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diff --git a/old/10149.txt b/old/10149.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83a9cca --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10149.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18149 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Home as Found, by James Fenimore Cooper + + +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: Home as Found + +Author: James Fenimore Cooper + +Release Date: November 20, 2003 [eBook #10149] + +Language: English + +Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOME AS FOUND*** + + +E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +Home as Found. + +Sequel to "Homeward Bound." + +By J. Fenimore Cooper. + +Complete in one volume. + +1871. + + + + + + "Thou art perfect." + PR. HON + + + + + +Preface + + + +Those who have done us the favour to read "Homeward Bound" will at +once perceive that the incidents of this book commence at the point +where those of the work just mentioned ceased. We are fully aware of +the disadvantage of dividing the interest of a tale in this manner; +but in the present instance, the separation has been produced by +circumstances over which the writer had very little control. As any +one who may happen to take up this volume will very soon discover +that there is other matter which it is necessary to know it may be as +well to tell all such persons, in the commencement, therefore, that +their reading will be bootless, unless they have leisure to turn to +the pages of Homeward Bound for their cue. + +We remember the despair with which that admirable observer of men, +Mr. Mathews the comedian, confessed the hopelessness of success, in +his endeavours to obtain a sufficiency of prominent and distinctive +features to compose an entertainment founded on American character. +The whole nation struck him as being destitute of salient points, and +as characterized by a respectable mediocrity, that, however useful it +might be in its way, was utterly without poetry, humour, or interest +to the observer. For one who dealt principally with the more +conspicuous absurdities of his fellow-creatures, Mr. Mathews was +certainly right; we also believe him to have been right in the main, +in the general tenor of his opinion; for this country, in its +ordinary aspects, probably presents as barren a field to the writer +of fiction, and to the dramatist, as any other on earth; we are not +certain that we might not say the most barren. We believe that no +attempt to delineate ordinary American life, either on the stage, or +in the pages of a novel, has been rewarded with success. Even those +works in which the desire to illustrate a principle has been the aim, +when the picture has been brought within this homely frame, have had +to contend with disadvantages that have been commonly found +insurmountable. The latter being the intention of this book, the task +has been undertaken with a perfect consciousness of all its +difficulties, and with scarcely a hope of success. It would be indeed +a desperate undertaking, to think of making anything interesting in +the way of a _Roman de Societe_ in this country; still useful glances +may possibly be made even in that direction, and we trust that the +fidelity of one or two of our portraits will be recognized by the +looker-on, although they will very likely be denied by the sitters +themselves. + +There seems to be a pervading principle in things, which gives an +accumulating energy to any active property that may happen to be in +the ascendant, at the time being.--Money produces money; knowledge is +the parent of knowledge; and ignorance fortifies ignorance.--In a +word, like begets like. The governing social evil of America is +provincialism; a misfortune that is perhaps inseparable from her +situation. Without a social capital, with twenty or more communities +divided by distance and political barriers, her people, who are +really more homogenous than any other of the same numbers in the +world perhaps, possess no standard for opinion, manners, social +maxims, or even language. + +Every man, as a matter of course, refers to his own particular +experience, and praises or condemns agreeably to notions contracted +in the circle of his own habits, however narrow, provincial, or +erroneous they may happen to be. As a consequence, no useful stage +can exist; for the dramatist who should endeavour to delineate the +faults of society, would find a formidable party arrayed against him, +in a moment, with no party to defend. As another consequence, we see +individuals constantly assailed with a wolf-like ferocity, while +society is everywhere permitted to pass unscathed. + +That the American nation is a great nation, in some particulars the +greatest the world ever saw, we hold to be true, and are as ready to +maintain as any one can be; but we are also equally ready to concede, +that it is very far behind most polished nations in various +essentials, and chiefly, that it is lamentably in arrears to its own +avowed principles. Perhaps this truth will be found to be the +predominant thought, throughout the pages of "Home As Found." + +Home as Found. + +Chapter I. + + "Good morrow, coz. Good morrow, sweet Hero." + + SHAKSPEARE. + +When Mr. Effingham determined to return home, he sent orders to his +agent to prepare his town-house in New-York for his reception, +intending to pass a month or two in it, then to repair to Washington +for a few weeks, at the close of its season, and to visit his country +residence when the spring should fairly open. Accordingly, Eve now +found herself at the head of one of the largest establishments, in +the largest American town, within an hour after she had landed from +the ship. Fortunately for her, however, her father was too just to +consider a wife, or a daughter, a mere upper servant, and he rightly +judged that a liberal portion of his income should be assigned to the +procuring of that higher quality of domestic service, which can alone +relieve the mistress of a household from a burthen so heavy to be +borne. Unlike so many of those around him, who would spend on a +single pretending and comfortless entertainment, in which the +ostentatious folly of one contended with the ostentatious folly of +another a sum that, properly directed, would introduce order and +system into a family for a twelvemonth, by commanding the time and +knowledge of those whose study they had been, and who would be +willing to devote themselves to such objects, and then permit their +wives and daughters to return to the drudgery to which the sex seems +doomed in this country, he first bethought him of the wants of social +life before he aspired to its parade. A man of the world, Mr. +Effingham possessed the requisite knowledge, and a man of justice, +the requisite fairness, to permit those who depended on him so much +for their happiness, to share equitably in the good things that +Providence had so liberally bestowed on himself. In other words, he +made two people comfortable, by paying a generous price for a +housekeeper; his daughter, in the first place, by releasing her from +cares that, necessarily, formed no more a part of her duties than it +would be a part of her duty to sweep the pavement before the door; +and, in the next place, a very respectable woman who was glad to +obtain so good a home on so easy terms. To this simple and just +expedient, Eve was indebted for being at the head of one of the +quietest, most truly elegant, and best, ordered establishments in +America, with no other demands on her time than that which was +necessary to issue a few orders in the morning, and to examine a few +accounts once a week. + +One of the first and the most acceptable of the visits that Eve +received, was from her cousin, Grace Van Cortlandt, who was in the +country at the moment of her arrival, but who hurried back to town to +meet her old school-fellow and kinswoman, the instant she heard of +her having landed. Eve Effingham and Grace Van Cortlandt were +sisters' children, and had been born within a month of each other. As +the latter was without father or mother, most of their time had been +passed together, until the former was taken abroad, when a separation +unavoidably ensued. Mr. Effingham ardently desired, and had actually +designed, to take his niece with him to Europe, but her paternal +grandfather, who was still living, objected his years and affection, +and the scheme was reluctantly abandoned. This grandfather was now +dead, and Grace had been left with a very ample fortune, almost +entirely the mistress of her own movements. + +The moment of the meeting between these two warm-hearted and +sincerely attached young women, was one of great interest and anxiety +to both. They retained for each other the tenderest love, though the +years that had separated them had given rise to so many new +impressions and habits that they did not prepare themselves for the +interview without apprehension. This interview took place about a +week after Eve was established in Hudson Square, and at an hour +earlier than was usual for the reception of visits. Hearing a +carriage stop before the door, and the bell ring, our heroine stole a +glance from behind a curtain and recognized her cousin as she +alighted. + +"_Qu'avez-vous, ma chere_?" demanded Mademoiselle Viefville, +observing that her _eleve_ trembled and grew pale. + +"It is my cousin, Miss Van Cortlandt--she whom I loved as a sister-- +we now meet for the first time in so many years!" + +"_Bien_--_c'est une tres jolie jeune personne_!" returned the +governess, taking a glance from the spot Eve had just quitted. "_Sur +le rapport de la personne, ma chere, vous devriez etre contente, au +moins_." + +"If you will excuse me, Mademoiselle, I will go down alone--I think I +should prefer to meet Grace without witnesses in the first +interview." + +"_Tres volontiers. Elle est parente, et c'est bien naturel."_ + +Eve, on this expressed approbation, met her maid at the door, as she +came to announce that _Mademoiselle de Cortlandt_ was in the library, +and descended slowly to meet her. The library was lighted from above +by means of a small dome, and Grace had unconsciously placed herself +in the very position that a painter would have chosen, had she been +about to sit for her portrait. A strong, full, rich light fell +obliquely on her as Eve entered, displaying her fine person and +beautiful features to the very best advantage, and they were features +and a person that are not seen every day even in a country where +female beauty is so common. She was in a carriage dress, and her +toilette was rather more elaborate than Eve had been accustomed to +see, at that hour, but still Eve thought she had seldom seen a more +lovely young creature. Some such thoughts, also, passed through the +mind of Grace herself, who, though struck, with a woman's readiness +in such matters, with the severe simplicity of Eve's attire, as well +as with its entire elegance, was more struck with the charms of her +countenance and figure. There was, in truth, a strong resemblance +between them, though each was distinguished by an expression suited +to her character, and to the habits of her mind. + +"Miss Effingham!" said Grace, advancing a step to meet the lady who +entered, while her voice was scarcely audible and her limbs trembled. + +"Miss Van Cortlandt!" said Eve, in the same low, smothered tone. + +This formality caused a chill in both, and each unconsciously stopped +and curtsied. Eve had been so much struck with the coldness of the +American manner, during the week she had been at home, and Grace was +so sensitive on the subject of the opinion of one who had seen so +much of Europe, that there was great danger, at that critical moment, +the meeting would terminate unpropitiously. + +Thus far, however, all had been rigidly decorous, though the strong +feelings that were glowing in the bosoms of both, had been so +completely suppressed. But the smile, cold and embarrassed as it was, +that each gave as she curtsied, had the sweet character of her +childhood in it, and recalled to both the girlish and affectionate +intercourse of their younger days. + +"Grace!" said Eve, eagerly, advancing a step or two impetuously, and +blushing like the dawn. + +"Eve!" + +Each opened her arms, and in a moment they were locked in a long and +fervent embrace. This was the commencement of their former intimacy, +and before night Grace was domesticated in her uncle's house. It is +true that Miss Effingham perceived certain peculiarities about Miss +Van Cortlandt, that she had rather were absent; and Miss Van +Cortlandt would have felt more at her ease, had Miss Effingham a +little less reserve of manner, on certain subjects that the latter +had been taught to think interdicted. Notwithstanding these slight +separating shades in character, however, the natural affection was +warm and sincere; and if Eve, according to Grace's notions, was a +little stately and formal, she was polished and courteous, and if +Grace, according to Eve's notions, was a little too easy and +unreserved, she was feminine and delicate. + +We pass over the three or four days that succeeded, during which Eve +had got to understand something of her new position, and we will come +at once to a conversation between the cousins, that will serve to let +the reader more intimately into the opinions, habits and feelings of +both, as well as to open the real subject of our narrative. This +conversation took place in that very library which had witnessed +their first interview, soon after breakfast, and while the young +ladies were still alone. + +"I suppose, Eve, you will have to visit the Green's.--They are +Hajjis, and were much in society last winter." + +"Hajjis!--You surely do not mean, Grace, that they have been to +Mecca?" + +"Not at all: only to Paris, my dear; that makes a Hajji in New-York." + +"And does it entitle the pilgrim to wear the green turban?" asked +Eve, laughing. + +"To wear any thing, Miss Effingham; green, blue, or yellow, and to +cause it to pass for elegance." + +"And which is the favourite colour with the family you have +mentioned?" + +"It ought to be the first, in compliment to the name, but, if truth +must be said, I think they betray an affection for all, with not a +few of the half-tints in addition." + +"I am afraid they are too _prononcees_ for us, by this description. I +am no great admirer, Grace, of walking rainbows." + +"_Too_ Green, you would have said, had you dared; but you are a Hajji +too, and even the Greens know that a Hajji never puns, unless, +indeed, it might be one from Philadelphia. But you will visit these +people?" + +"Certainly, if they are in society and render it necessary by their +own civilities." + +"They _are_ in society, in virtue of their rights as Hajjis; but, as +they passed three months at Paris, you probably know something of +them." + +"They may not have been there at the same time with ourselves," +returned Eve, quietly, "and Paris is a very large town. Hundreds of +people come and go, that one never hears of. I do not remember those +you have mentioned." + +"I wish you may escape them, for, in my untravelled judgment, they +are anything but agreeable, notwithstanding all they have seen, or +pretend to have seen." + +"It is very possible to have been all over christendom, and to remain +exceedingly disagreeable; besides one may see a great deal, and yet +see very little of a good quality." + +A pause of two or three minutes followed, during which Eve read a +note, and her cousin played with the leaves of a book. + +"I wish I knew your real opinion of us, Eve," the last suddenly +exclaimed. "Why not be frank with so near a relative; tell me +honestly, now--are you reconciled to your country?" + +"You are the eleventh person who has asked me this question, which I +find very extraordinary, as I have never quarrelled with my country." + +"Nay, I do not mean exactly that. I wish to hear how our society has +struck one who has been educated abroad." + +"You wish, then, for opinions that can have no great value, since my +experience at home, extends only to a fortnight. But you have many +books on the country, and some written by very clever persons; why +not consult them?" + +"Oh! you mean the travellers. None of them are worth a second +thought, and we hold them, one and all, in great contempt." + +"Of that I can have no manner of doubt, as one and all, you are +constantly protesting it, in the highways and bye-ways. There is no +more certain sign of contempt, than to be incessantly dwelling on its +intensity!" + +Grace had great quickness, as well as her cousin, and though provoked +at Eve's quiet hit, she had the good sense and the good nature to +laugh. + +"Perhaps we do protest and disdain a little too strenuously for good +taste, if not to gain believers; but surely, Eve, you do not support +these travellers in all that they have written of us?" + +"Not in half, I can assure you. My father and cousin Jack have +discussed them too often in my presence to leave me in ignorance of +the very many political blunders they have made in particular." + +"Political blunders!--I know nothing of them, and had rather thought +them right, in most of what they said about our politics. But, +surely, neither your father nor Mr. John Effingham corroborates what +they say of our society!" + +"I cannot answer for either, on that point." + +"Speak then for yourself. Do _you_ think them right?" + +"You should remember, Grace, that I have not yet seen any society in +New-York." + +"No society, dear!--Why you were at the Henderson's, and the +Morgan's, and the Drewett's; three of the greatest _reunions_ that we +have had in two winters!"' + +"I did not know that you meant those unpleasant crowds, by society." + +"Unpleasant crowds! Why, child, that _is_ society, is it not?' + +"Not what I have been taught to consider such; I rather think it +would be better to call it company." + +"And is not this what is called society in Paris?" + +"As far from it as possible; it may be an excrescence of society; one +of its forms; but, by no means, society itself. It would be as true +to call cards, which are sometimes introduced in the world, society, +as to call a ball given in two small and crowded rooms, society. They +are merely two of the modes in which idlers endeavour to vary their +amusements." + +"But we have little else than these balls, the morning visits, and an +occasional evening, in which there is no dancing." + +"I am sorry to hear it; for, in that case, you can have no society." + +"And is it different at Paris--or Florence, or Rome?" + +"Very. In Paris there are many houses open every evening to which one +can go, with little ceremony. Our sex appears in them, dressed +according to what a gentleman I overheard conversing at Mrs. +Henderson's would call their 'ulterior intentions,' for the night; +some attired in the simplest manner, others dressed for concerts, for +the opera, for court even; some on the way from a dinner, and others +going to a late ball. All this matter of course variety, adds to the +case and grace of the company, and coupled with perfect good manners, +a certain knowledge of passing events, pretty modes of expression, an +accurate and even utterance, the women usually find the means of +making themselves agreeable. Their sentiment is sometimes a little +heroic, but this one must overlook, and it is a taste, moreover, that +is falling into disuse, as people read better books." + +"And you prefer this heartlessness, Eve, to the nature of your own +country!" + +"I do not know that quiet, _retenue_, and a good tone, are a whit +more heartless than flirting, giggling and childishness. There may be +more nature in the latter, certainly, but it is scarcely as +agreeable, after one has fairly got rid of the nursery." + +Grace looked vexed, but she loved her cousin too sincerely to be +angry, A secret suspicion that Eve was right, too, came in aid of her +affection, and while her little foot moved, she maintained her good- +nature, a task not always attainable for those who believe that their +own "superlatives" scarcely reach to other people's "positives." At +this critical moment, when there was so much danger of a jar in the +feelings of these two young females, the library door opened and +Pierre, Mr. Effingham's own man, announced-- + +"Monsieur Bragg." + +"Monsieur who?" asked Eve, in surprise. + +"Monsieur Bragg," returned Pierre, in French, "desires to see +Mademoiselle." + +"You mean my father,--I know no such person." + +"He inquired first for Monsieur, but understanding Monsieur was out, +he next asked to have the honour of seeing Mademoiselle." + +"Is it what they call a _person_ in England, Pierre?" + +Old Pierre smiled, as he answered-- + +"He has the air, Mademoiselle, though he esteems himself a +_personnage_, if I might take the liberty of judging." + +"Ask him for his card,--there must be a mistake, I think." + +While this short conversation took place, Grace Van Cortlandt was +sketching a cottage with a pen, without attending to a word that was +said. But, when Eve received the card from Pierre and read aloud, +with the tone of surprise that the name would be apt to excite in a +novice in the art of American nomenclature, the words "Aristabulus +Bragg," her cousin began to laugh. + +"Who can this possibly be, Grace?--Did you ever hear of such a +person, and what right can he have to wish to see me?" + +"Admit him, by all means; it is your father's land agent, and he may +wish to leave some message for my uncle. You will be obliged to make +his acquaintance, sooner or later, and it may as well be done now as +at another time." + +"You have shown this gentleman into the front drawing-room, Pierre?" + +"Oui, Mademoiselle." + +"I will ring when you are wanted." + +Pierre withdrew, and Eve opened her secretary, out of which she took +a small manuscript book, over the leaves of which she passed her +fingers rapidly. + +"Here it is," she said, smiling, "Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, Attorney and +Counsellor at Law, and the agent of the Templeton estate." This +precious little work, you must understand, Grace, contains sketches +of the characters of such persons as I shall be the most likely to +see, by John Effingham, A.M. It is a sealed volume, of course, but +there can be no harm in reading the part that treats of our present +visiter, and, with your permission, we will have it in common.--'Mr. +Aristabulus Bragg was born in one of the western counties of +Massachusetts, and emigrated to New-York, after receiving his +education, at the mature age of nineteen; at twenty-one he was +admitted to the bar, and for the last seven years he has been a +successful practitioner in all the courts of Otsego, from the +justice's to the circuit. His talents are undeniable, as he commenced +his education at fourteen and terminated it at twenty-one, the law- +course included. This man is an epitome of all that is good and all +that is bad, in a very large class of his fellow citizens. He is +quick-witted, prompt in action, enterprising in all things in which +he has nothing to lose, but wary and cautious in all things in which +he has a real stake, and ready to turn not only his hand, but his +heart and his principles to any thing that offers an advantage. With +him, literally, "nothing is too high to be aspired to, nothing too +low to be done." He will run for Governor, or for town-clerk, just as +opportunities occur, is expert in all the _practices_ of his +profession, has had a quarter's dancing, with three years in the +classics, and turned his attention towards medicine and divinity, +before he finally settled down into the law. Such a compound of +shrewdness, impudence, common-sense, pretension, humility, +cleverness, vulgarity, kind-heartedness, duplicity, selfishness, law- +honesty, moral fraud and mother wit, mixed up with a smattering of +learning and much penetration in practical things, can hardly be +described, as any one of his prominent qualities is certain to be met +by another quite as obvious that is almost its converse. Mr. Bragg, +in short, is purely a creature of circumstances, his qualities +pointing him out for either a member of congress or a deputy sheriff, +offices that he is equally ready to fill. I have employed him to +watch over the estate of your father, in the absence of the latter, +on the principle that one practised in tricks is the best qualified +to detect and expose them, and with the certainty that no man will +trespass with impunity, so long as the courts continue to tax bills +of costs with their present liberality.' You appear to know the +gentleman, Grace; is this character of him faithful?" + +"I know nothing of bills of costs and deputy sheriffs, but I do know +that Mr. Aristabulus Bragg is an amusing mixture of strut, humility, +roguery and cleverness. He is waiting all this time in the drawing- +room, and you had better see him, as he may, now, be almost +considered part of the family. You know he has been living in the +house at Templeton, ever since he was installed by Mr. John +Effingham. It was there I had the honour first to meet him," + +"First!--Surely you have never seen him any where else!" + +"Your pardon, my dear. He never comes to town without honouring me +with a call. This is the price I pay for having had the honour of +being an inmate of the same house with him for a week." + +Eve rang the bell, and Pierre made his appearance. + +"Desire Mr. Bragg to walk into the library." + +Grace looked demure while Pierre was gone to usher in their visiter, +and Eve was thinking of the medley of qualities John Effingham had +assembled in his description, as the door opened, and the subject of +her contemplation entered. + +"_Monsieur Aristabule_" said Pierre, eyeing the card, but sticking at +the first name. + +Mr. Aristabulus Bragg was advancing with an easy assurance to make +his bow to the ladies, when the more finished air and quiet dignity +of Miss Effingham, who was standing, so far disconcerted him, as +completely to upset his self-possession. As Grace had expressed it, +in consequence of having lived three years in the old residence at +Templeton, he had begun to consider himself a part of the family, and +at home he never spoke of the young lady without calling her "Eve," +or "Eve Effingham." But he found it a very different thing to affect +familiarity among his associates, and to practise it in the very face +of its subject; and, although seldom at a loss for words of some sort +or another, he was now actually dumb-founded. Eve relieved his +awkwardness by directing Pierre, with her eye, to hand a chair, and +first speaking. + +"I regret that my father is not in," she said, by way of turning the +visit from herself; "but he is to be expected every moment. Are you +lately from Templeton?" + +Aristabulus drew his breath, and recovered enough of his ordinary +tone of manner to reply with a decent regard to his character for +self-command. The intimacy that he had intended to establish on the +spot, was temporarily defeated, it is true, and without his exactly +knowing how it had been effected; for it was merely the steadiness of +the young lady, blended as it was with a polished reserve, that had +thrown him to a distance he could not explain. He felt immediately, +and with taste that did his sagacity credit, that his footing in this +quarter was only to be obtained by unusually slow and cautious means. +Still, Mr. Bragg was a man of great decision, and, in his way, of +very far-sighted views; and, singular as it may seem, at that +unpropitious moment, he mentally determined that, at no very distant +day, he would make Miss Eve Effingham his wife. + +"I hope Mr. Effingham enjoys good health," he said, with some such +caution as a rebuked school-girl enters on the recitation of her +task--"he enjoyed bad health I hear, (Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, though +so shrewd, was far from critical in his modes of speech) when he went +to Europe, and after travelling so far in such bad company, it would +be no more than fair that he should have a little respite as he +approaches home and old age." + +Had Eve been told that the man who uttered this nice sentiment, and +that too in accents as uncouth and provincial as the thought was +finished and lucid, actually presumed to think of her as his bosom +companion, it is not easy to say which would have predominated in her +mind, mirth or resentment. But Mr. Bragg was not in the habit of +letting his secrets escape him prematurely, and certainly this was +one that none but a wizard could have discovered without the aid of a +direct oral or written communication. + +"Are you lately from Templeton?" repeated Eve a little surprised that +the gentleman did not see fit to answer the question, which was the +only one that, as it seemed to her, could have a common interest with +them both. + +"I left home the day before yesterday," Aristabulus now deigned to +reply. + +"It is so long since I saw our beautiful mountains and I was then so +young, that I feel a great impatience to revisit them, though the +pleasure must be deferred until spring." + +"I conclude they are the handsomest mountains in the known world, +Miss Effingham!" + +"That is much more than I shall venture to claim for them; but, +according to my imperfect recollection, and, what I esteem of far +more importance, according to the united testimony of Mr. John +Effingham and my father, I think they must be very beautiful." + +Aristabulus looked up, as if he had a facetious thing to say, and he +even ventured on a smile, while he made his answer. + +"I hope Mr. John Effingham has prepared you for a great change in the +house?" + +"We know that it has been repaired and altered under his directions. +That was done at my father's request." + +"We consider it denationalized, Miss Effingham, there being nothing +like it, west of Albany at least." + +"I should be sorry to find that my cousin has subjected us to this +imputation," said Eve smiling--perhaps a little equivocally; "the +architecture of America being generally so simple and pure. Mr. +Effingham laughs at his own improvements, however, in which, he says, +he has only carried out the plans of the original _artiste_, who +worked very much in what was called the composite order. + +"You allude to Mr. Hiram Doolittle, a gentleman I never saw; though I +hear he has left behind him many traces of his progress in the newer +states. _Ex pede Herculem_, as we say, in the classics, Miss +Effingham I believe it is the general sentiment that Mr. Doolittle's +designs have been improved on, though most people think that the +Grecian or Roman architecture, which is so much in use in America, +would be more republican. But every body knows that Mr. John +Effingham is not much of a republican." + +Eve did not choose to discuss her kinsman's opinions with Mr. +Aristabulus Bragg, and she quietly remarked that she "did not know +that the imitations of the ancient architecture, of which there are +so many in the country, were owing to attachment to republicanism." + +"To what else can it be owing, Miss Eve?" + +"Sure enough," said Grace Van Cortlandt; "it is unsuited to the +materials, the climate, and the uses; and some very powerful motive, +like that mentioned by Mr. Bragg, could alone overcome these +obstacles." + +Aristabulus started from his seat, and making sundry apologies, +declared his previous unconsciousness that Miss Van Cortlandt was +present; all of which was true enough, as he had been so much +occupied mentally, with her cousin, as not to have observed her, +seated as she was partly behind a screen. Grace received the excuses +favourably, and the conversation was resumed. + +"I am sorry that my cousin should offend the taste of the country," +said Eve, "but as we are to live in the house, the punishment will +fall heaviest on the offenders." + +"Do not mistake me, Miss Eve," returned Aristabulus, in a little +alarm, for he too well understood the influence and wealth of John +Effingham, not to wish to be on good terms with him; "do not mistake +me, I admire the house, and know it to be a perfect specimen of a +pure architecture in its way, but then public opinion is not yet +quite up to it. I see all its beauties, I would wish you to know, but +then there are many, a majority perhaps, who do not, and these +persons think they ought to be consulted about such matters." + +"I believe Mr. John Effingham thinks less of his own work than you +seem to think of it yourself, sir, for I have frequently heard him +laugh at it, as a mere enlargement of the merits of the composite +order. He calls it a caprice, rather than a taste: nor do I see what +concern a majority, as you term them, can have with a house that does +not belong to them." + +Aristabulus was surprised that any one could disregard a majority; +for, in this respect, he a good deal resembled Mr. Dodge, though +running a different career; and the look of surprise he gave was +natural and open. + +"I do not mean that the public has a legal right to control the +tastes of the citizen," he said, "but in a _republican_ government, +you undoubtedly understand, Miss Eve, it _will_ rule in all things." + +"I can understand that one would wish to see his neighbour use good +taste, as it helps to embellish a country; but the man who should +consult the whole neighbourhood before he built, would be very apt to +cause a complicated house to be erected, if he paid much respect to +the different opinions he received; or, what is quite as likely, apt +to have no house at all." + +"I think you are mistaken, Miss Effingham, for the public sentiment, +just now, runs almost exclusively and popularly into the Grecian +school. We build little besides temples for our churches, our banks, +our taverns, our court-houses, and our dwellings. A friend of mine +has just built a brewery on the model of the Temple of the Winds." + +"Had it been a mill, one might understand the conceit," said Eve, who +now began to perceive that her visiter had some latent humour, though +he produced it in a manner to induce one to think him any thing but a +droll. "The mountains must be doubly beautiful, if they are decorated +in the way you mention. I sincerely hope, Grace, that I shall find +the hills as pleasant as they now exist in my recollection!" + +"Should they not prove to be quite as lovely as you imagine, Miss +Effingham," returned Aristabulus, who saw no impropriety in answering +a remark made to Miss Van Cortlandt, or any one else, "I hope you +will have the kindness to conceal the fact from the world." + +"I am afraid that would exceed my power, the disappointment would be +so strong. May I ask why you show so much interest in my keeping so +cruel a mortification to myself?" + +"Why, Miss Eve," said Aristabulus, looking grave, "I am afraid that +_our_ people would hardly bear the expression of such an opinion from +_you_" + +"From _me!_--and why not from _me_, in particular?" + +"Perhaps it is because they think you have travelled, and have seen +other countries." + +"And is it only those who have _not_ travelled, and who have no means +of knowing the value of what they say, that are privileged to +criticise?" + +"I cannot exactly explain my own meaning, perhaps, but I think Miss +Grace will understand me. Do you not agree with me, Miss Van +Cortlandt, in thinking it would be safer for one who never saw any +other mountains to complain of the tameness and monotony of our own, +than for one who had passed a whole life among the Andes and the +Alps?" + +Eve smiled, for she saw that Mr. Bragg was capable of detecting and +laughing at provincial pride, even while he was so much under its +influence; and Grace coloured, for she had the consciousness of +having already betrayed some of this very silly sensitiveness, in her +intercourse with her cousin, in connexion with other subjects. A +reply was unnecessary, however, as the door just then opened, and +John Effingham made his appearance. The meeting between the two +gentlemen, for we suppose Aristabulus must be included in the +category by courtesy, if not of right, was more cordial than Eve had +expected to witness, for each really entertained a respect for the +other, in reference to a merit of a particular sort; Mr. Bragg +esteeming Mr. John Effingham as a wealthy and caustic cynic, and Mr. +John Effingham regarding Mr. Bragg much as the owner of a dwelling +regards a valuable house-dog. After a few moments of conversation, +the two withdrew together, and just as the ladies were about to +descend to the drawing-room, previously to dinner, Pierre announced +that a plate had been ordered for the land agent. + +Chapter II. + + "I know that Deformed; he has been a vile thief this seven year he + goes up and down like a gentleman." + + MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. + +Eve, and her cousin, found Sir George Templemore and Captain Truck in +the drawing-room, the former having lingered in New-York, with a +desire to be near his friends, and the latter being on the point of +sailing for Europe, in his regular turn. To these must be added Mr. +Bragg and the ordinary inmates of the house, when the reader will get +a view of the whole party. + +Aristabulus had never before sat down to as brilliant a table, and +for the first time in his life, he saw candles lighted at a dinner; +but he was not a man to be disconcerted at a novelty. Had he been a +European of the same origin and habits, awkwardness would have +betrayed him fifty times, before the dessert made its appearance; +but, being the man he was, one who overlooked a certain prurient +politeness that rather illustrated his deportment, might very well +have permitted him to pass among the _oi polloi_ of the world, were +it not for a peculiar management in the way of providing for himself. +It is true, he asked every one near him to eat of every thing he +could himself reach, and that he used his knife as a coal-heaver uses +a shovel; but the company he was in, though fastidious in its own +deportment, was altogether above the silver-forkisms, and this +portion of his demeanour, if it did not escape undetected, passed +away unnoticed. Not so, however, with the peculiarity already +mentioned as an exception. This touch of deportment, (or management, +perhaps, is the better word,) being characteristic of the man, it +deserves to be mentioned a little in detail. + +The service at Mr. Effingham's table was made in the quiet, but +thorough manner that distinguishes a French dinner. Every dish was +removed, carved by the domestics, and handed in turn to each guest. +But there were a delay and a finish in this arrangement that +suited neither Aristabulus's go-a-head-ism, nor his organ of +acquisitiveness. Instead of waiting, therefore, for the more +graduated movements of the domestics, he began to take care of +himself, an office that he performed with a certain dexterity that he +had acquired by frequenting ordinaries--a school, by the way, in +which he had obtained most of his notions of the proprieties of the +table. One or two slices were obtained in the usual manner, or by +means of the regular service; and, then, like one who had laid the +foundation of a fortune, by some lucky windfall in the commencement +of his career, he began to make accessions, right and left, as +opportunity offered. Sundry _entremets_, or light dishes that had a +peculiarly tempting appearance, came first under his grasp. Of these +he soon accumulated all within his reach, by taxing his neighbours, +when he ventured to send his plate, here and there, or wherever he +saw a dish that promised to reward his trouble. By such means, which +were resorted to, however, with a quiet and unobtrusive assiduity +that escaped much observation, Mr. Bragg contrived to make his own +plate a sample epitome of the first course. It contained in the +centre, fish, beef, and ham; and around these staple articles, he had +arranged _croquettes, rognons, ragouts_, vegetables, and other light +things, until not only was the plate completely covered, but it was +actually covered in double and triple layers; mustard, cold butter, +salt, and even pepper, garnishing its edges. These different +accumulations were the work of time and address, and most of the +company had repeatedly changed their plates before Aristabulus had +eaten a mouthful, the soup excepted. The happy moment when his +ingenuity was to be rewarded, had now arrived, and the land agent was +about to commence the process of mastication, or of deglutition +rather, for he troubled himself very little with the first operation, +when the report of a cork drew his attention towards the chaimpaigne. +To Aristabulus this wine never came amiss, for, relishing its +piquancy, he had never gone far enough into the science of the table +to learn which were the proper moments for using it. As respected all +the others at table, this moment had in truth arrived, though, as +respected himself, he was no nearer to it, according to a regulated +taste, than when he first took his seat. Perceiving that Pierre was +serving it, however, he offered his own glass, and enjoyed a +delicious instant, as he swallowed a beverage that much surpassed any +thing he had ever known to issue out of the waxed and leaded nozles +that, pointed like so many enemies' batteries, loaded with headaches +and disordered stomachs, garnished sundry village bars of his +acquaintance. + +Aristabulus finished his glass at a draught, and when he took breath, +he fairly smacked his lips. That was an unlucky instant, his plate, +burthened with all its treasures, being removed, at this unguarded +moment; the man who performed the unkind office, fancying that a +dislike to the dishes could alone have given rise to such an omnium- +gatherum. + +It was necessary to commence _de novo_, but this could no longer be +done with the first course, which was removed, and Aristabulus set- +to, with zeal, forthwith, on the game. Necessity compelled him to +eat, as the different dishes were offered; and, such was his ordinary +assiduity with the knife and fork, that, at the end of the second +remove, he had actually disposed of more food than any other person +at table. He now began to converse, and we shall open the +conversation at the precise point in the dinner, when it was in the +power of Aristabulus to make one of the interlocutors. + +Unlike Mr. Dodge, he had betrayed no peculiar interest in the +baronet, being a man too shrewd and worldly to set his heart on +trifles of any sort; and Mr. Bragg no more hesitated about replying +to Sir George Templemore, or Mr. Effingham, than he would have +hesitated about answering one of his own nearest associates. With him +age and experience formed no particular claims to be heard, and, as +to rank, it is true he had some vague ideas about there being such a +thing in the militia, but as it was unsalaried rank, he attached no +great importance to it. Sir George Templemore was inquiring +concerning the recording of deeds, a regulation that had recently +attracted attention in England; and one of Mr. Effingham's replies +contained some immaterial inaccuracy, which Aristabulus took occasion +to correct, as his first appearance in the general discourse. + +"I ask pardon, sir," he concluded his explanations by saying, "but I +ought to know these little niceties, having served a short part of a +term as a county clerk, to fill a vacancy occasioned by a death." + +"You mean, Mr. Bragg, that you were employed to _write_ in a county +clerk's office," observed John Effingham, who so much disliked +untruth, that he did not hesitate much about refuting it; or what he +now fancied to be an untruth. + +"As county clerk, sir. Major Pippin died a year before his time was +out, and I got the appointment. As regular a county clerk, sir, as +there is in the fifty-six counties of New-York." + +"When I had the honour to engage you as Mr. Effingham's agent, sir," +returned the other, a little sternly, for he felt his own character +for veracity involved in that of the subject of his selection, "I +believe, indeed, that you were writing in the office, but I did not +understand it was as _the_ clerk." + +"Very true, Mr. John," returned Aristabulus, without discovering the +least concern, "I was _then_ engaged by my successor as _a_ clerk; +but a few months earlier, I filled the office myself." + +"Had you gone on, in the regular line of promotion, my dear sir," +pithily inquired Captain Truck, "to what preferment would you have +risen by this time?" + +"I believe I understand you, gentlemen," returned the unmoved +Aristabulus, who perceived a general smile. "I know that some people +are particular about keeping pretty much on the same level, as to +office: but I hold to no such doctrine. If one good thing cannot be +had, I do not see that it is a reason for rejecting another. I ran +that year for sheriff, and finding I was not strong enough to carry +the county, I accepted my successor's offer to write in the office, +until something better might turn up." + +"You practised all this time, I believe, Mr. Bragg," observed John +Effingham. + +"I did a little in that way, too, sir; or as much as I could. Law is +flat with us, of late, and many of the attorneys are turning their +attention to other callings." + +"And pray, sir," asked Sir George, "what is the favourite pursuit +with most of them, just now?" + +"Some our way have gone into the horse-line; but much the greater +portion are, just now, dealing in western cities. + +"In western cities!" exclaimed the baronet, looking as if he +distrusted a mystification. + +"In such articles, and in mill-seats, and rail-road lines, and other +expectations." + +"Mr. Bragg means that they are buying and selling lands on which it +is hoped all these conveniences may exist, a century hence," +explained John Effingham. + +"The _hope_ is for next year, or next week, even, Mr. John," returned +Aristabulus, with a sly look, "though you may be very right as to the +_reality_. Great fortunes have been made on a capital of hopes, +lately, in this country." + +"And have you been able, yourself, to resist these temptations?" +asked Mr. Effingham. "I feel doubly indebted to you, sir, that you +should have continued to devote your time to my interests, while so +many better things were offering." + +"It was my duty, sir," said Aristabulus, bowing so much the lower, +from the consciousness that he had actually deserted his post for +some months, to embark in the western speculations that were then so +active in the country, "not to say my pleasure. There are many +profitable occupations in this country, Sir George, that have been +overlooked in the eagerness to embark in the town-trade--" + +"Mr. Bragg does not mean trade in town, but trade in towns," +explained John Effingham. + +"Yes, sir, the traffic in cities. I never come this way, without +casting an eye about me, in order to see if there is any thing to be +done that is useful; and I confess that several available +opportunities have offered, if one had capital. Milk is a good +business." + +"_Le lait!_" exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville, involuntarily. + +"Yes, ma'am, for ladies as well as gentlemen. Sweet potatoes I have +heard well spoken of, and peaches are really making some rich men's +fortunes." + +"All of which are honester and better occupations than the traffic in +cities, that you have mentioned," quietly observed Mr. Effingham. + +Aristabulus looked up in a little surprise, for with him every thing +was eligible that returned a good profit, and all things honest that +the law did not actually punish. Perceiving, however, that the +company was disposed to listen, and having, by this time, recovered +the lost ground, in the way of food, he cheerfully resumed his theme. + +"Many families have left Otsego, this and the last summer, Mr. +Effingham, as emigrants for the west. The fever has spread far and +wide." + +"The fever! Is _old_ Otsego," for so its inhabitants loved to call a +county of half a century's existence, it being venerable by +comparison, "is _old_ Otsego losing its well established character +for salubrity?" + +"I do not allude to an animal fever, but to the western fever." + +"_Ce pays de l'ouest, est-il bien malsain_?" whispered Mademoiselle +Viefville. + +"_Apparemment, Mademoiselle, sur plusieurs rapports."_ + +"The western fever has seized old and young, and it has carried off +many active families from our part of the world," continued +Aristabulus, who did not understand the little aside just mentioned, +and who, of course, did not heed it; "most of the counties adjoining +our own have lost a considerable portion of their population." + +"And they who have gone, do they belong to the permanent families, or +are they merely the floating inhabitants?" inquired Mr. Effingham. + +"Most of them belong to the regular movers." + +"Movers!" again exclaimed Sir George--"is there any material part of +your population who actually deserve this name?" + +"As much so as the man who shoes a horse ought to be called a smith, +or the man who frames a house a carpenter," answered John Effingham. + +"To be sure," continued Mr. Bragg, "we have a pretty considerable +leaven of them in our political dough, as well as in our active +business. I believe, Sir George, that in England, men are tolerably +stationary." + +"We love to continue for generations on the same spot. We love the +tree that our forefathers planted, the roof that they built, the +fire-side by which they sat, the sods that cover their remains." + +"Very poetical, and I dare say there are situations in life, in which +such feelings come in without much effort. It must be a great check +to business operations, however, in your part of the world, sir!" + +"Business operations!--what is business, as you term it, sir, to the +affections, to the recollections of ancestry, and to the solemn +feelings connected with history and tradition?" + +"Why, sir, in the way of history, one meets with but few incumbrances +in this country, but he may do very much as interest dictates, so far +as that is concerned, at least. A nation is much to be pitied that is +weighed down by the past, in this manner, since its industry and +enterprize are constantly impeded by obstacles that grow out of its +recollections. America may, indeed, be termed a happy and a free +country, Mr. John Effingham, in this, as well as in all other +things!" + +Sir George Templemore was too well-bred to utter all he felt at that +moment, as it would unavoidably wound the feelings of his hosts, but +he was rewarded for his forbearance by intelligent smiles from Eve +and Grace, the latter of whom the young baronet fancied, just at that +moment, was quite as beautiful as her cousin, and if less finished in +manners, she had the most interesting _naivete_. + +"I have been told that most old nations have to struggle with +difficulties that we escape," returned John Effingham, "though I +confess this is a superiority on our part, that never before +presented itself to my mind." + +"The political economists, and even the geographers have overlooked +it, but practical men see and feel its advantages, every hour in the +day. I have been told, Sir George Templemore, that in England, there +are difficulties in running highways and streets through homesteads +and dwellings; and that even a rail-road, or a canal, is obliged to +make a curve to avoid a church-yard or a tomb-stone?" + +"I confess to the sin, sir." + +"Our friend Mr. Bragg," put in John Effingham, "considers life as all +_means_ and no _end_." + +"An end cannot be got at without the means, Mr. John Effingham, as I +trust you will, yourself, admit. I am for the end of the road, at +least, and must say that I rejoice in being a native of a country in +which as few impediments as possible exist to onward impulses. The +man who should resist an improvement, in our part of the country, on +account of his forefathers, would fare badly among his contemporaries." + +"Will you permit me to ask, Mr. Bragg, if you feel no local +attachments yourself," enquired the baronet, throwing as much +delicacy into the tones of his voice, as a question that he felt +ought to be an insult to a man's heart, would allow--"if one tree is +not more pleasant than another; the house you were born in more +beautiful than a house into which you never entered; or the altar at +which you have long worshipped, more sacred than another at which you +never knelt?" + +"Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than to answer the questions +of gentlemen that travel through our country," returned Aristabulus, +"for I think, in making nations acquainted with each other, we +encourage trade and render business more secure. To reply to your +inquiry, a human being is not a cat, to love a locality rather than +its own interests. I have found some trees much pleasanter than +others, and the pleasantest tree I can remember was one of my own, +out of which the sawyers made a thousand feet of clear stuff, to say +nothing of middlings. The house I was born in was pulled down, +shortly after my birth, as indeed has been its successor, so I can +tell you nothing on that head; and as for altars, there are none in +my persuasion." + +"The church of Mr. Bragg has stripped itself as naked as he would +strip every thing else, if he could," said John Effingham. "I much +question if he ever knelt even; much less before an altar." + +"We are of the standing order, certainly," returned Aristabulus, +glancing towards the ladies to discover how they took his wit, "and +Mr. John Effingham is as near right as a man need be, in a matter of +faith. In the way of houses, Mr. Effingham, I believe it is the +general opinion you might have done better with your own, than to +have repaired it. Had the materials been disposed of, they would have +sold well, and by running a street through the property, a pretty sum +might have been realized." + +"In which case I should have been without a home, Mr. Bragg." + +"It would have been no great matter to get another on cheaper land. +The old residence would have made a good factory, or an inn." + +"Sir, I _am_ a cat, and like the places I have long frequented." + +Aristabulus, though not easily daunted, was awed by Mr. Effingham's +manner, and Eve saw that her father's fine face had flushed. This +interruption, therefore, suddenly changed the discourse, which has +been recreated at some length, as likely to give the reader a better +insight into a character that will fill some space in our narrative, +than a more laboured description. + +"I trust your owners, Captain Truck," said John Effingham, by way of +turning the conversation into another channel, "are fully satisfied +with the manner in which you saved their property from the hands of +the Arabs?" + +"Men, when money is concerned, are more disposed to remember how it +was lost than how it was recovered, religion and trade being the two +poles, on such a point," returned the old seaman, with a serious +face. "On the whole, my dear sir, I have reason to be satisfied, +however; and so long as you, my passengers and my friends, are not +inclined to blame me, I shall feel as if I had done at least a part +of my duty." + +Eve rose from table, went to a side-board and returned, when she +gracefully placed before the master of the Montauk a rich and +beautifully chased punch-bowl, in silver. Almost at the same moment, +Pierre offered a salver that contained a capital watch, a pair of +small silver tongs to hold a coal, and a deck trumpet, in solid +silver. + +"These are so many faint testimonials of our feelings," said +Eve--"and you will do us the favour to retain them, as evidences of +the esteem created by skill, kindness, and courage." + +"My dear young lady!" cried the old tar, touched to the soul by the +feeling with which Eve acquitted herself of this little duty, "my +dear young lady--well, God bless you--God bless you all--you too, Mr. +John Effingham, for that matter--and Sir George--that I should ever +have taken that runaway for a gentleman and a baronet--though I +suppose there are some silly baronets, as well as silly lords--retain +them?"--glancing furiously at Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, "may the Lord +forget me, in the heaviest hurricane, if I ever forget whence these +things came, and why they were given." + +Here the worthy captain was obliged to swallow some wine, by way of +relieving his emotions, and Aristabulus, profiting by the +opportunity, coolly took the bowl, which, to use a word of his own, +he _hefted_ in his hand, with a view to form some tolerably accurate +notion of its intrinsic value. Captain Truck's eye caught the action, +and he reclaimed his property quite as unceremoniously as it had been +taken away, nothing but the presence of the ladies preventing an +outbreaking that would have amounted to a declaration of war. + +"With your permission, sir," said the captain, drily, after he had +recovered the bowl, not only without the other's consent, but, in +some degree, against his will; "this bowl is as precious in my eyes +as if it were made of my father's bones." + +"You may indeed think so," returned the land-agent, "for its cost +could not be less than a hundred dollars." + +"Cost, sir!--But, my dear young lady, let us talk of the real value. +For what part of these things am I indebted to you?" + +"The bowl is my offering," Eve answered, smilingly, though a tear +glistened in her eye, as she witnessed the strong unsophisticated +feeling of the old tar. "I thought it might serve sometimes to bring +me to your recollection, when it was well filled in honour of +'sweethearts and wives.'" + +"It shall--it shall, by the Lord; and Mr. Saunders needs look to it, +if he do not keep this work as bright as a cruising frigate's bottom. +To whom do I owe the coal-tongs?" + +"Those are from Mr. John Effingham, who insists that he will come +nearer to your heart than any of us, though the gift be of so little +cost." + +"He does not know me, my dear young lady--nobody ever got as near my +heart as you; no, not even my own dear pious old mother. But I thank +Mr. John Effingham from my inmost spirit, and shall seldom smoke +without thinking of him. The watch I know is Mr. Effingham's, and I +ascribe the trumpet to Sir George." + +The bows of the several gentlemen assured the captain he was right, +and he shook each of them cordially by the hand, protesting, in the +fulness of his heart, that nothing would give him greater pleasure +than to be able to go through the same perilous scenes as those from +which they had so lately escaped, in their good company again. + +While this was going on, Aristabulus, notwithstanding the rebuke he +had received, contrived to get each article, in succession, into his +hands, and by dint of poising it on a finger, or by examining it, to +form some approximative notion of its inherent value. The watch he +actually opened, taking as good a survey of its works as the +circumstances of the case would very well allow. + +"I respect these things, sir, more than you respect your father's +grave," said Captain Truck sternly, as he rescued the last article +from what he thought the impious grasp of Aristabulus again, "and cat +or no cat, they sink or swim with me for the remainder of the cruise. +If there is any virtue in a will, which I am sorry to say I hear +there is not any longer, they shall share my last bed with me, be it +ashore or be it afloat. My dear young lady, fancy all the rest, but +depend on it, punch will be sweeter than ever taken from this bowl, +and 'sweethearts and wives' will never be so honoured again." + +"We are going to a ball this evening, at the house of one with whom I +am sufficiently intimate to take the liberty of introducing a +stranger, and I wish, gentlemen," said Mr. Effingham, bowing to +Aristabulus and the captain, by way of changing the conversation, +"you would do me the favour to be of our party." + +Mr. Bragg acquiesced very cheerfully, and quite as a matter of +course; while Captain Truck, after protesting his unfitness for such +scenes, was finally prevailed on by John Effingham, to comply with +the request also. The ladies remained at table but a few minutes +longer, when they retired, Mr. Effingham having dropped into the old +custom of sitting at the bottle, until summoned to the drawing-room, +a usage that continues to exist in America, for a reason no better +than the fact that it continues to exist in England;--it being almost +certain that it will cease in New-York, the season after it is known +to have ceased in London. + +Chapter III. + + "Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful!" + + SHAKSPEARE. + +As Captain Truck asked permission to initiate the new coal-tongs by +lighting a cigar, Sir George Templemore contrived to ask Pierre, in +an aside, if the ladies would allow him to join them. The desired +consent having been obtained, the baronet quietly stole from table, +and was soon beyond the odours of the dining-room. + +"You miss the censer and the frankincense," said Eve, laughing, as +Sir George entered the drawing-room; "but you will remember we have +no church establishment, and dare not take such liberties with the +ceremonials of the altar." + +"That is a short-lived custom with us, I fancy, though far from an +unpleasant one. But you do me injustice in supposing I am merely +running away from the fumes of the dinner." + +"No, no; we understand perfectly well that you have something to do +with the fumes of flattery, and we will at once fancy all has been +said that the occasion requires. Is not our honest old captain a +jewel in his way?" + +"Upon my word, since you allow me to speak of your father's guests, I +do not think it possible to have brought together two men who are so +completely the opposites of each other, as Captain Truck and this Mr +Aristabulus Bragg. The latter is quite the most extraordinary person +in his way, it was ever my good fortune to meet with." + +"You call him a _person_, while Pierre calls him a _personnage;_ I +fancy he considers it very much as a matter of accident, whether he +is to pass his days in the one character or in the other. Cousin Jack +assures me, that, while this man accepts almost any duty that he +chooses to assign him, he would not deem it at all a violation of the +_convenances_ to aim at the throne in the White House." + +"Certainly with no hopes of ever attaining it!" + +"One cannot answer for that. The man must undergo many essential +changes, and much radical improvement, before such a climax to his +fortunes can ever occur; but the instant you do away with the claims +of hereditary power, the door is opened to a new chapter of +accidents. Alexander of Russia styled himself _un heureux accident_; +and should it ever be our fortune to receive Mr. Bragg as President, +we shall only have to term him _un malheureux accident_. I believe +that will contain all the difference." + +"Your republicanism is indomitable, Miss Effingham, and I shall +abandon the attempt to convert you to safer principles, more +especially as I find you supported by both the Mr. Effinghams, who, +while they condemn so much at home, seem singularly attached to their +own system at the bottom." + +"They condemn, Sir George Templemore, because they know that +perfection is hopeless, and because they feel it to be unsafe and +unwise to eulogize defects, and they are attached, because near views +of other countries have convinced them that, comparatively at last, +bad as we are, we are still better than most of our neighbours." + +"I can assure you," said Grace, "that many of the opinions of Mr John +Effingham, in particular, are not at all the opinions that are most +in vogue here; he rather censures what we like, and likes what we +censure. Even my dear uncle is thought to be a little heterodox on +such subjects." + +"I can readily believe it," returned Eve, steadily. "These gentlemen, +having become familiar with better things, in the way of the tastes, +and of the purely agreeable, cannot discredit their own knowledge so +much as to extol that which their own experience tells them is +faulty, or condemn that which their own experience tells them is +relatively good. Now, Grace, if you will reflect a moment, you will +perceive that people necessarily like the best of their own tastes, +until they come to a knowledge of better; and that they as +necessarily quarrel with the unpleasant facts that surround them; +although these facts, as consequences of a political system, may be +much less painful than those of other systems of which they have no +knowledge. In the one case, they like their own best, simply because +it is their own best; and they dislike their own worst, because it is +their own worst. We cherish a taste, in the nature of things, without +entering into any comparisons, for when the means of comparison +offer, and we find improvements, it ceases to be a taste at all; +while to complain of any positive grievance, is the nature of man, I +fear!" + +"I think a republic odious!" + +"_Le republique est une horreur!_" + +Grace thought a republic odious, without knowing any thing of any +other state of society, and because it contained odious things; and +Mademoiselle Viefville called a republic _une horreur_, because heads +fell and anarchy prevailed in her own country, during its early +struggles for liberty. Though Eve seldom spoke more sensibly, and +never more temperately, than while delivering the foregoing opinions, +Sir George Templemore doubted whether she had all that exquisite +_finesse_ and delicacy of features, that he had so much admired; and +when Grace burst out in the sudden and senseless exclamation we have +recorded, he turned towards her sweet and animated countenance, +which, for the moment, he fancied the loveliest of the two. + +Eve Effingham had yet to learn that she had just entered into the +most intolerant society, meaning purely as society, and in connexion +with what are usually called liberal sentiments, in Christendom. We +do not mean by this, that it would be less safe to utter a generous +opinion in favour of human rights in America than in any other +country, for the laws and the institutions become active in this +respect, but simply, that the resistance of the more refined to the +encroachments of the unrefined, has brought about a state of +feeling--a feeling that is seldom just and never philosophical--which +has created a silent, but almost unanimous bias against the effects +of the institutions, in what is called the world. In Europe, one +rarely utters a sentiment of this nature, under circumstances in +which it is safe to do so at all, without finding a very general +sympathy in the auditors; but in the circle into which Eve had now +fallen, it was almost considered a violation of the proprieties. We +do not wish to be understood as saying more than we mean, however, +for we have no manner of doubt that a large portion of the +dissentients even, are so idly, and without reflection; or for the +very natural reasons already given by our heroine; but we do wish to +be understood as meaning that such is the outward appearance which +American society presents to every stranger, and to every native of +the country too, on his return from a residence among other people. +Of its taste, wisdom and safety we shall not now speak, but content +ourselves with merely saying that the effect of Grace's exclamation +on Eve was unpleasant, and that, unlike the baronet, she thought her +cousin was never less handsome than while her pretty face was covered +with the pettish frown it had assumed for the occasion. + +Sir George Templemore had tact enough to perceive there had been a +slight jar in the feelings of these two young women, and he adroitly +changed the conversation. With Eve he had entire confidence on the +score of provincialisms, and, without exactly anticipating the part +Grace would be likely to take in such a discussion, he introduced the +subject of general society in New-York. + +"I am desirous to know," he said, "if you have your sets, as we have +them in London and Paris. Whether you have your _Faubourg St. +Germain_ and your _Chaussee d'Antin;_ your Piccadilly, Grosvenor and +Russel Squares." + +"I must refer you to Miss Van Cortlandt for an answer to that +question," said Eve. + +Grace looked up blushing, for there were both novelty and excitement +in having an intelligent foreigner question her on such a subject. + +"I do not know that I rightly understand the allusion," she said, +"although I am afraid Sir George Templemore means to ask if we have +distinctions in society?" + +"And why _afraid_, Miss Van Cortlandt?" + +"Because it strikes me such a question would imply a doubt of our +civilization." + +"There are frequently distinctions made, when the differences are not +obvious," observed Eve. "Even London and Paris are not above the +imputation of this folly. Sir George Templemore, if I understand him, +wishes to know if we estimate gentility by streets, and quality by +squares." + +"Not exactly that either, Miss Effingham--but, whether among those, +who may very well pass for gentlemen and ladies, you enter into the +minute distinctions that are elsewhere found. Whether you have your +exclusive, and your _elegants_ and _elegantes_; or whether you deem +all within the pale as on an equality." + +"_Les femmes Americaines sont bien jolies!_" exclaimed Mademoiselle +Viefville. + +"It is quite impossible that _coteries_ should not form in a town of +three hundred thousand souls." + +"I do not mean exactly even that. Is there no distinction between +_coteries;_ is not one placed by opinion, by a silent consent, if not +by positive ordinances, above another?" + +"Certainly, that to which Sir George Templemore alludes, is to be +found," said Grace, who gained courage to speak, as she found the +subject getting to be more clearly within her comprehension. "All the +old families, for instance, keep more together than the others; +though it is the subject of regret that they are not more particular +than they are." + +"Old families!" exclaimed Sir George Templemore, with quite as much +stress as a well-bred man could very well lay on the words, in such +circumstances. + +"Old families," repeated Eve, with all that emphasis which the +baronet himself had hesitated about giving. "As old, at least, as two +centuries can make them; and this, too, with origins beyond that +period, like those of the rest of the world. Indeed, the American has +a better gentility than common, as, besides his own, he may take root +in that of Europe." + +"Do not misconceive me, Miss Effingham; I am fully aware that the +people of this country are exactly like the people of all other +civilized countries, in this respect; but my surprise is that, in a +republic, you should have such a term even as that of 'old +families.'" + +"The surprise has arisen, I must be permitted to say, from not having +sufficiently reflected on the real state of the country. There are +two great causes of distinction every where, wealth and merit. Now, +if a race of Americans continue conspicuous in their own society, +through either or both of these causes, for a succession of +generations, why have they not the same claims to be considered +members of old families, as Europeans under the same circumstances? A +republican history is as much history as a monarchical history; and a +historical name in one, is quite as much entitled to consideration, +as a historical name in another. Nay, you admit this in your European +republics, while you wish to deny it in ours." + +"I must insist on having proofs; if we permit these charges to be +brought against us without evidence, Mademoiselle Viefville, we shall +finally be defeated through our own neglect." + +"_C'est une belle illustration, celle de l'antiquite_" observed the +governess, in a matter of course tone. + +"If you insist on proof, what answer can you urge to the _Capponi_? +'_Sonnez vos trompettes, et je vais faire sonner mes cloches_,'--or +to the _Von Erlachs_, a family that has headed so many resistances to +oppression and invasion, for five centuries?" + +"All this is very true," returned Sir George, "and yet I confess it +is not the way in which it is usual with us to consider American +society." + +"A descent from Washington, with a character and a social position to +correspond, would not be absolutely vulgar, notwithstanding!" + +"Nay, if you press me so hard, I must appeal to Miss Van Cortlandt +for succour." + +"On this point you will find no support in that quarter. Miss Van +Cortlandt has an historical name herself, and will not forego an +honest pride, in order to relieve one of the hostile powers from a +dilemma." + +"While I admit that time and merit must, in a certain sense, place +families in America in the same situation with families in Europe, I +cannot see that it is in conformity with your institutions to lay the +same stress on the circumstance." + +"In that we are perfectly of a mind, as I think the American has much +the best reason to be proud of his family," said Eve, quietly. + +"You delight in paradoxes, apparently, this evening, Miss Effingham, +for I now feel very certain you can hardly make out a plausible +defence of this new position." + +"If I had my old ally, Mr. Powis, here," said Eve touching the fender +unconsciously with her little foot, and perceptibly losing the +animation and pleasantry of her voice, in tones that were gentler, if +not melancholy, "I should ask him to explain this matter to you, for +he was singularly ready in such replies. As he is absent, however, I +will attempt the duty myself. In Europe, office, power, and +consequently, consideration, are all hereditary; whereas, in this +country, they are not, but they depend on selection. Now, surely, one +has more reason to be proud of ancestors who have been chosen to fill +responsible stations, than of ancestors who have filled them through +the accidents, _heureux ou malkeureux_, of birth. The only difference +between England and America, as respects family, is that you add +positive rank to that to which we only give consideration. Sentiment +is at the bottom of our nobility, and the great seal at the bottom of +yours. And now, having established the fact that there are families +in America, let us return whence we started, and enquire how far they +have an influence in every-day society." + +"To ascertain which, we must apply to Miss Van Cortlandt." + +"Much less than they ought, if my opinion is to be taken," said +Grace, laughing, "for the great inroad of strangers has completely +deranged all the suitablenesses, in that respect." + +"And yet, I dare say, these very strangers do good," rejoined Eve. +"Many of them must have been respectable in their native places, and +ought to be an acquisition to a society that, in its nature, must be, +Grace, _tant soit peu_, provincial." + +"Oh!" cried Grace, "I can tolerate any thing but the Hajjis!" + +"The what?" asked Sir George, eagerly--"will you suffer me to ask an +explanation, Miss Van Cortlandt." + +"The Hajjis," repeated Grace laughing, though she blushed to the +eyes. + +The baronet looked from one cousin to the other, and then turned an +inquiring glance on Mademoiselle Viefville. The latter gave a slight +shrug, and seemed to ask an explanation of the young lady's meaning +herself. + +"A Hajji is one of a class, Sir George Templemore," Eve at length +said, "to which you and I have both the honour of belonging." + +"No, not Sir George Templemore," interrupted Grace, with a +precipitation that she instantly regretted; "he is not an American." + +"Then I, alone, of all present, have that honour. It means the +pilgrimage to Paris, instead of Mecca; and the Pilgrim must be an +American, instead of a Mahommedan." + +"Nay, Eve, _you_ are not a Hajji, neither." + +"Then there is some qualification with which I am not yet acquainted. +Will you relieve our doubts, Grace, and let us know the precise +character of the animal." + +"_You_ stayed too long to be a Hajji--- one must get innoculated +merely; not take the disease and become cured, to be a true Hajji." + +"I thank you, Miss Van Cortlandt, for this description," returned Eve +in her quiet way. "I hope, as I have gone through the malady, it has +not left me pitted." + +"I should like to see one of these Hajjis," cried Sir George.--"Are +they of both sexes?" + +Grace laughed and nodded her head. + +"Will you point it out to me, should we be so fortunate as to +encounter one this evening?" + +Again Grace laughed and nodded her head. + +"I have been thinking, Grace," said Eve, after a short pause, "that +we may give Sir George Templemore a better idea of the sets about +which he is so curious, by doing what is no more than a duty of our +own, and by letting him profit by the opportunity. Mrs. Hawker +receives this evening without ceremony; we have not yet sent our +answer to Mrs. Jarvis, and might very well look in upon her for half +an hour, after which we shall be in very good season for Mrs. +Houston's ball." + +"Surely, Eve, you would not wish to take Sir George Templemore to +such a house as that of Mrs. Jarvis!" + +"_I_ do not wish to take Sir George Templemore any where, for your +Hajjis have opinions of their own on such subjects. But, as cousin +Jack will accompany us, _he_ may very well confer that important +favour. I dare say, Mrs. Jarvis will not look upon it as too great a +liberty." + +"I will answer for it, that nothing Mr. John Effingham can do will be +thought _mal a propos_ by Mrs. Jared Jarvis. His position in society +is too well established, and hers is too equivocal, to leave any +doubt on that head." + +"This, you perceive, settles the point of _coteries,_" said Eve to +the baronet. "Volumes might be written to establish principles; but +when one can do any thing he or she pleases, any where that he or she +likes, it is pretty safe to say that he or she is privileged." + +"All very true, as to the fact, Miss Effingham; but I should like +exceedingly to know the reason." + +"Half the time, such things are decided without a reason at all. You +are a little exacting in requiring a reason in New-York for that +which is done in London without even the pretence of such a thing. It +is sufficient that Mrs. Jarvis will be delighted to see you without +an invitation, and that Mrs. Houston would, at least, think it odd, +were you to take the same liberty with her." + +"It follows," said Sir George, smiling, "that Mrs. Jarvis is much the +most hospitable person of the two." + +"But, Eve, what shall be done with Captain Truck and Mr. Bragg?" +asked Grace. "We cannot take _them_ to Mrs. Hawker's!" + +"Aristabulus would, indeed, be a little out of place in such a house, +but as for our excellent, brave, straight-forward, old captain, he is +worthy to go any where. I shall be delighted to present _him_ to Mrs. +Hawker, myself." + +After a little consultation between the ladies, it was settled that +nothing should be said of the two first visits to Mr. Bragg, but that +Mr. Effingham should be requested to bring him to the ball, at the +proper hour, and that the rest of the party should go quietly off to +the other places, without mentioning their projects. As soon as this +was arranged the ladies retired to dress, Sir George Templemore +passing into the library to amuse himself with a book the while; +where, however, he was soon joined by John Effingham. Here the former +revived the conversation on distinctions in society, with the +confusion of thought that usually marks a European's notions of such +matters. + +Chapter IV. + + "Ready." "And I." "And I." "Where shall we go?" + + MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. + +Grace Van Cortlant was the first to make her appearance after the +retreat from the drawing-room. It has often been said that, pretty as +the American females incontestably are, as a whole they appear better +in _demi-toilette,_ than when attired for a ball. With what would be +termed high dress in other parts of the world, they are little +acquainted; but reversing the rule of Europe, where the married +bestow the most care on their personal appearance, and the single are +taught to observe a rigid simplicity, Grace now seemed sufficiently +ornamented in the eyes of the fastidious baronet, while, at the same +time, he thought her less obnoxious to the criticism just mentioned, +than most of her young countrywomen, in general. + +An _embonpoint_ that was just sufficient to distinguish her from most +of her companions, a fine colour, brilliant eyes, a sweet smile, rich +hair, and such feet and hands as Sir George Templemore had, somehow-- +he scarcely knew how, himself--fancied could only belong to the +daughters of peers and princes, rendered Grace so strikingly +attractive this evening, that the young baronet began to think her +even handsomer than her cousin. There was also a charm in the +unsophisticated simplicity of Grace, that was particularly alluring +to a man educated amidst the coldness and mannerism of the higher +classes of England. In Grace, too, this simplicity was chastened by +perfect decorum and _retenue_ of deportment; the exuberance of the +new school of manners not having helped to impair the dignity of her +character, or to weaken the charm of diffidence. She was less +finished in her manners than Eve, certainly; a circumstance, perhaps, +that induced Sir George Templemore to fancy her a shade more simple, +but she was never unfeminine or unladylike; and the term vulgar, in +despite of all the capricious and arbitrary rules of fashion, under +no circumstances, could ever be applied to Grace Van Cortlandt. In +this respect, nature seemed to have aided her; for had not her +associations raised her above such an imputation, no one could +believe that she would be obnoxious to the charge, had her lot in +life been cast even many degrees lower than it actually was. + +It is well known that, after a sufficient similarity has been created +by education to prevent any violent shocks to our habits or +principles, we most affect those whose characters and dispositions +the least resemble our own. This was probably one of the reasons why +Sir George Templemore, who, for some time, had been well assured of +the hopelessness of his suit with Eve, began to regard her scarcely +less lovely cousin, with an interest of a novel and lively nature. +Quick-sighted and deeply interested in Grace's happiness, Miss +Effingham had already detected this change in the young baronet's +inclinations, and though sincerely rejoiced on her own account, she +did not observe it without concern; for she understood better than +most of her countrywomen, the great hazards of destroying her peace +of mind, that are incurred by transplanting an American woman into +the more artificial circles of the old world. + +"I shall rely on your kind offices, in particular, Miss Van +Cortlandt, to reconcile Mrs. Jarvis and Mrs. Hawker to the liberty I +am about to take," cried Sir George, as Grace burst upon them in the +library, in a blaze of beauty that, in her case, was aided by her +attire; "and cold-hearted and unchristian-like women they must be, +indeed, to resist such a mediator!" + +Grace was unaccustomed to adulation of this sort; for though the +baronet spoke gaily, and like one half trifling, his look of +admiration was too honest to escape the intuitive perception of +woman. She blushed deeply, and then recovering herself instantly, +said with a _naivete_ that had a thousand charms with her listener-- + +"I do not see why Miss Effingham and myself should hesitate about +introducing you at either place. Mrs. Hawker is a relative and an +intimate--an intimate of mine, at least--and as for poor Mrs. Jarvis, +she is the daughter of an old neighbour, and will be too glad to see +us, to raise objections. I fancy any one of a certain--" Grace +hesitated and laughed. + +"Any one of a certain--?" said Sir George inquiringly. + +"Any one from this house," resumed the young lady, correcting the +intended expression, "will be welcome in Spring street." + +"Pure, native aristocracy!" exclaimed the baronet with an air of +affected triumph. "This you see, Mr. John Effingham, is in aid of my +argument." + +"I am quite of your opinion," returned the gentleman addressed--"as +much native aristocracy as you please, but no hereditary." + +The entrance of Eve and Mademoiselle Viefville interrupted this +pleasantry, and the carriages being just then announced, John +Effingham went in quest of Captain Truck, who was in the drawing-room +with Mr. Effingham and Aristabulus. + +"I have left Ned to discuss trespass suits and leases with his land- +agent," said John Effingham, as he followed Eve to the street-door. +"By ten o'clock, they will have taxed a pretty bill of costs between +them!" + +Mademoiselle Viefville followed John Effingham; Grace came next, and +Sir George Templemore and the Captain brought up the rear. Grace +wondered the young baronet did not offer her his arm, for she had +been accustomed to receive this attention from the other sex, in a +hundred situations in which it was rather an incumbrance than a +service; while on the other hand, Sir George himself would have +hesitated about offering such assistance, as an act of uncalled-for +familiarity. + +Miss Van Cortlandt, being much in society, kept a chariot for her own +use, and the three ladies took their seats in it, while the gentlemen +took possession of Mr. Effingham's coach. The order was given to +drive to Spring street, and the whole party proceeded. + +The acquaintance between the Effinghams and Mr. Jarvis had arisen +from the fact of their having been near, and, in a certain sense, +sociable neighbours in the country. Their town associations, however, +were as distinct as if they dwelt in different hemispheres, with the +exception of an occasional morning call, and, now and then, a family +dinner given by Mr. Effingham. Such had been the nature of the +intercourse previously to the family of the latter's having gone +abroad, and there were symptoms of its being renewed on the same +quiet and friendly footing as formerly. But no two beings could be +less alike, in certain essentials, than Mr. Jarvis and his wife. The +former was a plain pains-taking, sensible man of business, while the +latter had an itching desire to figure in the world of fashion. The +first was perfectly aware that Mr. Effingham, in education, habits, +associations and manners, was, at least, of a class entirely distinct +from his own; and without troubling himself to analyze causes, and +without a feeling of envy, or unkindness of any sort, while totally +exempt from any undue deference or unmanly cringing, he quietly +submitted to let things take their course. His wife expressed her +surprise that any one in New-York should presume to be _better_ than +themselves; and the remark gave rise to the following short +conversation, on the very morning of the day she gave the party, to +which we are now conducting the reader. + +"How do you know, my dear, that any one does think himself our +_better_?" demanded the husband. + +"Why do they not all visit us then!" + +"Why do you not visit everybody yourself? A pretty household we +should have, if you did nothing but visit every one who lives even in +this street!" + +"You surely would not have _me_ visiting the grocers' wives at the +corners, and all the other rubbish of the neighbourhood. What I mean +is that all the people of a certain sort ought to visit all the other +people of a certain sort, in the same town." + +"You surely will make an exception, at least on account of numbers. I +saw number three thousand six hundred and fifty this very day on a +cart, and if the wives of all these carmen should visit one another, +each would have to make ten visits daily in order to get through with +the list in a twelvemonth." + +"I have always bad luck in making you comprehend these things, Mr. +Jarvis." + +"I am afraid, my dear, it is because you do not very clearly +comprehend them yourself. You first say that everybody ought to visit +everybody, and then you insist on it, _you_ will visit none but those +you think good enough to be visited by Mrs. Jared Jarvis." + +"What I mean is, that no one in New-York has a right to think +himself, or herself, better than ourselves." + +"Better?--In what sense better?" + +"In such a sense as to induce them to think themselves too good to +visit us." + +"That may be your opinion, my dear, but others may judge differently. +You clearly think yourself too good to visit Mrs. Onion, the grocer's +wife, who is a capital woman in her way; and how do we know that +certain people may not fancy we are not quite refined enough for +them? Refinement is a positive thing, Mrs. Jarvis, and one that has +much more influence on the pleasures of association than money. We +may want a hundred little perfections that escape our ignorance, and +which those who are trained to such matters deem essentials." + +"I never met with a man of so little social spirit, Mr. Jarvis! +Really, you are quite unsuited to be a citizen of a republican +country." + +"Republican!--I do not really see what republican has to do with the +question. In the first place, it is a droll word for _you_ to use in +this sense at least; for, taking your own meaning of the term, you +are as anti-republican as any woman I know. But a republic does not +necessarily infer equality of condition, or even equality of +rights,--it meaning merely the substitution of the right of the +commonwealth for the right of a prince. Had you said a democracy +there would have been some plausibility in using the word, though +even then its application would have been illogical. If I am a +freeman and a democrat, I hope I have the justice to allow others to +be just as free and democratic as I am myself." + +"And who wishes the contrary?--all I ask is a claim to be considered +a fit associate for anybody in this country--in these United States +of America." + +"I would quit these United States of America next week, if I thought +there existed any necessity for such an intolerable state of things." + +"Mr. Jarvis!--and you, too, one of the Committee of Tammany Hall!" + +"Yes, Mrs. Jarvis, and I one of the Committee of Tammany Hall! What, +do you think I want the three thousand six hundred and fifty carmen +running in and out of my house, with their tobacco saliva and pipes, +all day long?" + +"Who is thinking of your carmen and grocers!--I speak now only of +genteel people." + +"In other words, my dear, you are thinking only of those whom you +fancy to have the advantage of you, and keep those who think of you +in the same way, quite out of sight This is not my democracy and +freedom. I believe that it requires two people to make a bargain, and +although I may consent to dine with A----, if A---- will not consent +to dine with me, there is an end of the matter." + +"Now, you have come to a case in point. You often dined with Mr. +Effingham before he went abroad, and yet you would never allow me to +ask Mr. Effingham to dine with us. That is what I call meanness." + +"It might be so, indeed, if it were done to save my money. I dined +with Mr. Effingham because I like him; because he was an old +neighbour; because he asked me, and because I found a pleasure in the +quiet elegance of his table and society; and I did not ask him to +dine with me, because I was satisfied he would be better pleased with +such a tacit acknowledgement of his superiority in this respect, than +by any bustling and ungraceful efforts to pay him in kind. Edward +Effingham has dinners enough, without keeping a debtor and credit +account with his guests, which is rather too New-Yorkish, even for +me." + +"Bustling and ungraceful!" repeated Mrs. Jarvis, bitterly; "I do not +know that you are at all more bustling and ungraceful than Mr. +Effingham himself." + +"No, my dear, I am a quiet, unpretending man, like the great majority +of my countrymen, thank God." + +"Then why talk of these sorts of differences in a country in which +the law establishes none?" + +"For precisely the reason that I talk of the river at the foot of +this street, or because there is a river. A thing may exist without +there being a law for it. There is no law for building this house, +and yet it is built. There is no law for making Dr. Verse a better +preacher than Dr. Prolix, and yet he is a much better preacher; +neither is there any law for making Mr. Effingham a more finished +gentleman than I happen to be, and yet I am not fool enough to deny +the fact. In the way of making out a bill of parcels, I will not turn +my back to him, I can promise you." + +"All this strikes me as being very spiritless, and as particularly +anti-republican," said Mrs. Jarvis, rising to quit the room; "and if +the Effinghams do not come this evening, I shall not enter their +house this winter. I am sure they have no right to pretend to be our +betters, and I feel no disposition to admit the impudent claim." + +"Before you go, Jane, let me say a parting word," rejoined the +husband, looking for his hat, "which is just this. If you wish the +world to believe you the equal of any one, no matter whom, do not be +always talking about it, lest they see you distrust the fact +yourself. A positive thing will surely be seen, and they who have the +highest claims are the least disposed to be always pressing them on +the attention of the world. An outrage may certainly be done those +social rights which have been established by common consent, and then +it may be proper to resent it; but beware betraying a consciousness +of your own inferiority, by letting every one see you are jealous of +your station. 'Now, kiss me; here is the money to pay for your finery +this evening, and let me see you as happy to receive Mrs. Jewett from +Albion Place, as you would be to receive Mrs. Hawker herself." + +"Mrs. Hawker!" cried the wife, with a toss of her head, "I would not +cross the street to invite Mrs. Hawker and all her clan." Which was +very true, as Mrs. Jarvis was thoroughly convinced the trouble would +be unavailing, the lady in question being as near the head of fashion +in New-York, as it was possible to be in a town that, in a moral +sense, resembles an encampment, quite as much as it resembles a +permanent and a long-existing capital. + +Notwithstanding a great deal of management on the part of Mrs. Jarvis +to get showy personages to attend her entertainment, the simple +elegance of the two carriages that bore the Effingham party, threw +all the other equipages into the shade. The arrival, indeed, was +deemed a matter of so much moment, that intelligence was conveyed to +the lady, who was still at her post in the inner drawing-room, of the +arrival of a party altogether superior to any thing that had yet +appeared in her rooms. It is true, this was not expressed in words, +but it was made sufficiently obvious by the breathless haste and the +air of importance of Mrs. Jarvis' sister, who had received the news +from a servant, and who communicated it _propria persona_ to the +mistress of the house. + +The simple, useful, graceful, almost indispensable usage of +announcing at the door, indispensable to those who receive much, and +where there is the risk of meeting people known to us by name and not +in person, is but little practised in America. Mrs. Jarvis would have +shrunk from such an innovation, had she known that elsewhere the +custom prevailed, but she was in happy ignorance on this point, as on +many others that were more essential to the much-coveted social +_eclat_ at which she aimed. When Mademoiselle Viefville appeared, +therefore, walking unsupported, as if she were out of leading- +strings, followed by Eve and Grace and the gentlemen of their party, +she at first supposed there was some mistake, and that her visitors +had got into the wrong house; there being an opposition party in the +neighbourhood. + +"What brazen people!" whispered Mrs. Abijah Gross, who having removed +from an interior New-England village, fully two years previously, +fancied herself _an fait_ of all the niceties of breeding and social +tact. "There are positively two young ladies actually walking about +without gentlemen!" + +But it was not in the power of Mrs. Abijah Gross, with her audible +whisper and obvious sneer and laugh, to put down two such lovely +creatures as Eve and her cousin. The simple elegance of their attire, +the indescribable air of polish, particularly in the former, and the +surpassing beauty and modesty of mien of both, effectually silenced +criticism, after this solitary outbreaking of vulgarity. Mrs. Jarvis +recognized Eve and John Effingham, and her hurried compliments and +obvious delight proclaimed to all near her, the importance she +attached to their visit. Mademoiselle Viefville she had not +recollected in her present dress, and even she was covered with +expressions of delight and satisfaction. + +"I wish particularly to present to you a friend that we all prize +exceedingly," said Eve, as soon as there was an opportunity of +speaking. "This is Captain Truck, the gentleman who commands the +Montauk, the ship of which you have heard so much. Ah! Mr. Jarvis," +offering a hand to him with sincere cordiality, for Eve had known him +from childhood, and always sincerely respected him--"_you_ will +receive my friend with a cordial welcome, I am certain." + +She then explained to Mr. Jarvis who the honest captain was, when the +former, first paying the proper respect to his other guests, led the +old sailor aside, and began an earnest conversation on the subject of +the recent passage. + +John Effingham presented the baronet, whom Mrs. Jarvis, out of pure +ignorance of his rank in his own country, received with perfect +propriety and self-respect. + +"We have very few people of note in town at present, I believe," said +Mrs. Jarvis to John Effingham. "A great traveller, a most interesting +man, is the only person of that sort I could obtain for this evening, +and I shall have great pleasure in introducing you. He is there in +that crowd, for he is in the greatest possible demand; he has seen so +much.--Mrs. Snow, with your permission--really the ladies are +thronging about him as if he were a Pawnee,--have the goodness to +step a little this way, Mr. Effingham--Miss Effingham--Mrs. Snow, +just touch his arm and let him know I wish to introduce a couple of +friends.