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diff --git a/19121-8.txt b/19121-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1454d9b --- /dev/null +++ b/19121-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7544 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sword and Gown, by George A. Lawrence + +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: Sword and Gown + A Novel + +Author: George A. Lawrence + +Release Date: August 25, 2006 [EBook #19121] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SWORD AND GOWN *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, David Wilson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Kentuckiana Digital Library) + + + + + + + + + + SWORD AND GOWN. + + A Novel. + + + + BY THE AUTHOR OF + "GUY LIVINGSTONE." + + + NEW YORK: + FRANKLIN SQUARE. + 1859. + + +[Transcriber's note: the author was George Alfred Lawrence] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +"There _is_ something in this climate, after all. I suppose there are +not many places where one could lie on the shore in December, and enjoy +the air as much as I have done for the last two hours." + +Harry Molyneux turned his face seaward again as he spoke, and drank in +the soft breeze eagerly; he could scarcely help thanking it aloud, as it +stole freshly over his frame, and played gently with his hair, and left +a delicate caress on his cheek--the cheek that was now always so pale, +save in the one round scarlet spot where, months ago, Consumption had +hung out her flag of "No surrender." + +There is enough in the scene to justify an average amount of enthusiasm. +Those steep broken hills in the background form the frontier fortress of +the maritime Alps, the last outwork of which is the rocky spur on which +Molyneux and his companion are lying. Fir woods feather the sky-line; +and from among these, here and there, the tall stone pines stand up +alone, like sentinels--steady, upright, and unwearied, though their +guard has not been relieved for centuries. All around, wild myrtle, and +heath, and eglantine curl and creep up the stems of the olives, trying, +from the contact of their fresh youth, to infuse new life and sap into +the gray, gnarled old trees, even as a fair Jewish maiden once strove to +cherish her war-worn, decrepit king. There are other flowers too left, +though December has begun, enough to give a faint fragrance to the air +and gay colors to the ground. Just below their feet is a narrow strip of +dark ribbed sand, and then the tangle of weed, scarcely stirred by the +water, that all along this coast fringes like a beard the languid lip of +the Mediterranean Sea. + +Molyneux appreciated and admired all this, after his simple fashion, and +said so; his companion did not answer immediately; he only shrugged his +shoulders and lifted his eyebrows, as if he could have disputed the +point if it had not been too much trouble. An optimist in nothing, least +of all was Royston Keene grateful or indulgent to the beauties and +bounties of inanimate creation. + +"Ah well!" Harry went on, resignedly, "I know it's useless trying to get +a compliment to Nature out of you. I ought to have given you up that +night when we showed you the Alps from the terrace at Berne. You had +never seen the Jungfrau before, and she had got her prettiest pink +evening dress on, poor thing! and all you would say was, 'There's not +much the matter with the view.'" + +"It was a concession to your wife's enthusiasm," Keene replied; "a +sudden check might have been dangerous just then, or I should have +spoken more bitterly, after being brought out to look at mountains, when +I was dusty and travel-stained, wanting baths, and dinners, and other +necessaries of life." + +The voice was deep-toned and melodious enough that spoke these words, +but too slow and deliberate to be quite a pleasant one, though there was +nothing like a drawl in it. One could easily fancy such a voice ironical +or sarcastic, but hardly raised much in anger; in the imperative mood it +might be very successful, but it seemed as if it could never have +pleaded or prayed. It matched the speaker's exterior singularly well. +Had you seen him for the first time--couchant, as he was then--you would +have had only an impression of great length and laziness; but as you +gazed on, the vast deep chest expanded under your eye; the knotted +muscles, without an ounce of superfluous flesh to dull their outline, +developed themselves one by one; so that gradually you began to realize +the extent of his surpassing bodily powers, and wondered that you could +have been deceived even for a moment. The face guarded its secret far +more successfully. The features were bold and sharply cut, bronzed up to +the roots of the crisp light-brown beard and hair, except where the +upper brow retained its original fairness--presenting a startling +contrast, like a wreath of snow lying late in spring-time high up on the +side of a black fell. You would hardly say that they were devoid of +expression, any more than that a perfectly drilled soldier is incapable +of activity; but you got puzzled in making out what their natural +expression was: it was not sternness, far less ferocity--the face was +much too impassible for either; and yet its listlessness could never be +mistaken for languor. The thin short lips might be very pitiless when +compressed, very contemptuous and provocative when curling; but the +enormous mustache, sweeping over them like a wave, and ending in a clean +stiff upward curve, made even this a matter of mere conjecture. The +cold, steady, dark eyes seldom flashed or glittered; but, when their +pupils contracted, there came into them a sort of sullen, suppressed, +inward light, like that of jet or cannel coal. One curious thing about +them was, that they never seemed to care about following you, and yet +you felt you could not escape from them. The first hand-gripe, however, +settled the question with most people: few, after experiencing the +involuntary pressure, when he did not in the least mean to be cordial, +doubted that there were passions in Royston Keene--difficult perhaps to +rouse, but yet more difficult to appease or subdue. + +His profession was evident. Indeed, it must be confessed that the +dragoon is not easily dissembled. I know a very meritorious +parish-priest, of fair repute too as a preacher, who has striven for +years, hard but unavailingly, to divest himself of the martial air he +brought with him out of the K.D.G. He strides down the village street +with a certain swagger and roll, as if the steel scabbard were still +trailing at his heel, acknowledging rustic bows with a slight quick +motion of the finger, like troopers' salutes; on the smooth shaven face +is shadowed forth the outline of a beard, nurtured and trimmed in old +days with more than horticultural science; in the pulpit and +reading-desk gown and surplice hang uneasily, like a disguise, on the +erect soldierly figure, and the effect of his ministrations is thereby +sadly marred; for apposite text, earnest exhortation, and grave rebuke +flow with a curious inconsistency from the lips of that well-meaning but +unmitigated Plunger. + +Royston Keene was no exception to this rule, though he did not like to +be told so, and rather ignored the profession than otherwise. Perhaps he +had begun it early enough to have got tired of it; for he had now been +for some time on