laura, settle in London and astonish that city by his learning and
+eloquence at the Bar; or, better still, in a sweet country parsonage
+surrounded by hollyhocks and roses close to a delightful, romantic,
+ivy-covered church, from the pulpit of which Pen would utter the most
+beautiful sermons ever preached.
+
+While these plans and decisions were occupying his mother's thoughts,
+Pen was getting into mischief. One day he rode into Chatteris to carry to
+the County Chronicle a thrilling poem for the next week's paper; and
+while putting up his horse at the stables at the George hotel, he fell in
+with an old school-fellow, Mr. Foker, who after a desultory conversation
+with Pen strolled down High Street with him, and persuaded him not only
+to dine at the George with him, but to accompany him later to the
+theatre. Mr. Foker, who was something of a sport, was acquainted with the
+troupe who were then acting at that theatre, and the entire atmosphere
+was so new and exciting to Pen that his emotional nature, which had been
+waiting for many months for a sensational thrill, responded at once to
+the idea; and later on to the applause of pit and gallery, and to the
+personal magnetism of the heroine of the play, one Miss Fotheringay.
+
+To Miss Fotheringay's attractions, natural and artificial, Pen responded
+at once, and sat in breathless enchanted silence through all the
+conversations and melodramatic situations of the mediocre performance.
+When the curtain went down he felt that he now had a subject to inspire
+his Muse forever. He quitted the theatre in a state of intense
+excitement, and rode homeward in a state of numb ecstasy. Notwithstanding
+his sentimental mood, Pen was so normal in mind and body that he slept as
+soundly as ever, but when he awoke he felt himself to be many years older
+than yesterday. He dressed himself in some of his finest clothes, and
+came down to breakfast, patronising his mother and little Laura, who
+wondered at his grand appearance, and asked him to tell her what the play
+was about.
+
+Pen laughed and declined to tell her. Then she asked him why he had got
+on his fine pin and beautiful new waistcoat?
+
+Pen blushed and said that Mr. Foker was reading with a tutor at
+Baymouth, a very learned man; and as he was himself to go to college he
+was anxious to ride over--and--just see what their course of reading
+was. The truth was Pen had resolved that he must see Foker that morning
+and find out all that was possible concerning the object of his last
+night's enthusiasm; and soon after breakfast he was on his horse
+galloping away towards Baymouth like a madman.
+
+From that time the lad's chief object in life was visiting the theatre,
+or Miss Fotheringay herself, to whom he had speedily received an
+introduction; and although she was a young woman not at all conversant
+with the social side of life with which he was familiar, she was
+nevertheless fascinating to Pen, who saw her always in the glamour of
+lime lights and applause. It was not long before Mrs. Pendennis
+discovered the lad's new interest, which naturally disquieted her.
+Finally, however, for reasons of her own, she assented to Pen's
+suggestion that Miss Fotheringay was to appear as Ophelia in a benefit
+performance.
+
+"Suppose we were to go--Shakespeare, you know, mother. We can get horses
+from the Clavering Arms," he said. Little Laura sprang up with delight;
+she longed for a play. The mother was delighted that Pen should suggest
+their going, and in her good-humour asked Mr. Smirke to be one of the
+party. They arrived at the theatre ahead of time, and were cordially
+saluted by Mr. Foker and a friend, who sat in a box near theirs. The
+young fellows saluted Pen cordially, and examined his party with
+approval; for little Laura was a pretty red-cheeked girl with a quantity
+of shining brown ringlets, and Mrs. Pendennis, dressed in black velvet,
+with a diamond cross which she wore on great occasions, looked uncommonly
+handsome and majestic.
+
+"Who is that odd-looking person bowing to you, Arthur?" Mrs. Pendennis
+asked of her son, after a critical examination of the audience.
+
+Pen blushed a great deal. "His name is Captain Costigan, ma'am," he said,
+"a Peninsular officer." Pen did not volunteer anything more; and how was
+Mrs. Pendennis to know that Mr. Costigan was the father of Miss
+Fotheringay?
+
+We have nothing to do with the play except to say that Ophelia looked
+lovely, and performed with admirable wild pathos, laughing, weeping,
+gazing wildly, waving her beautiful white arms and flinging about her
+snatches of flowers and songs with the most charming madness. What an
+opportunity her splendid black hair had of tossing over her shoulders!
+She made the most charming corpse ever seen, and while Hamlet and Laertes
+were battling in her grave she was looking out from the back scenes with
+some curiosity towards Pen's box, and the family party assembled in it.
+
+There was but one voice in her praise there. Mrs. Pendennis was in
+ecstasies with her beauty. Little Laura was bewildered by the piece and
+the Ghost, and the play within the play, but cried out great praises of
+that beautiful young creature, Ophelia. Pen was charmed with the effect
+which she produced on his mother, and the clergyman on his part was
+exceedingly enthusiastic.
+
+When the curtain fell upon that group of slaughtered personages who are
+despatched so suddenly at the end of "Hamlet," and whose death astonished
+poor little Laura, there was an immense shouting and applause from all
+quarters of the house. There was a roar of bravoes rang through the
+house; Pen bellowing with the loudest. "Fotheringay! Fotheringay!" Even
+Mrs. Pendennis began to wave about her pocket-handkerchief, and little
+Laura danced, laughed, clapped, and looked up at Pen with wonder.
+
+If Pen had been alone with his mother in the carriage as they drove home
+that night he would have told her the extent of his devotion for Miss
+Fotheringay, but he had no chance to do so, and it remained for that good
+lady to hear of her boy's intimacy with the actress from good Dr.
+Portman, who, on the following evening, happening to see Pen in Miss
+Fotheringay's company and much absorbed by her charms, lost no time in
+hurrying to Mrs. Pendennis with the news. Now, although Mrs. Pendennis
+had been wise enough to appreciate Pen's infatuation, she had looked upon
+it as the merest boyish fancy, induced by the glamour of the stage, and
+did not dream that there was a personal intimacy behind it. She heard Dr.
+Portman's statement in horrified silence, and before she slept that night
+had despatched letters to Major Pendennis demanding his immediate return
+from London to help her in the management of her son at this critical
+point in his youthful career.
+
+Although loath to leave London, Major Pendennis straightway came to
+Fair-Oaks. He came; he saw the situation at a glance; and after a
+prolonged conversation with Mrs. Pendennis he summoned Pen himself. That
+young man having strung up his nerves, and prepared himself for the
+encounter, determined to face the awful uncle, with all the courage and
+dignity of the famous family which he represented. He marched into Major
+Pendennis's presence with a most severe and warlike expression, as if to
+say, "Come on, I am ready."
+
+The old man of the world, as he surveyed the boy's demeanour, could
+hardly help a grin at his admirable pompous simplicity, and having a
+shrewd notion that threats and tragic exaltations would have no effect
+upon the boy, said with the most good-humoured smile in the world, as
+he shook Pen's passive fingers gaily: "Well, Pen, my boy, tell us all
+about it!"
+
+Helen was delighted with the generosity of the Major's good-humour. On
+the contrary, it quite took aback and disappointed poor Pen, whose nerves
+were strung up for a tragedy, and who felt that his grand entrance was
+altogether balked and ludicrous. He blushed and winced with mortified
+vanity and bewilderment. He felt immensely inclined to begin to cry.
+"I--I didn't know you were come till just now," he said; "is--is--town
+very full, I suppose?"
+
+If Pen could hardly gulp his tears down it was all the Major could do to
+keep from laughter. He turned round and shot a comical glance at Mrs.
+Pendennis, who, too, felt that the scene was at once ridiculous and
+sentimental. And so, having nothing to say, she went up and kissed Mr.
+Pen, while the Major said: "Come, come, Pen, my good fellow, tell us the
+whole story."
+
+Pen got back at once to his tragic and heroical air while he told the
+story of his devotion to the charming Miss Fotheringay, to which the
+Major gave quiet attention, and then asked many practical questions, and
+made so many remarks of a worldly-wise nature that the boy was obliged to
+give in and acknowledge the sound wisdom of them, and also before the
+interview was over he gave his mother a promise that he would never do
+anything which would bring shame upon the family; which promise given,
+the Major could contain his gravity at the situation no longer, but burst
+into a fit of laughter so infectious that Pen was obliged to join in it.