--Mr. Dodge, Mr. John Effingham, Miss Effingham, Miss Van +Cortlandt. I hope you may succeed in getting him a little to +yourselves, ladies, for he can tell you all about Europe--saw the +king of France riding out to Nully, and has a prodigious knowledge of +things on the other side of the water." + +It required a good deal of Eve's habitual self-command to prevent a +smile, but she had the tact and discretion to receive Steadfast as an +utter stranger. John Effingham bowed as haughtily as man can bow, and +then it was whispered that he and Mr. Dodge were rival travellers. +The distance of the former, coupled with an expression of countenance +that did not invite familiarity, drove nearly all the company over to +the side of Steadfast, who, it was soon settled, had seen much the +most of the world, understood society the best, and had moreover +travelled as far as Timbuctoo in Africa. The _clientele_ of Mr. Dodge +increased rapidly, as these reports spread in the rooms, and those +who had not read the "delightful letters published in the Active +Inquirer," furiously envied those who had enjoyed that high +advantage. + +"It is Mr. Dodge, the great traveller," said one young lady, who had +extricated herself from the crowd around the 'lion,' and taken a +station near Eve and Grace, and who, moreover, was a 'blue' in her +own set; "his beautiful and accurate descriptions have attracted +great attention in England, and it is said they have actually been +republished!" + +"Have you read them, Miss Brackett?" + +"Not the letters themselves, absolutely; but all the remarks on them +in the last week's Hebdomad. Most delightful letters, judging from +those remarks; full of nature and point, and singularly accurate in +all their facts. In this respect they are invaluable, travellers do +fall into such extraordinary errors!" + +"I hope, ma'am," said John Effingham, gravely, "that the gentleman +has avoided the capital mistake of commenting on things that actually +exist. Comments on its facts are generally esteemed by the people of +a country, impertinent and unjust; and your true way to succeed, is +to treat as freely as possible its imaginary peculiarities." + +Miss Brackett had nothing to answer to this observation, the Hebdomad +having, among its other profundities, never seen proper to touch on +the subject. She went on praising the "Letters," however, not one of +which had she read, or would she read; for this young lady had +contrived to gain a high reputation in her own _coterie_ for taste +and knowledge in books, by merely skimming the strictures of those +who do not even skim the works they pretend to analyze. + +Eve had never before been in so close contact with so much flippant +ignorance, and she could not but wonder at seeing a man like her +kinsman overlooked, in order that a man like Mr. Dodge should be +preferred. All this gave John Effingham himself no concern, but +retiring a little from the crowd, he entered into a short +conversation with the young baronet. + +"I should like to know your real opinions of this set," he said; "not +that I plead guilty to the childish sensibility that is so common in +all provincial circles to the judgments of strangers, but with a view +to aid you in forming a just estimate of the real state of the +country." + +"As I know the precise connexion between you and our host, there can +be no objection to giving a perfectly frank reply. The women strike +me as being singularly delicate and pretty; well dressed, too, I +might add; but, while there is a great air of decency, there is very +little high finish; and what strikes me as being quite odd, under +such circumstances, scarcely any downright vulgarity, or coarseness." + +"A Daniel come to judgment! One who had passed a life here, would not +have come so near the truth, simply because he would not have +observed peculiarities, that require the means of comparison to be +detected. You are a little too indulgent in saying there is no +downright vulgarity; for some there is; though surprisingly little +for the circumstances. But of the coarseness that would be so +prominent elsewhere, there is hardly any. True, so great is the +equality in all things, in this country, so direct the tendency to +this respectable mediocrity, that what you now see here, to-night, +may be seen in almost every village in the land, with a few +immaterial exceptions in the way of furniture and other city +appliances, and not much even in these." + +"Certainly, as a mediocrity, this is respectable though a fastidious +taste might see a multitude of faults." + +"I shall not say that the taste would be merely fastidious, for much +is wanting that would add to the grace and beauty of society, while +much that is wanting would be missed only by the over-sophisticated. +Those young-men, who are sniggering over some bad joke in the corner, +for instance, are positively vulgar, as is that young lady who is +indulging in practical coquetry; but, on the whole, there is little +of this; and, even our hostess, a silly woman, devoured with the +desire of being what neither her social position, education, habits +nor notions fit her to be, is less obtrusive, bustling, and +offensive, than a similar person, elsewhere." + +"I am quite of your way of thinking, and intended to ask you to +account for it." + +"The Americans are an imitative people of necessity, and they are apt +at this part of imitation, in particular. Then they are less +artificial in all their practices, than older and more sophisticated +nations; and this company has got that essential part of good +breeding, simplicity, as it were _per force_. A step higher in the +social scale, you will see less of it; for greater daring and bad +models lead to blunders in matters that require to be exceedingly +well done, if done at all. The faults here would be more apparent, by +an approach near enough to get into the tone of mind, the forms of +speech, and the attempts at wit." + +"Which I think we shall escape to-night, as I see the ladies are +already making their apologies and taking leave. We must defer this +investigation to another time." + +"It may be indefinitely postponed, as it would scarcely reward the +trouble of an inquiry." + +The gentlemen now approached Mrs. Jarvis, paid their parting +compliments, hunted up Captain Truck, whom they tore by violence from +the good-natured hospitality of the master of the house, and then saw +the ladies into their carriage. As they drove off, the worthy mariner +protested that Mr. Jarvis was one of the honestest men he had ever +met, and announced that he intended giving him a dinner on board the +Montauk, the very next day. + +The dwelling of Mrs. Hawker was in Hudson Square; or in a portion of +the city that the lovers of the grandiose are endeavouring to call +St. John's Park; for it is rather an amusing peculiarity among a +certain portion of the emigrants who have flocked into the Middle +States, within the last thirty years, that they are not satisfied +with permitting any family, or thing, to possess the name it +originally enjoyed, if there exists the least opportunity to change +it. There was but a carriage or two before the door, though the +strong lights in the house showed that company had collected. + +"Mrs. Hawker is the widow and the daughter of men of long established +New-York families; she is childless, affluent, and universally +respected where known, for her breeding, benevolence, good sense, and +heart," said John Effingham, while the party was driving from one +house to the other. "Were you to go into most of the sets of this +town, and mention Mrs. Hawker's name, not one person in ten would +know there is such a being in their vicinity; the _pele mele_ of a +migratory population keeping persons of her character and condition +in life, quite out of view. The very persons who will prattle by the +hour, of the establishments of Mrs. Peleg Pond, and Mrs. Jonah Twist, +and Mrs. Abiram Wattles, people who first appeared on this island +five or six years since, and, who having accumulated what to them are +relatively large fortunes, have launched out into vulgar and +uninstructed finery, would look with surprise at hearing Mrs. Hawker +mentioned as one having any claims to social distinction. Her +historical names are overshadowed in their minds by the parochial +glories of certain local prodigies in the townships whence they +emigrated; her manners would puzzle the comprehension of people whose +imitation has not gone beyond the surface, and her polished and +simple mind would find little sympathy among a class who seldom rise +above a common-place sentiment without getting upon stilts." + +"Mrs. Hawker, then, is a lady," observed Sir George Templemore. + +"Mrs. Hawker is a lady, in every sense of the word; by position, +education, manners, association, mind, fortune and birth. I do not +know that we ever had more of her class than exist to-day, but +certainly we once had them more prominent in society." + +"I suppose, sir," said Captain Truck, "that this Mrs. Hawker is of +what is called the old school?" + +"Of a very ancient school, and one that is likely to continue, though +it may not be generally attended." + +"I am afraid, Mr. John Effingham, that I shall be like a fish out of +water in such a house. I can get along very well with your Mrs. +Jarvis, and with the dear young lady in the other carriage; but the +sort of woman you have described, will be apt to jam a plain mariner +like myself. What in nature should I do, now, if she should ask me to +dance a minuet?" + +"Dance it agreeably to the laws of nature," returned John Effingham, +as the carriages stopped. + +A respectable, quiet, and an aged black admitted the party, though +even he did not announce the visiters, while he held the door of the +drawing-room open for them, with respectful attention. Mrs. Hawker +arose, and advanced to meet Eve and her companions, and though she +kissed the cousins affectionately, her reception of Mademoiselle +Viefville was so simply polite as to convince the latter she was +valued on account of her services. John Effingham, who was ten or +fifteen years the junior of the old lady, gallantly kissed her hand, +when he presented his two male companions. After paying the proper +attention to the greatest stranger, Mrs. Hawker turned to Captain +Truck and said-- + +"This, then, is the gentleman to whose skill and courage you all owe +so much--_we_ all owe so much, I might better have said--the +commander of the Montauk?" + +"I have the honour of commanding that vessel, ma'am," returned +Captain Truck, who was singularly awed by the dignified simplicity of +his hostess, although her quiet, natural, and yet finished manner, +which extended even to the intonation of the voice, and the smallest +movement, were as unlike what he had expected as possible; "and with +such passengers as she had last voyage I can only say, it is a pity +that she is not better off for one to take care of her." + +"Your passengers give a different account of the matter, but, in +order that I may judge impartially, do me the favour to take this +chair, and let me learn a few of the particulars from yourself." + +Observing that Sir George Templemore had followed Eve to the other +side of the room, Mrs. Hawker now resumed her seat, and, without +neglecting any to attend to one in particular, or attending to one in +a way to make him feel oppressed, she contrived, in a few minutes, to +make the captain forget all about the minuet, and to feel much more +at his ease than would have been the case with Mrs. Jarvis, in a +month's intercourse. + +In the mean time, Eve had crossed the room to join a lady whose smile +invited her to her side. This was a young, slightly framed female, of +a pleasing countenance, but who would not have been particularly +distinguished, in such a place, for personal charms. Still, her smile +was sweet, her eyes were soft, and the expression of her face was +what might almost be called illuminated As Sir George Templemore +followed her, Eve mentioned his name to her acquaintance, whom she +addressed as Mrs. Bloomfield. + +"You are bent on perpetrating further gaiety to-night," said the +latter, glancing at the ball-dresses of the two cousins; "are you in +the colours of the Houston faction, or in those of the Peabody." + +"Not in pea-green, certainly," returned Eve, laughing--"as you may +see; but in simple white." + +"You intend then to be 'led a measure' at Mrs. Houston's. It were +more suitable than among the other faction." + +"Is fashion, then, faction, in New-York?" inquired Sir George. + +"Fractions would be a better word, perhaps. But we have parties in +almost every thing, in America; in politics, religion, temperance, +speculations, and taste; why not in fashion?" + +"I fear we are not quite independent enough to form parties on such a +subject," said Eve. + +"Perfectly well said, Miss Effingham; one must think a little +originally, let it be ever so falsely, in order to get up a fashion. +I fear we shall have to admit our insignificance on this point. You +are a late arrival, Sir George Templemore?" + +"As lately as the commencement of this month; I had the honour of +being a fellow-passenger with Mr. Effingham and his family." + +"In which voyage you suffered shipwreck, captivity, and famine, if +half we hear be true." + +"Report has a little magnified our risks; we encountered some serious +dangers, but nothing amounting to the sufferings you have mentioned." + +"Being a married woman, and having passed the crisis in which +deception is not practised, I expect to hear truth again," said Mrs. +Bloomfield, smiling. "I trust, however, you underwent enough to +qualify you all for heroes and heroines, and shall content myself +with knowing that you are here, safe and happy--if," she added, +looking inquiringly at Eve, "one who has been educated abroad _can_ +be happy at home." + +"One educated abroad _may_ be happy at home, though possibly not in +the modes most practised by the world," said Eve firmly. + +"Without an opera, without a court, almost without society!" + +"An opera would be desirable, I confess; of courts I know nothing, +unmarried females being cyphers in Europe; and I hope better things +than to think I shall be without society." + +"Unmarried females are considered cyphers too, here, provided there +be enough of them with a good respectable digit at their head. I +assure you no one quarrels with the cyphers under such circumstances. +I think, Sir George Templemore, a town like this must be something of +a paradox to you." + +"Might I venture to inquire the reason for this opinion!" + +"Merely because it is neither one thing nor another. Not a capital, +nor yet merely a provincial place; with something more than commerce +in its bosom, and yet with that something hidden under a bushel. A +good deal more than Liverpool, and a good deal less than London. +Better even than Edinburgh, in many respects, and worse than Wapping, +in others." + +"You have been abroad, Mrs. Bloomfield?" + +"Not a foot out of my own country; scarcely a foot out of my own +state. I have been at Lake George, the Falls, and the Mountain House; +and, as one does not travel in a balloon, I saw some of the +intermediate places. As for all else, I am obliged to go by report." + +"It is a pity Mrs. Bloomfield was not with us, this evening, at Mrs. +Jarvis's," said Eve, laughing. "She might then have increased her +knowledge, by listening to a few cantos from the epic of Mr. Dodge." + +"I have glanced at some of that author's wisdom," returned Mrs. +Bloomfield, "but I soon found it was learning backwards. There is a +never-failing rule, by which it is easy to arrive at a traveller's +worth, in a negative sense, at least." + +"That is a rule which may be worth knowing," said the baronet, "as it +would save much useless wear of the eyes." + +"When one betrays a profound ignorance of his own country, it is a +fair presumption that he cannot be very acute in his observation of +strangers. Mr. Dodge is one of these writers, and a single letter +fully satisfied my curiosity. I fear, Miss Effingham, very inferior +wares, in the way of manners, have been lately imported, in large +quantities, into this country, as having the Tower mark on them." + +Eve laughed, but declared that Sir George Templemore was better +qualified than herself to answer such a question. + +"We are said to be a people of facts, rather than a people of +theories," continued Mrs. Bloomfield, without attending to the +reference of the young lady, "and any coin that offers passes, until +another that is better, arrives. It is a singular, but a very general +mistake, I believe, of the people of this country, in supposing that +they can exist under the present regime, when others would fail, +because their opinions keep even pace with, or precede the actual +condition of society; whereas, those who have thought and observed +most on such subjects, agree in thinking the very reverse to be the +case." + +"This would be a curious condition for a government so purely +conventional," observed Sir George, with interest, "and it certainly +is entirely opposed to the state of things all over Europe." + +"It is so, and yet there is no great mystery in it after all. +Accident has liberated us from trammels that still fetter you. We are +like a vehicle on the top of a hill, which, the moment it is pushed +beyond the point of resistance, rolls down of itself, without the aid +of horses. One may follow with the team, and hook on when it gets to +the bottom, but there is no such thing as keeping company with it +until it arrives there." + +"You will allow, then, that there is a bottom?' + +"There is a bottom to every thing--to good and bad; happiness and +misery; hope, fear, faith and charity; even to a woman's mind, which +I have sometimes fancied the most bottomless thing in nature. There +may, therefore, well be a bottom even to the institutions of +America." + +Sir George listened with the interest with which an Englishman of his +class always endeavours to catch a concession that he fancies is +about to favour his own political predilections, and he felt +encouraged to push the subject further. + +"And you think the political machine is rolling downwards towards +this bottom?" he said, with an interest in the answer that, living in +the quiet and forgetfulness of his own home, he would have laughed at +himself for entertaining. But our sensibilities become quickened by +collision, and opposition is known even to create love. + +Mrs. Bloomfield was quick-witted, intelligent, cultivated and shrewd. +She saw the motive at a glance, and, notwithstanding she saw and felt +all its abuses, strongly attached to the governing principle of her +country's social organization, as is almost universally the case with +the strongest minds and most generous hearts of the nation, she was +not disposed to let a stranger carry away a false impression of her +sentiments on such a point. + +"Did you ever study logic, Sir George Templemore?" she asked, archly. + +"A little, though not enough I fear to influence my mode of +reasoning, or even to leave me familiar with the terms." + +"Oh! I am not about to assail you with _sequiturs_ and _non +sequiturs_ dialectics and all the mysteries of _Denk-Lehre,_ but +simply to remind you there is such a thing as the bottom of a +subject. When I tell you we are flying towards the bottom of our +institutions, it is in the intellectual sense, and not, as you have +erroneously imagined, in an unintellectual sense. I mean that we are +getting to understand them, which, I fear, we did not absolutely do +at the commencement of the 'experiment.'" + +"But I think you will admit, that as the civilization of the country +advances, some material changes must occur; your people cannot always +remain stationary; they must either go backwards or forward." + +"Up or down, if you will allow me to correct your phraseology. The +civilization of the country, in one sense at least, is retrogressive, +and the people, as they cannot go 'up,' betray a disposition to go +'down.'" + +"You deal in enigmas, and I am afraid to think I understand you." + +"I mean, merely, that gallowses are fast disappearing, and that the +people--_le peuple_ you will understand--begin to accept money. In +both particulars, I think there is a sensible change for the worse, +within my own recollection." + +Mrs. Bloomfield then changed her manner, and from using that light- +hearted gaiety with which she often rendered her conversation +_piquante_, and even occasionally brilliant, she became more grave +and explicit. The subject soon turned to that of punishments, and few +men could have reasoned more sensibly, justly or forcibly, on such a +subject, than this slight and fragile-looking young woman. Without +the least pedantry, with a beauty of language that the other sex +seldom attains, and with a delicacy of discrimination, and a +sentiment that were strictly feminine, she rendered a theme +interesting, that, however important in itself, is forbidding, +veiling all its odious and revolting features in the refinement and +finesse of her own polished mind. + +Eve could have listened all night, and, at every syllable that fell +from the lips of her friend, she felt a glow of triumph; for she was +proud of letting an intelligent foreigner see that America did +contain women worthy to be ranked with the best of other countries, a +circumstance that they who merely frequented what is called the +world, she thought might be reasonably justified in distrusting. In +one respect, she even fancied Mrs. Bloomfield's knowledge and +cleverness superior to those which she had so often admired in her +own sex abroad. It was untrammelled, equally by the prejudices +incident to a factitious condition of society, or by their reaction; +two circumstances that often obscured the sense and candour of those +to whom she had so often listened with pleasure in other countries. +The singularly feminine tone, too, of all that Mrs. Bloomfield said +or thought, while it lacked nothing in strength, added to the charm +of her conversation, and increased the pleasure of those that +listened. + +"Is the circle large to which Mrs. Hawker and her friends belong?" +asked Sir George, as he assisted Eve and Grace to cloak, when they +had taken leave. "A town which can boast of half-a-dozen such houses +need not accuse itself of wanting society." + +"Ah! there is but one Mrs. Hawker in New-York," answered Grace, "and +not many Mrs. Bloomfields in the world. It would be too much to say, +we have even half-a-dozen such houses." + +"Have you not been struck with the admirable tone of this drawing- +room," half whispered Eve. "It may want a little of that lofty ease +that one sees among the better portion of the old _Princesses et +Duchesses_, which is a relic of a school that, it is to be feared, is +going out; but in its place there is a winning nature, with as much +dignity as is necessary, and a truth that gives us confidence in the +sincerity of those around us." + +"Upon my word, I think Mrs. Hawker quite fit for a Duchess." + +"You mean a _Duchesse_" said Eve, "and yet she is without the manner +that we understand by such a word. Mrs. Hawker is a lady, and there +can be no higher term." + +"She is a delightful old woman," cried John Effingham, "and if twenty +years younger and disposed to change her condition, I should really +be afraid to enter the house." + +"My dear sir," put in the captain, "I will make her Mrs. Truck to- +morrow, and say nothing of years, if she could be content to take up +with such an offer. Why, sir, she is no woman, but a saint in +petticoats! I felt the whole time as if talking to my own mother, and +as for ships, she knows more about them than I do!" + +The whole party laughed at the strength of the captain's admiration, +and getting into the carriages proceeded to the last of the houses +they intended visiting that night. + +Chapter V. + + "So turns she every man the wrong side out; And never gives to + truth and virtue, that Which simpleness and merit purchaseth." + + MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. + +Mrs. Houston was what is termed a fashionable woman in New-York. She, +too, was of a family of local note, though of one much less elevated +in the olden time than that of Mrs. Hawker. Still her claims were +admitted by the most fastidious on such points, for a few do remain +who think descent indisputable to gentility; and as her means were +ample, and her tastes perhaps superior to those of most around her, +she kept what was thought a house of better tone than common, even in +the highest circle. Eve had but a slight acquaintance with her; but +in Grace's eyes, Mrs. Houston's was the place of all others that she +thought might make a favourable impression on her cousin. Her wish +that this should prove to be the case was so strong, that, as they +drove towards the door, she could not forbear from making an attempt +to prepare Eve for what she was to meet. + +"Although Mrs. Houston has a very large house for New-York, and lives +in a uniform style, you are not to expect ante-chambers, and vast +suites of rooms, Eve," said Grace; "such as you have been accustomed +to see abroad." + +"It is not necessary, my dear cousin, to enter a house of four or +five windows in front, to see it is not a house of twenty or thirty. +I should be very unreasonable to expect an Italian palazzo, or a +Parisian hotel, in this good town." + +"We are not old enough for that yet, Eve; a hundred years hence, +Mademoiselle Viefville, such things may exist here." + +"_Bien sur. C'est naturel._" + +"A hundred years hence, as the world tends, Grace, they are not +likely to exist any where, except as taverns, or hospitals, or +manufactories. But what have we to do, coz, with a century ahead of +us? young as we both are, we cannot hope to live that time." + +Grace would have been puzzled to account satisfactorily to herself, +for the strong desire she felt that neither of her companions should +expect to see such a house as their senses so plainly told them did +not exist in the place; but her foot moved in the bottom of the +carriage, for she was not half satisfied with her cousin's answer. + +"All I mean. Eve," she said, after a pause, "is, that one ought not +to expect in a town as new as this, the improvements that one sees in +an older state of society." + +"And have Mademoiselle Viefville, or I, ever been so weak as to +suppose, that New-York is Paris, or Rome, or Vienna?" + +Grace was still less satisfied, for, unknown to herself, she _had_ +hoped that Mrs. Houston's ball might be quite equal to a ball in +either of those ancient capitals; and she was now vexed that her +cousin considered it so much a matter of course that it should not +be. But there was no time for explanations, as the carriage now +stopped. + +The noise, confusion, calling out, swearing, and rude clamour before +the house of Mrs. Houston, said little for the out-door part of the +arrangements. Coachmen are nowhere a particularly silent and civil +class; but the uncouth European peasants, who have been preferred to +the honours of the whip in New-York, to the usual feelings of +competition and contention, added that particular feature of humility +which is known to distinguish "the beggar on horseback." The imposing +equipages of our party, however, had that effect on most of these +rude brawlers, which a display of wealth is known to produce on the +vulgar-minded; and the ladies got into the house, through a lane of +coachmen, by yielding a little to a _chevau de frise_ of whips, +without any serious calamity. + +"One hardly knows which is the most terrific," said Eve, +involuntarily, as soon as the door closed on them--"the noise within, +or the noise without!" + +This was spoken rapidly, and in French, to Mademoiselle Viefville, +but Grace heard and understood it, and for the first time in her +life, she perceived that Mrs. Houston's company was not composed of +nightingales. The surprise is that the discovery should have come so +late. + +"I am delighted at having got into this house," said Sir George, who, +having thrown his cloak to his own servant, stood with the two other +gentlemen waiting the descent of the ladies from the upper room, +where the bad arrangements of the house compelled them to uncloak and +to put aside their shawls, "as I am told it is the best house in town +to see the other sex." + +"To _hear them_, would be nearer the truth, perhaps," returned John +Effingham. "As for pretty women, one can hardly go amiss in New-York; +and your ears now tell you, that they do not come into the world to +be seen only." + +The baronet smiled, but he was too well bred to contradict or to +assent. Mademoiselle Viefville, unconscious that she was violating +the proprieties, walked into the rooms by herself, as soon as she +descended, followed by Eve; but Grace shrank to the side of John +Effingham, whose arm she took as a step necessary even to decorum. + +Mrs. Houston received her guests with ease and dignity. She was one +of those females that the American world calls gay; in other words, +she opened her own house to a very promiscuous society, ten or a +dozen times in a winter, and accepted the greater part of the +invitations she got to other people's. Still, in most other +countries, as a fashionable woman, she would have been esteemed a +model of devotion to the duties of a wife and a mother, for she paid +a personal attention to her household, and had actually taught all +her children the Lord's prayer, the creed, and the ten commandments. +She attended church twice every Sunday, and only staid at home from +the evening lectures, that the domestics might have the opportunity +of going (which, by the way, they never did) in her stead. Feminine, +well-mannered, rich, pretty, of a very positive social condition, and +naturally kind-hearted and disposed to sociability, Mrs. Houston, +supported by an indulgent husband, who so much loved to see people +with the appearance of happiness, that he was not particular as to +the means, had found no difficulty in rising to the pinnacle of +fashion, and of having her name in the mouths of all those who find +it necessary to talk of somebodies, in order that they may seem to be +somebodies themselves. All this contributed to Mrs. Houston's +happiness, or she fancied it did; and as every passion is known to +increase by indulgence, she had insensibly gone on in her much-envied +career until, as has just been said, she reached the summit. + +"These rooms are very crowded," said Sir George, glancing his eyes +around two very pretty little narrow drawing-rooms, that were +beautifully, not to say richly, furnished; "one wonders that the same +contracted style of building should be so very general, in a town +that increases as rapidly as this, and where fashion has no fixed +abode, and land is so abundant." + +"Mrs. Bloomfield would tell you," said Eve, "that these houses are +types of the social state of the country, in which no one is +permitted to occupy more than his share of ground." + +"But there are reasonably large dwellings in the place. Mrs. Hawker +has a good house, and your father's for instance, would be thought +so, too, in London even; and yet I fancy you will agree with me in +thinking that a good room is almost unknown in New-York." + +"I do agree with you, in this particular, certainly, for to meet with +a good room, one must go into the houses built thirty years ago. We +have inherited these snuggeries, however, England not having much to +boast of in the way of houses." + +"In the way of town residences, I agree with you entirely, as a +whole, though we have some capital exceptions. Still, I do not think +we are quite as compact as this--do you not fancy the noise increased +in consequence of its being so confined?" + +Eve laughed and shook her head quite positively. + +"What would it be if fairly let out!" she said. "But we will not +waste the precious moments, but turn our eyes about us in quest of +the _belles_. Grace, you who are so much at home, must be our +cicerone, and tell us which are the idols we are to worship." + +"_Dites moi premierement; que veut dire une belle a New-York?_" +demanded Mademoiselle Viefville. "_Apparemment, tout le monde est +joli._" + +"A _belle_, Mademoiselle," returned John Effingham, "is not +necessarily beautiful, the qualifications for the character, being +various and a little contradictory. One may be a _belle_ by means of +money, a tongue, an eye, a foot, teeth, a laugh, or any other +separate feature, or grace; though no woman was ever yet a _belle_, I +believe, by means of the head, considered collectively. But why deal +in description, when the thing itself confronts us? The young lady +standing directly before us, is a _belle_ of the most approved stamp +and silvery tone. Is it not Miss Ring, Grace?" + +The answer was in the affirmative, and the eyes of the whole party +turned towards the subject of this remark. The young lady in question +was about twenty, rather tall for an American woman, not +conspicuously handsome, but like most around her of delicate features +and frame, and with such a _physique_, as, under proper training, +would have rendered her the _beau ideal_ of feminine delicacy and +gentleness. She had natural spirit, likewise, as appeared in her +clear blue eye, and moreover she had the spirit to be a _belle_. + +Around this young creature were clustered no less than five young +men, dressed in the height of the fashion, all of whom seemed to be +entranced with the words that fell from her lips, and each of whom +appeared anxious to say something clever in return. They all laughed, +the lady most, and sometimes all spoke at once. Notwithstanding these +outbreakings, Miss Ring did most of the talking, and once or twice, +as a young man would gape after a most exhilarating show of +merriment, and discover an inclination to retreat, she managed to +recall him to his allegiance, by some remark particularly pertinent +to himself, or his feelings. + +"_Qui est cette dame?_" asked Mademoiselle Viefville, very much as +one would put a similar question, on seeing a man enter a church +during service with his hat on. + +"_Elle est demoiselle_," returned Eve. + +"_Quelle horreur!_" + +"Nay, nay, Mademoiselle, I shall not allow you to set up France as +immaculate on this point, neither--" said John Effingham, looking at +the last speaker with an affected frown--"A young lady may have a +tongue, and she may even speak to a young gentleman, and not be +guilty of felony; although I will admit that five tongues are +unnecessary, and that five listeners are more than sufficient, for +the wisdom of twenty in petticoats." + +"_C'est une horreur!_" + +"I dare say Miss Ring would think it a greater horror to be obliged +to pass an evening in a row of girls, unspoken to, except to be asked +to dance, and admired only in the distance. But let us take seats on +that sofa, and then we may go beyond the pantomime, and become +partakers in the sentiment of the scene." + +Grace and Eve were now led off to dance, and the others did as John +Effingham had suggested. In the eyes of the _belle_ and her admirers, +they who had passed thirty were of no account, and our listeners +succeeded in establishing themselves quietly within ear-shot--this +was almost at duelling distance, too,--without at all interrupting +the regular action of the piece. We extract a little of the dialogue, +by way of giving a more dramatic representation of the scene. + +"Do you think the youngest Miss Danvers beautiful?" asked the +_belle_, while her eye wandered in quest of a sixth gentleman to +"entertain," as the phrase is. "In my opinion, she is absolutely the +prettiest female in Mrs. Houston's rooms this night." + +The young men, one and all, protested against this judgment, and with +perfect truth, for Miss Ring was too original to point out charms +that every one could see. + +"They say it will not be a match between her and Mr. Egbert, after +every body has supposed it settled so long. What is your opinion, Mr. +Edson?" + +This timely question prevented Mr. Edson's retreat, for he had +actually got so far in this important evolution, as to have gaped and +turned his back. Recalled, as it were by the sound of the bugle, Mr. +Edson was compelled to say something, a sore affliction to him +always. + +"Oh! I'm quite of your way of thinking; they have certainly courted +too long to think of marrying." + +"I detest long courtships; they must be perfect antidotes to love; +are they not, Mr. Moreland?" + +A truant glance of Mr. Moreland's eye was rebuked by this appeal, and +instead of looking for a place of refuge, he now merely looked +sheepish. He, however, entirely agreed with the young lady, as the +surer way of getting out of the difficulty. + +"Pray, Mr. Summerfield, how do you like the last Hajji--Miss Eve +Effingham? To my notion, she is prettyish, though by no means as well +as her cousin, Miss Van Cortlandt, who is really rather good- +looking." + +As Eve and Grace were the two most truly lovely young women in the +rooms, this opinion, as well as the loud tone in which it was given, +startled Mademoiselle Viefville quite as much as the subjects that +the belle had selected for discussion. She would have moved, as +listening to a conversation that was not meant for their ears; but +John Effingham quietly assured her that Miss Ring seldom spoke in +company without intending as many persons as possible to hear her. + +"Miss Effingham is very plainly dressed for an only daughter" +continued the young lady, "though that lace of her cousin's is real +point! I'll engage it cost every cent of ten dollars a yard! They are +both engaged to be married, I hear." + +"_Ciel!_" exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville. + +"Oh! That is nothing," observed John Effingham coolly. "Wait a +moment, and you'll hear that they have been privately married these +six months, if, indeed, you hear no more." + +"Of course this is but an idle tale?" said Sir George Templemore with +a concern, which, in despite of his good breeding, compelled him to +put a question that, under other circumstances, would scarcely have +been permissible. + +"As true as the gospel. But listen to the _bell_, it is _ringing_ for +the good of the whole parish." + +"The affair between Miss Effingham and Mr. Morpeth, who knew her +abroad, I understand is entirely broken off; some say the father +objected to Mr. Morpeth's want of fortune; others that the lady was +fickle, while some accuse the gentleman of the same vice. Don't you +think it shocking to jilt, in either sex, Mr. Mosely?" + +The _retiring_ Mr. Mosely was drawn again within the circle, and was +obliged to confess that he thought it was very shocking, in either +sex, to jilt. + +"If I were a man," continued the _belle_, "I would never think of a +young woman who had once jilted a lover. To my mind, it bespeaks a +bad heart, and a woman with a bad heart cannot make a very amiable +wife." + +"What an exceedingly clever creature she is," whispered Mr. Mosely to +Mr. Moreland, and he now made up his mind to remain and be +'entertained' some time longer. + +"I think poor Mr. Morpeth greatly to be pitied; for no man would be +so silly as to be attentive seriously to a lady without +encouragement. Encouragement is the _ne plus ultra_ of courtship; are +you not of my opinion, Mr. Walworth?" + +Mr. Walworth was number five of the entertainees, and he did +understand Latin, of which the young lady, though fond of using +scraps, knew literally nothing. He smiled an assent, therefore, and +the _belle_ felicitated herself in having 'entertained' _him_ +effectually; nor was she mistaken. + +"Indeed, they say Miss Effingham had several affairs of the heart, +while in Europe, but it seems she was unfortunate in them all." + +"_Mais, ceci est trop fort! Je ne peux plus ecouter._" + +"My dear Mademoiselle, compose yourself. The crisis is not yet +arrived, by any means." + +"I understand she still corresponds with a German Baron, and an +Italian Marquis, though both engagements are absolutely broken off. +Some people say she walks into company alone, unsupported by any +gentleman, by way of announcing a firm determination to remain single +for life." + +A common exclamation from the young men proclaimed their +disapprobation; and that night three of them actually repeated the +thing, as a well established truth, and two of the three, failing of +something better to talk about, also announced that Eve was actually +engaged to be married. + +"There is something excessively indelicate in a young lady's moving +about a room without having a gentleman's arm to lean on! I always +feel as if such a person was out of her place, and ought to be in the +kitchen." + +"But, Miss Ring, what well-bred person does it?" sputtered Mr. +Moreland. "No one ever heard of such a thing in good society. 'Tis +quite shocking! Altogether unprecedented." + +"It strikes me as being excessively coarse!" + +"Oh! manifestly; quite rustic!" exclaimed Mr. Edson. + +"What can possibly be more vulgar?" added Mr. Walworth. + +"I never heard of such a thing among the right sort!" said Mr. +Mosely. + +"A young lady who can be so brazen as to come into a room without a +gentleman's arm to lean on, is, in my judgment at least, but +indifferently educated, Hajji or no Hajji. Mr. Edson, have you ever +felt the tender passion? I know you have been desperately in love, +once, at least; do describe to me some of the symptoms, in order that +I may know when I am seriously attacked myself by the disease." + +"_Mais, ceci est ridicule! L'enfant s'est sauvee du Charenton de New- +York._" + +"From the nursery rather, Mademoiselle; you perceive she does not yet +know how to walk alone." + +Mr. Edson now protested that he was too stupid to feel a passion as +intellectual as love, and that he was afraid he was destined by +nature to remain as insensible as a block. + +"One never knows, Mr. Edson," said the young lady, encouragingly. +"Several of my acquaintances, who thought themselves quite safe, have +been seized suddenly, and, though none have actually died, more than +one has been roughly treated, I assure you." + +Here the young men, one and all, protested that she was excessively +clever. Then succeeded a pause, for Miss Ring was inviting, with her +eyes, a number six to join the circle, her ambition being +dissatisfied with five entertainees, as she saw that Miss Trumpet, a +rival belle, had managed to get exactly that number, also, in the +other room. All the gentlemen availed themselves of the cessation in +wit to gape, and Mr. Edson took the occasion to remark to Mr. +Summerfield that he understood "lots had been sold in seven hundredth +street that morning, as high as two hundred dollars a lot." + +The _quadrille_ now ended, and Eve returned towards her friends. As +she approached, the whole party compared her quiet, simple, feminine, +and yet dignified air, with the restless, beau-catching, and worldly +look of the belle, and wondered by what law of nature, or of fashion, +the one could possibly become the subject of the other's comments. +Eve never appeared better than that evening. Her dress had all the +accuracy and finish of a Parisian toilette, being equally removed +from exaggeration and neglect; and it was worn with the ease of one +accustomed to be elegantly attired, and yet never decked with finery. +Her step even was that of a lady, having neither the mincing tread of +a Paris grisette, a manner that sometimes ascends even to the +_bourgeoise_ the march of a cockneyess, nor the tiptoe swing of a +_belle_; but it was the natural though regulated step, of a trained +and delicate woman. Walk alone she could certainly, and always did, +except on those occasions of ceremony that demanded a partner. Her +countenance, across which an unworthy thought had never left a trace, +was an index, too, to the purity, high principles and womanly self- +respect that controlled all her acts, and, in these particulars was +the very reverse of the feverish, half-hoydenish half-affected +expression of that of Miss Ring. + +"They may say what they please," muttered Captain Truck, who had been +a silent but wondering listener of all that passed; "she is worth as +many of them as could be stowed in the Montauk's lower hold." + +Miss Ring perceiving Eve approach, was desirous of saying something +to her, for there was an _eclat_ about a Hajji, after all, that +rendered an acquaintance, or even an intimacy desirable, and she +smiled and curtsied. Eve returned the salutation, but as she did not +care to approach a group of six, of which no less than five were men, +she continued to move towards her own party. This reserve compelled +Miss Ring to advance a step or two, when Eve was obliged to stop +Curtsying to her partner, she thanked him for his attention, +relinquished his arm, and turned to meet the lady. At the same +instant the five 'entertainees' escaped in a body, equally rejoiced +at their release, and proud of their captivity. + +"I have been dying to come and speak to you, Miss Effingham," +commenced Miss Ring, "but these _five_ giants (she emphasized the +word we have put in italics) so beset me, that escape was quite +impossible. There ought to be a law that but one gentleman should +speak to a lady at a time." + +"I thought there was such a law already;" said Eve, quietly. + +"You mean in good breeding; but no one thinks of those antiquated +laws now-a-days. Are you beginning to be reconciled, a little, to +your own country?" + +"It is not easy to effect a reconciliation where there has been no +misunderstanding. I hope I have never quarrelled with my country, or +my country with me." + +"Oh! it is not exactly that I mean. Cannot one need a reconciliation +without a quarrel? What do you say to this, Mr. Edson?" + +Miss Ring having detected some symptoms of desertion in the gentleman +addressed, had thrown in this question by way of recal; when turning +to note its effect, she perceived that all of her _clientelle_ had +escaped. A look of surprise and mortification and vexation it was not +in her power to suppress, and then came one of horror. + +"How conspicuous we have made ourselves, and it is all my fault!" she +said, for the first time that evening permitting her voice to fall to +a becoming tone. 'Why, here we actually are, two ladies conversing +together, and no gentleman near us!" + +"Is that being conspicuous?" asked Eve, with a simplicity that was +entirely natural. + +"I am sure, Miss Effingham, one who has seen as much of society as +you, can scarcely ask that question seriously. I do not think I have +done so improper a thing, since I was fifteen; and, dear me! dear me! +how to escape is the question. You have permitted your partner to go, +and I do not see a gentleman of my acquaintance near us, to give me +his arm!" + +"As your distress is occasioned by my company," said Eve, "it is +fortunately in my power to relieve it." Thus saying, she quietly +walked across the room, and took her seat next to Mademoiselle +Viefville. + +Miss Ring held up her hands in amazement, and then fortunately +perceiving one of the truants gaping at no great distance, she +beckoned him to her side. + +"Have the goodness to give me your arm, Mr. Summerfield," she said, +"I am dying to get out of this unpleasantly conspicuous situation; +but you are the first gentleman that has approached me this +twelvemonth. I would not for the world do so brazen a thing as Miss +Effingham has just achieved; would you believe it, she positively +went from this spot to her seat, quite alone!" + +"The Hajjis are privileged." + +"They make themselves so. But every body knows how bold and unwomanly +the French females are. One could wish, notwithstanding, that our own +people would not import their audacious usages into this country." + +"It is a thousand pities that Mr. Clay, in his compromise, neglected +to make an exception against that article. A tariff on impudence +would not be at all sectional." + +"It might interfere with the manufacture at home, notwithstanding," +said John Effingham; for the lungs were strong, and the rooms of Mrs. +Houston so small, that little was said that evening, which was not +heard by any who chose to listen. But Miss Ring never listened, it +being no part of the vocation of a _belle_ to perform that inferior +office, and sustained by the protecting arm of Mr. Summerfield, she +advanced more boldly into the crowd, where she soon contrived to +catch another group of even six "entertainees." As for Mr. +Summerfield, he lived a twelvemonth on the reputation of the +exceedingly clever thing he had just uttered. + +"There come Ned and Aristabulus," said John Effingham, as soon as the +tones of Miss Ring's voice were lost in the din of fifty others, +pitched to the same key. "_A present, Mademoiselle, je vais nous +venger_." + +As John Effingham uttered this, he took Captain Truck by the arm, and +went to meet his cousin and the land agent. The latter he soon +separated from Mr. Effingham, and with this new recruit, he managed +to get so near to Miss Ring as to attract her attention. Although +fifty, John Effingham was known to be a bachelor, well connected, and +to have twenty thousand a year. In addition, he was well preserved +and singularly handsome, besides having an air that set all +pretending gentility at defiance. These were qualities that no +_belle_ despised, and ill-assorted matches were, moreover, just +coming into fashion in New-York. Miss Ring had an intuitive knowledge +that he wished to speak to her, and she was not slow in offering the +opportunity. The superior tone of John Effingham, his caustic wit and +knowledge of the world, dispersed the five _beaux_, incontinently; +these persons having a natural antipathy to every one of the +qualities named. + +"I hope you will permit me to presume on an acquaintance that extends +back as far as your grandfather, Miss Ring," he said, "to present two +very intimate friends; Mr. Bragg and Mr. Truck; gentlemen who will +well reward the acquaintance." + +The lady bowed graciously, for it was a matter of conscience with her +to receive every man with a smile. She was still too much in awe of +the master of ceremonies to open her batteries of attack, but John +Effingham soon relieved her, by affecting a desire to speak to +another lady. The _belle_ had now the two strangers to herself, and +having heard that the Effinghams had an Englishman of condition as a +companion, who was travelling under a false name, she fancied herself +very clever in detecting him at once in the person of Aristabulus; +while by the aid of a lively imagination, she thought Mr. Truck was +his travelling Mentor, and a divine of the church of England. The +incognito she was too well bred to hint at, though she wished both +the gentlemen to perceive that a _belle_ was not to be mystified in +this easy manner. Indeed, she was rather sensitive on the subject of +her readiness in recognizing a man of fashion under any +circumstances, and to let this be known was her very first object, as +soon as she was relieved from the presence of John Effingham. + +"You must be struck with the unsophisticated nature and the extreme +simplicity of our society, Mr. Bragg," she said, looking at him +significantly; "we are very conscious it is not what it might be, but +do you not think it pretty well for beginners?" + +Now, Mr. Bragg had an entire consciousness that he had never seen any +society that deserved the name before this very night, but he was +supported in giving his opinions by that secret sense of his +qualifications to fill any station, which formed so conspicuous a +trait in his character, and his answer was given with an _aplomb_ +that would have added weight to the opinion of the veriest _elegant_ +of the _Chaussee d'Antin._ + +"It is indeed a good deal unsophisticated," he said, "and so simple +that any body can understand it. I find but a single fault with this +entertainment, which is, in all else, the perfection of elegance in +my eyes, and that is, that there is too little room to swing the legs +in dancing." + +"Indeed!--I did not expect that--is it not the best usage of Europe, +now, to bring a quadrille into the very minimum of space?" + +"Quite the contrary, Miss. All good dancing requires evolutions. The +dancing Dervishes, for instance would occupy quite as much space as +both of these sets that are walking before us, and I believe it is +now generally admitted that all good dancing needs room for the +legs." + +"We necessarily get a little behind the fashions, in this distant +country. Pray, sir, is it usual for ladies to walk alone in society?" + +"Woman was not made to move through life alone, Miss," returned +Aristabulus with a sentimental glance of the eye, for he never let a +good opportunity for preferment slip through his fingers, and, +failing of Miss Effingham, or Miss Van Cortlandt, of whose estates +and connections he had some pretty accurate notions, it struck him +Miss Ring might, possibly, be a very eligible connection, as all was +grist that came to his mill; "this I believe, is an admitted truth." + +"By life you mean matrimony, I suppose." + +"Yes, Miss, a man always means matrimony, when he speaks to a young +lady." + +This rather disconcerted Miss Ring, who picked her nosegay, for she +was not accustomed to hear gentlemen talk to ladies of matrimony, but +ladies to talk to gentlemen. Recovering her self-possession, however, +she said with a promptitude that, did the school to which she +belonged infinite credit,-- + +"You speak, sir, like one having experience." + +"Certainly, Miss; I have been in love ever since I was ten years old; +I may say I was born in love, and hope to die in love." + +This a little out-Heroded Herod, but the _belle_ was not a person to +be easily daunted on such a subject. She smiled graciously, +therefore, and continued the conversation with renewed spirit. + +"You travelled gentleman get odd notions," she said, "and more +particularly on such subjects. I always feel afraid to discuss them +with foreigners, though with my own countrymen I have few reserves. +Pray, Mr. Truck, are you satisfied with America?--Do you find it the +country you expected to see?" + +"Certainly, marm;" for so they pronounced this word in the river, and +the captain cherished his first impressions; "when we sailed from +Portsmouth. I expected that the first land we should make would be +the Highlands of Navesink; and, although a little disappointed, I +have had the satisfaction of laying eyes on it at last." + +"Disappointment, I fear, is the usual fate of those who come from the +other side. Is this dwelling of Mrs. Houston's equal to the residence +of an English nobleman, Mr. Bragg?" + +"Considerably better, Miss, especially in the way of republican +comfort." + +Miss Ring, like all _belles_, detested the word republican, their +vocation being clearly to exclusion, and she pouted a little +affectedly. + +"I should distrust the quality of such comfort, sir," she said, with +point; "but, are the rooms at all comparable with the rooms in Apsley +House, for instance?" + +"My dear Miss, Apsley House is a toll-gate lodge, compared to this +mansion! I doubt if there be a dwelling in all England half as +magnificent--indeed, I cannot imagine any thing more brilliant and +rich." + +Aristabulus was not a man to do things by halves, and it was a point +of honour with him to know something of every thing. It is true he no +more could tell where Apsley House is, or whether it was a tavern or +a gaol, than he knew half the other things on which he delivered +oracular opinions; but when it became necessary to speak, he was not +apt to balk conversation from any ignorance, real or affected. The +opinion he had just given, it is true, had a little surpassed Miss +Ring's hopes; for the next thing, in her ambition to being a _belle_, +and of "entertaining" gentlemen, was to fancy she was running her +brilliant career in an orbit of fashion that lay parallel to that of +the "nobility and gentry" of Great Britain. + +"Well, this surpasses my hopes," she said, "although I was aware we +are nearly on a level with the more improved tastes of Europe: still, +I thought we were a little inferior to that part of the world, yet." + +"Inferior, Miss! That is a word that should never pass your lips; you +are inferior to nothing, whether in Europe or America, Asia or +Africa." + +As Miss Ring had been accustomed to do most of the flattering +herself, as behoveth a _belle_, she began to be disconcerted with the +directness of the compliments of Aristabulus, who was disposed to +'make hay while the sun shines;' and she turned, in a little +confusion, to the captain, by way of relief; we say confusion, for +the young lady, although so liable to be misunderstood, was not +actually impudent, but merely deceived in the relations of things; +or, in other words, by some confusion in usages, she had hitherto +permitted herself to do that in society, which female performers +sometimes do on the stage; enact the part of a man. + +"You should tell Mr. Bragg, sir," she said, with an appealing look at +the captain, "that flattery is a dangerous vice, and one altogether +unsuited to a Christian." + +"It is, indeed, marm, and one that I never indulge in. No one under +my orders, can accuse me of flattery." + +By 'under orders,' Miss Ring understood curates and deacons; for she +was aware the church of England had clerical distinctions of this +sort, that are unknown in America. + +"I hope, sir, you do not intend to quit this country without +favouring us with a discourse." + +"Not I, marm--I am discoursing pretty much from morning till night, +when among my own people, though I own that this conversing rather +puts me out of my reckoning. Let me get my foot on the planks I love, +with an attentive audience, and a good cigar in my mouth, and I'll +hold forth with any bishop in the universe." + +"A cigar!" exclaimed Miss Ring, in surprise. "Do gentlemen of your +profession use cigars when on duty!" + +"Does a parson take his fees? Why, Miss, there is not a man among us, +who does not smoke from morning till night." + +"Surely not on Sundays!" + +"Two for one, on those days, more than on any other." + +"And your people, sir, what do they do, all this time?' + +"Why, marm, most of them chew; and those that don't, if they cannot +find a pipe, have a dull time of it. For my part, I shall hardly +relish the good place itself, if cigars are prohibited." + +Miss Ring was surprised; but she had heard that the English clergy +were more free than our own, and then she had been accustomed to +think every thing English of the purest water. A little reflection +reconciled her to the innovation; and the next day, at a dinner +party, she was heard defending the usage as a practice that had a +precedent in the ancient incense of the altar. At the moment, +however, she was dying to impart her discoveries to others; and she +kindly proposed to the captain and Aristabulus to introduce them to +some of her acquaintances, as they must find it dull, being +strangers, to know no one. Introductions and cigars were the +captain's hobbies, and he accepted the offer with joy, Aristabulus +uniting cordially in the proposition, as, he fancied he had a right, +under the Constitution of the United States of America, to be +introduced to every human being with whom he came in contact. + +It is scarcely necessary to say how much the party with whom the two +neophytes in fashion had come, enjoyed all this, though they +concealed their amusement under the calm exterior of people of the +world. From Mr. Effingham the mystification was carefully concealed +by his cousin, as the former would have felt it due to Mrs. Houston, +a well-meaning, but silly woman, to put an end to it. Eve and Grace +laughed, as merry girls would be apt to laugh, at such an occurrence, +and they danced the remainder of the evening with lighter hearts than +ever. At one, the company retired in the same informal manner, as +respects announcements and the calling of carriages, as that in which +they had entered; most to lay their drowsy heads on their pillows, +and Miss Ring to ponder over the superior manners of a polished young +Englishman, and to dream of the fragrance of a sermon that was +preserved in tobacco. + +Chapter VI. + + "Marry, our play is the most lamentable Comedy, and most cruel + death of Pyramus and Thisby." + + PETER QUINCE. + +Our task in the way of describing town society will soon be ended. +The gentlemen of the Effingham family had been invited to meet Sir +George Templemore at one or two dinners, to which the latter had been +invited in consequence of his letters, most of which were connected +with his pecuniary arrangements. As one of these entertainments was +like all the rest of the same character, a very brief account of it +will suffice to let the reader into the secret of the excellence of +the genus. + +A well-spread board, excellent viands, highly respectable cookery, +and delicious wines, were every where met. Two rows of men clad in +dark dresses, a solitary female at the head of the table, or, if +fortunate, with a supporter of the same sex near her, invariably +composed the _convives_. The exaggerations of a province were seen +ludicrously in one particular custom. The host, or perhaps it might +have been the hostess, had been told there should be a contrast +between the duller light of the reception-room, and the brilliancy of +the table, and John Effingham actually hit his legs against a stool, +in floundering through the obscurity of the first drawing-room he +entered on one of the occasions in question. + +When seated at table, the first great duty of restauration performed, +the conversation turned on the prices of lots, speculations in towns, +or the currency. After this came the regular assay of wines, during +which it was easy to fancy the master of the house a dealer, for he +usually sat either sucking a syphon or flourishing a cork-screw. The +discourse would now have done credit to the annual meeting and dinner +of the German exporters, assembled at Rudesheim to bid for the +article. + +Sir George was certainly on the point of forming a very erroneous +judgment concerning the country, when Mr. Effingham extricated him +from this set, and introduced him properly into his own. Here, +indeed, while there was much to strike a European as peculiar, and +even provincial, the young baronet fared much better. He met with the +same quality of table, relieved by an intelligence that was always +respectable, and a manliness of tone which, if not unmixed, had the +great merit of a simplicity and nature that are not always found in +more sophisticated circles. The occasional incongruities struck them +all, more than the positive general faults and Sir George Templemore +did justice to the truth, by admitting frankly, the danger he had +been in of forming a too hasty opinion. + +All this time, which occupied a month, the young baronet got to be +more and more intimate in Hudson Square, Eve gradually becoming more +frank and unreserved with him, as she grew sensible that he had +abandoned his hopes of success with herself, and Grace gradually more +cautious and timid, as she became conscious of his power to please, +and the interest he took in herself. + +It might have been three days after the ball at Mrs. Houston's that +most of the family was engaged to look in on a Mrs. Legend, a lady of +what was called a literary turn, Sir George having been asked to make +one of their party. Aristabulus was already returned to his duty in +the country, where we shall shortly have occasion to join him, but an +invitation had been sent to Mr. Truck, under the general, erroneous +impression of his real character. + +Taste, whether in the arts, literature, or any thing else, is a +natural impulse, like love. It is true both may be cultivated and +heightened by circumstances, but the impulses must be voluntary, and +the flow of feeling, or of soul, as it has become a law to style it, +is not to be forced, or commanded to come and go at will. This is the +reason that all premeditated enjoyments connected with the intellect, +are apt to baffle expectations, and why academies, literary clubs, +coteries and dinners are commonly dull. It is true that a body of +clever people may be brought together, and, if left to their own +impulses, the characters of their mind will show themselves; wit will +flash, and thought will answer thought spontaneously; but every +effort to make the stupid agreeable, by giving a direction of a +pretending intellectual nature to their efforts, is only rendering +dullness more conspicuous by exhibiting it in contrast with what it +ought to be to be clever, as a bad picture is rendered the more +conspicuous by an elaborate and gorgeous frame. + +The latter was the fate of most of Mrs. Legend's literary evenings, +at which it was thought an illustration to understand even one +foreign language. But, it was known that Eve was skilled in most of +the European tongues, and, the good lady, not feeling that such +accomplishments are chiefly useful as a means, looked about her in +order to collect a set, among whom our heroine might find some one +with whom to converse in each of her dialects. Little was said about +it, it is true, but great efforts were made to cause this evening to +be memorable in the annals of _conversazioni_. + +In carrying out this scheme, nearly all the wits, writers, artists +and _literati_, as the most incorrigible members of the book clubs +were styled, in New-York, were pressingly invited to be present. +Aristabulus had contrived to earn such a reputation for the captain, +on the night of the ball, that he was universally called a man of +letters, and an article had actually appeared in one of the papers, +speaking of the literary merits of the "Hon. and Rev. Mr. Truck, a +gentleman travelling in our country, from whose liberality and just +views, an account of our society was to be expected, that should, at +last, do justice to our national character." With such expectations, +then, every true American and Americaness, was expected to be at his +or her post, for the solemn occasion. It was a rally of literature, +in defence of the institutions--no, not of the institutions, for they +were left to take care of themselves--but of the social character of +the community. + +Alas! it is easier to feel high aspirations on such subjects, in a +provincial town, than to succeed; for merely calling a place an +Emporium, is very far from giving it the independence, high tone, +condensed intelligence and tastes of a capital. Poor Mrs. Legend, +desirous of having all the tongues duly represented, was obliged to +invite certain dealers in gin from Holland, a German linen merchant +from Saxony, an Italian _Cavaliero_, who amused himself in selling +beads, and a Spanish master, who was born in Portugal, all of whom +had just one requisite for conversation in their respective +languages, and no more. But such assemblies were convened in Paris, +and why not in New-York? + +We shall not stop to dwell on the awful sensations with which Mrs. +Legend heard the first ring at her door, on the eventful night in +question. It was the precursor of the entrance of Miss Annual, as +regular a devotee of letters as ever conned a primer. The meeting was +sentimental and affectionate. Before either had time, however, to +disburthen her mind of one half of its prepared phrases, ring upon +ring proclaimed more company, and the rooms were soon as much +sprinkled with talent, as a modern novel with jests. Among those who +came first, appeared all the foreign corps, for the refreshments +entered as something into the account with them; every blue of the +place, whose social position in the least entitled her to be seen in +such a house, Mrs. Legend belonging quite positively to good society. + +The scene that succeeded was very characteristic. A professed genius +does nothing like other people, except in cases that require a +display of talents. In all minor matters he, or she, is _sui +generis_; for sentiment is in constant ebullition in their souls; +this being what is meant by the flow of that part of the human +system. + +We might here very well adopt the Homeric method, and call the roll +of heroes and heroines, in what the French would term a _catalogue +raisonnee_; but our limits compel us to be less ambitions, and to +adopt a simpler mode of communicating facts. Among the ladies who now +figured in the drawing-room of Mrs. Legend, besides Miss Annual, were +Miss Monthly, Mrs. Economy, S.R.P., Marion, Longinus, Julietta, +Herodotus, D.O.V.E., and Mrs. Demonstration; besides many others of +less note; together with at least a dozen female Hajjis, whose claims +to appear in such society were pretty much dependent on the fact, +that having seen pictures and statues abroad, they necessarily must +have the means of talking of them at home. The list of men was still +more formidable in numbers, if not in talents. At its head stood +Steadfast Dodge, Esquire, whose fame as a male Hajji had so far +swollen since Mrs Jarvis's _reunion_, that, for the first time in his +life, he now entered one of the better houses of his own country. +Then there were the authors of "Lapis Lazuli," "The Aunts," "The +Reformed," "The Conformed," "The Transformed," and "The Deformed;" +with the editors of "The Hebdomad," "The Night Cap," "The Chrysalis," +"The Real Maggot," and "The Seek no Further;" as also, "Junius," +"Junius Brutus," "Lucius Junius Brutus," "Captain Kant," "Florio," +the 'Author of the History of Billy Linkum Tweedle', the celebrated +Pottawattamie Prophet, "Single Rhyme," a genius who had prudently +rested his fame in verse, on a couplet composed of one line; besides +divers _amateurs_ and _connoisseurs_, Hajjis, who _must_ be men of +talents, as they had acquired all they knew, very much as American +Eclipse gained his laurels on the turf; that is to say, by a free use +of the whip and spur. + +As Mrs. Legend sailed about her rooms amid such a circle, her mind +expanded, her thoughts diffused themselves among her guests on the +principle of Animal Magnetism, and her heart was melting with the +tender sympathies of congenial tastes. She felt herself to be at the +head of American talents, and, in the secret recesses of her reason, +she determined that, did even the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah menace +her native town, as some evil disposed persons had dared to insinuate +might one day be the case, here was enough to save it from +destruction. + +It was just as the mistress of the mansion had come to this consoling +conclusion, that the party from Hudson Square rang. As few of her +guests came in carriages, Mrs. Legend, who heard the rolling of +wheels, felt persuaded that the lion of the night was now indeed at +hand; and with a view to a proper reception, she requested the +company to divide itself into two lines, in order that he might +enter, as it were, between lanes of genius. + +It may be necessary to explain, at this point of our narrative, that +John Effingham was perfectly aware of the error which existed in +relation to the real character of Captain Truck, wherein he thought +great injustice had been done the honest seaman; and, the old man +intending to sail for London next morning, had persuaded him to +accept this invitation, in order that the public mind might be +disabused in a matter of so much importance. With a view that this +might be done naturally and without fuss, however, he did not explain +the mistake to his nautical friend, believing it most probable that +this could be better done incidentally, as it were, in the course of +the evening; and feeling certain of the force of that wholesome +apothegm, which says that "truth is powerful and must prevail" "If +this be so," added John Effingham, in his explanations to Eve, "there +can be no place where the sacred quality will be so likely to assert +itself, as in a galaxy of geniuses, whose distinctive characteristic +is 'an intuitive perception of things in their real colours." + +When the door of Mrs. Legend's drawing-room opened, in the usual +noiseless manner, Mademoiselle Viefville, who led the way, was +startled at finding herself in the precise situation of one who is +condemned to run the gauntlet. Fortunately, she caught a glimpse of +Mrs. Legend, posted at the other end of the proud array, inviting +her, with smiles, to approach. The invitation had been to a +"_literary fete_," and Mademoiselle Viefville was too much of a +Frenchwoman to be totally disconcerted at a little scenic effect on +the occasion of a _fete_ of any sort. Supposing she was now a witness +of an American ceremony for the first time, for the want of +_representation_ in the country had been rather a subject of +animadversion with her, she advanced steadily towards the mistress of +the house, bestowing smile for smile, this being a part of the +_programme_ at which a _Parisienne_ was not easily outdone. Eve +followed, as usual, _sola_; Grace came next; then Sir George; then +John Effingham; the captain bringing up the rear. There had been a +friendly contest, for the precedency, between the two last, each +desiring to yield it to the other on the score of merit; but the +captain prevailed, by declaring "that he was navigating an unknown +sea, and that he could do nothing wiser than to sail in the wake of +so good a pilot as Mr. John Effingham." + +As Hajjis of approved experience, the persons who led the advance in +this little procession, were subjects of a proper attention and +respect; but as the admiration of mere vulgar travelling would in +itself be vulgar, care was taken to reserve the condensed feeling of +the company for the celebrated English writer and wit, who was known +to bring up the rear. This was not a common house, in which dollars +had place, or _belles_ rioted, but the temple of genius; and every +one felt an ardent desire to manifest a proper homage to the +abilities of the established foreign writer, that should be in exact +proportion to their indifference to the twenty thousand a year of +John Effingham, and to the nearly equal amount of Eve's expectations. + +The personal appearance of the honest tar was well adapted to the +character he was thus called on so unexpectedly to support. His hair +had long been getting grey, but the intense anxiety of the chase, of +the wreck, and of his other recent adventures, had rapidly, but +effectually, increased this mark of time; and his head was now nearly +as white as snow. The hale, fresh, red of his features, which was in +truth the result of exposure, might very well pass for the tint of +port, and his tread, which had always a little of the quarterdeck +swing about it, might quite easily be mistaken by a tyro, for the +human frame staggering under a load of learning. Unfortunately for +those who dislike mystifications, the captain had consulted John +Effingham on the subject of the toilette, and that kind and indulgent +friend had suggested the propriety of appearing in black small- +clothes for the occasion, a costume that he often wore himself of an +evening. Reality, in this instance, then, did not disappoint +expectation, and the burst of applause with which the captain was +received, was accompanied by a general murmur in commendation of the +admirable manner in which he "looked the character." + +"What a Byronic head," whispered the author of "The Transformed" to +D.O.V.E.; "and was there ever such a curl of the lip, before, to +mortal man!" + +The truth is, the captain had thrust his tobacco into "an aside," as +a monkey is known to _empocher_ a spare nut, or a lump of sugar. + +"Do you think him Byronic?--To my eye, the cast of his head is +Shaksperian, rather; though I confess there is a little of Milton +about the forehead!" + +"Pray," said Miss Annual, to Lucius Junius Brutus, "which is commonly +thought to be the best of his works; that on a--a--a,--or that on e-- +e--e?" + +Now, so it happened, that not a soul in the room, but the lion +himself, had any idea what books he had written, and he knew only of +some fifteen or twenty log-books. It was generally understood, that +he was a great English writer, and this was more than sufficient. + +"I believe the world generally prefers the a--a--a," said Lucius +Junius Brutus; "but the few give a decided preference to the e--e-- +e----" + +"Oh! out of all question preferable!" exclaimed half a dozen, in +hearing. + +"With what a classical modesty he pays his compliments to Mrs. +Legend," observed "S. R. P."--"One can always tell a man of real +genius, by his _tenu_!" + +"He is so English!" cried Florio. "Ah! _they_ are the only people, +after all!" + +This Florio was one of those geniuses who sigh most for the things +that they least possess. + +By this time Captain Truck had got through with listening to the +compliments of Mrs. Legend, when he, was seized upon by a circle of +rabid literati, who badgered him with questions concerning his +opinions, notions, inferences, experiences, associations, sensations, +sentiments and intentions, in a way that soon threw the old man into +a profuse perspiration. Fifty times did he wish, from the bottom of +his soul, that soul which the crowd around him fancied dwelt so nigh +in the clouds, that he was seated quietly by the side of Mrs. Hawker, +who, he mentally swore, was worth all the _literati_ in Christendom. +But fate had decreed otherwise, and we shall leave him to his +fortune, for a time, and return to our heroine and her party. + +As soon as Mrs. Legend had got through with her introductory +compliments to the captain, she sought Eve and Grace, with a +consciousness that a few civilities were now their due. + +"I fear, Miss Effingham, after the elaborate _soirees_ of the +literary circles in Paris, you will find our _reunions_ of the same +sort, a little dull; and yet I flatter myself with having assembled +most of the talents of New-York on this memorable occasion, to do +honour to your friend. Are you acquainted with many of the company?" + +Now, Eve had never seen nor ever heard of a single being in the room, +with the exception of Mr. Dodge and her own party, before this night, +although most of them had been so laboriously employed in puffing +each other into celebrity, for many weary years; and, as for +elaborate _soirees_, she thought she had never seen one half as +elaborate as this of Mrs. Legend's. As it would not very well do, +however, to express all this in words, she civilly desired the lady +to point out to her some of the most distinguished of the company. + +"With the greatest pleasure, Miss Effingham," Mrs. Legend taking +pride in dwelling on the merits of her guests.--"This heavy, grand- +looking personage, in whose air one sees refinement and modesty at a +glance, is Captain Kant, the editor of one of our most decidedly +pious newspapers. His mind is distinguished for its intuitive +perception of all that is delicate, reserved and finished in the +intellectual world, while, in opposition to this quality, which is +almost feminine, his character is just as remarkable for its +unflinching love of truth. He was never known to publish a falsehood, +and of his foreign correspondence, in particular, he is so +exceedingly careful, that he assures me he has every word of it +written under his own eye." + +"On the subject of his religious scruples," added John Effingham, "he +is so fastidiously exact, that I hear he 'says grace' over every +thing that goes _from_ his press, and 'returns thanks' for every +thing that comes _to_ it." + +"You know him, Mr. Effingham, by this remark? Is he not, truly, a man +of a vocation?" + +"That, indeed, he is, ma'am. He may be succinctly said to have a +newspaper mind, as he reduces every thing in nature or art to news, +and commonly imparts to it so much of his own peculiar character, +that it loses all identity with the subjects to which it originally +belonged. One scarcely knows which to admire most about this man, the +atmospheric transparency of his motives, for he is so disinterested +as seldom even to think of paying for a dinner when travelling, and +yet so conscientious as always to say something obliging of the +tavern as soon as he gets home--his rigid regard to facts; or the +exquisite refinement and delicacy that he imparts to every thing he +touches. Over all this, too, he throws a beautiful halo of morality +and religion, never even prevaricating in the hottest discussion, +unless with the unction of a saint!" + +"Do you happen to know Florio?" asked Mrs. Legend, a little +distrusting John Effingham's account of Captain Kant. + +"If I do, it must indeed be by accident. What are his chief +characteristics, ma'am?" + +"Sentiment, pathos, delicacy, and all in rhyme, too. You no doubt, +have heard of his triumph over Lord Byron, Miss Effingham?" + +Eve was obliged to confess that it was new to her. + +"Why, Byron wrote an ode to Greece, commencing with 'The Isles of +Greece! the Isles of Greece!' a very feeble line, as any one will +see, for it contained a useless and an unmeaning repetition." + +"And you might add vulgar, too, Mrs. Legend," said John Effingham, +"since it made a palpable allusion to all those vulgar incidents that +associate themselves in the mind, with these said common-place isles. +The arts, philosophy, poetry, eloquence, and even old Homer, are +brought unpleasantly to one's recollection, by such an indiscreet +invocation." + +"So Florio thought, and, by way of letting the world perceive the +essential difference between the base and the pure coin, _he_ wrote +an ode on England, which commenced as such an ode _should_!" + +"Do you happen to recollect any of it, ma'am?" + +"Only the first line, which I greatly regret, as the rhyme is +Florio's chief merit. But this line is, of itself, sufficient to +immortalize a man." + +"Do not keep us in torment, dear Mrs. Legend, but let us have it, of +heaven's sake!" + +"It began in this sublime strain, sir--'Beyond the wave!--Beyond the +wave!' Now, Miss Effingham, that is what _I_ call poetry!" + +"And well you may, ma'am," returned the gentleman, who perceived Eve +could scarce refrain from breaking out in a very unsentimental +manner--"So much pathos." + +"And so sententious and flowing!" + +"Condensing a journey of three thousand miles, as it might be, into +three words, and a note of admiration. I trust it was printed with a +note of admiration, Mrs. Legend?" + +"Yes, sir, with two--one behind each wave--and such waves, Mr. +Effingham!" + +"Indeed, ma'am, you may say so. One really gets a grand idea of them, +England lying beyond each." + +"So much expressed in so few syllables!" + +"I think I see every shoal, current, ripple, rock, island, and whale, +between Sandy Hook and the Land's End." + +"He hints at an epic." + +"Pray God he may execute one. Let him make haste, too, or he may get +'behind the age,' 'behind the age.'" + +Here the lady was called away to receive a guest. + +"Cousin Jack!" + +"Eve Effingham?" + +"Do you not sometimes fear offending?" + +"Not a woman who begins with expressing her admiration of such a +sublime thing as this. You are safe with such a person, any where +short of a tweak of the nose." + +"_Mais, tout ceci est bien drole!_" + +"You never were more mistaken in your life, Mademoiselle; every body +here looks upon it as a matter of life and death." + +The new guest was Mr. Pindar, one of those careless, unsentimental +fellows, that occasionally throw off an ode that passes through +Christendom, as dollars are known to pass from China to Norway, and +yet, who never fancied spectacles necessary to his appearance, +solemnity to his face, nor _soirees_ to his renown. After quitting +Mrs. Legend, he approached Eve, to whom he was slightly known, and +accosted her. + +"This is the region of taste, Miss Effingham," he said, with a shrug +of the jaw, if such a member can shrug; "and I do not wonder at +finding you here." + +He then chatted pleasantly a moment, with the party, and passed on, +giving an ominous gape, as he drew nearer to the _oi polloi_ of +literature. A moment after appeared Mr. Gray, a man who needed +nothing but taste in the public, and the encouragement that would +follow such a taste, to stand at, or certainty near, the head of the +poets of our own time. He, too, looked shily at the galaxy, and took +refuge in a corner. Mr. Pith followed; a man whose caustic wit needs +only a sphere for its exercise, manners to portray, and a society +with strong points about it to illustrate, in order to enrol his name +high on the catalogue of satirists. Another ring announced Mr. Fun, a +writer of exquisite humour, and of finished periods, but who, having +perpetrated a little too much sentiment, was instantly seized upon by +all the ultra ladies who were addicted to the same taste in that way, +in the room. + +These persons came late, like those who had already been too often +dosed in the same way, to be impatient of repetitions. The three +first soon got together in a corner, and Eve fancied they were +laughing at the rest of the company; whereas, in fact, they were +merely laughing at a bad joke of their own; their quick perception of +the ludicrous having pointed out a hundred odd combinations and +absurdities, that would have escaped duller minds. + +"Who, in the name of the twelve Caesars, has Mrs. Legend got to +lionize, yonder, with the white summit and the dark base?' asked the +writer of odes. + +"Some English pamphleteer, by what I can learn," answered he of +satire; "some fellow who has achieved a pert review, or written a +Minerva Pressism, and who now flourishes like a bay tree among us. A +modern Horace, or a Juvenal on his travels." + +"Fun is well badgered," observed Mr. Gray.--"Do you not see that Miss +Annual, Miss Monthly, and that young alphabet D.O.V.E., have got him +within the circle of their petticoats, where he will be martyred on a +sigh?" + +"He casts tanging looks this way; he wishes you to go to his rescue, +Pith." + +"I!--Let him take his fill of sentiment! I am no homoepathist in such +matters. Large doses in quick succession will soonest work a cure. +Here comes the lion and he breaks loose from his cage, like a beast +that has been poked up with sticks." + +"Good evening, gentlemen," said Captain Truck, wiping his face +intensely, and who having made his escape from a throng of admirers, +took refuge in the first port that offered. "You seem to be enjoying +yourselves here in a rational and agreeable way. Quite cool and +refreshing in this corner." + +"And yet we have no doubt that both our reason and our amusement will +receive a large increase from the addition of your society, sir," +returned Mr. Pith.--"Do us the favour to take a seat, I beg of you, +and rest yourself." + +"With all my heart, gentlemen; for, to own the truth, these ladies +make warm work about a stranger. I have just got out of what I call a +category." + +"You appear to have escaped with life, sir," observed Pindar, taking +a cool survey of the other's person. + +"Yes, thank God, I have done that, and it is pretty much all," +answered the captain, wiping his face. "I served in the French war-- +Truxtun's war, as we call it--and I had a touch with the English in +the privateer trade, between twelve and fifteen; and here, quite +lately, I was in an encounter with the savage Arabs down on the coast +of Africa; and I account them all as so much snow-balling, compared +with the yard-arm and yard-arm work of this very night. I wonder if +it is permitted to try a cigar at these conversation-onies, +gentlemen?" + +"I believe it is, sir," returned Pindar, coolly. "Shall I help you to +a light?" + +"Oh! Mr. Truck!" cried Mrs. Legend, following the chafed animal to +his corner, as one would pursue any other runaway, "instinct has +brought you into this good company. You are, now, in the very focus +of American talents." + +"Having just escaped from the focus of American talons," whispered +Pith. + +"I must be permitted to introduce you myself. Mr. Truck, Mr. Pindar-- +Mr. Pith--- Mr. Gray--gentlemen, you must be so happy to be +acquainted, being, as it were, engaged in the same pursuits!" + +The captain rose and shook each of the gentlemen cordially by the +hand, for he had, at least, the consolation of a great many +introductions that night. Mrs. Legend disappeared to say something to +some other prodigy. + +"Happy to meet you, gentlemen," said the captain "In what trade do +you sail?" + +"By whatever name we may call it," answered Mr. Pindar--"we can +scarcely be said to go before the wind." + +"Not in the Injee business, then, or the monsoons would keep the +stun'sails set, at least." + +"No, sir.--But yonder is Mr. Moccasin, who has lately set up, +_secundum artem_, in the Indian business, having written two novels +in that way already, and begun a third." + +"Are you all regularly employed, gentlemen?" + +"As regularly as inspiration points," said Mr. Pith. "Men of our +occupation must make fair weather of it, or we had better be doing +nothing." + +"So I often tell my owners, but 'go ahead' is the order. When I was a +youngster, a ship remained in port for a fair wind; but, now, she +goes to work and makes one. The world seems to get young, as I get +old." + +"This is a _rum litterateur_," Gray whispered to Pindar. + +"It is an obvious mystification," was the answer; "poor Mrs. Legend +has picked up some straggling porpoise, and converted him, by a touch +of her magical wand, into a Boanerges of literature. The thing is as +clear as day, for the worthy fellow smells of tar and cigar smoke. I +perceive that Mr. Effingham is laughing out of the corner of his +eyes, and will step across the room, and get the truth, in a minute." + +The rogue was as good as his word, and was soon back again, and +contrived to let his friends understand the real state of the case. A +knowledge of the captain's true character encouraged this trio in the +benevolent purpose of aiding the honest old seaman in his wish to +smoke, and Pith managed to give him a lighted paper, without becoming +an open accessary to the plot. + +"Will you take a cigar yourself, sir," said the captain, offering his +box to Mr. Pindar. + +"I thank you, Mr. Truck, I never smoke, but am a profound admirer of +the flavour. Let me entreat you to begin as soon as possible." + +Thus encouraged, Captain Truck drew two or three whiffs, when the +rooms were immediately filled with the fragrance of a real Havana. At +the first discovery, the whole literary pack went off on the scent. +As for Mr. Fun, he managed to profit by the agitation that followed, +in order to escape to the three wags in the corner, who were enjoying +the scene, with the gravity of so many dervishes. + +"As I live," cried Lucius Junius Brutus, "there is the author of a-- +a--a--actually smoking a cigar!--How excessively _piquant!_" + +"Do my eyes deceive me, or is not that the writer of e--e--e-- +fumigating us all!" whispered Miss Annual. + +"Nay, this cannot certainly be right," put in Florio, with a +dogmatical manner. "All the periodicals agree that smoking is +ungenteel in England." + +"You never were more mistaken, dear Florio," replied D.O.V.E. in a +cooing tone. "The very last novel of society has a chapter in which +the hero and heroine smoke in the declaration scene." + +"Do they, indeed!--That alters the case. Really, one would not wish +to get behind so great a nation, nor yet go much before it. Pray, +Captain Kant, what do your friends in Canada say; is, or is not +smoking permitted in good society there? the Canadians must, at +least, be ahead of us." + +"Not at all, sir," returned the editor in his softest tones; "it is +revolutionary and jacobinical." + +But the ladies prevailed, and, by a process that is rather peculiar +to what may be called a "credulous" state of society, they carried +the day. This process was simply to make one fiction authority for +another. The fact that smoking was now carried so far in England, +that the clergy actually used cigars in the pulpits, was affirmed on +the authority of Mr. Truck himself, and, coupled with his present +occupation, the point was deemed to be settled. Even Florio yielded, +and his plastic mind soon saw a thousand beauties in the usage, that +had hitherto escaped it. All the literati drew round the captain in a +circle, to enjoy the spectacle, though the honest old mariner +contrived to throw out such volumes of vapour as to keep them at a +safe distance. His four demure-looking neighbours got behind the +barrier of smoke, where they deemed themselves entrenched against the +assaults of sentimental petticoats, for a time, at least. + +"Pray, Mr. Truck," inquired S.R.P., "is it commonly thought in the +English literary circles, that Byron was a developement of +Shakspeare, or Shakspeare a shadowing forth of Byron?" + +"Both, marm," said the captain, with a coolness that would have done +credit to Aristabulus, for he had been fairly badgered into +impudence, profiting by the occasion to knock the ashes off his +cigar; "all incline to the first opinion, and most to the last." + +"What finesse!" murmured one. "How delicate!" whispered a second. "A +dignified reserve!" ejaculated a third. "So English!" exclaimed +Florio. + +"Do you think, Mr. Truck," asked D.O.V.E. "that the profane songs of +Little have more pathos than the sacred songs of Moore; or that the +sacred songs of Moore have more sentiment than the profane songs of +Little?" + +"A good deal of both, marm, and something to spare. I think there is +little in one, and more in the other." + +"Pray, sir," said J.R.P., "do you pronounce the name of Byron's lady- +love, Guy-kee-oh-_ly_, or, Gwy-ky-o-_lee_?" + +"That depends on how the wind is. If on shore, I am apt to say 'oh- +lee;' and if off shore, 'oh-lie.'" + +"That's capital!" cried Florio, in an extasy of admiration. "What man +in this country could have said as crack a thing as that?" + +"Indeed it is very witty," added Miss Monthly--"what does it mean?" + +"Mean! More than is seen or felt by common minds. Ah! the English are +truly a great nation!--How delightfully he smokes!" + +"I think he is much the most interesting man we have had out here," +observed Miss Annual, "since the last bust of Scott!" + +"Ask him, dear D.O.V.E.," whispered Julietta, who was timid, from the +circumstance of never having published, "which he thinks the most +ecstatic feeling, hope or despair?" + +The question was put by the more experienced lady, according to +request, though she first said, in a hurried tone, to her youthful +sister--"you can have felt but little, child, or you would know that +it is despair, as a matter of course." + +The honest captain, however, did not treat the matter so lightly, for +he improved the opportunity to light a fresh cigar, throwing the +still smoking stump into Mrs. Legend's grate, through a lane of +literati, as he afterwards boasted, as coolly as he could have thrown +it overboard, under other circumstances. Luckily for his reputation +for sentiment, he mistook "ecstatic," a word he had never heard +before, for "erratic;" and recollecting sundry roving maniacs that he +had seen, he answered promptly-- + +"Despair, out and out." + +"I knew it," said one. + +"It's in nature," added a second. + +"All can feel its truth," rejoined a third. + +"This point may now be set down as established," cried Florio, "and I +hope no more will be said about it." + +"This is encouragement to the searchers after truth," put in Captain +Kant. + +"Pray, Hon. and Rev. Mr. Truck," asked Lucius Junius Brutus, at the +joint suggestion of Junius Brutus and Brutus, "does the Princess +Victoria smoke?" + +"If she did not, sir, where would be the use in being a princess. I +suppose you know that all the tobacco seized in England, after a +deduction to informers, goes to the crown." + +"I object to this usage," remarked Captain Kant, "as irreligious, +French, and tending to _sans-culotteism_. I am willing to admit of +this distinguished instance as an exception; but on all other +grounds, I shall maintain that it savours of infidelity to smoke. The +Prussian government, much the best of our times, never smokes." + +"This man thinks he has a monopoly of the puffing, himself," Pindar +whispered into the captain's ear; "whiff away, my dear sir, and +you'll soon throw him into the shade." + +The captain winked, drew out his box, lighted another cigar, and, by +way of reply to the envious remark, he put one in each corner of his +mouth, and soon had both in full blast, a state in which he kept them +for near a minute. + +"This is the very picturesque of social enjoyment," exclaimed Florio, +holding up both hands in a glow of rapture. "It is absolutely +Homeric, in the way of usages! Ah! the English are a great nation!" + +"I should like to know excessively if there was really such a person +as Baron Mun-chaw-sen?" said Julietta, gathering courage from the +success of her last question. + +"There was, Miss," returned the captain, through his teeth, and +nodding his head in the affirmative. "A regular traveller, that; and +one who knew him well, swore to me that he hadn't related one half of +what befel him." + +"How very delightful to learn this from the highest quarter!" +exclaimed Miss Monthly. + +"Is Gatty (Goethe) really dead?" inquired Longinus, "or, is the +account we have had to that effect, merely a metaphysical apotheosis +of his mighty soul?" + +"Dead, marm--stone dead--dead as a door-nail," returned the captain, +who saw a relief in killing as many as possible. + +"You have been in France, Mr. Truck, beyond question?" observed +Lucius Junius Brutus, in the way one puts a question. + +"France!--I was in France before I was ten years old. I know every +foot of the coast, from Havre de Grace to Marseilles." + +"Will you then have the goodness to explain to us whether the soul of +Chat-_to_-bri-_ong_ is more expanded than his reason, or his reason +more expanded than his soul?" + +Captain Truck had a very tolerable notion of Baron Munchausen and of +his particular merits; but Chateaubriant was a writer of whom he knew +nothing. After pondering a moment, and feeling persuaded that a +confession of ignorance might undo him; for the old man had got to be +influenced by the atmosphere of the place; he answered coolly-- + +"Oh! Chat-_to_-bri-_ong_, is it you mean?--As whole-souled a fellow +as I know. All soul, sir, and lots of reason, besides." + +"How simple and unaffected!" + +"Crack!" exclaimed Florio. + +"A thorough Jacobin!" growled Captain Kant, who was always offended +when any one but himself took liberties with the truth. + +Here the four wags in the corner observed that head went to head in +the crowd, and that the rear rank of the company began to disappear, +while Mrs. Legend was in evident distress. In a few minutes, all the +Romans were off; Florio soon after vanished, grating his teeth in a +poetical frenzy; and even Captain Kant, albeit so used to look truth +in the face, beat a retreat. The alphabet followed, and even the +Annual and the Monthly retired, with leave-takings so solemn and +precise, that poor Mrs. Legend was in total despair. + +Eve, foreseeing something unpleasant, had gone away first, and, in a +few minutes, Mr. Dodge, who had been very active in the crowd, +whispering and gesticulating, made his bow also. The envy of this man +had, in fact, become so intolerable, that he had let the cat out of +the bag. No one now remained but the party entrenched behind the +smoke, and the mistress of the house. Pindar solemnly proposed to the +captain that they should go and enjoy an oyster-supper, in company; +and, the proposal being cordially accepted, they rose in a body, to +take leave. + +"A most delightful evening, Mrs. Legend," said Pindar, with perfect +truth, "much the pleasantest I ever passed in a house, where one +passes so many that are agreeable." + +"I cannot properly express my thanks for the obligation you have +conferred by making me acquainted with Mr. Truck," added Gray. "I +shall cultivate it as far as in my power, for a more capital fellow +never breathed." + +"Really, Mrs. Legend, this has been a Byronic night!" observed Pith, +as he made his bow. "I shall long remember it, and I think it +deserves to be commemorated in verse" + +Fun endeavoured to look sympathetic and sentimental, though the +spirit within could scarcely refrain from grinning in Mrs. Legend's +face. He stammered out a few compliments, however, and disappeared. + +"Well, good night, marm," said Captain Truck, offering his hand +cordially. "This has been a pleasant evening, altogether, though it +was warm work at first. If you like ships, I should be glad to show +you the Montauk's cabins when we get back; and if you ever think of +Europe, let me recommend the London line as none of the worst. We'll +try to make you comfortable, and trust to me to choose a state-room, +a thing I am experienced in." + +Not one of the wags laughed until they were fairly confronted with +the oysters. Then, indeed, they burst out into a general and long fit +of exuberant merriment, returning to it, between the courses from the +kitchen, like the _refrain_ of a song. Captain Truck, who was +uncommonly well satisfied with himself, did not understand the +meaning of all this boyishness, but he has often declared since, that +a heartier or a funnier set of fellows he never fell in with, than +his four companions proved to be that night. + +As for the literary _soiree_, the most profound silence has been +maintained concerning it, neither of the wits there assembled having +seen fit to celebrate it in rhyme, and Florio having actually torn up +an impromptu for the occasion, that he had been all the previous day +writing. + +Chapter VII. + + "There is a history in all men's lives, Figuring the nature of the + times deceased, The which observed, a man may prophesy With a near + aim, of the main chance of things, As yet not come to life." + + KING HENRY VI + +The following morning the baronet breakfasted in Hudson Square. While +at table, little was said concerning the events of the past night, +though sundry smiles were exchanged, as eye met eye, and the +recollection of the mystification returned. Grace alone looked grave, +for she had been accustomed to consider Mrs. Legend a very +discriminating person, and she had even hoped that most of those who +usually figured in her rooms, were really the clever persons they +laid claim to be. + +The morning was devoted to looking at the quarter of the town which +is devoted to business, a party having been made for that express +purpose under the auspices of John Effingham. As the weather was very +cold, although the distances were not great, the carriages were +ordered, and they all set off about noon. + +Grace had given up expecting a look of admiration from Eve in behalf +of any of the lions of New-York, her cousin having found it necessary +to tell her, that, in a comparative sense at least, little was to be +said in behalf of these provincial wonders. Even Mademoiselle +Viefville, now that the freshness, of her feelings were abated, had +dropped quietly down into a natural way of speaking of these things; +and Grace, who was quick-witted, soon discovered that when she did +make any allusions to similar objects in Europe, it was always to +those that existed in some country town. A silent convention existed, +therefore, to speak no more on such subjects; or if any thing was +said, it arose incidentally and as inseparable from the regular +thread of the discourse. + +When in Wall street, the carriages stopped and the gentlemen +alighted. The severity of the weather kept the ladies in the chariot, +where Grace endeavoured to explain things as well as she could to her +companions. + +"What are all these people running after, so intently?" inquired +Mademoiselle Viefville, the conversation being in French, but which +we shall render freely into English, for the sake of the general +reader. + +"Dollars, I believe, Mademoiselle; am I right, Grace?" + +"I believe you are," returned Grace, laughing, "though I know little +more of this part of the town than yourself." + +"_Quelle foule_! Is that building filled with dollars, into which the +gentlemen are now entering? Its steps are crowded." + +"That is the _Bourse_, Mademoiselle, and it ought to be well lined, +by the manner in which some who frequent it live. Cousin Jack and Sir +George are going into the crowd, I see." + +We will leave the ladies in their seats, a few minutes, and accompany +the gentlemen on their way into the Exchange. + +"I shall now show you, Sir George Templemore," said John Effingham, +"what is peculiar to this country, and what, if properly improved, it +is truly worth a journey across the ocean to see. You have been at +the Royal Exchange in London, and at the _Bourse_ of Paris, but you +have never witnessed a scene like that which I am about to introduce +you to. In Paris, you have beheld the unpleasant spectacle of women +gambling publicly in the funds; but it was in driblets, compared to +what you will see here." + +While speaking, John Effingham led the way upstairs into the office +of one of the most considerable auctioneers. The walls were lined +with maps, some representing houses, some lots, some streets, some +entire towns. + +"This is the focus of what Aristabulus Bragg calls the town trade," +said John Effingham, when fairly confronted with all these wonders. +"Here, then, you may suit yourself with any species of real estate +that heart can desire. If a villa is wanted, there are a dozen. Of +farms, a hundred are in market; that is merely half-a-dozen streets; +and here are towns, of dimensions and value to suit purchasers." + +"Explain this; it exceeds comprehension." + +"It is simply what it professes to be. Mr. Hammer, do us the favour +to step this way. Are you selling to-day?" + +"Not much, sir. Only a hundred or two lots on this island, and some +six or eight farms, with one western village." + +"Can you tell us the history of this particular piece of property, +Mr. Hammer?" + +"With great pleasure, Mr. Effingham; we know you to have means, and +hope you may be induced to purchase. This was the farm of old Volkert +Van Brunt, five years since, off of which he and his family had made +a livelihood for more than a century, by selling milk. Two years +since, the sons sold it to Peter Feeler for a hundred an acre; or for +the total sum of five thousand dollars. The next spring Mr. Feeler +sold it to John Search, as keen a one as we have, for twenty-five +thousand. Search sold it, at private sale, to Nathan Rise for fifty +thousand, the next week, and Rise had parted with it, to a company, +before the purchase, for a hundred and twelve thousand cash. The map +ought to be taken down, for it is now eight months since we sold it +out in lots, at auction, for the gross sum of three hundred thousand +dollars. As we have received our commission, we look at that land as +out of the market, for a time." + +"Have you other property, sir, that affords the same wonderful +history of a rapid advance in value?" asked the baronet. + +"These walls are covered with maps of estates in the same +predicament. Some have risen two or three thousand per cent. within +five years, and some only a few hundred. There is no calculating in +the matter, for it is all fancy." + +"And on what is this enormous increase in value founded?--Does the +town extend to these fields?" + +"It goes much farther, sir; that is to say, on paper. In the way of +houses, it is still some miles short of them. A good deal depends on +what you _call_ a thing, in this market. Now, if old Volkert Van +Brunt's property had been still called a farm, it would have brought +a farm price; but, as soon as it was surveyed into lots and mapped--" + +"Mapped!" + +"Yes, sir; brought into visible lines, with feet and inches. As soon +as it was properly mapped, it rose to its just value. We have a good +deal of the bottom of the sea that brings fair prices in consequence +of being well mapped." + +Here the gentlemen expressed their sense of the auctioneer's +politeness, and retired. + +"We will now go into the sales-room," said John Effingham, "where you +shall judge of the spirit, or _energy_, as it is termed, which, at +this moment, actuates this great nation." + +Descending, they entered a crowd, where scores were eagerly bidding +against each other, in the fearful delusion of growing rich by +pushing a fancied value to a point still higher. One was purchasing +ragged rocks, another the bottom of rivers, a third a bog, and all on +the credit of maps. Our two observers remained some time silent +spectators of the scene. + +"When I first entered that room," said John Effingham, as they left +the place, "it appeared to me to be filled with maniacs. Now, that I +have been in it several times, the impression is not much altered." + +"And all those persons are hazarding their means of subsistence on +the imaginary estimate mentioned by the auctioneer?" + +"They are gambling as recklessly as he who places his substance on +the cast of the die. So completely has the mania seized every one, +that the obvious truth, a truth which is as apparent as any other law +of nature, that nothing can be sustained without a foundation, is +completely overlooked, and he who should now proclaim, in this +building, principles that bitter experience will cause every man to +feel, within the next few years, would be happy if he escaped being +stoned. I have witnessed many similar excesses in the way of +speculations; but never an instance as gross, as wide-spread, and as +alarming as this." + +"You apprehend serious consequences, then, from the reaction?" + +"In that particular, we are better off than older nations, the youth +and real stamina of the country averting much of the danger; but I +anticipate a terrible blow, and that the day is not remote when this +town will awake to a sense of its illusion. What you see here is but +a small part of the extravagance that exists, for it pervades the +whole community, in one shape or another. Extravagant issues of +paper-money, inconsiderate credits that commence in Europe; and +extend throughout the land, and false notions as to the value of +their possessions, in men who five years since had nothing, has +completely destroyed the usual balance of things, and money has got +to be so completely the end of life, that few think of it as a means. +The history of the world, probably, cannot furnish a parallel +instance, of an extensive country that is so absolutely under this +malign influence, as is the fact with our own at this present +instant. All principles are swallowed up in the absorbing desire for +gain; national honour, permanent security, the ordinary rules of +society, law, the constitution, and every thing that is usually so +dear to men, are forgotten, or are perverted, in order to sustain +this unnatural condition of things." + +"This is not only extraordinary, but it is fearful!" + +"It is both. The entire community is in the situation of a man who is +in the incipient stages of an exhilarating intoxication, and who +keeps pouring down glass after glass, in the idle notion that he is +merely sustaining nature in her ordinary functions. This wide-spread +infatuation extends from the coast to the extremest frontiers of the +west; for, while there is a justifiable foundation for a good deal of +this fancied prosperity, the true is so interwoven with the false, +that none but the most observant can draw the distinction, and, as +usual, the false predominates." + +"By your account, sir, the tulip mania of Holland was trifling +compared to this?" + +"That was the same in principle as our own, but insignificant in +extent. Could I lead you through these streets, and let you into the +secret of the interests, hopes, infatuations and follies that prevail +in the human breast, you, as a calm spectator, would be astonished at +the manner in which your own species can be deluded. But let us move, +and something may still occur to offer an example." + +"Mr. Effingham--I beg pardon--Mr. Effingham," said a very +gentlemanly-looking merchant, who was walking about the hall of the +exchange, "what do you think now of our French quarrel?" + +"I have told you, Mr. Bale, all I have to say on that subject. When +in France, I wrote you that it was not the intention of the French +government to comply with the treaty; you have since seen this +opinion justified in the result; you have the declaration of the +French minister of state, that, without an apology from this +government, the money will not be paid; and I have given it as my +opinion, that the vane on yonder steeple will not turn more readily +than all this policy will be abandoned, should any thing occur in +Europe to render it necessary, or could the French ministry believe +it possible for this country to fight for a principle. These are my +opinions, in all their phases, and you may compare them with facts +and judge for yourself." + +"It is all General Jackson, sir--all that monster's doings. But for +his message, Mr. Effingham, we should have had the money long ago." + +"But for his message, or some equally decided step, Mr. Bale, you +would never have it." + +"Ah, my dear sir, I know your intentions, but I fear you are +prejudiced against that excellent man, the King of France! Prejudice, +Mr. Effingham, is a sad innovator on justice." + +Here Mr. Bale shook his head, laughed, and disappeared in the crowd, +perfectly satisfied that John Effingham was a prejudiced man, and +that he, himself, was only liberal and just. + +"Now, that is a man who wants for neither abilities nor honesty, and +yet he permits his interests, and the influence of this very +speculating mania, to overshadow all his sense of right, facts plain +as noon-day, and the only principles that can rule a country in +safety." + +"He apprehends war, and has no desire to believe even facts, so long +as they serve to increase the danger." + +"Precisely so; for even prudence gets to be a perverted quality, when +men are living under an infatuation like that which now exists. These +men live like the fool who says there is no death." + +Here the gentlemen rejoined the ladies, and the carriages drove +through a succession of narrow and crooked streets, that were lined +with warehouses filled with the products of the civilized world. + +"Very much of all this is a part of the same lamentable illusion," +said John Effingham, as the carriages made their way slowly through +the encumbered streets. "The man who sells his inland lots at a +profit, secured by credit, fancies himself enriched, and he extends +his manner of living in proportion; the boy from the country becomes +a merchant, or what is here called a merchant, and obtains a credit +in Europe a hundred times exceeding his means, and caters to these +fancied wants; and thus is every avenue of society thronged with +adventurers, the ephemera of the same wide-spread spirit of reckless +folly. Millions in value pass out of these streets, that go to feed +the vanity of those who fancy themselves wealthy, because they hold +some ideal pledges for the payment of advances in price like those +mentioned by the auctioneer, and which have some such security for +the eventual payment, as one can find in _calling_ a thing, that is +really worth a dollar, worth a hundred." + +"Are the effects of this state of things apparent in your ordinary +associations?" + +"In every thing. The desire to grow suddenly rich has seized on all +classes. Even women and clergymen are infected, and we exist under +the active control of the most corrupting of all influences--'the +love of money.' I should despair of the country altogether, did I not +feel certain that the disease is too violent to last, and entertain a +hope that the season of calm reflection and of repentance, that is to +follow, will be in proportion to its causes." + +After taking this view of the town, the party returned to Hudson +Square, where the baronet dined, it being his intention to go to +Washington on the following day. The leave-taking in the evening was +kind and friendly; Mr. Effingham, who had a sincere regard for his +late fellow-traveller, cordially inviting him to visit him in the +mountains in June. + +As Sir George took his leave, the bells began to ring for a fire. In +New-York one gets so accustomed to these alarms, that near an hour +had passed before any of the Effingham family began to reflect on the +long continuance of the cries. A servant was then sent out to +ascertain the reason, and his report made the matter more serious +than usual. + +We believe that, in the frequency of these calamities, the question +lies between Constantinople and New-York. It is a common occurrence +for twenty or thirty buildings to be burnt down, in the latter place, +and for the residents of the same ward to remain in ignorance of the +circumstance, until enlightened on the fact by the daily prints; the +constant repetition of the alarms hardening the ear and the feelings +against the appeal. A fire of greater extent than common, had +occurred only a night or two previously to this; and a rumour now +prevailed, that the severity of the weather, and the condition of the +hoses and engines, rendered the present danger double. On hearing +this intelligence, the Messrs. Effinghams wrapped themselves up in +their over-coats, and went together into the streets. + +"This seems something more than usual, Ned," said John Effingham, +glancing his eye upward at the lurid vault, athwart which gleams of +fiery light began to shine; "the danger is not distant, and it seems +serious." + +Following the direction of the current, they soon found the scene of +the conflagration, which was in the very heart of those masses of +warehouses, or stores, that John Effingham had commented on, so +lately. A short street of high buildings was already completely in +flames, and the danger of approaching the enemy, added to the frozen +condition of the apparatus, the exhaustion of the firemen from their +previous efforts, and the intense coldness of the night, conspired to +make the aspect of things in the highest degree alarming. + +The firemen of New-York have that superiority over those of other +places, that the veteran soldier obtains over the recruit. But the +best troops can be appalled, and, on this memorable occasion, these +celebrated firemen, from a variety of causes, became for a time, +little more than passive spectators of the terrible scene. + +There was an hour or two when all attempts at checking the +conflagration seemed really hopeless, and even the boldest and the +most persevering scarcely knew which way to turn, to be useful. A +failure of water, the numerous points that required resistance, the +conflagration extending in all directions from a common centre, by +means of numberless irregular and narrow streets, and the +impossibility of withstanding the intense heat, in the choked +passages, soon added despair to the other horrors of the scene. + +They who stood the fiery masses, were freezing on one side with the +Greenland cold of the night, while their bodies were almost blistered +with the fierce flames on the other. There was something frightful in +this contest of the elements, nature appearing to condense the heat +within its narrowest possible limits, as if purposely to increase its +fierceness. The effects were awful; for entire buildings would seem +to dissolve at their touch, as the forked flames enveloped them in +sheets of fire. + +Every one being afoot, within sound of the alarm, though all the more +vulgar cries had ceased, as men would deem it mockery to cry murder +in a battle, Sir George Templemore met his friends, on the margin of +this sea of fire. It was now drawing towards morning, and the +conflagration was at its height, having already laid waste a nucleus +of _blocks_, and it was extending by many lines, in every possible +direction. + +"Here is a fearful admonition for those who set their hearts on +riches," observed Sir George Templemore, recalling the conversation +of the previous day. "What, indeed, are the designs of man, as +compared with the will of Providence!" + +"I foresee that this is _le commencement de la fin_," returned John +Effingham. "The destruction is already so great, as to threaten to +bring down with it the usual safe-guards against such losses, and one +pin knocked out of so frail and delicate a fabric, the whole will +become loose, and fall to pieces." + +"Will nothing be done to arrest the flames?" + +"As men recover from the panic, their plans will improve and their +energies will revive. The wider streets are already reducing the fire +within more certain limits, and they speak of a favourable change of +wind. It is thought five hundred buildings have already been +consumed, in scarcely half a dozen hours." + +That Exchange, which had so lately resembled a bustling temple of +Mammon, was already a dark and sheeted ruin, its marble walls being +cracked, defaced, tottering, or fallen. It lay on the confines of the +ruin, and our party was enabled to take their position near it, to +observe the scene. All in their immediate vicinity was assuming the +stillness of desolation, while the flushes of fierce light in the +distance marked the progress of the conflagration. Those who knew the +localities, now began to speak of the natural or accidental barriers, +such as the water, the slips, and the broader streets, as the only +probable means of arresting the destruction. The crackling of the +flames grew distant fast, and the cries of the firemen were now +scarcely audible. + +At this period in the frightful scene, a party of seamen arrived, +bearing powder, in readiness to blow up various buildings, in the +streets that possessed of themselves, no sufficient barriers to the +advance of the flame. Led by their officers, these gallant fellows, +carrying in their arms the means of destruction, moved up steadily to +the verge of the torrents of fire, and planted their kegs; laying +their trains with the hardy indifference that practice can alone +create, and with an intelligence that did infinite credit to their +coolness. This deliberate courage was rewarded with complete success, +and house crumbled to pieces after house under the dull explosions, +happily without an accident. + +From this time the flames became less ungovernable, though the day +dawned and advanced, and another night succeeded, before they could +be said to be got fairly under. Weeks, and even months passed, +however, ere the smouldering ruins ceased to send up smoke, the +fierce element continuing to burn, like a slumbering volcano, as it +might be in the bowels of the earth. + +The day that succeeded this disaster, was memorable for the rebuke it +gave the rapacious longing for wealth. Men who had set their hearts +on gold, and who prided themselves on their possession, and on that +only, were made to feel its insanity; and they who had walked abroad +as gods, so lately, began to experience how utterly insignificant are +the merely rich, when stripped of their possessions. Eight hundred +buildings containing fabrics of every kind, and the raw material in +various forms, had been destroyed, as it were in the twinkling of an +eye. + +A faint voice was heard from the pulpit, and there was a moment when +those who remembered a better state of things, began to fancy that +principles would once more assert their ascendency, and that the +community would, in a measure, be purified. But this expectation +ended in disappointment, the infatuation being too wide-spread and +corrupting, to be stopped by even this check, and the rebuke was +reserved for a form that seems to depend on a law of nature, that of +causing a vice to bring with it its own infallible punishment. + +Chapter VIII. + + "First, tell me, have you ever been at Pisa." + + SHAKSPEARE. + +The conflagration alluded to, rather than described, in the +proceeding chapter, threw a gloom over the gaieties of New-York, if +that ever could be properly called gay, which was little more than a +strife in prodigality and parade, and leaves us little more to say of +the events of the winter. Eve regretted very little the interruption +to scenes in which she had found no pleasure, however much she +lamented the cause; and she and Grace passed the remainder of the +season quietly, cultivating the friendship of such women as Mrs. +Hawker and Mrs. Bloomfield, and devoting hours to the improvement of +their minds and tastes, without ever again venturing however, within +the hallowed precincts of such rooms as those of Mrs. Legend. + +One consequence of a state of rapacious infatuation, like that which +we have just related, is the intensity of selfishness which smothers +all recollection of the past, and all just anticipations of the +future, by condensing life, with its motives and enjoyments, into the +present moment. Captain Truck, therefore, was soon forgotten, and the +literati, as that worthy seaman had termed the associates of Mrs. +Legend, remained just as vapid, as conceited, as ignorant, as +imitative, as dependent, and as provincial as ever. + +As the season advanced, our heroine began to look with longings +towards the country. The town life of an American offers little to +one accustomed to a town life in older and more permanently regulated +communities; and Eve was already heartily weary of crowded and noisy +balls, (for a few were still given;) _belles_, the struggles of an +uninstructed taste, and a representation in which extravagance was so +seldom relieved by the elegance and convenience of a condition of +society, in which more attention is paid to the fitness of things. + +The American spring is the least pleasant of its four seasons, its +character being truly that of "winter lingering in the lap of May." +Mr. Effingham, who the reader will probably suspect, by this time, to +be a descendant of a family of the same name, that we have had +occasion to introduce into another work, had sent orders to have his +country residence prepared for the reception of our party; and it was +with a feeling of delight that Eve stepped on board a steam-boat to +escape from a town that, while it contains so much that is worthy of +any capital, contains so much more that is unfit for any place, in +order to breathe the pure air, and to enjoy the tranquil pleasare of +the country. Sir George Templemore had returned from his southern +journey, and made one of the party, by express arrangement. + +"Now, Eve," said Grace Van Cortlandt, as the boat glided along the +wharves, "if it were any person but you, I should feel confident of +having something to show that _would_ extort admiration." + +"You are safe enough, in that respect, for a more imposing object in +its way, than this very vessel, eye of mine, never beheld. It is +positively the only thing that deserves the name of magnificent I +have yet seen, since our return,--unless, indeed, it may be +magnificent projects." + +"I am glad, dear coz, there is this one magnificent object, then, to +satisfy a taste so fastidious." + +As Grace's little foot moved, and her voice betrayed vexation, the +whole party smiled; for the whole party, while it felt the justice of +Eve's observation, saw the real feeling that was at the bottom of her +cousin's remark. Sir George, however, though he could not conceal +from himself the truth of what had been said by the one party, and +the weakness betrayed by the other had too much sympathy for the +provincial patriotism of one so young and beautiful, not to come to +the rescue. + +"You should remember, Miss Van Cortlandt," he said, "that Miss +Effingham has not had the advantage yet of seeing the Delaware, +Philadelphia, the noble bays of the south, nor so much that is to be +found out of the single town of New-York." + +"Very true, and I hope yet to see her a sincere penitent for all her +unpatriotic admissions against her own country. _You_ have seen the +Capitol, Sir George Templemore; is it not, truly, one of the finest +edifices of the world?" + +"You will except St. Peter's, surely, my child," observed Mr. +Effingham, smiling, for he saw that the baronet was embarrassed to +give a ready answer. + +"And the Cathedral at Milan," said Eve, laughing. + +"_Et le Louvre_!" cried Mademoiselle Viefville, who had some such +admiration for every thing Parisian, as Eve had for every thing +American. + +"And, most especially, the north-east corner of the south-west end of +the north-west wing of Versailles," said John Effingham, in his usual +dry manner. + +"I see you are all against me," Grace rejoined, "but I hope, one day, +to be able to ascertain for myself the comparative merits of things. +As nature makes rivers, I hope the Hudson, at least, will not be +found unworthy of your admiration, gentlemen and ladies." + +"You are safe enough, there, Grace," observed Mr Effingham; "for few +rivers, perhaps no river, offers so great and so pleasing a variety, +in so short a distance, as this." + +It was a lovely, bland morning, in the last week of May; and the +atmosphere was already getting the soft hues of summer, or assuming +the hazy and solemn calm that renders the season so quiet and soothing, +after the fiercer strife of the elements. Under such a sky, the +Palisadoes, in particular, appeared well; for, though wanting in the +terrific grandeur of an Alpine nature, and perhaps disproportioned +to the scenery they adorned, they were bold and peculiar. + +The great velocity of the boat added to the charm of the passage, the +scene scarce finding time to pall on the eye; for, no sooner was one +object examined in its outlines, than it was succeeded by another. + +"An extraordinary taste is afflicting this country, in the way of +architecture," said Mr. Effingham, as they stood gazing at the +eastern shore; "nothing but a Grecian temple being now deemed a +suitable residence for a man, in these classical times. Yonder is a +structure, for instance, of beautiful proportions, and, at this +distance, apparently of a precious material, and yet it seems better +suited to heathen worship than to domestic comfort." + +"The malady has infected, the whole nation," returned his cousin, +"like the spirit of speculation. We are passing from one extreme to +the other, in this, as in other things. One such temple, well placed +in a wood, might be a pleasant object enough, but to see a river +lined with them, with children trundling hoops before their doors, +beef carried into their kitchens, and smoke issuing, moreover, from +those unclassical objects chimnies, is too much even of a high taste; +one might as well live in a fever. Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, who is a +wag in his way, informs me that there is one town in the interior +that has actually a market-house on the plan of the Parthenon!" + +"_Il Cupo di Bove_ would be a more suitable model for such a +structure," said Eve, smiling. "But I think I have heard that the +classical taste of our architects is any thing but rigid." + +"This _was_ the case, rather than _is_" returned John Effingham, "as +witness all these temples. The country has made a quick and a great +_pas, en avant_, in the way of the fine arts, and the fact shows what +might be done with so ready a people, under a suitable direction. The +stranger who comes among us is apt to hold the art of the nation +cheap, but, as all things are comparative, let him inquire into its +state ten years since, and look at it to-day. The fault just now, is +perhaps to consult the books too rigidly, and to trust too little to +invention; for no architecture, and especially no domestic +architecture, can ever be above serious reproach, until climate, the +uses of the edifice, and the situation, are respected as leading +considerations. Nothing can be uglier, _per se_, than a Swiss +cottage, or any thing more beautiful under its precise circumstances. +As regards these mushroom temples, which are the offspring of Mammon, +let them be dedicated to whom they may, I should exactly reverse the +opinion, and say, that while nothing can be much more beautiful, _per +se_, nothing can be in worse taste, than to put them where they are." + +"We shall have an opportunity of seeing what Mr. John Effingham can +do in the way of architecture," said Grace, who loved to revenge some +of her fancied wrongs, by turning the tables on her assailant, "for I +understand he has been improving on the original labours of that +notorious Palladio, Master Hiram Doolittle!" + +The whole party laughed, and every eye was turned on the gentleman +alluded to, expecting his answer. + +"You will remember, good people," answered the accused by +implication, "that my plans were handed over to me from my great +predecessor, and that they were originally of the composite order. +If, therefore, the house should turn out to be a little complex and +mixed, you will do me the justice to remember this important fact. At +all events, I have consulted comfort; and that I would maintain, in +the face of Vitruvius himself, is a _sine qua non_ in domestic +architecture." + +"I took a run into Connecticut the other day," said Sir George +Templemore, "and, at a place called New Haven, I saw the commencement +of a taste that bids fair to make a most remarkable town. It is true, +you cannot expect structures of much pretension in the way of cost +and magnitude in this country, but, so far as fitness and forms are +concerned, if what I hear be true, and the next fifty years do as +much in proportion for that little city, as I understand has been +done in the last five, it will be altogether a wonder in its way. +There are some abortions, it is true, but there are also some little +jewels." + +The baronet was rewarded for this opinion, by a smile from Grace, and +the conversation changed. As the boat approached the mountains, Eve +became excited, a very American state of the system by the way, and +Grace still more anxious. + +"The view of that bluff is Italian;" said our heroine, pointing down +the river at a noble headland of rock, that loomed grandly in the +soft haze of the tranquil atmosphere. "One seldom sees a finer or a +softer outline on the shores of the Mediterranean itself." + +"But the Highlands, Eve!" whispered the uneasy Grace. "We are +entering the mountains." + +The river narrowed suddenly, and the scenery became bolder, but +neither Eve nor her father expressed the rapture that Grace expected. + +"I must confess, Jack," said the mild, thoughtful Mr. Effingham, +"that these rocks strike my eyes as much less imposing than formerly. +The passage is fine, beyond question, but it is hardly grand +scenery." + +"You never uttered a juster opinion, Ned, though after your eye loses +some of the forms of the Swiss and Italian lakes, and of the shores +of Italy, you will think better of these. The Highlands are +remarkable for their surprises, rather than for their grandeur, as we +shall presently see. As to the latter, it is an affair of feet and +inches, and is capable of arithmetical demonstration. We have often +been on lakes, beneath beetling cliffs of from three to six thousand +feet in height; whereas, here, the greatest elevation is materially +less than two. But, Sir George Templemore, and you, Miss Effingham, +do me the favour to combine your cunning, and tell me whence this +stream cometh, and whither we are to go?" + +The boat had now approached a point where the river was narrowed to a +width not much exceeding a quarter of a mile, and in the direction in +which it was steering, the water seemed to become still more +contracted until they were lost in a sort of bay, that appeared to be +closed by high hills, through which, however, there were traces of +something like a passage. + +"The land in that direction looks as if it had a ravine-like +entrance," said the baronet; "and yet it is scarcely possible that a +stream like this can flow there!" + +"If the Hudson truly passes through those mountains," said Eve, "I +will concede all in its favour that you can ask, Grace." + +"Where else can it pass?" demanded Grace, exultingly. + +"Sure enough--I see no other place, and that seems insufficient." + +The two strangers to the river now looked curiously around them, in +every direction. Behind them was a broad and lake-like basin, through +which they had just passed; on the left, a barrier of precipitous +hills, the elevation of which was scarcely less than a thousand feet; +on their right, a high but broken country, studded with villas, farm- +houses, and hamlets; and in their front the deep but equivocal bay +mentioned. + +"I see no escape!" cried the baronet, gaily, "unless indeed, it be by +returning." + +A sudden and broad sheer of the boat caused him to turn to the left, +and then they whirled round an angle of the precipice, and found +themselves in a reach of the river, between steep declivities, +running at right angles to their former course. + +"This is one of the surprises of which I spoke," said John Effingham, +"and which render the highlands so _unique_; for, while the Rhine is +very sinuous, it has nothing like this." + +The other travellers agreed in extolling this and many similar +features of the scenery, and Grace was delighted; for, warm-hearted, +affectionate, and true, Grace loved her country like a relative or a +friend, and took an honest pride in hearing its praises. The +patriotism of Eve, if a word of a meaning so lofty can be applied to +feelings of this nature, was more discriminating from necessity, her +tastes having been formed in a higher school, and her means of +comparison being so much more ample. At West Point they stopped for +the night, and here every body was in honest raptures; Grace, who had +often visited the place before, being actually the least so of the +whole party. + +"Now, Eve, I know that you _do_ love your country," she said, as she +slipped an arm affectionately through that of her cousin. "This is +feeling and speaking like an American girl, and as Eve Effingham +should!" + +Eve laughed, but she had discovered that the provincial feeling was +so strong in Grace, that its discussion would probably do no good. +She dwelt, therefore, with sincere eloquence on the beauties of the +place, and for the first time since they had met, her cousin felt as +if there was no longer any point of dissension between them. + +The following morning was the first of June, and it was another of +those drowsy, dreamy days, that so much aid a landscape. The party +embarked in the first boat that came up, and as they entered Newburgh +bay, the triumph of the river was established. This is a spot, in +sooth, that has few equals in any region, though Eve still insisted +that the excellence of the view was in its softness rather than in +its grandeur. The country-houses, or boxes, for few could claim to be +much more, were neat, well placed, and exceedingly numerous. The +heights around the town of Newburgh, in particular, were fairly +dotted with them, though Mr. Effingham shook his head as he saw one +Grecian temple appear after another. + +"As we recede from the influence of the vulgar architects," he said, +"we find imitation taking the place of instruction. Many of these +buildings are obviously disproportioned, and then, like vulgar +pretension of any sort, Grecian architecture produces less pleasure +than even Dutch." + +"I am surprised at discovering how little of a Dutch character +remains in this state," said the baronet; "I can scarcely trace that +people in any thing, and yet, I believe, they had the moulding of +your society, having carried the colony through its infancy." + +"When you know us better, you will be surprised at discovering how +little of any thing remains a dozen years," returned John Effingham. +"Our towns pass away in generations like their people, and even the +names of a place undergo periodical mutations, as well as every thing +else. It is getting to be a predominant feeling in the American +nature, I fear, to love change." + +"But, cousin Jack, do you not overlook causes, in your censure. That +a nation advancing as fast as this in wealth and numbers, should +desire better structures than its fathers had either the means or the +taste to build, and that names should change with persons, are both +things quite in rule." + +"All very true, though it does not account for the peculiarity I +mean. Take Templeton, for instance; this little place has not +essentially increased in numbers, within my memory, and yet fully +one-half its names are new. When he reaches his own home, your father +will not know even the names of one-half his neighbours. Not only +will he meet with new faces, but he will find new feelings, new +opinions in the place of traditions that he may love, an indifference +to every thing but the present moment, and even those who may have +better feelings, and a wish to cherish all that belongs to the holier +sentiments of man, afraid to utter them, lest they meet with no +sympathy." + +"No cats, as Mr. Bragg would say." + +"Jack is one who never paints _en beau_," said Mr. Effingham. "I +should be very sorry to believe that a dozen short years can have +made all these essential changes in my neighbourhood." + +"A dozen years, Ned! You name an age. Speak of three or four, if you +wish to find any thing in America where you left it! The whole +country is in such a constant state of mutation, that I can only +liken it to that game of children, in which as one quits his corner, +another runs into it, and he that finds no corner to get into, is the +laughing-stock of the others. Fancy that dwelling the residence of +one man from childhood to old age; let him then quit it for a year or +two, and on his return he would find another in possession, who would +treat him as an impertinent intruder, because he had been absent two +years. An American 'always,' in the way of usages, extends no further +back than eighteen months. In short, every thing is condensed into +the present moment; and services, character, for evil as well as good +unhappily, and all other things, cease to have weight, except as they +influence the interests of the day." + +"This is the colouring of a professed cynic," observed Mr. Effingham, +smiling. + +"But the law, Mr. John Effingham," eagerly inquired the +baronet--"surely the law would not permit a stranger to intrude in +this manner on the rights of an owner." + +"The law-_books_ would do him that friendly office, perhaps, but what +is a precept in the face of practices so ruthless. '_Les absents out +toujours tort_,' is a maxim of peculiar application in America." + +"Property is as secure in this country as in any other, Sir George; +and you will make allowances for the humours of the present +annotator." + +"Well, well, Ned; I hope you will find every thing _couleur de rose_, +as you appear to expect. You will get quiet possession of your house, +it is true, for I have put a Cerberus in it, that is quite equal to +his task, difficult as it may be, and who has quite as much relish +for a bill of costs, as any squatter can have for a trespass; but +without some such guardian of your rights, I would not answer for it, +that you would not be compelled to sleep in the highway." + +"I trust Sir George Templemore knows how to make allowances for Mr. +John Effingham's pictures," cried Grace, unable to refrain from +expressing her discontent any longer. + +A laugh succeeded, and the beauties of the river again attracted +their attention. As the boat continued to ascend, Mr. Effingham +triumphantly affirmed that the appearance of things more than +equalled his expectations, while both Eve and the baronet declared +that a succession of lovelier landscapes could hardly be presented to +the eye. + +"Whited sepulchres!" muttered John Effingham--"all outside. Wait +until you get a view of the deformity within." + +As the boat approached Albany, Eve expressed her satisfaction in +still stronger terms; and Grace was made perfectly happy, by hearing +her and Sir George declare that the place entirely exceeded their +expectations. + +"I am glad to find, Eve, that you are so fast recovering your +American feelings," said her beautiful cousin, after one of those +expressions of agreeable disappointment, as they were seated at a +late dinner, in an inn. "You have at last found words to praise the +exterior of Albany; and I hope, by the time we return, you will be +disposed to see New-York with different eyes." + +"I expected to see a capital in New-York, Grace, and in this I have +been grievously disappointed. Instead of finding the tastes, tone, +conveniences, architecture, streets, churches, shops, and society of +a capital, I found a huge expansion of common-place things, a +commercial town, and the most mixed and the least regulated society, +that I had ever met with. Expecting so much, where so little was +found, disappointment was natural. But in Albany, although a +political capital, I knew the nature of the government too well, to +expect more than a provincial town; and in this respect, I have found +one much above the level of similar places in other parts of the +world. I acknowledge that Albany has as much exceeded my expectations +in one sense, as New-York has fallen short of them in another." + +"In this simple fact, Sir George Templemore," said Mr. Effingham, +"you may read the real condition of the country. In all that requires +something more than usual, a deficiency; in all that is deemed an +average, better than common. The tendency is to raise every thing +that is elsewhere degraded to a respectable height, when there +commences an attraction of gravitation that draws all towards the +centre; a little closer too than could be wished perhaps." + +"Ay, ay, Ned; this is very pretty, with your attractions and +gravitations; but wait and judge for yourself of this average, of +which you now speak so complacently. + +"Nay, John, I borrowed the image from you; if it be not accurate, I +shall hold you responsible for its defects." + +"They tell me," said Eve, "that all American villages are the towns +in miniature; children dressed in hoops and wigs. Is this so, Grace?" + +"A little; there is too much desire to imitate the towns, perhaps, +and possibly too little feeling for country life." + +"This is a very natural consequence, after all, of people's living +entirely in such places," observed Sir George Templemore. "One sees +much of this on the continent of Europe, because the country +population is purely a country population; and less of it in England, +perhaps, because those who are at the head of society, consider town +and country as very distinct things." + +"_La campagne est vraiment delicieuse en Amerique_," exclaimed +Mademoiselle Viefville, in whose eyes the whole country was little +more than _campagne_. + +The next morning, our travellers proceeded by the way of Schenectady, +whence they ascended the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, by means of +a canal-boat, the cars that now rattle along its length not having +commenced their active flights, at that time. With the scenery, every +one was delighted; for while it differed essentially from that the +party had passed through the previous day, it was scarcely less +beautiful. + +At a point where the necessary route diverged from the direction of +the canal, carriages of Mr. Effingham's were in readiness to receive +the travellers, and here they were also favoured by the presence of +Mr. Bragg, who fancied such an attention might be agreeable to the +young ladies, as well as to his employer. + +Chapter IX. + + "Tell me, where is fancy bred-- + Or in the heart, or in the head? + How begot, how nourished?" + + SONG IN SHAKSPEARE. + +The travellers were several hours ascending into the mountains, by a +country road that could scarcely be surpassed by a French wheel-track +of the same sort, for Mademoiselle Viefville protested, twenty times +in the course of the morning, that it was a thousand pities Mr. +Effingham had not the privilege of the _corvee_, that he might cause +the approach to his _terres_ to be kept in better condition. At +length they reached the summit, a point where the waters began to +flow south, when the road became tolerably level. From this time +their progress became more rapid, and they continued to advance two +or three hours longer at a steady pace. + +Aristabulus now informed his companions that, in obedience to +instructions from John Effingham, he had ordered the coachmen to take +a road that led a little from the direct line of their journey, and +that they had now been travelling for some time on the more ancient +route to Templeton. + +"I was aware of this," said Mr. Effingham, "though ignorant of the +reason. We are on the great western turnpike." + +"Certainly, sir, and all according to Mr. John's request. There would +have been a great saving in distance, and agreeably to my notion, in +horse-flesh, had we quietly gone down the banks of the lake." + +"Jack will explain his own meaning," returned Mr. Effingham, "and he +has stopped the other carriage, and alighted with Sir George,--a +hint, I fancy, that we are to follow their example." + +Sure enough, the second carriage was now stopped, and Sir George +hastened to open its door. + +"Mr. John Effingham, who acts as cicerone," cried the baronet, +"insists that every one shall put _pied a terre_ at this precise +spot, keeping the important reason still a secret, in the recesses of +his own bosom." + +The ladies complied, and the carriages were ordered to proceed with +the domestics, leaving the rest of the travellers by themselves, +apparently in the heart of a forest. + +"It is to be hoped, Mademoiselle, there are no banditti in America," +said Eve, as they looked around them at the novel situation in which +they were placed, apparently by a pure caprice of her cousin. + +"_Ou des sauvages_," returned the governess, who, in spite of her +ordinary intelligence and great good sense, had several times that +day cast uneasy and stolen glances into the bits of dark wood they +had occasionally passed. + +"I will ensure your purses and your scalps, _mesdames_," cried John +Effingham gaily, "on condition that you will follow me implicitly; +and by way of pledge for my faith, I solicit the honour of supporting +Mademoiselle Viefville on this unworthy arm." + +The governess laughingly accepted the conditions, Eve took the arm of +her father, and Sir George offered his to Grace; Aristabulus, to his +surprise, being left to walk entirely alone. It struck him, however, +as so singularly improper that a young lady should be supported on +such an occasion by her own father, that he frankly and gallantly +proposed to Mr. Effingham to relieve him of his burthen, an offer +that was declined with quite as much distinctness as it was made. + +"I suppose cousin Jack has a meaning to his melodrama," said Eve, as +they entered the forest, "and I dare say, dearest father, that you +are behind the scenes, though I perceive determined secrecy in your +face." + +"John may have a cave to show us, or some tree of extraordinary +height; such things existing in the country." + +"We are very confiding, Mademoiselle, for I detect treachery in every +face around us. Even Miss Van Cortlandt has the air of a conspirator, +and seems to be in league with something or somebody. Pray Heaven, it +be not with wolves." + +"_Des loups_!" exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville, stopping short, with +a mien so alarmed as to excite a general laugh--"_est ce qu'il y a +des loups et des sangliers dans cette foret_?" + +"No, Mademoiselle," returned her companion--"this is only barbarous +America, and not civilized France. Were we in _le departement de la +Seine_, we might apprehend some such dangers, but being merely in the +mountains of Otsego, we are reasonably safe." + +"_Je l'espere_," murmured the governess, as she reluctantly and +distrustfully proceeded, glancing her eyes incessantly to the right +and left. The path now became steep and rather difficult; so much so, +indeed, as to indispose them all to conversation. It led beneath the +branches of lofty pines, though there existed, on every side of them, +proofs of the ravages man had committed in that noble forest. At +length they were compelled to stop for breath, after having ascended +considerably above the road they had left. + +"I ought to have said that the spot where we entered on this path, is +memorable in the family history," observed John Effingham, to +Eve--"for it was the precise spot where one of our predecessors +lodged a shot in the shoulder of another." + +"Then I know precisely where we are!" cried our heroine, "though I +cannot yet imagine why we are led into this forest, unless it be to +visit some spot hallowed by a deed of Natty Bumppo's!" + +"Time will solve this mystery, as well as all others. Let us +proceed." + +Again they ascended, and, after a few more minutes of trial, they +reached a sort of table-land, and drew near an opening in the trees, +where a small circle had evidently been cleared of its wood, though +it was quite small and untilled. Eve looked curiously about her, as +did all the others to whom the place was novel, and she was lost in +doubt. + +"There seems to be a void beyond us," said the baronet--- "I rather +think Mr. John Effingham has led us to the verge of a view." + +At this suggestion the party moved on in a body, and were well +rewarded for the toil of the ascent, by a _coup d'oeil_ that was +almost Swiss in character and beauty. + +"Now do I know where we are," exclaimed Eve, clasping her hands in +rapture--"this is the 'Vision,' and yonder, indeed, is our blessed +home!" + +The whole artifice of the surprise was exposed, and after the first +bursts of pleasure had subsided, all to whom the scene was novel +felt, that they would not have missed this _piquante_ introduction to +the valley of the Susquehannah, on any account. That the reader may +understand the cause of so much delight, and why John Effingham had +prepared this scene for his friends, we shall stop to give a short +description of the objects that first met the eyes of the travellers. + +It is known that they were in a small open spot in a forest, and on +the verge of a precipitous mountain. The trees encircled them on +every side but one, and on that lay the panorama, although the tops +of tall pines, that grew in lines almost parallel to the declivity, +rose nearly to a level with the eye. Hundreds of feet beneath them, +directly in front, and stretching leagues to the right, was a lake +embedded in woods and hills. On the side next the travellers, a +fringe of forest broke the line of water; tree tops that intercepted +the view of the shores; and on the other, high broken hills, or low +mountains rather, that were covered with farms, beautifully relieved +by patches of wood, in a way to resemble the scenery of a vast park, +or a royal pleasure ground, limited the landscape. High valleys lay +among these uplands, and in every direction comfortable dwellings +dotted the fields. The contrast between the dark hues of the +evergreens, with which all the heights near the water were shaded, +was in soft contrast to the livelier green of the other foliage, +while the meadows and pastures were luxuriant with a verdure +unsurpassed by that of England. Bays and points added to the +exquisite outline of the glassy lake on this shore, while one of the +former withdrew towards the north-west, in a way to leave the eye +doubtful whether it was the termination of the transparent sheet or +not. Towards the south, bold, varied, but cultivated hills, also +bounded the view, all teeming with the fruits of human labour, and +yet all relieved by pieces of wood, in the way already mentioned, so +as to give the entire region the character of park scenery. A wide, +deep, even valley, commenced at the southern end of the lake, or +nearly opposite to the stand of our travellers, and stretched away +south, until concealed by a curvature in the ranges of the mountains. +Like all the mountain-tops, this valley was verdant, peopled, wooded +in places, though less abundantly than the hills, and teeming with +the signs of life. Roads wound through its peaceful retreats, and +might be traced working their way along the glens, and up the weary +ascents of the mountains, for miles, in every direction. + +At the northern termination of this lovely valley, and immediately on +the margin of the lake, lay the village of Templeton, immediately +under the eyes of the party. The distance, in an air line, from their +stand to the centre of the dwellings, could not be much less than a +mile, but the air was so pure, and the day so calm, that it did not +seem so far. The children and even the dogs were seen running about +the streets, while the shrill cries of boys at their gambols, +ascended distinctly to the ear. + +As this was the Templeton of the Pioneers, and the progress of +society during half a century is connected with the circumstance, we +shall give the reader a more accurate notion of its present state, +than can be obtained from incidental allusions. We undertake the +office more readily because this is not one of those places that +shoot up in a day, under the unnatural efforts of speculation, or +which, favoured by peculiar advantages in the way of trade, becomes a +precocious city, while the stumps still stand in its streets; but a +sober county town, that has advanced steadily, _pari passu_ with the +surrounding country, and offers a fair specimen of the more regular +advancement of the whole nation, in its progress towards +civilization. + +The appearance of Templeton, as seen from the height where it is now +exhibited to the reader, was generally beautiful and map-like. There +might be a dozen streets, principally crossing each other at right- +angles, though sufficiently relieved from this precise delineation, +to prevent a starched formality. Perhaps the greater part of the +buildings were painted white, as is usual in the smaller American +towns; though a better taste was growing in the place, and many of +the dwellings had the graver and chaster hues of the grey stones of +which they were built. A general air of neatness and comfort pervaded +the place, it being as unlike a continental European town, south of +the Rhine, in this respect, as possible, if indeed we except the +picturesque bourgs of Switzerland. In England, Templeton would be +termed a small market-town, so far as size was concerned; in France, +a large _bourg_; while in America it was, in common parlance, and +legal appellation, styled a village. + +Of the dwellings of the place, fully twenty were of a quality that +denoted ease in the condition of their occupants, and bespoke the +habits of those accustomed to live in a manner superior to the _oi +polloi_ of the human race. Of these, some six or eight had small +lawns, carriage sweeps, and the other similar appliances of houses +that were not deemed unworthy of the honour of bearing names of their +own. No less than five little steeples, towers, or belfries, for +neither word is exactly suitable to the architectural prodigies we +wish to describe, rose above the roofs, denoting the sites of the +same number of places of worship; an American village usually +exhibiting as many of these proofs of liberty of conscience-- +_caprices of conscience_ would perhaps be a better term--as dollars +and cents will by any process render attainable. Several light +carriages, such as were suitable to a mountainous country, were +passing to and fro in the streets; and, here and there, a single- +horse vehicle was fastened before the door of a shop, or a lawyer's +office, denoting the presence of some customer, or client, from among +the adjacent hills. + +Templeton was not sufficiently a thoroughfare to possess one of those +monstrosities, a modern American tavern, or a structure whose roof +should overtop that of all its neighbours. Still its inns were of +respectable size, well piazzaed, to use a word of our own invention, +and quite enough frequented. + +Near the centre of the place, in grounds of rather limited extent, +still stood that model of the composite order, which owed its +existence to the combined knowledge and taste, in the remoter ages of +the region, of Mr. Richard Jones and Mr. Hiram Doolittle. We will not +say that it had been modernized, for the very reverse was the effect, +in appearance at least; but, it had since undergone material changes, +under the more instructed intelligence of John Effingham. + +This building was so conspicuous by position and size, that as soon +as they had taken in glimpses of the entire landscape, which was not +done without constant murmurs of pleasure, every eye became fastened +on it, as the focus of interest. A long and common silence denoted +how general was this feeling, and the whole party took seats on +stumps and fallen trees before a syllable was uttered, after the +building had attracted their gaze. Aristabulus alone permitted his +look to wander, and he was curiously examining the countenance of Mr. +Effingham, near whom he sate, with a longing to discover whether the +expression was that of approbation, or of disapprobation, of the +fruits of his cousin's genius. + +"Mr. John Effingham has considerably regenerated and revivified, not +to say transmogrified, the old dwelling," he said, cautiously using +terms that might have his own opinion of the changes doubtful. "The +work of his hand has excited some speculation, a good deal of +inquiry, and a little conversation, throughout the country. It has +almost produced an excitement!" + +"As my house came to me from my father," said Mr. Effingham, across +whose mild and handsome face a smile was gradually stealing, "I knew +its history, and when called on for an explanation of its +singularities, could refer all to the composite order. But, you, +Jack, have supplanted all this, by a style of your own, for which I +shall be compelled to consult the authorities for explanations." + +"Do you dislike my taste, Ned?--To my eye, now, the structure has no +bad appearance from this spot!" + +"Fitness and comfort are indispensable requisites for domestic +architecture, to use your own argument. Are you quite sure that +yonder castellated roof, for instance, is quite suited to the deep +snows of these mountains?" + +John Effingham whistled, and endeavoured to look unconcerned, for he +well knew that the very first winter had demonstrated the +unsuitableness of his plans for such a climate. He had actually felt +disposed to cause the whole to be altered privately, at his own +expense; but, besides feeling certain his cousin would resent a +liberty that inferred his indisposition to pay for his own buildings, +he had a reluctance to admit, in the face of the whole country, that +he had made so capital a mistake, in a branch of art in which he +prided himself rather more than common; almost as much as his +predecessor in the occupation, Mr. Richard Jones. + +"If you are not pleased with your own dwelling, Ned," he answered, +"you can have, at least, the consolation of looking at some of your +neighbours' houses, and of perceiving that they are a great deal +worse off. Of all abortions of this sort, to my taste, a Grecian +abortion is the worst--mine is only Gothic, and that too, in a style +so modest, that I should think it might pass unmolested." + +It was so unusual to see John Effingham on the defensive, that the +whole party smiled, while Aristabulus who stood in salutary fear of +his caustic tongue, both smiled and wondered. + +"Nay, do not mistake me, John," returned the proprietor of the +edifice under discussion--"it is not your _taste_ that I call in +question, but your provision against the seasons. In the way of mere +outward show, I really think you deserve high praise, for you have +transformed a very ugly dwelling into one that is almost handsome, in +despite of proportions and the necessity of regulating the +alterations by prescribed limits. Still, I think, there is a little +of the composite left about even the exterior." + +"I hope, cousin Jack, you have not innovated on the interior," cried +Eve; "for I think I shall remember that, and nothing is more pleasant +than the _cattism_ of seeing objects that you remember in childhood-- +pleasant, I mean, to those whom the mania of mutation has not +affected." + +"Do not be alarmed, Miss Effingham," replied her kinsman, with a +pettishness of manner that was altogether extraordinary, in a man +whose mien, in common, was so singularly composed and masculine; "you +will find all that you knew, when a kitten, in its proper place. I +could not rake together, again, the ashes of Queen Dido, which were +scattered to the four winds of Heaven, I fear; nor could I discover a +reasonably good bust of Homer; but respectable substitutes are +provided, and some of them have the great merit of puzzling all +beholders to tell to whom they belong, which I believe was the great +characteristic of most of Mr. Jones's invention." + +"I am glad to see, cousin Jack, that you have, at least, managed to +give a very respectable 'cloud-colour' to the whole house." + +"Ay, it lay between that and an invisible green," the gentleman +answered, losing his momentary spleen in his natural love of the +ludicrous--"but finding that the latter would be only too conspicuous +in the droughts that sometimes prevail in this climate, I settled +down into the yellowish drab, that is, indeed, not unlike some of the +richer volumes of the clouds." + +"On the whole, I think you are fairly entitled, as Steadfast Dodge, +Esquire, would say, to 'the meed of our thanks.'" + +"What a lovely spot!" exclaimed Mr. Effingham, who had already ceased +to think of his own dwelling, and whose eye was roaming over the soft +landscape, athwart which the lustre of a June noontide was throwing +its richest glories. "This is truly a place where one might fancy +repose and content were to be found for the evening of a troubled +life." + +"Indeed, I have seldom looked upon a more bewitching scene," answered +the baronet. "The lakes of Cumberland will scarce compete with this!" + +"Or that of Brienz, or Lungeren, or Nemi," said Eve, smiling in a way +that the other understood to be a hit at his nationality. + +"_C'est charmant!_" murmured Mademoiselle Viefville. "_On pense a +l'eternite, dans une telle calme!_" + +"The farm you can see lying near yonder wood, Mr. Effingham," coolly +observed Aristabulus, "sold last spring for thirty dollars the acre, +and was bought for twenty, the summer-before!" + +"_Chacun a son gout!_" said Eve. + +"And yet, I fear, this glorious scene is marred by the envy, +rapacity, uncharitableness, and all the other evil passions of man!" +continued the more philosophical Mr. Effingham. "Perhaps, it were +better as it was so lately, when it lay in the solitude and peace of +the wilderness, the resort of birds and beasts." + +"Who prey on each other, dearest father, just as the worst of our own +species prey on their fellows." + +"True, child--true. And yet, I never gaze on one of these scenes of +holy calm, without wishing that the great tabernacle of nature might +be tenanted only by those who have a feeling for its perfection." + +"Do you see the lady," said Aristabulus, "that is just coming out on +the lawn, in front of the 'Wig-wam?'" for that was the name John +Effingham had seen fit to give the altered and amended abode. "Here, +Miss Effingham, more in a line with the top of the pine beneath us." + +"I see the person you mean; she seems to be looking in this +direction." + +"You are quite right, miss; she knows that we are to stop on the +Vision, and no doubt sees us. That lady is your father's cook, Miss +Effingham, and is thinking of the late breakfast that has been +ordered to be in readiness against our arrival." + +Eve concealed her amusement, for, by this time, she had discovered +that Mr. Bragg had a way peculiar to himself, or at least to his +class, of using many of the commoner words of the English language. +It would perhaps be expecting too much of Sir George Templemore, not +to expect him to smile, on such an occasion. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Aristabulus, pointing towards the lake, across which +several skiffs were stealing, some in one direction, and some in +another, "there is a boat out, that I think must contain the poet." + +"Poet!" repeated John Effingham. "Have we reached that pass at +Templeton?" + +"Lord, Mr. John Effingham, you must have very contracted notions of +the place, if you think a poet a great novelty in it. Why, sir, we +have caravans of wild beasts, nearly every summer!" + +"This is, indeed, a step in advance, of which I was ignorant. Here +then, in a region, that so lately was tenanted by beasts of prey, +beasts are already brought as curiosities. You perceive the state of +the country in this fact, Sir George Templemore." + +"I do indeed; but I should like to hear from Mr Bragg, what sort of +animals are in these caravans?" + +"All sorts, from monkeys to elephants. The last had a rhinoceros." + +"Rhinoceros!--Why there was but one, lately, in all Europe. Neither +the Zoological Gardens, nor the _Jardin des Plantes_, had a +rhinoceros! I never saw but one, and that was in a caravan at Rome, +that travelled between St. Petersburgh and Naples." + +"Well, sir, we have rhinoceroses here;--and monkeys, and zebras, and +poets, and painters, and congressmen, and bishops, and governors, and +all other sorts of creatures." + +"And who may the particular poet be, Mr. Bragg," Eve asked, "who +honours Templeton, with his presence just at this moment?" + +"That is more than I can tell you, miss, for, though some eight or +ten of us have done little else than try to discover his name for the +last week, we have not got even as far as that one fact. He and the +gentleman who travels with him, are both uncommonly close on such +matters, though I think we have some as good catechisers in +Templeton, as can be found any where within fifty miles of us!" + +"There is another gentleman with him--do you suspect them both of +being poets?" + +"Oh, no, Miss, the other is the waiter of the poet; that we know, as +he serves him at dinner, and otherwise superintends his concerns; +such as brushing his clothes, and keeping his room in order." + +"This is being in luck for a poet, for they are of a class that are a +little apt to neglect the decencies. May I ask why you suspect the +master of being a poet, if the man be so assiduous?" + +"Why, what else can he be? In the first place, Miss Effingham, he has +no name." + +"That is a reason in point," said John Effingham "very few poets +having names." + +"Then he is out on the lake half his time, gazing up at the 'Silent +Pine,' or conversing with the 'Speaking Rocks,' or drinking at the +'Fairy Spring.'" + +"All suspicious, certainly; especially the dialogue with the rocks; +though not absolutely conclusive." + +"But, Mr. John Effingham, the man does not take his food like other +people. He rises early, and is out on the water, or up in the forest, +all the morning, and then returns to eat his breakfast in the middle +of the forenoon; he goes into the woods again, or on the lake, and +comes back to dinner, just as I take my tea." + +"This settles the matter. Any man who presumes to do all this, Mr. +Bragg, deserves to be called by some harder name, even, than that of +a poet. Pray, sir, how long has this eccentric person been a resident +of Templeton?" + +"Hist--there he is, as I am a sinner; and it was not he and the other +gentlemen that were in the boat." + +The rebuked manner of Aristabulus, and the dropping of his voice, +induced the whole party to look in the direction of his eye, and, +sure enough, a gentleman approached them, in the dress a man of the +world is apt to assume in the country, an attire of itself that was +sufficient to attract comment in a place where the general desire was +to be as much like town as possible, though it was sufficiently neat +and simple. He came from the forest, along the table-land that +crowned the mountain for some distance, following one of the foot- +paths that the admirers of the beautiful landscape have made all over +that pleasant wood. As he came out into the cleared spot, seeing it +already in possession of a party, he bowed, and was passing on, with +a delicacy that Mr. Bragg would be apt to deem eccentric, when +suddenly stopping, he gave a look of intense and eager interest at +the whole party, smiled, advanced rapidly nearer, and discovered his +entire person. + +"I ought not to be surprised," he said, as he advanced so near as to +render doubt any longer impossible, "for I knew you were expected, +and indeed waited for your arrival, and yet this meeting has been so +unexpected as to leave me scarcely in possession of my faculties." + +It is needless to dwell upon the warmth and number of the greetings. +To the surprise of Mr. Bragg, his poet was not only known, but +evidently much esteemed by all the party, with the exception of Miss +Van Cortlandt, to whom he was cordially presented by the name of Mr. +Powis. Eve managed, by an effort of womanly pride, to suppress the +violence of her emotions, and the meeting passed off as one of mutual +surprise and pleasure, without any exhibition of unusual feeling to +attract comment. + +"We ought to express our wonder at finding you here before us, my +dear young friend," said Mr. Effingham, still holding Paul's hand +affectionately between his own; "and, even now, that my own eyes +assure me of the fact, I can hardly believe you would arrive at New- +York, and quit it, without giving us the satisfaction of seeing you." + +"In that, sir, you are not wrong; certainly nothing could have +deprived me of that pleasure, but the knowledge that it would not +have been agreeable to yourselves. My sudden appearance here, +however, will be without mystery, when I tell you that I returned +from England, by the way of Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Falls, +having been induced by my friend Ducie to take that route, in +consequence of his ship's being sent to the St. Lawrence. A desire +for novelty, and particularly a desire to see the celebrated +cataract, which is almost _the_ lion of America, did the rest." + +"We are glad to have you with us on any terms, and I take it as +particularly kind, that you did not pass my door. You have been here +some days?" + +"Quite a week. On reaching Utica I diverged from the great route to +see this place, not anticipating the pleasure of meeting you here so +early; but hearing you were expected, I determined to remain, with a +hope, which I rejoice to find was not vain, that you would not be +sorry to see an old fellow-traveller again." + +Mr. Effingham pressed his hands warmly again, before he relinquished +them; an assurance of welcome that Paul received with thrilling +satisfaction. + +"I have been in Templeton almost long enough," the young man resumed, +laughing, "to set up as a candidate for the public favour, if I +rightly understand the claims of a denizen. By what I can gather from +casual remarks, the old proverb that 'the new broom sweeps clean' +applies with singular fidelity throughout all this region. + +"Have you a copy of your last ode, or a spare epigram, in your +pocket?" inquired John Effingham. + +Paul looked surprised, and Aristabulus, for a novelty, was a little +dashed. Paul looked surprised, as a matter of course, for, although +he had been a little annoyed by the curiosity that is apt to haunt a +village imagination, since his arrival in Templeton, he did not in +the least suspect that his love of a beautiful nature had been +imputed to devotion to the muses. Perceiving, however, by the smiles +of those around him, that there was more meant than was expressed, he +had the tact to permit the explanation to come from the person who +had put the question, if it were proper it should come at all. + +"We will defer the great pleasure that is in reserve," continued John +Effingham, "to another time. At present, it strikes me that the lady +of the lawn is getting to be impatient, and the _dejeuner a la +fourchette_, that I have had the precaution to order, is probably +waiting our appearance. It must be eaten, though under the penalty of +being thought moon-struck rhymers by the whole State. Come, Ned; if +you are sufficiently satisfied with looking at the Wigwam in a +bird's-eye view, we will descend and put its beauties to the severer +test of a close examination." + +This proposal was readily accepted, though all tore themselves from +that lovely spot with reluctance, and not until they had paused to +take another look. + +"Fancy the shores of this lake lined with villas." said Eve, "church- +towers raising their dark heads among these hills; each mountain +crowned with a castle, or a crumbling ruin, and all the other +accessories of an old state of society, and what would then be the +charms of the view!" + +"Less than they are to-day, Miss Effingham," said Paul Powis; "for +though poetry requires--you all smile, is it forbidden to touch on +such subjects?" + +"Not at all, so it be done in wholesome rhymes," returned the +baronet. "You ought to know that you are expected even to speak in +doggerel." + +Paul ceased, and the whole party walked away from the place, laughing +and light-hearted. + +Chapter X. + + "It is the spot, I came to seek, My father's ancient burial place-- + + "It is the spot--I know it well, Of which our old traditions tell." + + BRYANT. + +From the day after their arrival in New-York, or that on which the +account of the arrests by the English cruiser had appeared in the +journals, little had been said by any of our party concerning Paul +Powis, or of the extraordinary manner in which he had left the +packet, at the very moment she was about to enter her haven. It is +true that Mr. Dodge, arrived at Dodgeopolis, had dilated on the +subject in his hebdomadal, with divers additions and conjectures of +his own, and this, too, in a way to attract, a good deal of attention +in the interior; but, it being a rule with those who are supposed to +dwell at the fountain of foreign intelligence, not to receive any +thing from those who ought not to be better informed than themselves, +the Effinghams and their friends had never heard of his account of +the matter. + +While all thought the incident of the sudden return extraordinary, no +one felt disposed to judge the young man harshly. The gentlemen knew +that military censure, however unpleasant, did not always imply moral +unworthiness; and as for the ladies, they retained too lively a sense +of his skill and gallantry, to wish to imagine evil on grounds so +slight and vague. Still, it had been impossible altogether to prevent +the obtrusion of disagreeable surmises, and all now sincerely +rejoiced at seeing their late companion once more among them, +seemingly in a state of mind that announced neither guilt nor +degradation. + +On quitting the mountain, Mr. Effingham, who had a tender regard for +Grace, offered her his arm as he would have given it to a second +daughter, leaving Eve to the care of John Effingham. Sir George +attended to Mademoiselle Viefville, and Paul walked by the side of +our heroine and her cousin, leaving Aristabulus to be what he himself +called a "miscellaneous companion;" or, in other words, to thrust +himself into either set, as inclination or accident might induce. Of +course the parties conversed as they walked, though those in advance +would occasionally pause to say a word to those in the rear; and, as +they descended, one or two changes occurred to which we may have +occasion to allude. + +"I trust you have had pleasant passages," said John Effingham to +Paul, as soon as they were separated in the manner just mentioned. +"Three trips across the Atlantic in so short a time would be hard +duty to a landsman, though you, as a sailor, will probably think less +of it." + +"In this respect I have been fortunate; the Foam, as we know from +experience, being a good traveller, and Ducie is altogether a fine +fellow and an agreeable messmate. You know I had him for a companion +both going and coming." + +This was said naturally; and, while it explained so little directly, +it removed all unpleasant uncertainty, by assuring his listeners that +he had been on good terms at least, with the person who had seemed to +be his pursuer. John Effingham, too, well understood that no one +messed with the commander of a vessel of war, in his own ship, who +was, in any way, thought to be an unfit associate. + +"You have made a material circuit to reach us, the distance by Quebec +being nearly a fourth more than the direct road." + +"Ducie desired it so strongly, that I did not like to deny him. +Indeed, he made it a point, at first, to obtain permission to land me +at New-York, where he had found me, as he said; but to this I would +not listen, as I feared it might interfere with his promotion, of +which he stood so good a chance, in consequence of his success in the +affair of the money. By keeping constantly before the eyes of his +superiors, on duty of interest, I thought his success would be more +certain." + +"And has his government thought his perseverance in the chase worthy +of such a reward?" + +"Indeed it has. He is now a post, and all owing to his good luck and +judgment in that affair; though in his country, rank in private life +does no harm to one in public life." + +Eve liked the emphasis that Paul laid on "his country," and she +thought the whole remark was made in a spirit that an Englishman +would not be apt to betray. + +"Has it ever occurred to you," continued John Effingham, "that our +sudden and unexpected separation, has caused a grave neglect of duty +in me, if not in both of us?" + +Paul looked surprised, and, by his manner, he demanded an +explanation. + +"You may remember the sealed package of poor Mr. Monday, that we were +to open together on our arrival in New-York, and on the contents of +which, we were taught to believe depended the settling of some +important private rights. I gave that package to you, at the moment +it was received, and, in the hurry of leaving us, you overlooked the +circumstance." + +"All very true, and to my shame I confess that, until this instant, +the affair has been quite forgotten by me. I had so much to occupy my +mind while in England, that it was not likely to be remembered, and +then the packet itself has scarce been in my possession since the day +I left you," + +"It is not lost, I trust!" said John Effingham quickly. + +"Surely not--it is safe, beyond a question, in the writing-desk in +which I deposited it. But the moment we got to Portsmouth, Ducie and +myself proceeded to London together, and, as soon as he had got +through at the Admiralty, we went into Yorkshire, where we remained, +much occupied with private matters of great importance to us both, +while his ship was docked; and then it became necessary to make +sundry visits to our relations--" + +"Relations!" repeated Eve involuntarily, though she did not cease to +reproach herself for the indiscretion, during the rest of the walk. + +"Relations--" returned Paul, smiling. "Captain Ducie and myself are +cousins-german, and we made pilgrimages together, to sundry family +shrines. This duty occupied us until a few days before we sailed for +Quebec. On reaching our haven, I left the ship to visit the great +lakes and Niagara, leaving most of my effects with Ducie, who has +promised to bring them on with himself, when he followed on my track, +as he expected soon to do, on his way to the West Indies, where he is +to find a frigate. He owed me this attention, as he insisted, on +account of having induced me to go so far out of my way, with so much +luggage, to oblige him. The packet is, unluckily, left behind with +the other things." + +"And do you expect Captain Ducie to arrive in this country soon?--The +affair of the packet ought not to be neglected much longer, for a +promise to a dying man is doubly binding, as it appeals to all our +generosity. Rather than neglect the matter much longer, I would +prefer sending a special messenger to Quebec." + +"That will be quite unnecessary, as, indeed, it would be useless. +Ducie left Quebec yesterday, and has sent his and my effects direct +to New-York, under the care of his own steward. The writing-case, +containing other papers that are of interest to us both, he has +promised not to lose sight of, but it will accompany him on the same +tour, as that I have just made; for, he wishes to avail himself of +this opportunity to see Niagara and the lakes, also: he is now on my +track, and will notify me by letter of the day he will be in Utica, +in order that we may meet on the line of the canal, near this place, +and proceed to New-York, in company." + +His companions listened to this brief statement with an intense +interest, with which the packet of poor Mr. Monday, however, had very +little connection. John Effingham called to his cousin, and, in a few +words, stated the circumstances as they had just been related to +himself, without adverting to the papers of Mr. Monday, which was an +affair that he had hitherto kept to himself. + +"It will be no more than a return of civility, if we invite Captain +Ducie to diverge from his road, and pass a few days with us, in the +mountains," he added. "At what precise time do you expect him to +pass, Powis?" + +"Within the fortnight. I feel certain he would be glad to pay his +respects to this party, for he often expressed his sincere regrets at +having been employed on a service that exposed the ladies to so much +peril and delay." + +"Captain Ducie is a near kinsman of Mr. Powis, dear father," added +Eve, in a way to show her parent, that the invitation would be +agreeable to herself, for Mr. Effingham was so attentive to the +wishes of his daughter, as never to ask a guest to his house, that he +thought would prove disagreeable to its mistress. + +"I shall do myself the pleasure to write to Captain Ducie, this +evening, urging him to honour us with his company," returned Mr. +Effingham. "We expect other friends in a few days, and I hope he will +not find his time heavy on his hands, while in exile among us. Mr. +Powis will enclose my note in one of his letters, and will, I trust, +second the request by his own solicitations." + +Paul made his acknowledgments, and the whole party proceeded, though +the interruption caused such a change in the _figure_ of the +promenade, as to leave the young man the immediate escort of Eve. The +party, by this time, had not only reached the highway, but it had +again diverged from it, to follow the line of an old and abandoned +wheel-track, that descended the mountain, along the side of the +declivity, by a wilder and more perilous direction than suited a +modern enterprise; it having been one of those little calculated and +rude roads, that the first settlers of a country are apt to make, +before there are time and means to investigate and finish to +advantage. Although much more difficult and dangerous than its +successor, as a highway, this relic of the infant condition of the +country was by far the most retired and beautiful; and pedestrians +continued to use it, as a common foot-path to the Vision. The seasons +had narrowed its surface, and the second growth had nearly covered it +with their branches, shading it like an arbour; and Eve expressed her +delight with its wildness and boldness, mingled, as both were, with +so pleasant a seclusion, as they descended along a path as safe and +convenient as a French _allee_. Glimpses were constantly obtained of +the lake and the village, while they proceeded; and altogether, they +who were strangers to the scenery, were loud in its praises. + +"Most persons, who see this valley for the first time," observed +Aristabulus, "find something to say in its favour; for my part, I +consider it as rather curious myself." + +"Curious!" exclaimed Paul; "that gentleman is, at least, singular in +the choice of his expressions." + +"You have met him before to-day," said Eve, laughing, for Eve was now +in a humour to laugh at trifles. "This we know, since he had prepared +us to meet a poet, where we only find an old friend." + +"Only, Miss Effingham!--Do you estimate poets so high, and old +friends so low?" + +"This extraordinary person, Mr. Aristabulus Bragg, really deranges +all one's notions and opinions in such a manner, as to destroy even +the usual signification of words, I believe. He seems so much in, and +yet so much out of his place; is both so _ruse_, and so unpractised; +so unfit for what he is, and so ready at every thing, that I scarcely +know how to apply terms in any matter with which he has the smallest +connection. I fear he has persecuted you since your arrival in +Templeton?" + +"Not at all; I am so much acquainted with men of his cast, that I +have acquired a tact in managing them. Perceiving that he was +disposed to suspect me of a disposition to 'poetize the lake,' to use +his own term, I took care to drop a couple of lines, roughly written +off, like a hasty and imperfect effusion, where I felt sure he would +find them, and have been living for a whole week on the fame +thereof." + +"You do indulge in such tastes, then?" said Eve smiling a little +saucily. + +"I am as innocent of such an ambition, as of wishing to marry the +heiress of the British throne, which, I believe, just now, is the +goal of all the Icaruses of our own time. I am merely a rank +plagiarist--for the rhyme, on the fame of which I have rioted for a +glorious week, was two lines of Pope's, an author so effectually +forgotten in these palmy days of literature, in which all knowledge +seems so condensed into the productions of the last few years, that a +man might almost pass off an entire classic for his own, without the +fear of detection. It was merely the first couplet of the Essay on +Man, which, fortunately, having an allusion to the 'pride of Kings,' +would pass for original, as well as excellent, in nineteen villages +in twenty in America, in these piping times of ultra-republicanism. +No doubt Mr. Bragg thought a eulogy on the 'people' was to come next, +to be succeeded by a glorious picture of Templeton and its environs." + +"I do not know that I ought to admit these hits at liberty from a +foreigner," said Eve, pretending to look graver than she felt; for +never before, in her life, had our heroine so strong a consciousness +of happiness, as she had experienced that very morning. + +"Foreigner, Miss Effingham!--And why a foreigner?" + +"Nay, you know your own pretended cosmopolitism; and ought not the +cousin of Captain Ducie to be an Englishman?" + +"I shall not answer for the _ought_, the simple fact being a +sufficient reply to the question. The cousin of Captain Ducie is +_not_ an Englishman; nor, as I see you suspect, has he ever served a +day in the British navy, or in any other navy than that of his native +land." + +"This is indeed taking us by surprise, and that most agreeably," +returned Eve, looking up at him with undisguised pleasure, while a +bright glow crimsoned her face. "We could not but feel an interest in +one who had so effectually served us; and both my father and Mr. John +Effingham----" + +"Cousin Jack--" interrupted the smiling Paul. + +"Cousin Jack, then, if you dislike the formality I used; both my +father and cousin Jack examined the American navy registers for your +name, without success, as I understood, and the inference that +followed was fair enough, I believe you will admit." + +"Had they looked at a register of a few years' date, they would have +met with better luck. I have quitted the service, and am a sailor +only in recollections. For the last few years, like yourselves, I +have been a traveller by land as well as by water." + +Eve said no more, though every syllable that the young man uttered +was received by attentive ears, and retained with a scrupulous +fidelity of memory. They walked some distance in silence, until they +reached the grounds of a house that was beautifully placed on the +side of the mountain, near a lovely wood of pines. Crossing these +grounds, until they reached a terrace in front of the dwelling, the +village of Templeton lay directly in their front, perhaps a hundred +feet beneath them, and yet so near, as to render the minutest object +distinct. Here they all stopped to take a more distinct view of a +place that had so much interest with most of the party. + +"I hope you are sufficiently acquainted with the localities to act as +cicerone," said Mr. Effingham to Paul. "In a visit of a week to this +village, you have scarcely overlooked the Wigwam." + +"Perhaps I ought to hesitate, or rather ought to blush to own it," +answered the young man, discharging the latter obligation by +colouring to his temples; "but curiosity has proved so much stronger +than manners, that I have been induced to trespass so far on the +politeness of this gentleman, as to gain an admission to your +dwelling, in and about which more of my time has been passed than has +probably proved agreeable to its inmates." + +"I hope the gentleman will not speak of it," said Aristabulus. "In +this country, we live pretty much in common, and with me it is a +rule, when a gentleman drops in, whether stranger or neighbour, to +show him the civility to ask him to take off his hat." + +"It appears to me," said Eve, willing to change the conversation, +"that Templeton has an unusual number of steeples; for what purpose +can so small a place possibly require so many buildings of that +nature?" + +"All in behalf of orthodoxy, Miss Eve," returned Aristabulus, who +conceived himself to be the proper person to answer such +interrogatories. "There is a shade of opinion beneath every one of +those steeples." + +"Do you mean, sir, that there are as many shades of faith in +Templeton, as I now see buildings that have the appearance of being +devoted to religious purposes?" + +"Double the number, Miss, and some to spare, in the bargain; for you +see but five meeting-houses, and the county-buildings, and we reckon +seven regular hostile denominations in the village, besides the +diversities of sentiment on trifles. This edifice that you perceive +here, in a line with the chimneys of the first house, is New St. +Paul's, Mr. Grant's old church, as orthodox a house, in its way, as +there is in the diocese, as you may see by the windows. This is a +gaining concern, though there has been some falling off of late, in +consequence of the clergyman's having caught a bad cold, which has +made him a little hoarse; but I dare say he will get over it, and the +church ought not to be abandoned on that account, serious as the +matter undoubtedly is, for the moment. A few of us are determined to +back up New St. Paul's in this crisis, and I make it a point to go +there myself, quite half the time." + +"I am glad we have so much of your company," said Mr. Effingham "for +that is our own church, and in it my daughter was baptized. But, do +you divide your religious opinions in halves, Mr. Bragg?" + +"In as many parts, Mr. Effingham, as there are denominations in the +neighbourhood, giving a decided preference to New St. Paul's, +notwithstanding, under the peculiar circumstances, particularly to +the windows. The dark, gloomy-looking building, Miss, off in the +distance, yonder, is the Methodist affair, of which not much need be +said; Methodism flourishing but little among us since the +introduction of the New Lights, who have fairly managed to out-excite +them, on every plan they can invent. I believe, however, they stick +pretty much to the old doctrine, which, no doubt, is one great reason +of their present apathetic state; for the people do love novelties." + +"Pray, sir, what building is this nearly in a line with New St. +Paul's, and which resembles it a little, in colour and form?" + +"Windows excepted; it has two rows of regular square-topped windows, +Miss, as you may observe. That is the First Presbyterian, or the old +standard; a very good house, and a pretty good faith, too, as times +go. I make it a point to attend there, at least once every fortnight; +for change is agreeable to the nature of man. I will say, Miss, that +my preference, so far as I have any, however, is for New St. Paul's, +and I have experienced considerable regrets, that these Presbyterians +have gained a material advantage over us, in a very essential point, +lately." + +"I am sorry to hear this, Mr. Bragg; for, being an Episcopalian +myself, and having great reliance on the antiquity and purity of my +church, I should be sorry to find it put in the wrong by any other." + +"I fear we must give that point up, notwithstanding, for these +Presbyterians have entirely outwitted the church people in that +matter." + +"And what is the point in which we have been so signally worsted?" + +"Why, Miss, their new bell weighs quite a hundred more than that of +New St. Paul's, and has altogether the best sound. I know very well +that this advantage will not avail them any thing to boast of, in the +last great account; but it makes a surprising difference in the state +of probation. You see the yellowish looking building across the +valley, with a heavy wall around it, and a belfry? That, in its +regular character, is the county court-house, and gaol; but, in the +way of religion, it is used pretty much miscellaneously." + +"Do you mean, really, sir, that divine service is ever actually +performed in it, or that persons of all denominations are +occasionally tried there?" + +"It would be truer to say that all denominations occasionally try the +court-house," said Aristabulus, simpering; "for I believe it has been +used in this way by every shade of religion short of the Jews. The +Gothic tower in wood, is the building of the Universalists; and the +Grecian edifice, that is not yet painted, the Baptists. The Quakers, +I believe, worship chiefly at home, and the different shades of the +Presbyterians meet, in different rooms, in private houses, about the +place." + +"Are there then shades of difference in the denominations, as well as +all these denominations?" asked Eve, in unfeigned surprise; "and +this, too, in a population so small?" + +"This is a free county, Miss Eve, and freedom loves variety. 'Many +men, many minds.'" + +"Quite true, sir," said Paul; "but here are many minds among few men. +Nor is this all; agreeably to your own account, some of these men do +not exactly know their own minds. But, can you explain to us what +essential points are involved in all these shades of opinion?" + +"It would require a life, sir, to understand the half of them. Some +say that excitement is religion, and others, that it is contentment. +One set cries up practice, and another cries out against it. This man +maintains that he will be saved if he does good, and that man affirms +that if he only does good, he will be damned; a little evil is +necessary to salvation, with one shade of opinion, while another +thinks a man is never so near conversion as when he is deepest in +sin." + +"Subdivision is the order of the day," added John Effingham; "every +county is to be subdivided that there may be more county towns, and +county offices; every religion decimated, that there may be a greater +variety and a better quality of saints." + +Aristabulus nodded his head, and he would have winked, could he have +presumed to take such a liberty with a man he held as much in +habitual awe, as John Effingham. + +"_Monsieur_," inquired Mademoiselle Viefville, "is there no _eglise_, +no _veritable eglise_, in Templeton?" + +"Oh, yes, Madame, several," returned Aristabulus, who would as soon +think of admitting that he did not understand the meaning of +_veritable eglise_, as one of the sects he had been describing would +think of admitting that it was not infallible in its interpretation +of Christianity--"several; but they are not be seen from this +particular spot." + +"How much more picturesque would it be, and even christian-like in +appearance, at least," said Paul, could these good people consent to +unite in worshipping God!--and how much does it bring into strong +relief, the feebleness and ignorance of man, when you see him +splitting hairs about doctrines, under which he has been told, in +terms as plain as language can make it, that he is simply required to +believe in the goodness and power of a Being whose nature and +agencies exceed his comprehension." + +"All very true," cried John Effingham, "but what would become of +liberty of conscience in such a case? Most men, now-a-days, +understand by faith, a firm reliance on their own opinions!" + +"In that case, too," put in Aristabulus, "we should want this +handsome display of churches to adorn our village. There is good +comes of it; for any man would be more likely to invest in a place +that has five churches, than in a place with but one. As it is, +Templeton has as beautiful a set of churches as any village I know." + +"Say, rather, sir, a set of castors; for a stronger resemblance to +vinegar-cruets and mustard-pots, than is borne by these architectural +prodigies, eye never beheld." + +"It is, nevertheless, a beautiful thing, to see the high pointed roof +of the house of God, crowning an assemblage of houses, as one finds +it in other countries," said Eve, "instead of a pile of tavern, as is +too much the case in this dear home of ours." + +When this remark was uttered, they descended the step that led from +the terrace, and proceeded towards the village. On reaching the gate +of the Wigwam, the whole party stood confronted with that offspring +of John Effingham's taste; for so great had been his improvements on +the original production of Hiram Doolittle, that externally, at +least, that distinguished architect could no longer have recognized +the fruits of his own talents. + +"This is carrying out to the full, John, the conceits of the +composite order," observed Mr. Effingham, drily. + +"I shall be sorry, Ned, if you dislike your house, as it is amended +and corrected." + +"Dear cousin Jack," cried Eve, "it is an odd jumble of the Grecian +and Gothic. One would like to know your authorities for such a +liberty." + +"What do you think of the _facade_ of the cathedral of Milan, Miss," +laying emphasis on the last words, in imitation of the manner of Mr. +Bragg. "Is it such a novelty to see the two styles blended; or is +architecture so pure in America, that you think I have committed the +unpardonable sin." + +"Nay, nothing that is out of rule ought to strike one, in a country +where imitation governs in all things immaterial, and originality +unsettles all things sacred and dear." + +"By way of punishment for that bold speech, I wish I had left the old +rookery in the state I found it, that its beauties might have greeted +your eyes, instead of this uncouth pile, which seems so much to +offend them. Mademoiselle Viefville, permit me to ask how you like +that house?" + +"_Mais, c'est un petit chateau_" + +"_Un chateau, Effinghamise,_" said Eve, laughing. + +"_Effinghamise si vous voulez, ma chere; pourtant c'est un chateau_." + +"The general opinion in this part of the country is," said +Aristabulus, "that Mr. John Effingham has altered the building on the +plan of some edifice of Europe, though I forget the name of the +particular temple; it is not, however, the Parthenon, nor the temple +of Minerva." + +"I hope, at least," said Mr. Effingham, leading the way up a little +lawn, "it will not turn out to be the Temple of the Winds." + +Chapter XI. + + "Nay, I'll come; if I lose a scruple of this sport, let me be oiled + to death with melancholy."--SHAKSPEARE. + +The progress of society in America, has been distinguished by several +peculiarities that do not so properly belong to the more regular and +methodical advances of civilization in other parts of the world. On +the one hand, the arts of life, like Minerva, who was struck out of +the intellectual being of her father at a blow, have started full- +grown into existence, as the legitimate inheritance of the colonists, +while, on the other, every thing tends towards settling down into a +medium, as regards quality, a consequence of the community-character +of the institutions. Every thing she had seen that day, had struck +Eve as partaking of this mixed nature, in which, while nothing was +vulgar, little even approached to that high standard, that her +European education had taught her to esteem perfect. In the Wigwam, +however, as her father's cousin had seen fit to name the family +dwelling, there was more of keeping, and a closer attention to the +many little things she had been accustomed to consider essential to +comfort and elegance, and she was better satisfied with her future +home, than with most she had seen since her return to America. + +As we have described the interior of this house, in another work, +little remains to be said on the subject, at present; for, while John +Effingham had completely altered its external appearance, its +internal was not much changed. It is true, the cloud-coloured +covering had disappeared, as had that stoop also, the columns of +which were so nobly upheld by their super-structure; the former +having given place to a less obtrusive roof, that was regularly +embattled, and the latter having been swallowed up by a small +entrance tower, that the new architect had contrived to attach to the +building with quite as much advantage to it, in the way of comfort, +as in the way of appearance. In truth, the Wigwam had none of the +more familiar features of a modern American dwelling of its class. +There was not a column about it, whether Grecian, Roman, or Egyptian; +no Venetian blinds; no verandah or piazza; no outside paint, nor gay +blending of colours. On the contrary, it was a plain old structure, +built with great solidity, and of excellent materials, and in that +style of respectable dignity and propriety, that was perhaps a little +more peculiar to our fathers than it is peculiar to their successors, +our worthy selves. In addition to the entrance tower, or porch, on +its northern front, John Effingham had also placed a prettily devised +conceit on the southern, by means of which the abrupt transition from +an inner room to the open air was adroitly avoided. He had, moreover, +removed the "firstly" of the edifice, and supplied its place with a +more suitable addition that contained some of the offices, while it +did not disfigure the building, a rare circumstance in an +architectural after-thought. + +Internally, the Wigwam had gradually been undergoing improvements, +ever since that period, which, in the way of the arts, if not in the +way of chronology, might be termed the dark ages of Otsego. The great +hall had long before lost its characteristic decoration of the +severed arm of Wolf, a Gothic paper that was better adapted to the +really respectable architecture of the room being its substitute; and +even the urn that was thought to contain the ashes of Queen Dido, +like the pitcher that goes often to the well, had been broken in a +war of extermination that had been carried on against the cobwebs by +a particularly notable housekeeper. Old Homer, too, had gone the way +of all baked clay. Shakspeare, himself, had dissolved into dust, +"leaving not a wreck behind;" and of Washington and Franklin, even, +indigenous as they were, there remained no vestiges. Instead of these +venerable memorials of the past, John Effingham, who retained a +pleasing recollection of their beauties as they had presented +themselves to his boyish eyes, had bought a few substitutes in a New- +York shop, and _a_ Shakspeare, and _a_ Milton, and _a_ Caesar, and _a_ +Dryden, and _a_ Locke, as the writers of heroic so beautifully +express it, were now seated in tranquil dignity on the old medallions +that had held their illustrious predecessors. Although time had, as +yet, done little for this new collection in the way of colour, dust +and neglect were already throwing around them the tint of antiquity. + +"The lady," to use the language of Mr. Bragg, who did the cooking of +the Wigwam, having every thing in readiness, our party took their +seats at the breakfast table, which was spread in the great hall, as +soon as each had paid a little attention to the _toilette_. As the +service was neither very scientific, nor sufficiently peculiar, +either in the way of elegance or of its opposite quality, to be +worthy of notice, we shall pass it over in silence. + +"One will not quite so much miss European architecture in this +house," said Eve, as she took her seat at table, glancing an eye at +the spacious and lofty room, in which they were assembled; "here is +at least size and its comforts, if not elegance." + +"Had you lost all recollection of this building, my child?" inquired +her father, kindly; "I was in hopes you would feel some of the +happiness of returning home, when you again found yourself beneath +its roof!" + +"I should greatly dislike to have all the antics I have been playing +in my own dressing-room exposed," returned Eve, rewarding the +parental solicitude of her father by a look of love, "though Grace, +between her laughing and her tears, has threatened me with such a +disgrace. Ann Sidley has also been weeping, and, as even Annette, +always courteous and considerate, has shed a few tears in the way of +sympathy, you ought not to imagine that I have been altogether so +stoical as not to betray some feeling, dear father. But the paroxysm +is past, and I am beginning to philosophize. I hope, cousin Jack, you +have not forgotten that the drawing-room is a lady's empire!" + +"I have respected your rights, Miss Effingham, though, with a wish to +prevent any violence to your tastes, I have caused sundry +antediluvian paintings and engravings to be consigned to the--" + +"Garret?" inquired Eve, so quickly as to interrupt the speaker. + +"Fire," coolly returned her cousin. "The garret is now much too good +for them; that part of the house being converted into sleeping-rooms +for the maids. Mademoiselle Annette would go into hysterics, were she +to see the works of art, that satisfied the past generation of +masters in this country, in too close familiarity with her Louvre- +ized eyes." + +"_Point du tout, monsieur_," said Mademoiselle Viefville, innocently; +"_Annette a du gout dans son metier sans doute_, but she is too well +bred to expect _impossibilites._ No doubt she would have conducted +herself with decorum." + +Every body laughed, for much light-heartedness prevailed at that +board, and the conversation continued. + +"I shall be satisfied if Annette escape convulsions," Eve added, "a +refined taste being her weakness; and, to be frank, what I recollect +of the works you mention, is not of the most flattering nature." + +"And yet," observed Sir George, "nothing has surprised me more than +the respectable state of the arts of engraving and painting in this +country. It was unlooked for, and the pleasure has probably been in +proportion to the surprise." + +"In that you are very right, Sir George Templemore," John Effingham +answered; "but the improvement is of very recent date. He who +remembers an American town half a century ago, will see a very +different thing in an American town of to-day; and this is equally +true of the arts you mention, with the essential difference that the +latter are taking a right direction under a proper instruction, while +the former are taking a wrong direction, under the influence of +money, that has no instruction. Had I left much of the old furniture, +or any of the old pictures in the Wigwam, we should have had the +bland features of Miss Effingham in frowns, instead of bewitching +smiles, at this very moment." + +"And yet I have seen fine old furniture in this country, cousin +Jack." + +"Very true; though not in this part of it. The means of conveyance +were wanting half a century since, and few people risk finery of any +sort on corduroys. This very house had some respectable old things, +that were brought here by dint of money, and they still remain; but +the eighteenth century in general, may be set down as a very dark +antiquity in all this region." + +When the repast was over, Mr. Effingham led his guests and daughter +through the principal apartments, sometimes commending, and sometimes +laughing, at the conceits of his kinsman. The library was a good +sized room; good sized at least for a country in which domestic +architecture, as well as public architecture, is still in the +chrysalis state. Its walls were hung with an exceedingly pretty +gothic paper, in green, but over each window was a chasm in the upper +border; and as this border supplied the arches, the unity of the +entire design was broken in no less than four places, that being the +precise number of the windows. The defect soon attracted the eye of +Eve, and she was not slow in demanding an explanation. + +"The deficiency is owing to an American accident," returned her +cousin; "one of those calamities of which you are fated to experience +many, as the mistress of an American household. No more of the border +was to be bought in the country, and this is a land of shops and not +of _fabricants_. At Paris, Mademoiselle, one would send to the paper- +maker for a supply; but, alas! he that has not enough of a thing with +us, is as badly off as if he had none. We are consumers, and not +producers of works of art. It is a long way to send to France for ten +or fifteen feet of paper hangings, and yet this must be done, or my +beautiful gothic arches will remain forever without their key- +stones!" + +"One sees the inconvenience of this," observed Sir George--"we feel +it, even in England, in all that relates to imported things." + +"And we, in nearly all things, but food." + +"And does not this show that America can never become a manufacturing +country?" asked the baronet, with the interest an intelligent +Englishman ever feels in that all-absorbing question. "If you cannot +manufacture an article as simple as that of paper-hangings, would it +not be well to turn your attention, altogether, to agriculture?" + +As the feeling of this interrogatory was much more apparent than its +logic, smiles passed from one to the other, though John Effingham, +who really had a regard for Sir George, was content to make an +evasive reply, a singular proof of amity, in a man of his caustic +temperament. + +The survey of the house, on the whole, proved satisfactory to its +future mistress, who complained, however, that it was furnished too +much like a town residence. + +"For," she added, "you will remember, cousin Jack, that our visits +here will be something like a _villeggiatura_." + +"Yes, yes, my fair lady; it will not be long before your Parisian and +Roman tastes will be ready to pronounce the whole country a +_villeggiatura!_" + +"This is the penalty, Eve, one pays for being a Hajji," observed +Grace, who had been closely watching the expression of the others' +countenances; for, agreeably to her view of things, the Wigwam wanted +nothing to render it a perfect abode. "The things that _we_ enjoy, +_you_ despise." + +"That is an argument, my dear coz, that would apply equally well, as +a reason for preferring brown sugar to white." + +"In coffee, certainly, Miss Eve," put in the attentive Aristabulus, +who having acquired this taste, in virtue of an economical mother, +really fancied it a pure one. "Every body, in these regions, prefers +the brown in coffee." + +"_Oh, mon pere et ma mere, comme je vous en veux,_" said Eve, without +attending to the nice distinctions of Mr. Bragg, which savoured a +little too much of the neophyte in cookery, to find favour in the +present company, "_comme je vous en veux_ for having neglected so +many beautiful sites, to place this building in the very spot it +occupies." + +"In that respect, my child, we may rather be grateful at finding so +comfortable a house, at all. Compared with the civilization that then +surrounded it, this dwelling was a palace at the time of its +erection; bearing some such relation to the humbler structures around +it, as the _chateau_ bears to the cottage. Remember that brick had +never before been piled on brick, in the walls of a house, in all +this region, when the Wigwam was constructed. It is the Temple of +Neptune of Otsego, if not of all the surrounding counties." + +Eve pressed to her lips the hand she was holding in both her own, and +they all passed out of the library into another room. As they came in +front of the hall windows, a party of apprentice-boys were seen +coolly making their arrangements to amuse themselves with a game of +ball, on the lawn directly in front of the house. + +"Surely, Mr. Bragg," said the owner of the Wigwam, with more +displeasure in his voice than was usual for one of his regulated +mind, "you do not countenance this liberty?" + +"Liberty, sir!--I am an advocate for liberty wherever I can find it. +Do you refer to the young men on the lawn, Mr. Effingham?" + +"Certainly to them, sir; and permit me to say, I think they might +have chosen a more suitable spot for their sports. They are mistaking +_liberties_ for liberty I fear." + +"Why, sir, I believe they have _always_ played ball in that precise +locality." + +"_Always_!--I can assure you this is a great mistake. What private +family, placed as we are in the centre of a village, would allow of +an invasion of its privacy in this rude manner? Well may the house be +termed a Wigwam, if this whooping is to be tolerated before its +door." + +"You forget, Ned," said John Effingham, with a sneer, "that an +American _always_ means just eighteen months. _Antiquity_ is reached +in five lustres, and the dark ages at the end of a human life. I dare +say these amiable young gentlemen, who enliven their sports with so +many agreeable oaths, would think you very unreasonable and +encroaching to presume to tell them they are unwelcome." + +"To own the truth, Mr. John, it _would_ be downright unpopular." + +"As I cannot permit the ears of the ladies to be offended with these +rude brawls, and shall never consent to have grounds that are so +limited, and which so properly belong to the very privacy of my +dwelling, invaded in this coarse manner, I beg, Mr. Bragg, that you +will, at once, desire these young men to pursue their sports +somewhere else." + +Aristabulus received this commission with a very ill grace; for, +while his native sagacity told him that Mr. Effingham was right, he +too well knew the loose habits that had been rapidly increasing in +the country during the last ten years, not to foresee that the order +would do violence to all the apprentices' preconceived notions of +their immunities; for, as he had truly stated, things move at so +quick a pace in America, and popular feeling is so arbitrary, that a +custom of a twelve months' existence is deemed sacred, until the +public, itself, sees fit to alter it. He was reluctantly quitting the +party, on his unpleasant duty, when Mr. Effingham turned to a +servant, who belonged to the place, and bade him go to the village +barber, and desire him to come to the Wigwam to cut his hair; Pierre, +who usually performed that office for him, being busied in unpacking +trunks. + +"Never mind, Tom," said Aristabulus obligingly, as he took up his +hat; "I am going into the street, and will give the message to Mr. +Lather." + +"I cannot think, sir, of employing you on such a duty," hastily +interposed Mr. Effingham, who felt a gentleman's reluctance to impose +an unsuitable office on any of his dependants--"Tom, I am sure, will +do me the favour." + +"Do not name it, my dear sir; nothing makes me happier than to do +these little errands, and, another time, you can do as much for me." + +Aristabulus now went his way more cheerfully, for he determined to go +first to the barber, hoping that some expedient might suggest itself, +by means of which he could coax the apprentices from the lawn, and +thus escape the injury to his popularity, that he so much dreaded. It +is true, these apprentices were not voters, but then some of them +speedily would be, and all of them, moreover, had _tongues_, an +instrument Mr. Bragg held in quite as much awe as some men dread +salt-petre. In passing the ball-players, he called out in a wheedling +tone to their ringleader, a notorious street brawler-- + +"A fine time for sport, Dickey; don't you think there would be more +room in the broad street than on this crowded lawn, where you lose +your ball so often in the shrubbery?" + +"This place will do, on a pinch," bawled Dickey--"though it might be +better. If it warn't for that plagued house, we couldn't ask for a +better ball-ground." + +"I don't see," put in another, "what folks built a house just in that +spot for; it has spoilt the very best play-ground in the village." + +"Some people have their notions as well as others," returned +Aristabulus; "but, gentlemen, if I were in your place, I would try +the street; I feel satisfied you would find it much the most +agreeable and convenient." + +The apprentices thought differently, however, or they were indisposed +to the change; and so they recommenced their yells, their oaths, and +their game. In the mean while, the party in the house continued their +examination of John Effingham's improvements; and when this was +completed, they separated, each to his or her own room. + +Aristabulus soon reappeared on the lawn; and, approaching the ball- +players, he began to execute his commission, as he conceived, in good +earnest. Instead of simply saying, however, that it was disagreeable +to the owner of the property to have such an invasion on his privacy, +and thus putting a stop to the intrusion for the future as well as at +the present moment, he believed some address necessary to attain the +desired end. + +"Well, Dickey," he said, "there is no accounting for tastes; but, in +my opinion, the street would be a much better place to play ball in +than this lawn. I wonder gentlemen of your observation should be +satisfied with so cramped a play-ground!" + +"I tell you, Squire Bragg, this will do," roared Dickey; "we are in a +hurry, and no way particular; the bosses will be after us in half an +hour. Heave away, Sam." + +"There are so many fences hereabouts," continued Aristabulus, with an +air of indifference; "it's true the village trustees say there _shall +be no ball-playing in the street_, but I conclude you don't much mind +what _they_ think or threaten." + +"Let them sue for that, if they like," bawled a particularly amiable +blackguard, called Peter, who struck his ball as he spoke, quite into +the principal street of the village. "Who's a trustee, that he should +tell gentlemen where they are to play ball!" + +"Sure enough," said Aristabulus, "and, now, by following up that +blow, you can bring matters to an issue. I think the law very +oppressive, and you can never have so good an opportunity to bring +things to a crisis. Besides, it is very aristocratic to play ball +among roses and dahlias." + +The bait took; for what apprentice--American apprentice, in +particular--can resist an opportunity of showing how much he +considers himself superior to the law? Then it had never struck any +of the party before, that it was vulgar and aristocratic to pursue +the sport among roses, and one or two of them actually complained +that they had pricked their fingers, in searching for the ball. + +"I know Mr. Effingham will be very sorry to have you go," continued +Aristabulus, following up his advantage; "but gentlemen cannot always +forego their pleasures for other folks." + +"Who's Mr. Effingham, I would like to know?" cried Joe Wart. "If he +wants people to play ball on his premises, let him cut down his +roses. Come, gentlemen, I conform to Squire Bragg, and invite you all +to follow me into the street." + +As the lawn was now evacuated, _en masse_, Aristabulus proceeded with +alacrity to the house, and went into the library, where Mr. Effingham +was patiently waiting his return. + +"I am happy to inform you, sir," commenced the ambassador, "that the +ball-players have adjourned; and as for Mr. Lather, he declines your +proposition." + +"Declines my proposition!" + +"Yes, sir; he dislikes to come; for he thinks it will be altogether a +poor operation. His notion is, that if it be worth his while to come +up to the Wigwam to cut your hair, it may be worth your while to go +down to the shop, to have it cut. Considering the matter in all its +bearings, therefore, he concludes he would rather not engage in the +transaction at all." + +"I regret, sir, to have consented to your taking so disagreeable a +commission, and regret it the more, now I find that the barber is +disposed to be troublesome." + +"Not at all, sir. Mr. Lather is a good man, in his way, and +particularly neighbourly. By the way, Mr. Effingham, he asked me to +propose to let him take down your garden fence, in order that he may +haul some manure on his potato patch, which wants it dreadfully, he +says." + +"Certainly, sir. I cannot possibly object to his hauling his manure, +even through this house, should he wish it. He is so very valuable a +citizen, and one who knows his own business so well, that I am only +surprised at the moderation of his request." + +Here Mr. Effingham rose, rang the bell for Pierre, and went to his +own room, doubting, in his own mind, from all that he had seen, +whether this was really the Templeton he had known in his youth, and +whether he was in his own house or not. + +As for Aristabulus, who saw nothing out of rule, or contrary to his +own notions of propriety, in what had passed, he hurried off to tell +the barber, who was so ignorant of the first duty of his trade, that +he was at liberty to pull down Mr. Effingham's fence, in order to +manure his own potato patch. + +Lest the reader should suppose we are drawing caricatures, instead of +representing an actual condition of society, it may be necessary to +explain that Mr. Bragg was a standing candidate for popular favour; +that, like Mr. Dodge, he considered every thing that presented itself +in the name of the public, as sacred and paramount, and that so +general and positive was his deference for majorities, that it was +the bias of his mind to think half-a-dozen always in the right, as +opposed to one, although that one, agreeably to the great decision of +the real majority of the entire community, had not only the law on +his side, but all the abstract merits of the disputed question. In +short, to such a pass of freedom had Mr. Bragg, in common with a +large class of his countrymen, carried his notions, that he had +really begun to imagine liberty was all means and no end. + +Chapter XII. + + "In sooth, thou wast in very gracious fooling last night, when thou + spokest of Pigrogromotus, of the Vapians passing the equinoctial of + Queubus; 't was very good i' faith."--SIR ANDREW AGUE-CHEEK. + +The progress of society, it has just been said, in what is termed a +"new country," is a little anomalous. At the commencement of a +settlement, there is much of that sort of kind feeling and mutual +interest, which men are apt to manifest towards each other, when they +are embarked in an enterprise of common hazards. The distance that is +unavoidably inseparable from education, habits and manners, is +lessened by mutual wants and mutual efforts; and the gentleman, even +while he may maintain his character and station, maintains them with +that species of good-fellowship and familiarity, that marks the +intercourse between the officer and the soldier, in an arduous +campaign. Men, and even women, break bread together, and otherwise +commingle, that, in different circumstances, would be strangers; the +hardy adventures and rough living of the forest, apparently lowering +the pretensions of the man of cultivation and mere mental resources, +to something very near the level of those of the man of physical +energy, and manual skill. In this rude intercourse, the parties meet, +as it might be, on a sort of neutral ground, one yielding some of his +superiority, and the other laying claims to an outward show of +equality, that he secretly knows, however, is the result of the +peculiar circumstances in which he is placed. In short, the state of +society is favourable to the claims of mere animal force, and +unfavourable to those of the higher qualities. + +This period may be termed, perhaps, the happiest of the first century +of a settlement. The great cares of life are so engrossing and +serious, that small vexations are overlooked, and the petty +grievances that would make us seriously uncomfortable in a more +regular state of society, are taken as matters of course, or laughed +at as the regular and expected incidents of the day. Good-will +abounds; neighbour comes cheerfully to the aid of neighbour; and life +has much of the reckless gaiety, careless association, and buoyant +merriment of childhood. It is found that they who have passed through +this probation, usually look back to it with regret, and are fond of +dwelling on the rude scenes and ridiculous events that distinguish +the history of a new settlement, as the hunter is known to pine for +the forest. + +To this period of fun, toil, neighbourly feeling and adventure, +succeeds another, in which society begins to marshal itself, and the +ordinary passions have sway. Now it is, that we see the struggles for +place, the heart-burnings and jealousies of contending families, and +the influence of mere money. Circumstances have probably established +the local superiority of a few beyond all question, and the +conditioese serves as a goal for the rest to aim at. The learned +professions, the ministry included, or what, by courtesy, are so +called, take precedence, as a matter of course, next to wealth, +however, when wealth is at all supported by appearances. Then +commence those gradations of social station, that set institutions at +defiance, and which as necessarily follow civilization, as tastes and +habits are a consequence of indulgence. + +This is, perhaps, the least inviting condition of society that +belongs to any country that can claim to be free and removed from +barbarism. The tastes are too uncultivated to exercise any essential +influence; and when they do exist, it is usually with the pretension +and effort that so commonly accompany infant knowledge. The struggle +is only so much the more severe, in consequence of the late _pele +mele_, while men lay claim to a consideration that would seem beyond +their reach, in an older and more regulated community. It is during +this period that manners suffer the most, since they want the nature +and feeling of the first condition, while they are exposed to the +rudest assaults of the coarse-minded and vulgar; for, as men usually +defer to a superiority that is long established, there being a charm +about antiquity that is sometimes able to repress the passions, in +older communities the marshalling of time quietly regulates what is +here the subject of strife. + +What has just been said, depends on a general and natural principle, +perhaps; but the state of society we are describing has some features +peculiar to itself. The civilization of America, even in its older +districts, which supply the emigrants to the newer regions, is +unequal; one state possessing a higher level than another. Coming as +it does, from different parts of this vast country, the population of +a new settlement, while it is singularly homogenous for the +circumstances, necessarily brings with it its local peculiarities. If +to these elements be added a sprinkling of Europeans of various +nations and conditions, the effects of the commingling, and the +temporary social struggles that follow, will occasion no surprise. + +The third and last condition of society in a "new country," is that +in which the influence of the particular causes enumerated ceases, +and men and things come within the control of more general and +regular laws. The effect, of course, is to leave the community +possession of a civilization that conforms to that of the whole +region, be it higher or be it lower, and with the division into +castes that are more or less rigidly maintained, according to +circumstances. + +The periods, as the astronomers call the time taken in a celestial +revolution, of the two first of these epochs in the history of a +settlement, depend very much on its advancement in wealth and in +numbers. In some places, the pastoral age, or that of good +fellowship, continues for a whole life, to the obvious retrogression +of the people, in most of the higher qualities, but to their manifest +advantage, however, in the pleasures of the time being; while, in +others, it passes away rapidly, like the buoyant animal joys, that +live their time, between fourteen and twenty. + +The second period is usually of longer duration, the migratory habits +of the American people keeping society more unsettled than might +otherwise prove to be the case. It may be said never to cease +entirely until the great majority of the living generation are +natives of the region, knowing no other means of comparison than +those under which they have passed their days. Even when this is the +case, there is commonly so large an infusion of the birds of passage, +men who are adventurers in quest of advancement, and who live without +the charities of a neighbourhood, as they may be said almost to live +without a home, that there is to be found, for a long time, a middle +state of society, during which it may well be questioned whether a +community belongs to the second or to the third of the periods named. + +Templeton was properly in this equivocal condition, for while the +third generation of the old settlers were in active life, so many +passers-by came and went, that the influence of the latter nearly +neutralized that of time and the natural order of things. Its +population was pretty equally divided between the descendants of the +earlier inhabitants, and those who flitted like swallows and other +migratory birds. All of those who had originally entered the region +in the pride of manhood, and had been active in converting the +wilderness into the abodes of civilized men, if they had not been +literally gathered to their fathers, in a physical sense had been +laid, the first of their several races, beneath those sods that were +to cover the heads of so many of their descendants. A few still +remained among those who entered the wilderness in young manhood, but +the events of the first period we have designated, and which we have +imperfectly recorded in another work, were already passing into +tradition. Among these original settlers some portion of the feeling +that had distinguished their earliest communion with their neighbours +yet continued, and one of their greatest delights was to talk of the +hardships and privations of their younger days, as the veteran loves +to discourse of his marches, battles, scars, and sieges. It would be +too much to say that these persons viewed the more ephemeral part of +the population with distrust, for their familiarity with changes +accustomed them to new faces; but they had a secret inclination for +each other, preferred those who could enter the most sincerely into +their own feelings, and naturally loved that communion best, where +they found the most sympathy. To this fragment of the community +belonged nearly all there was to be found of that sort of sentiment +which is connected with locality; adventure, with them, supplying the +place of time; while the natives of the spot, wanting in the +recollections that had so many charms for their fathers, were not yet +brought sufficiently within the influence of traditionary interest, +to feel that hallowed sentiment in its proper force. As opposed in +feeling to these relics of the olden time, were the birds of passage +so often named, a numerous and restless class, that, of themselves, +are almost sufficient to destroy whatever there is of poetry, or of +local attachment, in any region where they resort. + +In Templeton and its adjacent district, however, the two hostile +influences might be said to be nearly equal, the descendants of the +fathers of the country beginning to make a manly stand against the +looser sentiment, or the want of sentiment, that so singularly +distinguishes the migratory bands. The first did begin to consider +the temple in which their fathers had worshipped more hallowed than +strange altars; the sods that covered their fathers' heads more +sacred than the clods that were upturned by the plough; and the +places of their childhood and childish sports dearer than the highway +trodden by a nameless multitude. + +Such, then, were the elements of the society into which we have now +ushered the reader, and with which it will be our duty to make him +better acquainted, as we proceed in the regular narration of the +incidents of our tale. + +The return of the Effinghams, after so long an absence, naturally +produced a sensation in so small a place, and visiters began to +appear in the Wigwam as soon as propriety would allow. Many false +rumours prevailed, quite as a matter of course; and Eve, it was +reported, was on the point of being married to no less than three of +the inmates of her father's house, within the first ten days, viz: +Sir George Templemore, Mr. Powis, and Mr. Bragg; the latter story +taking its rise in some precocious hopes that had escaped the +gentleman himself, in the "excitement" of helping to empty a bottle +of bad Breton wine, that was dignified with the name of champagne. +But these tales revived and died so often, in a state of society in +which matrimony is so general a topic with the young of the gentler +sex, that they brought with them their own refutation. + +The third day, in particular, after the arrival of our party, was a +reception day at the Wigwam; the gentlemen and ladies making it a +point to be at home and disengaged, after twelve o'clock, in order to +do honour to their guests. One of the first who made his appearance +was a Mr. Howel, a bachelor of about the same age as Mr. Effingham, +and a man of easy fortune and quiet habits. Nature had done more +towards making Mr. Howel a gentleman, than either cultivation or +association; for he had passed his entire life, with very immaterial +exceptions, in the valley of Templeton, where, without being what +could be called a student, or a scholar, he had dreamed away his +existence in an indolent communication with the current literature of +the day. He was fond of reading, and being indisposed to contention, +or activity of any sort, his mind had admitted the impressions of +what he perused, as the stone receives a new form by the constant +fall of drops of water. Unfortunately for Mr. Howel, he understood no +language but his mother tongue; and, as all his reading was +necessarily confined to English books, he had gradually, and unknown +to himself, in his moral nature at least, got to be a mere reflection +of those opinions, prejudices, and principles, if such a word can +properly be used for such a state of the mind, that it had suited the +interests or passions of England to promulgate by means of the press. +A perfect _bonne foi_ prevailed in all his notions; and though a very +modest man by nature, so very certain was he that his authority was +always right, that he was a little apt to be dogmatical on such +points as he thought his authors appeared to think settled. Between +John Effingham and Mr. Howel, there were constant amicable skirmishes +in the way of discussion; for, while the latter was so dependent, +limited in knowledge by unavoidable circumstances, and disposed to an +innocent credulity, the first was original in his views, accustomed +to see and think for himself, and, moreover, a little apt to estimate +his own advantages at their full value. + +"Here comes our good neighbour, and my old school-fellow, Tom Howel." +said Mr. Effingham, looking out at a window, and perceiving the +person mentioned crossing the little lawn in front of the house, by +following a winding foot-path--"as kind-hearted a man, Sir George +Templemore, as exists; one who is really American, for he has +scarcely quitted the county half-a-dozen times in his life, and one +of the honestest fellows of my acquaintance." + +"Ay," put in John Effingham, "as real an American as any man can be, +who uses English spectacles for all he looks at, English opinions for +all he says, English prejudices for all he condemns, and an English +palate for all he tastes. American, quotha! The man is no more +American than the Times' newspaper, or Charing Cross! He actually +made a journey to New-York last war, to satisfy himself with his own +eyes that a Yankee frigate had really brought an Englishman into +port." + +"His English predilections will be no fault in my eyes," said the +baronet, smiling--"and I dare say we shall be excellent friends." + +"I am sure Mr. Howel is a very agreeable man," added Grace--"of all +in your Templeton _coterie_, he is my greatest favourite." + +"Oh! I foresee a tender intimacy between Templemore and Howel," +rejoined John Effingham; "and sundry wordy wars between the latter +and Miss Effingham." + +"In this you do me injustice, cousin Jack. I remember Mr. Howel well, +and kindly; for he was ever wont to indulge my childish whims, when a +girl." + +"The man is a second Burchell, and, I dare say never came to the +Wigwam when you were a child, without having his pockets stuffed with +cakes, or _bonbons_." + +The meeting was cordial, Mr. Howel greeting the gentlemen like a warm +friend, and expressing great delight at the personal improvements +that had been made in Eve, between the ages of eight and twenty. John +Effingham was no more backward than the others, for he, too, liked +their simple-minded, kind-hearted, but credulous neighbour. + +"You are welcome back--you are welcome back," added Mr. Howel, +blowing his nose, in order to conceal the tears that were gathering +in his eyes. "I did think of going to New-York to meet you, but the +distance at my time of life is very serious. Age, gentlemen, seems to +be a stranger to you." + +"And yet we, who are both a few months older than yourself, Howel," +returned Mr. Effingham, kindly, "have managed to overcome the +distance you have just mentioned, in order to come and see _you!