half-pay, and a brevet-major, after doing good service +in the Indian wars, and was not yet thirty-four. Molyneux had served in +the same light cavalry regiment as his subaltern, and there the +foundation was laid of their close alliance. It was not a very fair or +well-balanced one, being made up of implicit obedience, reliance, and +reverence on the one side, and a sort of protecting condescension on the +other--much like the old Roman relation between Client and Patron; +nevertheless it had outlasted many more sympathetic and better-looking +friendships. + +They used to say of "The Cool Captain" (so he was always called off +parade), that "he could bring a boy to his bearings sooner than any man +in the army." Yet he was a favorite with them all. There was a regular +ovation among those "Godless horsemen" whenever he came into the Club, +or into their mess-rooms; they hung upon his simplest words with a +touchingly devout attention, and thought it was their own stupidity when +they could see nothing in them to laugh at or admire; they wrote off all +that they could remember of his sarcasms and repartees--generally +strangely travestied and spoiled by carriage--to unlucky comrades, +martyrized on far-off detachments, or vegetating with friends in the +country; the more ambitious, after much private practice, strove to +imitate his way of twisting his mustache as he stood before the fire, +though with some, to whom nature had been niggard of hirsute honors, it +was grasping a shadow and fighting with the air. + +Certainly Molyneux never was so happy as in that society. Fond as he was +of his pretty wife, her influence was as nothing in the scale. She +complained of this, half in earnest, soon after they were married. The +fever of post-nuptial felicity was strong upon Harry just then, but he +did not attempt to deny the imputation. He only said, "My pet, I have +known him so much the longest!" I wonder, now, how many brides would +have admitted that somewhat unsatisfactory and illogical excuse? Fanny +Molyneux did; she was the best-natured little woman alive, and wise, +too, in her generation, for she never brought matters to a crisis, or +measured her strength against the "heavy-weight." + +Indeed, they got on together extremely well. Whenever Keene happened to +be with them--which was not often--she gave up the management of Harry's +Foreign Affairs to him, reserving to herself the control of the Home +Department, and, between the two, they ruled their vassal right royally. +After some months' acquaintance they became the greatest friends; on +Royston's side it was one of the few quite pure and unselfish feelings +he had ever cherished toward one of her sex not nearly akin to him in +blood. He always seemed to look on her as a very nice, but rather +spoiled child, to be humored and petted to any amount, but very seldom +to be reasoned with or gravely consulted. Considering her numerous +fascinations, and the little practice he had had in the paternal or +fraternal line, he really did it remarkably well: be it understood, it +was only _en petite comité_ that all this went on; in general society +his manner was strictly formal and deferential. It provoked her though, +sometimes, and one day she ventured to say, "I wish you would learn to +treat me like a grown-up woman!" Royston's eyes darkened strangely; and +one glance flashed out of the gloom that made her shrink away from him +then, and blush painfully when she thought of it afterward alone. He was +frowning, too, as he answered, in a voice unusually harsh and +constrained, "It seems to me we go on very well as it is. But women +never _will_ leave well alone." She did not like to analyze his answer +or her own feelings too closely, so she tried to persuade herself it was +a very rude speech, and that she ought to be offended at it. There was a +coolness between those two for some days, amounting to distant courtesy. +But the dignified style did not suit _ma mignonne_ (as Harry delighted +to call her) at all, and was, indeed, a lamentable failure; it made her +look as if she had been trying on one of her great-grandmother's +short-waisted dresses; so they soon fell back into their old ways, and, +like the model prince and princess, "lived very happily ever afterward." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Keene had spent some time with the Molyneuxs during the autumn and +winter, and had conducted himself so far with perfect propriety, +certainly keeping Harry straighter than he would have gone alone; for he +was, unluckily, of a convivial turn of mind wholly incompatible with +delicate health and a frail constitution. Being a favorite with the +world in general, he felt bound, I suppose, to reciprocate, so, albeit +strictly enjoined to keep the earliest hours, he would sit up till dawn +if any one encouraged him, and then come home, perfectly sober perhaps, +but staggering from mere weakness. He did not care for deep drinking in +the least, but the number of magnums he had assisted in flooring, when +on a regimen of "three glasses of sherry," would have made a double row +of nails round the coffin of a larger man. Nature, however, being a +Dame, won't stand being slighted, or having her admonitions disregarded, +and the way she asserted herself on the morrow was retributive in the +extreme. Harry was always so _very_ ill after one of those nights "upon +the war-path." On such occasions, his feelings, without being quite +remorseful, were beautifully and curiously penitent; they manifested +themselves chiefly by an extraordinary ebullition of the domestic +affections. "Bring me my children" (he had two tiny ones), he would cry +on waking, just as another man would call for brandy and soda; and, +strange to say, the presence of those innocents seemed to have a +similarly invigorating and refreshing effect: during all that day he +would make pilgrimages to their cribs, and gaze upon them sleeping with +the reverence of an old _dévote_ kneeling before the shrine of her most +efficacious saint. Then he would go forth, and return with a present for +his wife, bearing an exact proportion in value to the extent and +duration of the past misdemeanor; so that her jewel-case and +writing-table soon became as prettily suggestive as the votive chapel of +Nôtre Dame des Dunes. Very unnecessary were these peace-offerings; for +that dear little woman never dreamt of "hitting him when he was down," +or taking any other low advantage of his weakness. She would make his +breakfast beamingly, at all untimely hours, and otherwise pet and caress +him, so that he might have been a knight returning wounded from some +Holy War, instead of a discomfited scalp-hunter, bearing still evident +traces of the "war-paint." A stern old lady told her once that such +condonation of offenses was unprincipled and immoral. It may be so, but +I can not think the example is likely to be dangerously contagious. +Whatever happens, there will always remain a sufficiency of matronly +Dicæarchs, over whose judgment-seats the legend is very plainly +inscribed, _Nescia flecti_. + +These Ember days formed the only exceptions to the remarkably easy way +in which Molyneux took every thing; there seemed to be no rough places +about his disposition for trouble or care to take hold of. Hunting four +days a week through the winter; six weeks in town during the season, +with incidentals of Epsom, Goodwood, _saumon