+This sent them with great good-humour into Mrs. Pendennis's drawing-room,
+and she was pleased to hear the Major and Pen laughing together as they
+walked across the hall with the Major's arm laid gayly on Pen's
+shoulder. The pair came to the tea-table in the highest spirits. The
+Major's politeness was beyond expression. He was secretly delighted with
+himself that he had been able to win such a victory over the young
+fellow's feelings. He had never tasted such good tea, and such bread was
+only to be had in the country. He asked Mrs. Pendennis for one of her
+charming songs. He then made Pen sing, and was delighted at the beauty of
+the boy's voice; he made his nephew fetch his maps and drawings, and
+praised them as really remarkable works of talent in a young fellow; he
+complimented him on his French pronunciation. He flattered the simple boy
+to the extent of his ability, and when bedtime came mother and son went
+to their rooms perfectly enchanted with him.
+
+Unwilling to leave his work half done, the Major remained at Fair-Oaks
+for some time that he might watch his nephew's actions. Pen never rode
+over to Chatteris but that the Major found out on what errand the boy
+had been. Faithful to his plan, he gave his nephew no hindrance. Yet
+somehow the constant feeling that his uncle's eye was upon him made Pen
+go less frequently to sigh away his soul at the feet of his charmer than
+he had done before his uncle's arrival. But even so, and despite Pen's
+promise to his mother, the Major felt that if he were to succeed in
+permanently curing the lad of his interest in the actress, it would be
+well to have more help in achieving it. In pursuance of this aim, the
+Major went to Chatteris himself privately, sought out the actress's
+father, and presented to him the practical facts of his nephew's extreme
+youth and lack of money, as hindrances to his devotion going further.
+After a rather heated argument with Captain Costigan, that gentleman was
+made to understand the situation, and finally gave his promise so to
+present the case to his daughter, that she should herself write a
+letter to Pen setting forth her firm determination to have no more
+intercourse with him.
+
+Captain Costigan was as good as his word, and his letter to Pen was sent
+immediately. A few lines from Miss Costigan were enclosed. She agreed in
+the decision of her papa, pointed out several reasons why they should
+meet no more, and thanked him for his kindness and friendship.
+
+Major Pendennis had won a complete victory, and his secret delight
+at having rescued Pen from an unwise attachment was only equalled by
+his regret at the real suffering he was obliged to allow the lad to
+go through.
+
+After receiving the letter Pen rushed wildly off to Chatteris; but in
+vain attempted to see Miss Fotheringay, for whom he left a letter
+enclosed to her father. The enclosure was returned by Mr. Costigan, who
+begged that all correspondence might end; and after one or two further
+attempts of the lad's, Captain Costigan insisted that their
+acquaintance should cease. He cut Pen in the street. As Arthur and
+Foker were pacing the street one day they came upon the daughter on her
+father's arm. She passed without any nod of recognition. Foker felt
+poor Pen trembling on his arm.
+
+His uncle wanted him to travel, and his mother urged him, too, for he was
+in a state of restless unhappiness. But he said point blank he would not
+go, and his mother was too fond, and his uncle too wise, to force him.
+Whenever Miss Fotheringay acted, he rode over to the Chatteris theatre
+and saw her; and between times found the life at Fair-Oaks extremely
+dreary and uninteresting. He sometimes played backgammon with his mother,
+or took dinner with Dr. Portman or some other neighbour; these were the
+chief of his pleasures; or he would listen to his mother's simple music
+of summer evenings. But he was very restless and wretched in spite of
+all. By the pond and under a tree, which was his favourite resort in
+moods of depression, Pen, at that time, composed a number of poems
+suitable to his misery--over which verses he blushed in after days,
+wondering how he could have ever invented such rubbish. He had his hot
+and cold fits, his days of sullenness and peevishness, and occasional mad
+paroxysms of rage and longing, in which fits his horse would be saddled
+and galloped fiercely about the country, bringing him back in such a
+state of despair as brought much worry to his mother and the Major. In
+fact, Pen's attitude towards life and his actions at that time were so
+unlike what they should have been at his age that his proceedings
+tortured his mother not a little, and her anxiety would have led her
+often to interfere with Pen's doings had not the Major constantly checked
+her; fancying that he saw a favourable turn in Pen's malady, which was
+shown by a violent attack of writing verses; also spouting them as he sat
+with the home party of evenings; and one day the Major found a great
+bookful of original verses in the lad's study. Also he discovered that
+the young gentleman had a very creditable appetite for his meals, and
+slept soundly at night. From these symptoms the Major argued that Pen was
+leaving behind him his infatuation.
+
+Dr. Portman was of the opinion that Pen should go to college. He thought
+the time had come for the boy to leave his old surroundings, and, besides
+study, have a moderate amount of the best society, too. Pen, who was
+thoroughly out of harmony with his present surroundings, gloomily said he
+would go, and in consequence of this decision not many weeks later the
+widow and Laura nervously set about filling trunks with his books, and
+linen, and making all necessary preparation for his departure, writing
+cards with the name of Arthur Pendennis, Esquire, which were duly nailed
+on the boxes; at which both the widow and Laura looked with tearful eyes.
+
+A night soon came when the coach, with echoing horn and blazing lamps,
+stopped at the lodge gate of Fair-Oaks, and Pen's trunks and his Uncle's
+were placed on the roof of the carriage, into which the pair presently
+afterwards entered. Mrs. Pendennis and Laura were standing by the
+evergreens of the shrubbery, their figures lighted up by the coach lamps.
+The guard cried "All right"; in another instant the carriage whirled
+onward; the lights disappeared, and his mother's heart and prayers went
+with them. Her sainted benedictions followed the departing boy. He had
+left the home-nest in which he had been chafing; eager to go forth and
+try his restless wings.
+
+How lonely the house was without him! The corded trunks and book-boxes
+were there in his empty study. Laura asked leave to come and sleep in
+her aunt's room: and when she cried herself to sleep there, the mother
+went softly into Pen's vacant chamber, and knelt down by the bed on
+which the moon shone, and there prayed for her boy, as mothers only know
+how to plead.
+
+Pen passed a few days at the Major's lodgings in London, of which he
+wrote a droll account to his dearest mother; and she and Laura read that
+letter, and those which followed, many, many times, and brooded over
+them, while Pen and the Major were arriving at Oxbridge; and Pen was
+becoming acquainted with his surroundings. The boxes that his mother had
+packed with so much care arrived in a few days. Pen was touched as he
+read the cards in the dear well-known hand, and as he arranged in their
+places all the books, and all the linen and table-cloths which Helen had
+selected for him from the family stock, and all the hundred simple gifts
+of home. Then came the Major's leave-taking, and truth to tell our friend
+Pen was not sorry when he was left alone to enter upon his new career,
+and we may be sure that the Major on his part was very glad to have done
+his duty by Pen, and to have finished that irksome work. Having left Pen
+in the company of Harry Foker, who would introduce him to the best set at
+the University, the Major rushed off to London and again took up his
+accustomed life.
+
+We are not about to go through young Pen's academical career very
+minutely. During the first term of his university life he attended
+lectures with tolerable regularity, but soon discovering that he had
+little taste for pursuing the exact sciences, he gave up his attendance
+at that course and announced that he proposed to devote himself
+exclusively to Greek and Roman Literature.
+
+Mrs. Pendennis was for her part quite satisfied that her darling boy
+should pursue that branch of learning for which he had the greatest
+inclination; and only besought him not to ruin his health by too much
+study, for she had heard the most melancholy stories of young students
+who by overfatigue had brought on brain-fevers, and perished untimely in
+the midst of their university career. Pen's health, which was always
+delicate, was to be regarded, as she justly said, beyond all
+considerations or vain honours. Pen, although not aware of any lurking
+disease which was likely to endanger his life, yet kindly promised his
+mamma not to sit up reading too late of nights, and stuck to his word in
+this respect with a great deal more tenacity of resolution than he
+exhibited upon some other occasions, when perhaps he was a little remiss.
+
+Presently he began to find that he learned little good in the classical
+lecture. His fellow-students there were too dull, as in mathematics they
+were too learned for him. Pen grew weary of hearing the students and
+tutor blunder through a few lines of a play which he could read in a
+tenth part of the time which they gave to it. After all, private reading,
+he decided, was the only study which was really profitable, and he
+announced to his mamma that he should read by himself a great deal more
+and in public a great deal less. That excellent woman knew no more about
+Homer than she did about Algebra, but she was quite contented with Pen's
+arrangements regarding his course of study, and felt perfectly confident
+that her dear boy would get the place which he merited.