_" + +"Ay, you are great travellers, gentlemen, very great travellers, and +are accustomed to motion.--Been quite as far as Jerusalem, I hear!" + +"Into its very gates, my good friend; and I wish, with all my heart, +we had had you in our company. Such a journey might cure you of the +home-malady." + +"I am a fixture, and never expect to look upon the ocean, now. I did, +at one period of my life, fancy such an event might happen, but I +have finally abandoned all hope on that subject. Well, Miss Eve, of +all the countries in which you have dwelt, to which do you give the +preference?" + +"I think Italy is the general favourite," Eve answered, with a +friendly smile; "although there are some agreeable things peculiar to +almost every country." + +"Italy!--Well, that astonishes me a good deal! I never knew there was +any thing particularly interesting about Italy! I should have +expected _you_ to say, England." + +"England is a fine country, too, certainly; but it wants many things +that Italy enjoys." + +"Well, now, what?" said Mr. Howel, shifting his legs from one knee to +the other, in order to be more convenient to listen, or, if +necessary, to object. "What _can_ Italy possess, that England does +not enjoy in a still greater degree?" + +"Its recollections, for one thing, and all that interest which time +and great events throw around a region." + +"And is England wanting in recollections and great events? Are there +not the Conqueror? or, if you will, King Alfred? and Queen Elizabeth, +and Shakspeare--think of Shakspeare, young lady--and Sir Walter +Scott, and the Gun-Powder Plot; and Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell, my +dear Miss Eve; and Westminster Abbey, and London Bridge, and George +IV., the descendant of a line of real kings,--what, in the name of +Heaven, can Italy possess, to equal the interest one feels in such +things as these?' + +"They are very interesting no doubt;" said Eve, endeavouring not to +smile--"but Italy has its relics of former ages too; you forget the +Caesars." + +"Very good sort of persons for barbarous times, I dare say, but what +can they be to the English monarchs? I would rather look upon a _bona +fide_ English king, than see all the Caesars that ever lived. I never +can think any man a real king but the king of England!" + +"Not King Solomon!" cried John Effingham. + +"Oh! he was a Bible king, and one never thinks of them. Italy! well, +this I did not expect from your father's daughter! Your great-great- +great-grandfather must have been an Englishman born, Mr, Effingham?" + +"I have reason to think he was, sir." + +"And Milton, and Dryden, and Newton, and Locke! These are prodigious +names, and worth all the Caesars put together. And Pope, too; what +have they got in Italy to compare to Pope?" + +"They have at least _the_ Pope," said Eve, laughing. + +"And, then, there are the Boar's Head in East-Cheap; and the Tower; +and Queen Anne, and all the wits of her reign; and--and--and Titus +Oates; and Bosworth field; and Smithfield, where the martyrs were +burned, and a thousand more spots and persons of intense interest in +Old England!" + +"Quite true," said John Effingham, with an air of sympathy--"but, +Howel, you have forgotten Peeping Tom of Coventry, and the climate!" + +"And Holyrood-House; and York-Minster; and St Paul's;" continued the +worthy Mr. Howel, too much bent on a catalogue of excellencies, that +to him were sacred, to heed the interruption, "and, above all, +Windsor Castle. What is there in the world to equal Windsor Castle as +a royal residence?" + +Want of breath now gave Eve an opportunity to reply, and she seized +it with an eagerness that she was the first to laugh at herself, +afterwards. + +"Caserta is no mean house, Mr. Howel; and, in my poor judgment, there +is more real magnificence in its great stair-case, than in all +Windsor Castle united, if you except the chapel." + +"But, St. Paul's!" + +"Why, St. Peter's may be set down, quite fairly, I think, for its +_pendant_ at least." + +"True, the Catholics _do_ say so;" returned Mr. Howel, with the +deliberation one uses when he greatly distrusts his own concession; +"but I have always considered it one of their frauds. I don't think +there _can_ be any thing finer than St. Paul's. Then there are the +noble ruins of England! _They_, you must admit, are unrivalled." + +"The Temple of Neptune, at Paestum, is commonly thought an interesting +ruin, Mr. Howel." + +"Yes, yes, for a _temple_, I dare say; though I do not remember to +have ever heard of it before. But no temple can ever compare to a +ruined _abbey_ /" + +"Taste is an arbitrary thing, Tom Howel, as you and I know when as +boys we quarrelled about the beauty of our ponies," said Mr. +Effingham, willing to put an end to a discussion that he thought a +little premature, after so long an absence. "Here are two young +friends who shared the hazards of our late passage with us, and to +whom, in a great degree, we owe our present happy security, and I am +anxious to make you acquainted with them. This is our countryman, Mr. +Powis, and this is an English friend, who, I am certain, will be +happy to know so warm an admirer of his own country--Sir George +Templemore." + +Mr. Howel had never before seen a titled Englishman, and he was taken +so much by surprise that he made his salutations rather awkwardly. As +both the young men, however, met him with the respectful ease that +denotes familiarity with the world, he soon recovered his self- +possession. + +"I hope you have brought back with you a sound American heart, Miss +Eve," resumed the guest, as soon as this little interruption had +ceased. "We have had sundry rumours of French Marquisses, and German +Barons; but I have, all along, trusted too much to your patriotism to +believe you would marry a foreigner." + +"I hope you except Englishmen," cried Sir George, gaily: "we are +almost the same people." + +"I am proud to hear you say so, sir. Nothing flatters me more than to +be thought English; and I certainly should not have accused Miss +Effingham of a want of love of country, had----" + +"She married half-a-dozen Englishmen," interrupted John Effingham, +who saw that the old theme was in danger of being revived. "But, +Howel, you have paid me no compliments on the changes in the house. I +hope they are to your taste." + +"A little too French, Mr. John." + +"French!--There is not a French feature in the whole animal. What has +put such a notion into your head?" + +"It is the common opinion, and I confess I should like the building +better were it less continental." + +"Why, my old friend, it is a nondescript--original--Effingham upon +Doolittle, if you will; and, as for models, it is rather more +_English_ than any thing else." + +"Well, Mr. John, I am glad to hear this, for I do confess to a +disposition rather to like the house. I am dying to know, Miss Eve, +if you saw all our distinguished contemporaries when in +Europe?--_That_ to me, would be one of the greatest delights of +travelling!" + +"To say that we saw them _all_, might be too much; though we +certainly did meet with many." + +"Scott, of course." + +"Sir Walter we had the pleasure of meeting, a few times, in London." + +"And Southey, and Coleridge, and Wordsworth, and Moore, and Bulwer, +and D'Israeli, and Rogers, and Campbell, and the grave of Byron, and +Horace Smith, and Miss Landon, and Barry Cornwall, and--" + +"_Cum multis aliis_" put in John Effingham, again, by way of +arresting the torrent of names. "Eve saw many of these, and, as Tubal +told Shylock, 'we often came where we did hear' of the rest. But you +say nothing, friend Tom, of Goethe, and Tieck, and Schlegel, and La +Martine, Chateaubriant, Hugo, Delavigne, Mickiewicz, Nota, Manzoni, +Niccolini, &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c." + +Honest, well-meaning Mr. Howel, listened to the catalogue that the +other ran volubly over, in silent wonder; for, with the exception of +one or two of these distinguished men, he had never even heard of +them; and, in the simplicity of his heart, unconsciously to himself, +he had got to believe that there was no great personage still living, +of whom he did not know something. + +"Ah, here comes young Wenham, by way of preserving the equilibrium," +resumed John Effingham, looking out of a window--"I rather think you +must have forgotten him, Ned, though you remember his father, beyond +question." + +Mr. Effingham and his cousin went out into the hall to receive the +new guest, with whom the latter had become acquainted while +superintending the repairs of the Wigwam. + +Mr. Wenham was the son of a successful lawyer in the county, and, +being an only child, he had also succeeded to an easy independence. +His age, however, brought him rather into the generation to which Eve +belonged, than into that of the father; and, if Mr. Howel was a +reflection, or rather a continuation, of all the provincial notions +that America entertained of England forty years ago, Mr. Wenham might +almost be said to belong to the opposite school, and to be as ultra- +American, as his neighbour was ultra-British.--If there is _lajeune +France_, there is also _la jeune Amerique_, although the votaries of +the latter march with less hardy steps than the votaries of the +first. Mr. Wenham fancied himself a paragon of national independence, +and was constantly talking of American excellencies, though the +ancient impressions still lingered in his moral system, as men look +askance for the ghosts which frightened their childhood on crossing a +church-yard in the dark. John Effingham knew the _penchant_ of the +young man, and when he said that he came happily to preserve the +equilibrium, he alluded to this striking difference in the characters +of their two friends. + +The introductions and salutations over, we shall resume the +conversation that succeeded in the drawing-room. + +"You must be much gratified, Miss Effingham," observed Mr. Wenham, +who, like a true American, being a young man himself, supposed it _de +rigueur_ to address a young lady in preference to any other +present,--"with the great progress made by _our_ country since you +went abroad." + +Eve simply answered that her extreme youth, when she left home, had +prevented her from retaining any precise notions on such subjects. + +"I dare say it is all very true," she added, "but one, like myself, +who remembers only older countries, is, I think, a little more apt to +be struck with the deficiencies, than with what may, in truth, be +improvements, though they still fall short of excellence." + +Mr. Wenham looked vexed, or indignant would be a better word, but he +succeeded in preserving his coolness--a thing that is not always easy +to one of provincial habits and provincial education, when he finds +his own _beau ideal_ lightly estimated by others. + +"Miss Effingham must discover a thousand imperfections." said Mr. +Howel, "coming, as she does, directly from England. That music, +now,"--alluding to the sounds of a flute that were heard through the +open windows, coming from the adjacent village--"must be rude enough +to her ear, after the music of London." + +"The _street_ music of London is certainly among the best, if not the +very best, in Europe," returned Eve, with a glance of the eye at the +baronet, that caused him to smile, "and I think this fairly belongs +to the class, being so freely given to the neighbourhood." + +"Have you read the articles signed Minerva, in the Hebdomad, Miss +Effingham," inquired Mr. Wenham, who was determined to try the young +lady on a point of sentiment, having succeeded so ill in his first +attempt to interest her--"they are generally thought to be a great +acquisition to American literature." + +"Well, Wenham, you are a fortunate man," interposed Mr. Howel, "if +you can find any literature in America, to add to, or to substract +from. Beyond almanacs, reports of cases badly got up, and newspaper +verses, I know nothing that deserves such a name." + +"We may not print on as fine paper, Mr. Howel, or do up the books in +as handsome binding as other people," said Mr. Wenham, bridling and +looking grave, "but so far as sentiments are concerned, or sound +sense, American literature need turn its back on no literature of the +day." + +"By the way, Mr. Effingham, you were in Russia; did you happen to see +the Emperor?" + +"I had that pleasure, Mr. Howel." + +"And is he really the monster we have been taught to believe him?". + +"Monster!" exclaimed the upright Mr. Effingham, fairly recoiling a +step in surprise. "In what sense a monster, my worthy friend? surely +not in a physical?" + +"I do not know that. I have somehow got the notion he is any thing +but handsome. A mean, butchering, bloody-minded looking little chap, +I'll engage." + +"You are libelling one of the finest-looking men of the age." + +"I think I would submit it to a jury. I cannot believe, after what I +have read of him in the English publications, that he is so very +handsome." + +"But, my good neighbour, these English publications must be wrong; +prejudiced perhaps, or even malignant." + +"Oh! I am not the man to be imposed on in that way. Besides, what +motive could an English writer have for belying an Emperor of +Russia?" + +"Sure enough, what motive!" exclaimed John Effingham.--"You have your +answer, Ned!" + +"But you will remember, Mr. Howel," Eve interposed, "that we have +_seen_ the Emperor Nicholas." + +"I dare say, Miss Eve, that your gentle nature was disposed to judge +him as kindly as possible; and, then, I think most Americans, ever +since the treaty of Ghent, have been disposed to view all Russians +too favourably. No, no; I am satisfied with the account of the +English; they live much nearer to St. Petersburg than we do, and they +are more accustomed, too, to give accounts of such matters." + +"But living nearer, Tom Howel," cried Mr. Effingham, with unusual +animation, "in such a case, is of no avail, unless one lives near +enough to see with his own eyes." + +"Well--well--my good friend, we will talk of this another time. I +know your disposition to look at every body with lenient eyes. I will +now wish you all a good morning, and hope soon to see you again. Miss +Eve, I have one word to say, if you dare trust yourself with a youth +of fifty, for a minute, in the library." + +Eve rose cheerfully, and led the way to the room her father's visiter +had named. When within it, Mr. Howel shut the door carefully, and +then with a sort of eager delight, he exclaimed-- + +"For heaven's sake, my dear young lady, tell me who are these two +strange gentlemen in the other room." + +"Precisely the persons my father mentioned, Mr. Howel; Mr. Paul +Powis, and Sir George Templemore." + +"Englishmen, of course!" + +"Sir George Templemore is, of course, as you say, but we may boast of +Mr. Powis as a countryman." + +"Sir George Templemore!--What a superb-looking young fellow!" + +"Why, yes," returned Eve, laughing; "he, at least, you will admit is +a handsome man." + +"He is wonderful!--The other, Mr.--a--a--a--I forget what you called +him--he is pretty well too; but this Sir George is a princely youth." + +"I rather think a majority of observers would give the preference to +the appearance of Mr. Powis," said Eve, struggling to be steady, but +permitting a blush to heighten her colour, in despite of the effort. + +"What could have induced him to come up among these mountains--an +English baronet!" resumed Mr. Howel, without thinking of Eve's +confusion. "Is he a real lord?" + +"Only a little one, Mr. Howel. You heard what my father said of our +having been fellow-travellers." + +"But what _does_ he think of us. I am dying to know what such a man +_really_ thinks of us?" + +"It is not always easy to discover what such men _really_ think; +although I am inclined to believe that he is disposed to think rather +favourably of some of us." + +"Ay, of you, and your father, and Mr. John. You have travelled, and +are more than half European; but what _can_ he think of those who +have never left America?" + +"Even of some of those," returned Eve, smiling, "I suspect he thinks +partially." + +"Well, I am glad of that. Do you happen to know his opinion of the +Emperor Nicholas?" + +"Indeed. I do not remember to have heard him mention the Emperor's +name; nor do I think he has ever seen him." + +"That is extraordinary! Such a man should have seen every thing, and +know every thing; but I'll engage, at the bottom, he does know all +about him. If you happen to have any old English newspapers, as +wrappers, or by any other accident, let me beg them of you. I care +not how old they are. An English journal fifty years old, is more +interesting than one of ours wet from the press." + +Eve promised to send him a package, when they shook hands and parted. +As she was crossing the hall, to rejoin the party, John Effingham +stopped her. + +"Has Howel made proposals?" the gentleman inquired, in an affected +whisper. + +"None, cousin Jack, beyond an offer to read the old English +newspapers I can send him." + +"Yes, yes, Tom Howel will swallow all the nonsense that is _timbre a +Londres_." + +"I confess a good deal of surprise at finding a respectable and +intelligent man so weak-minded as to give credit to such authorities, +or to form his serious opinions on information derived from such +sources." + +"You may be surprised, Eve, at hearing so frank avowals of the +weakness; but, as for the weakness itself, you are now in a country +for which England does all the thinking, except on subjects that +touch the current interests of the day." + +"Nay, I will not believe this! If it were true, how came we +independent of her--where did we get spirit to war against her." + +"The man who has attained his majority is independent of his father's +legal control, without being independent of the lessons he was taught +when a child. The soldier sometimes mutinies, and after the contest +is over, he is usually the most submissive man of the regiment." + +"All this to me is very astonishing! I confess that a great deal has +struck me unpleasantly in this way, since our return; especially in +ordinary society; but I never could have supposed it had reached to +the pass in which I see it existing in our good neighbour Howel." + +"You have witnessed one of the effects, in a matter of no great +moment to ourselves; but, as time and years afford the means of +observation and comparison, you will perceive the effects in matters +of the last moment, in a national point of view. It is in human +nature to undervalue the things with which we are familiar, and to +form false estimates of those which are remote, either by time, or by +distance. But, go into the drawing-room, and, in young Wenham, you +will find one who fancies himself a votary of a new school, although +his prejudices and mental dependence are scarcely less obvious than +those of poor Tom Howel." + +The arrival of more company, among whom were several ladies, +compelled Eve to defer an examination of Mr. Wenham's peculiarities +to another opportunity. She found many of her own sex, whom she had +left children, grown into womanhood, and not a few of them at a +period of life when they should be cultivating their physical and +moral powers, already oppressed with the cares and feebleness that +weigh so heavily on the young American wife. + +Chapter XIII. + + "Nay we must longer kneel; I am a suitor." + + QUEEN KATHERINE. + +The Effinghams were soon regularly domesticated, and the usual +civilities had been exchanged. Many of their old friends resumed +their ancient intercourse, and some new acquaintances were made. The +few first visits were, as usual, rather labored and formal; but +things soon took their natural course, and, as the ease of country +life was the aim of the family, the temporary little bustle was +quickly forgotten. + +The dressing-room of Eve overlooked the lake, and, about a week after +her arrival, she was seated in it enjoying that peculiarly lady-like +luxury, which is to be found in the process of having another gently +disposing of the hair. Annette wielded the comb, as usual, while Ann +Sidley, who was unconsciously jealous that any one should be employed +about her darling, even in this manner, though so long accustomed to +it, busied herself in preparing the different articles of attire that +she fancied her young mistress might be disposed to wear that +morning. Grace was also in the room, having escaped from the hands of +her own maid, in order to look into one of those books which +professed to give an account of the extraction and families of the +higher classes of Great Britain, a copy of which Eve happened to +possess, among a large collection of books, _Allmanachs de Gotha_, +Court Guides, and other similar works that she had found it +convenient to possess as a traveller. + +"Ah! here it is," said Grace, in the eagerness of one who is suddenly +successful after a long and vexatious search. + +"Here is what, coz?" + +Grace coloured, and she could have bitten her tongue for its +indiscretion, but, too ingenuous to deceive, she reluctantly told the +truth. + +"I was merely looking for the account of Sir George Templemore's +family; it is awkward to be domesticated with one, of whose family we +are utterly ignorant." + +"Have you found the name?" + +"Yes; I see he has two sisters, both of whom are married, and a +brother who is in the Guards. But--" + +"But what, dear?" + +"His title is not so _very_ old." + +"The title of no Baronet _can_ be very old, the order having been +instituted in the reign of James I." + +"I did not know that. His ancestor was created a baronet in 1701, I +see. Now, Eve--" + +"Now, what, Grace?" + +"We are both--" Grace would not confine the remark to herself--"we +are both of older families than this! You have even a much higher +English extraction; and I think I can claim for the Van Cortlandts +more antiquity than one that dates from 1701!" + +"No one doubts it, Grace; but what do you wish me to understand by +this? Are we to insist on preceding Sir George, in going through a +door?" + +Grace blushed to the eyes, and yet she laughed, involuntarily. + +"What nonsense! No one thinks of such things in America." + +"Except at Washington, where, I am told, 'Senators' ladies' do give +themselves airs. But you are quite right, Grace; women have no rank +in America, beyond their general social rank, as ladies or no ladies, +and we will not be the first to set an example of breaking the rule. +I am afraid our blood will pass for nothing, and that we must give +place to the baronet, unless, indeed, he recognizes the rights of the +sex." + +"You know I mean nothing so silly. Sir George Templemore does not +seem to think of rank at all; even Mr. Powis treats him, in all +respects, as an equal, and Sir George seems to admit it to be right." + +Eve's maid, at the moment, was twisting her hair, with the intention +to put it up; but the sudden manner in which her young mistress +turned to look at Grace, caused Annette to relinquish her grasp, and +the shoulders of the beautiful and blooming girl were instantly +covered with the luxuriant tresses. + +"And why should _not_ Mr. Powis treat Sir George Templemore as one +every way his equal, Grace?" she asked, with an impetuosity unusual +in one so trained in the forms of the world. + +"Why, Eve, one is a baronet, and the other is but a simple +gentleman." + +Eve Effingham sat silent for quite a minute. Her little foot moved, +and she had been carefully taught, too, that a lady-like manner, +required that even this beautiful portion of the female frame should +be quiet and unobtrusive. But America did not contain two of the same +sex, years, and social condition, less alike in their opinions, or it +might be said their prejudices, than the two cousins. Grace Van +Cortlandt, of the best blood of her native land, had unconsciouslv +imbibed in childhood, the notions connected with hereditary rank, +through the traditions of colonial manners, by means of novels, by +hearing the vulgar reproached or condemned for their obtrusion and +ignorance, and too often justly reproached and condemned, and by the +aid of her imagination, which contributed to throw a gloss and +brilliancy over a state of things that singularly gains by distance. +On the other hand, with Eve, every thing connected with such subjects +was a matter of fact. She had been thrown early into the highest +associations of Europe; she had not only seen royalty on its days of +gala and representation, a mere raree-show that is addressed to the +senses, or purely an observance of forms that may possibly have their +meaning, but which can scarcely be said to have their reasons, but +she had lived long and intimately among the high-born and great, and +this, too, in so many different countries, as to have destroyed the +influence of the particular nation that has transmitted so many of +its notions to America as heir-looms. By close observation, she knew +that arbitrary and political distinctions made but little difference +between men of themselves; and so far from having become the dupe of +the glitter of life, by living so long within its immediate +influence, she had learned to discriminate between the false and the +real, and to perceive that which was truly respectable and useful, +and to know it from that which was merely arbitrary and selfish. Eve +actually fancied that the position of an American gentleman might +readily become, nay that it _ought_ to be the highest of all human +stations, short of that of sovereigns. Such a man had no social +superior, with the exception of those who actually ruled, in her +eyes, and this fact she conceived, rendered him more than noble, as +nobility is usually graduated. She had been accustomed to see her +father and John Effingham moving in the best circles of Europe, +respected for their information and independence, undistinguished by +their manners, admired for their personal appearance, manly, +courteous, and of noble bearing and principles, if not set apart from +the rest of mankind by an arbitrary rule connected with rank. Rich, +and possessing all the habits that properly mark refinement, of +gentle extraction, of liberal attainments, walking abroad in the +dignity of manhood, and with none between them and the Deity, Eve had +learned to regard the gentlemen of her race as the equals in station +of any of their European associates, and as the superiors of most, in +every thing that is essential to true distinction. With her, even +titular princes and dukes had no estimation, merely as princes and +dukes; and, as her quick mind glanced over the long catalogue of +artificial social gradations and she found Grace actually attaching +an importance to the equivocal and purely conventional condition of +an English baronet, a strong sense of the ludicrous connected itself +with the idea. + +"A simple gentleman, Grace!" she repeated slowly after her cousin; +"and is not a simple gentleman, a simple _American_ gentleman, the +equal of any gentleman on earth--of a poor baronet, in particular?" + +"Poor baronet, Eve!" + +"Yes, dear, _poor_ baronet; I know fully the extent and meaning of +what I say. It is true, we do not know as much of Mr. Powis' family," +and here Eve's colour heightened, though she made a mighty effort to +be steady and unmoved, "as we might; but we know he is an _American_; +that, at least, is something; and we see he is a gentleman; and what +American gentleman, a real American gentleman, _can_ be the inferior +of an English baronet? Would your uncle, think you; would cousin +Jack; proud, lofty-minded cousin Jack, think you, Grace, consent to +receive so paltry a distinction as a baronetcy, were our institutions +to be so far altered as to admit of such social classifications?" + +"Why, what would they be, Eve, if not baronets?" + +"Earls, Counts, Dukes, nay Princes! These are the designations of the +higher classes of Europe, and such titles, or those that are +equivalent, would belong to the higher classes here." + +"I fancy that Sir George Templemore would not be persuaded to admit +all this!" + +"If you had seen Miss Eve, surrounded and admired by princes, as I +have seen her, Miss Grace," said Ann Sidley, "you would not think any +simple Sir George half good enough for her." + +"Our good Nanny means, _a_ Sir George," interrupted Eve, laughing, +"and not _the_ Sir George in question. But, seriously, dearest coz, +it depends more on ourselves, and less on others, in what light they +are to regard us, than is commonly supposed. Do you not suppose there +are families in America who, if disposed to raise any objections +beyond those that are purely personal, would object to baronets, and +the wearers of red ribands, as unfit matches for their daughters, on +the ground of rank? What an absurdity would it be, for _a_ Sir +George, or _the_ Sir George either, to object to a daughter of a +President of the United States for instance, on account of station; +and yet I'll answer for it, _you_ would think it no personal honour, +if Mr. Jackson had a son, that he should, propose to my dear father +for you. Let us respect ourselves properly, take care to be truly +ladies and gentlemen, and so far from titular rank's being necessary +to us, before a hundred lustres are past, we shall bring all such +distinctions into discredit, by showing that they are not necessary +to any one important interest, or to true happiness and +respectability any where." + +"And do you not believe, Eve, that Sir George Templemore thinks of +the difference in station between us?" + +"I cannot answer for that," said Eve, calmly. "The man is naturally +modest; and, it is possible, when he sees that we belong to the +highest social condition of a great country, he may regret that such +has not been his own good fortune in his native land; especially, +Grace, since he has known _you_." + +Grace blushed, looked pleased, delighted even, and yet surprised. It +is unnecessary to explain the causes of the three first expressions +of her emotions; but the last may require a short examination. +Nothing but time and a change of circumstances, can ever raise a +province or a provincial town to the independent state of feeling +that so strikingly distinguishes a metropolitan country, or a +capital. It would be as rational to expect that the inhabitants of +the nursery should disregard the opinions of the drawing-room, as to +believe that the provincial should do all his own thinking. Political +dependency, moreover, is much more easily thrown aside than mental +dependency. It is not surprising, therefore, that Grace Van +Cortlandt, with her narrow associations, general notions of life, +origin, and provincial habits, should be the very opposite of Eve, in +all that relates to independence of thought, on subjects like those +that they were now discussing. Had Grace been a native of New +England, even, she would have been less influenced by the mere social +rank of the baronet than was actually the case; for, while the +population of that part of the Union feel more of the general +subserviency to Great Britain than the population of any other +portion of the republic, they probably feel less of it, in this +particular form, from the circumstance that their colonial habits +were less connected with the aristocratical usages of the mother +country. Grace was allied by blood, too, with the higher classes of +England, as, indeed, was the fact with most of the old families among +the New York gentry; and the traditions of her race came in aid of +the traditions of her colony, to continue the profound deference she +felt for an English title. Eve might have been equally subjected to +the same feelings, had she not been removed into another sphere at so +early a period of life, where she imbibed the notions already +mentioned--notions that were quite as effectually rooted in her moral +system, as those of Grace herself could be in her own. + +"This is a strange way of viewing the rank of a baronet, Eve!" Grace +exclaimed, as soon as she had a little recovered from the confusion +caused by the personal allusion. "I greatly question if you can +induce Sir George Templemore to see his own position with your eyes." + +"No, my dear; I think he will be much more likely to regard, not only +that, but most other things, with the eyes of another person. We will +now talk of more agreeable things, however; for I confess, when I do +dwell on titles, I have a taste for the more princely appellations; +and that a simple _chevalier_ can scarce excite a feeling that such +is the theme." + +"Nay, Eve," interrupted Grace, with spirit, "an _English_ baronet +_is_ noble. Sir George Templemore assured me that, as lately as last +evening. The heralds, I believe, have quite recently established that +fact to their own satisfaction." + +"I am glad of it, dear," returned Eve, with difficulty refraining +from gaping, "as it will be of great importance to them, in their own +eyes. At all events, I concede that Sir George Templemore, knight, or +baronet, big baron or little baron, is a noble fellow; and what more +can any reasonable person desire. Do you know, sweet coz, that the +Wigwam will be full to overflowing next week?--that it will be +necessary to light our council-fire, and to smoke the pipe of many +welcomes?" + +"I have understood Mr. Powis, that his kinsman, Captain Ducie, will +arrive on Monday." + +"And Mrs. Hawker will come on Tuesday, Mr. and Mrs. Bloomfield on +Wednesday, and honest, brave straight-forward, literati-hating +Captain Truck, on Thursday, at the latest. We shall be a large +country-circle, and I hear the gentlemen talking of the boats and +other amusements. But I believe my father has a consultation in the +library, at which he wishes us to be present; we will join him, if +you please." + +As Eve's toilette was now completed, the two ladies rose, and +descended together to join the party below. Mr. Effingham was +standing at a table that was covered with maps, while two or three +respectable-looking men, master-mechanics, were at his side. The +manners of these men were quiet, civil, and respectful, having a +mixture of manly simplicity, with a proper deference for the years +and station of the master of the house; though all but one, wore +their hats. The one who formed the exception, had become refined by a +long intercourse with this particular family; and his acquired taste +had taught him that, respect for himself, as well as for decency, +rendered it necessary to observe the long-established rules of +decorum, in his intercourse with others. His companions, though +without a particle of coarseness, or any rudeness of intention, were +less decorous, simply from a loose habit, that is insensibly taking +the place of the ancient laws of propriety in such matters, and which +habit, it is to be feared, has a part of its origin in false and +impracticable political notions, that have been stimulated by the +arts of demagogues. Still, not one of the three hardworking, really +civil, and even humane men, who now stood covered in the library of +Mr. Effingham, was probably conscious of the impropriety of which he +was guilty, or was doing more than insensibly yielding to a vicious +and vulgar practice. + +"I am glad you have come, my love," said Mr. Effingham, as his +daughter entered the room, "for I find I need support in maintaining +my own opinions here. John is obstinately silent; and, as for all +these other gentlemen, I fear they have decidedly taken sides against +me." + +"You can usually count on my support, dearest father, feeble as it +may be. But what is the disputed point to-day?" + +"There is a proposition to alter the interior of the church, and our +neighbour Gouge has brought the plans, on which, as he says, he has +lately altered several churches in the county. The idea is, to remove +the pews entirely, converting them into what are called 'slips,' to +lower the pulpit, and to raise the floor, amphitheatre fashion." + +"Can there be a sufficient reason for this change?" demanded Eve, +with surprise. "Slips! The word has a vulgar sound even, and savours +of a useless innovation. I doubt its orthodoxy." + +"It is very popular, Miss Eve," answered Aristabulus, advancing from +a window, where he had been whispering assent. "This fashion takes +universally and is getting to prevail in all denominations." + +Eve turned involuntarily, and to her surprise she perceived that the +editor of the Active Inquirer was added to their party. The +salutations, on the part of the young lady, were distant and stately, +while Mr. Dodge, who had not been able to resist public opinion, and +had actually parted with his moustachios, simpered, and wished to +have it understood by the spectators, that he was on familiar terms +with all the family. + +"It may be popular, Mr. Bragg," returned Eve, as soon as she rose +from her profound curtsey to Mr. Dodge; "but it can scarcely be said +to be seemly. This is, indeed, changing the order of things, by +elevating the sinner, and depressing the saint." + +"You forget, Miss Eve, that under the old plan, the people could not +see; they were kept unnaturally down, if one can so express it, while +nobody had a good look-out but the parson and the singers in the +front row of the gallery. This was unjust." + +"I do not conceive, sir, that a good look-out, as you term it, is at +all essential to devotion, or that one cannot as well listen to +instruction when beneath the teacher, as when above him." + +"Pardon me, Miss;" Eve recoiled, as she always did, when Mr. Bragg +used this vulgar and contemptuous mode of address; "we put no body up +or down; all we aim it is a just equality--to place all, as near as +possible, on a level." + +Eve gazed about her in wonder; and then she hesitated a moment, as if +distrusting her ears. + +"Equality! Equality with what? Surely not with the ordained ministers +of the church, in the performance of their sacred duties! Surely not +with the Deity!" + +"We do not look at it exactly in this light, ma'am. The people build +the church, _that_ you will allow, Miss Effingham; even _you_ will +allow _this_, Mr. Effingham." + +Both the parties appealed to, bowed a simple assent to so plain a +proposition, but neither spoke. + +"Well, the people building the church very naturally ask themselves +for what purpose it was built?" + +"For the worship of God," returned Eve with a steady solemnity of +manner that a little abashed even the ordinarily indomitable and +self-composed Aristabulus. + +"Yes, Miss; for the worship of God and the accommodation of the +public." + +"Certainly," added Mr. Dodge; "for the public accommodation and for +public worship;" laying due emphasis on the adjectives. + +"Father, you, at least, will never consent to this?" + +"Not readily, my love. I confess it shocks all my notions of +propriety to see the sinner, even when he professes to be the most +humble and penitent, thrust himself up ostentatiously, as if filled +only with his own self-love and self-importance." + +"You will allow, Mr. Effingham," rejoined Aristabulus, "that churches +are built to accommodate the public, as Mr. Dodge has so well +remarked." + +"No, sir; they are built for the worship of God, as my daughter has +so well remarked." + +"Yes, sir; that, too, I grant you" + +"As secondary to the main object--the public convenience, Mr. Bragg +unquestionably means;" put in John Effingham, speaking for the first +time that morning on the subject. + +Eve turned quickly, and looked towards her kinsman. He was standing +near the table, with folded arms, and his fine face expressing all +the sarcasm and contempt that a countenance so singularly calm and +gentleman-like, could betray. + +"Cousin Jack," she said earnestly, "this ought not to be." + +"Cousin Eve, nevertheless this will be." + +"Surely not--surely not! Men can never so far forget appearances as +to convert the temple of God into a theatre, in which the convenience +of the spectators is the one great object to be kept in view!" + +"_You_ have travelled, sir," said John Effingham, indicating by his +eye that he addressed Mr. Dodge, in particular, "and must have +entered places of worship in other parts of the world. Did not the +simple beauty of the manner in which all classes, the great and the +humble, the rich and the poor, kneel in a common humility before the +altar, strike you agreeably, on such occasions; in Catholic +countries, in particular?" + +"Bless me! no, Mr. John Effingham. I was disgusted at the meanness of +their rites, and really shocked at the abject manner in which the +people knelt on the cold damp stones, as if they were no better than +beggars." + +"And were they not beggars?" asked Eve, with almost a severity of +tone: "ought they not so to consider themselves, when petitioning for +mercy of the one great and omnipotent God?" + +"Why, Miss Effingham, the people _will_ rule; and it is useless to +pretend to tell them that they shall not have the highest seats in +the church as well as in the state. Really, I can see no ground why a +parson should be raised above his parishioners. The new-order +churches consult the public convenience, and place every body on a +level, as it might be. Now, in old times, a family was buried in its +pew; it could neither see nor be seen; and I can remember the time +when I could just get a look of our clergyman's wig, for he was an +old-school man; and as for his fellow-creatures, one might as well be +praying in his own closet. I must say I am a supporter of liberty, if +it be only in pews." + +"I am sorry, Mr. Dodge," answered Eve, mildly, "you did not extend +your travels into the countries of the Mussulmans, where most +Christian sects might get some useful notions concerning the part of +worship, at least, that is connected with appearances. There you +would have seen no seats, but sinners bowing down in a mass, on the +cold stones, and all thoughts of cushioned pews and drawing-room +conveniences unknown. We Protestants have improved on our Catholic +forefathers in this respect; and the innovation of which you now +speak, in my eyes is an irreverent, almost a sinful, invasion of the +proprieties of the temple." + +"Ah, Miss Eve, this comes from substituting forms for the substance +of things," exclaimed the editor. "For my part, I can say, I was +truly shocked with the extravagancies I witnessed, in the way of +worship, in most of the countries I visited. Would you think it, Mr. +Bragg, rational beings, real _bona fide_ living men and women, +kneeling on the stone pavement, like so many camels in the Desert," +Mr. Dodge loved to draw his images from the different parts of the +world he had seen, "ready to receive the burthens of their masters; +not a pew, not a cushion, not a single comfort that is suitable to a +free and intelligent being, but every thing conducted in the most +abject manner, as if accountable human souls were no better than so +many mutes in a Turkish palace." + +"You ought to mention this in the Active Inquirer," said Aristabulus. + +"All in good time, sir; I have many things in reserve, among which I +propose to give a few remarks, I dare say they will be very worthless +ones, on the impropriety of a rational being's ever kneeling. To my +notion, gentlemen and ladies, God never intended an American to +kneel." + +The respectable mechanics who stood around the table did not +absolutely assent to this proposition, for one of them actually +remarked that "he saw no great harm in a man's kneeling to the +Deity;" but they evidently inclined to the opinion that the new- +school of pews was far better than the old. + +"It always appears to me, Miss Effingham," said one, "that I hear and +understand the sermon better in one of the low pews, than in one of +the old high-backed things, that look so much like pounds." + +"But can you withdraw into yourself better, sir? Can you more truly +devote all your thoughts, with a suitable singleness of heart, to the +worship of God?" + +"You mean in the prayers, now, I rather conclude?" + +"Certainly, sir, I mean in the prayers and the thanksgivings." + +"Why, we leave them pretty much to the parson; though I will own it +is not quite as easy leaning on the edge of one of the new-school +pews as on one of the old. They are better for sitting, but not so +good for standing. But then the sitting posture at prayers is quite +coming into favour among our people, Miss Effingham, as well as among +yours. The sermon is the main chance, after all." + +"Yes," observed Mr. Gouge, "give me good, strong preaching, any day, +in preference to good praying. A man may get along with second-rate +prayers, but he stands in need of first-rate preaching." + +"These gentlemen consider religion a little like a cordial on a cold +day," observed John Effingham, "which is to be taken in sufficient +doses to make the blood circulate. They are not the men to be +_pounded_ in pews, like lost sheep, not they?" + +"Mr. John will always have his say;" one remarked: and then Mr. +Effingham dismissed the party, by telling them he would think of the +matter. + +When the mechanics were gone, the subject was discussed at some +length between those that remained--all the Effinghams agreeing that +they would oppose the innovation, as irreverent in appearance, +unsuited to the retirement and self-abasement that best comported +with prayer, and opposed to the delicacy of their own habits; while +Messrs. Bragg and Dodge contended to the last that such changes were +loudly called for by the popular sentiment--- that it was unsuited to +the dignity of a man to be 'pounded,' even in a church--and +virtually, that a good, 'stirring' sermon, as they called it, was of +far more account, in public worship, than all the prayers and praises +that could issue from the heart or throat. + +Chapter XIV. + + "We'll follow Cade--we'll follow Cade." + + MOB. + +"The views of this Mr. Bragg, and of our old fellow-traveller, Mr. +Dodge, appear to be peculiar on the subject of religious forms," +observed Sir George Templemore, as he descended the little lawn +before the Wigwam, in company with the three ladies, Paul Powis, and +John Effingham, on their way to the lake. "I should think it would be +difficult to find another Christian, who objects to kneeling at +prayer." + +"Therein you are mistaken, Templemore," answered Paul; "for this +country, to say nothing of one sect which holds it in utter +abomination, is filled with them. Our pious ancestors, like +neophytes, ran into extremes, on the subject of forms, as well as in +other matters. When you go to Philadelphia, Miss Effingham, you will +see an instance of a most ludicrous nature--ludicrous, if there were +not something painfully revolting mingled with it--of the manner in +which men can strain at a gnat and swallow a camel; and which, I am +sorry to say, is immediately connected with our own church." + +It was music to Eve's ears, to hear Paul Powis speak of his pious +ancestors, as being American, and to find him so thoroughly +identifying himself with her own native land; for, while condemning +so many of its practices, and so much alive to its absurdities and +contradictions, our heroine had seen too much of other countries, not +to take an honest pride in the real excellencies of her own. There +was, also, a soothing pleasure in hearing him openly own that he +belonged to the same church as herself. + +"And what is there ridiculous in Philadelphia, in particular, and in +connection with our own church?" she asked. "I am not so easily +disposed to find fault where the venerable church is concerned." + +"You know that the Protestants, in their horror of idolatry, +discontinued, in a great degree, the use of the cross, as an outward +religious symbol; and that there was probably a time when there was +not a single cross to be seen in the whole of a country that was +settled by those who made a profession of love for Christ, and a +dependence on his expiation, the great business of their lives?" + +"Certainly. We all know our predecessors were a little over-rigid and +scrupulous on all the points connected with outward appearances." + +"They certainly contrived to render the religious rites as little +pleasing to the senses as possible, by aiming at a sublimation that +peculiarly favours spiritual pride and a pious conceit. I do not know +whether travelling has had the same effect on you, as it has produced +on me; but I find all my inherited antipathies to the mere visible +representation of the cross, superseded by a sort of solemn affection +for it, as a symbol, when it is plain, and unaccompanied by any of +those bloody and minute accessories that are so often seen around it +in Catholic countries. The German Protestants, who usually ornament +the altar with a cross, first cured me of the disrelish I imbibed, on +this subject, in childhood." + +"We, also, I think, cousin John, were agreeably struck with the same +usage in Germany. From feeling a species of nervousness at the sight +of a cross, I came to love to see it; and I think you must have +undergone a similar change; for I have discovered no less than three +among the ornaments of the great window of the entrance tower, at the +Wigwam." + +"You might have discovered one, also, in every door of the building, +whether great or small, young lady. Our pious ancestors, as Powis +calls them, much of whose piety, by the way, was any thing but +meliorated with spiritual humility or Christian charity, were such +ignoramuses as to set up crosses in every door they built, even while +they veiled their eyes in holy horror whenever the sacred symbol was +seen in a church." + +"Every door!" exclaimed the Protestants of the party. + +"Yes, literally every door, I might almost say certainly every +panelled door that was constructed twenty years since. I first +discovered the secret of our blunder, when visiting a castle in +France, that dated back from the time of the crusade. It was a +_chateau_ of the Montmorencies, that had passed into the hands of the +Conde family by marriage; and the courtly old domestic, who showed me +the curiosities, pointed out to me the stone _croix_ in the windows, +which has caused the latter to be called _croisees_, as a pious usage +of the crusaders. Turning to a door, I saw the same crosses in the +wooden stiles; and if you cast an eye on the first humble door that +you may pass in this village, you will detect the same symbol staring +you boldly in the face, in the very heart of a population that would +almost expire at the thoughts of placing such a sign of the beast on +their very thresholds." + +The whole party expressed their surprise; but the first door they +passed corroborated this account, and proved the accuracy of John +Effingham's statements. Catholic zeal and ingenuity could not have +wrought more accurate symbols of this peculiar sign of the sect; and +yet, here they stood, staring every passenger in the face, as if +mocking the ignorant and exaggerated pretension which would lay undue +stress on the minor points of a religion, the essence of which was +faith and humility. + +"And the Philadelphia church?" said Eve, quickly, so soon as her +curiosity was satisfied on the subject of the door; "I am now more +impatient than ever, to learn what silly blunder we have also +committed there." + +"Impious would almost be a better term," Paul answered. "The only +church spire that existed for half a century, in that town, was +surmounted by a _mitre_, while the _cross_ was studiously rejected!" + +A silence followed; for there is often more true argument in simply +presenting the facts of a case, than in all the rhetoric and logic +that could be urged, by way of auxiliaries. Every one saw the +egregious folly, not to say presumption, of the mistake; and at the +moment, every one wondered how a common-sense community could have +committed so indecent a blunder. We are mistaken. There was an +exception to the general feeling in the person of Sir George +Templemore. To his church-and-state notions, and anti-catholic +prejudices, which were quite as much political as religious, there +was every thing that was proper, and nothing that was wrong, in +rejecting a cross for a mitre. + +"The church, no doubt, was Episcopal, Powis," he remarked, "and it +was not Roman. What better symbol than the mitre could be chosen?" + +"Now I reflect, it is not so very strange," said Grace, eagerly, "for +you will remember, Mr. Effingham, that Protestants attach the idea of +idolatry to the cross, as it is used by Catholics." + +"And of bishops, peers in parliament, church and state, to a mitre." + +"Yes, but the church in question I have seen; and it was erected +before the war of the revolution. It was an English rather than an +American church." + +"It was, indeed, an English church, rather than an American; and +Templemore is very right to defend it, mitre and all." + +"I dare say, a bishop officiated at its altar?" + +"I dare say--nay, I know, he did; and, I will add, he would rather +that the mitre were two hundred feet in the air, than down on his own +simple, white-haired, apostolical-looking head. But enough of +divinity for the morning; yonder is Tom with the boat, let us to our +oars." + +The party were now on the little wharf that served as a village- +landing, and the boatman mentioned lay off, in waiting for the +arrival of his fare. Instead of using him, however, the man was +dismissed; the gentlemen preferring to handle the oars themselves. +Aquatic excursions were of constant occurrence in the warm months, on +that beautifully limpid sheet of water, and it was the practice to +dispense with the regular boatmen, whenever good oarsmen were to be +found among the company. + +As soon as the light buoyant skiff was brought to the side of the +wharf, the whole party embarked; and Paul and the baronet taking the +oars, they soon urged the boat from the shore. + +"The world is getting to be too confined for the adventurous spirit +of the age," said Sir George, as he and his companion pulled +leisurely along, taking the direction of the eastern shore, beneath +the forest-clad cliffs of which the ladies had expressed a wish to be +rowed; "here are Powis and myself actually rowing together on a +mountain lake of America, after having boated as companions on the +coast of Africa, and on the margin of the Great Desert. Polynesia, +and Terra Australis, may yet see us in company, as hardy cruisers." + +"The spirit of the age is, indeed, working wonders in the way you +mean," said John Effingham. "Countries of which our fathers merely +read, are getting to be as familiar as our own homes to their sons; +and, with you, one can hardly foresee to what a pass of adventure the +generation or two that will follow us may not reach." + +"_Vraiment, c'est fort extraordinaire de se trouver sur un lac +Americain_," exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville. + +"More extraordinary than to find one's self on a Swiss lake, think +you, my dear Mademoiselle Viefville?" + +"_Non, non, mais tout aussi extraordinaire pour une Parisienne._" + +"I am now about to introduce you, Mr. John Effingham and Miss Van +Cortlandt excepted," Eve continued, "to the wonders and curiosities +of this lake and region. There, near the small house that is erected +over a spring of delicious water, stood the hut of Natty Bumppo, once +known throughout all these mountains as a renowned hunter; a man who +had the simplicity of a woodsman, the heroism of a savage, the faith +of a Christian, and the feelings of a poet. A better than he, after +his fashion, seldom lived." + +"We have all heard of him," said the baronet, looking round +curiously; "and must all feel an interest in what concerns so brave +and just a man. I would I could see his counterpart." + +"Alas!" said John Effingham, "the days of the 'Leather-stockings' +have passed away. He preceded me in life, and I see few remains of +his character in a region where speculation is more rife than +moralizing, and emigrants are plentier than hunters. Natty probably +chose that spot for his hut on account of the vicinity of the spring: +is it not so. Miss Effingham?" + +"He did; and yonder little fountain that you see gushing from the +thicket, and which comes glancing like diamonds into the lake, is +called the 'Fairy Spring,' by some flight of poetry that, like so +many of our feelings, must have been imported; for I see no +connection between the name and the character of the country, fairies +having never been known, even by tradition, in Otsego." + +The boat now came under a shore where the trees fringed the very +water, frequently overhanging the element that mirrored their +fantastic forms. At this point, a light skiff was moving leisurely +along in their own direction, but a short distance in advance. On a +hint from John Effingham, a few vigorous strokes of the oars brought +the two boats near each other. + +"This is the flag-ship," half whispered John Effingham, as they came +near the other skiff, "containing no less a man than the 'commodore.' +Formerly, the chief of the lake was an admiral, but that was in times +when, living nearer to the monarchy, we retained some of the European +terms; now, no man rises higher than a commodore in America, whether +it be on the ocean or on the Otsego, whatever may be his merits or +his services. A charming day, commodore; I rejoice to see you still +afloat, in your glory." + +The commodore, a tail, thin, athletic man of seventy, with a white +head, and movements that were quick as those of a boy, had not +glanced aside at the approaching boat, until he was thus saluted in +the well-known voice of John Effingham. He then turned his head, +however, and scanning the whole party through his spectacles, he +smiled good-naturedly made a flourish with one hand, while he +continued paddling with the other, for he stood erect and straight in +the stern of his skiff, and answered heartily-- + +"A fine morning, Mr. John, and the right time of the moon for +boating. This is not a real scientific day for the fish, perhaps; but +I have just come out to see that all the points and bays are in their +right places." + +"How is it, commodore, that the water near the village is less limpid +than common, and that even up here, we see so many specks floating on +its surface?" + +"What a question for Mr. John Effingham to ask on his native water! +So much for travelling in far countries, where a man forgets quite as +much as he learns, I fear." Here the commodore turned entirely round, +and raising an open hand in an oratorical manner, he added,--"You +must know, ladies and gentlemen, that the lake is in blow." + +"In blow, commodore! I did not know that the lake bore its blossoms." + +"It does, sir, nevertheless. Ay, Mr. John, and its fruits, too; but +the last must be dug for, like potatoes. There have been no +miraculous draughts of the fishes, of late years, in the Otsego, +ladies and gentlemen; but it needs the scientific touch, and the +knowledge of baits, to get a fin of any of your true game above the +water, now-a-days. Well, I have had the head of the sogdollager +thrice in the open air, in my time; though I am told the admiral +actually got hold of him once with his hand." + +"The sogdollager," said Eve, much amused with the singularities of +the man, whom she perfectly remembered to have been commander of the +lake, even in her own infancy; "we must be indebted to you for an +explanation of that term, as well as for the meaning of your allusion +to the head and the open air." + +"A sogdollager, young lady, is the perfection of a thing. I know Mr. +Grant used to say there was no such word in the dictionary; but then +there are many words that ought to be in the dictionaries that have +been forgotten by the printers. In the way of salmon trout, the +sogdollager is their commodore. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I should +not like to tell you all I know about the patriarch of this lake, for +you would scarcely believe me; but if he would not weigh a hundred +when cleaned, there is not an ox in the county that will weigh a +pound when slaughtered." + +"You say you had his head above water?" said John Effingham. + +"Thrice, Mr. John. The first time was thirty years ago; and I confess +I lost him, on that occasion, by want of science; for the art is not +learned in a day, and I had then followed the business but ten years. +The second time was five years later: and I had then been fishing +expressly for the old gentleman, about a month. For near a minute, it +was a matter of dispute between us, whether he should come out of the +lake or I go into it; but I actually got his gills in plain sight. +That was a glorious haul! Washington did not feel better the night +Cornwallis surrendered, than I felt on that great occasion!" + +"One never knows the feelings of another, it seems. I should have +thought disappointment at the loss would have been the prevailing +sentiment on that great occasion, as you so justly term it." + +"So it would have been, Mr. John, with an unscientific fisherman; but +we experienced hands know better. Glory is to be measured by quality, +and not by quantity, ladies and gentlemen; and I look on it as a +greater feather in a man's cap, to see the sogdollager's head above +water, for half a minute, than to bring home a skiff filled with +pickerel. The last time I got a look at the old gentleman, I did not +try to get him into the boat, but we sat and conversed for near two +minutes; he in the water, and I in the skiff." + +"Conversed!" exclaimed Eve, "and with a fish, too! What could the +animal have to say!" + +"Why, young lady, a fish can talk as well as one of ourselves; the +only difficulty is to understand what he says. I have heard the old +settlers affirm, that the Leather-stocking used to talk for hours at +a time, with the animals of the forest." + +"You knew the Leather-stocking, commodore?" + +"No, young lady, I am sorry to say I never had the pleasure of +looking on him even. He _was_ a great man! They may talk of their +Jeffersons and Jacksons, but I set down Washington and Natty Bumppo +as the two only really great men of my time." + +"What do you think of Bonaparte, commodore?" inquired Paul. + +"Well, sir, Bonaparte had some strong points about him, I do really +believe. But he could have been nothing to the Leather-stocking, in +the woods! It's no great matter, young gentleman, to be a great man +among your inhabitants of cities--what I call umbrella people. Why, +Natty was almost as great with the spear as with the rifle; though I +never heard that he got a sight of the sogdollager." + +"We shall meet again this summer, commodore," said John Effingham; +"the ladies wish to hear the echoes, and we must leave you." + +"All very natural, Mr. John," returned the commodore, laughing, and +again flourishing his hand in his own peculiar manner. "The women all +love to hear the echoes, for they are not satisfied with what they +have once said, but they like to hear it over again. I never knew a +lady come on the Otsego, but one of the first things she did was to +get paddled to the Speaking Rocks, to have a chat with herself. They +come out in such numbers, sometimes, and then all talk at once, in a +way quite to confuse the echo. I suppose you have heard, young lady, +the opinion people have now got concerning these voices." + +"I cannot say I have ever heard more than that they are some of the +most perfect echoes known;" answered Eve, turning her body, so as to +face the old man, as the skiff of the party passed that of the +veteran fisherman. + +"Some people maintain that there is no echo at all, and that the +sounds we hear come from the spirit of the Leather-stocking, which +keeps about its old haunts, and repeats every thing we say, in +mockery of our invasion of the woods. I do not say this notion is +true, or that it is my own; but we all know that Natty _did_ dislike +to see a new settler arrive in the mountains, and that he loved a +tree as a muskrat loves water. They show a pine up here on the side +of the Vision, which he notched at every new-comer, until reaching +seventeen, his honest old heart could go no farther, and he gave the +matter up in despair." + +"This is so poetical, commodore, it is a pity it cannot be true. I +like this explanation of the 'Speaking Rocks,' much better than that +implied by the name of 'Fairy Spring.'" + +"You are quite right, young lady," called out the fisherman, as the +boats separated still farther; "there never was any fairy known in +Otsego; but the time has been when we could boast of a Natty Bumppo." + +Here the commodore flourished his hand again, and Eve nodded her +adieus. The skiff of the party continued to pull slowly along the +fringed shore, occasionally sheering more into the lake, to avoid +some overhanging and nearly horizontal tree, and then returning so +closely to the land, as barely to clear the pebbles of the narrow +strand with the oar. + +Eve thought she had never beheld a more wild or beautifully +variegated foliage, than that which the whole leafy mountainside +presented. More than half of the forest of tall, solemn pines, that +had veiled the earth when the country was first settled, had already +disappeared; but, agreeably to one of the mysterious laws by which +nature is governed, a rich second growth, that included nearly every +variety of American wood, had shot up in their places. The rich +Rembrandt-like hemlocks, in particular, were perfectly beautiful, +contrasting admirably with the livelier tints of the various +deciduous trees. Here and there, some flowering shrub rendered the +picture gay, while masses of the rich chestnut, in blossom, lay in +clouds of natural glory among the dark tops of the pines. + +The gentlemen pulled the light skiff fully a mile under this +overhanging foliage, occasionally frightening some migratory bird +from a branch, or a water-fowl from the narrow strand. At length, +John Effingham desired them to cease rowing, and managing the skiff +for a minute or two with the paddle which he had used in steering, he +desired the whole party to look up, announcing to them that they were +beneath the 'Silent Pine.' + +A common exclamation of pleasure succeeded the upward glance; for it +is seldom that a tree is seen to more advantage than that which +immediately attracted every eye. The pine stood on the bank, with its +roots embedded in the earth, a few feet higher than the level of the +lake, but in such a situation as to bring the distance above the +water into the apparent height of the tree. Like all of its kind that +grows in the dense forests of America, its increase, for a thousand +years, had been upward; and it now stood in solitary glory, a +memorial of what the mountains which were yet so rich in vegetation +had really been in their days of nature and pride. For near a hundred +feet above the eye, the even round trunk was branchless, and then +commenced the dark-green masses of foliage, which clung around the +stem like smoke ascending in wreaths. The tall column-like tree had +inclined to wards the light when struggling among its fellows, and it +now so far overhung the lake, that its summit may have been some ten +or fifteen feet without the base. A gentle, graceful curve added to +the effect of this variation from the perpendicular, and infused +enough of the fearful into the grand, to render the picture sublime. +Although there was not a breath of wind on the lake, the currents +were strong enough above the forest to move this lofty object, and it +was just possible to detect a slight, graceful yielding of the very +uppermost boughs to the passing air. + +"This pine is ill-named," cried Sir George Templemore, "for it is the +most eloquent tree eye of mine has ever looked on!" + +"It is, indeed, eloquent," answered Eve; "one hears it speak even now +of the fierce storms that have whistled round its tops--of the +seasons that have passed since it extricated that verdant cap from +the throng of sisters that grew beneath it, and of all that has +passed on the Otsego, when this limpid lake lay, like a gem embedded +in the forest. When the Conqueror first landed in England, this tree +stood on the spot where it now stands! Here, then, is at last, an +American antiquity!" + +"A true and regulated taste, Miss Effingham," said Paul, "has pointed +out to you one of the real charms of the country. Were we to think +less of the artificial, and more of our natural excellencies, we +should render ourselves less liable to criticism." + +Eve was never inattentive when Paul spoke; and her colour heightened, +as he paid this compliment to her taste, but still her soft blue eye +was riveted on the pine. + +"Silent it may be, in one respect, but it is, indeed, all eloquence +in another," she resumed, with a fervour that was not lessened by +Paul's remark. "That crest of verdure, which resembles a plume of +feathers, speaks of a thousand things to the imagination." + +"I have never known a person of any poetry, who came under this +tree," said John Effingham, "that did not fall into this very train +of thought. I once brought a man celebrated for his genius here, and, +after gazing for a minute or two at the high, green tuft that tops +the tree, he exclaimed, 'that mass of green waved there in the fierce +light when Columbus first ventured into the unknown sea.' It is, +indeed, eloquent; for it tells the same glowing tale to all who +approach it--a tale fraught with feeling and recollections." + +"And yet its silence is, after all, its eloquence," added Paul; "and +the name is not so misplaced as one might at first think." + +"It probably obtained its name from some fancied contrast to the +garrulous rocks that lie up yonder, half concealed by the forest. If +you will ply the oars, gentlemen, we will now hold a little communion +with the spirit of the Leather-stocking." + +The young men complied; and in about five minutes, the skiff was off +in the lake, at the distance of fifty rods from the shore, where the +whole mountainside came at one glance into the view. Here they lay on +their oars, and John Effingham called out to the rocks a "good +morning," in a clear distinct voice. The mocking sounds were thrown +back again, with a closeness of resemblance that actually startled +the novice. Then followed other calls and other repetitions of the +echoes, which did not lose the minutest intonation of the voice. + +"This actually surpasses the celebrated echoes of the Rhine," cried +the delighted Eve; "for, though those do give the strains of the +bugle so clearly, I do not think they answer to the voice with so +much fidelity." + +"You are very right, Eve," replied her kinsman, "for I can recall no +place where so perfect and accurate an echo is to be heard as at +these speaking rocks. By increasing our distance to half a mile, and +using a bugle, as I well know, from actual experiment, we should get +back entire passages of an air. The interval between the sound and +the echo, too, would be distinct, and would give time for an +undivided attention. Whatever may be said of the 'pine,' these rocks +are most aptly named; and if the spirit of Leather-stocking has any +concern with the matter, he is a mocking spirit." + +John Effingham now looked at his watch, and then he explained to the +party a pleasure he had in store for them. On a sort of small, public +promenade, that lay at the point where the river flowed out of the +lake, stood a rude shell of a building that was called the "gun- +house." Here, a speaking picture of the entire security of the +country, from foes within as well as from foes without, were kept two +or three pieces of field artillery, with doors so open that any one +might enter the building, and even use the guns at will, although +they properly belonged to the organized corps of the state. + +One of these guns had been sent a short distance down the valley; and +John Effingham informed his companions that they might look +momentarily for its reports to arouse the echoes of the mountains. He +was still speaking when the gun was fired, its muzzle being turned +eastward. The sound first reached the side of the Vision, abreast of +the village, whence the reverberations reissued, and rolled along the +range, from cave to cave, and cliff to cliff, and wood to wood, until +they were lost, like distant thunder, two or three leagues to the +northward. The experiment was thrice repeated, and always with the +same magnificent effect, the western hills actually echoing the +echoes of the eastern mountains, like the dying strains of some +falling music. + +"Such a locality would be a treasure in the vicinity of a melo- +dramatic theatre," said Paul, laughing, "for certainly, no artificial +thunder I have ever heard has equalled this. This sheet of water +might even receive a gondola." + +"And yet, I fear one accustomed to the boundless horizon of the +ocean, might in time weary of it," answered John Effingham, +significantly. + +Paul made no answer; and the party rowed away in silence. + +"Yonder is the spot where we have so long been accustomed to resort +for Pic-Nics," said Eve, pointing out a lovely place, that was +beautifully shaded by old oaks, and on which stood a rude house that +was much dilapidated, and indeed injured, by the hands of man. John +Effingham smiled, as his cousin showed the place to her companions, +promising them an early and a nearer view of its beauties. + +"By the way, Miss Effingham," he said, "I suppose you flatter +yourself with being the heiress of that desirable retreat?" + +"It is very natural that, at some day, though I trust a very distant +one, I should succeed to that which belongs to my dear father." + +"Both natural and legal, my fair cousin; but you are yet to learn +that there is a power that threatens to rise up and dispute your +claim." + +"What power--human power, at least--can dispute the lawful claim of +an owner to his property? That Point has been ours ever since +civilized man has dwelt among these hills; who will presume to rob us +of it?" + +"You will be much surprised to discover that there is such a power, +and that there is actually a disposition to exercise it. The public-- +the all-powerful omnipotent, overruling, law-making, law-breaking +public--has a passing caprice to possess itself of your beloved +Point; and Ned Effingham must show unusual energy, or it will get +it?" + +"Are you serious, cousin Jack?" + +"As serious as the magnitude of the subject can render a responsible +being, as Mr. Dodge would say." + +Eve said no more, but she looked vexed, and remained almost silent +until they landed, when she hastened to seek her father, with a view +to communicate what she had heard. Mr. Effingham listened to his +daughter, as he always did, with tender interest; and when she had +done, he kissed her glowing cheek, bidding her not to believe that +which she seemed so seriously to dread, possible. + +"But, cousin John would not trifle with me on such a subject, +father," Eve continued; "he knows how much I prize all those little +heir-looms that are connected with the affections." + +"We can inquire further into the affair, my child, if it be your +desire; ring for Pierre, if you please." + +Pierre answered, and a message was sent to Mr. Bragg, requiring his +presence in the library. + +Aristabulus appeared, by no means in the best humour, for he disliked +having been omitted in the late excursion on the lake, fancying that +he had a community-right to share in all his neighbour's amusements, +though he had sufficient self-command to conceal his feelings. + +"I wish to know, sir," Mr. Effingham commenced, without introduction, +"whether there can be any mistake concerning the ownership of the +Fishing Point on the west side of the lake." + +"Certainly not, sir; it belongs to the public." + +Mr. Effingham's cheek glowed, and he looked astonished: but he +remained calm. + +"The public! Do you gravely affirm, Mr. Bragg, that the public +pretends to claim that Point?" + +"Claim, Mr. Effingham! as long as I have resided in this county, I +have never heard its right disputed." + +"Your residence in this county, sir, is not of very ancient date, and +nothing is easier than that _you_ may be mistaken. I confess some +curiosity to know in what manner the public has acquired its title to +the spot. You are a lawyer, Mr. Bragg, and may give an intelligible +account of it." + +"Why, sir, your father gave it to them in his lifetime. Every body, +in all this region, will tell you as much as this." + +"Do you suppose, Mr. Bragg, there is any body in all this region who +will swear to the fact? Proof, you well know, is very requisite even +to obtain justice." + +"I much question, sir, if there be any body in all this region that +will not swear to the fact. It is the common tradition of the whole +country; and, to be frank with you, sir, there is a little +displeasure, because Mr. John Effingham has talked of giving private +entertainments on the Point." + +"This, then, only shows how idly and inconsiderately the traditions +of the country take their rise. But, as I wish to understand all the +points of the case, do me the favour to walk into the village, and +inquire of those whom you think the best informed in the matter, what +they know of the Point, in order that I may regulate my course +accordingly. Be particular, if you please, on the subject of title, +as one would not wish to move in the dark." + +Aristabulus quitted the house immediately, and Eve, perceiving that +things were in the right train, left her father alone to meditate on +what had just passed. Mr. Effingham walked up and down his library +for some time, much disturbed, for the spot in question was +identified with all his early feelings and recollections; and if +there were a foot of land on earth, to which he was more attached +than to all others, next to his immediate residence, it was this. +Still, he could not conceal from himself, in despite of his +opposition to John Effingham's sarcasms, that his native country had +undergone many changes since he last resided in it, and that some of +these changes were quite sensibly for the worse. The spirit of +misrule was abroad, and the lawless and unprincipled held bold +language, when it suited their purpose to intimidate. As he ran over +in his mind, however, the facts of the case, and the nature of his +right, he smiled to think that any one should contest it, and sat +down to his writing, almost forgetting that there had been any +question at all on the unpleasant subject. + +Aristabulus was absent for several hours, nor did he return until Mr. +Effingham was dressed for dinner, and alone in the library, again, +having absolutely lost all recollection of the commission he had +given his agent. + +"It is as I told you, sir--the public insists that it owns the Point; +and I feel it my duty to say, Mr. Effingham, that the public is +determined to maintain its claim." + +"Then, Mr. Bragg, it is proper I should tell the public that it is +_not_ the owner of the Point, but that _I_ am its owner, and that I +am determined to maintain _my_ claim." + +"It is hard to kick against the pricks, Mr. Effingham." + +"It is so, sir, as the public will discover, if it persevere in +invading a private right." + +"Why, sir, some of those with whom I have conversed have gone so far +as to desire me to tell you--I trust my motive will not be +mistaken----" + +"If you have any communication to make, Mr. Bragg, do it without +reserve. It is proper I should know the truth exactly." + +"Well, then, sir, I am the bearer of something like a defiance; the +people wish you to know that they hold your right cheaply, and that +they laugh at it. Not to mince matters, they defy you." + +"I thank you for this frankness, Mr. Bragg, and increases my respect +for your character. Affairs are now at such a pass, that it is +necessary to act. If you will amuse yourself with a book for a +moment, I shall have further occasion for your kindness." + +Aristabulus did not read, for he was too much filled with wonder at +seeing a man so coolly set about contending with that awful public +which he himself as habitually deferred to, as any Asiatic slave +defers to his monarch. Indeed, nothing but his being sustained by +that omnipotent power, as he viewed the power of the public to be, +had emboldened him to speak so openly to his employer, for +Aristabulus felt a secret confidence that, right or wrong, it was +always safe in America to make the most fearless professions in +favour of the great body of the community. In the mean time, Mr. +Effingham wrote a simple advertisement, against trespassing on the +property in question, and handed it to the other, with a request that +he would have it inserted in the number of the village paper that was +to appear next morning. Mr. Bragg took the advertisement, and went to +execute the duty without comment. + +The evening arrived before Mr. Effingham was again alone, when, being +by himself in the library once more, Mr. Bragg entered, full of his +subject. He was followed by John Effingham, who had gained an inkling +of what had passed. + +"I regret to say, Mr. Effingham," Aristabulus commenced, "that your +advertisement has created one of the greatest excitements it has ever +been my ill-fortune to witness in Templeton." + +"All of which ought to be very encouraging to us, Mr.. Bragg, as men +under excitement are usually wrong." + +"Very true, sir, as regards individual excitement, but this is a +public excitement." + +"I am not at all aware that the fact, in the least alters the case. +If one excited man is apt to do silly things, half a dozen backers +will be very likely to increase his folly." + +Aristabulus listened with wonder, for excitement was one of the means +for effecting public objects, so much practised by men of his habits, +that it had never crossed his mind any single individual could be +indifferent to its effect. To own the truth, he had anticipated so +much unpopularity, from his unavoidable connexion with the affair, as +to have contributed himself in producing the excitement, with the +hope of "choking Mr. Effingham off," as he had elegantly expressed it +to one of his intimates, in the vernacular of the country. + +"A public excitement is a powerful engine, Mr. Effingham!" he +exclaimed, in a sort of politico pious horror. + +"I am fully aware, sir, that it may be even a fearfully powerful +engine. Excited men, acting in masses, compose what are called mobs, +and have committed a thousand excesses." + +"Your advertisement is, to the last degree, disrelished; to be very +sincere, it is awfully unpopular!" + +"I suppose it is always what you term an unpopular act, so far as the +individuals opposed are concerned, to resist aggression." + +"But they call your advertisement aggression, sir." + +"In that simple fact exist all the merits of the question. If I own +this property, the public, or that portion of it which is connected +with this affair, are aggressors; and so much more in the wrong that +they are many against one; if _they_ own the property, I am not only +wrong, but very indiscreet." + +The calmness with which Mr. Effingham spoke had an effect on +Aristabulus, and, for a moment, he was staggered. It was only for a +moment, however, as the pains and penalties of unpopularity presented +themselves afresh to an imagination that had been so long accustomed +to study the popular caprice, that it had got to deem the public +favour the one great good of life. + +"But _they_ say, _they_ own the Point, Mr. Effingham." + +"And _I_ say, they do _not_ own the Point, Mr. Bragg; never _did_ own +it; and, with my consent, never _shall_ own it." + +"This is purely a matter of fact," observed John Effingham, "and I +confess I am curious to know how or whence this potent public derives +its title. You are lawyer enough, Mr. Bragg, to know that the public +can hold property only by use, or by especial statute. Now, under +which title does this claim present itself." + +"First, by use, sir, and then by especial gift." + +"The use, you are aware, must be adverse, or as opposed to the title +of the other claimants. Now, I am a living witness that my late uncle +_permitted_ the public to use this Point, and that the public +accepted the conditions. Its use, therefore, has not been adverse, +or, at least, not for a time sufficient to make title. Every hour +that my cousin has _permitted_ the public to enjoy his property, adds +to his right, as well as to the obligation conferred on that public, +and increases the duty of the latter to cease intruding, whenever he +desires it. If there is an especial gift, as I understand you to say, +from my late uncle, there must also be a law to enable the public to +hold, or a trustee; which is the fact?" + +"I admit, Mr. John Effingham, that I have seen neither deed nor law, +and I doubt if the latter exist. Still the public _must_ have some +claim, for it is impossible that every body should be mistaken." + +"Nothing is easier, nor any thing more common, than for whole +communities to be mistaken, and more particularly when they commence +with excitement." + +While his cousin was speaking, Mr. Effingham went to a secretary, and +taking out a large bundle of papers, he laid it down on the table, +unfolding several parchment deeds, to which massive seals, bearing +the arms of the late colony, as well as those of England, were +pendent. + +"Here are my titles, sir," he said, addressing Aristabulus pointedly; +"if the public has a better, let it be produced, and I shall at once +submit to its claim." + +"No one doubts that the King, through his authorized agent, the +Governor of the colony of New-York, granted this estate to your +predecessor, Mr. Effingham; or that it descended legally to your +immediate parent; but all contend that your parent gave this spot to +the public, as a spot of public resort." + +"I am glad that the question is narrowed down within limits that are +so easily examined. What evidence is there of this intention, on the +part of my late father?" + +"Common report; I have talked with twenty people in the village, and +they all agree that the 'Point' has been used by the public, as +public property, from time immemorial." + +"Will you be so good, Mr. Bragg, as to name some of those who affirm +this." + +Mr. Bragg complied, naming quite the number of persons he had +mentioned, with a readiness that proved he thought he was advancing +testimony of weight. + +"Of all the names you have mentioned," returned Mr. Effingham, "I +never heard but three, and these are the names of mere boys. The +first dozen are certainly the names of persons who can know no more +of this village than they have gleaned in the last few years; and +several of them, I understand, have dwelt among us but a few weeks; +nay, days." + +"Have I not told you, Ned," interrupted John Effingham, "that, an +American 'always' means eighteen months, and that 'time immemorial' +is only since the last general crisis in the money market!" + +"The persons I have mentioned compose a part of the population, sir," +added Mr. Bragg, "and, one and all, they are ready to swear that your +father, by some means or other, they are not very particular as to +minutiae, gave them the right to use this property." + +"They are mistaken, and I should be sorry that any one among them +should swear to such a falsehood. But here are my titles--let them +show better, or, if they can, any, indeed." + +"Perhaps your father abandoned the place to the public; this might +make a good claim." + +"That he did not, I am a living proof to the contrary; he left it to +his heirs at his death, and I myself exercised full right of +ownership over it, until I went abroad. I did not travel with it in +my pocket, sir, it is true; but I left it to the protection of the +laws, which, I trust, are as available to the rich as to the poor, +although this is a free country." + +"Well, sir, I suppose a jury must determine the point, as you seem +firm; though I warn you, Mr. Effingham, as one who knows his country, +that a verdict, in the face of a popular feeling, is rather a +hopeless matter. If they prove that your late father intended to +abandon or give this property to the public, your case will be lost." + +Mr. Effingham looked among the papers a moment, and selecting one, he +handed it to Mr. Bragg, first pointing out to his notice a particular +paragraph. + +"This, sir, is my late father's will," Mr. Effingham said mildly; +"and, in that particular clause, you will find that he makes a +special devise of this very 'Point,' leaving it to his heirs, in such +terms as to put any intention to give it to the public quite out of +the question. This, at least, is the latest evidence I, his only son, +executor, and heir possess of his final wishes; if that wondering and +time-immemorial public of which you speak, has a better, I wait with +patience that it may be produced." + +The composed manner of Mr. Effingham had deceived Aristabulus, who +did not anticipate any proof so completely annihilating to the +pretensions of the public, as that he now held in his hand. It was a +simple, brief devise, disposing of the piece of property in question, +and left it without dispute, that Mr. Effingham had succeeded to all +the rights of his father, with no reservation or condition of any +sort. + +"This is very extraordinary!" exclaimed Mr. Bragg, when he had read +the clause seven times, each perusal contributing to leave the case +still clearer in favour of his employer, the individual, and still +stronger against the hoped-for future employers, the people. "The +public ought to know of this bequest of the late Mr. Effingham." + +"I think it ought, sir, before it pretended to deprive his child of +his property; or, rather, it ought to be certain, at least, that +there was no such devise." + +"You will excuse me, Mr. Effingham, but I think it is incumbent on a +private citizen, in a case of this sort, when the public has taken up +a wrong notion, as I now admit is clearly the fact as regards the +Point, to enlighten it, and to inform it that it does not own the +spot." + +"This has been done already, Mr. Bragg, in the advertisement you had +the goodness to carry to the printers, although I deny that there +exists any such obligation." + +"But, sir, they object to the mode you have chosen to set them +right." + +"The mode is usual, I believe in the case of trespasses." + +"They expect something different, sir, in an affair in which the +public is--is--is--all--" + +"Wrong," put in John Effingham, pointedly. "I have heard something of +this out of doors, Ned, and blame you for your moderation. Is it true +that you had told several of your neighbours that you have no wish to +prevent them from using the Point, but that your sole object is +merely to settle the question of right, and to prevent intrusions on +your family when it is enjoying its own place of retirement?" + +"Certainly, John, my only wish is to preserve the property for those +to whom it is especially devised, to allow those who have the best, +nay, the only right to it, its undisturbed possession, occasionally, +and to prevent any more of that injury to the trees that has been +committed by some of those rude men, who always fancy themselves so +completely all the public, as to be masters, in their own particular +persons, whenever the public has any claim. I can have no wish to +deprive my neighbours of the innocent pleasure of visiting the Point, +though I am fully determined they shall not deprive me of my +property." + +"You are far more indulgent than I should be, or perhaps, than you +will be yourself, when you read this." + +As John Effingham spoke, he handed his kinsman a small handbill, +which purported to call a meeting for that night, of the inhabitants +of Templeton, to resist his arrogant claim to the disputed property. +This handbill had the usual marks of a feeble and vulgar malignancy +about it, affecting to call Mr. Effingham, "_one_ Mr. Effingham," and +it was anonymous. + +"This is scarcely worth our attention, John," said Mr. Effingham, +mildly. "Meetings of this sort cannot decide a legal title, and no +man who respects himself will be the tool of so pitiful an attempt to +frighten a citizen from maintaining his rights." + +"I agree with you, as respects the meeting, which has been conceived +in ignorance and low malice, and will probably end, as all such +efforts end, in ridicule. But----" + +"Excuse me, Mr. John," interrupted Aristabulus, "there is an awful +excitement! Some have even spoken of Lynching!" + +"Then," said Mr. Effingham, "it does, indeed, require that we should +be more firm. Do _you_, sir, know of any person who has dared to use +such a menace?" + +Aristabulus quailed before the stern eye of Mr. Effingham, and he +regretted having communicated so much, though he had communicated +nothing but the truth. He stammered out an obscure and half- +intelligible explanation, and proposed to attend the meeting in +person, in order that he might be in the way of understanding the +subject, without falling into the danger of mistake. To this Mr. +Effingham assented, as he felt too indignant at this outrage on all +his rights, whether as a citizen or a man, to wish to pursue the +subject with his agent that night. Aristabulus departed, and John +Effingham remained closeted with his kinsman until the family +retired. During this long interview, the former communicated many +things to the latter, in relation to this very affair, of which the +owner of the property, until then, had been profoundly ignorant. + +Chapter XV. + + "There shall be, in England, seven half-penny loaves sold for a + penny, the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make + it felony to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in common, + and, in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass."--JACK CADE. + +Though the affair of the Point continued to agitate the village of +Templeton next day, and for many days, it was little remembered in +the Wigwam. Confident of his right, Mr. Effingham, though naturally +indignant at the abuse of his long liberality, through which alone +the public had been permitted to frequent the place, and this too, +quite often, to his own discomfort and disappointment, had dismissed +the subject temporarily from his mind, and was already engaged in his +ordinary pursuits. Not so, however, with Mr. Bragg. Agreeably to +promise, he had attended the meeting; and now he seemed to regulate +all his movements by a sort of mysterious self-importance, as if the +repository of some secret of unusual consequence. No one regarded his +manner, however; for Aristabulus, and his secrets, and opinions, were +all of too little value, in the eyes of most of the party, to attract +peculiar attention. He found a sympathetic listener in Mr. Dodge, +happily; that person having been invited, through the courtesy of Mr. +Effingham, to pass the day with those in whose company, though very +unwillingly on the editor's part certainly, he had gone through so +many dangerous trials. These two then, soon became intimate, and to +have seen their shrugs, significant whisperings, and frequent +conferences in corners, one who did not know them, might have fancied +their shoulders burthened with the weight of the state. + +But all this pantomime, which was intended to awaken curiosity, was +lost on the company in general. The ladies, attended by Paul and the +Baronet, proceeded into the forest on foot, for a morning's walk, +while the two Messrs. Effinghams continued to read the daily +journals, that were received from town each morning, with a most +provoking indifference. Neither Aristabulus, nor Mr. Dodge, could +resist any longer; and, after exhausting their ingenuity, in the vain +effort to induce one of the two gentlemen to question them in +relation to the meeting of the previous night, the desire to be doing +fairly overcame their affected mysteriousness, and a formal request +was made to Mr. Effingham to give them an audience in the library. As +the latter, who suspected the nature of the interview, requested his +kinsman to make one in it, the four were soon alone, in the apartment +so often named. + +Even now, that his own request for the interview was granted, +Aristabulus hesitated about proceeding until a mild intimation from +Mr. Effingham that he was ready to hear his communication, told the +agent that it was too late to change his determination. + +"I attended the meeting last night, Mr. Effingham," Aristabulus +commenced, "agreeably to our arrangement, and I feel the utmost +regret at being compelled to lay the result before a gentleman for +whom I entertain so profound a respect." + +"There was then a meeting?" said Mr. Effingham, inclining his body +slightly, by way of acknowledgment for the other's compliment. + +"There was, sir; and I think, Mr. Dodge, we may say an overflowing +one." + +"The public was fairly represented," returned the editor, "as many as +fifty or sixty having been present." + +"The public has a perfect right to meet, and to consult on its claims +to anything it may conceive itself entitled to enjoy," observed Mr. +Effingham; "I can have no possible objection to such a course, though +I think it would have consulted its own dignity more, had it insisted +on being convoked by more respectable persons than those who, I +understand, were foremost in this affair, and in terms better suited +to its own sense of propriety." + +Aristabulus glanced at Mr. Dodge, and Mr. Dodge glanced back at Mr. +Bragg, for neither of these political mushrooms could conceive of the +dignity and fair-mindedness with which a gentleman could view an +affair of this nature. + +"They passed a set of resolutions, Mr. Effingham;" Aristabulus +resumed, with the gravity with which he ever spoke of things of this +nature. "A set of resolutions, sir!" + +"That was to be expected," returned his employer, smiling; "the +Americans are a set-of-resolutions-passing people. Three cannot get +together, without naming a chairman and secretary, and a resolution +is as much a consequence of such an 'organization,'--I believe that +is the approved word,--as an egg is the accompaniment of the cackling +of a hen." + +"But, sir, you do not yet know the nature of those resolutions!" + +"Very true, Mr. Bragg; that is a piece of knowledge I am to have the +pleasure of obtaining from you." + +Again Aristabulus glanced at Steadfast, and Steadfast threw back the +look of surprise, for, to both it was matter of real astonishment +that any man should be so indifferent to the resolutions of a meeting +that had been regularly organized, with a chairman and secretary at +its head, and which so unequivocally professed to be the public. + +"I am reluctant to discharge this duty, Mr. Effingham, but as you +insist on its performance it must be done. In the first place, they +resolved that your father meant to give them the Point." + +"A decision that must clearly settle the matter, and which will +destroy all my father's own resolutions on the same subject. Did they +stop at the Point, Mr. Bragg or did they resolve that my father also +gave them his wife and children?" + +"No, sir, nothing was said concerning the latter." + +"I cannot properly express my gratitude for the forbearance, as they +had just as good a right to pass this resolution, as to pass the +other." + +"The public's is an awful power, Mr. Effingham!" + +"Indeed it is, sir, but fortunately, that of the republic is still +more awful, and I shall look to the latter for support, in this +'crisis'--that is the word, too, is it not, Mr. John Effingham?" + +"If you mean a change of administration, the upsetting of a stage, or +the death of a cart-horse; they are all equally crisises, in the +American vocabulary." + +"Well, Mr. Bragg, having resolved that it knew my late father's +intentions better than he knew them himself, as is apparent from the +mistake he made in his will, what next did the public dispose of, in +the plenitude of its power?" + +"It resolved, sir, that it was your duty to carry out the intentions +of your father." + +"In that, then, we are perfectly of a mind; as the public will most +probably discover, before we get through with this matter. This is +one of the most pious resolutions I ever knew the public to pass. Did +it proceed any farther?" + +Mr. Bragg, notwithstanding the long-encouraged truckling to the sets +of men, whom he was accustomed to dignify with the name of the +public, had a profound deference or the principles, character, and +station of Mr. Effingham, that no sophistry, or self-encouragement in +the practices of social confusion, could overcome; and he paused +before he communicated the next resolution to his employers. But +perceiving that both the latter and his cousin were quietly waiting +to hear it, he was fain to overcome his scruples. + +"They have openly libelled you, by passing resolutions declaring you +to be odious." + +"That, indeed, is a strong measure, and, in the interest of good +manners and of good morals, it may call for a rebuke. No one can care +less than myself, Mr. Bragg, for the opinions of those who have +sufficiently demonstrated that their opinions are of no value, by the +heedless manner in which they have permitted themselves to fall into +this error; but it is proceeding too far, when a few members of the +community presume to take these liberties with a private individual, +and that, moreover, in a case affecting a pretended claim of their +own; and I desire you to tell those concerned, that if they dare to +publish their resolution declaring me to be odious, I will teach them +what they now do not appear to know, that we live in a country of +laws. I shall not prosecute them, but I shall indict them for the +offence, and I hope this is plainly expressed." + +Aristabulus stood aghast! To indict the public was a step he had +never heard of before, and he began to perceive that the question +actually had two sides. Still, his awe of public meetings, and his +habitual regard for popularity, induced him not to give up the +matter, without another struggle. + +"They have already ordered their proceedings to be published, Mr. +Effingham!" he said, as if such an order were not to be +countermanded. + +"I fancy, sir, that when it comes to the issue, and the penalties of +a prosecution present themselves, their readers will begin to +recollect their individuality, and to think less of their public +character. They who hunt in droves, like wolves, are seldom very +valiant when singled out from their pack. The end will show." + +"I heartily wish this unpleasant affair might be amicably settled," +added Aristabulus. + +"One might, indeed, fancy so," observed John Effingham, "since no one +likes to be persecuted." + +"But, Mr. John, the public thinks _itself_ persecuted, in this +affair." + +"The term, as applied to a body that not only makes, but which +executes, the law, is so palpably absurd, that I am surprised any man +can presume to use it. But, Mr. Bragg, you have seen documents that +cannot err, and know that the public has not the smallest right to +this bit of land." + +"All very true, sir; but you will please to remember, that the people +do not know what I now know." + +"And you will please to remember, sir, that when people choose to act +affirmatively, in so high-handed a manner as this, they are _bound_ +to know what they are about. Ignorance in such a matter, is like the +drunkard's plea of intoxication; it merely makes the offence worse." + +"Do you not think, Mr. John, that Mr. Effingham might have acquainted +these citizens with the real state of the case? Are the people so +very wrong that they have fallen into a mistake?" + +"Since you ask this question plainly, Mr. Bragg, it shall be answered +with equal sincerity. Mr. Effingham is a man of mature years; the +known child, executor, and heir of one who, it is admitted all round, +was the master of the controverted property. Knowing his own +business, this Mr. Effingham, in sight of the grave of his fathers, +beneath the paternal roof, has the intolerable impudence--" + +"Arrogance is the word, Jack," said Mr. Effingham, smiling. + +"Aye, the intolerable arrogance to suppose that his own is his own; +and this he dares to affirm, without having had the politeness to +send his title-deeds, and private papers, round to those who have +been so short a time in the place, that they might well know every +thing that has occurred in it for the last half century. Oh thou +naughty, arrogant fellow, Ned!" + +"Mr. John, you appear to forget that the public has more claims to be +treated with attention, than a single individual. If it has fallen +into error, it ought to be undeceived." + +"No doubt, sir; and I advise Mr. Effingham to send you, his agent, to +every man, woman and child in the county, with the Patent of the +King, all the mesne conveyances and wills, in your pocket, in order +that you may read them at length to each individual, with a view that +every man, woman and child, may be satisfied that he or she is not +the owner of Edward Effingham's lands!" + +"Nay, sir, a shorter process might be adopted." + +"It might, indeed, sir, and such a process has been adopted by my +cousin, in giving the usual notice, in the newspaper, against +trespassing. But, Mr. Bragg, you must know that I took great pains, +three years since, when repairing this house, to correct the mistake +on this very point, into which I found that your immaculate public +had fallen, through its disposition to know more of other people's +affairs, than those concerned knew of themselves." + +Aristabulus said no more, but gave the matter up in despair. On +quitting the house, he proceeded forthwith, to inform those most +interested of the determination of Mr. Effingham, not to be trampled +on by any pretended meeting of the public. Common sense, not to say +common honesty, began to resume its sway, and prudence put in its +plea, by way of applying the corrective. Both he and Mr. Dodge, +however, agreed that there was an unheard-of temerity in thus +resisting the people, and this too without a commensurate object, as +the pecuniary value of the disputed point was of no material +consequence to either party. + +The reader is not, by any means, to suppose that Aristabulus Bragg +and Steadfast Dodge belonged to the same variety of the human +species, in consequence of their unity of sentiment in this affair, +and certain other general points of resemblance in their manner and +modes of thinking. As a matter of necessity each partook of those +features of caste, condition, origin, and association that +characterize their particular set; but when it came to the nicer +distinctions that mark true individuality, it would not have been +easy to find two men more essentially different in character. The +first was bold, morally and physically, aspiring, self-possessed, +shrewd, singularly adapted to succeed in his schemes where he knew +the parties, intelligent, after his tastes, and apt. Had it been his +fortune to be thrown earlier into a better sphere, the same natural +qualities that rendered him so expert in his present situation, would +have conduced to his improvement, and most probably would have formed +a gentleman, a scholar, and one who could have contributed largely to +the welfare and tastes of his fellow-creatures. That such was not his +fate, was more his misfortune than his fault, for his plastic +character had readily taken the impression of those things that from +propinquity alone, pressed hardest on it. On the other hand Steadfast +was a hypocrite by nature, cowardly, envious, and malignant; and +circumstances had only lent their aid to the natural tendencies of +his disposition. That two men so differently constituted at their +births, should meet, as it might be in a common centre, in so many of +their habits and opinions, was merely the result of accident and +education. + +Among the other points of resemblance between these two persons, was +that fault of confounding the cause with the effects of the peculiar +institutions under which they had been educated and lived. Because +the law gave to the public, that authority which, under other +systems, is entrusted either to one, or to the few they believed the +public was invested with far more power than a right understanding of +their own principles would have shown. In a word, both these persons +made a mistake which is getting to be too common in America, that of +supposing the institutions of the country were all means and no end. +Under this erroneous impression they saw only the machinery of the +government, becoming entirely forgetful that the power which was +given to the people collectively, was only so given to secure to them +as perfect a liberty as possible, in their characters of individuals. +Neither had risen sufficiently above vulgar notions, to understand +that public opinion, in order to be omnipotent, or even formidable +beyond the inflictions of the moment, must be right; and that, if a +solitary man renders himself contemptible by taking up false notions +inconsiderately and unjustly, bodies of men, falling into the same +error, incur the same penalties, with the additional stigma of having +acted as cowards. + +There was also another common mistake into which Messrs. Bragg and +Dodge had permitted themselves to fall, through the want of a proper +distinction between principles. Resisting the popular will, on the +part of an individual, they considered arrogance and aristocracy, +_per se_, without at all entering into the question of the right, or +the wrong. The people, rightly enough in the general signification of +the term, they deemed to be sovereign; and they belonged to a +numerous class, who view disobedience to the sovereign in a +democracy, although it be in his illegal caprices, very much as the +subject of a despot views disobedience to his prince. + +It is scarcely necessary to say, that Mr. Effingham and his cousin +viewed these matters differently. Clear headed, just-minded, and +liberal in all his practices, the former, in particular, was greatly +pained by the recent occurrence; and he paced his library in silence, +for several minutes after Mr. Bragg and his companion had withdrawn, +really too much grieved to speak. + +"This is, altogether, a most extraordinary procedure, John," he at +length observed, "and, it strikes me, that it is but an indifferent +reward for the liberality with which I have permitted others to use +my property, these thirty years; often, very often, as you well know, +to my own discomfort, and to that of my friends." + +"I have told you, Ned, that you were not to expect the America on +your return, that you left behind you on your departure for Europe. I +insist that no country has so much altered for the worse, in so short +a time." + +"That unequalled pecuniary prosperity should sensibly impair the +manners of what is termed the world, By introducing suddenly lame +bodies of uninstructed and untrained men and women into society, is a +natural consequence of obvious causes; that it should corrupt morals, +even, we have a right to expect, for we are taught to believe it the +most corrupting influence under which men can live; but, I confess, I +did not expect to see the day, when a body of strangers, birds of +passage, creatures of an hour, should assume a right to call on the +old and long-established inhabitants of a country, to prove their +claims to their possessions, and this, too, in an unusual and +unheard-of manner, under the penalty of being violently deprived of +them!" + +"Long established!" repeated John Effingham, laughing; "what do you +term long established? Have you not been absent a dozen years, and do +not these people reduce everything to the level of their own habits. +I suppose, now, you fancy you can go to Rome or Jerusalem, or +Constantinople, and remain four or five lustres, and then come coolly +back to Templeton. and, on taking possession of this house again, +call yourself an old resident." + +"I certainly do suppose I have that right. How many English, +Russians, and Germans, did we meet in Italy, the residents of years, +who still retained all their natural and local right and feelings!" + +"Ay, that is in countries where society is permanent, and men get +accustomed to look on the same objects, hear the same names, and see +the same faces for their entire lives. I have had the curiosity to +inquire, and have ascertained that none of the old, permanent +families have been active in this affair of the Point, but that all +the clamour has been made by those you call the birds of passage. But +what of that? These people fancy everything reduced to the legal six +months required to vote; and that rotation in persons is as necessary +to republicanism as rotation in office." + +"Is is not extraordinary that persons who can know so little on the +subject, should be thus indiscreet and positive?" + +"It is not extraordinary in America. Look about you, Ned, and you +will see adventurers uppermost everywhere; in the government, in your +towns, in your villages, in the country, even. We are a nation of +changes. Much of this, I admit, is the fair consequence of legitimate +causes, as an immense region, in forest, cannot be peopled on any +other conditions. But this necessity has infected the entire national +character, and men get to be impatient of any sameness, even though +it be useful. Everything goes to confirm this feeling, instead of +opposing it. The constant recurrences of the elections accustom men +to changes in their public functionaries; the great increase in the +population brings new faces; and the sudden accumulations of property +place new men in conspicuous stations. The architecture of the +country is barely becoming sufficiently respectable to render it +desirable to preserve the buildings, without which we shall have no +monuments to revere. In short, everything contributes to produce such +a state of things, painful as it may be to all of any feeling, and +little to oppose it." + +"You colour highly, Jack; and no picture loses in tints, in being +retouched by you." + +"Look into the first paper that offers, and you will see the _young +men_ of the country hardily invited to meet by themselves, to consult +concerning public affairs, as if they were impatient of the counsels +and experience of their fathers. No country can prosper, where the +ordinary mode of transacting the business connected with the root of +the government, commences with this impiety." + +"This is a disagreeable feature in the national character, certainly; +but we must remember the arts employed by the designing to practise +on the inexperienced." + +"Had I a son, who presumed to denounce the wisdom and experience of +his father, in this disrespectful mariner, I would disinherit the +rascal!" + +"Ah, Jack, bachelor's children are notoriously well educated, and +well mannered. We will hope, however, that time will bring its +changes also, and that one of them will be a greater constancy in +persons, things, and the affections." + +"Time _will_ bring its changes, Ned; but all of them that are +connected with individual rights, as opposed to popular caprice, or +popular interests, are likely to be in the wrong direction." + +"The tendency is certainly to substitute popularity for the right, +but we must take the good with the bad; Even you, Jack, would not +exchange this popular oppression for any other system under which you +have lived." + +"I don't know that--I don't know that. Of all tyranny, a vulgar +tyranny is to me the most odious." + +"You used to admire the English system, but I think observation has +lessened your particular admiration in that quarter;" said Mr. +Effingham, smiling in a way that his cousin perfectly understood. + +"Harkee, Ned; we all take up false notions in youth, and this was one +of mine; but, of the two, I should prefer the cold, dogged domination +of English law, with its fruits, the heartlessness of a +sophistication without parallel, to being trampled on by every arrant +blackguard that may happen to traverse this valley, in his wanderings +after dollars. There is one thing you yourself must admit; the public +is a little too apt to neglect the duties it ought to discharge, and +to assume duties it has no right to fulfil." + +This remark ended the discourse. + +Chapter XVI. + + Her breast was a brave palace, a broad street, Where all heroic, + ample thoughts did meet, Where nature such a tenement had ta'en, + That other souls, to hers, dwelt in 'a lane. + + JOHN NORTON. + +The village of Templeton, it has been already intimated, was a +miniature town. Although it contained within the circle of its +houses, half-a-dozen residences with grounds, and which were +dignified with names, as has been also said, it did not cover a +surface of more than a mile square; that disposition to +concentration, which is as peculiar to an American town, as the +disposition to diffusion is peculiar to the country population, and +which seems almost to prescribe that a private dwelling shall have +but three windows in front, and a _facade_ of twenty-five feet, +having presided at the birth of this spot, as well as at the birth of +so many of its predecessors and contemporaries. In one of its more +retired streets (for Templeton had its publicity and retirement, the +latter after a very village fashion, however,) dwelt a widow-- +bewitched of small worldly means, five children, and of great +capacity for circulating intelligence. Mrs. Abbott, for so was this +demi-relict called, was just on the verge of what is termed the "good +society" of the village, the most uneasy of all positions for an +ambitious and _ci-devant_ pretty woman to be placed in. She had not +yet abandoned the hope of obtaining a divorce and its _suites_; was +singularly, nay, rabidly devout, if we may coin the adverb; in her +own eyes she was perfection, in those of her neighbours slightly +objectionable; and she was altogether a droll, and by no means an +unusual compound of piety, censoriousness, charity, proscription, +gossip, kindness, meddling, ill-nature, and decency. + +The establishment of Mrs. Abbott, like her house, was necessarily +very small, and she kept no servant but a girl she called her help, a +very suitable appellation, by the way, as they did most of the work +of the _menage_ in common. This girl, in addition to cooking and +washing, was the confidant of all her employer's wandering notions of +mankind in general, and of her neighbours in particular; as often, +helping her mistress in circulating her comments on the latter, as in +anything else. + +Mrs. Abbott knew nothing of the Effinghams, except by a hearsay that +got its intelligence from her own school, being herself a late +arrival in the place. She had selected Templeton as a residence on +account of its cheapness, and, having neglected to comply with the +forms of the world, by hesitating about making the customary visit to +the Wigwam, she began to resent, in her spirit at least, Eve's +delicate forbearance from obtruding herself, where, agreeably to all +usage, she had a perfect right to suppose she was not desired. It was +in this spirit, then, that she sat, conversing with Jenny, as the +maid of all work was called, the morning after the conversation +related in the last chapter, in her snug little parlour, sometimes +plying her needle, and oftener thrusting her head out of a window +which commanded a view of the principal street of the place, in order +to see what her neighbours might be about. + +"This is a most extraordinary course Mr. Effingham has taken +concerning the Point," said Mrs. Abbott, "and I _do_ hope the people +will bring him to his senses. Why, Jenny, the public has used that +place ever since I can remember, and I have now lived in Templeton +quite fifteen months.