à la Trafalgar_, bouquets, +and opera-stalls; living all the rest of the year at a mess curious as +to the quality of its dry Champagne--these simple pleasures involve a +certain expenditure hardly "fairly warranted by our regimental rate of +pay." To accomplish all this on about £500 a year, and yet to steer +clear of ruin, is an ingenious process doubtless, but a sum not to be +wrought out (most soldiers will tell you) without some anxiety and +travail of mind. Now, in the very tightest state of the money-market, +Harry was never known to disquiet himself in vain. He would not borrow +from any of his comrades, refusing all such proffers of assistance +gratefully but consistently. No Mussulman ever equaled his contented +reliance on the resources of futurity, and his implicit belief in the +same. He would anchor his hopes on some such improbability as "a long +shot coming off," or "his Aunt Agnes coming down" (a proverbially awful +widow, who had forgiven him seven times already; and, after each fresh +offense, had sworn unrelenting enmity to him and his heirs forever). +Strong in this faith, he met condoling friends with a pleasant, +reassuring smile: with the same demeanor he confronted threatening +creditors. He used no arts, and condescended to no subterfuge in dealing +with these last; but, as one of them observed, retreating from the +barracks moneyless but gratified, "Mr. Molyneux seems to _feel_ for one, +at all events." So he did. He sympathized with his tailor, not in the +least because he owed him money, but because he was a fellow-creature in +difficulties, regretting heartily it was not in his own power to relieve +them; just as a very charitable but improvident person might feel on +reading a case of real distress in the _Times_. Strange to say, hitherto +he had always pulled through. Either the outsider _did_ win, or the +aunt, touched in the soft place of her heart through her ruffled +feathers, was brought down by a "wild shot," when considered quite out +of distance, and "parted" freely. + +The last and hardest trial of all--long debility and frequent +illness--had failed to shake this intense serenity. He was never cross +or unreasonable, and tried to give as little trouble as possible; but +was grateful to a degree for every thing that was done for him: he could +even manage to thank people for their advice, whether he took it not. So +far as one could make out, he was nearly as much interested in the state +of his own health, as one would be about that of any pleasant casual +acquaintance. + +It must be confessed, that poor Harry and his like are by no means +strong-minded, or large-brained, or persevering men; they seldom or +never rise to eminence, and rarely have greatness thrust upon them. They +do not often volunteer to lead the vanguard of any great movement, +shouting out on the slightest provocation the war-cry of "life is +earnest;" for they are the natural subalterns of the world's mighty +battalia, and could hardly manoeuvre one of its companies, without +hopelessly entangling it, and exposing themselves: indeed, if they are +useful at all in their generation, it is in a singularly modest and +unobtrusive way. Yet there is an attraction about them, a power of +attachment, that the great and wise ones of the earth have appreciated +and envied, ere now. It is curious, too, to see what an apparent +contradiction to themselves the extremes of the class--those who +exaggerate _nonchalance_ into insensibility, and softness into +effeminacy--have shown, when brought face to face with imminent peril or +certain destruction. France held few more terrible _ferrailleurs_ than +the curled painted minions of her third Henry: the sun never looked down +on a more desperate duel than that in which Quélus, Schomberg, and +Maugiron did their _devoir_ manfully to the last. Nay, though he came +delicately to his doom, the King of Amalek met it, I fancy, gallantly +and gracefully enough, when once he read his sentence in the eyes of the +pitiless Seer, who ordained that he "should be hewn in pieces before the +Lord in Gilgal." + + R. I. P. + +There was silence for some minutes after the few words that opened this +story; and then Royston Keene spoke again. + +"Hal, do you remember that miserable impostor in Paris being +enthusiastic about Dorade and its advantages, describing it as a sort of +happy hunting-ground, and so deciding us on choosing it in preference to +Nice?" + +"Ah! he _did_ drivel a good deal. I think he had been drinking," the +other answered. + +"No; I understand him now. He had been bored here into a sullen, +vicious misanthropy; and he wanted to take it out on the human race by +getting others in the same mess. It's just like that jealous old +Heathfield, who, when he is up to his girths in a squire-trap, never +halloos ''ware bog,' till five or six more are in it. I can fancy the +hoary-headed villain gloating hideously over us now. I wish I had him +here. I could be _so_ unkind to him! He talked about the shooting and +the society. Bah! there's about one cock to every thousand acres of +forest; and as for women fair to look upon, I've not flushed one since +we came. I don't think I can stand it much longer." + +"I am very sorry," Harry said; "I knew you were being bored to death, +and it's all on my account; but I didn't like to ask you about it. I'm +so horribly selfish!" The shadow of an imminent penitence began to steal +over him, when Royston broke in-- + +"Don't be childish. I liked to stay--never mind why--or I should not +have done so. Only now--you are getting better, and I realize the +situation more. I hardly know where to go. Not back to England, +certainly, yet. Besides the nuisance and chance work of picking up a +stud in the middle of the season, it isn't pleasant to be consoled for a +blank day by, 'you should have been here last month. Never was such +scent; and heaps of straight-running foxes!' And then they indulge +themselves in an imaginative 'cracker,' knowing you can't contradict +them. Shall I go to Albania? I should like to kill _something_ before I +turn homeward." + +Harry seemed musing. Suddenly he half started up, clapping his hands. "I +knew I had forgotten!" + +"Not such a singular circumstance as to warrant all that indecent +exultation," was the reply. "Well, out with it." + +"I never told you that Fan had a letter this morning from Cecil +Tresilyan (they're immense friends, you know) to ask her to engage rooms +for them. They are in Paris now, and will be here in three days." + +Keene raised himself on his arm, regarding his comrade with a sort of +admiration. "You're a natural curiosity, _mon cher_. None of us ever +quite appreciated you. I don't believe there's another man in existence, +situated as we are, who would have kept that intelligence at the back of +his head so long. _The_ Tresilyan, of course? I remember hearing about +her in India. Annesley came back from sick leave perfectly insane on the +subject. She _must_ be something extraordinary, for the recollection of +her made even him poetical--when he was sober. I asked about her when I +got to England, but her mother was taken very ill, or did something +equally unjustifiable, so she left town before I saw her." + +"The mother really _was_ ill," Molyneux said, apologetically; "at least +she died soon after that. Miss Tresilyan has never shown much since. But +you've no idea of the sensation she made during her season and a half. +They called her The Refuser, she had such a fabulous number of offers, +and wouldn't look at any of them. By-the-by, there's rather a good story +about that. You know Margate? He's going to the bad very fast now, but +he was the crack puppy of that year's entry; good-looking, long +minority, careful guardians, leases falling in, mother one of the best +Christians in England, and all that sort of thing. Well, Tom Cary took +him in hand, and brought him out in great form before long. They were +talking over their preparations for the moors, for they were going to +start the next day. 