+
+Pen did not come home until after Christmas, a little to the fond
+mother's disappointment, and Laura's, who was longing for him to make a
+fine snow fortification, such as he had made three winters before. But he
+was invited to Logwood, Lady Agnes Foker's, where there were private
+theatricals, and a gay Christmas party of very fine folks, some of whom
+Major Pendennis would on no account have his nephew neglect. However, he
+stayed at home for the last three weeks of the vacation, and Laura had
+the opportunity of remarking what a quantity of fine new clothes he
+brought with him, and his mother admired his improved appearance and
+manly and decided tone.
+
+He had not come home at Easter; but when he arrived for the long vacation
+he brought more smart clothes; appearing in the morning in wonderful
+shooting-jackets, with remarkable buttons; and in the evening in gorgeous
+velvet waistcoats, with richly embroidered cravats, and curious linen.
+And as she pried about his room, she saw, oh, such a beautiful
+dressing-case, with silver mountings, and a quantity of lovely rings and
+jewellery. And he had a new French watch and gold chain, in place of the
+big old chronometer, with its bunch of jingling seals, which had hung
+from the fob of John Pendennis. It was but a few months back Pen had
+longed for this watch, which he thought the most splendid and august
+time-piece in the world; and just before he went to college, Helen had
+taken it out of her trinket box and given it to Pen with a solemn and
+appropriate little speech respecting his father's virtues and the proper
+use of time. This portly and valuable chronometer Pen now pronounced to
+be out of date, and indeed made some comparisons between it and a
+warming-pan, which Laura thought disrespectful; and he left it in a
+drawer in the company of soiled primrose gloves and cravats which had
+gone out of favour. His horse Pen pronounced no longer up to his weight,
+and swapped her for another for which he had to pay rather a heavy
+figure. Mrs. Pendennis gave the boy the money for the new horse, and
+Laura cried when the old one was fetched away.
+
+Arthur's allowances were liberal at this time, and thus he, the only son
+of a country gentleman, and of a gentleman-like bearing and person, was
+looked up to as a lad of much more consequence than he really was. His
+manner was frank, brave and perhaps a little impertinent, as becomes a
+high-spirited youth. He was generous and freehanded with his money, loved
+joviality, and had a good voice for a song. He rode well to hounds,
+appeared in pink as became a young buck, and managed to run up fine bills
+in a number of quarters. In fact, he had almost every taste to a
+considerable degree. He was very fond of books of all sorts and had a
+very fair taste in matters of art; also a great partiality for fine
+clothes and expensive jewellery.
+
+In the course of his second year he had become one of the men of fashion
+in the University, and a leader of the faithful band who hung around him
+and wondered at him and loved him and imitated him. Now, it is easy to
+calculate that with such tastes as Mr. Pen possessed he must in the
+course of two or three years spend or owe a very handsome sum of money.
+As he was not of a calculating turn he certainly found himself frequently
+in debt, but this did not affect his gaiety of spirit. He got a
+prodigious in the University and was hailed as a sort of Crichton: and as
+for the English verse prize, although Jones carried it that year, the
+undergraduates thought Pen's a much finer poem, and he had his verses
+printed at his own expense, and distributed in gilt morocco covers
+amongst his acquaintance.
+
+Amidst his friends, and a host of them there were, Pen passed more than
+two brilliant and happy years. He had his fill of pleasure and
+popularity. No dinner or supper party was complete without him. He became
+the favourite and leader of young men who were his superiors in wealth
+and station, but also did not neglect the humblest man of his
+acquaintance in order to curry favour with the richest young grandee in
+the University. He became famous and popular: not that he did much, but
+there was a general idea that he could do a great deal if he chose. "Ah,
+if Pendennis would only _try_" the men said, "he might do anything." One
+by one the University honours were lost by him, until he ceased to
+compete. But he got a declamation prize and brought home to his mother
+and Laura a set of prize books begilt with the college arms, and so
+magnificent that the ladies thought that Pen had won the largest honour
+which Oxbridge was capable of awarding.
+
+Vacation after vacation passed without the desired news that Pen had sat
+for any scholarship or won any honour, and Pen grew rebellious and
+unhappy, and there was a tacit feud between Dr. Portman, who was
+disappointed in Arthur, and the lad himself. Mrs. Pendennis, hearing Dr.
+Portman prophesy that Pen would come to ruin, trembled in her heart, and
+little Laura also--Laura who had grown to be a fine young stripling,
+graceful and fair, clinging to her adopted mother and worshipping her
+with a passionate affection. Both of these women felt that their boy was
+changed. He was no longer the artless Pen of old days, so brave, so
+impetuous, so tender. He spent little of his vacations at home, but went
+on visits, and scared the quiet pair at Fair-Oaks by stories of great
+houses to which he had been invited, and by talking of lords without
+their titles.
+
+But even with all his weaknesses there was a kindness and frankness about
+Arthur Pendennis which won most people who came in contact with him, and
+made it impossible to resist his good-nature, or in his worst moments not
+to hope for his rescue from utter ruin. At the time of his career of
+university pleasure he would leave the gayest party to sit with a sick
+friend and was only too ready to share any money which he had with a
+poorer one.
+
+In his third year at college the duns began to gather awfully round about
+him, and descended upon him in such a number that the tutors were
+scandalised, and even brave-hearted Pen was scared. Hearing of his
+nephew's extravagances, Major Pendennis interviewed that young man, and
+was thunderstruck at the extent of his liabilities after receiving Pen's
+dismal confession of the trouble in which he was involved.
+
+Perhaps it was because she was so tender and good that Pen was terrified
+lest his mother should know of his sins. "I can't bear to break it to
+her," he said to the tutor, in an agony of grief. "Oh! sir, I've been a
+villain to her!"
+
+--and he repented, and asked himself, Why, why, did his uncle insist
+upon the necessity of living with great people, and in how much did all
+his grand acquaintance profit him?
+
+They were not shy of him, but Pen thought they were, and slunk from them
+during his last terms at college. He was as gloomy as a death's-head at
+parties, which he avoided of his own part, or to which his young friends
+soon ceased to invite him. Everybody knew that Pendennis was "hard up."
+
+At last came the Degree Examinations. Many a young man of his year, whose
+hob-nailed shoes Pen had derided, and whose face or coat he had
+caricatured, many a man whom he had treated with scorn in the
+lecture-room or crushed with his eloquence in the debating club, many of
+his own set who had not half his brains, but a little regularity and
+constancy of occupation, took high places in the honours or passed within
+decent credit. And where in the list was Pen, the superb; Pen, the wit
+and dandy; Pen, the poet and orator? Ah, where was Pen, the widow's
+darling and sole pride? Let us hide our heads and shut up the page. The
+lists came out; and a dreadful rumour rushed through the University, that
+Pendennis of Boniface was plucked.
+
+During the latter part of Pen's university career the Major had become
+very proud of Arthur on account of his high spirits, frank manners, and
+high, gentleman-like bearing. He made more than one visit to Oxbridge and
+had an almost paternal fondness for Pen, whom he bragged about at his
+clubs, and introduced with pleasure into his conversation. He boasted
+everywhere of the boy's great talents and of the brilliant degree he was
+going to take as he wrote over and over again to Pen's mother, who for
+her part was ready to believe anything that anybody chose to say in
+favour of her son.
+
+And all this pride and affection of uncle and mother had been trampled
+down by Pen's wicked extravagance and idleness. I don't envy Pen's
+feelings as he thought of what he had done. He had marred at its outset
+what might have been a brilliant career. He had dipped ungenerously into
+a generous mother's purse, and basely and recklessly spent her little
+income. Poor Arthur Pendennis felt perfectly convinced that all England
+would remark the absence of his name from the examination lists and talk
+about his misfortune. His wounded tutor, his many duns, the
+undergraduates--how could he bear to look any of them in the face now?
+After receiving the news of his disgrace he rushed to his rooms and there
+penned a letter to his tutor full of thanks, regards, remorse and
+despair, requesting that his name might be taken off the college books,
+and intimating a wish that death might speedily end the woes of the
+disgraced Arthur Pendennis. Then he slunk out, scarcely knowing where he
+went, taking the unfrequented little lanes at the backs of the college
+buildings until he found himself some miles distant from Oxbridge. As he
+went up a hill, a drizzling January rain beating in his face and his
+ragged gown flying behind him, for he had not taken it off since the
+morning, a post-chaise came rattling up the road with a young gentleman
+in it who caught sight of poor Pen's pale face, jumped out of the
+carriage and ran towards him, exclaiming, "I say,--Hello, old boy, where
+are you going, and what's the row now?"