--What _can_ induce Mr. Howel to go so often to +that barber's shop, which stands directly opposite the parlour +windows of Mrs. Bennett--one would think the man was all beard." + +"I suppose Mr. Howel gets shaved sometimes," said the logical Jenny. + +"Not he; or if he does, no decent man would think of posting himself +before a lady's window to do such a thing.--Orlando Furioso," calling +to her eldest son, a boy of eleven, "run over to Mr. Jones's store, +and listen to what the people are talking about, and bring me back +the news, as soon as any thing worth hearing drops from any body; and +stop as you come back, my son, and borrow neighbour Brown's gridiron. +Jenny, it is most time to think of putting over the potatoes." + +"Ma'--" cried Orlando Furioso, from the front door, Mrs. Abbott being +very rigid in requiring that all her children should call her 'ma',' +being so much behind the age as actually not to know that 'mother' +had got to be much the genteeler term of the two; "Ma'," roared +Orlando Furioso, "suppose there is no news at Mr. Jones's store?" + +"Then go to the nearest tavern; something must be stirring this fine +morning, and I'm dying to know what it can possibly be. Mind you +bring something besides the gridiron back with you. Hurry, or never +come home again as long as you live! As I was saying, Jenny, the +right of the public, which is our right, for we are a part of the +public, to this Point, is as clear as day, and I am only astonished +at the impudence of Mr. Effingham in pretending to deny it. I dare +say his French daughter has put him up to it. They say she is +monstrous arrogant!" + +"Is Eve Effingham, French," said Jenny, studiously avoiding any of +the usual terms of civility and propriety, by way of showing her +breeding--"well, I had always thought her nothing but Templeton +born!" + +"What signifies where a person was born? where they _live_, is the +essential thing; and Eve Effingham has lived so long in France, that +she speaks nothing but broken English; and Miss Debby told me last +week, that in drawing up a subscription paper for a new cushion to +the reading-desk of her people, she actually spelt 'charity' +'carrotty.'" + +"Is that French, Miss Abbott?" + +"I rather think it is, Jenny; the French are very niggardly, and give +their poor carrots to live on, and so they have adopted the word, I +suppose. You, Byansy-Alzumy-Ann, (Bianca-Alzuma-Ann!)" + +"Marm!" + +"Byansy-Alzumy-Ann! who taught you to call me marm! Is this the way +you have learned your catechism? Say, ma', this instant." + +"Ma'." + +"Take your bonnet, my child, and run down to Mrs. Wheaton's, and ask +her if any thing new has turned up about the Point, this morning; +and, do you hear, Byansy-Alzumy-Ann Abbott--how the child starts +away, as if she were sent on a matter of life and death!" + +"Why, ma', I want to hear the news, too." + +"Very likely, my dear, but, by stopping to get your errand, you may +learn more than by being in such a hurry. Stop in at Mrs. Green's, +and ask how the people liked the lecture of the strange parson, last +evening--and ask her if she can lend me a watering-pot, Now, run, and +be back as soon as possible. Never loiter when you carry news, +child." + +"No one has a right to stop the man, I believe, Miss Abbott," put in +Jenny, very appositely. + +"That, indeed, have they not, or else we could not calculate the +consequences. You may remember, Jenny, the pious, even, had to give +up that point, public convenience being; too strong for them. Roger- +Demetrius-Benjamin!"--calling to a second boy, two years younger than +his brother--"your eyes are better than mine--who are all those +people collected together in the street. Is not Mr. Howel among +them?" + +"I do not know, ma'!" answered Roger-Demetrius-Benjamin, gaping. + +"Then run, this minute, and see, and don't stop to look for your hat. +As you come back, step into the tailor's shop and ask if your new +jacket is most done, and what the news is? I rather think, Jenny, we +shall find out something worth hearing, in the course of the day. By +the way, they do say that Grace Van Cortlandt, Eve Effingham's +cousin, is under concern." + +"Well, she is the last person I should think would be troubled about +any thing, for every body says she is so desperate rich she might eat +off of silver, if she liked; and she is sure of being married, some +time or other." + +"That ought to lighten her concern, you think. Oh! it does my heart +good when I see any of those flaunty people right well exercised! +Nothing would make me happier than to see Eve Effingham groaning +fairly in the spirit! That would teach her to take away the people's +Points." + +"But, Miss Abbott, then she would become almost as good a woman as +you are yourself," + +"I am a miserable, graceless, awfully wicked sinner! Twenty times a +day do I doubt whether I am actually converted or not. Sin has got +such a hold of my very heart-strings, that I sometimes think they +will crack before it lets go. Rinaldo-Rinaldini-Timothy, my child, do +you toddle across the way, and give my compliments to Mrs. Hulbert, +and inquire if it be true that young Dickson, the lawyer, is really +engaged to Aspasia Tubbs or not? and borrow a skimmer, or a tin pot, +or any thing you can carry, for we may want something of the sort in +the course of the day. I do believe, Jenny, that a worse creature +than myself is hardly to be found in Templeton." + +"Why, Miss Abbott," returned Jenny, who had heard too much of this +self-abasement to be much alarmed at it, "this is giving almost as +bad an account of yourself, as I heard somebody, that I won't name, +give of you last week." + +"And who is your somebody, I should like to know? I dare say, one no +better than a formalist, who thinks that reading prayers out of a +book, kneeling, bowing, and changing gowns, is religion! Thank +Heaven, I'm pretty indifferent to the opinions of such people. +Harkee, Jenny; if I thought I was no better than some persons I could +name, I'd give the point of salvation up, in despair!" + +"Miss Abbott," roared a rugged, dirty-faced, bare-footed boy, who +entered without knocking, and stood in the middle of the room, with +his hat on, with a suddenness that denoted great readiness in +entering other people's possessions; "Miss Abbott, ma' wants to know +if you are likely to go from home this week?" + +"Why, what in nature can she want to know that for, Ordeal Bumgrum?" +Mrs. Abbott pronounced this singular name, however, "Ordeel." + +"Oh! she _warnts_ to know." + +"So do I _warnt_ to know; and know I will. Run home this instant, and +ask your mother why she has sent you here with this message. Jenny, I +am much exercised to find out the reason Mrs. Bumgrum should have +sent Ordeal over with such a question." + +"I did hear that Miss Bumgrum intended to make a journey herself, and +she may want your company." + +"Here comes Ordeal back, and we shall soon be out of the clouds. What +a boy that is for errands. He is worth all my sons put together. You +never see him losing time by going round by the streets, but away he +goes over the garden fences like a cat, or he will whip through a +house, if standing in his way, as if he were its owner, should the +door happen to be open. Well, Ordeal?" + +But Ordeal was out of breath, and although Jenny shook him, as if to +shake the news out of him, and Mrs. Abbott actually shook her fist, +in her impatience to be enlightened, nothing could induce the child +to speak, until he had recovered his wind. + +"I believe he does it on purpose," said the provoked maid. + +"It's just like him!" cried the mistress; "the very best news-carrier +in the village is actually spoilt because he is thick-winded." + +"I wish folks wouldn't make their fences so high," Ordeal exclaimed, +the instant he found breath. "I can't see of what use it is to make a +fence people can't climb!" + +"What does your mother say?" cried Jenny repeating her shake, _con +amore_. + +"Ma, wants to know, Miss Abbott, if you don't intend to use it +yourself, if you will lend her your name for a few days, to go to +Utica with? She says folks don't treat her half as well when she is +called Bumgrum, as when she has another name, and she thinks she'd +like to try yours, this time." + +"Is that all!--You needn't have been so hurried about such a trifle, +Ordeal. Give my compliments to your mother, and tell her she is quite +welcome to my name, and I hope it will be serviceable to her." + +"She says she is willing to pay for the use of it, if you will tell +her what the damage will be." + +"Oh! it's not worth while to speak of such a trifle I dare say she +will bring it back quite as good as when she took it away. I am no +such unneighbourly or aristocratical person as to wish to keep my +name all to myself. Tell your mother she is welcome to mine, and to +keep it as long as she likes, and not to say any thing about pay; I +may want to borrow hers, or something else, one of these days, +though, to say the truth, my neighbours _are_ apt to complain of me +as unfriendly and proud for not borrowing as much as a good neighbour +ought." + +Ordeal departed, leaving Mrs. Abbot in some such condition as that of +the man who had no shadow. A rap at the door interrupted the further +discussion of the old subject, and Mr. Steadfast Dodge appeared in +answer to the permission to enter. Mr. Dodge and Mrs. Abbott were +congenial spirits, in the way of news, he living by it, and she +living on it. + +"You are very welcome, Mr. Dodge," the mistress of the house +commenced; "I hear you passed the day, yesterday, up at the +Effinghamses." + +"Why, yes, Mrs. Abbott, the Effinghams insisted on it, and I could +not well get over the sacrifice, after having been their shipmate so +long. Besides it is a little relief to talk French, when one has been +so long in the daily practice of it." + +"I hear there is company at the house?" + +"Two of our fellow-travellers, merely. An English baronet, and a +young man of whom less is known than one could wish. He is a +mysterious person, and I hate mystery, Mrs. Abbott." + +"In that, then, Mr. Dodge, you and I are alike. I think every thing +should be known. Indeed, that is not a free country in which there +are any secrets. I keep nothing from my neighbours, and, to own the +truth, I do not like my neighbours to keep any thing from me." + +"Then you'll hardly like the Effinghams, for I never yet met with a +more close-mouthed family. Although I was so long in the ship with +Miss Eve, I never heard her once speak of her want of appetite; of +sea-sickness, or of any thing relating to her ailings even: no? can +you imagine how close she is on the subject of the beaux; I do not +think I ever heard her use the word, or so much as allude to any walk +or ride she ever took with a single man. I set her down, Mrs. Abbott, +as unqualifiedly artful!" + +"That you may with certainty, sir, for there is no more sure sign +that a young woman is all the while thinking of the beaux, than her +never mentioning them." + +"That I believe to be human nature; no ingenuous person ever thinks +much of the particular subject of conversation. What is your opinion, +Mrs. Abbott, of the contemplated match at the Wigwam?" + +"Match!" exclaimed Mrs. Abbott.--"What, already! It is the most +indecent thing I ever heard of! Why, Mr. Dodge, the family has not +been home a fortnight, and to think so soon of getting married! It is +quite as bad as a widower's marrying within the month." + +Mrs. Abbott made a distinction, habitually, between the cases of +widowers and widows, as the first, she maintained, might get married +whenever they pleased, and the latter only when they got offers; and +she felt just that sort of horror of a man's thinking of marrying too +soon after the death of his wife, as might be expected in one who +actually thought of a second husband before the first was dead. + +"Why, yes," returned Steadfast, "it is a little premature, perhaps, +though they have been long acquainted. Still, as you say, it would be +more decent to wait and see what may turn up in a country, that, to +them, may be said to be a foreign land." + +"But, who are the parties, Mr. Dodge." + +"Miss Eve Effingham, and Mr. John Effingham" + +"Mr. John Effingham!" exclaimed the lady, who had lent her name to a +neighbour, aghast, for this was knocking one of her own day-dreams in +the head, "well this is too much! But he shall not marry her, sir; +the law will prevent it, and we live in a country of laws. A man +cannot marry his own niece." + +"It is excessively improper, and ought to be put a stop to. And yet +these Effinghams do very much as they please." + +"I am very sorry to hear that; they are extremely disagreeable," said +Mrs. Abbott, with a look of eager inquiry, as if afraid the answer +might be in the negative. + +"As much so as possible; they have hardly a way that you would like, +my dear ma'am; and are as close-mouthed as if they were afraid of +committing themselves." + +"Desperate bad news-carriers, I am told, Mr. Dodge. There is Dorindy +(Dorinda) Mudge, who was employed there by Eve and Grace one day; she +tells me she tried all she could to get them to talk, by speaking of +the most common things; things that one of my children knew all +about; such as the affairs of the neighbourhood, and how people are +getting on; and, though they would listen a little, and that is +something, I admit, not a syllable could she get in the way of +answer, or remark. She tells me that, several times, she had a mind +to quit, for it is monstrous unpleasant to associate with your +tongue-tied folks." + +"I dare say Miss Effingham could throw out a hint now and then, +concerning the voyage and her late fellow-travellers," said +Steadfast, casting an uneasy glance at his companion. + +"Not she. Dorindy maintains that it is impossible to get a sentiment +out of her concerning a single fellow-creature. When she talked of +the late unpleasant affair of poor neighbour Bronson's family--a +melancholy transaction that, Mr. Dodge, and I shouldn't wonder if it +went to nigh break Mrs. Bronson's heart--but when Dorindy mentioned +this, which is bad enough to stir the sensibility of a frog, neither +of my young ladies replied, or put a single question. In this respect +Grace is as bad as Eve, and Eve is as bad as Grace, they say. Instead +of so much as seeming to wish to know any more, what does my Miss Eve +do, but turn to some daubs of paintings, and point out to her cousin +what she was pleased to term peculiarities in Swiss usages. Then the +two hussies would talk of nature, 'our beautiful nature' Dorindy says +Eve had the impudence to call it, and, as if human nature and its +failings and backsliding wore not a fitter subject for a young +woman's discourse, than a silly conversation about lakes, and rocks, +and trees, and as if she _owned_ the nature about Templeton. It is my +opinion, Mr. Dodge, that downright ignorance is at the bottom of it +all, for Dorindy says that they actually know no more of the +intricacies of the neighbourhood than if they lived in Japan." + +"All pride, Mrs. Abbott; rank pride. They feel themselves too great +to enter into the minutiae of common folks' concerns. I often tried +Miss Effingham coming from England; and things touching private +interests, that I know she did and must understand, she always +disdainfully refused to enter into. Oh! she is, a real Tartar, in her +way; and what she does not wish to do, you never can make her do!" + +"Have you heard that Grace is under concern?" + +"Not a breath of it; under whose preaching was she sitting, Mrs. +Abbott?" + +"That is more than I can tell you; not under the church parson's, +I'll engage; no one ever heard of a real, active, regenerating, soul- +reviving, spirit-groaning and fruit-yielding conversion under _his_ +ministry." + +"No, there is very little unction in that persuasion generally. How +cold and apathetic they are, in these soul-stirring times! Not a +sinner has been writhing on _their_ floor, I'll engage, nor a wretch +transferred into a saint, in the twinkling of an eye, by _that_ +parson. Well, _we_ have every reason to be grateful, Mrs. Abbott." + +"That we have, for most glorious have been our privileges! To be sure +that is a sinful pride that can puff up a wretched, sinful being like +Eve Effingham to such a pass of conceit, as to induce her to think +she is raised above thinking of, and taking an interest in the +affairs of her neighbours. Now, for my part, conversion has so far +opened _my_ heart, that I do actually feel as if I wanted to know all +about the meanest creature in Templeton." + +"That's the true spirit, Mrs. Abbott; stick to that, and your +redemption is secure. I only edit a newspaper, by way of showing an +interest in mankind." + +"I hope, Mr. Dodge, the press does not mean to let this matter of the +Point sleep; the press is the true guardian of the public rights, and +I can tell you the whole community looks to it for support, in this +crisis." + +"We shall not fail to do our duty," said Mr. Dodge, looking over his +shoulder, and speaking lower. "What! shall one insignificant +individual, who has not a single right above that of the meanest +citizen in the county, oppress this great and powerful community! +What if Mr. Effingham does own this point of land--" + +"But he does _not_ own it," interrupted Mrs. Abbott. "Ever since I +have known Templeton, the public has owned it. The public, moreover, +says it owns it, and what the public says, in this happy country, is +law." + +"But, allowing that the public does not own--" + +"It _does_ own it, Mr. Dodge," the nameless repeated, positively. + +"Well, ma'am, own or no own, this is not a country in which the press +ought to be silent, when a solitary individual undertakes to trample +on the public. Leave that matter to us, Mrs. Abbott; it is in good +hands, and shall be well taken care of." + +"I'm piously glad of it!" + +"I mention this to you, as to a friend," continued Mr. Dodge, +cautiously drawing from his pocket a manuscript, which he prepared to +read to his companion who sat with a devouring curiosity, ready to +listen. + +The manuscript of Mr. Dodge contained a professed account of the +affair of the Point. It was written obscurely, and was not without +its contradictions, but the imagination of Mrs. Abbott supplied all +the vacuums, and reconciled all the contradictions. The article was +so liberal of its professions of contempt for Mr. Effingham, that +every rational man was compelled to wonder, why a quality, that is +usually so passive, should, in this particular instance, be aroused +to so sudden and violent activity. In the way of facts, not one was +faithfully stated; and there were several deliberate, unmitigated +falsehoods, which went essentially to colour the whole account. + +"I think this will answer the purpose," said Steadfast, "and we have +taken means to see that it shall be well circulated." + +"This will do them good," cried Mrs. Abbott; almost breathless with +delight. "I hope folks will believe it." + +"No fear of that. If it were a party thing, now, one half would +believe it, as a matter of course, and the other half would not +believe it, as a matter of course; but, in a private matter, lord +bless you, ma'am, people are always ready to believe any thing that +will give them something to talk about." + +Here the _tete a tete_ was interrupted by the return of Mrs. Abbott's +different messengers, all of whom, unlike the dove sent forth from +the ark, brought back something in the way of hopes. The Point was a +general theme, and, though the several accounts flatly contradicted +each other, Mrs. Abbott, in the general benevolence of her pious +heart, found the means to extract corroboration of her wishes from +each. + +Mr. Dodge was as good as his word, and the account appeared. The +press throughout the country seized with avidity on any thing that +helped to fill its columns. No one appeared disposed to inquire into +the truth of the account, or after the character of the original +authority. It was in print, and that struck the great majority of the +editors and their readers, as a sufficient sanction. Few, indeed, +were they, who lived so much under a proper self-control, as to +hesitate; and this rank injustice was done a private citizen, as much +without moral restraint, as without remorse, by those, who, to take +their own accounts of the matter, were the regular and habitual +champions of human rights! + +John Effingham pointed out this extraordinary scene of reckless +wrong, to his wondering cousin, with the cool sarcasm, with which he +was apt to assail the weaknesses and crimes of the country. His +firmness, united to that of his cousin, however, put a stop to the +publication of the resolutions of Aristabulus's meeting, and when a +sufficient time had elapsed to prove that these prurient denouncers +of their fellow-citizens had taken wit in their anger, he procured +them, and had them published himself, as the most effectual means of +exposing the real character of the senseless mob, that had thus +disgraced liberty, by assuming its professions and its usages. + +To an observer of men, the end of this affair presented several +strong points for comment. As soon as the truth became generally +known, in reference to the real ownership, and the public came to +ascertain that instead of hitherto possessing a right, it had, in +fact been merely enjoying a favour, those who had commit ted +themselves by their arrogant assumptions of facts, and their indecent +outrages, fell back on their self-love, and began to find excuses for +their conduct in that of the other party. Mr. Effingham was loudly +condemned for not having done the very thing, he, in truth, had done, +viz: telling the public it did not own his property; and when this +was shown to be an absurdity, the complaint followed that what he had +done, had been done in precisely such a mode, although it was the +mode constantly used by every one else. From these vague and +indefinite accusations, those most implicated in the wrong, began to +deny all their own original assertions, by insisting that they had +known all along, that Mr. Effingham owned the property, but that they +did not choose he, or any other man, should presume to tell them what +they knew already. In short, the end of this affair exhibited human +nature in its usual aspects of prevarication, untruth, contradiction, +and inconsistency, notwithstanding the high profession of liberty +made by those implicated; and they who had been the most guilty of +wrong, were loudest in their complaints, as if they alone had +suffered. + +"This is not exhibiting the country to us, certainly, after so long +an absence, in its best appearance," said Mr. Effingham, "I must +admit, John; but error belongs to all regions, and to all classes of +institutions." + +"Ay, Ned, make the best of it, as usual; but, if you do not come +round to my way of thinking, before you are a twelvemonth older, I +shall renounce prophesying. I wish we could get at the bottom of Miss +Effingham's thoughts, on this occasion." + +"Miss Effingham has been grieved, disappointed, nay, shocked," said +Eve, "but, still she will not despair of the republic. None of our +respectable neighbours, in the first place, have shared in this +transaction, and that is something; though I confess I feel some +surprise that any considerable portion of a community, that respects +itself, should quietly allow an ignorant fragment of its own numbers, +to misrepresent it so grossly, in an affair that so nearly touches +its own character for common sense and justice." + +"You have yet to learn, Miss Effingham, that men can get to be so +saturated with liberty, that they become insensible to the nicer +feelings. The grossest enormities are constantly committed in this +good republic of ours, under the pretence of being done by the +public, and for the public. The public have got to bow to that +bugbear, quite as submissively as Gesler would have wished the Swiss +to bow to his own cap, as to the cap of Rodolph's substitute. Men +will have idols, and the Americans have merely set up themselves." + +"And you, cousin Jack, you would be wretched were you doomed to live +under a system less free. I fear you have the affectation of +sometimes saying that which you do not exactly feel." + +Chapter XVII. + + "Come, these are no times to think of dreams-- + We'll talk of dreams hereafter." + + SHAKSPEARE. + +The day succeeding that in which the conversation just mentioned +occurred, was one of great expectation and delight in the Wigwam. +Mrs. Hawker and the Bloomfields were expected, and the morning passed +away rapidly, under the gay buoyancy of the feelings that usually +accompany such anticipations in a country-house. The travellers were +to leave town the previous evening, and, though the distance was near +two hundred and thirty miles, they were engaged to arrive by the +usual dinner hour. In speed, the Americans, so long as they follow +the great routes, are unsurpassed; and even Sir George Templemore, +coming, as he did, from a country of MacAdamized roads and excellent +posting, expressed his surprise, when given to understand that a +journey of this length, near a hundred miles of which were by land, +moreover, was to be performed in twenty-four hours, the stops +included. + +"One particularly likes this rapid travelling," he remarked, "when it +is to bring us such friends as Mrs. Hawker." + +"And Mrs. Bloomfield," added Eve, quickly. "I rest the credit of the +American females on Mrs. Bloomfield." + +"More so, than on Mrs. Hawker, Miss Effingham." + +"Not in all that is amiable, respectable, feminine, and lady-like; +but certainly more so, in the way of mind. I know, Sir George +Templemore, as a European, what your opinion is of our sex in this +country." + +"Good heaven, my dear Miss Effingham!--My opinion of your sex, in +America! It is impossible for any one to entertain a higher opinion +of your country-women--as I hope to show--as, I trust, my respect and +admiration have always proved--nay, Powis, you, as an American, will +exonerate me from this want of taste--judgment--feeling--" + +Paul laughed, but told the embarrassed and really distressed baronet, +that he should leave him in the very excellent hands into which he +had fallen. + +"You see that bird, that is sailing so prettily above the roofs of +the village," said Eve, pointing with her parasol in the direction +she meant; for the three were walking together on the little lawn, in +waiting for the appearance of the expected guests; "and I dare say +you are ornithologist enough to tell its vulgar name." + +"You are in the humour to be severe this morning--the bird is but a +common swallow." + +"One of which will not make a summer, as every one knows. Our +cosmopolitism is already forgotten, and with it, I fear, our +frankness." + +"Since Powis has hoisted his national colours, I do not feel as free +on such subjects as formerly," returned Sir George, smiling. "When I +thought I had a secret ally in him, I was not afraid to concede a +little in such things, but his avowal of his country has put me on my +guard. In no case, however, shall I admit my insensibility to the +qualities of your countrywomen. Powis, as a native, may take that +liberty; but, as for myself, I shall insist they are, at least, the +equals of any females I know." + +"In _naivete_, prettiness, delicacy of appearance, simplicity, and +sincerity--" + +"In sincerity, think you, dear Miss Effingham?" + +"In sincerity, above all things, dear Sir George Templemore. +Sincerity--nay, frankness is the last quality I should think of +denying them." + +"But to return to Mrs. Bloomfield--she is clever, exceedingly clever, +I allow; in what is her cleverness to be distinguished from that of +one of her sex, on the other side of the ocean?" + +"In nothing, perhaps, did there exist no differences in national +characteristics. Naples and New-York are in the same latitude, and +yet, I think you will agree with me, that there is little resemblance +in their populations." + +"I confess I do not understand the allusion--are you quicker witted, +Powis?" + +"I will not say that," answered Paul; "but I think I do comprehend +Miss Effingham's meaning. You have travelled enough to know, that, as +a rule, there is more aptitude in a southern, than in a northern +people. They receive impressions more readily, and are quicker in all +their perceptions." + +"I believe this to be true; but, then, you will allow that they are +less constant, and have less perseverance?" + +"In that we are agreed, Sir George Templemore," resumed Eve, "though +we might differ as to the cause. The inconstancy of which you speak, +is more connected with moral than physical causes, perhaps, and we, +of this region, might claim an exemption from some of them. But, Mrs. +Bloomfield is to be distinguished from her European rivals, by a +frame so singularly feminine as to appear fragile, a delicacy of +exterior, that, were it not for that illumined face of hers, might +indicate a general feebleness, a sensitiveness and quickness of +intellect that amount almost to inspiration; and yet all is balanced +by a practical common sense, that renders her as safe a counsellor as +she is a warm friend. This latter quality causes you sometimes to +doubt her genius, it is so very homely and available. Now it is in +this, that I think the American woman, when she does rise above +mediocrity, is particularly to be distinguished from the European. +The latter, as a genius, is almost always in the clouds, whereas, +Mrs. Bloomfield, in her highest flights, is either all heart, or all +good sense. The nation is practical, and the practical qualities get +to be imparted even to its highest order of talents." + +"The English women are thought to be less excitable, and not so much +under the influence of sentimentalism, as some of their continental +neighbours." + +"And very justly--but----" + +"But, what, Miss Effingham--there is, in all this, a slight return to +the cosmopolitism, that reminds me of our days of peril and +adventure. Do not conceal a thought, if you wish to preserve that +character." + +"Well, to be sincere, I shall say that your women live under a system +too sophisticated and factitious to give fair play to common sense, +at all times. What, for instance, can be the habitual notions of one, +who, professing the doctrines of Christianity, is accustomed to find +money placed so very much in the ascendant, as to see it daily +exacted in payment for the very first of the sacred offices of the +church? It would be as rational to contend that a mirror which had +been cracked into radii, by a bullet, like those we have so often +seen in Paris, would reflect faithfully, as to suppose a mind +familiarized to such abuses would be sensitive on practical and +common sense things." + +"But, my dear Miss Effingham, this is all habit." + +"I know it is all habit, Sir George Templemore, and a very bad habit +it is. Even your devoutest clergymen get so accustomed to it, as not +to see the capital mistake they make. I do not say it is absolutely +sinful, where there is no compulsion; but, I hope you agree with me, +Mr. Powis, when I say I think a clergyman ought to be so sensitive on +such a subject, as to refuse even the little offerings for baptisms, +that it is the practice of the wealthy of this country to make." + +"I agree with you entirely, for it would denote a more just +perception of the nature of the office they are performing; and they +who wish to give can always make occasions." + +"A hint might be taken from Franklin, who is said to have desired his +father to ask a blessing on the pork-barrel, by way of condensation," +put in John Effingham, who joined them as he spoke, and who had heard +a part of the conversation. "In this instance an average might be +struck in the marriage fee, that should embrace all future baptisms. +But here comes neighbour Howel to favour us with his opinion. Do you +like the usages of the English church, as respects baptisms, Howel?" + +"Excellent, the best in the world, John Effingham." + +"Mr. Howel is so true an Englishman," said Eve, shaking hands +cordially with their well-meaning neighbour, "that he would give a +certificate in favour of polygamy, if it had a British origin." + +"And is not this a more natural sentiment for an American than that +which distrusts so much, merely because it comes from the little +island?" asked Sir George, reproachfully. + +"That is a question I shall leave Mr. Howel himself to answer." + +"Why, Sir George," observed the gentleman alluded to, "I do not +attribute my respect for your country, in the least, to origin. I +endeavour to keep myself free from all sorts of prejudices. My +admiration of England arises from conviction, and I watch all her +movements with the utmost jealousy, in order to see if I cannot find +her tripping, though I feel bound to say I have never yet detected +her in a single error. What a very different picture, France--I hope +your governess is not within hearing, Miss Eve; it is not her fault; +she was born a French woman, and we would not wish to hurt her +feelings--but what a different picture France presents! I have +watched her narrowly too, these forty years, I may say, and I have +never yet found her right; and this, you must allow, is a great deal +to be said by one who is thoroughly impartial." + +"This is a terrible picture, indeed, Howel, to come from an +unprejudiced man," said John Effingham; "and I make no doubt Sir +George Templemore will have a better opinion of himself for ever +after--he for a valiant lion, and you for a true prince. But yonder +is the 'exclusive extra,' which contains our party." + +The elevated bit of lawn on which they were walking commanded a view +of the road that led into the village, and the travelling, vehicle +engaged by Mrs. Hawker and her friends, was now seen moving along it +at a rapid pace. Eve expressed her satisfaction, and then all resumed +their walk, as some minutes must still elapse previously to the +arrival. + +"Exclusive extra!" repeated Sir George; "that is a peculiar phrase, +and one that denotes any thing but democracy." + +"In any other part of the world a thing would be sufficiently marked, +by being 'extra,' but here it requires the addition of 'exclusive,' +in order to give it the 'tower stamp,'" said John Effingham, with a +curl of his handsome lip. "Any thing may be as exclusive as it +please, provided it bear the public impress. A stagecoach being +intended for every body, why, the more exclusive it is, the better. +The next thing we shall hear of will be exclusive steamboats, +exclusive railroads, and both for the uses of the exclusive people." + +Sir George now seriously asked an explanation of the meaning of the +term, when Mr. Howel informed him that an 'extra' in America meant a +supernumerary coach, to carry any excess of the ordinary number of +passengers; whereas an 'exclusive extra' meant a coach expressly +engaged by a particular individual. + +"The latter, then, is American posting," observed Sir George. + +"You have got the best idea of it that can be given," said Paul. "It +is virtually posting with a coachman, instead of postillions, few +persons in this country, where so much of the greater distances is +done by steam, using their own travelling carriages. The American +'exclusive extra' is not only posting, but, in many of the older +parts of the country, it is posting of a very good quality." + +"I dare say, now, this is all wrong, if we only knew it," said the +simple-minded Mr. Howel. "There is nothing exclusive in England, ha, +Sir George?" + +Every body laughed except the person who put this question, but the +rattling of wheels and the tramping of horses on the village bridge, +announced the near approach of the travellers. By the time the party +had reached the great door in front of the house, the carriage was +already in the grounds, and at the next moment, Eve was in the arms +of Mrs. Bloomfield. It was apparent, at a glance, that more than the +expected number of guests was in the vehicle; and as its contents +were slowly discharged, the spectators stood around it, with +curiosity, to observe who would appear. + +The first person that descended, after the exit of Mrs. Bloomfield, +was Captain Truck, who, however, instead of saluting his friends, +turned assiduously to the door he had just passed through, to assist +Mrs. Hawker to alight. Not until this office had been done, did he +even look for Eve; for, so profound was the worthy captain's +admiration and respect for this venerable lady, that she actually had +got to supplant our heroine, in some measure, in his heart. Mr. +Bloomfield appeared next, and an exclamation of surprise and pleasure +proceeded from both Paul and the baronet, as they caught a glimpse of +the face of the last of the travellers that got out. + +"Ducie!" cried Sir George. "This is even better than we expected." + +"Ducie!" added Paul, "you are several days before the expected time, +and in excellent company." + +The explanation, however, was very simple Captain Ducie had found the +facilities for rapid motion much greater than he had expected, and he +reached Fort Plain, in the eastward cars, as the remainder of the +party arrived in the westward. Captain Truck-who had met Mrs. +Hawker's party in the river boat, had been intrusted with the duty of +making the arrangements, and recognizing Captain Ducie, to their +mutual surprise, while engaged in this employment, and ascertaining +his destination, the latter was very cordially received into the +"exclusive extra." + +Mr. Effingham welcomed all his guests with the hospitality and +kindness for which he was distinguished. We are no great admirers of +the pretension to peculiar national virtues, having ascertained, to +our own satisfaction, by tolerably extensive observation, that the +moral difference between men is of no great amount; but we are almost +tempted to say, on this occasion, that Mr. Effingham received his +guests with American hospitality; for if there be one quality that +this people can claim to possess in a higher degree than that of most +other Christian nations, it is that of a simple, sincere, confiding +hospitality. For Mrs. Hawker, in common with all who knew her, the +owner of the Wigwam entertained a profound respect; and though his +less active mind did not take as much pleasure as that of his +daughter, in the almost intuitive intelligence of Mrs. Bloomfield, he +also felt for this lady a very friendly regard. It gave him pleasure +to see Eve surrounded by persons of her own sex, of so high a tone of +thought and breeding; a tone of thought and breeding, moreover, that +was as far removed as possible from anything strained or artificial: +and his welcomes were cordial in proportion. Mr. Bloomfield was a +quiet, sensible, gentleman-like man, whom his wife fervently loved, +without making any parade of her attachment and he was also one who +had the good sense to make himself agreeable wherever he went. +Captain Ducie, who, Englishman-like, had required some urging to be +induced to present himself before the precise hour named in his own +letter, and who had seriously contemplated passing several days in a +tavern, previously to showing himself at the Wigwam, was agreeably +disappointed at a reception, that would have been just as frank and +warm, had he come without any notice at all: for the Effinghams knew +that the usages which sophistication and a crowded population perhaps +render necessary in older countries, were not needed in their own; +and then the circumstance that their quondam pursuer was so near a +kinsman of Paul Powis', did not fail to act essentially in his +favour. + +"We can offer but little, in these retired mountains, to interest a +traveller and a man of the world, Captain Ducie," said Mr. Effingham, +when he went to pay his compliments more particularly, after the +whole party was in the house; "but there is a common interest in our +past adventures to talk about, after all other topics fail. When, we +met on the ocean, and you deprived us so unexpectedly of our friend +Powis, we did not know that you had the better claim of affinity to +his company." + +Captain Ducie coloured slightly, but he made his answer with a proper +degree of courtesy and gratitude. + +"It is very true," he added, "Powis and myself are relatives, and I +shall place all my claims to your hospitality to his account; for I +feel that I have been the unwilling cause of too much suffering to +your party to bring with me any very pleasant recollections, +notwithstanding your kindness in including me as a friend in the +adventures of which you speak." + +"Dangers that are happily past, seldom bring very unpleasant +recollections, more especially when they were connected with scenes +of excitement, I understand, sir, that the unhappy young man, who was +the principal cause of all that passed, anticipated the sentence of +the law, by destroying himself." + +"He was his own executioner, and the victim of a silly weakness that, +I should think, your state of society was yet too young and simple to +encourage. The idle vanity of making an appearance, a vanity, by the +way, that seldom besets gentlemen, or the class to which it may be +thought more properly to belong, ruins hundreds of young men in +England, and this poor creature was of the number. I never was more +rejoiced than when he quitted my ship, for the sight of so much +weakness sickened one of human nature. Miserable as his fate proved +to be, and pitiable as his condition really was while in my charge, +his case has the alleviating circumstance with me, of having made me +acquainted with those whom it might not otherwise have been my good +fortune to meet!" + +This civil speech was properly acknowledged, and Mr. Effingham +addressed himself to Captain Truck, to whom, in the hurry of the +moment, he had not yet said half that his feelings dictated. + +"I am rejoiced to see you under my roof, my worthy friend," taking +the rough hand of the old seaman between his own whiter and more +delicate fingers, and shaking it with cordiality, "for this _is_ +being under my roof, while those town residences have less the air of +domestication and familiarity. You will spend many of your holidays +here, I trust; and when we get a few years older, we will begin to +prattle about the marvels we have seen in company." + +The eye of Captain Truck glistened, and, as he return ed the shake by +another of twice the energy, and the gentle pressure of Mr. Effingham +by a squeeze like that of a vice, he said in his honest off-hand +manner-- + +"The happiest hour I ever knew was that in which I discharged the +pilot, the first time out, as a ship-master; the next great event of +my life, in the way of happiness, was the moment I found myself on +the deck of the Montauk, after we had given those greasy Arabs a him +that their room was better than their company; and I really think +this very instant must be set down as the third. I never knew, my +dear sir, how much I truly loved you and your daughter, until both +were out of sight." + +"That is so kind and gallant a speech, that it ought not to be lost +on the person most concerned. Eve, my love, our worthy friend has +just made a declaration which will be a novelty to you, who have not +been much in the way of listening to speeches of this nature." + +Mr. Effingham then acquainted his daughter with what Captain Truck +had just said. + +"This is certainly the first declaration of the sort I ever heard, +and with the simplicity of an unpractised young woman, I here avow +that the attachment is reciprocal," said the smiling Eve. "If there +is an indiscretion in this hasty acknowledgement, it must be ascribed +to surprise, and to the suddenness with which I have learned my +power, for your _parvenues_ are not always perfectly regulated." + +"I hope Mamselle V.A.V. is well," returned the Captain, cordially +shaking the hand the young lady had given him, "and that she enjoys +herself to her liking in this outlandish country?" + +"Mademoiselle Viefville will return you her thanks in person, at +dinner; and I believe she does not yet regret _la belle France_ +unreasonably; as I regret it myself, in many particulars, it would be +unjust not to permit a native of the country some liberty in that +way." + +"I perceive a strange face in the room--one of the family, my dear +young lady?" + +"Not a relative, but a very old friend.--Shall I have the pleasure of +introducing you, Captain?" + +"I hardly dared to ask it, for I know you must have been overworked +in this way, lately, but I confess I _should_ like an introduction; I +have neither introduced, nor been introduced since I left New-York, +with the exception of the case of Captain Ducie, whom I made properly +acquainted with Mrs. Hawker and her party as you may suppose. They +know each other regularly now, and you are saved the trouble of going +through the ceremony yourself." + +"And how is it with you and the Bloomfields? Did Mrs. Hawker name you +to them properly?" + +"That is the most extraordinary thing of the sort I ever knew! Not a +word was said in the way of introduction, and yet I slid into an +acquaintance with Mrs. Bloomfield so easily, that I could not tell +how it was done, if my life depended on it. But this very old friend +of yours, my dear young lady----" + +"Captain Truck, Mr. Howel; Mr. Howel, Captain Truck;" said Eve, +imitating the most approved manner of the introductory spirit of the +day with admirable self-possession and gravity. "I am fortunate in +having it in my power to make two persons whom I so much esteem +acquainted." + +"Captain Truck is the gentleman who commands the Montauk?" said Mr. +Howel, glancing at Eve, as much as to say, "am I right?" + +"The very same, and the brave seaman to whom we are all indebted for +the happiness of standing here at this moment." + +"You are to be envied, Captain Truck; of all the men in your calling, +you are exactly the one I should most wish to supplant. I understand +you actually go to England twice every year!" + +"Three times, sir, when the winds permit. I have even seen the old +island four times, between January and January." + +"What a pleasure! It must be the very acme of navigation to sail +between America and England!" + +"It is not unpleasant, sir, from April to November, but the long +nights, thick weather, and heavy winds knock off a good deal of the +satisfaction for the rest of the year." + +"But I speak of the country; of old England itself; not of the +passages." + +"Well, England has what I call a pretty fair coast. It is high, and +great attention is paid to the lights; but of what account is either +coast or lights, if the weather is so thick, you cannot see the end +of your flying-jib-boom!" + +"Mr. Howel alludes more particularly to the country, inland," said +Eve; "to the towns, the civilization and the other proofs of +cultivation and refinement. To the government, especially." + +"In my judgment, sir, the government is much too particular about +tobacco, and some other trifling things I could name. Then it +restricts pennants to King's ships, whereas, to my notion, my dear +young lady, a New-York packet is as worthy of wearing a pennant as +any vessel that floats. I mean, of course, ships of the regular +European lines, and not the Southern traders." + +"But these are merely spots on the sun, my good sir," returned Mr. +Howel; "putting a few such trifles out of the question, I think you +will allow that England is the most delightful country in the world?" + +"To be frank with you, Mr. Howel, there is a good deal of hang-dog +weather, along in October, November and December. I have known March +any thing but agreeable, and then April is just like a young girl +with one of your melancholy novels, now smiling, and now blubbering." + +"But the morals of the country, my dear sir; the moral features of +England must be a source of never-dying delight to a true +philanthropist," resumed Mr. Howel, as Eve, who perceived that the +discourse was likely to be long, went to join the ladies. "An +Englishman has most reason to be proud of the moral excellencies of +his country!" + +"Why, to be frank with you, Mr. Howel, there are some of the moral +features of London, that are any thing but very beautiful. If you +could pass twenty-four hours in the neighbourhood of St. Catharine's, +would see sights that would throw Templeton into fits. The English +are a handsome people, I allow; but their morality is none of the +best-featured." + +"Let us be seated, sir; I am afraid we are not exactly agreed on our +terms, and, in order that we may continue this subject, I beg you +will let me take a seat next you, at table." + +To this Captain Truck very cheerfully assented, and then the two took +chairs, continuing the discourse very much in the blind and ambiguous +manner in which it had been commenced; the one party insisting on +seeing every thing through the medium of an imagination that had got +to be diseased on such subjects, or with a species of monomania; +while the other seemed obstinately determined to consider the entire +country as things had been presented to his limited and peculiar +experience, in the vicinity of the docks. + +"We have had a very unexpected, and a very agreeable attendant in +Captain Truck," said Mrs Hawker, when Eve had placed herself by her +side, and respectfully taken one of her hands. "I really think if I +were to suffer shipwreck, or to run the hazard of captivity, I should +choose to have both occur in his good company." + +"Mrs. Hawker makes so many conquests," observed Mrs. Bloomfield, +"that we are to think nothing of her success with this mer-man; but +what will you say, Miss Effingham, when you learn that I am also in +favour, in the same high quarter. I shall think the better of +masters, and boatswains, and Trinculos and Stephanos, as long as I +live, for this specimen of their craft." + +"Not Trinculos and Stephanos, dear Mrs. Bloom field; for, _a l' +exception pres de_ Saturday-nights, and sweethearts and wives, a more +exemplary person in the way of libations does not exist than our +excellent Captain Truck. He is much too religious and moral for so +vulgar an excess as drinking." + +"Religious!" exclaimed Mrs, Bloomfield, in sur prise. "This is a +merit to which I did not know he possessed the smallest claims. One +might imagine a little superstition, and some short-lived repentances +in gales of wind; but scarcely any thing as much like a trade wind, +as religion!" + +"Then you do not know him; for a more sincerely devout man, though I +acknowledge it is after a fashion that is perhaps peculiar to the +ocean, is not often met with. At any rate, you found him attentive to +our sex?" + +"The pink of politeness, and, not to embellish, there is a manly +deference about him, that is singularly agreeable to our frail +vanity. This comes of his packet-training, I suppose, and we may +thank you for some portion of his merit, His tongue never tires in +your praises, and did I not feel persuaded that your mind is made up +never to be the wife of any republican American, I should fear this +visit exceedingly. Notwithstanding the remark I made concerning my +being in favour, the affair lies between Mrs. Hawker and yourself. I +know it is not your habit to trifle even on that very popular subject +with young ladies, matrimony; but this case forms so complete an +exception to the vulgar passion, that I trust you will overlook the +indiscretion. Our _golden_ captain, for _copper_ he is not, protests +that Mrs. Hawker is the most delightful old lady he ever knew, and +that Miss Eve Effingham is the most delightful young lady he ever +knew. Here, then, each may see the ground she occupies, and play her +cards accordingly. I hope to be forgiven for touching on a subject so +delicate." + +"In the first place," said Eve, smiling, "I should wish to hear Mrs. +Hawker's reply." + +"I have no more to say, than to express my perfect gratitude," +answered that lady, "to announce a determination not to change my +condition, on account of extreme youth, and a disposition to abandon +the field to my younger, if not fairer, rival." + +"Well, then," resumed Eve, anxious to change the subject, for she saw +that Paul was approaching their group, "I believe it will be wisest +in me to suspend a decision, circumstances leaving so much at my +disposal. Time must show what that decision will be." + +"Nay," said Mrs. Bloomfield, who saw no feeling involved in the +trifling, "this is unjustifiable coquetry, and I feel bound to +ascertain how the land lies. You will remember I am the Captain's +confidant, and you know the fearful responsibility of a friend in an +affair of this sort; that of a friend in the duello being +insignificant in comparison. That I may have testimony at need, Mr. +Powis shall be made acquainted with the leading facts. Captain Truck +is a devout admirer of this young lady, sir, and I am endeavouring to +discover whether he ought to hang himself on her father's lawn, this +evening, as soon as the moon rises, or live another week. In order to +do this, I shall pursue the categorical and inquisitorial method--and +so defend yourself Miss Effingham. Do you object to the country of +your admirer?" + +Eve, though inwardly vexed at the turn this pleasantry had taken, +maintained a perfectly composed manner, for she knew that Mrs. +Bloomfield had too much feminine propriety to say any thing improper, +or any thing that might seriously embarrass her. + +"It would, indeed, be extraordinary, should I object to a country +which is not only my own, but which has so long been that of my +ancestors," she answered steadily. "On this score, my knight has +nothing to fear." + +"I rejoice to hear this," returned Mrs. Bloomfield, glancing her +eyes, unconsciously to herself, however, towards Sir George +Templemore, "and, Mr. Powis, you, who I believe are a European, will +learn humility in the avowal. Do you object to your swain that he is +a seaman?" + +Eve blushed, notwithstanding a strong effort to appear composed, and, +for the first time since their acquaintance, she felt provoked with +Mrs. Bloomfield. She hesitated before she answered in the negative, +and this too in a way to give more meaning to her reply, although +nothing could be farther from her intentions. + +"The happy man _may_ then be an American and a seaman! Here is great +encouragement. Do you object to sixty?" + +"In any other man I should certainly consider it a blemish, as my own +dear father is but fifty." + +Mrs. Bloomfield was struck with the tremor in the voice, and with the +air of embarrassment, in one who usually was so easy and collected; +and with feminine sensitiveness she adroitly abandoned the subject, +though she often recurred to this stifled emotion in the course of +the day, and from that moment she became a silent observer of Eve's +deportment with all her father's guests. + +"This is hope enough for one day," she said, rising; "the profession +and the flag must counterbalance the years as best they may, and the +Truck lives another revolution of the sun! Mrs. Hawker, we shall be +late at dinner, I see by that clock, unless we retire soon." + +Both the ladies now went to their rooms; Eve, who was already dressed +for dinner, remaining in the drawing-room. Paul still stood before +her, and, like herself, he seemed embarrassed. + +"There are men who would be delighted to hear even the little that +has fallen from your lips in this trifling," he said, as soon as Mrs. +Bloomfield was out of hearing. "To be an American and a seaman, then, +are not serious defects in your eyes?" + +"Am I to be made responsible for Mrs. Bloomfield's caprices and +pleasantries?" + +"By no means; but I do think you hold yourself responsible for Miss +Effingham's truth and sincerity I can conceive of your silence, when +questioned too far, but scarcely of any direct declaration, that +shall not possess both these high qualities." + +Eve looked up gratefully, for she saw that profound respect for her +character dictated the remark; but rising, she observed-- + +"This is making a little _badinage_ about our honest, lion-hearted, +old captain, a very serious affair. And now, to show you that I am +conscious of, and thankful for, your own compliment, I shall place +you on the footing of a friend to both the parties, and request you +will take Captain Truck into your especial care, while he remains +here. My father and cousin are both sincerely his friends, but their +habits are not so much those of their guests, as yours will probably +be; and to you, then, I commit him, with a request that he may miss +his ship and the ocean as little as possible." + +"I would I knew how to take this charge, Miss Effingham!--To be a +seaman is not always a recommendation with the polished, intelligent, +and refined." + +"But when one is polished, intelligent, and refined, to be a seaman +is to add one other particular and useful branch of knowledge to +those which are more familiar. I feel certain Captain Truck will be +in good hands, and now I will go and do my devoirs to my own especial +charges, the ladies." + +Eve bowed as she passed the young man, and she left the room with as +much haste as at all became her. Paul stood motionless quite a minute +after she had vanished, nor did he awaken from his reverie, until +aroused by an appeal from Captain Truck, to sustain him, in some of +his matter-of-fact opinions concerning England, against the visionary +and bookish notions of Mr. Howel. + +"Who is this Mr. Powis?" asked Mrs. Bloomfield of Eve, when the +latter appeared in her dressing-room, with an unusual impatience of +manner. + +"You know, my dear Mrs. Bloomfield, that he was our fellow-passenger +in the Montauk, and that he was of infinite service to us, in +escaping from the Arabs." + +"All this I know, certainly; but he is a European, is he not?" + +Eve scarcely ever felt more embarrassed than in answering this simple +question. + +"I believe not; at least, I think not; we thought so when we met him +in Europe, and even until quite lately; but he has avowed himself a +countryman of our own, since his arrival at Templeton." + +"Has he been here long?" + +"We found him in the village on reaching home. He was from Canada, +and has been in waiting for his cousin, Captain Ducie, who came with +you." + +"His cousin!--He has English cousins, then! Mr. Ducie kept this to +himself, with true English reserve. Captain Truck whispered something +of the latter's having taken out one of his passengers, _the_ Mr. +Powis. the hero of the rocks, but I did not know of his having found +his way back to our--to his country. Is he as agreeable as Sir George +Templemore?" + +"Nay, Mrs. Bloomfield, I must leave you to judge of that for +yourself. I think them both agreeable men; but there is so much +caprice in a woman's tastes, that I decline thinking for others." + +"He is a seaman, I believe," observed Mrs. Bloomfield, with an +abstracted manner--"he _must_ have been, to have manoeuvred and +managed as I have been told he did. Powis--Powis--that is not one of +our names, neither--I should think he must be from the south." + +Here Eve's habitual truth and dignity of mind did her good service, +and prevented any further betrayal of embarrassment. + +"We do not know his family," she steadily answered. "That he is a +gentleman, we see; but of his origin and connections he never +speaks." + +"His profession would have given him the notions of a gentleman, for +he was in the navy I have heard, although I had thought it the +British navy. I do not know of any Powises in Philadelphia, or +Baltimore, or Richmond, or Charleston; he must surely be from the +interior." + +Eve could scarcely condemn her friend for a curiosity that had not a +little tormented herself, though she would gladly change the +discourse. + +"Mr. Powis would be much gratified, did he know what a subject of +interest he has suddenly become with Mrs. Bloomfield," she said, +smiling. + +"I confess it all; to be very sincere, I think him the most +distinguished young man, in air, appearance, and expression of +countenance, I ever saw. When this is coupled with what I have heard +of his gallantry and coolness, my dear, I should not be woman to feel +no interest in him. I would give the world to know of what State he +is a native, if native, in truth, he be." + +"For that we have his own word. He was born in this country, and was +educated in our own marine." + +"And yet from the little that fell from him, in our first short +conversation, he struck me as being educated above his profession." + +"Mr. Powis has seen much as a traveller; when we met him in Europe, +it was in a circle particularly qualified to improve both his mind +and his manners." + +"Europe! Your acquaintance did not then commence, like that with Sir +George Templemore, in the packet?" + +"Our acquaintance with neither, commenced in the packet. My father +had often seen both these gentlemen, during our residences in +different parts of Europe." + +"And your father's daughter?" + +"My father's daughter, too," said Eve, laughing. "With Mr. Powis, in +particular, we were acquainted under circumstances that left a vivid +recollection of his manliness and professional skill. He was of +almost as much service to us on one of the Swiss lakes, as he has +subsequently been on the ocean." + +All this was news to Mrs. Bloomfield, and she looked as if she +thought the intelligence interesting. At this moment the dinner-bell +rang, and all the ladies descended to the drawing-room. The gentlemen +were already assembled, and as Mr. Effingham led Mrs. Hawker to the +table, Mrs. Bloomfield gaily took Eve by the arm, protesting that she +felt herself privileged, the first day, to take a seat near the young +mistress of the Wigwam. + +"Mr. Powis and Sir George Templemore will not quarrel about the +honour," she said, in a low voice, as they proceeded towards the +table. + +"Indeed you are in error, Mrs. Bloomfield; Sir George Templemore is +much better pleased with being at liberty to sit next my cousin +Grace." + +"Can this be so!" returned the other, looking intently at her young +friend. + +"Indeed it is so, and I am very glad to be able to affirm it. How far +Miss Van Cortlandt is pleased that it is so, time must show: but the +baronet betrays every day, and all day, how much he is pleased with +her." + +"He is then a man of less taste, and judgment, and intelligence, than +I had thought him." + +"Nay, dearest Mrs. Bloomfield, this is not necessarily true; or, if +true, need it be so openly said?" + +"_Se non e vero, e ben trovato_." + +Chapter XVIII. + + "Thine for a space are they-- + Yet shalt thou yield thy treasures up at last; + Thy gates shall yet give way, + Thy bolts shall fall, inexorable Past." + + BRYANT + +Captain Ducie had retired for the night, and was sitting reading, +when a low tap at the door roused him from a brown study. He gave the +necessary permission, and the door opened. + +"I hope, Ducie, you have not forgotten the secretary I left among +your effects," said Paul entering the room, "and concerning which I +wrote you when you were still at Quebec." + +Captain Ducie pointed to the case, which was standing among his other +luggage, on the floor of the room. + +"Thank you for this care," said Paul, taking the secretary under his +arm, and retiring towards the door; "it contains papers of much +importance to myself, and some that I have reason to think are of +importance to others." + +"Stop, Powis--a word before, you quit me. Is Templemore _de trop_?" + +"Not at all; I have a sincere regard for Templemore, and should be +sorry to see him leave us." + +"And yet I think it singular a man of his habits should be +rusticating among these hills, when I know that he is expected to +look at the Canadas, with a view to report their actual condition at +home." + +"Is Sir George really entrusted with a commission of that sort?" +inquired Paul, with interest. + +"Not with any positive commission, perhaps, for none was necessary. +Templemore is a rich fellow, and has no need of appointments; but, it +is hoped and understood, that he will look at the provinces, and +report their condition to the government, I dare say he will not be +impeached for his negligence, though it may occasion surprise." + +"Good night, Ducie; Templemore prefers a wigwam to your walled +Quebec, and _natives_ to colonists, that's all." + +In a minute, Paul was at the door of John Effingham's room, where he +again tapped, and was again told to enter. + +"Ducie has not forgotten my request, and here is the secretary that +contains poor Mr. Monday's paper," he remarked, as he laid his load +on a toilet-table, speaking in a way to show that the visit was +expected. "We have, indeed, neglected this duty too long, and it is +to be hoped no injustice, or wrong to any, will be the consequence." + +"Is that the package?" demanded John Effingham, extending a hand to +receive a bundle of papers that Paul had taken from the secretary. +"We will break the seals this moment, and ascertain what ought to be +done, before we sleep." + +"These are papers of my own, and very precious are they," returned +the young man, regarding them a moment, with interest, before he laid +them on the toilet. "Here are the papers of Mr. Monday." + +John Effingham received the package from his young friend, placed the +lights conveniently on the table, put on his spectacles, and invited +Paul to be seated. The gentlemen were placed opposite each other, the +duty of breaking the seals, and first casting an eye at the contents +of the different documents, devolving, as a matter of course, on the +senior of the two, who, in truth, had alone been entrusted with it. + +"Here is something signed by poor Monday himself, in the way of a +general, certificate," observed John Effingham, who first read the +paper, and then handed it to Paul. It was, in form, an unsealed +letter; and it was addressed "to all whom it may concern." The +certificate itself was in the following words: + +"I, John Monday, do declare and certify, that all the accompanying +letters and documents are genuine and authentic. Jane Dowse, to whom +and from whom, are so many letters, was my late mother, she having +intermarried with Peter Dowse, the man so often named, and who led +her into acts for which I know she has since been deeply repentant. +In committing these papers to me, my poor mother left me the sole +judge of the course I was to take, and I have put them in this form +in order that they may yet do good, should I be called suddenly away. +All depends on discovering who the person called Bright actually is, +for he was never known to my mother, by any other name. She knows him +to have been an Englishman, however, and thinks he was, or had been, +an upper servant in a gentleman's family. JOHN MONDAY." + +This paper was dated several years back, a sign that the disposition +to do right had existed some time in Mr. Monday; and all the letters +and other papers had been carefully preserved. The latter also +appeared to be regularly numbered, a precaution that much aided the +investigations of the two gentlemen. The original letters spoke for +themselves, and the copies had been made in a clear, strong, +mercantile hand, and with the method of one accustomed to business. +In short, so far as the contents of the different papers would allow, +nothing was wanting to render the whole distinct and intelligible. + +John Effingham read the paper No. 1, with deliberation, though not +aloud; and when he had done, he handed it to his young friend, coolly +remarking-- + +"That is the production of a deliberate villain." + +Paul glanced his eye over the document, which was an original letter +signed, 'David Bright,' and addressed to 'Mrs. Jane Dowse,' It was +written with exceeding art, made many professions of friendship, +spoke of the writer's knowledge of the woman's friends in England, +and of her first husband in particular, and freely professed the +writer's desire to serve her, while it also contained several +ambiguous allusions to certain means of doing so, which should be +revealed whenever the person to whom the letter was addressed should +discover a willingness to embark in the undertaking. This letter was +dated Philadelphia, was addressed to one in New-York, and it was old. + +"This is, indeed, a rare specimen of villany," said Paul, as he laid +down the paper, "and has been written in some such spirit as that +employed by the devil when he tempted our common mother. I think I +never read a better specimen of low, wily, cunning." + +"And, judging by all that we already know, it would seem to have +succeeded. In this letter you will find the gentleman a little more +explicit; and but a little; though he is evidently encouraged by the +interest and curiosity betrayed by the woman in this copy of the +answer to his first epistle." + +Paul read the letter just named, and then he laid it down to wait for +the next, which was still in the hands of his companion. + +"This is likely to prove a history of unlawful love, and of its +miserable consequences," said John Effingham in his cool manner, as +he handed the answers to letter No. 1, and letter No. 2, to Paul. +"The world is full of such unfortunate adventures, and I should think +the parties English, by a hint or two you will find in this very +honest and conscientious communication. Strongly artificial, social +and political distinctions render expedients of this nature more +frequent, perhaps, in Great Britain, than in any other country. Youth +is the season of the passions, and many a man in the thoughtlessness +of that period lays the foundation of bitter regret in after life." + +As John Effingham raised his eyes, in the act of extending his hand +towards his companion, he perceived that the fresh ruddy hue of his +embrowned cheek deepened, until the colour diffused itself over the +whole of his fine brow. At first an unpleasant suspicion flashed on +John Effingham, and he admitted it with regret, for Eve and her +future happiness had got to be closely associated, in his mind, with +the character and conduct of the young man; but when Paul took the +papers, steadily, and by an effort seemed to subdue all unpleasant +feelings, the calm dignity with which he read them completely effaced +the disagreeable distrust. It was then John Effingham remembered that +he had once believed Paul himself might be the fruits of the +heartless indiscretion he condemned. Commiseration and sympathy +instantly took the place of the first impression, and he was so much +absorbed with these feelings that he had not taken up the letter +which was to follow, when Paul laid down the paper he had last been +required to read. + +"This does, indeed, sir, seem to foretell one of those painful +histories of unbridled passion, with the still more painful +consequences," said the young man with the steadiness of one who was +unconscious of having a personal connexion with any events of a +nature so unpleasant. "Let us examine farther." + +John Effingham felt emboldened by these encouraging signs of +unconcern, and he read the succeeding letters aloud, so that they +learned their contents simultaneously. The next six or eight +communications betrayed nothing distinctly, beyond the fact that the +child which formed the subject of the whole correspondence, was to be +received by Peter Dowse and his wife, and to be retained as their own +offspring, for the consideration of a considerable sum, with an +additional engagement to pay an annuity. It appeared by these letters +also, that the child, which was hypocritically alluded to under the +name of the 'pet,' had been actually transferred to the keeping of +Jane Dowse, and that several years passed, after this arrangement, +before the correspondence terminated. Most of the later letters +referred to the payment of the annuity, although they all contained +cold inquiries after the 'pet,' and answers so vague and general, as +sufficiently to prove that the term was singularly misapplied. In the +whole, there were some thirty or forty letters, each of which had +been punctually answered, and their dates covered a space of near +twelve years. The perusal of all these papers consumed more than an +hour, and when John Effingham laid his spectacles on the table, the +village clock had struck the hour of midnight. + +"As yet," he observed, "we have learned little more than the fact, +that a child was made to take a false character, without possessing +any other clue to the circumstances than is given in the names of the +parties, all of whom are evidently obscure, and one of the most +material of whom, we are plainly told, must have borne a fictitious +name. Even poor Monday, in possession of so much collateral testimony +that we want, could not have known what was the precise injustice +done, if any, or, certainly, with the intentions he manifests, he +would not have left that important particular in the dark." + +"This is likely to prove a complicated affair," returned Paul, "and +it is not very clear that we can be of any immediate service. As you +are probably fatigued, we may without impropriety defer the further +examination to another time." + +To this John Effingham assented, and Paul, during the short +conversation that followed, brought the secretary from the toilet to +the table, along with the bundle of important papers that belonged to +himself, to which he had alluded, and busied himself in replacing the +whole in the drawer from which they had been taken. + +"All the formalities about the seals, that we observed when poor +Monday gave us the packet, would seem to be unnecessary," he +remarked, while thus occupied, "and it will probably be sufficient if +I leave the secretary in your room, and keep the keys myself." + +"One never knows," returned John Effingham, with the greater caution +of experience and age. "We have not read all the papers, and there +are wax and lights before you; each has his watch and seal, and it +will be the work of a minute only, to replace every thing as we left +the package, originally. When this is done, you may leave the +secretary, or remove it, at your own pleasure." + +"I will leave it; for, though it contains so much that I prize, and +which is really of great importance to myself, it contains nothing +for which I shall have immediate occasion." + +"In that case, it were better that I place the package in which we +have a common interest in an _armoire_, or in my secretary, and that +you keep your precious effects more immediately under your own eye." + +"It is immaterial, unless the case will inconvenience you, for I do +not know that I am not happier when it is out of my sight, so long as +I feel certain of its security, than when it is constantly before my +eyes." + +Paul said this with a forced smile, and there was a sadness in his +countenance that excited the sympathy of his companion. The latter, +however, merely bowed his assent, and the papers were replaced, and +the secretary was locked and deposited in an _armoire_, in silence. +Paul was then about to wish the other good night, when John Effingham +seized his hand, and by a gentle effort induced him to resume his +seat. An embarrassing, but short pause succeeded, when the latter +spoke. + +"We have suffered enough in company, and have seen each other in +situations of sufficient trial to be friends," he said. "I should +feel mortified, did I believe you could think me influenced by an +improper curiosity, in wishing to share more of your confidence than +you are perhaps willing to bestow; I trust you will attribute to its +right motive the liberty I am now taking. Age makes some difference +between us, and the sincere and strong interest I feel in your +welfare, ought to give me a small claim not to be treated as a total +stranger. So jealous and watchful has this interest been, I might +with great truth call it affection, that I have discovered you are +not situated exactly as other men in your condition of life are +situated, and feel persuaded that the sympathy, perhaps the advice, +of one so many years older than yourself, might be useful. You have +already said so much to me, on the subject of your personal +situation, that I almost feel a right to ask for more." + +John Effingham uttered this in his mildest and most winning manner; +and few men could carry with them, on such an occasion, more of +persuasion in their voices and looks. Paul's features worked, and it +was evident to his companion that he was moved, while, at the same +time, he was not displeased. + +"I am grateful, deeply grateful, sir, for this interest in my +happiness," Paul answered, "and if I knew the particular points on +which you feel any curiosity, there is nothing that I can desire to +conceal. Have the further kindness to question me, Mr. Effingham, +that I need not touch on things you do not care to hear." + +"All that really concerns your welfare, would have interest with me. +You have been the agent of rescuing not only myself, but those whom I +most love, from a fate worse than death; and, a childless bachelor +myself, I have more than once thought of attempting to supply the +places of those natural friends that I fear you have lost. Your +parents--" + +"Are both dead. I never knew either," said Paul, who spoke huskily, +"and will most cheerfully accept your generous offer, if you will +allow me to attach to it a single condition." + +"Beggars must not be choosers," returned John Effingham, "and if you +will allow me to feel this interest in you, and occasionally to share +in the confidence of a father; I shall not insist on any unreasonable +terms. What is your condition?" + +"That the word money may be struck out of our vocabulary, and that +you leave your will unaltered. Were the world to be examined, you +could not find a worthier or a lovelier heiress, than the one you +have already selected, and whom Providence itself has given you. +Compared with yourself, I am not rich, but I have a gentleman's +income, and as I shall probably never marry, it will suffice for all +my wants." + +John Effingham was more pleased than he cared to express with this +frankness, and with the secret sympathy that had existed between +them; but he smiled at the injunction; for, with Eve's knowledge, and +her father's entire approbation, he had actually made a codicil to +his will, in which their young protector was left one half of his +large fortune. + +"The will may remain untouched, if you desire it," he answered, +evasively, "and that condition is disposed of. I am glad to learn so +directly from yourself, what your manner of living and the reports of +others had prepared me to hear, that you are independent. This fact, +alone, will place us solely on our mutual esteem, and render the +friendship that I hope is now brought within a covenant, if not now +first established, more equal and frank. You have seen much of the +world, Powis, for your years and profession?" + +"It is usual to think that men of my profession see much of the +world, as a consequence of their pursuits; though I agree with you, +sir, that this is seeing the world only in a very limited circle. It +is now several years since circumstances, I might almost say the +imperative order of one whom I was bound to obey, induced me to +resign, and since that time I have done little else but travel. Owing +to certain adventitious causes, I have enjoyed an access to European +society that few of our countrymen possess, and I hope the advantage +has not been entirely thrown away. It was as a traveller on the +continent of Europe, that I had the pleasure of first meeting with +Mr. and Miss Effingham. I was much abroad, even as a child, and owe +some little skill in foreign languages to that circumstance." + +"So my cousin has informed me. You have set the question of country +at rest, by declaring that you are an American, and yet I find you +have English relatives. Captain Ducie, I believe, is a kinsman?" + +"He is; we are sister's children, though our friendship has not +always been such as the connexion would infer. When Ducie and myself +met at sea, there was an awkwardness, if not a coolness, in the +interview, that, coupled with my sudden return to England, I fear did +not make the most favourable impression, on those who witnessed what +passed." + +"We had confidence in your principles," said John Effingham, with a +frank simplicity, "and, though the first surmises were not pleasant, +perhaps, a little reflection told us that there was no just ground +for suspicion." + +"Ducie is a fine, manly fellow, and has a seaman's generosity and +sincerity. I had last parted from him on the field, where we met as +enemies; and the circumstance rendered the unexpected meeting +awkward. Our wounds no longer smarted, it is true; but, perhaps, we +both felt shame and sorrow that they had ever been inflicted." + +"It should be a very serious quarrel that could arm sister's children +against each other," said John Effingham, gravely. + +"I admit as much. But, at that time, Captain Ducie was not disposed +to admit the consanguinity, and the offence grew out of an +intemperate resentment of some imputations on my birth; between two +military men, the issue could scarcely be avoided. Ducie challenged, +and I was not then in the humour to balk him. A couple of flesh- +wounds happily terminated the affair. But an interval of three years +had enabled my enemy to discover that he had not done me justice; +that I had been causelessly provoked to the quarrel, and that we +ought to be firm friends. The generous desire to make suitable +expiation, urged him to seize the first occasion of coming to America +that offered; and when ordered to chase the Montauk, by a telegraphic +communication from London, he was hourly expecting to sail for our +seas, where he wished to come, expressly that we might meet. You will +judge, therefore, how happy he was to find me unexpectedly in the +vessel that contained his principal object of pursuit, thus killing, +as it might be, two birds with one stone." + +"And did he carry you away with him, with any such murderous +intention?" demanded John Effingham, smiling. + +"By no means; nothing could be more amicable than Ducie and myself +got to be, when we had been a few hours together in his cabin. As +often happens, when there have been violent antipathies and +unreasonable prejudices, a nearer view of each other's character and +motives removed every obstacle; and long before we reached England, +two warmer friends could not be found, or a more frank intercourse +between relatives could not be desired. You are aware, sir, that our +English cousins do not often view their cis-atlantic relatives with +the most lenient eyes." + +"This is but too true," said John Effingham proudly, though his lip +quivered as he spoke, "and it is, in a great measure, the fault of +that miserable mental bondage which has left this country, after +sixty years of nominal independence, so much at the mercy of a +hostile opinion. It is necessary that we respect ourselves in order +that others respect us." + +"I agree with you, sir, entirely. In my case, however, previous +injustice disposed my relatives to receive me better, perhaps, than +might otherwise have been the case. I had little to ask in the way of +fortune, and feeling no disposition to raise a question that might +disturb the peerage of the Ducies, I became a favourite." + +"A peerage!--Both your parents, then, were English?" + +"Neither, I believe; but the connection between the two countries was +so close, that it can occasion no surprise a right of this nature +should have passed into the colonies. My mother's mother became the +heiress of one of those ancient baronies, that pass to the heirs- +general, and, in consequence of the deaths of two brothers, these +rights, which however were never actually possessed by any of the +previous generation, centered in my mother and my aunt. The former +being dead, as was contended, without issue--" + +"You forget yourself!" + +"Lawful issue," added Paul, reddening to the temples, "I should have +added--Mrs. Ducie, who was married to the younger son of an English +nobleman, claimed and obtained the rank. My pretension would have +left the peerage in abeyance, and I probably owe some little of the +opposition I found, to that circumstance. But, after Ducie's generous +conduct, I could not hesitate about joining in the application to the +crown that, by its decision, the abeyance might be determined in +favour of the person who was in possession; and Lady Dunluce is now +quietly confirmed in her claim." + +"There are many young men in this country, who would cling to the +hopes of a British peerage with greater tenacity!" + +"It is probable there are; but my self-denial is not of a very high +order, for; it could scarcely be expected the English ministers would +consent to give the rank to a foreigner who did not hesitate about +avowing his principles and national feelings. I shall not say I did +hot covet this peerage, for it would be supererogatory; but I am born +an American, and will die an American; and an American who swaggers +about such a claim, is like the daw among the peacocks. The less that +is said about it, the better." + +"You are fortunate to have escaped the journals, which, most +probably, would have _begraced_ you, by elevating you at once to the +rank of a duke." + +"Instead of which, I had no other station than that of a dog in the +manger. If it makes my aunt happy to be called Lady Dunluce, I am +sure she is welcome to the privilege; and when Ducie succeeds her, as +will one day be the case, an excellent fellow will be a peer of +England. _Voila tout_! You are the only countryman, sir, to whom I +have ever spoken of the circumstance, and with you I trust it will +remain a secret" + +"What! am I precluded from mentioning the facts in my own family? I +am not the only sincere, the only warm friend, you have in this +house, Powis." + +"In that respect, I leave you to act your pleasure, my dear sir. If +Mr. Effingham feel sufficient interest in my fortunes, to wish to +hear what I have told you, let there be no silly mysteries,--or--or +Mademoiselle Viefville--" + +"Or Nanny Sidley, or Annette," interrupted John Effingham, with a +kind smile. "Well, trust to me for that; but, before we separate for +the night, I wish to ascertain beyond question one other fact, +although the circumstances you have stated scarce leave a doubt of +the reply." + +"I understand you, sir, and did not intend to leave you in any +uncertainty on that important particular. If there can be a feeling, +more painful than all others, with a man of any pride, it is to +distrust the purity of his mother. Mine was beyond reproach, thank +God, and so it was most clearly established, or I could certainly +have had no legal claim to the peerage." + +"Or your fortune--" added John Effingham, drawing a long breath, like +one suddenly relieved from an unpleasant suspicion. + +"My fortune comes from neither parent, but from one of those generous +dispositions, or caprices, if you will, that sometimes induce men to +adopt those who are alien to their blood. My guardian adopted me, +took me abroad with him, placed me, quite young, in the navy, and +dying, he finally left me all he possessed As he was a bachelor, with +no near relative, and had been the artisan of his own fortune, I +could have no hesitation about accepting the gift he so liberally +bequeathed. It was coupled with the condition that I should retire +from the service, travel for five years, return home, and marry. +There is no silly-forfeiture exacted in either case, but such is the +general course solemnly advised by a man who showed himself my true +friend for so many years." + +"I envy him the opportunity he enjoyed of serving you. I hope he +would have approved of your national pride, for I believe we must put +that at the bottom of your disinterestedness, in the affair of the +peerage." + +"He would, indeed, although he never knew anything of the claim which +arose out of the death of the two lords who preceded my aunt, and who +were the brothers of my grandmother. My guardian was in all respects +a man, and, in nothing more, than in a manly national pride. While +abroad a decoration was offered him, and he declined it with the +character and dignity of one who felt that distinctions which his +country repudiated, every gentleman belonging to that country ought +to reject; and yet he did it with a respectful gratitude for the +compliment, that was due to the government from which the offer +came." + +"I almost envy that man," said John Effingham, with warmth. "To have +appreciated you, Powis, was a mark of a high judgment; but it seems +he properly appreciated himself, his country, and human nature." + +"And yet he was little appreciated in his turn. That man passed years +in one of our largest towns, of no more apparent account among its +population than any one of its commoner spirits, and of not half as +much as one of its bustling brokers, or jobbers." + +"In that there is nothing surprising. The class of the chosen few is +too small every where, to be very numerous at any given point, in a +scattered population like that of America. The broker will as +naturally appreciate the broker, as the dog appreciates the dog, or +the wolf the wolf. Least of all is the manliness you have named, +likely to be valued among a people who have been put into men's +clothes before they are out of leading-strings. I am older than you, +my dear Paul," it was the first time John Effingham ever used so +familiar an appellation, and the young man thought it sounded +kindly--"I am older than you, my dear Paul, and will venture to tell +you an important fact that may hereafter lessen some of your own +mortifications. In most nations there is a high standard to which man +at least affects to look; and acts are extolled and seemingly +appreciated, for their naked merits. Little of this exists in +America, where no man is much praised for himself, but for the +purposes of party, or to feed national vanity. In the country in +which, of all others, political opinion ought to be the freest, it is +the most persecuted, and the community-character of the nation +induces every man to think he has a right of property in all its +fame. England exhibits a great deal of this weakness and injustice, +which, it is to be feared, is a vicious fruit of liberty; for it is +certain that the sacred nature of opinion is most appreciated in +those countries in which it has the least efficiency. We are +constantly deriding those governments which fetter opinion, and yet I +know of no nation in which the expression of opinion is so certain to +attract persecution and hostility as our own, though it may be, and +is, in one sense, free." + +"This arises from its potency. Men quarrel about opinion here, +because opinion rules. It is but one mode of struggling for power. +But to return to my guardian; he was a man to think and act for +himself, and as far from the magazine and newspaper existence that +most Americans, in a moral sense, pass, as any man could be." + +"It is indeed a newspaper and magazine existence," said John +Effingham, smiling at Paul's terms, "to know life only through such +mediums! It is as bad as the condition of those English who form +their notions of society from novels written by men and women who +have no access to it, and from the records of the court journal. I +thank you sincerely, Mr. Powis for this confidence, which has not +been idly solicited on my part, and which shall not be abused. At no +distant day we will break the seals again, and renew our +investigations into this affair of the unfortunate Monday, which is +not yet, certainly, very promising in the way of revelations." + +The gentlemen shook hands cordially, and Paul, lighted by his +companion, withdrew. When the young man was at the door of his own +room, he turned, and saw John Effingham following him with his eye. +The latter then renewed the good night, with one of those winning +smiles that rendered his face so brilliantly handsome, and each +retired. + +Chapter XIX. + + "Item, a capon, 2_s_. 2_d_. Item, sauce, 4_d_. Item, sack, two + gallons, 5_s_. 8_d_. Item, bread, a half-penny." + + SHAKSPEARE. + +The next day John Effingham made no allusion to the conversation of +the previous night, though the squeeze of the hand he gave Paul, when +they met, was an assurance that nothing was forgotten. As he had a +secret pleasure in obeying any injunction of Eve's, the young man +himself sought Captain Truck, even before they had breakfasted, and, +as he had made an acquaintance with 'the commodore,' on the lake, +previously to the arrival of the Effinghams, that worthy was +summoned, and regularly introduced to the honest ship-master. The +meeting between these two distinguished men was grave, ceremonious +and dignified, each probably feeling that he was temporarily the +guardian of a particular portion of an element that was equally dear +to both. After a few minutes passed, as it might be, in the +preliminary points of etiquette, a better feeling and more confidence +was established, and it was soon settled that they should fish in +company, the rest of the day; Paul promising to row the ladies out on +the lake, and to join them in the course of the afternoon. + +As the party quitted the breakfast-table, Eve took an occasion to +thank the young man for his attention to their common friend, who, it +was reported, had taken his morning's repast at an early hour, and +was already on the lake, the day by this time having advanced within +two hours of noon. + +"I have dared even to exceed your instructions, Miss Effingham," said +Paul, "for I have promised the Captain to endeavour to persuade you, +and as many of the ladies as possible, to trust yourselves to my +seamanship, and to submit to be rowed out to the spot where we shall +find him and his friend the commodore riding at anchor." + +"An engagement that my influence shall be used to see fulfilled. Mrs. +Bloomfield has already expressed a desire to go on the Otsego-Water, +and I make no doubt I shall find other companions. Once more let me +thank you for this little attention, for I too well know your tastes, +not to understand that you might find a more agreeable ward." + +"Upon my word, I feel a sincere regard for our old Captain, and could +often wish for no better companion. Were he, however, as disagreeable +as I find him, in truth, pleasant and frank, your wishes would +conceal all his faults." + +"You have learned, Mr. Powis, that small attentions are as much +remembered as important services, and after having saved our lives, +wish to prove that you can discharge _les petits devoirs socials_, as +well as perform great deeds. I trust you will persuade Sir George +Templemore to be of our party, and at four we shall be ready to +accompany you; until then I am contracted to a gossip with Mrs. +Bloomfield in her dressing-room." + +We shall now leave the party on the land, and follow those who have +already taken boat, or the fishermen. The beginning of the +intercourse between the salt-water navigator and his fresh-water +companion was again a little constrained and critical. Their +professional terms agreed as ill as possible, for when the Captain +used the expression 'ship the oars,' the commodore understood just +the reverse of what it had been intended to express; and, once, when +he told his companion to 'give way,' the latter took the hint so +literally as actually to cease rowing. All these professional +niceties induced the worthy ship-master to undervalue his companion, +who, in the main, was very skilful in his particular pursuit, though +it was a skill that he exerted after the fashions of his own lake, +and not after the fashions of the ocean. Owing to several contre-tems +of this nature, by the time they reached the fishing-ground the +Captain began to entertain a feeling for the commodore, that ill +comported with the deference due to his titular rank. + +"I have come out with you, commodore," said Captain Truck, when they +had got to their station, and laying a peculiar emphasis on the +appellation he used, "in order to _enjoy_ myself, and you will confer +an especial favour on me by not using such phrases as 'cable-rope,' +'casting anchor,' and 'titivating.' As for the two first, no seaman +ever uses them; and I never heard suchna word on board a ship, as the +last, D----e, sir, if I believe it is to be found in the dictionary, +even." + +"You amaze me, sir! 'Casting anchor,' and 'cable-rope' are both Bible +phrases, and they must be right." + +"That follows by no means, commodore, as I have some reason to know; +for my father having been a parson, and I being a seaman, we may be +said to have the whole subject, as it were, in the family. St. Paul-- +you have heard of such a man as St. Paul, commodore?--" + +"I know him almost by heart, Captain Truck; but St. Peter and St. +Andrew were the men, most after my heart. Ours is an ancient calling, +sir, and in those two instances you see to what a fisherman can rise. +I do not remember to have ever heard of a sea-captain who was +converted into a saint." + +"Ay, ay, there is always too much to do on board ship to have time to +be much more than a beginner in religion. There was my mate, v'y'ge +before last, Tom Leach, who is now master of a ship of his own, had +he been brought up to it properly, he would have made as +conscientious a parson as did his grandfather before him. Such a man +would have been a seaman, as well as a parson. I have little to say +against St. Peter or St. Andrew, but, in my judgment, they were none +the better saints for having been fishermen; and, if the truth were +known, I dare say they were at the bottom of introducing such +lubberly phrases into the Bible, as 'casting-anchor,' and 'cable- +rope." + +"Pray, sir," asked the commodore, with dignity, "what are _you_ in +the practice of saying, when you speak of such matters; for, to be +frank with you, _we_ always use these terms on these lakes." + +"Ay, ay, there is a fresh-water smell about them. We say 'anchor,' or +'let go the anchor,' or 'dropped the anchor,' or some such reasonable +expression, and not 'cast anchor,' as if a bit of iron, weighing two +or three tons, is to be jerked about like a stone big enough to kill +a bird with. As for the 'cable-rope,' as you call it, we say the +'cable,' or 'the chain,' or 'the ground tackle,' according to reason +and circumstances. You never hear a real 'salt' flourishing his +'cable-ropes,' and his 'casting-anchors,' which are altogether too +sentimental and particular for his manner of speaking. As for +'ropes,' I suppose you have not got to be a commodore, and need being +told how many there are in a ship." + +"I do not pretend to have counted them, but I have seen a ship, sir, +and one under full sail, too, and I know there were as many ropes +about her as there are pines on the Vision." + +"Are there more than seven of these trees on your mountain? for that +is just the number of ropes in a merchant-man; though a man-of-war's- +man counts one or two more." + +"You astonish me, sir! But seven ropes in a ship?