'I believe that's all,' Margate asked, 'or have we +forgotten any thing?' 'Wait a minute,' said Tom, and reflected +(provident man, Tom; fond of his comforts, and proud of it)--'Ah! I +thought there was something. You haven't proposed to The Tresilyan.' +They say Margate's face was a study. He never disputed the orders of his +private trainer, so he only said, piteously, 'But I don't want to marry +any one,' and looked as if he was going to cry. 'You _are_ "ower +young,"' Cary said, encouragingly, 'and it's about the last thing I +should press upon you. It wouldn't suit my book at all. But I don't see +how that affects the question. I can lay ten ponies to one she won't +have you. It's the thing to do, depend upon it. All the other good men +have had a turn, and you have no right to be singular; it's bad taste. +Rank has its duties, my lord. _Noblesse oblige_, and so forth. You +understand?' Margate _didn't_ in the least, but he went and proposed +quite properly, and was rejected rather more decidedly than his fellows. +Then he went down into Perthshire, and missed his grouse, and lost his +salmon, with a comfortable consciousness of having discharged his +obligations to society." + +Royston Keene actually groaned, "Why didn't she come sooner?" he said. +"What a luxury, in this God-forgotten place, to talk to a clever +handsome woman, who tramples on strawberry-leaves!" + +"Perhaps she would have come if she had known how much we wanted her," +replied Harry. "They say she is a model of charity, and several other +virtues too. She is coming here for the health of some companion, or +governess, who lives with her. Yet she flirts outrageously at times, in +her own imperial way. Better late than never. I'm certain you'll like +her, and perhaps she'll like you." + +"_Qui vivra verra_," Keene said, rising slowly. "Let us go home now. +Draw your plaid closer round you, it's getting chilly." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +There is a terrace in Dorade, fenced in from every wind that blows, +except the south, and even that has to creep cautiously and cunningly +round a sharp corner to make its entrance good. Four small stunted palms +grow there; they look painfully out of place, and conscious of it; for +they are always bowing their heads in a meek humiliation, and shiver in +a strange unhealthy way at the slightest breeze, just as you may see +Asiatics doing in our "land of mist and snow." But the natives regard +those unhappy exotics with a fanatical pride, pointing them out to all +comers as living witnesses to the perfection of the climate; they would +gladly stone any irreverent stranger who should suggest a comparison +between their sacred shrubs and the giants of Indian seas. The only +inhabitant of the place who ever attained any eminence any where (he +really _was_ a good tailor), bequeathed a certain sum for the +beautifying of the renowned _allée_, instead of endowing charitable +institutions, and his townsmen endorsed the act by erecting a little +mural tablet to commemorate his public spirit. + +The view is rather pretty, stretching over vineyards, and gardens, and +olive-grounds down to the shore, with the islands in the far foreground +rearing themselves against the sky, clear and blue, or if the weather is +misty to seaward, sleeping in an aureole of golden haze, so that the +whole effect would be cheerful if it were not for the melancholy +invalids who haunt the spot perpetually. Faces and figures are to be +seen sometimes that would send an uncomfortable shiver of revulsion +through you if you met them on the Boulevard des Italiens, strengthened +by your ante-prandian _absinthe_. Here, the place belonged to them so +completely, that a man in rude health felt like an unwarrantable +intruder, in which light I am sure the hypochondriacs always regarded +him. As such a one passed, you might see a glare, half-envious, +half-resentful, light up some hollow eyes, and thin parched lips worked +nervously, as though they were uttering a very equivocal blessing. + +Does the character gain much by the extermination of more impulsive +passions, when their place is possessed by the two devils that neither +age nor sickness can exorcise--Avarice and Envy? It is with this last, +perhaps, that we have most to do; and the shadow of it, however +indistinct and distant, makes the landscape near the horizon look +somewhat dreary. The nature of many of us is so faulty and ill +regulated, that it may be doubted if even advancing years will make us +much better or wiser; but, when winter shall have closed in, and our hot +blood is more than cool, is there no chance of an "open season?" Must it +come to this--that the mere sight of the youth, and strength, and beauty +that have left us far behind shall stir our bile, as though it were an +insolent parade--that the choicest delicacies at our neighbor's +wedding-breakfast shall not pique our palate like the baked meats at his +funeral? Not so; if we must give ground let us retreat in good order, +leaving no shield behind us that our enemy may build into his trophy. If +we are rash enough to assail Lady Violet Vavasour with petitions for a +waltz, and see her look doubtfully down her scribbled tablets, till the +"sweetest lips that ever were kissed" can find no gentler answer than +the terrible "Engaged," let us not gnash suicidally our few remaining +teeth, even though Brabazon Leslie--all the handsomer for the scar on +his smooth forehead--should come up upon our traces, and ride roughshod +over those hieroglyphics, as he did at Balaclava through Russian +squadrons. Rather let us try to sympathize with his triumph, while he +carries off his beautiful prize from under the enemy's guns, as +Dundonald may have cut out a frigate beneath the batteries of Vera Cruz. +_Non omnia corripit ævum._ Hath the savor departed wholly from the +Gascon wine, because the name of no living love crowns the draught? +Shall we stay sullenly at home when all the world is flocking to the +tournament, because our limbs have stiffened so that we may no longer +sit saddlefast, and hold our own in the _mêlée_? A corner in the +cushioned gallery is left to us still. Come, comrade of mine--_nate +mecum Consule Manlio_--we will go up and lounge there among the +Chatelaines: some may be found good-natured enough to listen (in the +pauses of the tilting), while we tell how, not so many years back, plume +and pennon went down before our lance. + +I place no great reliance on the Pleasures of Memory. But, if pearls and +bright shells be rarely found there, surely waifs, better than _echini_ +and sting-rays, are to be gathered on the "shores of long ago." Ah, +cynic! you are strong enough to be merciful--just this once. Spare us +the string of examples that would overwhelm us utterly. Does it not +suffice