+
+"I am going where I deserve to go," said Pen.
+
+"This ain't the way," said his friend Spavin, smiling. "I say, Pen, don't
+take on because you are plucked. It is nothing when you are used to it.
+I've been plucked three times, old boy, and after the first time I
+didn't care. You'll have better luck next time."
+
+Pen looked at his early acquaintance who had been plucked, who had been
+rusticated, who had only after repeated failures learned to read and
+write correctly, but who, in spite of all these drawbacks had attained
+the honour of a degree.
+
+"This man has passed," he thought, "and I have failed." It was almost too
+much for him to bear.
+
+"Good-bye," said he; "I am very glad you are through. Don't let me keep
+you. I am in a hurry--I am going to town to-night."
+
+"Gammon!" said his friend, "this ain't the way to town; this is the
+Fenbury road, I tell you."
+
+"I was just going to turn back," Pen said.
+
+"All the coaches are full with the men going down," Spavin said. Pen
+winced. "You'd not get a place for a ten-pound note. Get in here. I'll
+drop you where you have a chance of the Fenbury mail. I'll lend you a hat
+and coat; I've got lots. Come along; jump in, old boy--go it, leathers!"
+
+And in this way Pen found himself in Mr. Spavin's post-chaise and rode
+with that gentleman as far as the Ram Inn at Mudford, fifteen miles from
+Oxbridge, where the Fenbury mail changed horses, and where Pen got a
+place on to London.
+
+The next day there was an immense excitement at Oxbridge, where, for some
+time, a rumour prevailed, to the terror of Pen's tutor and tradesmen,
+that Pendennis, maddened at losing his degree, had made away with
+himself. A battered cap, in which his name was almost discernible,
+together with a seal bearing his crest of an eagle looking at a now
+extinct sun, had been found three miles on the Fenbury road, near a mill
+stream; and for four-and-twenty hours it was supposed that poor Pen had
+flung himself into the stream, until letters arrived from him, bearing
+the London post-mark.
+
+The coach reached London at the dreary hour of five; and he hastened to
+the inn at Covent Garden, where the ever-wakeful porter admitted him, and
+showed him to a bed. Pen looked hard at the man, and wondered whether
+Boots knew he was plucked? When in bed he could not sleep there. He
+tossed about restlessly until the appearance of daylight, when he sprang
+up desperately, and walked off to his uncle's lodgings in Bury Street.
+
+"Good 'evens! Mr. Arthur, what 'as 'appened, sir?" asked the valet, who
+was just carrying in his wig to the Major.
+
+"I want to see my uncle," Pen cried in a ghastly voice, and flung himself
+down on a chair.
+
+The valet backed before the pale and desperate-looking young man,
+with terrified and wondering glances, and disappeared into his
+master's apartment, whence the Major put out his head as soon as he
+had his wig on.
+
+"What? Examination over? Senior Wrangler, Double First Class, hey?" said
+the old gentleman. "I'll come directly," and the head disappeared.
+
+Pen was standing with his back to the window, so that his uncle could not
+see the expression of gloomy despair on the young man's face. But when he
+held out his hand to Pen, and was about to address him in his cheery,
+high-toned voice, he caught sight of the boy's face; and dropping his
+hand said, "Why, Pen, what's the matter?"
+
+"You'll see it in the papers at breakfast, sir," Pen said.
+
+"See what?"
+
+"My name isn't there, sir."
+
+"Hang it, why _should_ it be?" asked the Major, more perplexed.
+
+"I have lost everything, sir," groaned out Pen; "my honour's gone; I'm
+ruined irretrievably; I can't go back to Oxbridge."
+
+"Lost your honour?" screamed out the Major. "Heaven alive! You don't mean
+to say you have shown the white feather?"
+
+Pen laughed bitterly at the word feather, and repeated it. "No, it isn't
+that, sir. I'm not afraid of being shot; I wish anybody would shoot me. I
+have not got my degree. I--I'm plucked, sir."
+
+The Major had heard of plucking, but in a very vague and cursory way, and
+concluded that it was some ceremony performed corporally upon rebellious
+university youth. "I wonder you can look me in the face after such a
+disgrace, sir," he said; "I wonder you submitted to it as a gentleman."
+
+"I couldn't help it, sir. I did my classical papers well enough: it was
+those infernal mathematics, which I have always neglected."
+
+"Was it--was it done in public, sir?" the Major said.
+
+"What?"
+
+"The--the plucking?" asked the guardian, looking Pen anxiously in the
+face.
+
+Pen perceived the error under which his guardian was labouring, and in
+the midst of his misery the blunder caused the poor wretch a faint smile,
+and served to bring down the conversation from the tragedy-key in which
+Pen had been disposed to carry it on. He explained to his uncle that he
+had gone in to pass his examination, and failed. On which the Major said,
+that though he had expected far better things of his nephew, there was no
+great misfortune in this, and no dishonour as far as he saw, and that
+Pen must try again.
+
+"Me again at Oxbridge!" Pen thought, "after such a humiliation as
+that?" He felt that, except he went down to burn the place, he could
+not enter it.
+
+But it was when he came to tell his uncle of his debts that the other
+felt surprise and anger most keenly, and broke out into speeches most
+severe upon Pen, which the lad bore, as best he might, without flinching.
+
+It appeared that his bills in all amounted to about £700; and furthermore
+it was calculated that he had had more than twice that sum during his
+stay at Oxbridge. This sum he had spent, and for it he had to show--what?
+
+"You need not press a man who is down, sir," Pen said to his uncle,
+gloomily. "I know very well how wicked and idle I have been. My mother
+won't like to see me dishonoured, sir," he continued, with his voice
+failing; "and I know she will pay these accounts. But I shall ask her for
+no more money."
+
+"As you like, sir," the Major said. "You are of age, and my hands are
+washed of your affairs. But you can't live without money, and have no
+means of making it that I see, though you have a fine talent in spending
+it, and it is my belief that you will proceed as you have begun, and ruin
+your mother before you are five years older. Good-morning; it is time for
+me to go to breakfast. My engagements won't permit me to see you much
+during the time that you stay in London. I presume that you will acquaint
+your mother with the news which you have just conveyed to me."
+
+And pulling on his hat, and trembling in his limbs somewhat, Major
+Pendennis walked out of his lodgings before his nephew, and went ruefully
+off to take his accustomed corner at the club, where he saw the Oxbridge
+examination lists in the morning papers, and read over the names with
+mournful accuracy, thinking also with bitterness of the many plans he had
+formed to make a man of his nephew, of the sacrifices which he had made,
+and of the manner in which he was disappointed. And he wrote a letter to
+Dr. Portman telling him what had happened and begging the Doctor to break
+the sad news to Helen. Then the Major went out to dinner, one of the
+saddest men in any London dining-room that day.
+
+On receipt of the Major's letter Dr. Portman went at once to Fair-Oaks to
+break the disagreeable news to Mrs. Pendennis. She had already received a
+letter from Pen, and to the Doctor's great indignation she seemed to feel
+no particular unhappiness except that her darling boy should be unhappy.
+What was this degree that they made such an outcry about, and what good
+would it do Pen? Why did Dr. Portman and his uncle insist upon sending
+the boy where there was so much temptation to be risked, and so little
+good to be won? Why didn't they leave him at home with his mother? Her
+boy was coming back to her repentant and tender-hearted,--why should she
+want more? As for his debts, of course they must be paid;--his
+debts.--Wasn't his father's money all his, and hadn't he a right to spend
+it? In this way the widow met the virtuous Doctor, and all his anger took
+no effect upon her gentle bosom.
+
+As for Laura, Pen's little adopted sister, she was no longer the simple
+girl of Pen's college days, but a tall, slim, handsome young lady. At the
+age of sixteen she was a sweet young lady indeed, ordinarily pale, with a
+faint rose-tinge in her cheeks. Her eyes were very large and some critics
+said that she was in the habit of making play with those eyes, but the
+fact is that nature had made them so to shine and to look, that they
+could no more help so looking and shining than one star can help being
+brighter than another. It was doubtless to soften their brightness that
+Miss Laura's eyes were provided with two veils in the shape of the
+longest and finest black eyelashes. Her complexion was brilliant, her
+smile charming, while her voice was so low and sweet that to hear it was
+like listening to sweet music.