--I should have said +there are seven hundred!" + +"I dare say, I dare say; that is just the way in which a landsman +pretends to criticise a vessel. As for the ropes, I will now give you +their names, and then you can lay athwart hawse of these canoe +gentry, by the hour, and teach them rigging and modesty, both at the +same time. In the first place," continued the captain, jerking at his +line, and then beginning to count on his fingers--"There is the 'man- +rope;' then come the 'bucket-rope,' the 'tiller-rope,' the 'bolt- +rope,' the 'foot-rope,' the 'top-rope,' and the 'limber-rope.' I have +followed the seas, now, more than half a century, and never yet heard +of a 'cable-rope,' from any one who could hand, reef, and steer." + +"Well, sir, every man to his trade," said the commodore, who just +then pulled in a fine pickerel, which was the third he had taken, +while his companion rejoiced in no more than a few fruitless bites. +"You are more expert in ropes than in lines, it would seem. I shall +not deny your experience and knowledge; but in the way of fishing, +you will at least allow that the sea is no great school. I dare say, +now, if you were to hook the 'sogdollager,' we should have you +jumping into the lake to get rid of him. Quite probably, sir, you +never before heard of that celebrated fish?" + +Notwithstanding the many excellent qualities of Captain Truck, he had +a weakness that is rather peculiar to a class of men, who, having +seen so much of this earth, are unwilling to admit they have not seen +it all. The little brush in which he was now engaged with the +commodore, he conceived due to his own dignity, and his motive was +duly to impress his companion with his superiority, which being +fairly admitted, he would have been ready enough to acknowledge that +the other understood pike-fishing much better than himself. But it +was quite too early in the discussion to make any such avowal, and +the supercilious remark of the commodore's putting him on his mettle, +he was ready to affirm that he had eaten 'sogdollagers' for +breakfast, a month at a time, had it been necessary. + +"Pooh! pooh! man," returned the captain, with an air of cool +indifference, "you do not surely fancy that you have any thing in a +lake like this, that is not to be found in the ocean! If you were to +see a whale's flukes thrashing your puddle, every cruiser among you +would run for a port; and as for 'sogdollagers,' we think little of +them in salt-water; the flying-fish, or even the dry dolphin, being +much the best eating." + +"Sir," said the commodore, with some heat, and a great deal of +emphasis, "there is but _one_ 'sogdollager' in the world, and he is +in this lake. No man has ever seen him, but my predecessor, the +'Admiral,' and myself." + +"Bah!" ejaculated the captain, "they are as plenty as soft clams, in +the Mediterranean, and the Egyptians use them as a pan-fish. In the +East, they catch them to bait with, for hallibut, and other middling +sized creatures, that are particular about their diet. It is a good +fish, I own, as is seen in this very circumstance." + +"Sir," repeated the commodore, flourishing his hand, and waxing warm +with earnestness, "there is but one 'sogdollager' in the universe, +and that is in Lake Otsego. A 'sogdollager' is a salmon trout, and +not a species; a sort of father to all the salmon trout in this part +of the world; a scaly patriarch." + +"I make no doubt _your_ 'sogdollager' is scaly enough; but what is +the use in wasting words about such a trifle? A whale is the only +fish fit to occupy a gentleman's thoughts. As long as I have been at +sea, I have never witnessed the taking of more than three whales." + +This allusion happily preserved the peace; for, if there were any +thing in the world for which the commodore entertained a profound, +but obscure reverence, it was for a whale. He even thought better of +a man for having actually seen one, gambolling in the freedom of the +ocean; and his mind became suddenly oppressed by the glory of a +mariner, who had passed his life among such gigantic animals. Shoving +back his cap, the old man gazed steadily at the captain a minute, and +all his displeasure about the 'sogdollagers' vanished, though, in his +inmost mind, he set down all that the other had told him on that +particular subject, as so many parts of a regular 'fish story.' + +"Captain Truck," he said, with solemnity, "I acknowledge myself to be +but an ignorant and inexperienced man, one who has passed his life on +this lake, which, broad and beautiful as it is, must seem a pond in +the eyes of a seaman like yourself, who have passed your days on the +Atlantic----" + +"Atlantic!" interrupted the captain contemptuously, "I should have +but a poor opinion of myself, had I seen nothing but the Atlantic! +Indeed, I never can believe I am at sea at all, on the Atlantic, the +passages between New-York and Portsmouth being little more than so +much canalling along a tow-path. If you wish to say any thing about +oceans, talk of the Pacific, or of the Great South Sea, where a man +may run a month with a fair wind, and hardly go from island to +island. Indeed, that is an ocean in which there is a manufactory of +islands, for they turn them off in lots to supply the market, and of +a size to suit customers." + +"A manufactory of islands!" repeated the commodore, who began to +entertain an awe of his companion, that he never expected to feel for +any human being on Lake Otsego; "are you certain, sir, there is no +mistake in this?" + +"None in the least; not only islands, but whole Archipelagos are made +annually, by the sea insects in that quarter of the world; but, then, +you are not to form your notions of an insect in such an ocean, by +the insects you see in such a bit of water as this." + +"As big as our pickerel, or salmon trout, I dare say?" returned the +commodore, in the simplicity of his heart, for by this time his local +and exclusive conceit was thoroughly humbled, and he was almost ready +to believe any thing. + +"I say nothing of their size, for it is to their numbers and industry +that I principally allude now. A solitary shark, I dare say, would +set your whole Lake in commotion?" + +"I think we might manage a shark, sir. I once saw one of those +animals, and I do really believe the sogdollager would outweigh him. +I do think we might manage a shark, sir." + +"Ay, you mean an in-shore, high-latitude fellow. But what would you +say to a shark as long as one of those pines on the mountain?" + +"Such a monster would take in a man, whole?" + +"A man! He would take in a platoon, Indian file I dare say one of +those pines, now, may be thirty or forty feet high!" + +A gleam of intelligence and of exultation shot across the weather- +beaten face of the old fisherman, for he detected a weak spot in the +other's knowledge. The worthy Captain, with that species of +exclusiveness which accompanies excellence in any one thing, was +quite ignorant of most matters that pertain to the land. That there +should be a tree, so far inland, that was larger than his main-yard, +he did not think probable, although that yard itself was made of part +of a tree; and, in the laudable intention of duly impressing his +companion with the superiority of a real seaman over a mere fresh- +water navigator, he had inadvertently laid bare a weak spot in his +estimate of heights and distances, that the Commodore seized upon, +with some such avidity as the pike seizes the hook. This accidental +mistake alone saved the latter from an abject submission, for the +cool superiority of the Captain had so far deprived him of his +conceit, that he was almost ready to acknowledge himself no better +than a dog, when he caught a glimpse of light through this opening. + +"There is not a pine, that can be called of age, on all the mountain, +which is not more than a hundred feet high, and many are nearer two," +he cried in exultation, flourishing his hand. "The sea may have its +big monsters, Captain, but our hills have their big trees. Did you +ever see a shark of half that length?" + +Now, Captain Truck was a man of truth, although so much given to +occasional humorous violations of its laws, and, withal, a little +disposed to dwell upon the marvels of the great deep, in the spirit +of exaggeration, and he could not, in conscience, affirm any thing so +extravagant as this. He was accordingly obliged to admit his mistake, +and from this moment, the conversation was carried on with a greater +regard to equality. They talked, as they fished, of politics, +religion, philosophy, human nature, the useful arts, abolition, and +most other subjects that would be likely to interest a couple of +Americans who had nothing to do but to twitch, from time to time, at +two lines dangling in the water. Although few people possess less of +the art of conversation than our own countrymen, no other nation +takes as wide a range in its discussions. He is but a very +indifferent American that does not know, or thinks he knows, a little +of every thing, and neither of our worthies was in the least backward +in supporting the claims of the national character in this respect. +This general discussion completely restored amity between the +parties; for, to confess the truth, our old friend the Captain was a +little rebuked about the affair of the tree. The only peculiarity +worthy of notice, that occurred in the course of their various +digressions, was the fact, that the commodore insensibly began to +style his companion "General;" the courtesy of the country in his +eyes, appearing to require that a man who has seen so much more than +himself, should, at least, enjoy a title equal to his own in rank, +and that of Admiral being proscribed by the sensitiveness of +republican principles. After fishing a few hours, the old laker +pulled the skiff up to the Point so often mentioned, where he Lighted +a fire on the grass, and prepared a dinner. When every thing was +ready, the two seated themselves, and began to enjoy the fruits of +their labours in a way that will be understood by all sportsmen. + +"I have never thought of asking you, general," said the commodore, as +he began to masticate a perch, "whether you are an aristocrat or a +democrat. We have had the government pretty much upside-down, too, +this morning, but this question has escaped me." + +"As we are here by ourselves under these venerable oaks, and talking +like two old messmates," returned the general, "I shall just own the +truth, and make no bones of it. I have been captain of my own ship so +long, that I have a most thorough contempt for all equality. It is a +vice that I deprecate, and, whatever may be the laws of this country, +I am of opinion, that equality is no where borne out by the Law of +Nations; which, after all, commodore, is the only true law for a +gentleman to live under." + +"That is the law of the strongest, if I understand the matter, +general." + +"Only reduced to rules. The Law of Nations, to own the truth to you, +is full of categories, and this will give an enterprising man an +opportunity to make use of his knowledge. Would you believe, +commodore, that there are countries, in which they lay taxes on +tobacco?" + +"Taxes on tobacco! Sir, I never heard of such an act of oppression +under the forms of law! What has tobacco done, that any one should +think of taxing it?" + +"I believe, commodore, that its greatest offence is being so general +a favourite. Taxation, I have found, differs from most other things, +generally attacking that which men most prize." + +"This is quite new to me, general; a tax on tobacco. The law-makers +in those countries cannot chew. I drink to your good health, sir, and +to many happy returns of such banquets as this." + +Here the commodore raised a large silver punch-bowl, which Pierre had +furnished, to his lips, and fastening his eyes on the boughs of a +knarled oak, he looked like a man who was taking an observation, for +near a minute. All this time, the captain regarded him with a +sympathetic pleasure, and when the bowl was free, he imitated the +example, levelling his own eye at a cloud, that seemed floating at an +angle of forty-five degrees above him, expressly for that purpose. + +"There is a lazy cloud!" exclaimed the general, as he let go his hold +to catch breath; "I have been watching it some time, and it has not +moved an inch." + +"Tobacco!" repeated the commodore, drawing a long breath, as if he +was just recovering the play of his lungs, "I should as soon think of +laying a tax on punch. The country that pursues such a policy must, +sooner or later, meet with a downfall. I never knew good come of +persecution." + +"I find you are a sensible man, commodore, and regret I did not make +your acquaintance earlier in life. Have you yet made up your mind on +the subject of religious faith?" + +"Why, my dear general, not to be nibbling like a sucker with a sore +mouth, with a person of your liberality, I shall give you a plain +history of my adventures, in the way of experiences, that you may +judge for yourself. I was born an Episcopalian, if one can say so, +but was converted to Presbyterianism at twenty. I stuck to this +denomination about five years, when I thought I would try the +Baptists, having got to be fond of the water, by this time. At +thirty-two I fished a while with the Methodists; since which +conversion, I have chosen to worship God pretty much by myself, out +here on the lake." + +"Do you consider it any harm, to hook a fish of a Sunday?" + +"No more than it is to eat a fish of a Sunday. I go altogether by +faith, in my religion, general, for they talked so much to me of the +uselessness of works, that I've got to be very unparticular as to +what I do. Your people who have been converted four or five times, +are like so many pickerel, which strike at every hook." + +"This is very much my case. Now, on the river--of course you know +where the river is?" + +"Certain," said the commodore; "it is at the foot of the lake." + +"My dear commodore, when we say 'the river,' we always mean the +Connecticut; and I am surprised a man of your sagacity should require +to be told this. There are people on the river who contend that a +ship should heave-to of a Sunday. They did talk of getting up an +Anti-Sunday-Sailing-Society, but the ship-masters were too many for +them, since they threatened to start a society to put down the +growing of inyens, (the captain would sometimes use this +pronunciation) except of week-days. Well, I started in life, on the +platform tack, in the way of religion, and I believe I shall stand on +the same course till orders come to 'cast anchor,' as you call it. +With you, I hold out for faith, as the one thing needful. Pray, my +good friend, what are your real sentiments concerning 'Old Hickory.' + +"Tough, sir;--Tough as a day in February on this lake. All fins, and +gills, and bones." + +"That is the justest character I have yet heard of the old gentleman; +and then it says so much in a few words; no category about it. I hope +the punch is to your liking?" + +On this hint the old fisherman raised the bowl a second time to his +lips, and renewed the agreeable duty of letting its contents flow +down his throat, in a pleasant stream. This time, he took aim at a +gull that was sailing over his head, only relinquishing the draught +as the bird settled into the water. The 'general' was more +particular; for selecting a stationary object, in the top of an oak, +that grew on the mountain near him, he studied it with an admirable +abstruseness of attention, until the last drop was drained. As soon +as this startling fact was mentioned, however, both the _convives_ +set about repairing the accident, by squeezing lemons, sweetening +water, and mixing liquors, _secundem artem._ At the same time, each +lighted a cigar, and the conversation, for some time, was carried on +between their teeth. + +"We have been so frank with each other to-day, my excellent +commodore," said Captain Truck, "that did I know your true sentiments +concerning Temperance Societies, I should look on your inmost soul as +a part of myself. By these free communications men get really to know +each other." + +"If liquor is not made to be drunk, for what is it made? Any one may +see that this lake was made for skiffs and fishing; it has a length, +breadth, and depth suited to such purposes. Now, here is liquor +distilled, bottled, and corked, and I ask if all does not show that +it was made to be drunk. I dare say your temperance men are +ingenious, but let them answer that if they can." + +"I wish, from my heart, my dear sir, we had known each other fifty +years since. That would have brought you acquainted with salt-water, +and left nothing to be desired in your character. We think alike, I +believe, in every thing but on the virtues of fresh-water. If these +temperance people had their way, we should all be turned into so many +Turks, who never taste wine, and yet marry a dozen wives." + +"One of the great merits of fresh-water, general, is what I call its +mixable quality." + +"There would be an end to Saturday nights, too, which are the +seamen's tea-parties." + +"I question if many of them fish in the rain, from sunrise to +sunset." + +"Or, stand their watches in wet pee-jackets, from sunset to sunrise. +Splicing the main brace at such times, is the very quintessence of +human enjoyments." + +"If liquors were not made to be drunk," put in the commodore, +logically, "I would again ask for what are they made? Let the +temperance men get over that difficulty if they can." + +"Commodore, I wish you twenty more good hearty years of fishing in +this lake, which grows, each instant, more beautiful in my eyes, as I +confess does the whole earth; and to show you that I say no more than +I think, I will clench it with a draught." + +Captain Truck now brought his right eye to bear on the new moon, +which happened to be at a convenient height, closed the left one, and +continued in that attitude until the commodore began seriously to +think he was to get nothing besides, the lemon-seeds for his share. +This apprehension, however, could only arise from ignorance of his +companion's character, than whom a juster man, according to the +notions of ship-masters, did not live; and had one measured the punch +that was left in the bowl when this draught was ended, he would have +found that precisely one half of it was still untouched, to a +thimblefull. The commodore now had his turn; and before he got +through, the bottom of the vessel was as much uppermost as the butt +of a club bed firelock. When the honest fisherman took breath after +this exploit, and lowered his cup from the vault of heaven to the +surface of the earth, he caught a view of a boat crossing the lake, +coming from the Silent Pine, to that Point on which they were +enjoying so many agreeable hallucinations on the subject of +temperance. + +"Yonder is the party from the Wigwam," he said, "and they will be +just in time to become converts to our opinions, if they have any +doubts on the subjects we have discussed. Shall we give up the ground +to them, by taking to the skiff, or do you feel disposed to face the +women?" + +"Under ordinary circumstances, commodore, I should prefer your +society to all the petticoats in the State, but there are two ladies +in that party, either of whom I would marry, any day, at a minute's +warning." + +"Sir," said the commodore with a tone of warning, "we, who have lived +bachelors so long, and are wedded to the water, ought never to speak +lightly on so grave a subject." + +"Nor do I. Two women, one of whom is twenty, and the other seventy-- +and hang me if I know which I prefer." + +"You would soonest be rid of the last, my dear general, and my advice +is to take her." + +"Old as she is, sir, a king would have to plead hard to get her +consent. We will make them some punch, that they may see we were +mindful of them in their absence." + +To work these worthies now went in earnest, in order to anticipate +the arrival of the party, and as the different compounds were in the +course of mingling, the conversation did not flag. By this time both +the salt-water and the fresh-water sailor were in that condition when +men are apt to think aloud, and the commodore had lost all his awe of +his companion. + +"My dear sir," said the former, "I am a thousand times sorry you came +from that river, for, to tell you my mind without any concealment, my +only objection to you is that you are not of the middle states. I +admit the good qualities of the Yankees, in a general way, and yet +they are the very worst neighbours that a man can have." + +"This is a new character of them, commodore, as they generally pass +for the best, in their own eyes. I should like to hear you explain +your meaning." + +"I call him a bad neighbour who never remains long enough in a place +to love any thing but himself. Now, sir, I have a feeling for every +pebble on the shore of this lake, a sympathy with every wave,"--here +the commodore began to twirl his hand about, with the fingers +standing apart, like so many spikes in a _che-vaux-de-frise_--"and +each hour, as I row across it, I find I like it better; and yet, sir, +would you believe me, I often go away of a morning to pass the day on +the water, and, on returning home at night, find half the houses +filled with new faces." + +"What becomes of the old ones?" demanded Captain Truck; for this, it +struck him, was getting the better of him with his own weapons. "Do +you mean that the people come and go like the tides?" + +"Exactly so, sir; just as it used to be with the herrings in the +Otsego, before the. Susquehannah was dammed, and is still, with the +swallows." + +"Well, well, my good friend, take consolation. You'll meet all the +faces you ever saw here, one day in heaven." + +"Never; not a man of them will stay there, if there be such a thing +as moving. Depend on it, sir," added the commodore, in the simplicity +of his heart, "heaven is no place for a Yankee, if he can get farther +west, by hook or by crook. They are all too uneasy for any steady +occupation. You, who are a navigator, must know something concerning +the stars; is there such a thing as another world, that lies west of +this?" + +"That can hardly be, commodore, since the points of the compass only +refer to objects on this earth. You know, I suppose, that a man +starting from this spot, and travelling due west, would arrive, in +time, at this very point, coming in from the east; so that what is +west to us, in the heavens, on this side of the world, is east to +those on the other." + +"This I confess I did not know, general. I have understood that what +is good in one man's eyes, will be bad in another's; but never before +have I heard that what is west to one man, lies east to another. I am +afraid, general, that there is a little of the sogdollager bait in +this?" + +"Not enough, sir, to catch the merest fresh-water gudgeon that swims. +No, no; there is neither east nor west off the earth, nor any up and +down; and so we Yankees must try and content ourselves with heaven. +Now, commodore, hand me the bowl, and we will get it ready down to +the shore, and offer the ladies our homage. And so you have become a +laker in your religion, my dear commodore," continued the general, +between his teeth, while he smoked and squeezed a lemon at the same +time, "and do your worshipping on the water?" + +"Altogether of late, and more especially since my dream." + +"Dream! My dear sir, I should think you altogether too innocent a man +to dream." + +"The best of us have our failings, general. I do sometimes dream, I +own, as well as the greatest sinner of them all." + +"And of what did you dream--the sogdollager?" + +"I dreamt of death." + +"Of slipping the cable!" cried the general, looking up suddenly. +"Well, what was the drift?" + +"Why, sir, having no wings, I went down below, and soon found myself +in the presence of the old gentleman himself." + +"That was pleasant--had he a tail? I have always been curious to know +whether he really has a tail or not." + +"I saw none, sir, but then we stood face to face, like gentlemen, and +I cannot describe what I did not see." + +"Was he glad to see you, commodore?" + +"Why, sir; he was civilly spoken, but his occupation prevented many +compliments." + +"Occupation!" + +"Certainly, sir; he was cutting out shoes, for his imps to travel +about in, in order to stir up mischief." + +"And did he set you to work?--This is a sort of State-Prison affair, +after all!" + +"No sir, he was too much of a gentleman to set me at making shoes as +soon as I arrived. He first inquired what part of the country I was +from, and when I told him, he was curious to know what most of the +people were about in our neighbourhood." + +"You told him, of course, commodore?" + +"Certainly, sir, I told him their chief occupation was quarrelling +about religion; making saints of them selves, and sinners of their +neighbours. 'Hollo!' says the Devil, calling out to one of his imps, +'boy, run and catch my horse--I must be off, and have a finger in +that pie. What denominations have you in that quarter, commodore? So +I told him, general, that we had Baptists, and Quakers, and +Universalists, and Episcopalians, and Presbyterians, old-lights, new- +lights, and blue-lights; and Methodists----. 'Stop,' said the Devil, +'that's enough; you imp, be nimble with that horse.--Let me see, +commodore, what, part of the country did you say you came from?' I +told him the name more distinctly this time----" + +"The very spot?" + +"Town and county." + +"And what did the Devil say to that?" + +"He called out to the imp, again--'Hollo, you boy, never mind that +horse; _these_ people will all be here before I can get there.'" + +Here the commodore and the general began to laugh, until the arches +of the forest rang with their merriment. Three times they stopped, +and as often did they return to their glee, until, the punch being +ready, each took a fresh draught, in order to ascertain if it were +fit to be offered to the ladies. + +Chapter XX. + + "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" + + ROMEO AND JULIET. + +The usual effect of punch is to cause people to see double; but, on +this occasion, the mistake was the other way, for two boats had +touched the strand, instead of the one announced by the commodore, +and they brought with them the whole party from the Wigwam, Steadfast +and Aristabalus included. A domestic or two had also been brought to +prepare the customary repast. + +Captain Truck was as good as his word, as respects the punch, and the +beverage was offered to each of the ladies in form, as soon as her +feet had touched the green sward which covers that beautiful spot. +Mrs. Hawker declined drinking, in a way to delight the gallant +seaman; for so completely had she got the better of all his habits +and prejudices, that every thing she did seemed right and gracious in +his eyes. + +The party soon separated into groups, or pairs, some being seated on +the margin of the limpid water, enjoying the light cool airs, by +which it was fanned, others lay off in the boats fishing, while the +remainder plunged into the woods, that, in their native wildness, +bounded the little spot of verdure, which, canopied by old oaks, +formed the arena so lately in controversy. In this manner, an hour or +two soon slipped away, when a summons was given for all to assemble +around the viands. + +The repast was laid on the grass, notwithstanding Aristabulus more +than hinted that the public, his beloved public, usually saw fit to +introduce rude tables for that purpose. The Messrs. Effinghams, +however, were not to be taught by a mere bird of passage, how a +rustic fete so peculiarly their own, ought to be conducted, and the +attendants were directed to spread the dishes on the turf. Around +this spot, rustic seats were _improvises_, and the business of +_restauration_ proceeded. Of all there assembled, the Parisian +feelings of Mademoiselle Viefville were the most excited; for to her, +the scene was one of pure delights, with the noble panorama of +forest-clad mountains, the mirror-like lake, the overshadowing oaks, +and the tangled brakes of the adjoining woods. + +"_Mais, vraiment ceci surpasse les Tuileries, meme dans leur propre +genre_!" she exclaimed, with energy. "_On passer ait volontiers par +les dangers du desert pour y parvenir_." + +Those who understood her, smiled at this characteristic remark, and +most felt disposed to join in the enthusiasm. Still, the manner in +which their companions expressed the happiness they felt, appeared +tame and unsatisfactory to Mr. Bragg and Mr. Dodge, these two persons +being accustomed to see the young of the two sexes indulge in broader +exhibitions of merry-making than those in which it comported with the +tastes and habits of the present party to indulge. In vain Mrs. +Hawker, in her quiet dignified way, enjoyed the ready wit and +masculine thoughts of Mrs. Bloom field, appearing to renew her youth; +or, Eve, with her sweet simplicity, and highly cultivated mind and +improved tastes, seemed like a highly-polished mirror, to throw back +the flashes of thought and memory, that so constantly gleamed before +both; it was all lost on these thoroughly matter-of-fact +utilitarians. Mr. Effingham, all courtesy and mild refinement, was +seldom happier; and John Effingham was never more pleasant, for he +had laid aside the severity of his character, to appear, what he +ought always to have been, a man in whom intelligence and quickness +of thought could be made to seem secondary to the gentler qualities. +The young men were not behind their companions, either, each, in his +particular way, appearing to advantage, gay, regulated, and full of a +humour that was rendered so much the more agreeable, by drawing its +images from a knowledge of the world, that was tempered by +observation and practice. + +Poor Grace, alone, was the only one of the whole party, always +excepting Aristabulus and Steadfast, who, for those fleeting but gay +hours, was not thoroughly happy. For the first time in her life, she +felt her own deficiencies, that ready and available knowledge, so +exquisitely feminine in its nature and exhibition, which escaped Mrs. +Bloomfield and Eve, as it might be from its own excess; which the +former possessed almost, intuitively, a gift of Heaven, and which the +latter enjoyed, not only from the same source, but as a just +consequence of her long and steady self-denial, application, and a +proper appreciation of her duty to herself, was denied one who, in +ill-judged compliance with the customs of a society that has no other +apparent aim than the love of display, had precluded herself from +enjoyments that none but the intellectual can feel. Still Grace was +beautiful and attractive; and though she wondered where her cousin, +in general so simple and unpretending, had acquired all those stores +of thought, that, in the _abandon_ and freedom of such a fete, +escaped her in rich profusion, embellished with ready allusions and a +brilliant though chastened wit, her generous and affectionate heart +could permit her to wonder without envying. She perceived, for the +first time, on this occasion, that if Eve were indeed a Hajji, it was +not a Hajji of a common school; and, while her modesty and self- +abasement led her bitterly to regret the hours irretrievably wasted +in the frivolous levities so common to those of her sex with whom she +had been most accustomed to mingle, her sincere regret did not lessen +her admiration for one she began tenderly to love. + +As for Messrs. Dodge and Bragg, they both determined, in their own +minds, that this was much the most stupid entertainment they had ever +seen on that spot, for it was entirely destitute of loud laughing, +noisy merriment, coarse witticisms, and practical jokes. To them it +appeared the height of arrogance, for any particular set of persons +to presume to come to a spot, rendered sacred by the public suffrage +in its favour, in order to indulge in these outlandish dog-in-the- +mangerisms. + +Towards the close of this gay repast, and when the party were about +to yield their places to the attendants, who were ready to re-ship +the utensils, John Effingham observed-- + +"I trust, Mrs. Hawker, you have been-duly warned of the catastrophe- +character of this point, on which woman is said never to have been +wooed in vain. Here are Captain Truck and myself, ready at any moment +to use these carving knives, _faute des Bowies_, in order to show our +desperate devotion; and I deem it no more than prudent in you, not to +smile again this day, lest the cross-eyed readings of jealousy should +impute a wrong motive." + +"Had the injunction been against laughing, sir, I might have +resisted, but smiles are far too feeble to express one's approbation, +on such a day as this; you may, therefore, trust to my discretion. Is +it then true, however, that Hymen haunts these shades?" + +"A bachelor's history of the progress of love, may be, like the +education of his children, distrusted; but so sayeth tradition; and I +never put my foot in the place, without making fresh vows of +constancy to myself. After this announcement of the danger, dare you +accept an arm, for I perceive signs that life cannot be entirely +wasted in these pleasures, great as they may prove." + +The whole party arose, and separating naturally, they strolled in +groups or pairs again, along the pebbly strand, or beneath the trees, +while the attendants made the preparations to depart. Accident, as +much as design, left Sir George and Grace alone, for neither +perceived the circumstance until they had both passed a little rise +in the formation of the ground, and were beyond the view of their +companions. The baronet was the first to perceive how much he had +been favoured by fortune, and his feelings were touched by the air of +gentle melancholy, that shaded the usually bright and brilliant +countenance of the beautiful girl. + +"I should have thrice enjoyed this pleasant day," he said, with an +interest in his manner, that caused the heart of Grace to beat +quicker, "had I not seen that to you it has been less productive of +satisfaction, than to most of those around you. I fear you may not be +as well, as usual?" + +"In health, never better, though not in spirits, perhaps." + +"I could wish I had a right to inquire why you, who have so few +causes in general to be out of spirits, should have chosen a moment +so little in accordance with the common feeling." + +"I have chosen no moment; the moment has chosen me, I fear. Not until +this day, Sir George Templemore, have I ever been truly sensible of +my great inferiority to my cousin, Eve." + +"An inferiority that no one but yourself would observe or mention." + +"No, I am neither vain enough, nor ignorant enough, to be the dupe of +this flattery," returned Grace, shaking her hands and head, while she +forced a smile; for even the delusions those we love pour into our +ears, are not without their charms. "When I first met my cousin, +after her return, my own imperfections rendered me blind to her +superiority; but she herself has gradually taught me to respect her +mind, her womanly character, her tact, her delicacy, principles, +breeding, every thing that can make a woman estimable, or worthy to +be loved! Oh! how have I wasted in childish amusements, and frivolous +vanities, the precious moments of that girlhood which can never be +recalled, and left myself scarcely worthy to be an associate of Eve +Effingham!" + +The first feelings of Grace had so far gotten the control, that she +scarce knew what she said, or to whom she was speaking; she even +wrung her hands, in the momentary bitterness of her regrets, and in a +way to arouse all the sympathy of a lover. + +"No one but yourself would say this, Miss Van Cortlandt, and least of +all your admirable cousin." + +"She is, indeed, my admirable cousin! But what are _we_, in +comparison with such a woman. Simple and unaffected as a child, with +the intelligence of a scholar; with all the graces of a woman, she +has the learning and mind of a man. Mistress of so many +languages----" + +"But you, too, speak several, my dear Miss Van Cortlandt." + +"Yes," said Grace, bitterly, "I _speak_ them, as the parrot repeats +words that he does not understand. But Eve Effingham has used these +languages as means, and she does not tell you merely what such a +phrase or idiom signifies, but what the greatest writers have thought +and written." + +"No one has a more profound respect for your cousin than myself, Miss +Van Cortlandt, but justice to you requires that I should say her +great superiority over yourself has escaped me." + +"This may be true, Sir George Templemore, and for a long time it +escaped me too. I have only learned to prize her as she ought to be +prized by an intimate acquaintance; hour by hour, as it might be. But +even you must have observed how quick and intuitively my cousin and +Mrs. Bloomfield have understood each other to-day; how much extensive +reading, and, what polished tastes they have both shown, and all so +truly feminine! Mrs. Bloomfield is a remarkable woman, but she loves +these exhibitions, for she knows she excels in them. Not so with Eve +Effingham, who, while she so thoroughly enjoys every thing +intellectual, is content, always, to seem so simple. Now, it happens, +that the conversation turned once to-day on a subject that my cousin, +no later than yesterday, fully explained to me, at my own earnest +request; and I observed that, while she joined so naturally with Mrs. +Bloomfield in adding to our pleasure, she kept back half what she +knew, lest she might seem to surpass her friend. No--no--no--there is +not such another woman as Eve Effingham in this world!" + +"So keen a perception of excellence in others, denotes an equal +excellence in yourself." + +"I know my own great inferiority now, and no kindness of yours, Sir +George Templemore, can ever persuade me into a better opinion of +myself. Eve has travelled, seen much in Europe that does not exist +here, and, instead of passing her youth in girlish trifling, has +treated the minutes as if they were all precious, as she well knew +them to be." + +"If Europe, then, does indeed possess these advantages, why not +yourself visit it, dearest Miss Van Cortlandt?" + +"I--I a Hajji!" cried Grace with childish pleasure, though her colour +heightened, and, for a moment, Eve and her superiority was forgotten. + +Certainly Sir George Templemore did not come out on the lake that day +with any expectation of offering his baronetcy, his fair estate, with +his hand, to this artless, half-educated, provincial, but beautiful +girl. For a long time he had been debating with himself the propriety +of such a step, and it is probable that, at some later period, he +would have sought an occasion, had not one now so opportunely +offered, notwithstanding all his doubts and reasonings with himself. +If the "woman who hesitates is lost," it is equally true that the man +who pretends to set up his reason alone against beauty, is certain to +find that sense is less powerful than the senses. Had Grace Van +Cortlandt been more sophisticated, less natural, her beauty might +have failed to make this conquest; but the baronet found a charm in +her _naivete_, that was singularly winning to the feelings of a man +of the world. Eve had first attracted him by the same quality; the +early education of American females being less constrained and +artificial than that of the English; but in Eve he found a mental +training and acquisitions that left the quality less conspicuous, +perhaps, than in her scarcely less beautiful cousin; though, had Eve +met his admiration with any thing like sympathy, her power over him +would not have been easily weakened. As it was, Grace had been +gradually winding herself around his affections, and he now poured +out his love, in a language that her unpractised and already +favourably disposed feelings had no means of withstanding. A very few +minutes were allowed to them, before the summons to the boat; but +when this summons came, Grace rejoined the party, elevated in her own +good opinion, as happy as a cloudless future could make her and +without another thought of the immeasurable superiority of her +cousin. + +By a singular coincidence, while the baronet and Grace were thus +engaged on one part of the shore, Eve was the subject of a similar +proffer of connecting herself for life, on another. She had left the +circle, attended by Paul, her father, and Aristabulus; but no sooner +had they reached the margin of the water, than the two former were +called away by Captain Truck, to settle some controverted point +between the latter and the commodore. By this unlooked-for desertion, +Eve found herself alone with Mr. Bragg. + +"That was a funny and comprehensive remark Mr. John made about the +'Point,' Miss Eve," Aristabulus commenced, as soon as he found +himself in possession of the ground. "I should like to know if it be +really true that no woman was ever unsuccessfully wooed beneath these +oaks? If such be the case, we gentlemen ought to be cautious how we +come here." + +Here Aristabulus simpered, and looked, if possible, more amiable than +ever; though the quiet composure and womanly dignity of Eve, who +respected herself too much, and too well knew what was due to her +sex, even to enter into, or, so far as it depended on her will, to +permit any of that common-place and vulgar trifling about love and +matrimony, which formed a never-failing theme between the youthful of +the two sexes, in Mr. Bragg's particular circle, sensibly curbed his +ambitious hopes. Still he thought he had made too good an opening, +not to pursue the subject. + +"Mr. John Effingham sometimes indulges in pleasantries," Eve +answered, "that would lead one astray who might attempt to follow." + +"Love _is_ a jack-o'-lantern," rejoined Aristabulus sentimentally. +"That I admit; and it is no wonder so many get swamped in following +his lights. Have you ever felt the tender passion, Miss Eve?" + +Now, Aristabulus had heard this question put at the _soiree_ of Mrs. +Houston, more than once, and he believed himself to be in the most +polite road for a regular declaration. An ordinary woman, who felt +herself offended by this question, would, most probably, have stepped +back, and, raising her form to its utmost elevation, answered by an +emphatic "sir!" Not so with Eve. She felt the distance between Mr. +Bragg and herself to be so great, that by no probable means could he +even offend her by any assumption of equality. This distance was the +result of opinions, habits, and education, rather than of condition, +however; for, though Eve Effingham could become the wife of a +gentleman only, she was entirely superior to those prejudices of the +world that depend on purely factitious causes. Instead of discovering +surprise, indignation, or dramatic dignity, therefore, at this +extraordinary question, she barely permitted a smile to curl her +handsome mouth; and this so slightly, as to escape her companion's +eye. + +"I believe we are to be favoured with as smooth water, in returning +to the village, as we had in the morning, while coming to this +place," she simply said. "You row sometimes, I think, Mr. Bragg?" + +"Ah! Miss Eve, such another opportunity may never occur again, for +you foreign ladies are so difficult of access! Let me, then, seize +this happy moment, here, beneath the hymeneal oaks, to offer you this +faithful hand and this willing heart. Of fortune you will have enough +for both, and I say nothing about the miserable dross. Reflect, Miss +Eve, how happy we might be, protecting and soothing the old age of +your father, and in going down the hill of life in company; or, as +the song says, 'and hand in hand we'll go, and sleep the'gither at +the foot, John Anderson, my Joe.'" + +"You draw very agreeable pictures, Mr Bragg, and with the touches of +a master!" + +"However agreeable you find them, Miss Eve, they fall infinitely +short of the truth. The tie of wedlock, besides being the most +sacred, is also the dearest; and happy, indeed, are they who enter +into the solemn engagement with such cheerful prospects as ourselves. +Our ages are perfectly suitable, our disposition entirely consonant, +our habits so similar as to obviate all unpleasant changes, and our +fortunes precisely what they ought to be to render a marriage happy, +with confidence on one side, and gratitude on the other. As to the +day, Miss Eve, I could wish to leave you altogether the mistress of +that, and shall not be urgent." + +Eve had often heard John Effingham comment on the cool impudence of a +particular portion of the American population, with great amusement +to herself; but never did she expect to be the subject of an attack +like this in her own person. By way of rendering the scene perfect, +Aristabulus had taken out his penknife, cut a twig from a bush, and +he now rendered himself doubly interesting by commencing the +favourite occupation of whittling. A cooler picture of passion could +not well have been drawn. + +"You are bashfully silent, Miss Eve! I make all due allowances for +natural timidity, and shall say no more at present--though, as +silence universally 'gives consent--'" "If you please, sir," +interrupted Eve, with a slight motion of her parasol, that implied a +check. "I presume our habits and opinions, notwithstanding you seem +to think them so consonant with each other, are sufficiently +different to cause you not to see the impropriety of one, who is +situated like yourself, abusing the confidence of a parent, by making +such a proposal to a daughter without her father's knowledge: and, on +that point, I shall say nothing. But as you have done me the honour +of making me a very unequivocal offer of your hand, I wish that the +answer may be as distinct as the proposal. I decline the advantage +and happiness of becoming your wife, sir----" + +"Time flies, Miss Eve!" + +"Time does fly, Mr. Bragg; and, if you remain much longer in the +employment of Mr. Effingham, you may lose an opportunity of advancing +your fortunes at the west, whither I understand it has long been your +intention to emigrate----" + +"I will readily relinquish all my hopes at the west, for your sake." + +"No, sir, I cannot be a party to such a sacrifice. I will not say +forget _me_, but forget your hopes here, and renew those you have so +unreflectingly abandoned beyond the Mississippi. I shall not +represent this conversation to Mr. Effingham in a manner to create +any unnecessary prejudices against you; and while I thank you, as +every woman should, for an offer that must infer some portion, at +least, of your good opinion, you will permit me again to wish you all +lawful success in your western enterprises." + +Eve gave Mr. Bragg no farther opportunity to renew his suit; for, she +curtsied and left him, as she ceased speaking. Mr. Dodge, who had +been a distant observer of the interview, now hastened to join his +friend, curious to know the result, for it had been privately +arranged between these modest youths, that each should try his +fortune in turn, with the heiress, did she not accept the first +proposal. To the chagrin of Steadfast, and probably to the reader's +surprise, Aristabulus informed his friend that Eve's manner and +language had been full of encouragement. + +"She thanked me for the offer, Mr. Dodge," he said, "and her wishes +for my future prosperity at the west, were warm and repeated. Eve +Effingham is, indeed, a charming creature!" + +"At the west! Perhaps she meant differently from what you imagine. I +know her well; the girl is full of art." + +"Art, sir! She spoke as plainly as woman could speak, and I repeat +that I feel considerably encouraged. It is something, to have had so +plain a conversation with Eve Effingham." + +Mr. Dodge swallowed his discontent, and the whole party soon +embarked, to return to the village; the commodore and general taking +a boat by themselves, in order to bring their discussions on human +affairs in general, to a suitable close. + +That night, Sir George Templemore, asked an interview with Mr. +Effingham, when the latter was alone in his library. + +"I sincerely hope this request is not the forerunner of a departure," +said the host kindly, as the young man entered, "in which case I +shall regard you as one unmindful of the hopes he has raised. You +stand pledged by implication, if not in words, to pass another month +with us." + +"So far from entertaining an intention so faithless, my dear sir, I +am fearful that you may think I trespass too far on your +hospitality." + +He then communicated his wish to be allowed to make Grace Van +Cortlandt his wife. Mr. Effingham heard him with a smile, that showed +he was not altogether unprepared for such a demand, and his eye +glistened as he squeezed the other's hand. + +"Take her with all my heart, Sir George," he said, "but remember you +are transferring a tender plant into a strange soil. There are not +many of your countrymen to whom I would confide such a trust, for I +know the risk they run who make ill-assorted unions--" + +"Ill-assorted unions, Mr. Effingham!" + +"Yours will not be one, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, I +know; for in years, birth and fortune, you and my dear niece are as +much, on an equality as can be desired: but it is too often an ill- +assorted union for an American woman to become an English wife. So +much depends on the man, that with one in whom I have less confidence +than I have in you, I might justly hesitate. I shall take a +guardian's privilege, though Grace be her own mistress, and give you +one solemn piece of advice--always respect the country of the woman +you have thought worthy to bear your name." + +"I hope always to respect every thing that is hers; but, why this +particular caution?--Miss Van Cortlandt is almost English in her +heart." + +"An affectionate wife will take her bias in such matters, generally +from her husband. Your country will be her country, your God her God. +Still, Sir George Templemore, a woman of spirit and sentiment can +never wholly forget the land of her birth. You love us not in +England, and one who settles there will often have occasion to hear +gibes and sneers on the land from which she came--" + +"Good God, Mr. Effingham, you do not think I shall take my wife into +society where--" + +"Bear with a proser's doubts, Templemore. You will do all that is +well-intentioned and proper, I dare say, in the usual acceptation of +the words; but I wish you to do more; that which is wise. Grace has +now a sincere reverence and respect for England, feelings that in +many particulars are sustained by the facts, and will be permanent; +but, in some things, observation, as it usually happens with the +young and sanguine, will expose the mistakes into which she has been +led by enthusiasm and the imagination. As she knows other countries +better, she will come to regard her own with more favourable and +discriminating eyes, losing her sensitiveness on account of +peculiarities she now esteems, and taking new views of things. +Perhaps you will think me selfish, but I shall add, also, that if you +wish to cure your wife of any homesickness, the surest mode will be +to bring her back to her native land." + +"Nay, my dear sir," said Sir George, laughing, "this is very much +like acknowledging its blemishes." + +"I am aware it has that appearance, and yet the fact is otherwise. +The cure is as certain with the Englishman as with the American; and +with the German as with either. It depends on a general law which +causes us all to over-estimate by-gone pleasures and distant scenes, +and to undervalue those of the present moment. You know I have always +maintained there is no real philosopher short of fifty, nor any taste +worth possessing that is a dozen years old." + +Here Mr. Effingham rang the bell, and desired Pierre to request Miss +Van Cortlandt to join him in the library. Grace entered blushing and +shy, but with a countenance beaming with inward peace. Her uncle +regarded her a moment intently, and a tear glistened in his eye, +again, as he tenderly kissed her burning cheek. + +"God bless you, love," he said--"'tis a fearful change for your sex, +and yet you all enter into it radiant with hope, and noble in your +confidence. Take her, Templemore," giving her hand to the baronet, +"and deal kindly by her. You will not desert us entirely I trust I +shall see you both once more in the Wigwam before I die." + +"Uncle--uncle--" burst from Grace, as, drowned in tears, she threw +herself into Mr. Effingham's arms; "I am an ungrateful girl, thus to +abandon all my natural friends. I have acted wrong----" + +"Wrong, dearest Miss Van Cortlandt!" + +"Selfishly, then, Sir George Templemore," the simple-hearted girl +ingenuously added, scarcely knowing how much her words implied-- +"Perhaps this matter night be reconsidered." + +"I am afraid little would be gained by that, my love," returned the +smiling uncle, wiping his eyes at the same instant. "The second +thoughts of ladies usually confirm the first, in such matters. God +bless you, Grace;--Templemore, may Heaven have you, too, in its holy +keeping. Remember what I have said, and to-morrow we will converse +further on the subject. Does Eve know of this, my niece?" + +The colour went and came rapidly in Grace's cheek, and she looked to +the floor, abashed. + +"We ought then to send for her," resumed Mr. Effingham, again +reaching towards the bell. + +"Uncle--" and Grace hurriedly interposed, in time to save the string +from being pulled. "Could I keep such an important secret from my +dearest cousin!" + +"I find that I am the last in the secret, as is generally the case +with old fellows, and I believe I am even now _de trop_." + +Mr. Effingham kissed Grace again affectionately, and, although she +strenuously endeavoured to detain him, he left the room. + +"We must follow," said Grace, hastily wiping her eyes, and rubbing +the traces of tears from her cheeks--"Excuse me, Sir George +Templemore; will you open----" + +He did, though it was not the door, but his arms. Grace seemed like +one that was rendered giddy by standing on a precipice, but when she +fell, the young baronet was at hand to receive her. Instead of +quitting the library that instant, the bell had announced the +appearance of the supper-tray, before she remembered that she had so +earnestly intended to do so. + +Chapter XXI. + + "This day, no man thinks He has business at his house." + + KING HENRY VIII. + +The warm weather, which was always a little behind that of the lower +counties, had now set in among the mountains, and the season had +advanced into the first week in July. "Independence Day," as the +fourth of that month is termed by the Americans, arrived; and the +wits of Templeton were taxed, as usual, in order that the festival +might be celebrated with the customary intellectual and moral treat. +The morning commenced with a parade of the two or three uniformed +companies of the vicinity, much gingerbread and spruce-beer were +consumed in the streets, no light potations of whiskey were swallowed +in the groceries, and a great variety of drinks, some of which bore +very ambitious names, shared the same fate in the taverns. + +Mademoiselle Viefville had been told that this was the great American +_fete_; the festival of the nation; and she appeared that morning in +gay ribands, and with her bright, animated face, covered with smiles +for the occasion. To her surprise, however, no one seemed to respond +to her feelings; and as the party rose from the breakfast-table, she +took an opportunity to ask an explanation of Eve, in a little +'aside.' + +"_Est-ce que je me suis trompee, ma chere_?" demanded the lively +Frenchwoman. "Is not this _la celebration de votre independance_?" + +"You are not mistaken, my dear Mademoiselle Viefville, and great +preparations are made to do it honour. I understand there is to be a +military parade, an oration, a dinner, and fire-works." + +"_Monsieur votre pere----?_" + +"_Monsieur mon pere_ is not much given to rejoicings, and he takes +this annual joy, much as a valetudinarian takes his morning draught." + +"_Et Monsieur Jean Effingham----?_" + +"Is always a philosopher; you are to expect no antics from him." + +"_Mais ces jeunes gens, Monsieur Bragg, Monsieur Dodge, et Monsieur +Powis, meme!_" + +"_Se rejouissent en Americains._ I presume you are aware that Mr. +Powis has declared himself to be an American?" + +Mademoiselle Viefville looked towards the streets, along which divers +tall, sombre-looking countrymen, with faces more lugubrious than +those of the mutes of a funeral, were sauntering, with a desperate +air of enjoyment; and she shrugged her shoulders, as she muttered to +herself, "_que ces Americains sont droles!_" + +At a later hour, however, Eve surprised her father, and indeed most +of the Americans of the party, by proposing that the ladies should +walk out into the street, and witness the fete. + +"My child, this is a strange proposition to come from a young lady of +twenty," said her father. + +"Why strange, dear sir?--We always mingled in the village fetes in +Europe." + +"_Certainement_" cried the delighted Mademoiselle Viefville; "_c'est +de rigueur, meme_" + +"And it is _de rigueur_, here, Mademoiselle, for young ladies to keep +out of them," put in John Effingham. "I should be very sorry to see +either of you three ladies in the streets of Templeton to-day." + +Why so, cousin Jack? Have we any thing to fear from the rudeness of +our countrymen? I have always understood, on the contrary, that in no +other part of the world is woman so uniformly treated with respect +and kindness, as in this very republic of ours; and yet, by all these +ominous faces, I perceive that it will not do for her to trust +herself in the streets of a village on a _festa_" + +"You are not altogether wrong, in what you now say, Miss Effingham, +nor are you wholly right. Woman, as a whole, is well treated in +America; and yet it will not do for a _lady_ to mingle in scenes like +these, as ladies may and do mingle with them in Europe." + +"I have heard this difference accounted for," said Paul Powis, "by +the fact that women have no legal rank in this country. In those +nations where the station of a lady is protected by legal ordinances, +it is said she may descend with impunity; but, in this, where all are +equal before the law, so many misunderstand the real merits of their +position, that she is obliged to keep aloof from any collisions with +those who might be disposed to mistake their own claims." + +"But I wish for no collisions, no associations, Mr. Powis, but simply +to pass through the streets, with my cousin and Mademoiselle +Viefville, to enjoy the sight of the rustic sports, as one would do +in France, or Italy, or even in republican Switzerland, if you insist +on a republican example." + +"Rustic sports!" repeated Aristabulus with a frightened look--"the +people will not bear to hear their sports called rustic, Miss +Effingham." + +"Surely, sir,"--Eve never spoke to Mr. Bragg, now, without using a +repelling politeness--"surely, sir, the people of these mountains +will hardly pretend that their sports are those of a capital." + +"I merely mean, ma'am, that the _term_ would be monstrously +unpopular; nor do I see why the sports in a city"--Aristabulus was +much too peculiar in his notions, to call any place that had a mayor +and aldermen a town,--"should not be just as rustic as those of a +village. The contrary supposition violates the principle of +equality." + +"And do _you_ decide against us, dear sir?" Eve added looking at Mr. +Effingham. + +"Without stopping to examine causes, my child. I shall say that I +think you had better all remain at home." + +"_Voila, Mademoiselle Viefville, une fete Americaine!"_ + +A shrug of the shoulders was the significant reply. + +"Nay, my daughter, you are not entirely excluded from the +festivities; all gallantry has not quite deserted the land." + +"A young lady shall walk _alone_ with a young gentleman--shall ride +alone with him--shall drive out alone with him--shall not move +_without_ him, _dans le monde, mais_, she shall not walk in the +crowd, to look at _une fete avec son pere!_" exclaimed Mademoiselle +Viefville, in her imperfect English. "_Je desespere vraiment_, to +understand some _habitudes Americaines!_" + +"Well, Mademoiselle, that you may not think us altogether barbarians, +you shall, at least, have the benefit of the oration." + +"You may well call it _the_ oration, Ned; for, I believe one, or, +certainly one skeleton, has served some thousand orators annually, +any time these sixty years." + +"Of this skeleton, then, the ladies shall have the benefit. The +procession is about to form, I hear; and by getting ready +immediately, we shall be just in time to obtain good seats." + +Mademoiselle Viefville was delighted; for, after trying the theatres, +the churches, sundry balls, the opera, and all the admirable gaieties +of New-York, she had reluctantly come to the conclusion that America +was a very good country _pour s'ennuyer_, and for very little else; +but here was the promise of a novelty. The ladies completed their +preparations, and, accordingly, attended by all the gentlemen, made +their appearance in the assembly, at the appointed hour. + +The orator, who, as usual, was a lawyer, was already in possession of +the pulpit, for one of the village churches had been selected as the +scene of the ceremonies. He was a young man, who had recently been +called to the bar, it being as much in rule for the legal tyro to +take off the wire-edge of his wit in a Fourth of July oration, as it +was formerly for a Mousquetaire to prove his spirit in a duel. The +academy which, formerly, was a servant of all work to the public, +being equally used for education, balls, preaching, town-meetings, +and caucuses, had shared the fate of most American edifices in wood, +having lived its hour and been burned; and the collection of people, +whom we have formerly had occasion to describe, appeared to have also +vanished from the earth, for nothing could be less alike in exterior, +at least, than those who had assembled under the ministry of Mr. +Grant, and their successors, who were now collected to listen to the +wisdom of Mr. Writ. Such a thing as a coat of two generations was no +longer to be seen; the latest fashion, or what was thought to be the +latest fashion, being as rigidly respected by the young farmer, or +the young mechanic, as by the more admitted bucks, the law student, +and the village shop-boy. All the red cloaks had long since been laid +aside to give place to imitation merino shawls, or, in cases of +unusual moderation and sobriety, to mantles of silk. As Eve glanced +her eye around her, she perceived Tuscan hats, bonnets of gay colours +and flowers, and dresses of French chintzes, where fifty years ago +would have been seen even men's woollen hats, and homely English +calicoes. It is true that the change among the men was not quite as +striking, for their attire admits of less variety; but the black +stock had superseded the check handkerchief and the bandanna; gloves +had taken the places of mittens; and the coarse and clownish shoe of +"cow-hide" was supplanted by the calf-skin boot. + +"Where are your peasants, your rustics, your milk and dairy +maids--_the people_, in short"--whispered Sir George Templemore to +Mrs. Bloomfield, as they took their seats; "or is this occasion +thought to be too intellectual for them, and the present assembly +composed only of the _elite_?" + +"These _are_ the people, and a pretty fair sample, too, of their +appearance and deportment. Most of these men are what you in England +would call operatives, and the women are their wives, daughters, and +sisters." + +The baronet said nothing at the moment, but he sat looking around him +with a curious eye for some time, when he again addressed his +companion. + +"I see the truth of what you say, as regards the men, for a critical +eye can discover the proofs of their occupations; but, surely, you +must be mistaken as respects your own sex; there is too much delicacy +of form and feature for the class you mean." + +"Nevertheless, I have said naught but truth." + +"But look at the hands and the feet, dear Mrs. Bloomfield. Those are +French gloves, too, or I am mistaken." + +"I will not positively affirm that the French gloves actually belong +to the dairy-maids, though I have known even this prodigy; but, rely +on it, you see here the proper female counterparts of the men, and +singularly delicate and pretty females are they, for persons of their +class. This is what you call democratic coarseness and vulgarity, +Miss Effingham tells me, in England." + +Sir George smiled, but, as what it is the fashion of me country to +call 'the exercises,' just then began, he made no other answer. + +These exercises commenced with instrumental music, certainly the +weakest side of American civilization. That of the occasion of which +we write, had three essential faults, all of which are sufficiently +general to be termed characteristic, in a national point of view. In +the first place, the instruments themselves were bad; in the next +place, they were assorted without any regard to harmony; and, in the +last place, their owners did not know how to use them. As in certain +American _cities_--the word is well applied here--she is esteemed the +greatest belle who can contrive to utter her nursery sentiments in +the loudest voice, so in Templeton, was he considered the ablest +musician who could give the greatest _eclat_ to a false note. In a +word, clamour was the one thing needful, and as regards time, that +great regulator of all harmonies, Paul Powis whispered to the captain +that the air they had just been listening to, resembled what the +sailors call a 'round robin;' or a particular mode of signing +complaints practised by seamen, in which the nicest observer cannot +tell which is the beginning, or which the end. + +It required all the Parisian breeding of Mademoiselle Viefville to +preserve her gravity during this overture, though she kept her bright +animated, French-looking eyes, roaming over the assembly, with an air +of delight that, as Mr. Bragg would say, made her very popular. No +one else in the party from the Wigwam, Captain Truck excepted, dared +look up, but each kept his or her eyes riveted on the floor, as if in +silent enjoyment of the harmonies. As for the honest old seaman, +there was as much melody in the howling of a gale to his +unsophisticated ears, as in any thing else, and he saw no difference +between this feat of the Templeton band and the sighings of old +Boreas; and, to say the truth, our nautical critic was not so much +out of the way. + +Of the oration it is scarcely necessary to say much, for if human +nature is the same in all ages, and under all circumstances, so is a +fourth of July oration. There were the usual allusions to Greece and +Rome, between the republics of which and that of this country there +exists some such affinity as is to be found between a horse-chestnut +and a chestnut-horse; or that, of mere words: and a long catalogue of +national glories that might very well have sufficed for all the +republics, both of antiquity and of our own time. But when the orator +came to speak of the American character, and particularly of the +intelligence of the nation, he was most felicitous, and made the +largest investments in popularity. According to his account of the +matter, no other people possessed a tithe of the knowledge, or a +hundredth part of the honesty and virtue of the very community he was +addressing; and after labouring for ten minutes to convince his +hearers that they already knew every thing, he wasted several more in +trying to persuade them to undertake further acquisitions of the same +nature. + +"How much better all this might be made," said Paul Powis, as the +party returned towards the Wigwam, when the 'exercises' were ended, +"by substituting a little plain instruction on the real nature and +obligations of the institutions, for so much unmeaning rhapsody. +Nothing has struck me with more surprise and pain, than to find how +far, or it might be better to say, how high, ignorance reaches on +such subjects, and how few men, in a country where all depends on the +institutions, have clear notions concerning their own condition." + +"Certainly this is not the opinion we usually entertain of +ourselves," observed John Effingham. "And yet it ought to be. I am +far from underrating the ordinary information of the country, which, +as an average information, is superior to that of almost every other +people; nor am I one of those who, according to the popular European +notion, fancy the Americans less gifted than common in intellect; +there can be but one truth in any thing, however, and it falls to the +lot of very few, any where, to master it. The Americans, moreover, +are a people of facts and practices, paying but little attention to +principles, and giving themselves the very minimum of time for +investigations that lie beyond the reach of the common mind; and it +follows that they know little of that which does not present itself +in their every-day transactions. As regards the practice of the +institutions, it is regulated here, as elsewhere, by party, and party +is never an honest or a disinterested expounder." + +"Are you, then, more than in the common dilemma," asked Sir George, +"or worse off than your neighbours?" + +"We are worse off than our neighbours for the simple reason that it +is the intention of the American system, which has been deliberately +framed, and which is moreover the result of a bargain, to carry out +its theory in practice; whereas, in countries where the institutions +are the results of time and accidents, _improvement_ is only obtained +by _innovations_. Party invariably assails and weakens power. When +power is the possession of a few, the many gain by party; but when +power is the legal right of the many, the few gain by party. Now, as +party has no ally as strong as ignorance and prejudice, a right +understanding of the principles of a government is of far more +importance in a popular government, than in any other. In place of +the eternal eulogies on facts, that one hears on all public occasions +in this country, I would substitute some plain and clear expositions +of principles; or, indeed, I might say, of facts as they are +connected with principles." + +"_Mais, la musique, Monsieur_," interrupted Mademoiselle Viefville, +in a way so droll as to raise a general smile, "_qu'en pensez-vous?_" + +"That it is music, my dear Mademoiselle, in neither fact nor +principle." + +"It only proves that a people can be free, Mademoiselle," observed +Mrs. Bloomfield, "and enjoy fourth of July orations, without having +very correct notions of harmony or time. But do our rejoicings end +here, Miss Effingham?" + +"Not at all--there is still something in reserve for the day, and all +who honour it. I am told the evening, which promises to be +sufficiently sombre, is to terminate with a fete that is peculiar to +Templeton, and which is called 'The Fun of Fire.'" + +"It is an ominous name, and ought to be a brilliant ceremony." + +As this was uttered, the whole party entered the Wigwam. + +"The Fun of Fire" took place, as a matter of course, at a later hour. +When night had set in, every body appeared in the main street of the +village, a part of which, from its width and form, was particularly +adapted to the sports of the evening. The females were mostly at the +windows, or on such elevated stands as favoured their view, and the +party from the Wigwam occupied a large balcony that topped the piazza +of one of the principal inns of the place. + +The sports of the night commenced with rockets, of which a few, that +did as much credit to the climate as to the state of the pyrotechnics +of the village, were thrown up, as soon as the darkness had become +sufficiently dense to lend them brilliancy. Then followed wheels, +crackers and serpents, all of the most primitive kind, if, indeed, +there be any thing primitive in such amusements. The "Fun of Fire" +was to close the rejoicings, and it was certainly worth all the other +sports of that day, united, the gingerbread and spruce beer included. + +A blazing ball cast from a shop-door, was the signal for the +commencement of the Fun. It was merely a ball of rope-yarn, or of +some other similar material, saturated with turpentine, and it burned +with a bright, fierce flame until consumed. As the first of these +fiery meteors sailed into the street, a common shout from the boys, +apprentices, and young men, proclaimed that the fun was at hand. It +was followed by several more, and in a few minutes the entire area +was gleaming with glancing light. The whole of the amusement +consisted in tossing the fire-balls with boldness, and in avoiding +them with dexterity, something like competition soon entering into +the business of the scene. + +The effect was singularly beautiful. Groups of dark objects became +suddenly illuminated, and here a portion of the throng might be seen +beneath a brightness like that produced by a bonfire, while all the +back-ground of persons and faces were gliding about in a darkness +that almost swallowed up a human figure. Suddenly all this would be +changed; the brightness would pass away, and a ball alighting in a +spot that had seemed abandoned to gloom, it would be found peopled +with merry countenances, and active forms. The constant changes from +brightness to deep darkness, with all the varying gleams of light and +shadow, made the beauty of the scene, which soon extorted admiration +from all in the balcony." + +"_Mais, c'est charmant_!" exclaimed Mademoiselle Vielville, who was +enchanted at discovering something like gaiety and pleasure among the +"_tristes Americains_," and who had never even suspected them of +being capable of so much apparent enjoyment. + +"These are the prettiest village sports I have ever witnessed," said +Eve, "though a little dangerous, one would think. There is something +refreshing, as the magazine writers term it, to find one of these +miniature towns of ours condescending to be gay and happy in a +village fashion. If I were to bring my strongest objection to +American country life, it would be its ambitious desire to ape the +towns, converting the ease and _abandon_ of a village, into the +formality and stiffness that render children in the clothes of grown +people so absurdly ludicrous." + +"What!" exclaimed John Effingham; "do you fancy it possible to reduce +a free-man so low, as to deprive him of his stilts! No, no, young +lady; you are now in a country where if you have two rows of flounces +on your frock, your maid will make it a point to have three, by way +of maintaining the equilibrium. This is the noble ambition of +liberty." + +"Annette's foible is a love of flounces, cousin Jack, and you have +drawn that image from your eye, instead of your imagination. It is a +French, as well as an American ambition, if ambition it be." + +"Let it be drawn whence it may, it is true. Have you not remarked, +Sir George Templemore, that the Americans will not even bear the +ascendency of a capital? Formerly, Philadelphia, then the largest +town in the country, was the political capital; but it was too much +for any one community to enjoy the united consideration that belongs +to extent and politics; and so the honest public went to work to make +a capital, that should have nothing else in its favour, but the naked +fact that it was the seat of government, and I think it will be +generally allowed, that they have succeeded to admiration. I fancy +Mr. Dodge will admit that it would be quite intolerable, that country +should not be town, and town country." + +"This is a land of equal rights, Mr. John Effingham, and I confess +that I see no claims that New-York possesses, which does not equally +belong to Templeton." + +"Do you hold, sir," inquired Captain Truck, "that a ship is a brig, +and a brig a ship." + +"The case is different; Templeton _is_ a town, is it not, Mr. John +Effingham?" + +"_A_ town, Mr. Dodge, but not town. The difference is essential." + +"I do not see it, sir. Now, New-York, to my notion is not a _town_, +but a _city_." + +"Ah! This is the critical acumen of the editor! But you should be +indulgent, Mr. Dodge, to us laymen, who pick up our phrases by merely +wandering about the world; or in the nursery perhaps, while you, of +the favoured few, by living in the condensation of a province, obtain +a precision and accuracy to which we can lay no claim." + +The darkness prevented the editor of the Active Inquirer from +detecting the general smile, and he remained in happy ignorance of +the feeling that produced it. To say the truth, not the smallest of +the besetting vices of Mr. Dodge had their foundation in a provincial +education, and in provincial notions; the invariable tendency of both +being to persuade their subject that he is always right, while all +opposed to him in opinion are wrong. That well-known line of Pope, in +which the poet asks, "what can we reason, but from what we know?" +contains the principle of half our foibles and faults, and perhaps +explains fully that proportion of those of Mr. Dodge, to say nothing +of those of no small number of his countrymen. There are limits to +the knowledge, and tastes, and habits of every man, and, as each is +regulated by the opportunities of the individual, it follows of +necessity, that no one can have a standard much above his own +experience. That an isolated and remote people should be a provincial +people, or, in other words, a people of narrow and peculiar practices +and opinions, is as unavoidable as that study should make a scholar; +though in the case of America, the great motive for surprise is to be +found in the fact that causes so very obvious should produce so +little effect. When compared with the bulk of other nations, the +Americans, though so remote and insulated, are scarcely provincial, +for it is only when the highest standard of this nation is compared +with the highest standard of other nations, that we detect the great +deficiency that actually exists. That a moral foundation so broad +should uphold a moral superstructure so narrow, is owing to the +circumstance that the popular sentiment rules, and as every thing is +referred to a body of judges that, in the nature of things, must be +of very limited and superficial attainments, it cannot be a matter of +wonder to the reflecting, that the decision shares in the qualities +of the tribunal. In America, the gross mistake has been made of +supposing, that, because the mass rules in a political sense, it has +a right to be listened to and obeyed in all other matters, a +practical deduction that can only lead, under the most favourable +exercise of power, to a very humble mediocrity. It is to be hoped, +that time, and a greater concentration of taste, liberality, and +knowledge than can well distinguish a young and scattered population, +will repair this evil, and that our children will reap the harvest of +the broad fields of intelligence that have been sowed by ourselves. +In the mean time, the present generation must endure that which +cannot easily be cured; and, among its other evils, it will have to +submit to a great deal of very questionable information, not a few +false principles, and an unpleasant degree of intolerant and narrow +bigotry, that are propagated by such apostles of liberty and learning +as Steadfast Dodge, Esquire. + +We have written in vain, if it now be necessary to point out a +multitude of things in which that professed instructor and Mentor of +the public, the editor of the Active Inquirer, had made a false +estimate of himself, as well as of his fellow-creatures. That such a +man should be ignorant, is to be expected, as he had never been +instructed; that he was self-sufficient was owing to his ignorance, +which oftener induces vanity than modesty; that he was intolerant and +bigoted, follows as a legitimate effect of his provincial and +contracted habits; that he was a hypocrite, came from his homage of +the people; and that one thus constituted, should be permitted, +periodically, to pour out his vapidity, folly, malice, envy, and +ignorance, on his fellow-creatures, in the columns of a newspaper, +was owing to a state of society in which the truth of the wholesome +adage "that what is every man's business is nobody's business," is +exemplified not only daily, but hourly, in a hundred other interests +of equal magnitude, as well as to a capital mistake, that leads the +community to fancy that whatever is done in their time, is done for +their good. + +As the "Fun of Fire" had, by this time, exhibited most of its +beauties, the party belonging to the Wigwam left the balcony, and, +the evening proving mild, they walked into the grounds of the +building, where they naturally broke into groups, conversing on the +incidents of the day, or of such other matters as came uppermost. +Occasionally, gleams of light were thrown across them from a fire- +ball; or a rocket's starry train was still seen drawn in the air, +resembling the wake of a ship at night, as it wades through the +ocean. + +Chapter XXII. + + Gentle Octavia, Let your best love draw + to that point, which seeks But to preserve it. + + ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. + +We shall not say it was an accident that brought Paul and Eve side by +side, and a little separated from the others; for a secret sympathy +had certainly exercised its influence over both, and probably +contributed as much as any thing else towards bringing about the +circumstance. Although the Wigwam stood in the centre of the village, +its grounds covered several acres, and were intersected with winding +walks, and ornamented with shrubbery, in the well-known English +style, improvements also of John Effingham; for, while the climate +and forests of America offer so many inducements to encourage +landscape gardening, it is the branch of art that, of all the other +ornamental arts, is perhaps the least known in this country. It is +true, time had not yet brought the labours of the projector to +perfection, in this instance; but enough had been done to afford very +extensive, varied, and pleasing walks. The grounds were broken, and +John Effingham had turned the irregularities to good account, by +planting and leading paths among them, to the great amusement of the +lookers-on, however, who, like true disciples of the Manhattanese +economy, had already begun to calculate the cost of what they termed +grading the lawns, it being with them as much a matter of course to +bring pleasure grounds down to a mathematical surface, as to bring a +rail-road route down to the proper level. + +Through these paths, and among the irregularities, groves, and +shrubberies, just mentioned, the party began to stroll; one group +taking a direction eastward, another south, and a third westward, in +a way soon to break them up into five or six different divisions. +These several portions of the company ere long got to move in +opposite directions, by taking the various paths, and while they +frequently met, they did not often re-unite. As has been already +intimated, Eve and Paul were alone, for the first time in their +lives, under circumstances that admitted of an uninterrupted +confidential conversation. Instead of profiting immediately, however, +by this unusual occurrence, as many of our readers may anticipate, +the young man continued the discourse, in which the whole party had +been engaged when they entered the gate that communicated with the +street. + +"I know not whether you felt the same embarrassment as myself, to- +day, Miss Effingham," he said, "when the orator was dilating on the +glories of the republic, and on the high honours that accompany the +American name. Certainly, though a pretty extensive traveller, I have +never yet been able to discover that it is any advantage abroad to be +one of the 'fourteen millions of freemen.'" + +"Are we to attribute the mystery that so long hung over your birth- +place, to this fact," Eve asked, a little pointedly. + +"If I have made any seeming mystery, as to the place of my birth, it +has been involuntary on my part, Miss Effingham, so far as you, at +least, have been concerned. I may not have thought myself authorized +to introduce my own history into our little discussions, but I am not +conscious of aiming at any unusual concealments. At Vienna, and in +Switzerland, we met as travellers; and now that you appear disposed +to accuse me of concealment, I may retort, and say that, neither you +nor your father ever expressly stated in my presence that you were +Americans." + +"Was that necessary, Mr. Powis?" + +"Perhaps not; and I am wrong to draw a comparison between my own +insignificance, and the eclat that attended you and your movements." + +"Nay," interrupted Eve, "do not misconceive me. My father felt an +interest in you, quite naturally, after what had occurred on the lake +of Lucerne, and I believe he was desirous of making you out a +countryman,--a pleasure that he has at length received." + +"To own the truth, I was never quite certain, until my last visit to +England, on which side of the Atlantic I was actually born, and to +this uncertainty, perhaps, may be attributed some of that +cosmopolitism to which I made so many high pretensions in our late +passage." + +"Not know where you were born!" exclaimed Eve, with an involuntary +haste, that she immediately repented. + +"This, no doubt, sounds odd to you, Miss Effingham, who have always +been the pride and solace of a most affectionate father, but it has +never been my good fortune to know either parent. My mother, who was +the sister of Ducie's mother, died at my birth, and the loss of my +father even preceded hers. I may be said to have been born an +orphan." + +Eve, for the first time in her life, had taken his arm, and the young +man felt the gentle pressure of her little hand, as she permitted +this expression of sympathy to escape her, at a moment she found so +intensely interesting to herself. + +"It was, indeed, a misfortune, Mr. Powis, and I fear you were put +into the navy through the want of those who would feel a natural +concern in your welfare." + +"The navy was my own choice; partly, I think, from a certain love of +adventure, and quite as much, perhaps, with a wish to settle the +question of my birth-place, practically at least, by enlisting in the +service of the one that I first knew, and certainly best loved." + +"But of that birth-place, I understand there is now no doubt?" said +Eve, with more interest than she was herself conscious of betraying. + +"None whatever; I am a native of Philadelphia; that point was +conclusively settled in my late visit to my aunt, Lady Dunluce, who +was present at my birth." + +"Is Lady Dunluce also an American?" + +"She is; never having quitted the country until after her marriage to +Colonel Ducie. She was a younger sister of my mother's, and, +notwithstanding some jealousies and a little coldness that I trust +have now disappeared, I am of opinion she loved her; though one can +hardly answer for the durability of the family ties in a country +where the institutions and habits are as artificial as in England." + +"Do you think there is less family affection, then, in England than +in America?" + +"I will not exactly say as much, though I am of opinion that neither +country is remarkable in that way. In England, among the higher +classes, it is impossible that the feelings should not be weakened by +so many adverse interests. When a brother knows that nothing stands +between himself and rank and wealth, but the claims of one who was +born a twelvemonth earlier than himself, he gets to feel more like a +rival than a kinsman, and the temptation to envy or dislike, or even +hatred, sometimes becomes stronger than the duty to love." + +"And yet the English, themselves, say that the services rendered by +the elder to the younger brother, and the gratitude of the younger to +the elder, are so many additional ties." + +"It would be contrary to all the known laws of feeling, and all +experience, if this were so. The younger applies to the elder for aid +in preference to a stranger, because he thinks he has a claim; and +what man who fancies he has a claim, is disposed to believe justice +is fully done him; or who that is required to discharge a duty, +imagines he has not done more than could be properly asked?" + +"I fear your opinion of men is none of the best, Mr. Powis!" + +"There may be exceptions, but such I believe to be the common fate of +humanity. The moment a duty is created, a disposition to think it +easily discharged follows; and of all sentiments, that of a continued +and exacting gratitude is the most oppressive. I fear more brothers +are aided, through family pride, than through natural affection." + +"What, then, loosens the tie among ourselves, where no law of +primogeniture exists?" + +"That which loosens every thing. A love of change that has grown up +with the migratory habits of the people; and which, perhaps, is, in +some measure, fostered by the institutions. Here is Mr. Bragg to +confirm what I say, and we may hear his sentiments on this subject." + +As Aristabulus, with whom walked Mr. Dodge, just at that moment came +out of the shrubbery, and took the same direction with themselves, +Powis put the question, as one addresses an acquaintance in a room. + +"Rotation in feelings, sir," returned Mr. Bragg, "is human nature, as +rotation in office is natural justice. Some of our people are of +opinion that it might be useful could the whole of society be made +periodically to change places, in order that every one might know how +his neighbour lives." + +"You are, then, an Agrarian, Mr. Bragg?" + +"As far from it as possible; nor do I believe you will find such an +animal in this county. Where property is concerned, we are a people +that never let go, as long as we can hold on, sir; but, beyond this +we like lively changes. Now, Miss Effingham, every body thinks +frequent changes of religious instructors in particular, necessary. +There can be no vital piety without, keeping the flame alive with +excitement." + +"I confess, sir, that my own reasoning would lead to a directly +contrary conclusion, and that there can be no vital piety, as you +term it, _with_ excitement." + +Mr. Bragg looked at Mr. Dodge, and Mr. Dodge looked at Mr. Bragg. +Then each shrugged his shoulders, and the former continued the +discourse. + +"That may be the case in France, Miss Effingham," he said, "but, in +America, we look to excitement as the great purifier. We should as +soon expect the air in the bottom of a well to be elastic, as that +the moral atmosphere shall be clear and salutary, without the breezes +of excitement. For my part, Mr. Dodge, I think no man should be a +judge, in the same court, more than ten years at a time, and a priest +gets to be rather common-place and flat after five. There are men +that may hold out a little longer, I acknowledge; but to keep real, +vital, soul-saving regeneration stirring, a change should take place +as often as once in five years, in a parish; that is my opinion, at +least." + +"But, sir," rejoined Eve, "as the laws of religion are immutable, the +modes by which it is known universal, and the promises, mediation, +and obligations are every where the same, I do not see what you +propose to gain by so many changes." + +"Why, Miss Effingham, we change the dishes at table, and no family of +my acquaintance, more than this of your honourable father's; and I am +surprised to find you opposed to the system." + +"Our religion, sir," answered Eve, gravely, "is a duty, and rests on +revelation and obedience; while our diet may, very innocently, be a +matter of mere taste, even of caprice, if you will." + +"Well, I confess I see no great difference, the main object in this +life being to stir people up, and to go ahead. I presume you know, +Miss Eve, that many people think that we ought to change our own +parson, if we expect a blessing on the congregation." + +"I should sooner expect a curse would follow an act of so much +heartlessness, sir. Our clergyman has been with us since his entrance +into the duties of his holy office; and it will be difficult to +suppose that the Divine favour would follow the commission of so +selfish and capricious a step, with a motive no better than the +desire for novelty." + +"You quite mistake the object, Miss Eve, which is to stir the people +up; a hopeless thing, I fear, so long as they always sit under the +same preaching." + +"I have been taught to believe that piety is increased, Mr. Bragg, by +the aid of the Holy Spirit's sustaining and supporting us in our good +desires; and I cannot persuade myself that the Deity finds it +necessary to save a soul, by the means of any of those human agencies +by which men sack towns, turn an election, or incite a mob. I hear +that extraordinary scenes are witnessed in this country, in some of +the other sects; but I trust never to see the day, when the +apostolic, reverend, and sober church, in which I have been nurtured, +shall attempt to advance the workings of that Divine power, by a +profane, human hurrah." + +All this was Greek to Messrs. Dodge and Bragg, who, in furthering +their objects, were so accustomed to "stirring people up," that they +had quite forgotten that the more a man was in "an excitement," the +less he had to do with reason. The exaggerated religious sects, which +first peopled America, have had a strong influence in transmitting to +their posterity false notions on such subjects; for while the old +world is accustomed to see Christianity used as an ally of +government, and perverted from its one great end to be the instrument +of ambition, cupidity, and selfishness, the new world has been fated +to witness the reaction of such abuses, and to run into nearly as +many errors in the opposite extreme. The two persons just mentioned, +had been educated in the provincial school of religious notions, that +is so much in favour, in a portion of this country; and they were +striking examples of the truth of the adage, that "what is bred in +the bone will be seen in the flesh," for their common character, +common in this particular at least, was a queer mixture of the most +narrow superstitions and prejudices, that existed under the garb of +religious training, and of unjustifiable frauds, meannesses, and even +vices. Mr. Bragg was a better man than Mr. Dodge, for he had more +self-reliance, and was more manly; but, on the score of religion, he +had the same contradictory excesses, and there was a common point, in +the way of vulgar vice, towards which each tended, simply for the +want of breeding and tastes, as infallibly as the needle points to +the pole. Cards were often introduced in Mr. Effingham's drawing- +room, and there was one apartment expressly devoted to a billiard- +table; and many was the secret fling, and biting gibe, that these +pious devotees passed between themselves, on the subject of so +flagrant an instance of immorality, in a family of so high moral +pretensions; the two worthies not unfrequently concluding their +comments by repairing to some secret room in a tavern, where, after +carefully locking the door, and drawing the curtains, they would +order brandy, and pass a refreshing hour in endeavouring to relieve +each other of the labour of carrying their odd sixpences, by means of +little shoemaker's loo. + +On the present occasion, however, the earnestness of Eve produced a +pacifying effect on their consciences, for, as our heroine never +raised her sweet voice above the tones of a gentlewoman, its very +mildness and softness gave force to her expressions. Had John +Effingham uttered the sentiments to which they had just listened it +is probable Mr. Bragg would have attempted an answer; but, under the +circumstances, he preferred making his bow, and diverging into the +first path that offered, followed by his companion. Eve and Paul +continued their circuit of the grounds, as if no interruption had +taken place. + +"This disposition to change is getting to be universal in the +country," remarked the latter, as soon as Aristabulus and his friend +had left them, "and I consider it one of the worst signs of the +times; more especially since it has become so common to connect it +with what it is the fashion to call excitement." + +"To return to the subject which these gentlemen interrupted," said +Eve, "that of the family ties; I have always heard England quoted as +one of the strongest instances of a nation in which this tie is +slight, beyond its aristocratical influence; and I should be sorry to +suppose that we are following in the footsteps of our good-mother, in +this respect at least." + +"Has Mademoiselle Viefville never made any remark on this subject?" + +"Mademoiselle Viefville, though observant, is discreet. That she +believes the standard of the affections as high in this as in her own +country, I do not think; for, like most Europeans, she believes the +Americans to be a passionless people, who are more bound up in the +interests of gain, than in any other of the concerns of life." + +"She does not know us!" said Paul so earnestly as to cause Eve to +start at the deep energy with which he spoke. "The passions lie as +deep, and run in currents as strong here, as in any other part of the +world, though, there not being as many factitious causes to dam them, +they less seldom break through the bounds of propriety." + +For near a minute the two paced the walk in silence, and Eve began to +wish that some one of the party would again join them, that a +conversation which she felt was getting to be awkward, might be +interrupted. But no one crossed their path again, and without +rudeness, or affectation, she saw no means of effecting her object. +Paul was too much occupied with his own feelings to observe his +companion's embarrassment, and, after the short pause mentioned, he +naturally pursued the subject, though in a less emphatic manner than +before. + +"It was an old, and a favourite theory, with the Europeans," he said, +with a sort of bitter irony, "that all the animals of this hemisphere +have less gifted natures than those of the other; nor is it a theory +of which they are yet entirely rid. The Indian was supposed to be +passionless, because he had self-command; and what in the European +would be thought exhibiting the feelings of a noble nature, in him +has been represented as ferocity and revenge; Miss Effingham, you and +I have seen Europe, have stood in the presence of its wisest, its +noblest and its best; and what have they to boast beyond the +immediate results of their factitious and laboured political systems, +that is denied to the American--or rather would be denied to the +American, had the latter the manliness and mental independence, to be +equal to his fortunes?" + +"Which, you think he is not." + +"How can a people be even independent that imports its thoughts, as +it does its wares,--that has not the spirit to invent even its own +prejudices?" + +"Something should be allowed to habit, and to the influence of time. +England, herself, probably has inherited some of her false notions, +from the Saxons and Normans." + +"That is not only possible, but probable; but England, in thinking of +Russia, France, Turkey, or Egypt, when induced to think wrong, yields +to an English, and not to an American interest. Her errors are at +least requited, in a degree, by serving her own ends, whereas ours +are made, too often, to oppose our most obvious interests. We are +never independent unless when stimulated by some strong and pressing +moneyed concern, and not often then beyond the plainest of its +effects.--Here is one, apparently, who does not belong to our party." + +Paul interrupted himself, in consequence of their meeting a stranger +in the walk, who moved with the indecision of one uncertain whether +to advance or to recede. Rockets frequently fell into the grounds, +and there had been one or two inroads of boys, which had been +tolerated on account of the occasion; but this intruder was a man in +the decline of life, of the condition of a warm tradesman seemingly, +and he clearly had no connection with sky-rockets, as his eyes were +turned inquiringly on the persons of those who passed him, from time +to time, none of whom had he stopped, however, until he now placed +himself before Paul and Eve, in a way to denote a desire to speak. + +"The young people are making a merry night of it," he said, keeping a +hand in each coat-pocket, while he unceremoniously occupied the +centre of the narrow walk, as if determined to compel a parley. + +Although sufficiently acquainted with the unceremonious habits of the +people of the country to feel no surprise at this intrusion, Paul was +vexed at having his tete a tete with Eve so rudely broken; and he +answered with more of the hauteur of the quarterdeck than he might +otherwise have done, by saying coldly-- + +"Perhaps, sir, it is your wish to see Mr. Effingham--or--" hesitating +an instant, as he scanned the stranger's appearance--"some of his +people. The first will soon pass this spot, and you will find most of +the latter on the lawn, watching the rockets." + +The man regarded Paul a moment, and then he removed his hat +respectfully. + +"Please, sir, can you inform me if a gentleman called Captain Truck-- +one that sails the packets between New-York and England, is staying +at the Wigwam at present." + +Paul told him that the captain was walking with Mr. Effingham, and +that the next pair that approached would be they. The stranger fell +back, keeping his hat respectfully in his hand, and the two passed. + +"That man has been an English servant, but has been a little spoiled +by the reaction of an excessive liberty to do as he pleases. The +'please, sir,' and the attitude can hardly be mistaken, while the +_nonchalance_ of his manner '_a nous aborder_' sufficiently betrays +the second edition of his education." + +"I am curious to know what this person can want with our excellent +captain--it can scarcely be one of the Montauk's crew!" + +"I will answer for it, that the fellow has not enough seamanship +about him to whip a rope," said Paul, laughing; "for if there be two +temporal pursuits that have less affinity than any two others, they +are those of the pantry and the tar-bucket. I think it will be seen +that this man has been an English servant, and he has probably been a +passenger on board some ship commanded by our honest old friend." + +Eve and Paul now turned, and they met Mr. Effingham and the captain +just as the two latter reached the spot where the stranger still +stood. + +"This is Captain Truck, the gentleman for whom you inquired," said +Paul. + +The stranger looked hard at the captain, and the captain looked hard +at the stranger, the obscurity rendering a pretty close scrutiny +necessary, to enable either to distinguish features. The examination +seemed to be mutually unsatisfactory, for each retired a little, like +a man who had not found a face that he knew. + +"There must be two Captain Trucks, then, in the trade," said the +stranger; "this is not the gentleman I used to know." + +"I think you are as right in the latter part of your remark, friend, +as you are wrong in the first," returned the captain. "Know you, I do +not, and yet there are no more two Captain Trucks in the English +trade, than there are two Miss Eve Effinghams, or two Mrs. Hawkers in +the universe. I am John Truck, and no other man of that name ever +sailed a ship between New York and England, in my day, at least." + +"Did you ever command the Dawn, sir?" + +"The Dawn! That I did; and the Regulus, and the Manhattan, and the +Wilful Girl, and the Deborah-Angelina, and the Sukey and Katy, which, +my dear young lady, I may say, was my first love. She was only a +fore-and-after, carrying no standing topsail, even, and we named her +after two of the river girls, who were flyers, in their way; at +least, I thought so then; though a man by sailing a packet comes to +alter his notions about men and things, or, for that matter, about +women and things, too. I got into a category, in that schooner, that +I never expect to see equalled; for I was driven ashore to windward +in her, which is gibberish to you, my dear young lady, but which Mr. +Powis will very well understand, though he may not be able to explain +it." + +"I certainly know what you mean," said Paul, "though I confess I am +in a category, as well as the schooner, so far as knowing how it +could have happened." + +"The Sukey and Katy ran away with me, that's the upshot of it. Since +that time I have never consented to command a vessel that was called +after _two_ of our river young women, for I do believe that one of +them is as much as a common mariner can manage. You see, Mr. +Effingham, we were running along a weather-shore, as close in as we +could get, to be in the eddy, when a squall struck her a-beam, and +she luffed right on to the beach. No helping it. Helm hard up, peak +down, head sheets to windward, and main sheet flying, but it was all +too late; away she went plump ashore to windward. But for that +accident, I think I might have married." + +"And what connexion could you find between matrimony and this +accident, captain?" demanded the laughing Eve. + +"There was an admonition in it, my dear young lady, that I thought +was not to be disregarded. I tried the Wilful Girl next, and she was +thrown on her beam-ends with me; after which I renounced all female +names, and took to the Egyptian." + +"The Egyptian!" + +"Certainly, Regulus, who was a great snake-killer, they tell me, in +that part of the world. But I never saw my way quite clear as +bachelor, until I got the Dawn. Did you know that ship, friend?" + +"I believe, sir, I made two passages in her while you commanded her." + +"Nothing more likely; we carried lots of your countrymen, though +mostly forward of the gangways. I commanded the Dawn more than twenty +years ago." + +"It is all of that time since I crossed with you, sir; you may +remember that we fell in with a wreck, ten days after we sailed, and +took off her crew and two passengers. Three or four of the latter had +died with their sufferings, and several of the people." + +"All this seems but as yesterday! The wreck was a Charleston ship +that had started a butt." + +"Yes, sir--yes, sir--that is just it--she had started, _but_ could +not get in. That is just what they said at the time. I am David, +sir--I should think you _cannot_ have forgotten David." + +The honest captain was very willing to gratify the other's harmless +self-importance, though, to tell the truth, he retained no more +personal knowledge of the David of the Dawn, than he had of David, +King of the Jews. + +"Oh, David!" he cried, cordially--"are _you_ David? Well, I did not +expect to see you again in this world, though I never doubted where +we should be, hereafter I hope you are very well, David; what sort of +weather have you made of it since we parted? If I recollect aright, +you worked your passage;--never at sea before." + +"I beg your pardon, sir; I never was at sea before the _first_ time, +it is true; but I did not belong to the crew. I was a passenger." + +"I remember, now, you were in the steerage," returned the captain, +who saw daylight ahead. + +"Not at all, sir, but in the cabin." + +"Cabin!" echoed the captain, who perceived none of the requisites of +a cabin-passenger in the other--"Oh! I understand, in the pantry?" + +"Exactly so, sir. You may remember my master--he had the left-hand +state-room to himself, and I slept next to the scuttle-butt. You +recollect master, sir?" + +"Out of doubt, and a very good fellow he was. I hope you live with +him still?" + +"Lord bless you, sir, he is dead!" + +"Oh! I recollect hearing of it, at the time. Well, David. I hope if +ever we cross again, we shall be ship-mates once more. We were +beginners, then, but we have ships worth living in, now.--Good +night." + +"Do you remember Dowse, sir, that we got from the wreck?" continued +the other, unwilling to give up his gossip so soon. "He was a dark +man, that had had the small-pox badly. I think, sir, you will +recollect _him_, for he was a hard man in other particulars, besides +his countenance." + +"Somewhat flinty about the soul; I remember the man well; and so, +David, good night; you will come and see me, if you are ever in town. +Good night, David." + +David was now compelled to leave the place, for Captain Truck, who +perceived that the whole party was getting together again, in +consequence of the halt, felt the propriety of dismissing his +visiter, of whom, his master, and Dowse, he retained just as much +recollection as one retains of a common stage-coach companion after +twenty years. The appearance of Mr. Howel, who just at that moment +approached them, aided the manoeuvre, and, in a few minutes the +different groups were again in motion, though some slight changes had +taken place in the distribution of the parties. + +Chapter XXIII. + + "How silver sweet sound lovers' tongues at night, Like softest + music to attending ears!" + + ROMEO AND JULIET. + +"A poor matter, this of the fire-works," said Mr. Howel, who, with an +old bachelor's want of tact, had joined Eve and Paul in their walk. +"The English would laugh at them famously, I dare say. Have you heard +Sir George allude to them at all, Miss Eve?" + +"It would be great affectation for an Englishman to deride the fire- +works of any _dry_ climate," said Eve laughing; "and I dare say, if +Sir George Templemore has been silent on the subject, it is because +he is conscious he knows little about it." + +"Well, that is odd! I should think England the very first country in +the world for fire-works. I hear, Miss Eve, that, on the whole, the +baronet is rather pleased with us; and I must say that he is getting +to be very popular in Templeton." + +"Nothing is easier than for an Englishman to become popular in +America," observed Paul, "especially if his condition in life be +above that of the vulgar. He has only to declare himself pleased with +America; or, to be sincerely hated, to declare himself displeased." + +"And in what does America differ from any other country, in this +respect?" asked Eve, quickly. + +"Not much, certainly; love induces love, and dislike, dislike. There +is nothing new in all this; but the people of other countries, having +more confidence in themselves, do not so sensitively inquire what +others think of them. I believe this contains the whole difference." + +"But Sir George does _rather_ like us?" inquired Mr. Howel, with +interest. + +"He likes some of us particularly well," returned Eve. "Do you not +know that my cousin Grace is to become Mrs.--I beg her pardon--Lady +Templemore, very shortly?" + +"Good God!--Is that possible--Lady Templemore!--Lady Grace +Templemore!" + +"Not Lady Grace Templemore, but Grace, Lady Templemore, and graceful +Lady Templemore in the bargain." + +"And this honour, my dear Miss Eve, they tell me you refused!" + +"They tell you wrong then, sir," answered the young lady, a little +startled with the suddenness and _brusquerie_ of the remark, and yet +prompt to do justice to all concerned. "Sir George Templemore never +did me the honour to propose _to_ me, or _for_ me, and consequently +he _could_ not be refused." + +"It is very extraordinary!