that we confess the truth of that saddest adage, tolled in our +ears by every passing bell, + + Those whom the gods love well die young? + +Royston and his companion were crossing the terrace on their way home +when the former stopped suddenly. + +"Go on, Hal," he said; "it is too late for you to be standing about, but +I must speak to that poor Châteaumesnil. I shall see you at dinner." He +went up to a wheeled chair that was being drawn by at the time. + +Its occupant was a man of large frame, as far as could be made out +through the thick wrappings of furs; his head was bent forward and low, +resting on his hands, that were crossed on a crutch-handle. He appeared +profoundly unconscious of all that was passing, and never moved till +Keene addressed him. Then, very slowly, he lifted up his face. Few of +us, fortunately for those who have strong imaginations and weak nerves, +see its like twice in a lifetime, or there would be wild work in +dreamland. + +It was not distorted in any way, nor deformed, except by a ghastly, +livid pallor; gaunt and drawn as the features were, they still bore +evident traces of a rare manly beauty, that even the neglected beard of +iron-gray could not conceal. But it was the savage face of one who has +wrestled with physical pain till it has assumed almost the visible and +tangible shape of a personal enemy--a mocking devil, that always is +ready, with fresh ingenuity of torture, to answer and punish the +rebellious question, "Art thou come to torment me before my time?" The +lines on the forehead were so strongly marked and dreadfully distinct, +that, like the markings of the locust, they seemed to form characters +that might be read, if it were given to mortal cabalists to decipher the +handwriting of God. + +Look once more: it is worth while, if you are curious in contrasts and +comparisons. Five years ago that bowed, blasted cripple was the most +reckless dare-devil, the most splendid Paladin, in all the army of +Algiers; the man for whom, after an unusually brilliant exploit, St. +Arnaud, loving him as his own right hand, could find no higher praise +than to write in his dispatches, "_Les 3me Chasseurs se sont conduits +en héros; leur chef-d'escadron en--Châteaumesnil._" And it was true that +the annals of his house could boast of no nobler soldier, though they +had been fighting hard since Clovis's day. His name is known very well +in Africa. The _spahis_ talk of it still over their watch-fires, and the +wild Bedouins load it with guttural curses--their lips white with hatred +and remembered fear: they do not forget how far and fast they fled into +their desert strong-holds, and never could shake off the light cloud of +whirling dust that told how Armand and his stanch gaze-hounds were hard +upon their trail. + +Rheumatic fever, coming close on a severe bullet wound, had brought him +very near to death; and the first thing he heard when he began to +recover, was that he would never stand upright again. + +He is answering Keene's salutation. + +"My friend, you failed us last night at the Cercle, and yet we waited +for you long." A hoarse, hollow voice--very measured and slow, as if +carefully disciplined to repress groans--yet every now and then there +will come a modulation, that shows how rich and cheery it might have +been when trolling a _chanson à boire_--how clear and sonorous when, +over the stamping of hoofs and the rattle of scabbards, it rang out the +one word "Charge!"--how winning and musical when whispering into a +small, pink ear laid against his lips lovingly. + +The Vicomte de Châteaumesnil cares for but one thing on earth now--play, +as deep as he can make or find it. It is not a pastime, or a +distraction, or an occasional fever-fit, but the sole interest of his +existence. A fearfully unworthy and unsatisfactory one, you will say. +Granted; but try and realize his condition. + +He is not forty yet. All the passions of mature manhood were alive +within him; not one desire or impulse had been tamed by natural or even +premature decay at the time he was struck down, and cut off from every +object and aim of his former life, when it was too late to form or turn +to others. Imagine how eagerly his strong fiery nature must have grasped +at some of these--how it must have appreciated the alternations of +glory, pleasure, and peril--all worse than blanks now. You dare not +speak to him of woman's love. Worse than all other torments of the +Titan's bed of pain, would be wild dreams of impossible Oceanides! + +Remember that his only change of scene is from one of the waters of +Marah to another, according to his own or his physician's fancy about +mineral springs. Remember, too, that the cleverest or the most sanguine +of them all have only ventured to promise an abatement of his agonies: +of their cessation they say no word; nor can they even prophesy that the +end will come quickly. He is not allowed to read much, even if his taste +lay that way, which it does not; for a literary _Chasseur d'Afrique_ is +such a whim as Nature never yet indulged herself in. So perhaps he +caught at the only resource that could have saved him from worse things; +under which, I presume, is to be included the temptation to take +laudanum in proportions by no means prescribed or sanctioned by the +Faculty. + +Every day about noon his servant helped him into the card-room at the +club, and settled him at his own table, where, with the two hours +respite of dinner, he sat till midnight, ready to give battle to all +comers at all weapons, just as the Knights of Lyonnesse used to keep a +bridge or a pass while achieving their vows. It is needless to say that +the changes of good or bad luck affected him not at all. Few men of his +stamp indulge in the weakness of railing at Fortune, which is the +privilege and consolation of the _roturier_. Neither was he ever heard +to reproach a partner, or become bitter against an adversary. He seemed +to take a pleasure in disappointing those who were always expecting from +him some savage outbreak of temper: they judged from his appearance, and +had some grounds for their anticipations; for, winning or losing, that +strange look, half-weary, half-defiant, never was off his face. But, +with Armand de Châteaumesnil, the _grand seigneur_ had not been merged +in the soldier: the _brusquerie_ of the camp had not overlaid the manner +of the courtly school in which he and all his race had been trained; the +school of those who would stab their enemy to the heart with sarcasm or +innuendo, but scorned to stun him with blatant abuse--of those who would +never have dreamt of listening to a woman with covered head, though they +might be deaf as the nether millstone to her entreaties or her tears. It +was with the Revolution that the rapier went out, and the _savate_ came +in. + +Very few men came up to his standard of play; for he was hard to please +in style as well as in stakes. Keene did fully; and this, with a certain +similarity of tastes, accounted for his liking the latter so well. He +had little regard to throw away, and was chary of it in proportion. On +the other hand, Royston treated the invalid with an amount of deference +very unusual with him, in whom the bump of Veneration was probably +represented by a cavity. + +The two were still talking on the terrace, when a man passed them, who +lifted his hat slightly, and then sighed audibly, looking upward with an +ostentatious