+
+Now, this same charming Miss Laura had only been half pleased with Pen's
+general conduct and bearing during the past two years. His letters to his
+mother had been very rare and short. It was in vain that the fond widow
+urged how constant Arthur's occupations and studies were, and how many
+his engagements. "It is better that he should lose a prize," Laura said,
+"than forget his mother: and indeed, Mamma, I don't see that he gets many
+prizes. Why doesn't he come home and stay with you, instead of passing
+his vacations at his great friends' fine houses? There is nobody there
+that will love him half as much as you do." Thus Laura declared stoutly,
+nor would she be convinced by any of Helen's fond arguments that the boy
+must make his way in the world; that his uncle was most desirous that Pen
+should cultivate the acquaintance of persons who were likely to befriend
+him in life; that men had a thousand ties and calls which women could not
+understand, and so forth.
+
+But as soon as Miss Laura heard that Pen was unfortunate and unhappy, all
+her anger straightway vanished, giving place to the most tender
+compassion. He was the Pen of old days, the frank and affectionate, the
+generous and tender-hearted. She at once took side with Helen against Dr.
+Portman when he cried out at the enormity of Pen's transgressions.
+Debts? What were his debts? They were a trifle; he had been thrown into
+expensive society by his uncle's order, and of course was obliged to live
+in the same manner as the young gentlemen whose company he frequented.
+Disgraced by not getting his degree? The poor boy was ill when he went
+for the examinations; he couldn't think of his mathematics and stuff on
+account of those very debts which oppressed him; very likely some of the
+odious tutors and masters were jealous of him, and had favourites of
+their own whom they wanted to put over his head. Other people disliked
+him and were cruel to him, and were unfair to him, she was very sure.
+
+And so with flushing cheeks and eyes bright with anger this young
+creature reasoned, and went up and seized Helen's hand and kissed her in
+the Doctor's presence; and her looks braved the Doctor and seemed to ask
+how he dared to say a word against her darling mother's Pen?
+
+Directly the Doctor was gone, Laura ordered fires to be lighted in Mr.
+Arthur's rooms, and his bedding to be aired; and by the time Helen had
+completed a tender and affectionate letter to Pen, Laura had her
+preparations completed, and, smiling fondly, went with her mamma into
+Pen's room, which was now ready for him to occupy. Laura also added a
+postscript to Helen's letter, in which she called him her dearest friend,
+and bade him come home _instantly_ and be happy with his mother and his
+affectionate Laura.
+
+That night when Mrs. Pendennis was lying sleepless, thinking of Pen, a
+voice at her side startled her, saying softly: "Mamma, are you awake?"
+
+It was Laura. "You know, Mamma," this young lady said, "that I have been
+living with you for ten years, during which time you have never taken
+any of my money, and have been treating me just as if I were a charity
+girl. Now, this obligation has offended me very much, because I am proud
+and do not like to be beholden to people. And as, if I had gone to
+school, only I wouldn't, it must have cost me as least fifty pounds a
+year, it is clear that I owe you fifty times ten pounds, which I know
+you have put into the bank at Chatteris for me, and which doesn't belong
+to me a bit. Now, to-morrow we will go to Chatteris, and see that nice
+old Mr. Rowdy, with the bald head, and ask him for it,--not for his
+head, but for the five hundred pounds; and I daresay he will lend you
+two more, which we will save and pay back, and we will send the money to
+Pen, who can pay all his debts without hurting anybody, and then we will
+live happy ever after."
+
+What Mrs. Pendennis replied to this speech need not be repeated, but we
+may be sure that its terms were those of the deepest gratitude, and that
+the widow lost no time in writing off to Pen an account of the noble, the
+magnificent offer of Laura, filling up her letter with a profusion of
+benedictions upon both her children.
+
+As for Pen, after being deserted by the Major, and writing his letter to
+his mother, he skulked about London streets for the rest of the day,
+fancying that everybody was looking at him and whispering to his
+neighbour, "That is Pendennis of Boniface, who was plucked yesterday."
+His letter to his mother was full of tenderness and remorse: he wept the
+bitterest tears over it, and the repentance soothed him to some degree.
+
+On the second day of his London wanderings there came a kind letter from
+his tutor, containing many grave and appropriate remarks upon what had
+befallen him, but strongly urging Pen not to take his name off the
+University books, and to retrieve a disaster which everybody knew was
+owing to his own carelessness alone, and which he might repair by a
+month of application.
+
+On the third day there arrived the letter from home which Pen read in his
+bedroom, and the result of which was that he fell down on his knees, with
+his head in the bedclothes, and there prayed out his heart, and humbled
+himself; and having gone downstairs and eaten an immense breakfast, he
+sallied forth and took his place at the Bull and Mouth, Piccadilly, on
+the Chatteris coach for that evening.
+
+And so the Prodigal came home, and the fatted calf was killed for him,
+and he was made as happy as two simple women could make him.
+
+For some time he said no power on earth could induce him to go back to
+Oxbridge again after his failure there; but one day Laura said to him,
+with many blushes, that she thought, as some sort of reparation, or
+punishment on himself for his idleness, he ought to go back and get his
+degree if he could fetch it by doing so; and so back Mr. Pen went.
+
+A plucked man is a dismal being in a university; belonging to no set of
+men there and owned by no one. Pen felt himself plucked indeed of all the
+fine feathers which he had won during his brilliant years, and rarely
+appeared out of his college; regularly going to morning chapel and
+shutting himself up in his rooms of nights, away from the noise and
+suppers of the undergraduates. The men of his years had taken their
+degrees and were gone. He went into a second examination, and passed with
+perfect ease. He was somewhat more easy in his mind when he appeared in
+his bachelor's gown, and could cast aside the hated badge of disgrace.
+
+On his way back from Oxbridge he paid a visit to his uncle in London,
+hoping that gentleman would accept his present success in place of his
+past failure, but the old gentleman received him with very cold looks,
+and would scarcely give him his forefinger to shake. He called a second
+time, but the valet said his master was not at home.
+
+So Pen went back to Fair-Oaks. True, he had retrieved his failure, had
+won his honours, but he came back to his home a very different fellow
+from the bright-faced youth who had gone out into college life some years
+before. He no longer laughed, sang, or rollicked about the house as of
+old; he had tasted of the fruit of the awful Tree of Life which from the
+beginning had tempted all mankind, and which had changed Arthur Pendennis
+the light-hearted boy into a man. Young, he is, of course, and still
+awaiting the development which life's deeper experiences are to bring,
+but nevertheless he is not again to taste the joy, the zest, or the
+enthusiasm which come to careless boyhood.
+
+Arthur Pendennis is now a competitor among the ranks of men striving
+after life's prizes, and this narrative of his boyhood ends.
+
+
+
+
+CAROLINE
+
+
+[Illustration: Miss CAROLINE AND BECKY.]
+
+Since the time of Cinderella the First there have been many similar
+instances in real life of the persecution of youth by family injustice
+and cruelty, and no case more strikingly similar than that of Miss
+Caroline Brandenburg Gann, whose youthful career was one of monotonous
+hardship and injustice until the arrival of her fairy prince.
+
+The story is a short one to relate, but to live through the days and
+months of sixteen unhappy years seemed an eternal process to the young
+heart beating high with hopes which must constantly be stifled, and give
+place to bitter disappointment.
+
+But to go back for a moment to the time when Louis XVIII. was restored a
+second time to the throne of his father, and all the English who had
+money or leisure rushed over to the Continent. At that time there lived
+in a certain boarding-house at Brussels a lady who was called Mrs. Crabb;
+and her daughter, a genteel young widow, who bore the name of Mrs.
+Wellesley McCarty. Previous to this Mrs. McCarty, who was then Miss
+Crabb, had run off one day with a young Ensign, who possessed not a
+shilling, and who speedily died, leaving his widow without property, but
+with a remarkably fine pair of twins, named Rosalind Clancy and Isabella
+Finigan Wellesley McCarty.
+
+The young widow being left penniless, her mother, who had disowned the
+runaway couple, was obliged to become reconciled to her daughter and to
+share her small income of one hundred and twenty pounds a year with her.