--I hear you were actually acquainted in +Europe?" + +"We were, Mr. Howel, actually acquainted in Europe, but I knew +hundreds of persons in Europe, who have never dreamed of asking me to +marry them." + +"This is very strange--quite unlooked for--to marry Miss Van +Cortlandt! Is Mr. John Effingham in the grounds?" + +Eve made no answer, but Paul hurriedly observed--"You will find him +in the next walk, I think, by returning a short distance, and taking +the first path to the left." + +Mr. Howel did as told, and was soon out of sight. + +"That is a most earnest believer in English superiority, and, one may +say, by his strong desire to give you an English husband, Miss +Effingham, in English merit." + +"It is the weak spot in the character of a very honest man. They tell +me such instances were much more frequent in this country thirty +years since, than they are to-day." + +"I can easily believe it, for I think I remember some characters of +the sort, myself. I have heard those who are older than I am, draw a +distinction like this between the state of feeling that prevailed +forty years ago, and that which prevails to-day; they say that, +formerly, England absolutely and despotically thought for America, in +all but those cases in which the interests of the two nations +conflicted; and I have even heard competent judges affirm, that so +powerful was the influence of habit, and so successful the schemes of +the political managers of the mother country, that even many of those +who fought for the independence of America, actually doubted of the +propriety of their acts, as Luther is known to have had fits of +despondency concerning the justness of the reformation he was +producing; while, latterly, the leaning towards England is less the +result of a simple mental dependence,--though of that there still +remains a disgraceful amount--than of calculation, and a desire in a +certain class to defeat the dominion of the mass, and to establish +that of a few in its stead." + +"It would, indeed, be a strange consummation of the history of this +country, to find it becoming monarchical!" + +"There are a few monarchists no doubt springing up in the country, +though almost entirely in a class that only knows the world through +the imagination and by means of books; but the disposition, in our +time, is to aristocracy, and not to monarchy. Most men that get to be +rich, discover that they are no happier for their possessions; +perhaps every man who has not been trained and prepared to use his +means properly, is in this category, as our friend the captain would +call it, and then they begin to long for some other untried +advantages. The example of the rest of the world is before our own +wealthy, and, _faute d'imagination_, they imitate because they cannot +invent. Exclusive political power is also a great ally in the +accumulation of money, and a portion have the sagacity to see it; +though I suspect more pine for the vanities of the exclusive classes, +than for the substance. Your sex, Miss Effingham, as a whole, is not +above this latter weakness, as I think you must have observed in your +intercourse with those you met abroad." + +"I met with some instances of weakness, in this way," said Eve, with +reserve, and with the pride of a woman, "though not more, I think, +than among the men; and seldom, in either case, among those whom we +are accustomed to consider people of condition at home. The self- +respect and the habits of the latter, generally preserved them from +betraying this feebleness of character, if indeed they felt it." + +"The Americans abroad may be divided into two great classes; those +who go for improvement in the sciences or the arts, and those who go +for mere amusement. As a whole, the former have struck me as being +singularly respectable, equally removed from an apish servility and a +swaggering pretension of superiority; while, I fear, a majority of +the latter have a disagreeable direction towards the vanities." + +"I will not affirm the contrary," said Eve, "for frivolity and +pleasure are only too closely associated in ordinary minds. The +number of those who prize the elegancies of life, for their intrinsic +value, is every where small, I should think; and I question if Europe +is much better off than ourselves, in this respect." + +"This may be true, and yet one can only regret that, in a case where +so much depends on example, the tone of our people was not more +assimilated to their facts. I do not know whether you were struck +with the same peculiarity, but, whenever I felt in the mood to hear +high monarchical and aristocratical doctrines blindly promulgated, I +used to go to the nearest American Legation." + +"I have heard this fact commented on," Eve answered, "and even by +foreigners, and I confess it has always struck me as singular. Why +should the agent of a republic make a parade of his anti-republican +sentiments?" + +"That there are exceptions, I will allow; but, after the experience +of many years, I honestly think that such is the rule. I might +distrust my own opinion, or my own knowledge; but others, with +opportunities equal to my own, have come to the same conclusion. I +have just received a letter from Europe, complaining that an American +Envoy Extraordinary, who would as soon think of denouncing himself, +as utter the same sentiments openly at home, has given an opinion +against the utility of the vote by ballot; and this, too, under +circumstances that might naturally be thought to produce a practical +effect." + +"_Tant pis_. To me all this is inexplicable!" + +"It has its solution, Miss Effingham, like any other problem. In +ordinary times, extraordinary men seldom become prominent, power +passing into the hands of clever managers. Now, the very vanity, and +the petty desires, that betray themselves in glittering uniforms, +puerile affectations, and feeble imitations of other systems, +probably induce more than half of those who fill the foreign missions +to apply for them, and it is no more than we ought to expect that the +real disposition should betray itself, when there was no longer any +necessity for hypocrisy." + +"But I should think this necessity for hypocrisy would never cease! +Can it be possible that a people, as much attached to their +institutions as the great mass of the American nation is known to be, +will tolerate such a base abandonment of all they cherish!" + +"How are they to know any thing about it? It is a startling fact, +that there is a man at this instant, who has not a single claim to +such a confidence, either in the way of mind, principles, manners, or +attainments, filling a public trust abroad, who, on all occasions +except those which he thinks will come directly before the American +people, not only proclaims himself opposed to the great principles of +the institutions but who, in a recent controversy with a foreign +nation, actually took sides against his own country, informing that +of the opposing nation, that the administration at home would not be +supported by the legislative part of the government!" + +"And why is not this publicly exposed?" + +"_Cui bono_! The presses that have no direct interest in the matter, +would treat the affair with indifference or levity, while a few would +mystify the truth. It is quite impossible for any man in a private +station to make the truth available in any country, in a matter of +public interest; and those in public stations seldom or never attempt +it, unless they see a direct party end to be obtained. This is the +reason that we see so much infidelity to the principles of the +institutions, among the public agents abroad, for they very well know +that no one will be able to expose them. In addition to this motive, +there is so strong a desire in that portion of the community which is +considered the highest, to effect a radical change in these very +institutions, that infidelity to them, in their eyes, would be a +merit, rather than an offence." + +"Surely, surely, other nations are not treated in this cavalier +manner!" + +"Certainly not. The foreign agent of a prince, who should whisper a +syllable against his master, would be recalled with disgrace; but the +servant of the people is differently situated, since there are so +many to be persuaded of his guilt. I could always get along with all +the attacks that the Europeans are so fond of making on the American +system, but those which they quoted from the mouths of our own +diplomatic agents." + +"Why do not our travellers expose this?" + +"Most of them see too little to know anything of it. They dine at a +diplomatic table, see a star or two, fancy themselves obliged, and +puff elegancies that have no existence, except in their own brains. +Some think with the unfaithful, and see no harm in the infidelity. +Others calculate the injury to themselves, and no small portion would +fancy it a greater proof of patriotism to turn a sentence in favour +of the comparative 'energies' and 'superior intelligence' of their +own people, than to point out this or any other disgraceful fact, did +they even possess the opportunities to discover it. Though no one +thinks more highly of these qualities in the Americans, considered in +connexion with practical things, than myself, no one probably gives +them less credit for their ability to distinguish between appearances +and reality, in matters of principle." + +"It is probable that were we nearer to the rest of the world, these +abuses would not exist, for it is certain they are not so openly +practised at home. I am glad, however, to find that, even while you +felt some uncertainty concerning your own birth-place, you took so +much interest in us, as to identify yourself in feeling, at least, +with the nation." + +"There was one moment when I was really afraid that the truth would +show I was actually born an Englishman--" + +"Afraid!" interrupted Eve; "that is a strong word to apply to so +great and glorious a people." + +"We cannot always account for our prejudices, and perhaps this was +one of mine; and, now that I know that to be an Englishman is not the +greatest possible merit in your eyes, Miss Effingham, it is in no +manner lessened." + +"In my eyes, Mr. Powis! I do not remember to have expressed any +partiality for, or any prejudice against the English: so far as I can +speak of my own feelings, I regard the English the same as any other +foreign people." + +"In words you have not certainly; but acts speak louder than words." + +"You are disposed to be mysterious to-night. What act of mine has +declared _pro_ or _con_ in this important affair." + +"You have at least done what, I fear, few of your countrywomen would +have the moral courage and self-denial to do, and especially those +who are accustomed to living abroad--refused to be the wife of an +English baronet of a good estate and respectable family." + +"Mr. Powis," said Eve, gravely, "this is an injustice to Sir George +Templemore, that my sense of right will not permit to go +uncontradicted, as well as an injustice to my sex and me. As I told +Mr. Howel, in your presence, that gentleman has never proposed for +me, and of course cannot have been refused. Nor can I suppose that +any American gentlewoman can deem so paltry a thing as a baronetcy, +an inducement to forget her self-respect." + +"I fully appreciate your generous modesty, Miss Effingham; but you +cannot expect that I, to whom Templemore's admiration gave so much +uneasiness, not to say pain, am to understand you, as Mr. Howel has +probably done, too broadly. Although Sir George may not have +positively proposed, his readiness to do so, on the least +encouragement, was too obvious to be overlooked by a near observer." + +Eve was ready to gasp for breath, so completely by surprise was she +taken, by the calm, earnest, and yet respectful manner, in which Paul +confessed his jealousy. There was a tremor in his voice, too, usually +so clear and even, that touched her heart, for feeling responds to +feeling, as the echo answers sound, when there exists a real sympathy +between the sexes. She felt the necessity of saying something, and +yet they had walked some distance, ere it was in her power to utter a +syllable. + +"I fear my presumption has offended you, Miss Effingham," said Paul, +speaking more like a corrected child, than the lion-hearted young man +he had proved himself. + +There was deep homage in the emotion he betrayed, and Eve, although +she could barely distinguish his features, was not slow in +discovering this proof of the extent of her power over his feelings. + +"Do not call it presumption," she said; "for, one who has done so +much for us all, can surely claim some right to take an interest in +those he has so well served. As for Sir George Templemore, you have +probably mistaken the feeling created by our common adventures for +one of more importance. He is warmly and sincerely attached to my +cousin, Grace Van Cortlandt." + +"That he is so now, I fully believe; but that a very different magnet +first kept him from the Canadas, I am sure.--We treated each other +generously, Miss Effingham, and had no concealments, during that long +and anxious night, when all expected that the day would dawn on our +captivity. Templemore is too manly and honest to deny his former +desire to obtain you for a wife, and I think even he would admit that +it depended entirely on yourself to be so, or not." + +"This is an act of self-humiliation that he is not called onto +perform," Eve hurriedly replied; "such allusions, now, are worse than +useless, and they might pain my cousin, were she to hear them." + +"I am mistaken in my friend's character, if he leave his betrothed in +any doubt, on this subject. Five minutes of perfect frankness now, +might obviate years of distrust, hereafter." + +And would you Mr. Powis, avow a former weakness of this sort, to the +woman you had finally selected for your wife?" + +"I ought not to quote myself for authority, for or against such a +course, since I have never loved but one, and her with a passion too +single and too ardent ever to admit of competition. Miss Effingham, +there would be something worse than affectation--it would be trifling +with one who is sacred in my eyes, were I now to refrain from +speaking explicitly, although what I am about to say is forced from +me by circumstances, rather than voluntary, and is almost uttered +without a definite object. Have I your permission to proceed?' + +"You can scarcely need a permission, being the master of your own +secrets, Mr. Powis." + +Paul, like all men agitated by strong passion, was inconsistent, and +far from just; and Eve felt the truth of this, even while her mind +was ingeniously framing excuses for his weaknesses. Still, the +impression that she was about to listen to a declaration that +possibly ought never to be made, weighed upon her, and caused her to +speak with more coldness than she actually felt. As she continued +silent, however, the young man saw that it had become indispensably +necessary to be explicit. + +"I shall not detain you, Miss Effingham, perhaps vex you," he said, +"with the history of those early impressions, which have gradually +grown upon me, until they have become interwoven with my very +existence. We met, as you know, at Vienna, for the first time. An +Austrian of rank, to whom I had become known through some fortunate +circumstances, introduced me into the best society of that capital, +in which I found you the admiration of all who knew you. My first +feeling was that of exultation, at seeing a young countrywoman--you +were then almost a child, Miss Effingham--the greatest attraction of +a capital celebrated for the beauty and grace of its women----" + +"Your national partialities have made you an unjust judge towards +others, Mr. Powis." Eve interrupted him by saying, though the +earnestness and passion with which the young man uttered his +feelings, made music to her ears: "what had a young, frightened, +half-educated American girl to boast of, when put in competition with +the finished women of Austria?" + +"Her surpassing beauty, her unconscious superiority, her attainments, +her trembling simplicity and modesty and her meek purity of mind. All +these did you possess, not only in my eyes, but in those of others; +for these are subjects on which I dwelt too fondly to be mistaken." + +A rocket passed near them at the moment, and, while both were too +much occupied by the discourse to heed the interruption, its +transient light enabled Paul to see the flushed cheeks and tearful +eyes of Eve, as the latter were turned on him, in a grateful +pleasure, that his ardent praises extorted from her, in despite of +all her struggles for self-command. + +"We will leave to others this comparison, Mr. Powis," she said, "and +confine ourselves to less doubtful subjects." + +"If I am then to speak only of that which is beyond all question, I +shall speak chiefly of my long cherished, devoted, unceasing love. I +adored you at Vienna, Miss Effingham, though it was at a distance, as +one might worship the sun; for, while your excellent father admitted +me to his society, and I even think honoured me with some portion of +his esteem, I had but little opportunity to ascertain the value of +the jewel that was contained in so beautiful a casket; but when we +met the following summer in Switzerland, I first began truly to love. +Then I learned the justness of thought, the beautiful candour, the +perfectly feminine delicacy of your mind; and, although I will not +say that these qualities were not enhanced in the eyes of so young a +man, by the extreme beauty of their possessor, I will say that, as +weighed against each other, I could a thousand times prefer the +former to the latter, unequalled as the latter almost is, even among +your own beautiful sex." + +"This is presenting flattery in its most seductive form, Powis." + +"Perhaps my incoherent and abrupt manner of explaining myself +deserves a rebuke; though nothing can be farther from my intentions +than to seem to flatter or in any manner to exaggerate. I intend +merely to give a faithful history of the state of my feelings, and of +the progress of my love." + +Eve smiled faintly, but very sweetly, as Paul would have thought, had +the obscurity permitted more than a dim view of her lovely +countenance. + +"Ought I to listen to such praises, Mr. Powis," she asked; "praises +which only contribute to a self-esteem that is too great already?" + +"No one but yourself would say this; but your question does, indeed, +remind me of the indiscretion that I have fallen into, by losing that +command of my feelings, in which I have so long exulted. No man +should make a woman the confidant of his attachment, until he is +fully prepared to accompany the declaration with an offer of his +hand;--and such is not my condition." + +Eve made no dramatic start, assumed no look of affected surprise, or +of wounded dignity; but she turned on her lover, her serene eyes, +with an expression of concern so eloquent, and of a wonder so +natural, that, could he have seen it, it would probably have +overcome every difficulty on the spot, and produced the usual +offer, notwithstanding the difficulty that he seemed to think +insurmountable. + +"And yet," he continued, "I have now said so much, involuntarily as +it has been, that I feel it not only due to you, but in some measure +to myself, to add that the fondest wish of my heart, the end and aim +of all my day-dreams, as well as of my most sober thoughts for the +future, centre in the common wish to obtain you for a wife." + +The eye of Eve fell, and the expression of her countenance changed, +while a slight but uncontrollable tremor ran through her frame. After +a short pause, she summoned all her resolution, and in a voice, the +firmness of which surprised even herself, she asked-- + +"Powis, to what does all this tend?" + +"Well may you ask that question, Miss Effingham! You have every right +to put it, and the answer, at least, shall add no further cause of +self-reproach. Give me, I entreat you, but a minute to collect my +thoughts, and I will endeavour to acquit myself of an imperious duty, +in a manner more manly and coherent, than I fear has been observed +for the last ten minutes." + +They walked a short distance in profound silence, Eve still under the +influence of astonishment, in which an uncertain and indefinite dread +of, she scarce knew what, began to mingle; and Paul, endeavouring to +quiet the tumult that had been so suddenly aroused within him. The +latter then spoke: + +"Circumstances have always deprived me of the happiness of +experiencing the tenderness and sympathy of your sex, Miss Effingham, +and have thrown me more exclusively among the colder and ruder +spirits of my own. My mother died at the time of my birth, thus +cutting me off, at once, from one of the dearest of earthly ties. I +am not certain that I do not exaggerate the loss in consequence of +the privations I have suffered; but, from the hour when I first +learned to feel, I have had a yearning for the tender, patient, +endearing, disinterested love of a mother. You, too, suffered a +similar loss, at an early period, if I have been correctly +informed----" + +A sob--a stifled, but painful sob, escaped Eve; and, inexpressibly +shocked, Paul ceased dwelling on his own sources of sorrow, to attend +to those he had so unintentionally disturbed. + +"I have been selfish, dearest Miss Effingham," he exclaimed--"have +overtaxed your patience--have annoyed you with griefs and losses that +have no interest for you, which can have no interest, with one happy +and blessed as yourself." + +"No, no, no, Powis--you are unjust to both. I, too, lost my mother +when a mere child, and never knew her love and tenderness. Proceed; I +am calmer, and earnestly intreat you to forget my weakness, and to +proceed." + +Paul did proceed, but this brief interruption in which they had +mingled their sorrows for a common misfortune, struck a new chord of +feeling, and removed a mountain of reserve and distance, that might +otherwise have obstructed their growing confidence. + +"Cut off in this manner, from my nearest and dearest natural friend," +Paul continued, "I was thrown, an infant, into the care of hirelings; +and, in this at least, my fortune was still more cruel than your own; +for the excellent woman who has been so happy as to have had the +charge of your infancy, had nearly the love of a natural mother, +however she may have been wanting in the attainments of one of your +own condition in life." + +"But we had both of us, our fathers, Mr. Powis. To me, my excellent, +high principled, affectionate--nay tender father, has been every +thing. Without him, I should have been truly miserable; and with him, +notwithstanding these rebellious tears, tears that I must ascribe to +the infection of your own grief, I have been truly blest." + +"Mr. Effingham deserves this from you, but I never knew my father, +you will remember." + +"I am an unworthy confidant, to have forgotten this so soon. Poor +Powis, you were, indeed, unhappy!" + +"He had parted from my mother before my birth and either died soon +after, or has never deemed his child of sufficient worth to make him +the subject of interest sufficient to excite a single inquiry into +his fate." + +"Then he never knew that child!" burst from Eve, with a fervour and +frankness, that set all reserves, whether of womanly training, or of +natural timidity, at defiance. + +"Miss Effingham!--dearest Miss Effingham--Eve, my own Eve, what am I +to infer from this generous warmth! Do not mislead me! I can bear my +solitary misery, can brave the sufferings of an isolated existence; +but I could not live under the disappointments of such a hope, a hope +fairly quickened by a clear expression from your lips." + +"You teach me the importance of caution, Powis, and we will now +return to your history, and to that confidence of which I shall not +again prove a faithless repository. For the present at least, I beg +that you will forget all else." + +"A command so kindly--so encouragingly given--do I offend, dearest +Miss Effingham?" Eve, for the second time in her life, placed her own +light arm and beautiful hand, through the arm of Paul, discovering a +bewitching but modest reliance on his worth and truth, by the very +manner in which she did this simple and every-day act, while she said +more cheerfully-- + +"You forget the substance of the command, at the very moment you +would have me suppose you most disposed to obey it." + +"Well, then, Miss Effingham, you shall be more implicitly minded. +_Why_ my father left my mother so soon after their union, I never +knew. It would seem that they lived together but a few months, though +I have the proud consolation of knowing that my mother was blameless. +For years I suffered the misery of doubt on a point that is ever the +most tender with man, a distrust of his own mother; but all this has +been happily, blessedly, cleared up, during my late visit to England. +It is true that Lady Dunluce was my mother's sister, and as such +might have been lenient to her failings; but a letter from my father, +that was written only a month before my mother's death, leaves no +doubt not only of her blamelessness as a wife, but bears ample +testimony to the sweetness of her disposition. This letter is a +precious document for a son to possess, Miss Effingham!" + +Eve made no answer; but Paul fancied that he felt another gentle +pressure of the hand, which, until then, had rested so lightly on his +own arm, that he scarcely dared to move the latter, lest he might +lose the precious consciousness of its presence. + +"I have other letters from my father to my mother," the young man +continued, "but none that are so cheering to my heart as this. From +their general tone, I cannot persuade myself that he ever truly loved +her. It is a cruel thing, Miss Effingham, for a man to deceive a +woman on a point like that!" + +"Cruel, indeed," said Eve, firmly. "Death itself were preferable to +such a delusion." + +"I think my father deceived himself as well as my mother; for there +is a strange incoherence and a want of distinctness in some of his +letters, that caused feelings, keen as mine naturally were on such a +subject, to distrust his affection from the first." + +"Was your mother rich?" Eve asked innocently; for, an heiress +herself, her vigilance had early been directed to that great motive +of deception and dishonesty. + +"Not in the least. She had little besides her high lineage, and her +beauty. I have her picture, which sufficiently proves the latter; +had, I ought rather to say, for it was her miniature, of which I was +robbed by the Arabs, as you may remember, and I have not seen it +since. In the way of money, my mother had barely the competency of a +gentlewoman; nothing more." + +The pressure on Paul was more palpable, as spoke of the miniature; +and he ventured to touch his companion's arm, in order to give it a +surer hold of his own. + +"Mr. Powis was not mercenary, then, and it is a great deal," said +Eve, speaking as if she were scarcely conscious that she spoke at +all. + +"Mr. Powis!--He was every thing that was noble and disinterested. A +more generous, or a less selfish man, never existed than Francis +Powis." + +"I thought you never knew your father personally!" exclaimed Eve in +surprise. + +"Nor did I. But, you are in an error, in supposing that my father's +name was Powis, when it was Assheton." + +Paul then explained the manner in which he had been adopted while +still a child, by a gentleman called Powis, whose name he had taken, +on finding himself deserted by his own natural parent, and to whose +fortune he had succeeded, on the death of his voluntary protector. + +"I bore the name of Assheton until Mr. Powis took me to France, when +he advised me to assume his own, which I did the more readily, as he +thought he had ascertained that my father was dead, and that he had +bequeathed the whole of a very considerable estate to his nephews and +nieces, making no allusion to me in his will, and seemingly anxious +even to deny his marriage; at least, he passed among his +acquaintances for a bachelor to his dying day." + +"There is something so unusual and inexplicable in all this, Mr. +Powis, that it strikes me you have been to blame, in not inquiring +more closely into the circumstances than, by your own account I +should think had been done." + +"For a long time, for many bitter years, I was afraid to inquire, +lest I should learn something injurious to a mother's name. Then +there was the arduous and confined service of my profession, which +kept me in distant seas: and the last journey and painful +indisposition of my excellent benefactor, prevented even the wish to +inquire after my own family. The offended pride of Mr. Powis, who was +justly hurt at the cavalier manner in which my father's relatives met +his advances, aided in alienating me from that portion of my +relatives, and put a stop to all additional proffers of intercourse +from me. They even affected to doubt the fact that my father had ever +married." + +"But of that you had proof?" Eve earnestly asked. + +"Unanswerable. My aunt Dunluce was present at the ceremony, and I +possess the certificate given to my mother by the clergyman who +officiated. Is it not strange, Miss Effingham, that with all these +circumstances in favour of my legitimacy, even Lady Dunluce and her +family, until lately, had doubts of the fact." + +"That is indeed unaccountable, your aunt having witnessed the +ceremony." + +"Very true; but some circumstances, a little aided perhaps by the +strong desire of her husband, General Ducie, to obtain the revival of +a barony that was in abeyance, and of which she would be the only +heir, assuming that my rights were invalid, inclined her to believe +that my father was already married, when he entered into the solemn +contract with my mother. But from that curse too, I have been happily +relieved." + +"Poor Powis!" said Eve, with a sympathy that her voice expressed more +clearly even than her words; "you have, indeed, suffered cruelly, for +one so young." + +"I have learned to bear it, dearest Miss Effingham, and have stood so +long a solitary and isolated being, one in whom none have taken any +interest--" + +"Nay, say not that--_we_, at least, have always felt an interest in +you--have always esteemed you, and now have learned to--" + +"Learned to--?" + +"Love you," said Eve, with a steadiness that afterwards astonished +herself; but she felt that a being so placed, was entitled to be +treated with a frankness different from the reserve that it is usual +for her sex to observe on similar occasions. + +"Love!" cried Paul, dropping her arm. "Miss Effingham!--Eve--but that +_we_!" + +"I mean my dear father--cousin Jack--myself." + +"Such a feeling will not heal a wound like mine. A love that is +shared with even such men as your excellent father, and your worthy +cousin, will not make me happy. But, why should I, unowned, bearing a +name to which I have no legal title, and virtually without relatives, +aspire to one like you!" + +The windings of the path had brought them near a window of the house, +whence a stream of strong light gleamed upon the sweet countenance of +Eve, as raising her eyes to those of her companion, with a face +bathed in tears, and flushed with natural feeling and modesty, the +struggle between which even heightened her loveliness, she smiled an +encouragement that it was impossible to misconstrue. + +"Can I believe my senses! Will _you_--_do_ you--_can_ you listen to +the suit of one like me?" the young man exclaimed, as he hurried his +companion past the window, lest some interruption might destroy his +hopes. + +"Is there any sufficient reason why I should not, Powis?" + +"Nothing but my unfortunate situation in respect to my family, my +comparative poverty, and my general unworthiness." + +"Your unfortunate situation in respect to your relatives would, if +any thing, be a new and dearer tie with us; your comparative poverty +is merely comparative, and can be of no account, where there is +sufficient already; and as for your general unworthiness, I fear it +will find more than an offset, in that of the girl you have so rashly +chosen from the rest of the world." + +"Eve--dearest Eve--" said Paul, seizing both her hands, and stopping +her at the entrance of some shrubbery, that densely shaded the path, +and where the little light that fell from the stars enabled him still +to trace her features--"you will not leave me in doubt on a subject +of this nature--am I really so blessed?" + +"If accepting the faith and affection of a heart that is wholly +yours, Powis, can mate you happy, your sorrows will be at an end--" + +"But your father?" said the young man, almost breathless in his +eagerness to know all. + +"Is here to confirm what his daughter has just declared," said Mr. +Effingham, coming out of the shrubbery beyond them, and laying a hand +kindly on Paul's shoulder. "To find that you so well understand each +other, Powis, removes from my mind one of the greatest anxieties I +have ever experienced. My cousin John, as he was bound to do, has +made me acquainted with all you have, told him of your past life, and +there remains nothing further to be revealed. We have known you for +years, and receive you into our family with as free a welcome as we +could receive any precious boon from Providence." + +"Mr. Effingham!--dear sir," said Paul, almost gasping between +surprise and rapture--"this is indeed beyond all my hopes--and this +generous frankness too, in your lovely daughter--" + +Paul's hands had been transferred to those of the father, he knew not +how; but releasing them hurriedly, he now turned in quest of Eve +again, and found she had fled. In the short interval between the +address of her father and the words of Paul, she had found means to +disappear, leaving the gentlemen together. The young man would have +followed, but the cooler head of Mr. Effingham perceiving that the +occasion was favourable to a private conversation with his accepted +son-in-law, and quite as unfavourable to one, or at least to a very +rational one, between the lovers, he quietly took the young man's +arm, and led him towards a more private walk. There half an hour of +confidential discourse calmed the feelings of both, and rendered Paul +Powis one of the happiest of human beings. + +Chapter XXIV. + + "You shall do marvellous wisely, good Reynaldo, Before you visit + him, to make inquiry Of his behaviour." + + HAMLET + +Ann Sidley was engaged among the dresses of Eve, as she loved to be, +although Annette held her taste in too low estimation ever to permit +her to apply a needle, or even to fit a robe to the beautiful form +that was to wear it, when our heroine glided into the room and sunk +upon a sofa. Eve was too much absorbed with her own feelings to +observe the presence of her quiet unobtrusive old nurse, and too much +accustomed to her care and sympathy to heed it, had it been seen. For +a moment she remained, her face still suffused with blushes, her +hands lying before her folded, her eyes fixed on the ceiling, and +then the pent emotions found an outlet in a flood of tears. + +Poor Ann could not have felt more shocked, had she heard of any +unexpected calamity, than she was at this sudden outbreaking of +feeling in her child. She went to her, and bent over her with the +solicitude of a mother, as she inquired into the causes of her +apparent sorrow. + +"Tell me, Miss Eve, and it will relieve your mind," said the faithful +woman; "your dear mother had such feelings sometimes, and I never +dared to question her about them; but you are my own child, and +nothing can grieve you without grieving me." + +The eyes of Eve were brilliant, her face continued to be suffused, +and the smile which she gave through her tears was so bright, as to +leave her poor attendant in deep perplexity as to the cause of a gush +of feeling that was very unusual in one of the other's regulated +mind. + +"It is not grief, dear Nanny,"--Eve at length murmured--"any thing +but that! I am not unhappy. Oh! no; as far from unhappiness as +possible." + +"God be praised it is so, ma'am! I was afraid that this affair of the +English gentleman and Miss Grace might not prove agreeable to you, +for he has not behaved as handsomely as he might, in that +transaction." + +"And why not, my poor Nanny?--I have neither claim, nor the wish to +possess a claim, on Sir George Templemore. His selection of my cousin +has given me sincere satisfaction, rather than pain; were he a +countryman of our own, I should say unalloyed satisfaction, for I +firmly believe he will strive to make her happy." + +Nanny now looked at her young mistress, then at the floor; at her +young mistress again, and afterwards at a rocket that was sailing +athwart the sky. Her eyes, however, returned to those of Eve, and +encouraged by the bright beam of happiness that was glowing in the +countenance she so much loved, she ventured to say-- + +"If Mr. Powis were a more presuming gentleman than he is, ma'am--" + +"You mean a less modest, Nanny," said Eve, perceiving that her nurse +paused. + +"Yes, ma'am--one that thought more of himself, and less of other +people, is what I wish to say." + +"And were this the case?" + +"I might think _he_ would find the heart to say what I know he +feels." + +"And did he find the heart to say what you know he feels, what does +Ann Sidley think should be my answer?" + +"Oh, ma'am, I know it would be just as it ought to be. I cannot +repeat what ladies say on such occasions, but I know that it is what +makes the hearts of the gentlemen leap for joy." + +There are occasions in which woman can hardly dispense with the +sympathy of woman. Eve loved her father most tenderly, had more than +the usual confidence in him, for she had never known a mother; but +had the present conversation been with him, notwithstanding all her +reliance on his affection, her nature would have shrunk from pouring +out her feelings as freely as she might have done with her other +parent, had not death deprived her of such a blessing. Between our +heroine and Ann Sidley, on the other hand, there existed a confidence +of a nature so peculiar, as to require a word of explanation before +we exhibit its effects. In all that related to physical wants, Ann +had been a mother, or even more than a mother to Eve, and this alone +had induced great personal dependence in the one, and a sort of +supervisory care in the other, that had brought her to fancy she was +responsible for the bodily health and well-doing of her charge. But +this was not all. Nanny had been the repository of Eve's childish +griefs, the confidant of her girlish secrets; and though the years of +the latter soon caused her to be placed under the management of those +who were better qualified to store her mind, this communication never +ceased; the high-toned and educated young woman reverting with +unabated affection, and a reliance that nothing could shake, to the +long-tried tenderness of the being who had watched over her infancy. +The effect of such an intimacy was often amusing; the one party +bringing to the conferences, a mind filled with the knowledge suited +to her sex and station, habits that had been formed in the best +circles of christendom, and tastes that had been acquired in schools +of high reputation; and the other, little more than her single- +hearted love, a fidelity that ennobled her nature, and a simplicity +that betokened perfect purity of thought Nor was this extraordinary +confidence without its advantages to Eve; for, thrown so early among +the artificial and calculating, it served to keep her own +ingenuousness of character active, and prevented that cold, selfish, +and unattractive sophistication, that mere women of fashion are apt +to fall into, from their isolated and factitious mode of existence. +When Eve, therefore, put the questions to her nurse, that have +already been mentioned, it was more with a real wish to know how the +latter would view a choice on which her own mind was so fully made +up, than any silly trifling on a subject that engrossed so much of +her best affections. + +"But you have not told me, dear Nanny," she continued, "what _you_ +would have that answer be. Ought I, for instance, ever to quit my +beloved father?" + +"What necessity would there be for that, ma'am? Mr. Powis has no home +of his own; and, for that matter, scarcely any country----" + +"How can you know this, Nanny?" demanded Eve, with the jealous +sensitiveness of a young love. + +"Why, Miss Eve, his man says this much, and he has lived with him +long enough to know it, if he had a home. Now, I seldom sleep without +looking back at the day, and often have my thoughts turned to Sir +George Temple more and Mr. Powis; and when I have remembered that the +first had a house and a home, and that the last had neither, it has +always seemed to me that _he_ ought to be the one." + +"And then, in all this matter, you have thought of convenience, and +what might be agreeable to others, rather than of me." + +"Miss Eve!" + +"Nay, dearest Nanny, forgive me; I know your last thought, in every +thing, is for yourself. But surely, the mere circumstance that he had +no home ought not to be a sufficient reason for selecting any man, +for a husband. With most women it would be an objection." + +"I pretend to know very little of these feelings, Miss Eve. I have +been wooed, I acknowledge; and once I do think I might have been +tempted to marry, had it not been for a particular circumstance." + +"You! You marry, Ann Sidley!" exclaimed Eve, to whom the bare idea +seemed as odd and unnatural, as that her own father should forget her +mother, and take a second wife. "This is altogether new, and I should +be glad to know what the lucky circumstance was, which prevented +what, to me, might have proved so great a calamity." + +"Why, ma'am, I said to myself, what does a woman do, who marries? She +vows to quit all else to go with her husband, and to love him before +father and mother, and all other living beings on earth--is it not +so, Miss Eve?" + +"I believe it is so, indeed, Nanny--nay, I am quite certain it is +so," Eve answered, the colour deepening on her cheek, as she gave +this opinion to her old nurse, with the inward consciousness that she +had just experienced some of the happiest moments of her life, +through the admission of a passion that thus overshadowed all the +natural affections. "It is, truly? as you say." + +"Well, ma'am, I investigated my feelings, I believe they call it, and +after a proper trial, I found that I loved you so much better than +any one else, that I could not, in conscience, make the vows." + +"Dearest Nanny! my kind, good, faithful old nurse! let me hold you in +my arms: and, I, selfish, thoughtless, heartless girl, would forget +the circumstance that would be most likely to keep us together, for +the remainder of our lives! Hist! there is a tap at the door It is +Mrs. Bloomfield; I know her light step. Admit her, my kind Ann, and +leave us together." + +The bright searching eye of Mrs. Bloomfield was riveted on her young +friend, as she advanced into the room; and her smile, usually so gay +and sometimes ironical, was now thoughtful and kind. + +"Well, Miss Effingham," she cried, in a manner that her looks +contradicted, "am I to condole with you," or to congratulate?--For a +more sudden, or miraculous change did I never before witness in a +young lady, though whether it be for the better or the worse----These +are ominous words, too--for 'better or worse, for richer or +poorer'----" + +"You are in fine spirits this evening, my dear Mrs. Bloomfield, and +appear to have entered into the gaieties of the Fun of Fire, with all +your--" + +"Might, will be a homely, but an expressive word. Your Templeton Fun +of Fire is fiery fun, for it has cost us something like a general +conflagration. Mrs. Hawker has been near a downfall, like your great +namesake, by a serpent's coming too near her dress; one barn, I hear, +has actually been in a blaze, and Sir George Templemore's heart is in +cinders. Mr. John Effingham has been telling me that he should not +have been a bachelor, had there been two Mrs. Bloomfields in the +world, and Mr. Powis looks like a rafter dugout of Herculaneum, +nothing but coal." + +"And what occasions this pleasantry?" asked Eve, so composed in +manner that her friend was momentarily deceived. + +Mrs. Bloomfield took a seat on the sofa, by the side of our heroine, +and regarding her steadily for near a minute, she continued-- + +"Hypocrisy and Eve Effingham can have little in common, and my ears +must have deceived me." + +"Your ears, dear Mrs. Bloomfield!" + +"My ears, dear Miss Effingham. I very well know the character of an +eaves-dropper, but if gentlemen will make passionate declarations in +the walk of a garden, with nothing but a little shrubbery between his +ardent declarations and the curiosity of those who may happen to be +passing, they must expect to be overheard." + +Eve's colour had gradually increased as her friend proceeded; and +when the other ceased speaking, as bright a bloom glowed on her +countenance, as had shone there when she first entered the room. + +"May I ask the meaning of all this?" she said, with an effort to +appear calm. + +"Certainly, my dear; and you shall also know the _feelings_ that +prompt it, as well as the meaning," returned Mrs. Bloomfield, kindly +taking Eve's hand in a way to show that she did not mean to trifle +further on a subject that was of so much moment to her young friend. +"Mr. John Effingham and myself were star-gazing at a point where two +walks approach each other, just as you and Mr. Powis were passing in +the adjoining path. Without absolutely stepping our ears, it was +quite impossible not to hear a portion of your conversation. We both +tried to behave honourably; for I coughed, and your kinsman actually +hemmed, but we were unheeded." + +"Coughed and hemmed!" repeated Eve, in greater confusion than ever. +"There must be some mistake, dear Mrs. Bloomfield, as I remember to +have heard no such signals." + +"Quite likely, my love, for there was a time when I too had ears for +only one voice; but you can have affidavits to the fact, _a la mode +de New England_, if you require them. Do not mistake my motive, +nevertheless, Miss Effingham, which is any thing but vulgar +curiosity"--here Mrs. Bloomfield looked so kind and friendly, that +Eve took both her hands and pressed them to her heart--"you are +motherless; without even a single female connexion of a suitable age +to consult with on such an occasion, and fathers after all are but +men----" + +"Mine is as kind, and delicate, and tender, as any woman can be, Mrs. +Bloomfield." + +"I believe it all, though he may not be quite as quick-sighted, in an +affair of this nature.--Am I at liberty to speak to you as if I were +an elder sister?" + +"Speak, Mrs. Bloomfield, as frankly as you please, but leave me the +mistress of my answers." + +"It is, then, as I suspected," said Mrs. Bloomfield, in a sort of +musing manner; "the men have been won over, and this young creature +has absolutely been left without a protector in the most important +moment of her life!" + +"Mrs. Bloomfield!--What does this mean?--What _can_ it mean?" + +"It means merely general principles, child; that your father and +cousin have been parties concerned, instead of vigilant sentinels; +and, with all their pretended care, that you have been left to grope +your way in the darkness of female uncertainty, with one of the most +pleasing young men in the country constantly before you, to help the +obscurity." + +It is a dreadful moment, when we are taught to doubt the worth of +those we love; and Eve became pale as death, as she listened to the +words of her friend. Once before, on the occasion of Paul's return to +England, she had felt a pang of that sort, though reflection, and a +calm revision of all his acts and words since they first met in +Germany, had enabled her to get the better of indecision, and when +she first saw him on the mountain, nearly every unpleasant +apprehension and distrust had been dissipated by an effort of pure +reason. His own explanations had cleared up the unpleasant affair, +and, from that moment, she had regarded him altogether with the eyes +of a confiding partiality. The speech of Mrs. Bloomfield now sounded +like words of doom to her, and, for an instant, her friend was +frightened with the effects of her own imperfect communication. Until +that moment Mrs. Bloomfield had formed no just idea of the extent to +which the feelings of Eve were interested in Paul, for she had but an +imperfect knowledge of their early association in Europe, and she +sincerely repented having introduced the subject at all. It was too +late to retreat, however, and, first folding Eve in her arms, and +kissing her cold forehead, she hastened to repair a part, at least, +of the mischief she had done. + +"My words have been too strong, I fear," she said, "but such is my +general horror of the manner in which the young of our sex, in this +country, are abandoned to the schemes of the designing and selfish of +the other, that I am, perhaps, too sensitive when I see any one that +I love thus exposed. You are known, my dear, to be one of the richest +heiresses of the country; and, I blush to say that no accounts of +European society that we have, make fortune-hunting a more regular +occupation there, than it has got to be here." + +The paleness left Eve's face, and a look of slight displeasure +succeeded. + +"Mr. Powis is no fortune-hunter, Mrs. Bloomfield," she said, +steadily; "his whole conduct for three years has been opposed to such +a character; and, then, though not absolutely rich, perhaps, he has a +gentleman's income, and is removed from the necessity of being +reduced to such an act of baseness." + +"I perceive my error, but it is now too late to retreat. I do not say +that Mr. Powis is a fortune-hunter, but there are circumstances +connected with his history, that you ought at least to know, and that +immediately. I have chosen to speak to you, rather than to speak to +your father, because I thought you might like a female confidant on +such occasion, in preference even to your excellent natural +protector. The idea of. Mrs. Hawker occurred to me, on account of her +age; but I did not feel authorised to communicate to her a secret of +which I had myself become so accidentally possessed,' + +"I appreciate your motive fully, dearest Mrs. Bloomfield," said Eve, +smiling with all her native sweetness, and greatly relieved, for she +now began to think that too keen a sensitiveness on the subject of +Paul had unnecessarily alarmed her, "and beg there may be no reserves +between us. If you know a reason why Mr. Powis should not be received +as a suitor, I entreat you to mention it." + +"Is he Mr. Powis at all?" + +Again Eve smiled, to Mrs. Bloomfield's great, surprise, for, as the +latter had put the question with sincere reluctance, she was +astonished at the coolness with which it was received. + +"He is not Mr. Powis, legally perhaps, though he might be, but that +he dislikes the publicity of an application to the legislature. His +paternal name is Assheton." + +"You know his history, then!" + +"There has been no reserve on the part of Mr. Powis; least of all, +any deception." + +Mrs. Bloomfield appeared perplexed, even distressed; and there was a +brief space, during which her mind was undecided as to the course she +ought to take. That she had committed an error by attempting a +consultation, in a matter of the heart, with one of her own sex, +after the affections were engaged, she discovered when it was too +late; but she prized Eve's friendship too much, and had too just a +sense of what was due to herself, to leave the affair where it was, +or without clearing up her own unasked agency in it. + +"I rejoice to learn this," she said, as soon as her doubts had ended, +"for frankness, while it is one of the safest, is one of the most +beautiful traits in human character; but beautiful though it be, it +is one that the other sex uses least to our own." + +"Is our own too ready to use it to the other?" + +"Perhaps not: it might be better for both parties, were there less +deception practised during the period of courtship, generally: but as +this is hopeless, and might, destroy some of the most pleasing +illusions of life, we will not enter into a treatise on the frauds of +Cupid, Now to my own confessions, which I make all the more +willingly, because I know they are uttered to the ear of one of a +forgiving temperament, and who is disposed to view even my follies +favourably." + +The kind but painful smile of Eve, assured the speaker she was not +mistaken, and she continued, after taking time to read the expression +of the countenance of her young friend-- + +"In common with all of New-York, that town of babbling misses, who +prattle as water flows, without consciousness or effort, and of +whiskered masters, who fancy Broadway the world, and the flirtations +of miniature drawing-rooms, human nature, I believed, on your return +from Europe, that an accepted suitor followed in your train, in the +person of Sir George Templemore." + +"Nothing in my deportment, or in that of Sir George, or in that of +any of my family, could justly have given rise to such a notion," +said Eve, quickly. + +"Justly! What has justice, or truth, or even probability, to do with +a report, of which love and matrimony are the themes? Do you not know +_society_ better than to fancy this improbability, child?" + +"I know that our own sex would better consult their own dignity and +respectability, my dear Mrs. Bloomfield, if they talked less of such +matters; and that they would be more apt to acquire the habits of +good taste, not to say of good principles, if they confined their +strictures more to things and sentiments than they do, and meddled +less with persons." + +"And pray, is there no tittle-tattle, no scandal, no commenting on +one's neighbours, in other civilized nations besides this?" + +"Unquestionably; though I believe, as a rule, it is every where +thought to be inherently vulgar, and a proof of low associations." + +"In that, we are perfectly of a mind; for, if there be any thing that +betrays a consciousness of inferiority, it is our rendering others of +so much obvious importance to ourselves, as to make them the subjects +of our constant conversation. We may speak of virtues, for therein we +pay an homage to that which is good; but when we come to dwell on +personal faults, it is rather a proof that we have a silent +conviction of the superiority of the subject of our comments to +ourselves, either in character, talents, social position, or +something else that is deemed essential, than of our distaste for his +failings. Who, for instance, talks scandal of his grocer, or of his +shoemaker? No, no, our pride forbids this; we always make our betters +the subject of our strictures by preference, taking up with our +equals only when we can get none of a higher class." + +"This quite reconciles me to having been given to Sir George +Templemore, by the world of New-York," said Eve, smiling. + +"And well it may, for they who have prattled of your engagement, have +done so principally because they are incapable of maintaining a +conversation on any thing else. But, all this time, I fear I stand +accused in your mind, of having given advice unasked, and of feeling +an alarm in an affair that affected others, instead of myself, which +is the very sin that we lay at the door of our worthy Manhattanese. +In common with all around me, then, I fancied Sir George Templemore +an accepted lover, and, by habit, had gotten to associate you +together in my pictures. Oh my arrival here, however, I will confess +that Mr. Powis, whom, you will remember, I had never seen before, +struck me as much the most dangerous man.--Shall I own all my +absurdity?" + +"Even to the smallest shade." + +"Well, then, I confess to having supposed that, while the excellent +father believed you were in a fair way to become Lady Templemore, the +equally excellent daughter thought the other suitor, infinitely the +most agreeable person." + +"What! in contempt of a betrothal?" + +"Of course I, at once, ascribed that part of the report to the usual +embellishments. We do not like to be deceived in our calculations, or +to discover that even our gossip has misled us. In pure resentment at +my own previous delusion, I began to criticise this Mr. Powis--" + +"Criticise, Mrs. Bloomfield!" + +"To find fault with him, my dear; to try to think he was not just the +handsomest and most engaging young man I had ever seen; to imagine +what he ought to be, in place of what he was; and among other things, +to inquire _who_ he was?" + +"You did not think proper to ask that question of any of _us_," said +Eve, gravely. + +"I did not; for I discovered by instinct, or intuition, or +conjecture--they mean pretty much the same thing, I believe--that +there was a mystery about him; something that even his Templeton +friends did not quite understand, and a lucky thought occurred of +making my inquiries of another person." + +"They were answered satisfactorily," said Eve, looking up at her +friend, with the artless confidence that marks her sex, when the +affections have gotten the mastery of reason. + +"_Cosi, cosi_. Bloomfield has a brother who is in the Navy, as you +know, and I happened to remember that he had once spoken of an +officer of the name of Powis, who had performed a clever thing in the +West Indies, when they were employed together against the pirates. I +wrote to him one of my usual letters, that are compounded of all +things in nature and art, and took an occasion to allude to a certain +Mr. Paul Powis, with a general remark that he had formerly served, +together with a particular inquiry if he knew any thing about him. +All this, no doubt, you think very officious; but believe me, dear +Eve, where there was as much interest as I felt and feel in you, it +was very natural." + +"So far from entertaining resentment, I am grateful for your concern, +especially as I know it was manifested cautiously, and without any +unpleasant allusions to third persons." + +"In that respect I believe I did pretty well. Tom Bloomfield--I beg +his pardon, Captain Bloomfield, for so he calls himself, at present-- +knows Mr. Powis well; or, rather _did_ know him, for they have not +met for years, and he speaks of his personal qualities and +professional merit highly, but takes occasion to remark that there +was some mystery connected with his birth, as, before he joined the +service he understood he was called Assheton, and at a later day, +Powis, and this without any public law, or public avowal of a motive. +Now, it struck me that Eve Effingham ought not to be permitted to +form a connection with a man so unpleasantly situated, without being +apprised of the fact. I was waiting for a proper occasion to do this +ungrateful office myself, when accident made me acquainted with what +has passed this evening, and perceiving that there was no time to +lose, I came hither, more led by interest in you, my dear, perhaps, +than by discretion." + +"I thank you sincerely for this kind concern in my welfare, dear Mrs. +Bloomfield, and give you full credit for the motive. Will you permit +me to inquire how much you know of that which passed this evening?" + +"Simply that Mr. Powis is desperately in love, a declaration that I +take it is always dangerous to the peace of mind of a young woman, +when it comes from a very engaging young man." + +"And my part of the dialogue--" Eve blushed to the eyes as she asked +this question, though she made a great effort to appear calm--"my +answer?" + +"There was too much of woman in me--of true, genuine, loyal, native +woman, Miss Effingham, to listen to that had there been an +opportunity. We were but a moment near enough to hear any thing, +though that moment sufficed to let us know the state of feelings of +the gentleman. I ask no confidences, my dear Eve, and now that I have +made my explanations, lame though they be, I will kiss you and repair +to the drawing-room, where we shall both be soon missed. Forgive me, +if I have seemed impertinent in my interference, and continue to +ascribe it to its true motive." + +"Stop, Mrs. Bloomfield, I entreat, for a single moment; I wish to say +a word before we part. As you have been accidentally made acquainted +with Mr. Powis's sentiments towards me, it is no more than just that +you should know the nature of mine towards him----" + +Eve paused involuntarily, for, though she had commenced her +explanation, with a firm intention to do justice to Paul, the +bashfulness of her sex held her tongue tied, at the very moment her +desire to speak was the strongest. An effort conquered the weakness, +and the warm-hearted, generous-minded girl succeeded in commanding +her voice. + +"I cannot allow you to go away with the impression, that there is a +shade of any sort on the conduct of Mr. Powis," she said. "So far +from desiring to profit by the accidents that have placed it in his +power to render us such essential service, he has never spoken of his +love until this evening, and then under circumstances in which +feeling, naturally, perhaps I might say uncontrollably, got the +ascendency." + +"I believe it all, for I feel certain Eve Effingham would not bestow +her heart heedlessly." + +"Heart!--Mrs. Bloomfield!" + +"Heart, my dear; and now I insist on the subject's being dropped, at +least, for the present. Your decision is probably not yet made--you +are not yet an hour in possession of your suitor's secret, and +prudence demands deliberation. I shall hope to see you in the +drawing-room, and until then, adieu." + +Mrs. Bloomfield signed for silence, and quitted the room with the +same light tread as that with which she had entered it. + +Chapter XXV. + + "To show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very + age and body of the time, his form and pressure." + + SHAKSPEARE. + +When Mrs. Bloomfield entered the drawing-room, she found nearly the +whole party assembled. The Fun of Fire had ceased, and the rockets no +longer gleamed athwart the sky; but the blaze of artificial light +within, was more than a substitute for that which had so lately +existed without. + +Mr. Effingham and Paul were conversing by themselves, in a window- +seat, while John Effingham, Mrs. Hawker, and Mr. Howel were in an +animated discussion on a sofa; Mr. Wenham had also joined the party, +and was occupied with Captain Ducie, though not so much so as to +prevent occasional glances at the trio just mentioned. Sir George +Templemore and Grace Van Cortlandt were walking together in the great +hall, and were visible through the open door, as they passed and +repassed. + +"I am glad of your appearance among us, Mrs. Bloomfield," said John +Effingham, "for, certainly more Anglo-mania never existed than that +which my good friend Howel manifests this evening, and I have hopes +that your eloquence may persuade him out of some of those notions, on +which my logic has fallen like seed scattered by the way-side." + +"I can have little hopes of success where Mr. John Effingham has +failed." + +"I am far from being certain of that; for, somehow Howel has taken up +the notion that I have gotten a grudge against England, and he +listens to all I say with distrust and distaste." + +"Mr. John uses strong language habitually, ma'am," cried Mr. Howel, +"and you will make some allowances for a vocabulary that has no very +mild terms in it; though, to be frank, I do confess that he seems +prejudiced on the subject of that great nation." + +"What is the point in immediate controversy, gentlemen?" asked Mrs. +Bloomfield, taking a seat. + +"Why here is a review of a late American work, ma'am, and I insist +that the author is skinned alive, whereas, Mr. John insists that the +reviewer exposes only his own rage, the work having a national +character, and running counter to the reviewer's feelings and +interests." + +"Nay, I protest against this statement of the case, for I affirm that +the reviewer exposes a great deal more than his rage, since his +imbecility, ignorance, and dishonesty, are quite as apparent as any +thing else." + +"I have read the article," said Mrs. Bloomfield, after glancing her +eye at the periodical, "and I must say that I take sides with Mr. +John Effingham in his opinion of its character." + +"But do you not perceive, ma'am, that this is the idol of the +nobility and gentry; the work that is more in favour with people of +consequence in England than any other. Bishops are said to write for +it!" + +"I know it is a work expressly established to sustain one of the most +factitious political systems that ever existed, and that it +sacrifices every high quality to attain its end." + +"Mrs. Bloomfield, you amaze me! The first writers of Great Britain +figure in its pages." + +"That I much question, in the first place; but even if it were so, it +would be but a shallow mystification. Although a man of character +might write one article in a work of this nature, it does not follow +that a man of no character does not write the next. The principles of +the communications of a periodical are as different as their +talents." + +"But the editor is a pledge for all.--The editor of this review is an +eminent writer himself." + +"An eminent writer may be a very great knave, in the first place, and +one fact is worth a thousand conjectures in such a matter. But we do +not know that there is any responsible editor to works of this nature +at all, for there is no name given in the title-page, and nothing is +more common than vague declarations of a want of this very +responsibility. But if I can prove to you that this article _cannot_ +have been written by a man of common honesty, Mr. Howel, what will +you then say to the responsibility of your editor?" + +"In that case I shall be compelled to admit that he had no connexion +with it." + +"Any thing in preference to giving up the beloved idol!" said John +Effingham laughing. "Why not add at once, that he is as great a knave +as the writer himself? I am glad, however, that Tom Howel has fallen +into such good hands, Mrs. Bloomfield, and I devoutly pray you may +not spare him." + +We have said that Mrs. Bloomfield had a rapid perception of things +and principles, that amounted almost to intuition. She had read the +article in question, and, as she glanced her eyes through its pages, +had detected its fallacies and falsehoods, in almost every sentence. +Indeed, they had not been put together with ordinary skill, the +writer having evidently presumed on the easiness of the class of +readers who generally swallowed his round assertions, and were so +clumsily done that any one who had not the faith to move mountains +would have seen through most of them without difficulty. But Mr. +Howel belonged to another school, and he was so much accustomed to +shut his eyes to palpable mystification mentioned by Mrs. Bloomfield, +that a lie, which, advanced in most works, would have carried no +weight with it, advanced in this particular periodical became +elevated to the dignity of truth. + +Mrs. Bloomfield turned to an article on America, in the periodical in +question, and read from it several disparaging expressions concerning +Mr. Howel's native country, one of which was, "The American's first +plaything is the rattle-snake's tail." + +"Now, what do you think of this assertion in particular, Mr. Howel?" +she asked, reading the words we have just quoted. + +"Oh! that is said in mere pleasantry--it is only wit." + +"Well, then, what do you think of it as wit?" + +"Well, well, it may not be of a very pure water, but the best of men +are unequal at all times, and more especially in their wit." + +"Here," continued Mrs. Bloomfield, pointing to another paragraph, "is +a positive statement or misstatement, which makes the cost of the +'civil department of the United States Government,' about six times +more than it really is." + +"Our government is so extremely mean, that I ascribe that error to +generosity." + +"Well," continued the lady, smiling, "here the reviewer asserts that +Congress passed a law _limiting_ the size of certain ships, in order +to please the democracy; and that the Executive privately evaded this +law, and built vessels of a much greater size; whereas the provision +of the law is just the contrary, or that the ships should not be +_less_ than of seventy-four guns; a piece of information, by the way, +that I obtained from Mr. Powis." + +"Ignorance, ma'am; a stranger cannot be supposed to know all the laws +of a foreign country." + +"Then why make bold and false assertions about them, that are +intended to discredit the country? Here is another assertion--'ten +thousand of the men that fought at Waterloo would have marched +through North America?' Do you believe that, Mr. Howel?" + +"But that is merely an opinion, Mrs. Bloomfield; any man may be wrong +in his opinion." + +"Very true, but it is an opinion uttered in the year of our Lord one +thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight; and after the battles of +Bunker Hill, Cowpens, Plattsburg, Saratoga, and New-Orleans! And, +moreover, after it had been proved that something very like ten +thousand of the identical men who fought at Waterloo, could not march +even ten miles into the country." + +"Well, well, all this shows that the reviewer is sometimes mistaken." + +"Your pardon Mr. Howel; I think it shows, according to your own +admission, that his wit, or rather its wit, for there is no _his_ +about it--that its wit is of a very indifferent quality as witticisms +even; that it is ignorant of what it pretends to know; and that its +opinions are no better than its knowledge: all of which, when fairly +established against one who, by his very pursuit, professes to know +more than other people, is very much like making it appear +contemptible." + +"This is going back eight or ten years--let us look more particularly +at the article about which the discussion commences." + +"_Volontiers_" + +Mrs. Bloomfield now sent to the library for the work reviewed, and +opening the review she read some of its strictures; and then turning +to the corresponding passages in the work itself, she pointed out the +unfairness of the quotations, the omissions of the context, and, in +several flagrant instances, witticisms of the reviewer, that were +purchased at the expense of the English language. She next showed +several of those audacious assertions, for which the particular +periodical was so remarkable, leaving no doubt with any candid +person, that they were purchased at the expense of truth. + +"But here is an instance that will scarce admit of cavilling or +objection on your part, Mr. Howel," she continued; "do me the favour +to read the passage in the review." + +Mr. Howel complied, and when he had done, he looked expectingly at +the lady. + +"The effect of the reviewer's statement is to make it appear that the +author has contradicted himself, is it not?" + +"Certainly, nothing can be plainer." + +"According to your favourite reviewer, who accuses him of it, in +terms. Now let us look at the fact. Here is the passage in the work +itself. In the first place you will remark that this sentence, which +contains the alleged contradiction, is mutilated; the part which is +omitted, giving a directly contrary meaning to it, from that it bears +under the reviewer's scissors." + +"It has some such appearance, I do confess." + +"Here you perceive that the closing sentence of the same paragraph, +and which refers directly to the point at issue, is displaced, made +to appear as belonging to a separate paragraph, and as conveying a +different meaning from what the author has actually expressed." + +"Upon my word, I do not know but you are right!" + +"Well, Mr. Howel, we have had wit of no very pure water, ignorance as +relates to facts, and mistakes as regards very positive assertions. +In what category, as Captain Truck would say, do you place this?" + +"Why does not the author reviewed expose this?" + +"Why does not a gentleman wrangle with a detected pick-pocket?" + +"It is literary swindling," said John Effingham, "and the man who did +it, is inherently a knave." + +"I think both these facts quite beyond dispute," observed Mrs. +Bloomfield, laying down Mr. Howel's favourite review with an air of +cool contempt; "and I must say I did not think it necessary to prove +the general character of the work, at this late date, to any American +of ordinary intelligence; much less to a sensible man, like Mr. +Howel." + +"But, ma'am, there may be much truth and justice in the rest of its +remarks," returned the pertinacious Mr. Howel, "although it has +fallen into these mistakes." + +"Were you ever on a jury, Howel?" asked John Effingham, in his +caustic manner. + +"Often; and on grand juries, too." + +"Well, did the judge never tell you, when a witness is detected in +lying on one point, that his testimony is valueless on all others?" + +"Very true; but this is a review, and not testimony." + +"The distinction is certainly a very good one," resumed Mrs. +Bloomfield, laughing, "as nothing, in general, can be less like +honest testimony than a review!" + +"But I think, my dear ma'am, you will allow that all this is +excessively biting and severe--I can't say I ever read any thing +sharper in my life." + +"It strikes me, Mr. Howel, as being nothing but epithets, the +cheapest and most contemptible of all species of abuse. Were two men, +in your presence, to call each other such names, I think it would +excite nothing but disgust in your mind. When the thought is clear +and poignant, there is little need to have recourse to mere epithets; +indeed, men never use the latter, except when there is a deficiency +of the first." + +"Well, well, my friends," cried Mr. Howel, as he walked away towards +Grace and Sir George, "this is a different thing from what I at first +thought it, but still I think you undervalue the periodical." + +"I hope this little lesson will cool some of Mr. Howel's faith in +foreign morality," observed Mrs. Bloomfield, as soon as the gentleman +named was out of hearing; "a more credulous and devout worshipper of +the idol, I have never before met." + +"The school is diminishing, but it is still large. Men like Tom +Howel, who have thought in one direction all their lives, are not +easily brought to change their notions, especially when the +admiration which proceeds from distance, distance 'that lends +enchantment to the view,' is at the bottom of their faith. Had this +very article been written and printed round the corner of the street +in which he lives, Howel would be the first to say that it was the +production of a fellow without talents or principles, and was +unworthy of a second thought." + +"I still think he will be a wiser, if not a better man, by the +exposure of its frauds." + +"Not he. If you will excuse a homely and a coarse simile, 'he will +return like a dog to his vomit, or the sow to its wallowing in the +mire.' I never knew one of that school thoroughly cured, until he +became himself the subject of attack, or, by a close personal +communication, was made to feel the superciliousness of European +superiority. It is only a week since I had a discussion with him on +the subject of the humanity and the relish for liberty in his beloved +model; and when I cited the instance of the employment of the +tomahawk, in the wars between England and this country, he actually +affirmed that the Indian savages killed no women and children, but +the wives and offspring of their enemies; and when I told him that +the English, like most other people, cared very little for any +liberty but their own, he coolly affirmed that their own was the only +liberty worth caring for!" + +"Oh yes," put in young Mr. Wenham, who had overheard the latter +portion of the conversation, "Mr. Howel is so thoroughly English, +that he actually denies that America is the most civilized country in +the world, or that we speak our language better than any nation was +ever before known to speak its own language." + +"This is so manifest an act of treason," said Mrs. Bloomfield, +endeavouring to look grave, for Mr. Wenham was any thing but accurate +in the use of words himself, commonly pronouncing "been," "ben," +"does," "dooze," "nothing," "nawthing," "few," "foo," &c. &c. &c., +"that, certainly, Mr. Howel should be arraigned at the bar of public +opinion for the outrage." + +"It is commonly admitted, even by our enemies, that our mode of +speaking is the very best in the world, which, I suppose, is the real +reason why our literature has so rapidly reached the top of the +ladder." + +"And is that the fact?" asked Mrs. Bloomfield, with a curiosity that +was not in the least feigned. + +"I believe no one denies _that. You_ will sustain me in this, I +fancy, Mr. Dodge?" + +The editor of the Active Inquirer had approached, and was just in +time to catch the subject in discussion. Now the modes of speech of +these two persons, while they had a great deal in common, had also a +great deal that was not in common. Mr. Wenham was a native of New- +York, and his dialect was a mixture that is getting to be +sufficiently general, partaking equally of the Doric of New England, +the Dutch cross, and the old English root; whereas, Mr. Dodge spoke +the pure, unalloyed Tuscan of his province, rigidly adhering to all +its sounds and significations. "Dissipation," he contended, meant +"drunkenness;" "ugly," "vicious;" "clever," "good-natured;" and +"humbly," (homely) "ugly." In addition to this finesse in +significations, he had a variety of pronunciations that often put +strangers at fault, and to which he adhered with a pertinacity that +obtained some of its force from the fact, that it exceeded his power +to get rid of them. Notwithstanding all these little peculiarities, +peculiarities as respects every one but those who dwelt in his own +province, Mr. Dodge had also taken up the notion of his superiority +on the subject of language, and always treated the matter as one that +was placed quite beyond dispute, by its publicity and truth. + +"The progress of American Literature," returned the editor, "is +really astonishing the four quarters of the world. I believe it is +very generally admitted, now, that our pulpit and bar are at the very +summit of these two professions. Then we have much the best poets of +the age, while eleven of our novelists surpass any of all other +countries. The American Philosophical Society is, I believe, +generally considered the most acute learned body now extant, unless, +indeed, the New-York Historical Society may compete with it, for that +honour. Some persons give the palm to one, and some to the other; +though I myself think it would be difficult to decide between them. +Then to what a pass has the drama risen of late years! Genius is +getting to be quite a drug in America!" + +"You have forgotten to speak of the press, in particular," put in the +complacent Mr. Wenham. "I think we may more safely pride ourselves on +the high character of the press, than any thing else." + +"Why, to tell you the truth, sir," answered Steadfast, taking the +other by the arm, and leading him so slowly away, that a part of what +followed was heard by the two amused listeners, "modesty is so +infallibly the companion of merit, that _we_ who are engaged in that +high pursuit do not like to say any thing in our own favour. You +never detect a newspaper in the weakness of extolling itself; but, +between ourselves, I may say, after a close examination of the +condition of the press in other countries, I have come to the +conclusion, that, for talents, taste, candour, philosophy, genius, +honesty, and truth, the press of the United States stands at the +very----" + +Here Mr. Dodge passed so far from the listeners, that the rest of the +speech became inaudible, though from the well-established modesty of +the man and the editor, there can be little doubt of the manner in +which he concluded the sentence. + +"It is said in Europe," observed Johr Effingham, his fine face +expressing the cool sarcasm in which he was so apt to indulge, "that +there are _la vieille_ and _la Jeune France_. I think we have now had +pretty fair specimens of _old_ and _young_ America; the first +distrusting every thing native, even to a potatoe: and the second +distrusting nothing, and least of all, itself." + +"There appears to be a sort of pendulum-uneasiness in mankind," said +Mrs. Bloomfield, "that keeps opinion always vibrating around the +centre of truth, for I think it the rarest thing in the world to find +man or woman who has not a disposition, as soon as an error is +abandoned, to fly off into its opposite extreme. From believing we +had nothing worthy of a thought, there is a set springing up who +appear to have jumped to the conclusion that we have every thing." + +"Ay, this is _one_ of the reasons that all the rest of the world +laugh at us." + +"Laugh at us, Mr. Effingham! Even _I_ had supposed the American name +had, at last, got to be in good credit in other parts of the world." + +"Then even _you_, my dear Mrs. Bloomfield, are notably mistaken. +Europe, it is true, is beginning to give us credit for not being +quite as bad as she once thought us; but we are far, very far, from +being yet admitted to the ordinary level of nations, as respects +goodness." + +"Surely they give us credit for energy, enterprize, activity----" + +"Qualities that they prettily term, rapacity, cunning, and swindling! +I am far, very far, however, from giving credit to all that it suits +the interests and prejudices of Europe, especially of our venerable +kinswoman, Old England, to circulate and think to the prejudice of +this country, which, in my poor judgment, has as much substantial +merit to boast of as any nation on earth; though, in getting rid of a +set of ancient vices and follies, it has not had the sagacity to +discover that it is fast falling into pretty tolerable--or if you +like it better--intolerable substitutes." + +"What then do _you_ deem our greatest error--our weakest point?" + +"Provincialisms, with their train of narrow prejudices, and a +disposition to set up mediocrity as perfection, under the double +influence of an ignorance that unavoidably arises from a want of +models, and of the irresistible tendency to mediocrity, in a nation +where the common mind so imperiously rules." + +"But does not the common mind rule every where? Is not public opinion +always stronger than law?" + +"In a certain sense, both these positions may be true. But in a +nation like this, without a capital, one _that is all provinces_, in +which intelligence and tastes are scattered, this common mind wants +the usual direction, and derives its impulses from the force of +numbers, rather than from the force of knowledge. Hence the fact, +that the public opinion never or seldom rises to absolute truth. I +grant you that _as_ a mediocrity, it is well; much better than common +even; but it is still a mediocrity." + +"I see the justice of your remark, and I suppose we are to ascribe +the general use of superlatives, which is so very obvious, to these +causes." + +"Unquestionably; men have gotten to be afraid to speak the truth, +when that truth is a little beyond the common comprehension; and thus +it is that you see the fulsome flattery that all the public servants, +as they call themselves, resort to, in order to increase their +popularity, instead of telling the wholesome facts that are needed." + +"And what is to be the result?" + +"Heaven knows. While America is so much in advance of other nations, +in a freedom from prejudices of the old school, it is fast +substituting a set of prejudices of its own, that are not without +serious dangers. We may live through it, and the ills of society may +correct themselves, though there is one fact that men aces more evil +than any thing I could have feared." + +"You mean the political struggle between money and numbers, that has +so seriously manifested itself of late!" exclaimed the quick-minded +and intelligent Mrs. Bloomfield. + +"_That_ has its dangers; but there is still another evil of greater +magnitude. I allude to the very general disposition to confine +political discussions to political men. Thus, the private citizen, +who should presume to discuss a political question, would be deemed +fair game for all who thought differently from himself. He would be +injured in his pocket, reputation, domestic happiness, if possible; +for, in this respect, America is much the most intolerant nation I +have ever visited. In all other countries, in which discussion is +permitted at all, there is at least the _appearance_ of fair play, +whatever may be done covertly; but here, it seems to be sufficient to +justify falsehood, frauds, nay, barefaced rascality, to establish +that the injured party has had the audacity to meddle with public +questions, not being what the public chooses to call a public man. It +is scarcely necessary to say that, when such an opinion gets to be +effective, it must entirely defeat the real intentions of a popular +government." + +"Now you mention it," said Mrs. Bloomfield, "I think I have witnessed +instances of what you mean." + +"Witnessed, dear Mrs. Bloomfield! Instances are to be seen as often +as a man is found freeman enough to have an opinion independent of +party. It is not for connecting himself with party that a man is +denounced in this country, but for daring to connect himself with +truth. Party will bear with party, but party will not bear with +truth. It is in politics as in war, regiments or individuals may +desert, and they will be received by their late enemies with open +arms, the honour of a soldier seldom reaching to the pass of refusing +succour of any sort; but both sides will turn and fire on the +countrymen who wish merely to defend their homes and firesides." + +"You draw disagreeable pictures of human nature, Mr. Effingham." + +"Merely because they are true, Mrs. Bloomfield. Man is worse than the +beasts, merely because he has a code of right and wrong, which he +never respects. They talk of the variation of the compass, and even +pretend to calculate its changes, though no one can explain the +principle that causes the attraction or its vagaries at all. So it is +with men; they pretend to look always at the right, though their eyes +are constantly directed obliquely; and it is a certain calculation to +allow of a pretty wide variation--but here comes Miss Effingham, +singularly well attired, and more beautiful than I have ever before +seen her!" + +The two exchanged quick glances, and then, as if fearful of betraying +to each other their thoughts, they moved towards our heroine, to do +the honours of the reception. + +Chapter XXVI. + + "Haply, when I shall wed, That lord, whose hand must take + my plight, shall carry Half my love with him, half my care and + duty." + + CORDELIA. + +As no man could be more gracefully or delicately polite than John +Effingham, when the humour seized him, Mrs. Bloomfield was struck +with the kind and gentleman-like manner with which he met his young +kinswoman on this trying occasion, and the affectionate tones of his +voice, and the winning expression of his eye, as he addressed her. +Eve herself was not unobservant of these peculiarities, nor was she +slow in comprehending the reason. She perceived at once that he was +acquainted with the state of things between her and Paul. As she well +knew the womanly fidelity of Mrs. Bloomfield, she rightly enough +conjectured that the long observation of her cousin, coupled with the +few words accidentally overheard that evening had even made him +better acquainted with the true condition of her feelings, than was +the case with the friend with whom she had so lately been conversing +on the subject. + +Still Eve was not embarrassed by the conviction that her secret was +betrayed to so many persons. Her attachment to Paul was not the +impulse of girlish caprice, but the warm affection of a woman, that +had grown with time, was sanctioned by her reason, and which, if it +was tinctured with the more glowing imagination and ample faith of +youth, was also sustained by her principles and her sense of right. +She knew that both her father and cousin esteemed the man of her own +choice, nor did she believe the little cloud that, hung over his +birth could do more than have a temporary influence on his own +sensitive feelings. She met John Effingham, therefore, with a frank +composure, returned the kind pressure of his hand, with a smile such +as a daughter might bestow on an affectionate parent, and turned to +salute the remainder of the party, with that lady-like ease which had +got to be a part of her nature. + +"There goes one of the most attractive pictures that humanity can +offer," said John Effingham to Mrs. Bloomfield, as Eve walked away; +"a young, timid, modest, sensitive girl, so strong in her principles, +so conscious of rectitude, so pure of thought, and so warm in her +affections, that she views her selection of a husband, as others view +their acts of duty and religious faith. With her love has no shame, +as it has no weakness." + +"Eve Effingham is as faultless as comports with womanhood; and yet I +confess ignorance of my own sex, if she receive Mr. Powis as calmly +as she received her cousin." + +"Perhaps not, for in that case, she could scarcely feel the passion. +You perceive that he avoids oppressing her with his notice, and that +the meeting passes off without embarrassment. I do believe there is +an elevating principle in love, that, by causing us to wish to be +worthy of the object most prized, produces the desired effects by +stimulating exertion. There, now, are two as perfect beings as one +ordinarily meets with, each oppressed by a sense of his or her +unworthiness to be the choice of the other." + +"Does love, then, teach humility; successful love too?" + +"Does it not? It would be hardly fair to press this matter on you, a +married woman; for, by the pandects of American society, a man may +philosophize on love, prattle about it, trifle on the subject, and +even analyze the passion with, a miss in her teens, and yet he shall +not allude to it, in a discourse with a matron. Well, _chacun a son +gout_; we are, indeed, a little peculiar in our usages, and have +promoted a good deal of village coquetry, and the flirtations of the +may-pole, to the drawing-room." + +"Is it not better that such follies should be confined to youth, than +that they should invade the sanctity of married life, as I understand +is too much the case elsewhere?" + +"Perhaps so; though I confess it is easier to dispose of a straight- +forward proposition from a mother, a father, or a commissioned +friend, than to get rid of a young lady, who, _propria persona_, +angles on her own account. While abroad, I had a dozen proposals--" + +"Proposals!" exclaimed Mrs. Bloomfield, holding up both hands, and +shaking her head incredulously. + +"Proposals! Why not, ma'am?--am I more than fifty? am I not +reasonably youthful for that period of life, and have I not six or +eight thousand a year--" + +"Eighteen, or you are much scandalized." + +"Well, eighteen, if you will," coolly returned the other, in whose +eyes money was no merit, for he was born to a fortune, and always +treated it as a means, and not as the end of life; "every dollar is a +magnet, after one has turned forty. Do you suppose that a single man, +of tolerable person, well-born, and with a hundred thousand francs of +_rentes_, could entirely escape proposals from the ladies in Europe?" + +"This is so revolting to all our American notions, that, though I +have often heard of such things, I have always found it difficult to +believe them!" + +"And is it more revolting for the friends of young ladies to look out +for them, on such occasions, than that the young ladies should take +the affair into their own hands, as is practised quite as openly, +here?" + +"It is well you are a confirmed bachelor, or declarations like these +would mar your fortunes. I will admit that the school is not as +retiring and diffident as formerly; for we are all ready enough to +say that no times are egual to our own times; but I shall strenuously +protest against your interpretation of the nature and artlessness of +an American girl." + +"Artlessness!" repeated John Effingham, with a slight lifting of the +eye-brows; "we live in an age when new dictionaries and vocabularies +are necessary to understand each other's meaning. It is artlessness, +with a vengeance, to beset an old fellow of fifty, as one would +besiege a town. Hist!--Ned is retiring with his daughter, my dear +Mrs. Bloomfield, and it will not be long before I shall be summoned +to a family council. Well, we will keep the secret until it is +publicly proclaimed." + +John Effingham was right, for his two cousins left the room together, +and retired to the library, but in a way to attract no particular +attention, except in those who were enlightened on the subject of +what had already passed that evening. When they were alone, Mr. +Effingham turned the key, and then he gave a free vent to his +paternal feelings. + +Between Eve and her parent, there had always existed a confidence +exceeding that which it is common to find between father and +daughter. In one sense, they had been all in all to each other, and +Eve had never hesitated about pouring those feelings into his breast, +which, had she possessed another parent, would more naturally have +been confided to the affection of a mother. When their eyes first +met, therefore, they were mutually beaming with an expression of +confidence and love, such as might, in a measure, have been expected +between two of the gentler sex. Mr Effingham folded his child to his +heart, pressed her there tenderly for near a minute in silence, and +then kissing her burning cheek he permitted her to look up. + +"This answers all my fondest hopes, Eve"--he exclaimed; "fulfils my +most cherished wishes for thy sake." + +"Dearest sir!" + +"Yes, my love, I have long secretly prayed that such might be your +good fortune; for, of all the youths we have met, at home or abroad, +Paul Powis is the one to whom I can consign you with the most +confidence that he will cherish and love you as you deserve to be +cherished and loved!" + +"Dearest father, nothing but this was wanting to complete my perfect +happiness." + +Mr. Effingham kissed his daughter again, and he was then enabled to +pursue the conversation with greater composure. + +"Powis and I have had a full explanation," he said, "though in order +to obtain it, I have been obliged to give him strong encouragement" + +"Father!" + +"Nay, my love, your delicacy and feelings nave been sufficiently +respected, but he has so much diffidence of himself, and permits the +unpleasant circumstances connected with his birth to weigh so much on +his mind, that I have been compelled to tell him, what I am sure you +will approve, that we disregard family connections, and look only to +the merit of the individual." + +"I hope, father, nothing was said to give Mr. Powis reason to suppose +we did not deem him every way our equal." + +"Certainly not. He is a gentleman, and I can claim to be no more. +There is but one thing in which connections ought to influence an +American marriage, where the parties are suited to each other in the +main requisites, and that is to ascertain that neither should be +carried, necessarily, into associations for which their habits have +given them too much and too good tastes to enter into. A _woman_, +especially, ought never to be transplanted from a polished to +an unpolished circle; for, when this is the case, if really a +lady, there will be a dangerous clog on her affection for her +husband. This one great point assured, I see no other about which a +parent need feel concern." + +"Powis, unhappily, has no connections in this country; or none with +whom he has any communications; and those he has in England are of a +class to do him credit." + +"We have been conversing of this, and he has manifested so much +proper feeling that it has even raised him in my esteem. I knew his +father's family, and must have known his father, I think, though +there were two or three Asshetons of the name of John. It is a highly +respectable family of the middle states, and belonged formerly to the +colonial aristocracy. Jack Effingham's mother was an Assheton." + +"Of the same blood, do you think, sir? I remembered this when Mr. +Powis mentioned his father's name, and intended to question cousin +Jack on the subject." + +"Now you speak of it, Eve, there _must_ be a relationship +between them. Do you suppose that our kinsman is acquainted with the +fact that Paul is, in truth, an Assheton?" + +Eve told her father that she had never spoken with their relative on +the subject, at all. + +Then ring the bell and we will ascertain at once how far my +conjecture is true. You can have no false delicacy, my child, about +letting your engagement be known to one as near and as dear to us, as +John." + +"Engagement, father!" + +"Yes, engagement," returned the smiling parent, "for such I already +deem it. I have ventured, in your behalf, to plight your troth to +Paul Powis, or what is almost equal to it; and in return I can give +you back as many protestations of unequalled fidelity, and eternal +constancy, as any reasonable girl can ask." + +Eve gazed at her lather in a way to show that reproach was mingled +with fondness, for she felt that, in this instance, too much of the +precipitation of the other sex had been manifested in her affairs; +still, superior to coquetry and affectation, and much too warm in her +attachments to be seriously hurt, she kissed the hand she held, shook +her head reproachfully, even while she smiled, and did as had been +desired. + +"You have, indeed, rendered it important to us to know more of Mr. +Powis, my beloved father," she said, as she returned to her seat, +"though I could wish matters had not proceeded quite so fast." + +"Nay, all I promised was conditional, and dependent on yourself. You +have nothing to do, if I have said too much, but to refuse to ratify +the treaty made by your negotiator." + +"You propose an impossibility,", said Eve, taking the hand, again, +that she had so lately relinquished, and pressing it warmly between +her own; "the negotiator is too much revered, has too strong a right +to command, and is too much confided in to be thus dishonoured. +Father, I _will_, I _do_, ratify all you _have_, all you _can_ +promise in my behalf." + +"Even, if I annul the treaty, darling?" + +"Even, in that case, father. I will marry none without your consent, +and have so absolute a confidence in your tender care of me, that I +do not even hesitate to say, I will marry him to whom you contract +me." + +"Bless you, bless you, Eve; I do believe you, for such have I ever +found you, since thought has had any control over your actions. +Desire Mr. John Effingham to come hither"--then, as the servant +closed the door, he continued,--"and such I believe you will continue +to be until your dying day." + +"Nay, reckless, careless father, you forget that you yourself have +been instrumental in transferring my duty and obedience to another. +What if this sea-monster should prove a tyrant, throw off the mask, +and show himself in his real colours? Are you prepared, then, +thoughtless, precipitate, parent"--Eve kissed Mr, Effingham's cheek +with childish playfulness, as she spoke, her heart swelling with +happiness the whole time, "to preach obedience where obedience would +then be due?" + +"Hush, precious--I hear the step of Jack; he must not catch us +fooling in this manner." + +Eve rose; and when her kinsman entered the room, she held out her +hand kindly to him, though it was with an averted face and a tearful +eye. + +"It is time I was summoned," said John Effingham, after he had drawn +the blushing girl to him and kissed her forehead, "for what between +_tete a tetes_ with young fellows, and _tete a tetes_ with +old fellows, this evening, I began to think myself neglected. I hope +I am still in time to render my decided disapprobation available?" + +"Cousin Jack!" exclaimed Eve, with a look of reproachful mockery, +"_you_ are the last person who ought to speak of disapprobation, +for you have done little else but sing the praises of the applicant, +since you first met him." + +"Is it even so? then, like others, I must submit to the consequences +of my own precipitation and false conclusions. Am I summoned to +inquire how many thousands a year I shall add to the establishment of +the new couple? As I hate business, say five at once: and when the +papers are ready, I will sign them, without reading," + +"Most generous cynic," cried Eve, "I would I dared, now, to ask a +single question!" + +"Ask it without scruple, young lady, for this is the day of your +independence and power. I am mistaken in the man, if Powis do not +prove to be the captain of his own ship, in the end." + +"Well, then, in whose behalf is this liberality really meant; mine, +or that of the gentleman?" + +"Fairly enough put," said John Effingham, laughing, again drawing Eve +towards him and saluting her cheek; "for if I were on the rack, I +could scarcely say which I love best, although you have the +consolation of knowing, pert one, that you get the most kisses." + +"I am almost in the same state of feeling myself, John, for a son of +my own could scarcely be dearer to me than Paul." + +"I see, indeed, that I _must_ marry," said Eve hastily, dashing +the tears of delight from her eyes, for what could give more delight +than to hear the praises of her beloved, "if I wish to retain my +place in your affections. But, father, we forget the question you +were to put to cousin Jack." + +"True, love. John, your mother was an Assheton?" + +"Assuredly, Ned; you are not to learn my pedigree at this time of +day, I trust." + +"We are anxious to make out a relationship between you and Paul; can +it not be done?" + +"I would give half my fortune, Eve consenting, were it so!--What +reason is there for supposing it probable, or even possible?" + +"You know that he bears the name of his friend, and adopted parent, +while that of his family is really Assheton." + +"Assheton!" exclaimed the other, in a way to show that this was the +first he had ever heard of the fact. + +"Certainly; and as there is but one family of this name, which is a +little peculiar in the spelling--for here it is spelt by Paul +himself, on this card--we have thought that he must be a relation of +yours. I hope we are not to be disappointed." + +"Assheton!--It is, as you say, an unusual name; nor is there more +than one family that bears it in this country, to my knowledge. Can +it be possible that Powis is truly an Assheton?" + +"Out of all doubt," Eve eagerly exclaimed; "we have it from his own +mouth. His father was an Assheton, and his mother was--" + +"Who!" demanded John Effingham, with a vehemence that startled his +companions. + +"Nay, that is more than I can tell you, for he did not mention the +family name of his mother; as she was a sister of Lady Dunluce, +however, who is the wife of General Ducie, the father of our guest, +it is probable her name was Dunluce." + +"I remember no relative that has made such a marriage, or who _can_ +have made such a marriage; and yet do I personally and intimately +know every Assheton in the country." + +Mr. Effingham and his daughter looked at each other, for it at once +struck them all painfully, that there must be Asshetons of another +family. + +"Were it not for the peculiar manner in which this name is spelled," +said Mr. Effingham, "I could suppose that there are Asshetons of whom +we know nothing, but it is difficult to believe that there can be +such persons of a respectable family of whom we never heard, for +Powis said his relatives were of the Middle States--" + +"And that his mother was called Dunluce?" demanded John Effingham +earnestly, for he too appeared to wish to discover an affinity +between himself and Paul. + +"Nay, father, this I think he did not say; though it is quite +probable; for the title of his aunt is an ancient barony, and those +ancient baronies usually became the family name." + +"In this you must be mistaken, Eve, since he mentioned that the right +was derived through his mother's mother, who was an Englishwoman." + +"Why not send for him at once, and put the question?" said the +simple-minded Mr. Effingham; "next to having him for my own son, it +would give me pleasure, John, to learn that he was lawfully entitled +to that which I know you have done in his behalf." + +"That is impossible," returned John Effingham. "I am an only child, +and as for cousins through my mother, there are so many who stand in +an equal degree of affinity to me, that no one in particular can be +my heir-at-law. If there were, I am an Effingham; my estate came from +Effinghams, and to an Effingham it should descend in despite of all +the Asshetons in America." + +"Paul Powis included!" exclaimed Eve, raising a finger reproachfully. + +"True, to him I have left a legacy; but it was to a Powis, and not to +an Assheton." + +"And yet he declares himself legally an Assheton, and not a Powis." + +"Say no more of this, Eve; it is unpleasant to me. I hate the name of +Assheton, though it was my mother's, and could wish never to hear it +again." + +Eve and her father were mute, for their kinsman, usually so proud and +self-restrained, spoke with suppressed emotion, and it was plain +that, for some hidden cause, he felt even more than he expressed. The +idea that there should be any thing about Paul that could render him +an object of dislike to one as dear to her as her cousin, was +inexpressibly painful to the former, and she regretted that the +subject had ever been introduced. Not so with her father. Simple, +direct, and full of truth, Mr. Effingham rightly enough believed that +mysteries in a family could lead to no good, and he repeated his +proposal of sending for Paul, and having the matter cleared up at +once. + +"You are too reasonable, Jack," he concluded, "to let an antipathy +against a name that was your mother's, interfere with your sense of +right. I know that some unpleasant questions arose concerning your +succession to my aunt's fortune, but that was all settled in your +favour twenty years ago, and I had thought to your entire +satisfaction." + +"Unhappily, family quarrels are ever the most bitter, and usually +they are the least reconcileable," returned John Effingham, +evasively.--"I would that this young man's name were any thing but +Assheton! I do not wish to see Eve plighting her faith at the altar, +to any one bearing that, accursed name!" + +"I shall plight my faith, if ever it be done, dear cousin John, to +the man, and not to his name." + +"No, no--he must keep the appellation of Powis by which we have all +learned to love him, and to which he has done so much credit." + +"This is very strange, Jack, for a man who is usually as discreet and +as well regulated as yourself. I again propose that we send for Paul, +and ascertain precisely to what branch of this so-much-disliked +family he really belongs." + +"No, father, if you love me, not now!" cried Eve, arresting Mr. +Effingham's hand as it touched the bell-cord; "it would appear +distrustful, and even cruel, were we to enter into such an inquiry so +soon. Powis might think we valued his family, more than we do +himself," + +"Eve is right, Ned; but I will not sleep without learning all. There +is an unfinished examination of the papers left by poor Monday, and I +will take an occasion to summon Paul to its completion, when an +opportunity will offer to renew the subject of his own history; for +it was at the other investigation that he first spoke frankly to me, +concerning himself." + +"Do so, cousin Jack, and let it be at once," said Eve earnestly. "I +can trust you with Powis alone, for I know how much you respect and +esteem him in your heart. See, it is already ten." + +"But, he will naturally wish to spend the close of an evening like +this engaged in investigating something very different from Mr. +Monday's tale," returned her cousin; the smile with which he spoke +chasing away the look of chilled aversion that had so lately darkened +his noble features. + +"No, not to-night," answered the blushing Eve. "I have confessed +weakness enough for one day. Tomorrow, if you will--if he will,--but +not to-night. I shall retire with Mrs. Hawker, who already complains +of fatigue; and you will send for Powis, to meet you in your own +room, without unnecessary delay." + +Eve kissed John Effingham coaxingly, and as they walked together out +of the library, she pointed towards the door that led to the +chambers. Her cousin laughingly complied, and when in his own room, +he sent a message to Paul to join him. + +"Now, indeed, may I call you a kinsman," said John Effingham, rising +to receive the young man, towards whom he advanced, with extended +hands, in his most winning manner. "Eve's frankness and your own +discernment have made us a happy family!" + +"If any thing could add to the felicity of being acceptable to Miss +Effingham," returned Paul, struggling to command his feelings, "it is +the manner in which her father and yourself have received my poor +offers." + +"Well, we will now speak of it no more. I saw from the first which +way things were tending, and it was my plain-dealing that opened the +eyes of Templemore to the impossibility of his ever succeeding, by +which means his heart has been kept from breaking." + +"Oh! Mr. Effingham, Templemore never loved-Eve Effingham! I thought +so once, and he thought so, too; but it could not have been a love +like mine." + +"It certainly differed in the essential circumstance of reciprocity, +which, in itself, singularly qualifies the passion, so far as +duration is concerned. Templemore did not exactly know the reason why +he preferred Eve; but, having seen so much of the society in which he +lived, I was enabled to detect the cause. Accustomed to an elaborate +sophistication, the singular union of refinement and nature caught +his fancy; for the English seldom see the last separated from +vulgarity; and when it is found, softened by a high intelligence and +polished manners, it has usually great attractions for the _biases_." + +"He is fortunate in having so readily found a substitute for Eve +Effingham!" + +"This change is not unnatural, neither. In the first place, I, with +this truth-telling 'tongue, destroyed all hope, before he had +committed himself by a declaration; and then Grace Van Cortlandt +possesses the great attraction of nature, in a degree quite equal to +that of her cousin. Besides, Templemore, though a gentleman, and a +brave man, and a worthy one, is not remarkable for qualities of a +very extraordinary kind. He will be as happy as is usual for an +Englishman of his class to be, and he has no particular right to +expect more. I sent for you, however, less to talk of love, than to +trace its unhappy consequences in this affair, revealed by the papers +of poor Monday. It is time we acquitted ourselves of that trust. Do +me the favour to open the dressing-case that stands on the toilet- +table; you will find in it the key that belongs to the bureau, where +I have placed the secretary that contains the papers." + +Paul did as desired. The dressing-case was complicated and large, +having several compartments, none of which were fastened. In the +first opened, he saw a miniature of a female so beautiful, that his +eve rested on it, as it might be, by a fascination.--Notwithstanding +some difference produced by the fashions of different periods, the +resemblance to the object of his love, was obvious at a glance. Borne +away by the pleasure of the discovery, and actually believing that he +saw a picture of Eve, drawn in a dress that did not in a great degree +vary from the present attire, fashion having undergone no very +striking revolution in the last twenty years, he exclaimed-- + +"This is indeed a treasure, Mr. Effingham, and most sincerely do I +envy you its possession. It is like, and yet, in some particulars, it +is unlike--it scarcely does Miss Effingham justice about the nose and +forehead!" + +John Effingham started when he saw the miniature in Paul's hand, but +recovering himself, he smiled at the eager delusion of his young +friend, and said with perfect composure-- + +"It is not Eve, but her mother. The two features you have named in +the former came from my family; but in all the others, the likeness +is almost identical." + +"This then is Mrs. Effingham!" murmured Paul, gazing on the face of +the mother of his love, with a respectful melancholy, and an interest +that was rather heightened than lessened by a knowledge of the truth. +"She died young, sir?" + +"Quite; she can scarcely be said to have become an angel too soon, +for she was always one." + +This was said with a feeling that did not escape Paul, though it +surprised him. There were six or seven miniature-cases in the +compartment of the dressing-box, and supposing that the one which lay +uppermost belonged to the miniature in his hand, he raised it, and +opened the lid with a view to replace the picture of Eve's mother, +with a species of pious reverence. Instead of finding an empty case, +however, another miniature met his eye. The exclamation that now +escaped the young man was one of delight and surprise. + +"That must be my grandmother, with whom you are in such raptures, at +present," said John Effingham, laughing--"I was comparing it +yesterday with the picture of Eve, which is in the Russia-leather +case, that you will find somewhere there. I do not wonder, however, +at your admiration, for she was a beauty in her day, and no woman is +fool enough to be painted after she grows ugly." + +"Not so--not so--Mr. Effingham! This is the miniature I lost in the +Montauk, and which I had given up as booty to the Arabs. It has, +doubtless, found its way into your state-room, and has been put among +your effects by your man, through mistake. It is very precious to me, +for it is nearly every memorial I possess of my own mother!" + +"Your mother!" exclaimed John Effingham rising. "I think there must +be some mistake, for I examined all those pictures this very morning, +and it is the first time they have been opened since our arrival from +Europe. It cannot be the missing picture." + +"Mine it is certainly; in that I cannot be mistaken!" + +"It would be odd indeed, if one of my grandmothers, for both are +there, should prove to be your mother.