contrition, as though he apologized to heaven for such a +bowing-down to Rimmon. This was the Rev. James Fullarton, British +chaplain at Dorade. A difficult and anomalous position--in which the +unlucky divine, in addition to his anxiety about the conscientious +discharge of his duties, has to cultivate the friendship of a vast +number of unrighteous Mammons, if he would be allowed to perform his +functions at all. Our countrymen are popularly supposed to take out a +special license for liberty of thought and action as soon as they cross +the Channel; and the pastor's pulpit-cushion can hardly be stuffed with +roses when every other member of his congregation--embracing devotees of +about a dozen different shades of High, Low, and Broad Church--thinks it +his or her daily duty to decide, if the formula--_Quamdiu se bene +gesserit_--has been duly complied with. Perhaps foreign air and warmer +climates develop, like a hot-bed, our innate instinct of +destructiveness. Look at portly respectable fathers of +families--householders who, at home, have accepted their spiritual +position without a murmur for a quarter of a century, roused to revolt +by no vexed question of copes, candles, or church-rates--even these can +not escape contagion. When once the game is afoot, they will open on the +scent with the perseverance of the steadiest "line-hunter," and join in +the "worry" as savagely as the youngest hound. I remember seeing a +similar case in Scotland, where a minister was preaching before "the +Men" who were appointed to judge of his qualifications. Right in front +of him, on a low bench, sat the awful Three, silent, stolid, and stern. +His best rounded periods, his neatest imagery, his aptest quotations, +brought no light into their vacant gray eyes: perhaps they were looking +beyond all these, straight at the doctrine. The breeze blew freshly +from the German Ocean, over the purple hills; but it brought no coolness +to that miserable Boanerges. How he _did_ perspire! I could not wonder +at it; and though he preached for ninety-five minutes, and wearied me +even to death, I bore him no enmity, but pitied him from my soul. + +Mr. Fullarton, however, had steered through the reefs and quicksands +with better skill or luck than his fellows, and, judging from the +ruddiness of his broad, beardless face, and the amplitude of his black +waistcoat, the cares of office had not hitherto affected his health +materially. He was a well-meaning, conscientious man, ready to work hard +for his flock and his family; indeed, barring a certain frail leaning +toward _gourmandise_, of which a full pendulous lip told tales, and an +occasional infirmity of temper, he had as few outward failings as could +be desired. For one of no extreme views, he could count an extraordinary +number of adherents. Without being particularly agreeable or +instructive, he possessed a rather imposing readiness and rotundity of +speech, and had a knack of turning his arm-chair into a pulpit somewhat +oftener than was quite in good taste. However, I suppose the best of us +will talk "shop" when we see a fair opening. He had a large wife and +several small children. No one admired him more devotedly than this +truly excellent woman. As far as sharing in her husband's successes +went, or partaking in any other advantages of society, she might as well +have been the squaw of an Iowa brave; for her time was more than taken +up in tending her offspring, and in providing for her lord the savory +meats in which he delighted; but she looked the picture of contentment, +and so nobody thought it necessary to pity her. + +From the first moment of their meeting, the chaplain had entertained a +nervous dislike, approaching to a presentiment, toward Royston Keene. He +regarded him as a brand likely to inflame others, but itself by no means +to be plucked from the burning. The latter saw his gesture as he passed, +and smiled--not pleasantly. "Remark the shepherd, M. le Vicomte," he +said; "he sees the wolves prowling, and trembles for his lambs." + +"One wolf, at least, is toothless," answered Châteaumesnil. "What have +we to do with lambs, except _en suprême_? But the sun is down; I must go +home, or these cursed pains will avenge themselves. Till this evening." + +"I will not fail; but you will permit me to accompany you so far," said +Keene, bending over the invalid with the grand courteous air that became +him well; and he walked by the other's side till they reached his door, +talking over the varying fortunes of last night's play. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +You have found out already that you are only looking at a chaplet of +cameos, with just enough of story to string them together. Under these +circumstances, the right thing of course to do is to work out each +character by the rules of metaphysical mathematics, and then to reverse +the process and "prove" the result. But I never tried to extract the +square root out of _any thing_ without failing miserably, and one can +only speak, and act, and write according to one's light. After all, it +seems a more uncertain science than astronomy. Comets _will_ appear, now +and then, at abnormal times, and in places where they have no heavenly +business; and people are still to be found, so very ill-regulated as to +go right or wrong in opposition to all rules and precedents. Where the +variations are so infinite, it is difficult to argue safely from one +singular example to another, and, if you miss one step, your whole +deduction is apt to come to grief. Some one said, that "there were +corners in the nature of the simplest peasant-girl to which the +cleverest man alive could never find a key." Perhaps, too, those who +fancy, rightly or wrongly, that they have mesmerized the heart even of +one fellow-creature so completely that the poor thing could not, if it +would, keep back a single secret, think it hardly fair to give the world +in general the full benefit of their discoveries. Practically, does all +this help one much? It is possible that some who have passed for the +deepest observers of human nature, owed their renown more to an acute +observation of the phenomena of feeling, an intuitive knowledge of what +people like and dislike, a retentive memory, and a happy knack of making +all these available at the right moment, than to any profound reasoning +on abstract principles. Like some untaught arithmeticians, their +calculations came out correct, but they could not have gone through the +steps of the process. + +There lives, even now, a sublime theorist, who professes to have made +feminine physiology his peculiar study. Sitting at his desk, or in his +arm-chair, he will trace the motives, impulses, and sensations which a +woman must _necessarily_ have experienced under any given circumstances, +as lucidly as a skillful pathologist, scalpel in hand, may lecture on +the material mysteries of the blood or brain: he will analyze for you +the waters of the _Fons Lacrymarum_, just as Letheby or Taylor might do +those of a new chalybeate spring. A fearful power, is it not, and fatal, +if used tyrannously? Well, I remember hearing a very beautiful and +charming person speak of an evening she had spent in the society of The +Adept, during which she was conscious of being subjected to the action +of his microscope, stethoscope, and other engines of science. She said +"It did not hurt her much," and, on the