+Upon this at the boarding-house in Brussels the two managed to live. The
+twins were put out, after the foreign fashion, to nurse, and a village in
+the neighbourhood, and the widow and her mother maintained a very good
+appearance despite their small income; and it was not long before the
+Widow McCarty married a young Englishman, James Gann, Esq.--of the great
+oil-house of Gann, Blubbery, and Gann,--who was boarding in the same
+house with Mrs. Crabb and her daughter. These ladies, who had their full
+share of common sense, took care to keep the twins in the background
+until such time as the Widow McCarty had become Mrs. Gann. Then on the
+day after the wedding, in the presence of many friends who had come to
+offer their congratulations, a stout nurse, bearing the two chubby little
+ones, made her appearance; and these rosy urchins, springing forward,
+shouted affectionately, "_Maman! Maman_!" to the great astonishment and
+bewilderment of James Gann, who well-nigh fainted at this sudden
+paternity so put upon him. However, being a good-humoured, soft-hearted
+man, he kissed his lady hurriedly, and vowed that he would take care of
+the poor little things, whom he would also have kissed, but the darlings
+refused his caress with many roars.
+
+Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. James Gann returned to England and
+occupied a house in Thames Street, City, until the death of Gann, Sr.,
+when his son, becoming head of the firm, mounted higher on the social
+ladder and went to live in the neighbourhood of Putney, where a neat box,
+a couple of spare bedrooms, a good cellar, and a smart gig made a real
+gentleman of him. About this period, a daughter was born to him, called
+Caroline Blandenburg Gann, so named after a large mansion near
+Hammersmith, and an injured queen who lived there at the time of the
+little girl's birth.
+
+At this time Mrs. James Gann sent the twins, Rosalind Clancy and Isabella
+Finigan Wellesley McCarty, to a boarding-school for young ladies, and
+grumbled much at the amount of the bills which her husband was obliged to
+pay for them; for, although James discharged them with perfect
+good-humour, his lady began to entertain a mean opinion indeed of her
+pretty young children. They could expect no fortune, she said, from Mr.
+Gann, and she wondered that he should think of bringing them up
+expensively, when he had a darling child of his own for whom to save all
+the money that he could lay by.
+
+Grandmamma, too, doted on the little Caroline Brandenburg, and vowed
+that she would leave her three thousand pounds to this dear infant; for
+in this way does the world show its respect for that most respectable
+thing, prosperity, and little Caroline was the daughter of prosperous
+James Gann.
+
+Little Caroline, then, had her maid, her airy nursery, her little
+carriage to drive in, the promise of her grandmamma's money, and her
+mamma's undivided affection. Gann, too, loved her sincerely in his
+careless good-humoured way; but he determined, notwithstanding, that his
+step-daughters should have something handsome at his death, but--but for
+a great But.
+
+Gann and Blubbery were in the oil line; their profits arose from
+contracts for lighting a great number of streets in London; and about
+this period gas came into use. The firm of Gann and Blubbery had been so
+badly managed, I am sorry to say, and so great had been the extravagance
+of both partners and their ladies, that they only paid their creditors
+fourteen-pence halfpenny in the pound.
+
+When Mrs. Crabb heard of this dreadful accident she at once proclaimed
+James Gann to be a swindler, a villain, a disreputable, vulgar man, and
+made over her money to the Misses Rosalind Clancy and Isabella Finigan
+McCarty, leaving poor little Caroline without a cent of legacy. Half of
+one thousand five hundred pounds allotted to each twin was to be paid at
+marriage, the other half on the death of Mrs. James Gann, who was to
+enjoy the interest thereof. Thus did the fortunes of little Caroline
+alter in a single night! Thus did Cinderella enter upon the period of her
+loneliness!
+
+After James Gann's failure his family lived in various uncomfortable
+ways, until at length Mrs. Gann opened a lodging-house in a certain back
+street in the town of Margate, on the door of which house might be read
+in gleaming brass the name of MR. GANN. It was the work of a single
+smutty servant-maid to clean this brass plate every morning, and to
+attend to the wants of Mr. Gann, his family, and lodgers. In this same
+house Mr. Gann had his office, though if truth be told he had nothing to
+do from morning until night. He was very much changed, poor fellow! He
+was now a fat, bald-headed man of fifty whose tastes were no longer
+aristocratic, and who loved public-house jokes and company.
+
+As for Mrs. Gann, she had changed, too, under the pressure of
+misfortune. Her chief occupation was bragging of her former
+acquaintances, taking medicine, and mending and altering her gowns. She
+had a huge taste for cheap finery, loved raffles, tea-parties, and walks
+on the pier, where she flaunted herself and daughters as gay as
+butterflies. She stood upon her rank, did not fail to tell her lodgers
+that she was "a gentlewoman," and was mighty sharp with Becky, the
+maid, and Carrie, her youngest child.
+
+For the tide of affection had turned now, and the Misses Wellesley
+McCarty were the darlings of their mother's heart, as Caroline had been
+in the early days of Putney prosperity. Mrs. Gann respected and loved her
+elder daughters, the stately heiresses of £1500, and scorned poor
+Caroline, who was likewise scorned, like Cinderella, by her brace of
+haughty, thoughtless sisters. These young women were tall, well-grown,
+black-browed girls, fond of fun, and having great health and spirits.
+They had pink cheeks, white shoulders, and many glossy curls about their
+shining foreheads. Such charms cannot fail of having their effect, and it
+was very lucky for Caroline that she did not possess them, or she might
+have been as vain, frivolous, and vulgar as these young ladies were. As
+it was, Caroline was pale and thin, with fair hair and neat grey eyes;
+nobody thought her a beauty in her moping cotton gown, and while her
+sisters enjoyed their pleasures and tea-parties abroad, it was Carrie's
+usual fate to remain at home and help the servant in the many duties
+which were required in Mrs. Gann's establishment. She dressed her mamma
+and her sisters, brought her papa his tea in bed, kept the lodgers'
+bills, bore their scoldings, and sometimes gave a hand in the kitchen if
+any extra cookery was required. At two she made a little toilette for
+dinner, and was employed on numberless household darnings and mendings in
+the long evenings while her sisters giggled over the jingling piano.
+Mamma lay on the sofa, and Gann was at the club. A weary lot, in sooth,
+was yours,--poor little Caroline. Since the days of your infancy, not one
+hour of sunshine, no friendship, no cheery playfellows, no mother's love!
+Only James Gann, of all the household, had a good-natured look for her,
+and a coarse word of kindness, but Caroline did not complain, nor shed
+any tears. Her misery was dumb and patient; she felt that she was
+ill-treated, and had no companion; but was not on that account envious,
+only humble and depressed, not desiring so much to resist as to bear
+injustice, and hardly venturing to think for herself. This tyranny and
+humility served her in place of education and formed her manners, which
+were wonderfully gentle and calm. It was strange to see such a person
+growing up in such a family, and the neighbours spoke of her with much
+scornful compassion. "A poor half-witted, thing," they said, "who could
+not say bo! to a goose." And I think it is one good test of gentility to
+be thus looked down on by vulgar people.
+
+I have said that Miss Caroline had no friend in the world except her
+father, but one friend she most certainly had, and that was honest Becky,
+the smutty maid, whose name has been mentioned before. A great comfort it
+was for Caroline to descend to the calm kitchen from the stormy
+back-parlour, and there vent some of her little woes to the compassionate
+servant of all work.
+
+When Mrs. Gann went out with her daughters Becky would take her work and
+come and keep Miss Caroline company; and, if the truth must be told, the
+greatest enjoyment the pair used to have was in these afternoons, when
+they read together out of the precious, greasy, marble-covered volumes
+that Mrs. Gann was in the habit of fetching from the library. Many and
+many a tale had the pair so gone through. I can see them over "Manfrone;
+or the One-handed Monk," the room dark, the street silent, the hour ten,
+the tall, red, lurid candlewick waggling down, the flame flickering pale
+upon Miss Caroline's pale face as she read out, and lighting up honest
+Becky's goggling eyes, who sat silent, her work in her lap; she had not
+done a stitch of it for an hour. As the trapdoor slowly opens, and the
+scowling Alonzo, bending over the sleeping Imoinda, draws his pistol,
+cocks it, looks well if the priming be right, places it then to the
+sleeper's ear, and--_thunder under-under_--down fall the snuffers! Becky
+has had them in her hand for ten minutes, afraid to use them. Up starts
+Caroline and flings the book back into mamma's basket. It is only that
+lady returned with her daughters from a tea-party, where they have been
+enjoying themselves.