--Powis, will you have the +goodness to let me see the picture you mean." + +Paul brought the miniature and a light, placing both before the eyes +of his friend. + +"That!" exclaimed John Effingham, his voice sounding harsh and +unnatural to the listener,--"that picture like _your_ mother!" + +"It is her miniature--_the_ miniature that was transmitted to +me, from those who had charge of my childhood. I cannot be mistaken +as to the countenance, or the dress." + +"And your father's name was Assheton?" + +"Certainly--John Assheton, of the Asshetons of Pennsylvania." + +John Effingham groaned aloud; when Paul stepped back equally shocked +and surprised, he saw that the face of his friend was almost livid, +and that the hand which held the picture shook like the aspen. + +"Are you unwell, dear Mr. Effingham?" + +"No--no--'tis impossible! This lady never had a child. Powis, you +have been deceived by some fancied, or some real resemblance. This +picture is mine, and has not been out of my possession these five and +twenty years." + +"Pardon me, sir, it is the picture of my mother, and no other; the +very picture lost in the Montauk." + +The gaze that John Effingham cast upon the young man was ghastly; and +Paul was about to ring the bell, but a gesture of denial prevented +him. + +"See," said John Effingham, hoarsely, as he touched a spring in the +setting, and exposed to view the initials of two names interwoven +with hair--"is this, too, yours?" + +Paul looked surprised and disappointed. + +"That certainly settles the question; my miniature had no such +addition; and yet I believe that sweet and pensive countenance to be +the face of my own beloved mother, and of no one else." + +John Effingham struggled to appear calm; and, replacing the pictures, +he took the key from the dressing case, and, opening the bureau, he +took out the secretary. This he signed for Powis, who had the key, to +open; throwing himself into a chair, though every thing was done +mechanically, as if his mind and body had little or no connection +with each other. + +"Some accidental resemblance has deceived you as to the miniature," +he said, while Paul was looking for the proper number among the +letters of Mr. Monday. "No--no--that _cannot_ be the picture of +your mother. She left no child. Assheton did you say, was the name of +your father?" + +"Assheton--John Assheton--about that, at least, there can have been +no mistake. This is the num her at which we left off--will you, sir, +or shall I, read?" + +The other made a sign for Paul to read; looking, at the same time, as +if it were impossible for him to discharge that duty himself. + +"This is a letter from the woman who appears to have been entrusted +with the child, to the man Dowse," said Paul, first glancing his eyes +over the page,--"it appears to be little else but gossip--ha!--what +is this, I see?" + +John Effingham raised himself in his chair, and he sat gazing at +Paul, as one gazes who expects some extraordinary developement, +though of what nature he knew not. + +"This is a singular passage," Paul continued--"so much so as to need +elucidation. 'I have taken the child with me to get the picture from +the jeweller, who has mended the ring, and the little urchin knew it +at a glance.'" + +"What is there remarkable in that? Others beside ourselves have had +pictures;-and this child knows its own better than you." + +"Mr. Effingham, such a thing occurred to myself! It is one of those +early events of which I still retain, have ever retained, a vivid +recollection. Though little more than an infant at the time, well do +I recollect to have been taken in this manner to a jeweller's, and +the delight I felt at recovering my mother's picture, that which is +now lost, after it had not been seen for a month or two." + +"Paul Blunt--Powis--Assheton "--said John Effingham, speaking so +hoarsely as to be nearly unintelligible, "remain here a few minutes-- +I will rejoin you." + +John Effingham arose, and, notwithstanding he rallied all his powers, +it was with extreme difficulty he succeeded in reaching the door, +steadily rejecting the offered assistance of Paul, who was at a loss +what to think of so much agitation in a man usually so self-possessed +and tranquil. When out of the room, John Effingham did better, and he +proceeded to the library, followed by his own man, whom he had +ordered to accompany him with a light. + +"Desire Captain Ducie to give me the favour of his company for a +moment," he then said, motioning to the servant to withdraw. "You +will not be needed any longer." + +It was but a minute before Captain Ducie stood before him. This +gentleman was instantly struck with the pallid look, and general +agitation of the person he had come to meet, and he expressed an +apprehension that he was suddenly taken ill. But a motion of the hand +forbade his touching the bell-cord, and he waited in silent wonder at +the scene which he had been so unexpectedly called to witness. + +"A glass of that water, if you please, Captain Ducie," said John +Effingham, endeavouring to smile with gentleman-like courtesy, as he +made the request, though the effort, caused his countenance to appear +ghastly again. A little recovered by this beverage, he said more +steadily-- + +"You are the cousin of Powis, Captain Ducie." + +"We are sisters' children, sir." + +"And your mother is" + +"Lady Dunluce--a peeress in her own right." + +"But, what--her family name?" + +"Her own family name has been sunk in that of my father, the Ducies +claiming to be as old and as honourable a family, as that from which +my mother inherits her rank. Indeed the Dunluce barony has gone +through so many names, by means of females, that I believe there is +no intention to revive the original appellation of the family which +was first summoned." + +"You mistake, me--your mother--when she married--was--" + +"Miss Warrender." + +"I thank you, sir, and will trouble you no longer," returned John +Effingham, rising and struggling to make his manner second the +courtesy of his words--"I have troubled you, abruptly--incoherently I +fear--your arm--" + +Captain Ducie stepped hastily forward, and was just in time to +prevent the other from falling senseless on the floor, by receiving +him in his own arms. + +Chapter XXVII. + + "What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for + her." + + HAMLET. + +The next morning, Paul and Eve were alone in that library which had +long been the scene of the confidential communications of the +Effingham family. Eve had been weeping, nor were Paul's eyes entirely +free from the signs of his having given way to strong sensations. +Still happiness beamed in the countenance of each, and the timid but +affectionate glances with which our heroine returned the fond, +admiring look of her lover, were any thing but distrustful of their +future felicity. Her hand was in his, and it was often raised to his +lips, as they pursued the conversation. + +"This is so wonderful," exclaimed Eve, after one of the frequent +musing pauses in which both indulged "that I can scarcely believe +myself awake. That you Blunt, Powis, Assheton, should, after all, +prove an Effingham! + +"And I, who have so long thought myself an orphan, should find a +living father, and he a man like Mr. John Effingham!" + +I have long thought that something heavy lay at the honest heart of +cousin Jack--you will excuse me Powis, but I shall need time to learn +to call him by a name of greater respect." + +"Call him always so, love, for I am certain it would pain him to meet +with any change in you. He _is_ your cousin Jack" + +"Nay, he may some day unexpectedly become _my_ father too, as he +has so wonderfully become yours," rejoined Eve, glancing archly at +the glowing face of the delighted young man; "and then cousin Jack +might prove too familiar and disrespectful a term." + +"So much stronger does your claim to him appear than mine, that I +think, when that blessed day shall arrive, Eve, it will convert him +into _my_ cousin Jack, instead of your father. But call _him_ +as you may, why do you still insist on calling _me_ Powis?" + +"That name will ever be precious in my eyes! You abridge me of my +rights, in denying me a change of name. Half the young ladies of the +country marry for the novelty of being called Mrs. Somebody else, +instead of the Misses they were, while I am condemned to remain Eve +Effingham for life." + +"If you object to the appellation, I can continue to call myself +Powis. This has been done so long now as almost to legalize the act." + +"Indeed, no--you are an Effingham, and as an Effingham ought you to +be known. What a happy lot is mine! Spared even the pain of parting +with my old friends, at the great occurrence of my life, and finding +my married home the same as the home of my childhood!" + +"I owe every thing to you, Eve, name, happiness, and even a home." + +"I know not that. Now that it is known that you are the great- +grandson of Edward Effingham, I think your chance of possessing the +Wigwam would be quite equal to my own, even were we to look different +ways in quest of married happiness. An arrangement of that nature +would not be difficult to make, as John Effingham might easily +compensate a daughter for the loss of her house and lands by means of +those money-yielding stocks and bonds, of which he possesses so +many." + +"I view it differently. _You_ were Mr.--my father's heir--how +strangely the word father sounds in unaccustomed ears!--But you were +my father's chosen heir, and I shall owe to you, dearest, in addition +to the treasures of your heart and faith, my fortune." + +"Are you so very certain of this, ingrate?--Did not Mr. John +Effingham--cousin Jack--adopt you as his son even before he knew of +the natural tie that actually exists between you?" + +"True, for I perceive that you have been made acquainted with most of +that which has passed. But I hope, that in telling you his own offer, +Mr.--that my father did not forget to tell you of the terms on which +it was accepted?" + +"He did you ample justice, or he informed me that you stipulated +there should be no altering of wills, but that the unworthy heir +already chosen, should still remain the heir." + +"And to this Mr--" + +"Cousin Jack," said Eve, laughing, for the laugh comes easy to the +supremely happy. + +"To this cousin Jack assented?" + +"Most true, again. The will would not have been altered, for your +interests were already cared for." + +"And at the expense of yours, dearest? Eve!" + +"It would have been at the expense of my better feelings, Paul, had +it not been so. However, that will can never do either harm or good +to any, now." + +"I trust it will remain unchanged, beloved, that I may owe as much to +you as possible." + +Eve looked kindly at her betrothed, blushed even deeper than the +bloom which happiness had left on her cheek, and smiled like one who +knew more than she cared to express. + +"What secret meaning is concealed behind the look of portentous +signification?" + +"It means, Powis, that I have done a deed that is almost criminal. I +have destroyed a will." + +"Not my father's!" + +"Even so--but it was done in his presence, and if not absolutely with +his consent, with his knowledge. When he informed me of your superior +rights, I insisted on its being done, at once, so, should any +accident occur, you will be heir at law, as a matter of course. +Cousin Jack affected reluctance, but I believe he slept more sweetly, +for the consciousness that this act of justice had been done." + +"I fear he slept little, as it was; it was long past midnight before +I left him, and the agitation of his spirits was such as to appear +awful in the eyes of a son!" + +"And the promised explanation is to come, to renew his distress! Why +make it at all? is it not enough that we are certain that you are his +child? and for that, have we not the solemn assurance, the +declaration of almost a dying man!" + +"There should be no shade left over my mother's fame. Faults there +have been, somewhere, but it is painful, oh! how painful! for a child +to think evil of a mother." + +"On this head you are already assured. Your own previous knowledge, +and John Effingham's distinct declarations, make your mother +blameless." + +"Beyond question; but this sacrifice must be made to my mother's +spirit. It is now nine; the breakfast-bell will soon ring, and then +we are promised the whole of the melancholy tale. Pray with me, Eve, +that it may be such as will not wound the ear of a son!" + +Eve took the hand of Paul within both of hers, and kissed it with a +sort of holy hope, that in its exhibition caused neither blush nor +shame. Indeed so bound together were these young hearts, so ample and +confiding had been the confessions of both, and so pure was their +love, that neither regarded such a manifestation of feeling, +differently from what an acknowledgement of a dependence on any other +sacred principle would have been esteemed. The bell now summoned them +to the breakfast-table, and Eve, yielding to her sex's timidity, +desired Paul to precede her a few minutes, that the sanctity of their +confidence might not be weakened by the observation of profane eyes. + +The meal was silent; the discovery of the previous night, which had +been made known to all in the house, by the declarations of John +Effingham as soon as he was restored to his senses, Captain Ducie +having innocently collected those within hearing to his succour, +causing a sort of moral suspense that weighed on the vivacity if not +on the comforts of the whole party, the lovers alone excepted. + +As profound happiness is seldom talkative, the meal was a silent one, +then; and when it was ended, they who had no tie of blood with the +parties most concerned with the revelations of the approaching +interview, delicately separated, making employments and engagements +that left the family at perfect liberty; while those who had been +previously notified that their presence would be acceptable, silently +repaired to the dressing-room of John Effingham. The latter party was +composed of Mr. Effingham, Paul, and Eve, only. The first passed into +his cousin's bed-room, where he had a private conference that lasted +half an hour. At the end of that time, the two others were summoned +to join him. + +John Effingham was a strong-minded and a proud man, his governing +fault being the self-reliance that indisposed him to throw himself on +a greater power, for the support, guidance, and counsel, that all +need. To humiliation before God, however, he was not unused, and of +late years it had got to be frequent with him, and it was only in +connexion with his fellow-creatures that his repugnance to admitting +even of an equality existed. He felt how much more just, intuitive, +conscientious even, were his own views than those of mankind, in +general; and he seldom deigned to consult with any as to the opinions +he ought to entertain, or as to the conduct he ought to pursue. It is +scarcely necessary to say, that such a being was one of strong and +engrossing passions, the impulses frequently proving too imperious +for the affections, or even for principles. The scene that he was now +compelled to go through, was consequently one of sore mortification +and self-abasement; and yet, feeling its justice no less than its +necessity, and having made up his mind to discharge what had now +become a duty, his very pride of character led him to do it manfully, +and with no uncalled-for reserves. It was a painful and humiliating +task, notwithstanding; and it required all the self-command, all the +sense of right, and all the clear perception of consequences, that +one so quick to discriminate could not avoid perceiving, to enable +him to go through it with the required steadiness and connexion. + +John Effingham received Paul and Eve, seated in an easy chair; for, +while he could not be said to be ill, it was evident that his very +frame had been shaken by the events and emotions of the few preceding +hours. He gave a hand to each, and, drawing Eve affectionately to +him, he imprinted a kiss on a cheek that was burning, though it paled +and reddened in quick succession, the heralds of the tumultuous +thoughts within. The look he gave Paul was kind and welcome, while a +hectic spot glowed on each cheek, betraying that his presence excited +pain as well as pleasure. A long pause succeeded this meeting, when +John Effingham broke the silence. + +"There can now be no manner of question, my dear Paul," he said, +smiling affectionately but sadly as he looked at the young man, +"about your being my son. The letter written by John Assheton to your +mother, after the separation of your parents, would settle that +important point, had not the names, and the other facts that have +come to our knowledge, already convinced me of the precious truth; +for precious and very dear to me is the knowledge that I am the +father of so worthy a child. You must prepare yourself to hear things +that it will not be pleasant for a son to listen--" + +"No, no--cousin Jack--_dear_ cousin Jack!" cried Eve, throwing +herself precipitately into her kinsman's arms, "we will hear nothing +of the sort. It is sufficient that you are Paul's father, and we wish +to know no more--will hear no more." + +"This is like yourself, Eve, but it will not answer what I conceive +to be the dictates of duty. Paul had two parents; and not the +slightest suspicion ought to rest on one of them, in order to spare +the feelings of the other. In showing me this kindness you are +treating Paul inconsiderately." + +"I beg, dear sir, you will not think too much of me, but entirely +consult your own judgment--your own sense of--in short, dear father, +that you will consider yourself before your son." + +"I thank you, my children--what a word, and what a novel sensation is +this, for me, Ned!--I feel all your kindness, but if you would +consult my peace of mind, and wish me to regain my self-respect, you +will allow me to disburthen my soul of the weight that oppresses it. +This is strong language; but, while I have no confessions of +deliberate criminality, or of positive vice to make, I feel it to be +hardly too strong for the facts. My tale will be very short, and I +crave your patience, Ned, while I expose my former weakness to these +young people." Here John Effingham paused, as if to recollect +himself; then he proceeded with a seriousness of manner that caused +every syllable he uttered to tell on the ears of his listeners. "It +is well known to your father, Eve, though it will probably be new to +you," he said, "that I felt a passion for your sainted mother, such +as few men ever experience for any of your sex. Your father and +myself were suitors for her favour at the same time, though I can +scarcely say, Edward, that any feeling of rivalry entered into the +competition." + +"You do me no more than justice, John, for if the affection of my +beloved Eve could cause me grief, it was because it brought you +pain." + +"I had the additional mortification of approving of the choice she +made; for, certainly, as respected her own happiness, your mother did +more wisely in confiding it to the regulated, mild, and manly virtues +of your father, than in placing her hopes on one as eccentric and +violent as myself." + +"This is injustice, John. You may have been positive, and a little +stern, at times, but never violent, and least of all with a woman." + +"Call it what you will, it unfitted me to make one so meek, gentle, +and yet high-souled, as entirely happy as she deserved to be, and as +you did make her, while she remained on earth. I had the courage to +stay and learn that your father was accepted, (though the marriage +was deferred two years in consideration for my feelings,) and then +with a heart, in which mortified pride, wounded love, a resentment +that was aimed rather against myself than against your parents, I +quitted home, with a desperate determination never to rejoin my +family again. This resolution I did not own to myself, even, but it +lurked in my intentions unowned, festering like a mortal disease; and +it caused me, when I burst away from the scene of happiness of which +I had been a compelled witness, to change my name, and to make +several inconsistent and extravagant arrangements to abandon my +native country even." + +"Poor John!" exclaimed his cousin, involuntarily, "this would have +been a sad blot on our felicity, had we known it!" + +"I was certain of that, even when most writhing under the blow you +had so unintentionally inflicted, Ned; but the passions are +tyrannical and inconsistent masters. I took my mother's name, changed +my servant, and avoided those parts of the country where I was known. +At this time, I feared for my own reason, and the thought crossed my +mind, that by making a sudden marriage I might supplant the old +passion, which was so near destroying me, by some of that gentler +affection which seemed to render you so blest, Edward." + +"Nay, John, this was, itself, a temporary tottering of the reasoning +faculties," + +"It was simply the effect of passions, over which reason had never +been taught to exercise a sufficient influence. Chance brought me +acquainted with Miss Warrender, in one of the southern states, and +she promised, as I fancied, to realize all my wild schemes of +happiness and resentment." + +"Resentment, John?" + +"I fear I must confess it, Edward, though it were anger against +myself. I first made Miss Warrender's acquaintance as John Assheton, +and some months had passed before I determined to try the fearful +experiment I have mentioned. She was young, beautiful, well-born, +virtuous and good; if she had a fault, it was her high spirit--not +high temper, but she was high-souled and proud." + +"Thank God, for this!" burst from the inmost soul of Paul, with +unrestrainable feeling. + +"You have little to apprehend, my son, on the subject of your +mother's character; if not perfect, she was wanting in no womanly +virtue, and might, nay ought to have made any reasonable man happy. +My offer was accepted, for I found her heart disengaged. Miss +Warrender was not affluent, and, in addition to the other +unjustifiable motives that influenced me, I thought there would be a +satisfaction in believing that I had been chosen for myself, rather +than for my wealth. Indeed, I had got to be distrustful and +ungenerous, and then I disliked the confession of the weakness that +had induced me to change my name. The simple, I might almost say, +loose laws of this country, on the subject of marriage, removed all +necessity for explanations, there being no bans nor license +necessary, and the Christian name only being used in the ceremony. We +were married, therefore, but I was not so unmindful of the rights of +others, as to neglect to procure a certificate, under a promise of +secrecy, in my own name. By going to the place where the ceremony was +performed, you will also find the marriage of John Effingham and +Mildred Warrender duly registered in the books of the church to which +the officiating clergyman belonged. So far, I did what justice +required, though, with a motiveless infatuation for which I can now +hardly account, which _cannot_ be accounted for, except by +ascribing it to the inconsistent cruelty of passion, I concealed my +real name from her with whom there should have been no concealment. I +fancied, I tried to fancy I was no impostor, as I was of the family I +represented myself to be, by the mother's side; and. I wished to +believe that my peace would easily be made when I avowed myself to be +the man I really was. I had found Miss Warrender and her sister +living with a well-intentioned but weak aunt, and with no male +relative to make those inquiries which would so naturally have +suggested themselves to persons of ordinary worldly prudence. It is +true, I had become known to them under favourable circumstances, and +they had good reason to believe me an Assheton from some accidental +evidence that I possessed, which unanswerably proved my affinity to +that family, without, betraying my true name. But there is so little +distrust in this country, that, by keeping at a distance from the +places in which I was personally known, a life might have passed +without exposure." + +"This was all wrong, dear cousin Jack," said Eve, taking his hand and +affectionately kissing it, while her face kindled with a sense of her +sex's rights, "and I should be unfaithful to my womanhood were I to +say otherwise. You had entered into the most solemn of all human +contracts, and evil is the omen when such an engagement is veiled by +any untruth. But, still, one would think you might have been happy +with a virtuous and affectionate wife!" + +"Alas! it is but a hopeless experiment to marry one, while the heart +is still yearning towards another. Confidence came too late; for, +discovering my unhappiness, Mildred extorted a tardy confession from +me; a confession of all but the concealment of the true name; and +justly wounded at the deception of which she had been the dupe, and +yielding to the impulses of a high and generous spirit, she announced +to me that she was unwilling to continue the wife of any man on such +terms. We parted, and I hastened into the south-western states, where +I passed the next twelvemonth in travelling, hurrying from place to +place, in the vain hope of obtaining peace of mind. I plunged into +the prairies, and most of the time mentioned was lost to me as +respects the world, in the company of hunters and trappers." + +"This, then, explains your knowledge of that section of the country," +exclaimed Mr. Effingham, "for which I have never been able to +account! We thought you among your old friends in Carolina, all that +time." + +"No one knew where I had secreted myself, for I passed under another +feigned name, and had no servant, even. I had, however, sent an +address to Mildred, where a letter would find me; for, I had begun to +feel a sincere affection for her, though it might not have amounted +to passion, and looked forward to being reunited, when her wounded +feelings had time to regain their tranquillity. The obligations of +wedlock are too serious to be lightly thrown aside, and I felt +persuaded that neither of us would be satisfied in the end, without +discharging the duties of the state into which we had entered." + +"And why did you not hasten to your poor wife, cousin Jack," Eve +innocently demanded, "as soon as you returned to the settlements?" + +"Alas! my-dear girl, I found letters at St. Louis announcing her +death. Nothing was said of any child, nor did I in the least suspect +that I was about to become a father. When Mildred died, I thought all +the ties, all the obligations, all the traces of my ill-judged +marriage were extinct; and the course taken by her relations, of +whom, in this country, there remained very few, left me no +inclination to proclaim it. By observing silence, I continued to pass +as a bachelor, of course; though had there been any apparent reason +for avowing what had occurred, I think no one who knows me, can +suppose I would have shrunk from doing so." + +"May I inquire, my dear sir," Paul asked, with a timidity of manner +that betrayed how tenderly he felt it necessary to touch on the +subject at all--"may I inquire, my dear sir, what course was taken by +my mother's relatives?" + +"I never knew Mr. Warrender, my wife's brother, but he had the +reputation of being a haughty and exacting man. His letters were not +friendly; scarcely tolerable; for he affected to believe I had given +a false address at the west, when I was residing in the middle +states, and he threw out hints that to me were then inexplicable, but +which the letters left with me, by Paul, have sufficiently explained. +I thought him cruel and unfeeling at the time, but he had an excuse +for his conduct." + +"Which was, sir--?" Paul eagerly inquired. + +"I perceive by the letters you have given me, my son, that your +mother's family had imbibed the opinion, that I was John Assheton, of +Lancaster, a man of singular humours, who had made an unfortunate +marriage in Spain, and whose wife, I believe, is still living in +Paris, though lost to herself and her friends. My kinsman lived +retired, and never recovered the blow. As he was one of the only +persons of the name, who could have married your mother, her +relatives appear to have taken up the idea that he had been guilty of +bigamy, and of course that Paul was illegitimate. Mr. Warrender, by +his letters, appears even to have had an interview with this person, +and, on mentioning his wife, was rudely repulsed from the house. It +was a proud family, and Mildred being dead, the concealment of the +birth of her child was resorted to, as a means of averting a fancied +disgrace. As for myself, I call the all-seeing eye of God to witness, +that the thought of my being a parent never crossed my mind, until I +learned that a John Assheton was the father of Paul, and that the +miniature of Mildred Warrender, that I received at the period of our +engagement, was the likeness of his mother. The simple declaration of +Captain Ducie concerning the family name of his mother, removed all +doubt." + +"But, cousin Jack, did not the mention of Lady Dunluce, of the +Ducies, and of Paul's connections, excite curiosity?" + +"Concerning what, dear? I could have no curiosity about a child of +whose existence I was ignorant. I did know that the Warrenders had +pretensions to both rank and fortune in England, but never heard the +title, and cared nothing about money that would not probably, be +Mildred's. Of General Ducie I never even heard, as he married after +my separation, and subsequently to the receipt of my brother-in-law's +letters, I wished to forget the existence of the family. I went to +Europe, and remained abroad seven years and as this was at a time +when the continent was closed against the English, I was not in a way +to hear any thing on the subject. On my return, my wife's aunt was +dead; the last of my wife's brothers was dead; her sister must then +have been Mrs. Ducie; no one mentioned the Warrenders, all traces of +whom were nearly lost in this country, and to me the subject was too +painful to be either sought or dwelt on. It is a curious fact, that, +in 1829, during our late visit to the old world, I ascended the Nile +with General Ducie for a travelling companion. We met at Alexandria, +and wont to the cataracts and returned in company, He knew me as John +Effingham, an American traveller of fortune, if of no particular +merit, and I knew him as an agreeable English general officer. He had +the reserve of an Englishman of rank, and seldom spoke of his family, +and it was only on our return, that I found he had letters from his +wife, Lady Dunluce; but little did I dream that Lady Dunluce was +Mabel Warrender. How often are we on the very verge of important +information, and yet live on in ignorance and obscurity! The Ducies +appear finally to have arrived at the opinion that the marriage was +legal, and that no reproach rests on the birth of Paul, by the +inquiries made concerning the eccentric John Assheton." + +"They fancied, in common with my uncle Warrender, for a long time, +that the John Assheton whom you have mentioned, sir," said Paul, "was +my father. But. some accidental information, at a late day, convinced +them of their error, and then they naturally enough supposed that it +was the only other John Assheton that could be heard of, who passes, +and probably with sufficient reason, for a bachelor. This latter +gentleman I have myself always supposed to be my father, though he +has treated two or three letters I have written to him, with the +indifference with which one would be apt to treat the pretensions of +an impostor. Pride has prevented me from attempting to renew the +correspondence lately." + +"It is John Assheton of Bristol, my mother's brother's son, as +inveterate a bachelor as is to be found in the Union" said John +Effingham, smiling, in spite of the grave subject and deep emotions +that had so lately been uppermost in his thoughts. "He must have +supposed your letters were an attempt at mystification on the part of +some of his jocular associates, and I am surprised that he thought it +necessary to answer them at all." + +"He did answer but one, and that reply certainly had something of the +character you suggest, sir. I freely forgive him, now I understand +the truth, though his apparent contempt gave me many a bitter pang at +the time. I saw Mr. Assheton once in public, and observed him well, +for, strange as it is, I have been thought to resemble him." + +"Why strange? Jack Assheton and myself have, or rather had a strong +family likeness to each other, and, though the thought is new to me, +I can now easily trace this resemblance to myself. It is rather an +Assheton than an Effingham look, though the latter is not wanting." + +"These explanations are very clear and satisfactory," observed Mr. +Effingham, "and leave little doubt that Paul is the child of John +Effingham and Mildred Warrender; but they would be beyond all cavil, +were the infancy of the boy placed in an equally plain point of view, +and could the reasons be known why the Warrenders abandoned him to +the care of those who yielded him up to Mr. Powis." + +"I see but little obscurity in that," returned John Effingham. "Paul +is unquestionably the child referred to in the papers left by poor +Monday, to the care of whose mother he was intrusted, until, in his +fourth year, she yielded him to Mr. Powis, to get rid of trouble and +expense, while she kept the annuity granted by Lady Dunluce. The +names appear in the concluding letters; and had we read the latter +through at first, we should earlier have arrived at, the same +conclusion, Could we find the man called Dowse, who appears to have +instigated the fraud, and who married Mrs. Monday, the whole thing +would be explained." + +"Of this I am aware," said Paul, for he and John Effingham had +perused the remainder of the Monday papers together, after the +fainting fit of the latter, as soon as his strength would admit; "and +Captain Truck is now searching for an old passenger of his, who I +think will furnish the clue. Should we get this evidence, it would +settle all legal questions." + +"Such questions will never be raised," said John Effingham, holding +out his hand affectionately to his son; "you possess the marriage +certificate given to your mother, and I avow myself to have been the +person therein styled John Assheton. This fact I have endorsed on the +back of the certificate; while here is another given to me in my +proper name, with the endorsement made by the clergyman that I passed +by another name, at the ceremony." + +"Such a man, cousin Jack, was unworthy of his cloth!" said Eve with +energy. + +"I do not think so, my child. He was innocent of the original +deception; this certificate was given after the death of my wife, and +might do good, whereas it could do no harm. The clergyman in question +is now a bishop, and is still living. He may give evidence if +necessary, to the legality of the marriage." + +"And the clergyman by whom I was baptized is also alive," cried Paul, +"and has never lost sight of me He was, in part, in the confidence of +my mother' family, and even after I was adopted by Mr. Powis he kept +me in view as one of his little Christians as he termed me. It was no +less a person than Dr.----." + +"This alone would make out the connection and identity," said Mr. +Effingham, "without the aid of the Monday witnesses. The whole +obscurity has arisen from John's change of name, and his ignorance of +the fact that his wife had a child. The Ducies appear to have had +plausible reasons, too, for distrusting the legality of the marriage; +but all is now clear, and as a large estate is concerned, we will +take care that no further obscurity shall rest over the affair." + +"The part connected with the estate is already secured," said John +Effingham, looking at Eve with a smile. "An American can always make +a will, and one that contains but a single bequest is soon written. +Mine is executed, and Paul Effingham, my son by my marriage with +Mildred Warrender, and lately known in the United States' Navy as +Paul Powis, is duly declared my heir. This will suffice for all legal +purposes, though we shall have large draughts of gossip to swallow." + +"Cousin Jack!" + +"Daughter Eve!" + +"Who has given cause for it?" + +"He who commenced one of the most sacred of his earthly duties, with +an unjustifiable deception. The wisest way to meet it, will be to +make our avowals of the relationship as open as possible." + +"I see no necessity, John, of entering into details," said Mr. +Effingham; "you were married young, and lost your wife within a year +of your marriage. She was a Miss Warrender, and the sister of Lady +Dunluce; Paul and Ducie are declared cousins, and the former proves +to be your son, of whose existence you were ignorant. No one will +presume to question any of us, and it really strikes me that all +rational people ought to be satisfied with this simple account of the +matter." + +"Father!" exclaimed Eve, with her pretty little hands raised in the +attitude of surprise, "in what capital even, in what part of the +world, would such a naked account appease curiosity? Much less will +it suffice here, where every human being, gentle or simple, learned +or ignorant, refined or vulgar, fancies himself a constitutional +judge of all the acts of all his fellow-creatures?" + +"We have at least the consolation of knowing that no revelations will +make the matter any worse, or any better," said Paul, "as the gossips +would tell their own tale, in every case, though its falsehood were +as apparent as the noon-day sun. A gossip is essentially a liar, and +truth is the last ingredient that is deemed necessary to his other +qualifications; indeed, a well authenticated fact is a death-blow to +a gossip. I hope, my dear sir, you will say no more than that I am +your son, a circumstance much too precious to me to be omitted." + +John Effingham looked affectionately at the noble young man, whom he +had so long esteemed and admired; and the tears forced themselves to +his eyes, as he felt the supreme happiness that can alone gladden a +parent's heart. + +Chapter XXVIII. + + "For my part, I care not: I say little; but when the time comes, + there shall be smiles."--NYM. + +Although Paul Effingham was right, and Eve Effingham was also right, +in their opinions of the art of gossiping, they both forgot one +qualifying circumstance, that, arising from different causes, +produces the same effect, equally in a capital and in a province. In +the first, marvels form a nine days' wonder from the hurry of events; +in the latter, from the hurry of talking. When it was announced in +Templeton that Mr. John Effingham had discovered a son in Mr. Powis, +as that son had conjectured, every thing but the truth was rumoured +and believed, in connection with the circumstance. Of course it +excited a good deal of a natural and justifiable curiosity and +surprise in the trained and intelligent, for John Effingham had +passed for a confirmed bachelor; but they were generally content to +suffer a family to have feelings and incidents that were not to be +paraded before a neighbourhood. Having some notions themselves of the +delicacy and sanctity of the domestic affections, they were willing +to respect the same sentiments in others. But these few excepted, the +village was in a tumult of surmises, reports, contradictions, +confirmations, rebutters, and sur-rebutters, for a fortnight. Several +village _elegants_, whose notions of life were obtained in the +valley in which they were born, and who had turned up their noses at +the quiet, reserved, gentleman-like Paul, because he did not happen +to suit their tastes, were disposed to resent his claim to be his +father's son, as if it were an injustice done to their rights; such +commentators on men and things uniformly bringing every thing down to +the standard of serf. Then the approaching marriages at the Wigwam +had to run the gauntlet, not only of village and county criticisms, +but that of the mighty Emporium itself, as it is the fashion to call +the confused and tasteless collection of flaring red brick houses, +marten-box churches, and colossal taverns, that stands on the island +of Manhattan; the discussion of marriages being a topic of never- +ending interest in that well regulated social organization, after the +subjects of dollars, lots, and wines, have been duly exhausted. Sir +George Templemore was transformed into the Honourable Lord George +Templemore, and Paul's relationship to Lady Dunluce was converted, as +usual, into his being the heir apparent of a Duchy of that name; +Eve's preference for a nobleman, as a matter of course, to the +_aristocratical_ tastes imbibed during a residence in foreign +countries; Eve, the intellectual, feminine, instructed Eve, whose +European associations, while they had taught her to prize the +refinement, grace, _retenue_, and tone of an advanced condition +of society, had also taught her to despise its mere covering and +glitter! But, as there is no protection against falsehood, so is +there no reasoning with ignorance. + +A sacred few, at the head of whom were Mr. Steadfast Dodge and Mrs. +Widow-Bewitched Abbott, treated the matter as one of greater gravity, +and as possessing an engrossing interest for the entire community. + +"For my part, Mr. Dodge," said Mrs. Abbott, in one of their frequent +conferences, about a fortnight after the _eclaircissement_ of +the last chapter, "I do not believe that Paul Powis is Paul Effingham +at all. You say that you knew him by the name of Blunt when he was a +younger man?" + +"Certainly, ma'am. He passed universally by that name formerly, and +it may be considered as at least extraordinary that he should have +had so many aliases. The truth of the matter is, Mrs. Abbott, if +truth could be come at, which I always contend is very difficult in +the present state of the world--" + +"You never said a juster thing, Mr. Dodge!" interrupted the lady, +feelings impetuous as hers seldom waiting for the completion of a +sentence, "I never can get hold of the truth of any thing now; you +may remember you insinuated that Mr. John Effingham himself was to be +married to Eve, and, lo and behold! it turns out to be his son!" + +"The lady may have changed her mind, Mrs. Abbott: she gets the same +estate with a younger man." + +"She's monstrous disagreeable, and I'm sure it will be a relief to +the whole village when she is married, let it be to the father, or to +the son. Now, do you know, Mr. Dodge, I have been in a desperate +taking about one thing, and that is to find that, bony fie-dy, the +two old Effinghams are not actually brothers! I knew that they +_called_ each other cousin Jack and cousin Ned, and that Eve +affected to call her uncle _cousin_ Jack, but then she has so +many affectations, and the people are so foreign, that I looked upon +all that as mere pretence; I said to myself a neighbourhood _ought_ +to know better about a man's family than he _can_ know himself, +and the neighbourhood all declared they were brothers; and yet +it turns out, after all, that they are only cousins!" + +"Yes, I do believe that, for once, the family was right in that +matter, and the public mistaken." + +"Well, I should like to know who has a better right to be mistaken +than the public, Mr. Dodge. This is a free country, and if the people +can't sometimes be wrong, what is the mighty use of their freedom? We +are all sinful wretches, at the best, and it is vain to look for any +thing but vice from sinners." + +"Nay, my dear Mrs. Abbott, you are too hard on yourself, for every +body allows that _you_ are as exemplary as you are devoted to +your religious duties." + +"Oh! I was not speaking particularly of myself, sir; I am no egotist +in such things, and wish to leave my own imperfections to the charity +of my friends and neighbours. But, do you think, Mr. Dodge, that a +marriage between Paul Effingham, for so I suppose he must be-called, +and Eve Effingham, will be legal? Can't it be set aside, and if that +should be the case, wouldn't the fortune go to the public?" + +"It _ought_ to be so, my dear ma'am, and I trust the day is not +distant when it will be so. The people are beginning to understand +their rights, and another century will not pass, before they will +enforce them by the necessary penal statutes. We have got matters so +now, that a man can no longer indulge in the aristocratic and selfish +desire to make a will, and, take my word for it, we shall not stop +until we bring every thing to the proper standard." + +The reader is not to suppose from his language that Mr. Dodge was an +agrarian, or that he looked forward to a division of property, at +some future day; for, possessing in his own person already, more than +what could possibly fall to an individual share, he had not the +smallest desire to lessen its amount by a general division. In point +of fact he did not know his own meaning, except as he felt envy of +all above him, in which, in truth, was to be found the whole secret +of his principles, his impulses, and his doctrines. Any thing that +would pull down those whom education, habits, fortune, or tastes, had +placed in positions more conspicuous than his own, was, in his eyes, +reasonable and just--as any thing that would serve him, in person, +the same ill turn, would have been tyranny and oppression. The +institutions of America, like every thing human, have their bad as +well as their good side; and while we firmly believe in the relative +superiority of the latter, as compared with other systems, we should +fail of accomplishing the end set before us in this work, did we not +exhibit, in strong colours, one of the most prominent consequences +that has attended the entire destruction of factitious personal +distinctions in the country, which has certainly aided in bringing +out in bolder relief than common, the prevalent disposition in man to +covet that which is the possession of another, and to decry merits +that are unattainable. + +"Well, I rejoice to hear this," returned Mrs. Abbott, whose +principles were of the same loose school as those of her companion, +"for I think no one should have rights but those who have experienced +religion, if you would keep vital religion in a country. There goes +that old sea-lion, Truck, and his fishing associate, the commodore, +with their lines and poles, as usual, Mr. Dodge; I beg you will call +to them, for I long to hear what the first can have to say about his +beloved Effinghams, now?" + +Mr. Dodge complied, and the navigator of the ocean and the navigator +of the lake, were soon seated in Mrs. Abbott's little parlour, which +might be styled the focus of gossip, near those who were so lately +its sole occupants. + +"This is wonderful news, gentlemen," commenced Mrs. Abbott, as soon +as the bustle of the entrance had subsided. "Mr. Powis is Mr. +Effingham, and it seems that Miss Effingham is to become Mrs. +Effingham. Miracles will never cease, and I look upon this as one of +the most surprising of my time." + +"Just so, ma'am," said the commodore, winking his eye, and giving the +usual flourish with a hand; "your time has not been that of a day +neither, and Mr. Powis has reason to rejoice that he is the hero of +such a history. For my part, I could not have been more astonished, +were I to bring up the sogdollager with a trout-hook, having a cheese +paring for the bait." + +"I understand," continued the lady, "that there are doubts after all, +whether this miracle be really a true miracle. It is hinted that Mr. +Powis is neither Mr. Effingham nor Mr. Powis, but that he is actually +a Mr. Blunt. Do you happen to know any thing of the matter, Captain +Truck?" + +"I have been introduced to him, ma'am, by all three names, and I +consider him as an acquaintance in each character. I can assure you, +moreover, that he is A, No. 1, on whichever tack you take him; a man +who carries a weather helm in the midst of his enemies." + +"Well, I do not consider it a very great recommendation for one to +have enemies, at all. Now, I dare say, Mr. Dodge, _you_ have not +an enemy on earth!" + +"I should be sorry to think that I had, Mrs. Abbott. I am every man's +friend, particularly the poor man's friend, and I should suppose that +every man _ought_ to be my friend. I hold the whole human family +to be brethren, and that they ought to live together as such." + +"Very true, sir; quite true--we _are_ all sinners, and ought to +look favourably on each other's failings. It is no business of mine-- +I say it is no business of ours, Mr. Dodge, who Miss Eve Effingham +marries; but were she _my_ daughter, I do think I should not +like her to have three family names, and to keep her own in the +bargain!" + +"The Effinghams hold their heads very much up, though it is not easy +to see _why_; but so they do, and the more names the better, +perhaps, for such people," returned the editor. "For my part, I treat +them with condescension, just as I do every body else; for it is a +rule with me, Captain Truck, to make use of the same deportment to a +king on his throne, as I would to a beggar in the street." + +"Merely to show that you do not feel yourself to be above your +betters. We have many such philosophers in this country." + +"Just so," said the commodore. + +"I wish I knew," resumed Mrs. Abbott; for there existed in her head, +as well as in that of Mr. Dodge, such a total confusion on the +subject of deportment, that neither saw nor felt the cool sarcasm of +the old sailor; "I wish I knew, now, whether Eve Effingham has really +been regenerated! What is your opinion, commodore?" + +"Re-what, ma'am," said the commodore, who was not conscious of ever +having heard the word before; for, in his Sabbaths on the water, +where he often worshipped God devoutly in his heart, the language of +the professedly pious was never heard; "I can only say she is as +pretty a skiff as floats, but I can tell you nothing about +resuscitation--indeed, I never heard of her having been drowned." + +"Ah, Mrs. Abbott, the very best friends of the Effinghams will not +maintain that they are pious. I do not wish to be invidious, or to +say unneighbourly things; but were I upon oath, I could testify to a +great many things, which would unqualifiedly show, that none of them +have ever experienced." + +"Now, Mr. Dodge, you know how much I dislike scandal," the widow- +bewitched cried affectedly, "and I cannot tolerate such a sweeping +charge. I insist on the proofs of what you say, in which, no doubt, +these gentlemen will join me." + +By proofs, Mrs. Abbott meant allegations. + +"Well, ma'am, since you insist on my _proving_ what I have said, +you shall not be disappointed. In the first place, then, they _read_ +their family prayers out of a book." + +"Ay, ay," put in the captain; "but that merely shows they have some +education; it is done every where." + +"Your pardon, sir; no people but the Catholics and the church people +commit this impiety. The idea of _reading_ to the Deity, Mrs. +Abbott, is particularly shocking to a pious soul." + +"As if the Lord stood in need of letters! _That_ is very bad, I +allow; for at _family_ prayers, a form becomes mockery." + +"Yes, ma'am; but what do you think of cards?" + +"Cards!" exclaimed Mrs. Abbott, holding up her pious hands, in holy +horror. + +"Even so; foul paste-board, marked with kings and queens," said the +captain. Why this is worse than a common sin, being unqualifiedly +anti-republican." + +"I confess I did not expect-this! I had heard that Eve Effingham was +guilty of indiscretions, but I did not think she was so lost to +virtue, as to touch a card. Oh! Eve Effingham; Eve Effingham, for +what is your poor diseased soul destined!" + +"She dances, too, I suppose you know that," continued Mr. Dodge, who +finding his popularity a little on the wane, had joined the meeting +himself, a few weeks before, and who did not fail to manifest the +zeal of a new convert. + +"Dances!" repeated Mrs. Abbott, in holy horror. + +"Real fi diddle de di!" echoed Captain Truck. + +"Just so," put in the commodore; "I have seen it with my own eyes. +But, Mrs. Abbott, I feel bound to tell you that your own daughter--" + +"Biansy-Alzumy-Anne!" exclaimed the mother in alarm. + +"Just so; my-aunty-all-suit-me-anne, if that is her name. Do you +know, ma'am, that I have seen your own blessed daughter, my-aunty- +Anne, do a worse thing, even, than dancing!" + +"Commodore, you are awful! What _could_ a child of mine do that +is worse than dancing?" + +"Why, ma'am, if you _will_ hear all, it is my duty to tell you. +I saw aunty-Anne (the commodore was really ignorant of the girl's +name) jump a skipping-rope, yesterday morning, between the hours of +seven and eight. As I hope ever to see the sogdollager, again, ma'am, +I did!" + +"And do you this as bad as dancing?" + +"Much worse, ma'am, to my notion. It is jumping about without music, +and without any grace, either, particularly as it was performed by +my-aunty-Anne." + +"You are given to light jokes. Jumping the skipping-rope is not +forbidden in the bible." + +"Just so; nor is dancing, if I know any thing about it; nor, for that +matter, cards." + +"But waste of time is; a sinful waste of time; and evil-passions, and +all unrighteousness." + +"Just so. My-aunty-Anne was going to the pump for water--I dare say +you sent her--and she was misspending her time; and as for evil +passions, she did not enjoy the hop, until she and your neighbour's +daughter had pulled each other's hair for the rope, as if they had +been two she-dragons. Take my word for it, ma'am, it wanted for +nothing to make it sin of the purest water, but a cracked fiddle." + +While the commodore was holding Mrs. Abbott at bay, in this manner, +Captain Truck, who had given him a wink to that effect, was employed +in playing off a practical joke at the expense of the widow. It was +one of the standing amusements of these worthies, who had gotten to +be sworn friends and constant associates, after they had caught as +many fish as they wished, to retire to the favourite spring, light, +the one his cigar, the other his pipe, mix their grog, and then +relieve their ennui, when tired of discussing men and things, by +playing cards on a particular stump. Now, it happens that the captain +had the identical pack which had been used on all such occasions in +his pocket, as was evident in the fact that the cards were nearly as +distinctly marked on their backs, as on their faces. These cards he +showed secretly to his companion, and when the attention of Mrs. +Abbott was altogether engaged in expecting the terrible announcement +of her daughter's errors, the captain slipped them, kings, queens and +knaves, high, low, jack and the game, without regard to rank, into +the lady's work-basket. As soon as this feat was successfully +performed, a sign was given to the commodore that the conspiracy was +effected, and that disputant in theology gradually began to give +ground, while he continued to maintain that jumping the rope was a +sin, though it might be one of a nominal class. There is little +doubt, had he possessed a smattering of phrases, a greater command of +biblical learning, and more zeal, that the fisherman might have +established a new shade of the Christian faith; for, while mankind +still persevere in disregarding the plainest mandates of God, as +respects humility, the charities, and obedience, nothing seems to +afford them more delight than to add to the catalogue of the offences +against his divine supremacy. It was perhaps lucky for the commodore, +who was capital at casting a pickerel line, but who usually settled +his polemics with the fist, when hard pushed, that Captain Truck +found leisure to come to the rescue. + +"I'm amazed, ma'am," said the honest packet-master, "that a woman of +your sanctity should deny that jumping the rope is a sin, for I hold +that point to have been settled by all our people, these fifty years. +You will admit that the rope cannot be well-jumped without levity." + +"Levity, Captain Truck! I hope you do not insinuate that a daughter +of mine discovers levity?" + +"Certainly, ma'am; she is called the best rope jumper in the village, +I hear; and levity, or lightness of carriage, is the great requisite +for skill in the art. Then there are 'vain repetitions' in doing the +same thing over and over so often, and 'vain repetitions' are +forbidden even in our prayers. I can call both father and mother to +testify to that fact." + +"Well, this is news to me! I must speak to the minister about it." + +"Of the two, the skipping-rope is rather more sinful than dancing, +for the music makes the latter easy; whereas, one has to force the +spirit to enter into the other. Commodore, our hour has come, and we +must make sail. May I ask the favour, Mrs. Abbott, of a bit of thread +to fasten this hook afresh?" + +The widow-bewitched turned to her basket, and raising a piece of +calico, to look for the thread "high, low, jack and the game," stared +her in the face. When she bent her eyes towards her guests, she +perceived all three gazing at the cards, with as much apparent +surprise and curiosity, as if two of them knew nothing of their +history. + +"Awful!" exclaimed Mrs. Abbott, shaking both hands,--"awful--awful-- +awful! The powers of darkness have been at work here!" + +"They seem to have been pretty much occupied, too," observed the +captain, "for a better thumbed pack I never yet found in the +forecastle of a ship." + +"Awful--awful--awful!--This is equal to the forty days in the +wilderness, Mr. Dodge." + +"It is a trying cross, ma'am." + +"To my notion, now," said the captain, "those cards are not worse +than the skipping-rope, though I allow that they might have been +cleaner." + +But Mrs. Abbott was not disposed to view the matter so lightly. She +saw the hand of the devil in the affair, and fancied it was a new +trial offered to her widowed condition. + +"Are these actually cards!" she cried, like one who distrusted the +evidence of her senses. + +"Just so, ma'am," kindly answered the commodore; "This is the ace of +spades, a famous fellow to hold when you have the lead; and this is +the Jack, which counts one, you know, when spades are trumps. I never +saw a more thorough-working pack in my life." + +"Or a more thoroughly worked pack," added the captain, in a condoling +manner. "Well, we are not all perfect, and I hope Mrs. Abbott will +cheer up and look at this matter in a gayer point of view. For myself +I hold that a skipping-rope is worse than the Jack of spades, Sundays +or week days. Commodore, we shall see no pickerel to-day, unless we +tear ourselves from this good company." + +Here the two wags took their leave, and retreated to the skiff; the +captain, who foresaw an occasion to use them, considerately offering +to relieve Mrs. Abbott from the presence of the odious cards, +intimating that he would conscientiously see them fairly sunk in the +deepest part of the lake. + +When the two worthies were at a reasonable distance from the shore, +the commodore suddenly ceased rowing, made a flourish with his hand, +and incontinently began to laugh, as if his mirth had suddenly broken +through all restraint. Captain Truck, who had been lighting a cigar, +commenced smoking, and, seldom indulging in boisterous merriment, he +responded with his eyes, shaking his head from time to time, with +great satisfaction, as thoughts more ludicrous than common came over +his imagination. + +"Harkee, commodore," he said, blowing the smoke upward, and watching +it with his eye until it floated away in a little cloud, "neither of +us is a chicken. You have studied life on the fresh water, and I have +studied life on the salt. I do not say which produces the best +scholars, but I know that both make better Christians than the jack- +screw system." + +"Just so. I tell them in the village that little is gained in the end +by following the blind; that is my doctrine, sir." + +"And a very good doctrine it would prove, I make no doubt, were you +to enter into it a little more fully--" + +"Well, sir, I can explain--" + +"Not another syllable is necessary. I know what you mean as well as +if I said it myself, and, moreover, short sermons are always the +best. You mean that a pilot ought to know where he is steering, which +is perfectly sound doctrine. My own experience tells me, that if you +press a sturgeon's nose with your foot, it will spring up as soon as +it is loosened. Now the jack-screw will heave a great strain, no +doubt; but the moment it is let up, down comes all that rests on it, +again. This Mr. Dodge, I suppose you know, has been a passenger with +me once or twice?" + +"I have heard as much--they say he was tigerish in the fight with the +niggers--quite an out-and-outer." + +"Ay, I hear he tells some such story himself; but harkee, commodore, +I wish to do justice to all men, and I find there is very little of +it inland, hereaway. The hero of that day is about to marry your +beautiful Miss Effingham; other men did their duty too, as, for +instance, was the case with Mr. John Effingham; but Paul Blunt-Powis- +Effingham finished the job. As for Mr. Steadfast Dodge, sir, I say +nothing, unless it be to add that he was nowhere near _me_ in +that transaction; and if any man felt like an alligator in Lent, on +that occasion, it was your humble servant." + +"Which means that he was not nigh the enemy, I'll swear before a +magistrate." + +"And no fear of perjury. Any one who saw Mr. John Effingham and Mr. +Powis on that day, might have sworn that they were father and son, +and any one who _did not see_ Mr. Dodge might have said at once, +that he did not belong to their family. That is all, sir; I never +disparage a passenger, and, therefore, shall say no more than merely +to add, that Mr. Dodge is no warrior." + +"They say he has experienced religion, lately, as they call it." + +"It is high time, sir, for he had experienced sin quite long enough, +according to my notion. I hear that the man goes up and down the +country disparaging those whose shoe-ties he is unworthy to unloose, +and that he has published some letters in his journal, that are as +false as his heart; but let him beware, lest the world should see, +some rainy day, an extract from a certain log-book belonging to a +ship called the Montauk. I am rejoiced at this marriage after all, +commodore, or marriages rather, for I understand that Mr. Paul +Effingham and Sir George Templemore intend to make a double bowline +of it to-morrow morning. All is arranged, and as soon as my eyes have +witnessed that blessed sight, I shall trip for New-York again." + +"It is clearly made out then, that the young gentleman is Mr. John +Effingham's son?" + +"As clear as the north-star in a bright night. The fellow who spoke +to me at the Fun of Fire has put us in a way to remove the last +doubt, if there were any doubt. Mr. Effingham himself, who is so +cool-headed and cautious, says there is now sufficient proof to make +it good in any court in America, That point may be set down as +settled, and, for my part, I rejoice it is so, since Mr. John +Effingham has so long passed for an old bachelor, that it is a credit +to the corps to find one of them the father of so noble a son." + +Here the commodore dropped his anchor, and the two friends began to +fish. For an hour neither talked much, but having obtained the +necessary stock of perch, they landed at the favourite spring, and +prepared a fry. While seated on the grass, alternating be tween the +potations of punch, and the mastication of fish, these worthies again +renewed the dialogue in their usual discursive, philosophical, and +sentimental manner. + +"We are citizens of a surprisingly great country, commodore," +commenced Mr. Truck, after one of his heaviest draughts; "every body +says it, from Maine to Florida, and what every body says must be +true." + +"Just so, sir. I sometimes wonder how so great a country ever came to +produce so little a man as myself." + +"A good cow may have a bad calf, and that explains the matter. Have +you many as virtuous and pious women in this part of the world, as +Mrs. Abbott?" + +"The hills and valleys are filled with them. You mean persons who +have got so much religion that they have no room for any thing else?" + +"I shall mourn to my dying day, that you were not brought up to the +sea! If you discover so much of the right material on fresh-water, +what would you have been on salt? The people who suck in nutriment +from a brain and a conscience like those of Mr. Dodge, too, +commodore, must get, in time, to be surprisingly clear-sighted." + +"Just so; his readers soon overreach themselves. But it's of no great +consequence, sir; the people of this part of the world keep nothing +long enough to do much good, or much harm." + +"Fond of change, ha?" + +"Like unlucky fishermen, always ready to shift the ground. I don't +believe, sir, that in all this region you can find a dozen graves of +sons, that lie near their fathers. Every body seems to have a mortal +aversion to stability," + +"It is hard to love such a country, commodore!" + +"Sir, I never try to love it. God has given me a pretty sheet of +water, that suits my fancy and wants, a beautiful sky, fine green +mountains, and I am satisfied. One may love God, in such a temple, +though he love nothing else." + +"Well, I suppose if you love nothing, nothing loves you, and no +injustice is done." + +"Just, so, sir. Self has got to be the idol, though in the general +scramble a man is sometimes puzzled to know whether he is himself, or +one of the neighbours." + +"I wish I knew your political sentiments, commodore; you have been +communicative on all subjects but that, and I have taken up the +notion that you are a true philosopher." + +"I hold myself to be but a babe in swaddling-clothes compared to +yourself, sir; but such as my poor opinions are, you are welcome to +them. In the first place, then, sir, I have lived long enough on this +water to know that every man is a lover of liberty in his own person, +and that he has a secret distaste for it in the persons of other +people. Then, sir, I have got to understand that patriotism means +bread and cheese, and that opposition is every man for himself." + +"If the truth were known, I believe, commodore, you have buoyed out +the channel!" + +"Just so. After being pulled about by the salt of the land, and using +my freeman's privileges at their command, until I got tired of so +much liberty, sir, I have resigned, and retired to private life, +doing most of my own thinking out here on the Otsego-Water, like a +poor slave as I am." + +"You ought to be chosen the next President!" + +"I owe my present emancipation, sir, to the sogdollager. I first +began to reason about such a man as this Mr. Dodge, who has thrust +himself and his ignorance together into the village, lately, as an +expounder of truth, and a ray of light to the blind. Well, sir, I +said to myself, if this man be the man I know him to be as a man, can +he be any thing better as an editor?" + +"That was a home question put to yourself, commodore; how did you +answer it?" + +"The answer was satisfactory, sir, to myself, whatever it might be to +other people. I stopped his paper, and set up for myself. Just about +that time the sogdollager nibbled, and instead of trying to be a +great man, over the shoulders of the patriots and sages of the land, +I endeavoured to immortalize myself by hooking him. I go to the +elections now, for that I feel to be a duty, but instead of allowing +a man like this Mr. Dodge to tell me how to vote, I vote for the man +in public that I would trust in private." + +"Excellent! I honour you more and more every minute I pass in your +society. We will now drink to the future happiness of those who will +become brides and bridegrooms to-morrow. If all men were as +philosophical and as learned as you, commodore, the human race would +be in a fairer way than they are to-day." + +"Just so; I drink to them with all my heart. Is it not surprising, +sir, that people like Mrs. Abbott and Mr. Dodge should have it in +their power to injure such as those whose happiness we have just had +the honour of commemorating in advance?" + +"Why, commodore, a fly may bite an elephant, if he can find a weak +spot in his hide. I do not altogether understand the history of the +marriage of John Effingham, myself; but we see the issue of it has +been a fine son. Now I hold that when a man fairly marries, he is +bound to own it, the same as any other crime; for he owes it to those +who have not been as guilty as himself, to show the world that he no +longer belongs to them." + +"Just so; but we have flies in this part of the world that will bite +through the toughest hide." + +"That comes from there being no quarter-deck in your social ship, +commodore. Now aboard of a well-regulated packet, all the thinking is +done aft; they who are desirous of knowing whereabouts the vessel is, +being compelled to wait till the observations are taken, or to sit +down in their ignorance. The whole difficulty comes from the fact +that sensible people live so far apart in this quarter of the world, +that fools have more room than should fall to their share. You +understand me, commodore?" + +"Just so," said the commodore, laughing, and winking. "Well, it is +fortunate that there are some people who are not quite as weak-minded +as some other people. I take it, Captain Truck, that you will be +present at the wedding?" + +The captain now winked in his turn, looked around him to make sure no +one was listening, and laying a finger on his nose, he answered, in a +much lower key than was usual for him-- + +"You can keep a secret, I know, commodore. Now what I have to say is +not to be told to Mrs. Abbott, in order that it may be repeated and +multiplied, but is to be kept as snug as your bait, in the bait-box." + +"You know your man, sir." + +"Well then, about ten minutes before the clock strikes nine, to- +morrow morning, do you slip into the gallery of New St. Paul's, and +you shall see beauty and modesty, when 'unadorned, adorned the most.' +You comprehend?" + +"Just so," and the hand was flourished even more than usual. + +"It does not become us bachelors to be too lenient to matrimony, but +I should be an unhappy man, were I not to witness the marriage of +Paul Powis to Eve Effingham." + +Here both the worthies, "freshened the nip," as Captain Truck called +it, and then the conversation soon got to be too philosophical and +contemplative for this unpretending record of events and ideas. + +Chapter XXIX + + "Then plainly know, my heart's dear love is set On the fair + daughter of rich Capulet; As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine; + And all combined, save what thou must confine By holy marriage." + + ROMEO AND JULIET. + +The morning chosen for the nuptials of Eve and Grace arrived, and all +the inmates of the Wigwam were early afoot, though the utmost care +had been taken to prevent the intelligence of the approaching +ceremony from getting into the village. They little knew, however, +how closely they were watched; the mean artifices that were resorted +to by some who called themselves their neighbours, to tamper with +servants, to obtain food for conjecture, and to justify to themselves +their exaggerations, falsehoods, and frauds. The news did leak out, +as will presently be seen, and through a channel that may cause the +reader, who is unacquainted with some of the peculiarities of +American life, a little surprise. + +We have frequently alluded to Annette, the _femme de chambre_ +that had followed Eve from Europe, although we have had no occasion +to dwell on her character, which was that of a woman of her class, as +they are well known to exist in France. Annette was young, had +bright, sparkling black eyes, was well made, and had the usual +tournure and manner of a Parisian grisette. As it is the besetting +weakness of all provincial habits to mistake graces for grace, +flourishes for elegance, and exaggeration for merit, Annette soon +acquired a reputation in her circle, as a woman of more than usual +claims to distinction. Her attire was in the height of the fashion, +being of Eve's cast-off clothes, and of the best materials, and +attire is also a point that is not without its influence on those who +are unaccustomed to the world. + +As the double ceremony was to take place before breakfast, Annette +was early employed about the person of her young mistress, adorning +it in the bridal robes. While she worked at her usual employment, the +attendant appeared unusually agitated, and several times pins were +badly pointed, and new arrangements had to supersede or to supply the +deficiencies of her mistakes. Eve was always a model of patience, and +she bore with these little oversights with a quiet that would have +given Paul an additional pledge of her admirable self-command, as +well as of a sweetness of temper that, in truth, raised her almost +above the commoner feelings of mortality. + +"_Vous etes un peu agitee, ce matin, ma bonne Annette_," she +merely observed, when her maid had committed a blunder more material +than common. + +"_J'espere que Mademoiselle a ete contente de moi, jusqu' a +present_," returned Annette, vexed with her own awkwardness, and +speaking in the manner in which it is usual to announce an intention +to quit a service. + +"Certainly, Annette, you have conducted yourself well, and are very +expert in your _metier_. But why do you ask this question, just +at this moment?" + +"_Parceque_--because--with mademoiselle's permission, I intended +to ask for my _conge_." + +"_Conge_! Do you think of quitting me, Annette?" + +"It would make me happier than anything else to die in the service of +mademoiselle, but we are all subject to our destiny"--the +conversation was in French--"and mine compels me to cease my services +as a _femme de chambre_." + +"This is a sudden, and for one in a strange country, an extraordinary +resolution. May I ask, Annette, what you propose to do?" + +Here, the woman gave herself certain airs, endeavoured to blush, did +look at the carpet with a studied modesty that might have deceived +one who did not know the genus, and announced her intention to get +married, too, at the end of the present month. + +"Married!" repeated Eve--"surely not to old Pierre, Annette!" + +"Pierre, Mademoiselle! I shall not condescend to look at Pierre. +_Je vais me marier avec un avocat_." + +"_Un avocat_!" + +"_Oui, Mademoiselle_. I will marry myself with Monsieur +Aristabule Bragg, if Mademoiselle shall permit." + +Eve was perfectly mute with astonishment, notwithstanding the proofs +she had often seen of the wide range that the ambition of an American +of a certain class allows itself. Of course, she remembered the +conversation on the Point, and it would not have been in nature, had +not a mistress who had been so lately wooed, felt some surprise at +finding her discarded suitor so soon seeking consolation in the +smiles of her own maid. Still her surprise was less than that which +the reader will probably experience at this announcement; for, as has +just been said, she had seen too much of the active and pliant +enterprise of the lover, to feel much wonder at any of his moral +_tours de force_. Even Eve, however, was not perfectly acquainted +with the views and policy that had led Aristabulus to seek this +consummation to his matrimonial schemes, which must be explained +explicitly, in order that they may be properly understood. + +Mr. Bragg had no notion of any distinctions in the world, beyond +those which came from money, and political success. For the first he +had a practical deference that was as profound as his wishes for its +enjoyments; and for the last he felt precisely the sort of reverence, +that one educated under a feudal system, would feel for a feudal +lord. The first, after several unsuccessful efforts, he had found +unattainable by means of matrimony, and he turned his thoughts +towards Annette, whom he had for some months held in reserve, in the +event of his failing with Eve and Grace, for on both these heiresses +had he entertained designs, as a _pis aller_. Annette was a +dress-maker of approved taste, her person was sufficiently +attractive, her broken English gave piquancy to thoughts of no great +depth, she was of a suitable age, and he had made her proposals and +been accepted, as soon as it was ascertained that Eve and Grace were +irretrievably lost to him. Of course, the Parisienne did not hesitate +an instant about becoming the wife of _un avocat;_ for, +agreeably to her habits, matrimony was a legitimate means of +bettering her condition in life. The plan was soon arranged. They +were to be married as soon as Annette's month's notice had expired, +and then they were to emigrate to the far west, where Mr. Bragg +proposed to practise law, or keep school, or to go to Congress, or to +turn trader, or to saw lumber, or, in short, to turn his hand to any +thing that offered; while Annette was to help along with the _menage_, +by making dresses, and teaching French; the latter occupation +promising to be somewhat peripatetic, the population being +scattered, and few of the dwellers in the interior deeming it +necessary to take more than a quarter's instruction in any of the +higher branches of education; the object being to _study_, as it +is called, and not to _know_. Aristabulus, who was filled with +_go-aheadism_, would have shortened the delay, but this Annette +positively resisted; her _esprit de corps_ as a servant, and all +her notions of justice, repudiating the notion that the connexion +which had existed so long between Eve and herself, was to be cut off +at a moment's warning. So diametrically were the ideas of the +_fiances_ opposed to each other, on this point, that at one time it +threatened a rupture, Mr. Bragg asserting the natural independence of +man to a degree that would have rendered him independent of all +obligations that were not effectually enacted by the law, and Annette +maintaining the dignity of a European _femme de chambre,_ whose +sense of propriety demanded that she should not quit her place +without giving a month's warning. The affair was happily decided by +Aristabulus's receiving a commission to tend a store, in the absence +of its owner; Mr. Effingham, on a hint from his daughter, having +profited by the annual expiration of the engagement, to bring their +connexion to an end. + +This termination to the passion of Mr. Bragg would have afforded Eve +a good deal of amusement at any other moment; but a bride cannot be +expected to give too much of her attention to the felicity and +prospects of those who have no natural or acquired claims to her +affection. The cousins met, attired for the ceremony, in Mr. +Effingham's room, where he soon came in person, to lead them to the +drawing-room. It is seldom that two more lovely young women are +brought together on similar occasions. As Mr. Effingham stood between +them, holding a hand of each, his moistened eyes turned from one to +the other in honest pride, and in an admiration that even his +tenderness could not restrain. The _toilettes_ were as simple as +the marriage ceremony will permit; for it was intended that there +should be no unnecessary parade; and, perhaps, the delicate beauty of +each of the brides was rendered the more attractive by this +simplicity, as it has often been justly remarked, that the fair of +this country are more winning in dress of a less conventional +character, than when in the elaborate and regulated attire of +ceremonies. As might have been expected, there was most of soul and +feeling in Eve's countenance, though Grace wore an air of charming +modesty and nature. Both were unaffected, simple and graceful, and we +may add that both trembled as Mr. Effingham took their hands. + +"This is a pleasing and yet a painful hour," said that kind and +excellent man; "one in which I gain a son, and lose a daughter." + +"And _I_, dearest uncle," exclaimed Grace, whose feelings +trembled on her eye-lids, like the dew ready to drop from the leaf, +"have _I_ no connexion with your feelings?" + +"You are the daughter that I lose, my child, for Eve will still +remain with me. But Templemore has promised to be grateful, and I +will trust his word." + +Mr. Effingham then embraced with fervour both the charming young +women, who stood apparelled for the most important event of their +lives, lovely in their youth, beauty, innocence, and modesty; and +taking an arm of each, he led them below. John Effingham, the two +bridegrooms, Captain Ducie, Mr. and Mrs. Bloomfield, Mrs. Hawker, +Captain Truck, Mademoiselle Viefville, Annette, and Ann Sidley, were +all assembled in the drawing-room, ready to receive them; and as soon +as shawls were thrown around Eve and Grace, in order to conceal the +wedding dresses, the whole party proceeded to the church. + +The distance between the Wigwam and New St. Paul's was very trifling, +the solemn pines of the church-yard blending, from many points, with +the gayer trees in the grounds of the former; and as the buildings in +this part of the village were few, the whole of the bridal train +entered the tower, unobserved by the eyes of the curious. The +clergyman was waiting in the chancel, and as each of the young men +led the object of his choice immediately to the altar, the double +ceremony began without delay. At this instant Mr. Aristabulus Dodge +and Mrs. Abbot advanced from the rear of the gallery, and coolly took +their seats in its front. Neither belonged to this particular church, +though, having discovered that the marriages were to take place that +morning by means of Annette, they had no scruples on the score of +delicacy about thrusting themselves forward on the occasion; for, to +the latest moment, that publicity-principle which appeared to be +interwoven with their very natures, induced them to think that +nothing was so sacred as to be placed beyond the reach of curiosity. +They entered the church, because the church they held to be a public +place, precisely on the principle that others of their class conceive +if a gate be blown open by accident, it removes all the moral +defences against trespassers, as it removes the physical. + +The solemn language of the prayers and vows proceeded none the less +for the presence of these unwelcome intruders; for, at that grave +moment, all other thoughts were hushed in those that more properly +belonged to the scene. When the clergyman made the usual appeal to +know if any man could give a reason why those who stood before him +should not be united in holy wedlock, Mrs. Abbott nudged Mr. Dodge, +and, in the fulness of her discontent, eagerly inquired in a whisper, +if it were not possible to raise some valid objection. Could she have +had her pious wish, the simple, unpretending, meek, and _church_-going +Eve, should never be married. But the editor was not a man to act +openly in any thing, his particular province lying in insinuations +and innuendoes. As a hint would not now be available, he determined +to postpone his revenge to a future day. We say revenge, for +Steadfast was of the class that consider any happiness, or +advantage, in which they are not ample participators, wrongs done to +themselves. + +That is a wise regulation of the church, which makes the marriage +ceremony brief, for the intensity of the feelings it often creates +would frequently become too powerful to be suppressed, were it +unnecessarily prolonged. Mr. Effingham gave away both the brides, the +one in the quality of parent, the other in that of guardian, and +neither of the bridegrooms got the ring on the wrong finger. This is +all we have to of the immediate scene at the altar. As soon as the +benediction was pronounced, and the brides were released from the +first embraces of their husbands, Mr. Effingham, without even kissing +Eve, threw the shawls over their shoulders, and, taking an arm of +each, he led them rapidly from the church, for he felt reluctant to +suffer the holy feelings that were uppermost in his heart to be the +spectacle of rude and obtrusive observers. At the door, he +relinquished Eve to Paul, and Grace to Sir George, with a silent +pressure of the hand of each, and signed for them to proceed towards +the Wigwam. He was obeyed, and in less than half an hour from the +time they had left the drawing-room, the whole party was again +assembled in it. + +What a change had been produced in the situation of so many, in that +brief interval! + +"Father!" Eve whispered, while Mr. Effingham folded her to his heart, +the unbidden tears falling from both their eyes--"I am still thine!" + +"It would break my heart to think otherwise, darling. No, no--I have +not lost a daughter, but have gained a son." + +"And what place am I to occupy in this scene of fondness?" inquired +John Effingham, who had considerately paid his compliments to Grace +first, that she might not feel forgotten at such a moment, and who +had so managed that, she was now receiving the congratulations of the +rest of the party; "am I to lose both son and daughter?" + +Eve, smiling sweetly through her tears, raised herself from her own +father's arms, and was received in those of her husband's parent. +After he had fondly kissed her forehead several times, without +withdrawing from his bosom, she parted the rich hair on his forehead, +passing her hand down his face, like an infant, and said softly-- + +"Cousin Jack!" + +"I believe this must be my rank and estimation still Paul shall make +no difference in our feeling; we will love each other as we have ever +done." + +"Paul can be nothing new between you and me. You have always been a +second father in my eyes, and in my heart, too, dear--dear cousin +Jack." + +John Effingham pressed the beautiful, ardent, blushing girl to his +bosom again; and as he did so, both felt, notwithstanding their +language, that a new and dearer tie than ever bound them together. +Eve now received the compliments of the rest of the party, when the +two brides retired to change the dresses in which they had appeared +at the altar, for their more ordinary attire. + +In her own dressing-room, Eve found Ann Sidley, waiting with +impatience to pour out her feelings, the honest and affectionate +creature being much too sensitive to open the floodgates of her +emotions in the presence of third parties. + +"Ma'am--Miss Eve--Mrs. Effingham!" she exclaimed as soon as her young +mistress entered, afraid of saying too much, now that her nursling +had become a married woman. + +"My kind and good Nanny!" said Eve, taking her old nurse in her arms, +their tears mingling in silence for near a minute. "You have seen +your child enter on the last of her great earthly engagements, Nanny, +and I know you pray that they may prove happy." + +"I do--I do--I do--ma'am--madam--Miss Eve--what am I to call you in +future, ma'am?" + +"Call me Miss Eve, as you have done since my childhood, dearest +Nanny." + +Nanny received this permission with delight, and twenty times that +morning she availed herself of the permission; and she continued to +use the term until, two years later, she danced a miniature Eve on +her knee, as she had done its mother before her, when matronly rank +began silently to assert its rights, and our present bride became +Mrs. Effingham. + +"I shall not quit you, ma'am, now that you are married?" Ann Sidley +timidly asked; for, although she could scarcely think such an event +within the bounds of probability, and Eve had already more than once +assured her of the contrary with her own tongue, still did she love +to have assurance made doubly sure. "I hope nothing will ever happen +to make me quit you, ma'am?" + +"Nothing of that sort, with my consent, ever shall happen, my +excellent Nanny. And now that Annette is about to get married, I +shall have more than the usual necessity for your services." + +"And Mamerzelle, ma'am?" inquired Nanny, with sparkling eyes; "I +suppose she, too, will return to her own country, now you know every +thing, and have no farther occasion for her?" + +"Mademoiselle Viefville will return to France in the autumn, but it +will be with us all; for my dear father, cousin Jack, my husband--" +Eve blushed as she pronounced the novel word--"and myself, not +forgetting you my old nurse, will all sail for England, with Sir +George and Lady Templemore, on our way to Italy, the first week in +October." + +"I care not, ma'am, so that I go with you. I would rather we did not +live in a country where I cannot understand all that the people say +to you, but wherever you are will be my earthly paradise." + +Eve kissed the true-hearted woman, and, Annette entering, she changed +her dress. + +The two brides met at the head of the great stairs, on their way back +to the drawing-room. Eve was a little in advance, but, with a half- +concealed smile, she gave way to Grace, curtsying gravely, and +saying-- + +"It does not become _me_ to precede Lady Templemore--I, who am +only Mrs. Paul Effingham." + +"Nay, dear Eve, I am not so weak as you imagine. Do you not think I +should have married him had he not been a baronet?" + +"Templemore, my dear coz, is a man any woman might love, and I +believe, as firmly as I hope it sincerely, that he will make you +happy." + +"And yet there is one woman who would not love him, Eve!" + +Eve looked steadily at her cousin for a moment, was startled, and +then she felt gratified that Sir George had been so honest, for the +frankness and manliness of his avowal was a pledge of the good faith +and sincerity of his character. She took her cousin affectionately by +the hand, and said-- + +"Grace, this confidence is the highest compliment you can pay me, and +it merits a return. That Sir George Templemore may have had a passing +inclination for one who so little deserved it, is possibly true--but +my affections were another's before I knew him." + +"You never would have married Templemore, Eve; he says himself, now, +that you are quite too continental, as he calls it, to like an +Englishman." + +"Then I shall take the first good occasion to undeceive him; for I do +_like_ an Englishman, and he is the identical man." + +As few women are jealous on their wedding-day, Grace took this in +good part, and they descended the stairs together, side by side, +reflecting each other's happiness, in their timid but conscious +smiles. In the great hall, they were met by the bridegrooms, and each +taking the arm of him who had now become of so vast importance to +her, they paced the room to and fro, until summoned to the _dejeuner +a la fourchette_, which had been prepared under the especial +superintendence of Mademoiselle Viefville, after the manner +of her country. + +Wedding-days, like all formally prepared festivals, are apt to go off +a little heavily. Such, however, was not the case with this, for +every appearance of premeditation and preparation vanished with this +meal. It is true the family did not quit the grounds, but, with this +exception, ease and tranquil happiness reigned throughout. Captain +Truck was alone disposed to be sentimental, and, more than once, as +he looked about him, he expressed his doubts whether he had pursued +the right course to attain happiness, + +"I find myself in a solitary category," he said, at the dinner- +table, in the evening. "Mrs. Hawker, and both the Messrs. +Effinghams, _have been_ married; every body else _is_ married, and I +believe I must take refuge in saying that I _will be_ married, if I +can now persuade any one to have me. Even Mr. Powis, my right-hand +man, in all that African affair, has deserted me, and left me like a +single dead pine in one of your clearings, or a jewel-block dangling +at a yard-arm, without a sheave. Mrs. Bride--" the captain styled +Eve thus, throughout the day, to the utter neglect of the claims of +Lady Templemore--"Mrs. Bride, we will consider my forlorn condition +more philosophically, when I shall have the honour to take you, and +so many of this blessed party, back again to Europe, where I found +you. Under your advice I think I might even yet venture." + +"And I am overlooked entirely," cried Mr. Howel, who had been invited +to make one at the wedding-feast; "what is to become of me, Captain +Truck, if this marrying mania go any further?" + +"I have long had a plan for your welfare, my dear sir, that I will +take this opportunity to divulge; I propose, ladies and gentlemen, +that we enlist Mr. Howel in our project for this autumn, and that we +carry him with us to Europe. I shall be proud to have the honour of +introducing him to his old friend, the island of Great Britain." + +"Ah! that is a happiness, I fear, that is not in reserve for me!" +said Mr. Howel, shaking his head. "I have thought of these things, in +my time, but age will now defeat any such hopes." + +"Age, Tom Howel!" said John Effingham; "you are but fifty, like Ned +and myself. We were all boys together, forty years ago, and yet you +find us, who have so lately returned, ready to take a fresh +departure. Pluck up heart; there may be a steam-boat ready to bring +you back, by the time you wish to return." + +"Never," said Captain Truck, positively. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is +morally impossible that the Atlantic should ever be navigated by +steamers. That doctrine I shall maintain to my dying day; but what +need of a steamer, when we have packets like palaces?" + +"I did not know, captain, that you entertained so hearty a respect +for Great Britain--it is encouraging, really, to find so generous a +feeling toward the old island in one of her descendants. Sir George +and Lady Templemore, permit me to drink to your lasting felicity." + +"Ay--ay--I entertain no ill-will to England, though her tobacco laws +are none of the genteelest. But my wish to export you, Mr. Howel, is +less from a desire to show you England, than to let you perceive that +there are other countries in Europe--" + +"Other countries!--Surely you do not suppose I am so ignorant of +geography, as to believe that there are no other countries in +Europe--no such places as Hanover, Brunswick, and Brunswick +Lunenberg, and Denmark; the sister of old George the Third married +the king of that country; and Wurtemberg, the king of which married +the Princess Royal--" + +"And Mecklenburg-Strelitz," added John Effingham, gravely, "a +princess of which actually married George the Third _propria +persona_, as well as by proxy. Nothing can be plainer than your +geography, Howel; but, in addition to these particular regions, our +worthy friend the captain wishes you to know also, that there are +such places as France, and Austria, and Russia, and Italy; though the +latter can scarcely repay a man for the trouble of visiting it." + +"You have guessed my motive, Mr. John Effingham, and expressed it +much more discreetly than I could possibly have done," cried the +captain. "If Mr. Howel will do me the honour to take passage with me, +going and coming, I shall consider the pleasure of his remarks on men +and things, as one of the greatest advantages I ever possessed." + +"I do not know but I might be induced to venture as far as England, +but not a foot farther." + +"_Pas a Paris!_" exclaimed Mademoiselle Viefville, who wondered +why any rational being would take the trouble to cross the Atlantic, +merely to see _Ce melancolique Londres;_ "you will go to _Paris_, +for my sake, Monsieur Howel?" + +"For your sake, indeed, Mam'selle, I would do any thing, but hardly +for my own. I confess I have thought of this, and I will think of it +farther. I should like to see the King of England and the House of +Lords, I confess, before I die." + +"Ay, and the Tower, and the Boar's-Head at East-Cheap, and the statue +of the Duke of Wellington, and London Bridge, and Richmond Hill, and +Bow Street, and Somerset House, and Oxford Road, and Bartlemy Fair, +and Hungerford Market, and Charing-Cross--_old_ Charing-Cross, +Tom Howel!"--added John Effingham, with a good-natured nod of the +head. + +"A wonderful nation!" cried Mr. Howel, whose eyes sparkled as the +other proceeded in his enumeration of wonders. "I do not think, after +all, that I can die in peace, without seeing _some_ of these +things--_all_ would be too much for me. How far is the Isle of +Dogs, now, from St. Catherine's Docks, captain?" + +"Oh! but a few cables' lengths. If you will only stick to the ship +until she is fairly docked, I will promise you a sight of the Isle of +Dogs before you land, even. But then you must promise me to carry out +no tobacco!" + +"No fear of me; I neither smoke nor chew, and it does not surprise me +that a nation as polished as the English should have this antipathy +to tobacco. And one might really see the Isle of Dogs before landing? +It _is_ a wonderful country! Mrs. Bloomfield, will you ever be +able to die tranquilly without seeing England?" + +"I hope, sir, whenever that event shall arrive, that it may be met +tranquilly, let what may happen previously. I do confess, in common +with Mrs. Effingham, a longing desire to see Italy; a wish that I +believe she entertains from her actual knowledge, and which I +entertain from my anticipations." + +"Now, this really surprises me. What _can_ Italy possess to +repay one for the trouble of travelling so far?" + +"I trust, cousin Jack," said Eve, colouring at the sound of her own +voice, for on that day of supreme happiness and intense emotions, she +had got to be so sensitive as to be less self-possessed than common, +"that our friend Mr. Wenham will not be forgotten, but that he may be +invited to join the party." + +This representative of _la jeune Amerique_ was also present at +the dinner, out of regard to his deceased father, who was a very old +friend of Mr. Effingham's, and, being so favourably noticed by the +bride, he did not fail to reply. + +"I believe an American has little to learn from any nation but his +own," observed Mr. Wenham, with the complacency of the school to +which he belonged, "although one might wish that all of this country +should travel, in order that the rest of the world might have the +benefit of the intercourse." + +"It is a thousand pities," said John Effingham, "that one of our +universities, for instance, was not ambulant. Old Yale was so, in its +infancy; but unlike most other creatures, it went about with greater +ease to itself when a child, than it can move in manhood." + +"Mr. John Effingham loves to be facetious," said Mr. Wenham with +dignity; for, while he was as credulous as could be wished, on the +subject of American superiority, he was not quite as blind as the +votaries of the Anglo-American school, who usually yield the control +of all their faculties and common sense to their masters, on the +points connected with their besetting weaknesses. "Every body is +agreed, I believe, that the American imparts more than he receives, +in his intercourse with Europeans." + +The smiles of the more experienced of this young man's listeners were +well-bred and concealed, and the conversation turned to other +subjects. It was easy to raise the laugh on such an occasion, and +contrary to the usage of the Wigwam, where the men usually left the +table with the other sex, Captain Truck, John Effingham, Mr. +Bloomfield, and Mr. Howel, made what is called a night of it. Much +delicious claret was consumed, and the honest captain was permitted +to enjoy his cigar. About midnight he swore he had half a mind to +write a letter to Mrs. Hawker, with an offer of his hand; as for his +heart, that she well knew she had possessed for a long time. + +The next day, about the hour when the house was tranquil, from the +circumstance that most of its inmates were abroad on their several +avocations of boating, riding, shopping, or walking, Eve was in the +library, her father having left it, a few minutes before, to mount +his horse. She was seated at a table, writing a letter to an aged +relative of her own sex, to communicate the circumstance of her +marriage. The door was half open, and Paul appeared at it +unexpectedly, coming in search of his young bride. His step had been +so light, and so intently was our heroine engaged with her letter, +that his approach was unnoticed, though it had now been a long time +that the ear of Eve had learned to know his tread, and her heart to +beat at its welcome sound. Perhaps a beautiful woman is never so +winningly lovely as when, in her neat morning attire, she seems fresh +and sweet as the new-born day. Eve had paid a little more attention +to her toilette than usual even, admitting just enough of a properly +selected jewelry, a style of ornament, that so singularly denotes the +refinement of a gentlewoman, when used understandingly, and which so +infallibly betrays vulgarity under other circumstances, while her +attire had rather more than its customary finish, though it was +impossible not to perceive, at a glance, that she was in an undress. +The Parisian skill of Annette, on which Mr. Bragg based so many of +his hopes of future fortune, had cut and fitted the robe to her +faultlessly beautiful person, with a tact, or it might be truer to +say a contact, so perfect, that it even left more charms to be +imagined than it displayed, though the outline of the whole figure +was that of the most lovely womanhood. But, notwithstanding the +exquisite modelling of the whole form, the almost fairy lightness of +the full, swelling, but small foot, about which nothing seemed lean +and attenuated, the exquisite hand that appeared from among the +ruffles of the dress, Paul stood longest in nearly breathless +admiration of the countenance of his "bright and blooming bride." +Perhaps there is no sentiment so touchingly endearing to a man, as +that which comes over him as he contemplates the beauty, confiding +faith, holy purity and truth that shine in the countenance of a +young, unpractised, innocent woman, when she has so far overcome her +natural timidity as to pour out her tenderness in his behalf, and to +submit to the strongest impulses of her nature. Such was now the fact +with Eve. She was writing of her husband, and, though her expressions +were restrained by taste and education, they partook of her +unutterable fondness and devotion. The tears stood in her eyes, the +pen trembled in her hand, and she shaded her face as if to conceal +the weakness from herself. Paul was alarmed, he knew not why, but Eve +in tears was a sight painful to him. In a moment he was at her side, +with an arm placed gently around her waist, and he drew her fondly +towards his bosom. + +"Eve--dearest Eve!" he said--"what mean these tears?" + +The serene eye, the radiant blush, and the meek tenderness that +rewarded his own burst of feeling, reassured the young husband, and, +deferring to the sensitive modesty of so young a bride, he released +hold, retaining only a hand. + +"It is happiness, Powis--nothing but excess of happiness, which makes +us women weaker, I fear, than even sorrow." + +Paul kissed her hands, regarded her with an intensity of admiration, +before which the eyes of Eve rose and fell, as if dazzled while +meeting his looks, and yet unwilling to lose them; and then he +reverted to the motive which had brought him to the library. + +"My father--_your_ father, that is now--" + +"Cousin Jack!" + +"Cousin Jack, if you will, has just made me a present, which is +second only to the greater gift I received from your own excellent +parent, yesterday, at the altar. See, dearest Eve, he has bestowed +this lovely image of yourself on me; lovely, though still so far from +the truth. And here is the miniature of my poor mother, also, to +supply the place of the one carried away by the Arabs." + +Eve gazed long and wistfully at the beautiful features of this image +of her husband's mother. She traced in them that pensive thought, +that winning kindness, that had first softened her heart towards +Paul, and her lips trembled as she pressed the insensible glass +against them. + +"She must have been very handsome, Eve, and there is a look of +melancholy tenderness in the face, that would seem almost to predict +an unhappy blighting of the affections." + +"And yet this young, ingenuous, faithful woman entered on the solemn +engagement we have just made, Paul, with as many reasonable hopes of +a bright future as we ourselves!" + +"Not so, Eve--confidence and holy truth were wanting at the nuptials +of my parents. When there is deception at the commencement of such a +contract, it is not difficult to predict the end." + +"I do not think, Paul, you ever deceived; that noble heart of yours +is too generous!" + +"If any thing can make a man worthy of such a love, dearest, it is +the perfect and absorbing confidence with which your sex throw +themselves on the justice and faith of ours. Did that spotless heart +ever entertain a doubt of the worth of any living being on which It +had set its affections?" + +"Of itself, often, and they say self-love lies at the bottom of all +our actions." + +"You are the last person to hold this doctrine, beloved, for those +who live most in your confidence declare that all traces of self are +lost in your very nature." + +"Most in my confidence! My father--- my dear, kind father, has then +been betraying his besetting weakness, by extolling the gift he has +made." + +"Your kind, excellent father, knows too well the total want of +necessity for any such thing. If the truth must be confessed, I have +been passing a quarter of an hour with worthy Ann Sidley." + +"Nanny--dear old Nanny!--and you have been weak enough, traitor, to +listen to the eulogiums of a nurse on her child!" + +"All praise of thee, my blessed Eve, is grateful to my ears, and who +can speak more understandingly of those domestic qualities which lie +at the root of domestic bliss, than those who have seen you in your +most intimate life, from childhood down to the moment when you have +assumed the duties of a wife?" + +"Paul, Paul, thou art beside thyself; too much learning hath made +thee mad!" + +"I am not mad, most beloved and beautiful Eve, but blessed to a +degree that might indeed upset a stronger reason." + +"We will now talk of other things," said Eve, raising his hand to her +lips in respectful affection, and looking gratefully up into his fond +and eloquent eyes; "I hope the feeling of which you so lately spoke +has subsided, and that you no longer feel yourself a stranger in the +dwelling of your own family." + +"Now that I can claim a right through you, I confess that my +conscience is getting to be easier on this point. Have you been yet +told of the arrangement that the older heads meditate in reference to +our future means?" + +"I would not listen to my dear father when he wished to introduce the +subject, for I found that it was a project that made distinctions +between Paul Effingham and Eve Effingham, two that I wish, +henceforth, to consider as one in all things." + +"In this, darling, you may do yourself injustice as well as me. But +perhaps you may not wish _me_ to speak on the subject, neither." + +"What would my lord?" + +"Then listen, and the tale is soon told. We are each other's natural +heirs. Of the name and blood of Effingham, neither has a relative +nearer than the other, for, though but cousins in the third degree, +our family is so small as to render the husband, in this case, the +natural heir of the wife, and the wife the natural heir of the +husband. Now your father proposes that his estates be valued, and +that my father settle on you a sum of equal amount, which his wealth, +will fully enable him to do, and that I become the possessor in +reversion, of the lands that would otherwise have been yours." + +"You possess me, my heart, my affections, my duty; of what account is +money after this!" + +"I perceive that you are so much and so truly woman, Eve, that we +must arrange all this without consulting you at all." + +"Can I be in safer hands? A father that has always been too indulgent +of my unreasonable wishes--a second parent that has only contributed +too much to spoil me in the same thoughtless manner--and a----" + +"Husband," added Paul, perceiving that Eve hesitated at pronouncing +to his face a name so novel though so endearing, "who will strive to +do more than either in the same way." + +"Husband," she added, looking up into his face with a smile innocent +as that of an infant, while the crimson tinge covered her forehead, +"if the formidable word must be uttered, who is doing all he can to +increase a self-esteem that is already so much greater than it ought +to be." + +A light tap at the door caused Eve to start and look embarrassed, +like one detected in a fault, and Paul to release the hand that he +had continued to hold during the brief dialogue. + +"Sir--ma'am"--said the timid, meek voice of Ann Sidley, as she held +the door ajar, without presuming to look into the room; "Miss Eve-- +Mr. Powis." + +"Enter, my good Nanny," said Eve, recovering her self-composure in a +moment, the presence of her nurse always appearing to her as no more +than a duplication of herself. "What is your wish?" + +"I hope I am not unreasonable, but I knew that Mr. Effingham was +alone with you, here, and I wished--that is, ma'am,--Miss Eve--Sir--" + +"Speak your wishes, my good old nurse--am I not your own child, and +is not this your own child's"--again Eve hesitated, blushed, and +smiled, ere she pronounced the formidable word--"husband." + +"Yes, ma'am; and God be praised that it is so. I dreamt, it is now +four years, Miss Eve; we were then travelling among the Denmarkers, +and I dreamt that you were married to a great prince--" + +"But your dream has not come true, my good Nanny, and you see by this +fact that it is not always safe to trust in dreams." + +"Ma'am, I do not esteem princes by the kingdoms and crowns, but by +their qualities--and if Mr. Powis be not a prince, who is?" + +"That, indeed, changes the matter," said the gratified young wife; +"and I believe, after all, dear Nanny, that I must become a convert +to your theory of dreams." + +"While I must always deny it, good Mrs Sidley, if this is a specimen +of its truth," said Paul, laughing. "But, perhaps this prince proved +unworthy of Miss Eve, after all?" + +"Not he, sir; he made her a most kind and affectionate husband; not +humouring all her idle wishes, if Miss Eve could have had such +wishes, but cherishing her, and counselling her, and protecting her, +showing as much tenderness for her as her own father, and as much +love for her as I had myself." + +"In which case, my worthy nurse, he proved an invaluable husband," +said Eve, with glistening eyes--"and I trust, too, that he was +considerate and friendly to you?" + +"He took me by the hand, the morning after the marriage, and said, +Faithful Ann Sidley, you have nursed and attended my beloved when a +child, and as a young lady; and I now entreat you will continue to +wait on and serve her as a wife to your dying day. He did, indeed, +ma'am; and I think I can now hear the very words he spoke so kindly. +The dream, so far, has come good." + +"My faithful Ann," said Paul, smiling, and taking the hand of the +nurse, "you have been all that is good and true to my best beloved, +as a child, and as a young lady; and now I earnestly entreat you to +continue to wait on her, and to serve her as _my_ wife, to your +dying day." + +Nanny clapped her hands with a scream of delight, and bursting into +tears, she exclaimed, as she hurried from the room, + +"It has all come true--it has all come true!" + +A pause of several minutes succeeded this burst of superstitious but +natural feeling. + +"All who live near you appear to think you the common centre of their +affections," Paul resumed; when his swelling heart permitted him to +speak. + +"We have hitherto been a family of love--God grant it may always +continue so." + +Another delicious silence, which lasted still longer than the other, +followed. Eve then looked up into her husband's face with a gentle +curiosity, and observed-- + +"You have told me a great deal, Powis--explained all but one little +thing, that, at the time, caused me great pain. Why did Ducie, when +you were about to quit the Montauk together, so unceremoniously stop +you, as you were about to get into the boat first; is the etiquette +of a man-of-war so rigid as to justify so much rudeness, I had almost +called it--?" + +"The etiquette of a vessel of war is rigid certainly, and wisely so. +But what you fancied rudeness, was in truth a compliment. Among us +sailors, it is the inferior who goes first _into_ a boat, and +who _quits_ it last." + +"So much, then, for forming a judgment, ignorantly! I believe it is +always safer to have no opinion, than to form one without a perfect +knowledge of all the accompanying circumstances." + +"Let us adhere to this safe rule through life, dearest, and we may +find its benefits. An absolute confidence, caution in drawing +conclusions, and a just reliance on each other, may keep us as happy +to the end of our married life, as we are at this blessed moment, +when it is commencing under auspices so favourable as to seem almost +providential." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOME AS FOUND*** + + +******* This file should be named 10149.txt or 10149.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/1/4/10149 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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