whole, seemed by no means so +impressed with awe and admiration as could be wished. Indeed, before +they parted, if any one was disquieted, discomfited, or otherwise +damaged, I fancy it was--_not_ the loveliest Margaret. From my slight +acquaintance with that tremendous philosopher, supposing that he were +turned loose among a bevy of perfectly well-educated women, and meant +mischief, I should be disposed to lay longer odds against his chances +than I would against those of many men who have never read one word of +Balzac, Michelet, or Kant. + +Still, as was aforesaid, in the days of high art and high farming, high +physiology is clearly the thing to go for. So, for my shortcomings, to +all critics--ethic, dialectic, æsthetic, and ascetic--I cry _mea culpa_, +thus audibly. + +Nevertheless, while they are waiting for her at Dorade, we will try to +sketch Cecil Tresilyan. + +Her father died when she was too young to remember him, and the first +fourteen years of her life were spent almost entirely in the old Cornish +manor-house from which her family took its name. That great, rambling +pile stood at the head of a glen, terraced at first into gardens, and +then thickly wooded, and stretching down to the shore. There was a small +bay just here, the mouth of which curved inward very abruptly. It seemed +as if the black cliffs had caught the sea in a trap, and stood forward +to keep the outlet fast forever: the waves were free to come and go for +a certain distance, but never to rave or rebel any more: when their +brethren of the open main went out to war, the captives inside might +hear the din, but not break out to join them; they could only leap up +weakly against their prison bars. There was nothing at all remarkable in +the house itself, except its furniture and panelings of black oak, and +two pictures, to which was attached a story bearing on the hereditary +failing which had made the family proverbial. The first was the likeness +of a lovely girl, in the court dress of James the Second's time, with +beautiful hazel eyes, half timid, half trusting, like a pet doe's. The +second represented a woman, perhaps of middle age: in this the hood of a +dark gray dress was drawn far forward, and under it the eyes shone out +of the colorless face with a fixed expression of helpless, agonized +terror, as of one fascinated by some ghostly apparition. You were sorry +when you realized that they were portraits of the same person. + +Sir Ewes Tresilyan was a man of strong passions and rather weak +brain--of few words and fewer sympathies; he never made a companion of +Mabel, his daughter, though his love for her was the feeling next his +heart, after his almost insane pride; but he trusted her +implicitly--less because he had faith in her truth and goodness, than +because he held it as impossible for a Tresilyan to disgrace herself or +otherwise derogate, as for the moon to fall from heaven. He was no +classic, you see, and had never read of Endymion. + +In her solitary rides Mabel met the son of a neighboring squire, and +they soon began to love each other after the good old fashion. Neither +had one thought that was not honest and pure; but they were so afraid of +her father that they dared not ask his consent to their marriage as yet. +They were prudent, but not prudent or patient enough. So there came +about meetings--first at noon in the woods, then at twilight in the +park, then at midnight in the garden; and at last Sir Ewes Tresilyan +heard of it all; and heard, too, that his daughter's name was abroad in +the country-side, and more than lightly spoken of. That day, as the sun +was setting, two men stood foot to foot, with their doublets off, on the +very spot of smooth turf where the lovers parted last; and Arthur +Bampfylde had to hold his own as best he might with the deadliest rapier +in the western shires. Poor boy! he would scarcely have had the heart to +do his uttermost against Mabel's father; but better will and skill would +have availed little against the thirsty point that came creeping along +his blade and leaping over his guard like a viper's tongue. At the sixth +pass his enemy shook him heavily off his sword, wounded to the death. He +had tried explanation before, utterly in vain; but the true heart would +make one effort more to get justice done, before it ceased to beat. He +gasped out these words through the rush of blood that was choking him, +"Mabel--I swear, she is as pure as the Mother of God; and I--what had I +done?" + +Sir Ewes knelt down and lifted Arthur's head upon his knee--not in pity, +but that he might hear the more distinctly--"I will tell you," he said; +"you have wooed a Tresilyan like a yeoman's daughter." The homicide +wrote in his confession of all this that, as he laid the head gently +down, a smile came upon the lips before they set. Was it that the +parting spirit--standing on the threshold of Eternity, and almost within +the light of the grand secret--fathomed the earth-worm's miserable +vanity, and could not refrain its scorn? + +Mabel was sitting alone when her father returned. She had no idea that +any thing had been discovered; but the instant she saw his face, she +cast herself on her knees, crying--"I am innocent; indeed I have done no +wrong!" + +He griped her arm and raised her up, gazing straight and steadfastly at +her for some moments: then he gave his verdict--"Guilty of having +brought shame on your house; not guilty of sin, I know, or _this_ should +only half atone," and he drew out the blade that had never been wiped +since it drank her lover's blood. + +She slid slowly down out of his grasp, never speaking, but bearing in +her eyes the awful look of horror that became frozen there forever. The +second picture might have been taken then, though it was not painted +till long afterward. She never thenceforth, while her father lived, left +the wing of the manor-house in which her rooms lay; neither did he, nor +any one else, except the two servants who attended her, look upon her +face. People pitied her very much at first, and then forgot her +entirely. Once the superior of a Belgian convent, a relation of the +family, offered to admit Mabel, if she chose to take the vows. Perhaps +Sir Ewes Tresilyan was more gratified than he liked to show, for the +best blood in Europe was to be found in that sisterhood; but his reply +was not a gracious one: + +"I thank the abbess," he wrote; "but _we_ are used to choose for our +gifts the most precious thing we have--not the most worthless. I will +not lighten my house from a heavy burden, by offering it to God." + +He relented, however, when he was dying, and sent for his daughter. Very +reluctantly she came. He had prepared, I believe, a pompous and proper +oration, wherein he was to pardon her and even bestow a sort of +qualified blessing; but the wan face and wild, hollow eyes, not seen for +twelve years, frightened all his grandeur out of his head; and the +obstinate, narrow-minded tyrant collapsed all at once into a foolish, +fond old man. Something too late (that's one comfort) to avail him much. +In Mabel's nature, soft and yielding as it appeared, there was the black +spot that nothing but harshness and cruelty could have brought out--the +utter incapacity of relenting, which had given rise to the rude rhyme +known through three counties-- + + In Tresilyan's face + Fault finds no grace. + +So, when the sick man cried out to her, through