+
+For the sentimental, too, as well as the terrible, Miss Caroline and the
+cook had a strong predilection, and had wept their poor eyes out over
+"Thaddeus of Warsaw" and the "Scottish Chiefs." Fortified by the examples
+drawn from those instructive volumes, Becky was firmly convinced that her
+young mistress would meet with a great lord some day or other, or be
+carried off, like Cinderella, by a brilliant prince, to the mortification
+of her elder sisters, whom Becky hated.
+
+When, therefore, a new lodger came, lonely, mysterious, melancholy,
+elegant, with the romantic name of George Brandon--when he actually wrote
+a letter directed to a lord, and Miss Caroline and Becky together
+examined the superscription, Becky's eyes were lighted up with a
+preternatural look of wondering wisdom; whereas, after an instant,
+Caroline dropped hers, and blushed and said, "Nonsense, Becky!"
+
+"Is it nonsense?" said Becky, grinning, and snapping her fingers with a
+triumphant air; "the cards come true; I knew they would. Didn't you have
+a king and queen of hearts three deals running? What did you dream about
+last Tuesday, tell me that?"
+
+But Miss Caroline never did tell, for just then her sisters came bouncing
+down the stairs, and examined the lodger's letter. Caroline, however,
+went away musing much upon these points; and she began to think Mr.
+Brandon more wonderful and beautiful every day, whereas he was remarkable
+for nothing except very black eyes, a sallow face, and a habit of smoking
+cigars in bed till noon. His name of George Brandon was only an assumed
+one. He was really the son of a half-pay Colonel, of good family, who had
+been sent to Eton to acquire an education. From Eton he went to Oxford,
+took honours there, but ran up bills amounting to two thousand pounds.
+Then there came fury on the part of his stern old "governor"; and final
+payment of the debt, but while this settlement was pending Master George
+had contracted many more debts and was glad to fly to the Continent as
+tutor to young Lord Cinqbars, and afterwards went into retirement at
+Margate until his father's wrath should be appeased. For that reason we
+find him a member of the Gann establishment, flirting when occasion
+seemed to demand it with mother and daughters, and taking occasional
+notice of little Caroline, who frequently broiled his cutlets.
+
+Mrs. Gann's other lodger was a fantastic youth, Andrea Fitch, to whom his
+art, and his beard and whiskers, were the darlings of his heart. He was a
+youth of poetic temperament, whose long pale hair fell over a high
+polished brow, which looked wonderfully thoughtful; and yet no man was
+more guiltless of thinking. He was always putting himself into attitudes,
+and his stock-in-trade were various theatrical properties, which when
+arranged in his apartments on the second floor made a tremendous show.
+
+The Misses Wellesley McCarty voted this Mr. Fitch an elegant young
+fellow, and before long the intimacy between the young people was
+considerable, for Mr. Fitch insisted upon drawing the portraits of the
+whole family.
+
+"I suppose you will do my Carrie next?" said Mr. Gann, one day,
+expressing his approbation of a portrait just finished, wherein the
+Misses McCarty were represented embracing one another.
+
+"Law, sir," exclaimed Miss Linda, "Carrie, with her red hair!--"
+
+"Mr. Fitch might as well paint Becky, our maid!" cried Miss Bella.
+
+"Carrie is quite impossible, Gann," said Mrs. Gann; "she hasn't a gown
+fit to be seen in. She's not been at church for thirteen Sundays in
+consequence."
+
+"And more shame for you, ma'am," said Mr. Gann, who liked his child;
+"Carrie shall have a gown, and the best of gowns;" and jingling three and
+twenty shillings in his pocket, Mr. Gann determined to spend them all in
+the purchase of a robe for Carrie. But, alas, the gown never came; half
+the money was spent that very evening at the tavern.
+
+"Is that--that young lady your daughter?" asked Mr. Fitch, surprised, for
+he fancied Carrie was a humble companion of the family.
+
+"Yes, she is, and a very good daughter, too, sir," answered Mr. Gann.
+"_Fetch_ and Carrie I call her, or else Carry-van; she is so useful.
+Ain't you, Carrie?"
+
+"I'm very glad if I am, Papa," said the young lady, blushing violently.
+
+"Hold your tongue, Miss!" said her mother; "you are, very expensive to
+us, that you are, and need not brag about the work you do, and if your
+sisters and me starve to keep you, and some other folks" (looking
+fiercely at Mr. Gann), "I presume you are bound to make some return."
+
+Poor Caroline was obliged to listen to this harangue on her own
+ill-conduct in silence. As it was the first lecture Mr. Fitch had heard
+on the subject, he naturally set down Caroline for a monster. Was she not
+idle, sulky, scornful, and a sloven? For these and many more of her
+daughter's vices Mrs. Gann vouched, declaring that Caroline's behaviour
+was hastening her own death; and she finished by a fainting fit. In the
+presence of all these charges, there stood Miss Caroline, dumb, stupid
+and careless; nay, when the fainting-fit came on, and Mrs. Gann fell back
+on the sofa, the unfeeling girl took the opportunity to retire, and never
+offered to rub her mamma's hands, to give her the smelling bottle, or to
+restore her with a glass of water.
+
+Mr. Fitch stood close at hand, for at the time he was painting Mrs.
+Gann's portrait--and he was hastily making towards her with his tumbler,
+when Miss Linda cried out, "Stop! the water is full of paint!" and
+straightway burst out laughing. Mrs. Gann jumped up at this, cured
+suddenly, and left the room, looking somewhat foolish.
+
+"You don't know Ma," said Miss Linda, still giggling; "she's always
+fainting."
+
+"Poor dear lady!" said the artist; "I pity her from my inmost soul.
+Doesn't the himmortal bard observe how sharper than a serpent's tooth it
+is to have a thankless child? And is it true, ma'am, that that young
+woman has been the ruin of her family?"
+
+"Ruin of her fiddlestick!" replied Miss Bella. "Law, Mr. Fitch, you don't
+know Ma yet; she is in one of her tantrums."
+
+"What, then, it _isn't_ true!" cried simple-minded Fitch. To which
+neither of the young ladies made any answer in words, nor could the
+little artist comprehend why they looked at each other and burst out
+laughing. But he retired pondering on what he had seen and heard, and
+being a very soft young fellow, most implicitly believed the accusations
+of poor dear Mrs. Gann for a time.
+
+Presently, however, those opinions changed, and the change was brought
+about by watching closely the trend of domestic affairs in the Gann
+establishment. After a fortnight of close observation the artist, though
+by no means quick of comprehension, began to see that the nightly charges
+brought against poor Caroline could not be founded upon truth.
+
+"Let's see," mused he to himself. "Tuesday the old lady said her daughter
+was bringing her grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, because the cook
+had not boiled the potatoes. Wednesday she said Caroline was an assassin,
+because she could not find her own thimble. Thursday she vowed Caroline
+had no religion, because that old pair of silk stockings were not darned;
+and this can't be," reasoned Fitch. "A gal ain't a murderess, because her
+ma can't find her thimble. A woman that goes to slap her grown-up
+daughter on the back, and before company too, for such a paltry thing as
+an old pair of stockings, can't be surely speaking the truth." And thus
+gradually his first impression against Caroline wore away, and pity took
+possession of his soul, pity for the meek little girl, who, though
+trampled upon, was now springing up to womanhood; and though pale,
+freckled, thin, meanly dressed, had a certain charm about her which some
+people preferred to the cheap splendours and rude red and white of the
+Misses McCarty, and which was calculated to touch the heart of anyone who
+watched her carefully.
+
+On account of Mr. Brandon's correspondence with the aristocracy that
+young gentleman was highly esteemed by the family with whom he lodged for
+a time. Then, however, he bragged so much, and assumed such airs of
+superiority, that he perfectly disgusted Mrs. Gann and the Misses
+McCarty, who did not at all like his way of telling them that he was
+their better. But James Gann looked up to Mr. Brandon with deepest
+wonder as a superior being. And poor little Caroline followed her
+father's faith and in six weeks after Mr. Brandon's arrival had grown to
+believe him the most perfect, polished, agreeable of mankind. Indeed, the
+poor girl had never seen a gentleman before, and towards such her gentle
+heart turned instinctively. Brandon never offended her by hard words; or
+insulted her by cruel scorn such as she met with from her mother and
+sisters; and so Caroline felt that he was their superior, and as such
+admired and respected him.
+
+Consequently one day when he condescended to dine with the family at
+three o'clock, there being another guest as well, one Mr. Swigby,
+Caroline felt it to be one of the greatest occasions of her life, and was
+fairly trembling with pleasure, when, dinner being half over, she stole
+gently into the room and took her ordinary place near her father. I do
+believe she would have been starved, but Gann was much too good-natured
+to allow any difference to be made between her and her sisters in the
+matter of food. An old rickety wooden stool was placed for her, instead
+of that elegant and comfortable Windsor chair which supported every other
+person at table; by the side of the plate stood a curious old battered
+tin mug bearing the inscription "Caroline." These, in truth, were poor
+Caroline's mug and stool, having been appropriated to her from childhood
+upwards; and here it was her custom meekly to sit and eat her daily meal.
+
+Caroline's pale face was very red; for she had been in the kitchen
+helping Becky, and had been showing her respect for the great Mr. Brandon
+by cooking in her best manner a certain dish for which her papa had often
+praised her. She took her place, blushing violently when she saw him, and
+if Mr. Gann had not been making a violent clattering with his knife and
+fork, it is possible that he might have heard Miss Caroline's heart
+thump, which it did violently. Her dress was somehow a little smarter
+than usual, and Becky, who brought in the hashed mutton, looked at her
+young lady complacently, as, loaded with plates, she quitted the room.
+Indeed, the poor girl deserved to be looked at: there was an air of
+gentleness and innocence about her which was very touching, and which the
+two young men did not fail to remark.
+
+"You are very late, miss!" cried Mrs. Gann, who affected not to know what
+had caused her daughter's delay. "You are always late!" and the elder
+girls stared and grinned at each other knowingly, as they always did when
+mamma made such attacks upon Caroline, who only kept her eyes down upon
+the table-cloth, and began to eat her dinner without saying a word.
+
+"Come, come, my dear," cried honest Gann, "if she _is_ late, you know
+why! Our Carrie has been downstairs making the pudding for her old pappy;
+and a good pudding she makes, I can tell you!"
+
+Miss Caroline blushed more deeply than ever; Mr. Fitch stared her full in
+the face; Mrs. Gann said "Nonsense!" and "Stuff!" very majestically; Mr.
+Brandon alone interposed in Caroline's favour; and the words that he said
+were so kindly, so inspiring to Caroline that she cared not a straw
+whatever else might be said about her. "Mamma may say what she pleases
+to-day," thought Caroline. "I am too happy to be made angry by her."
+
+But poor little mistaken Caroline did not know how soon her feelings were
+to be harassed again beyond endurance. The dinner had not advanced much
+further, when Miss Isabella, who had been examining Caroline curiously
+for some time, telegraphed across the table to Miss Linda, and nodded
+and winked, and pointed to her own neck, on which was a smart necklace of
+the lightest blue glass beads finishing in a neat tassel. Linda had a
+similar ornament of a vermilion colour, whereas Caroline wore a handsome
+new collar and a brooch, which looked all the smarter for the shabby
+frock over which they were placed. As soon as she saw her sister's
+signals the poor little thing blushed deeply again; down went her eyes
+once more, and her face and neck lighted up to the colour of Miss Linda's
+sham cornelian.
+
+"What's the gals giggling and oggling about?" asked Mr. Gann innocently.
+
+"What is it, my darling love?" asked stately Mrs. Gann.
+
+"Why, don't you see, Ma?" said Linda. "Look at Miss Carrie! I'm blessed
+if she hasn't got on Becky's collar and brooch, that Sims the pilot
+gave her!"
+
+The young ladies fell back in uproarious fits of laughter, and laughed
+all the time that their mamma was declaring her daughter's conduct
+unworthy a gentlewoman, and bidding her leave the room and take off those
+disgraceful ornaments.
+
+There was no need to tell her; the poor little thing gave one piteous
+look at her father, who was whistling, and seemed indeed to think the
+matter a good joke; and after she had managed to open the door down she
+went to the kitchen, and when she reached that humble place of refuge
+first pulled off Becky's collar and brooch, and then flung herself into
+the arms of that honest maid, where she cried and cried till she brought
+on the first fit of hysterics that ever she had had.
+
+This crying could not at first be heard in the parlour, where the company
+were roaring at the excellence of the joke, but presently the laughter
+died away, and the sound of weeping came from the kitchen below. This the
+young artist could not bear, but bounced up from his chair and rushed
+out of the room, exclaiming, "By Jove, it's too bad!"
+
+From the scene of merriment he rushed forth and out of the house into the
+dark, wet streets, fired with one impulse, inspired by one purpose:--to
+resist the tyranny of Mrs. Gann towards poor Caroline; to protect the
+gentle girl from the injustice of which she was the victim. All his
+sympathies from that moment were awakened in Caroline's favour.
+
+As for Mr. Brandon, whom Caroline in the depths of her little silly heart
+had set down for the wondrous fairy prince who was to deliver her from
+her present miserable condition, he was a man to whom opposition acted
+ever as a spur. Up to this time he had given little or no thought to the
+young girl with the pale face and quiet manner, but now he was amused,
+and his interest was awakened by the indignation of Mr. Fitch. He was
+piqued also by the system of indifference to his charms indulged in by
+Caroline's older sisters, and determined to revenge himself upon them for
+their hardness of heart by devotion to Caroline. As he wrote in a letter
+that very day: "I am determined through a third daughter, a family
+Cinderella, to make her sisters _quiver_ with envy. I merely mean fun,
+for Cinderella is but a little child.... I wish I had paper enough to
+write you an account of a Gann dinner at which I have just assisted, and
+of a scene which there took place; and how Cinderella was dressed out,
+not by a fairy, but by a charitable kitchen maid, and was turned out of
+the room by her indignant mamma for appearing in the maid's finery...."
+
+This, and much more, Mr. Brandon, who at once turned his attention to
+being excessively kind and polite to our humble Cinderella. Caroline,
+being a most romantic little girl, and having read many novels, depicted
+Brandon in a fancy costume such as her favourite hero wore, or fancied
+herself as the heroine, watching her knight go forth to battle. Silly
+fancies, no doubt; but consider the poor girl's age and education; the
+only instruction she had ever received was from these tender,
+kind-hearted, silly books; the only happiness which fate had allowed her
+was in this little silent world of fancy. It would be hard to grudge the
+poor thing her dreams; and many such did she have, and tell blushingly to
+honest Becky as they sat by the kitchen fire, while indignation was
+growing apace in the breasts of her mother and sisters at the sight of so
+much interest centred on so poor an object. And even so did the haughty
+sisters of Cinderella the First feel and act.
+
+But Cinderella's kitchen days were fast drawing to an end, even as she, a
+pale slip of a girl, was budding into womanhood.
+
+One evening Mrs. Gann and the Misses McCarty had the honour of
+entertaining Mr. Swigby at tea, and that gentleman, in return for the
+courtesy shown him by Mrs. Gann, invited the young ladies and their mamma
+to drive with him the next day into the country; for which excursion he
+had hired a very smart barouche. The invitation was not declined, and Mr.
+Fitch, too, was asked, and accepted with the utmost delight. "Me and
+Swigby will go on the box," said Gann. "You four ladies and Mr. Fitch
+shall go inside. Carrie must go between; but she ain't very big."
+
+"Carrie, indeed, will stop at home!" said her mamma. At this poor Fitch's
+jaw fell; he had agreed to accompany the party only for the pleasure of
+being in the company of little Caroline, nor could he escape now, having
+just accepted so eagerly.
+
+"Oh, don't let's have that proud Brandon!" exclaimed the young ladies, in
+consequence of which that gentleman was not invited to join the
+excursion.
+
+The day was bright and sunshiny. Poor Caroline, watching the barouche
+and its load drive off, felt that it would have been pleasant to have
+been a lady for once, and to have driven along in a carriage with
+prancing horses. The girl's heart was heavy with disappointment and
+loneliness as she stood at the parlour window, watching the vehicle
+disappear from sight.
+
+Oh, mighty Fate, that over us miserable mortals rulest supreme, with
+what small means are thy ends effected! With what scornful ease and
+mean instruments does it please thee to govern mankind! Mr. Fitch
+accompanied the Gann family on their drive to the country; Mr. Brandon
+remained behind.
+
+Caroline, too, the Cinderella of this little tale, was left at home; and
+thereby were placed in the hand of Fate all necessary instruments of
+revenge to be used in the punishment of Mrs. Gann and the Misses McCarty
+for their ill-treatment of our little Cinderella.
+
+The story of Caroline Brandenburg Gann's youth is told. The fairy prince
+is at hand, and the short chapter of girlhood and misery is finished.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOYS AND GIRLS FROM THACKERAY ***
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