his sobs, to kiss him +and forgive him, the dreary, monotonous voice only answered, "I can kiss +you, father;" and when she had laid her icicles of lips on his forehead, +she glided out of the room like a ghost that has accomplished its +mission and hastens away to its own place. Sir Ewes never tried to call +her back; he scarcely spoke at all intelligibly after that; but lay, for +the few remaining hours of life, moaning to himself, his face turned to +the wall. + +For a very short time after her father's death, Mabel seemed to take a +pleasure in roaming about the gardens and woods from which she had been +debarred so long; but the walks grew gradually shorter, and she soon +shut herself up in the house entirely, seeing only a few of her near +relatives. It was one of these who, at her own request, painted the +second portrait--a rude performance, but it must have been a likeness. +She seemed to feel an odd sort of satisfaction in looking at the two and +comparing them. Her brain was somewhat clouded and unsteady; but I fancy +she was counting up all the harm and wrong the hard world had done to +her, and calculating what amends would be made in the next. I doubt not +they were kind and pitiful and indulgent enough there; but on earth she +found no source of comfort strong enough to banish from her eyes that +terrible look which haunted them within five minutes of her end. + +When spirits assemble from the four corners of heaven, how many thousand +companions, think you, will greet the Gileadite's daughter? + +Before you saw Cecil Tresilyan's face, the curve of her neck, and the +way her head was set on it, told you that she was by no means exempt +from the family failing which had laid its hand so heavily on her +ancestors. Yet it was not a hard or habitually haughty, or even a very +decided face. There was nothing alarmingly severe about the slight +aquiline of the nose; the chin did not look as if it were "carved in +marble," or "clasped in steel," or as if it were made of any thing but +soft flesh prettily dimpled; the delicate scarlet lip, when it curled, +rarely went beyond sauciness; though the splendid violet eyes could well +express disdain, this was not their favorite expression--and they had +many. The head would certainly have been too small had it not been for +the glossy masses of dark chestnut hair sweeping down low all round it, +smooth and unbroken as a deep river in its first curl over a cataract. +Candid friends said her complexion was not bright enough; perhaps they +were right; but the color had not forgotten how to come and go there at +fitting seasons; at any rate, the grand clear white could never be +mistaken for an unhealthy pallor. An extraordinarily good constitution +was ever part of a Tresilyan's inheritance; and if you doubted whether +her blood circulated freely you had only to compare her cheek on a +bitter March day with some red-and-white ones, when a sharp east wind +had forced those last to mount _all_ the stripes of the tricolor. By the +way, are not the "roses dipped in milk" going out of fashion just now? A +humble but stanch adherent of the house of York, I like to think--how +many battle-fields, since Towton, our Flower has won! + +But if Cecil's face was not faultless, her figure _was_. Had one single +proportion been exaggerated or deficient, she could never have carried +off her height so lithely and gracefully. She might take twenty _poses_ +in a morning, and people always thought they would choose the last one +to have her painted in. Here, she was quite inimitable. For instance, +women, I believe, used to practice in their own room for hours to catch +her peculiar way of half-reclining in an arm-chair; but the most +painstaking of them all never achieved any thing beyond a caricature. +Yet no one could accuse her of studying stage-effects. If a trifle of +the _Incedo Regina_ marked her walk and carriage, it was à l'Eugénie, +not à la Statira. + +Indeed, she was thoroughly natural all over; cleverer and more +fascinating, certainly, than ninety-nine women out of every hundred; but +not one bit more strong-minded, or heroic, or self-denying. She had been +very well brought up, and had undeniably good principles; but she would +yield to occasional small temptations with perfect grace and facility. +Great ones she had never yet encountered; for Cecil, if not quite +fancy-free, had only read and perhaps dreamed of passions. She had known +one remorse, of which you may hear hereafter (not a heavy allowance, +considering her opportunities), and one grief--the death of her mother. +She entertained a remarkable reverence for all ministers of the +Established Church; yet she was about the last woman alive to have +married a clergyman, and would have considered the charge of the old +women and schools of a country parish as a lingering and unsatisfactory +martyrdom. There never was a more constant attendant at all sorts of +divine service; though perhaps the most casual of worshipers had never +been more bored than she was by some of the discourses to which she +listened so patiently. She would confess this to you at luncheon, and +then start for the same church in the afternoon, with an edifying but +rather comic expression of resignation. I am sure she would not +deliberately have vexed the smallest child; and yet the number of +athletic men who ascribed the loss of their peace of mind to her, was, +as the Yankees have it, "a caution." Some of the "regulars," wary +adventuresses of three seasons' standing, had brought off several pretty +good things by following her, and picking up the victims fluttering +about helpless in their first despair, just as the keepers after a +battue go round the covers with the retrievers. + +If there were any more antitheses in her character, they had better +speak for themselves hereafter; nor is there much that need be told +about her companions. + +Mrs. Danvers, or "Bessie," as she liked to be called, had been Cecil's +last governess, and was retired on full-pay, which, she flattered +herself, she earned in the capacity of traveling chaperone and censor; +but, inasmuch as when she really held some tutelar authority, her pupil +had never taken the slightest notice of her prohibitions, she could +hardly be expected now to exercise any very salutary influence or +control. + +Dick Tresilyan was absurdly proud and fond of his sister, and performed +all her behests with a blind obedience; but when he heard that he was to +attend her during a whole winter's residence abroad, he did think that +it was stretching her prerogative to the verge of tyranny. No wonder. A +dragoon who has lost his horse, a goose on a turnpike-road, or any other +popular type of helplessness, does not present so lamentable a picture +as a Briton in a foreign land, without resources in himself, and with a +rooted aversion to the use of any language except his own. In this +case, the victim actually attempted some feeble remonstrance and +argument on the subject. Cecil was almost as much astonished as the +Prophet was under similar circumstances; but she considered that habits +of discussion in beasts of burden and the lower order of animals +generally were inconvenient, and rather to be discouraged; so she cut it +short, now, somewhat imperiously. Thereupon, Dick Tresilyan slid into a +slough of despond, in which he had been wallowing ever since. A faint +gleam of sunshine broke in when one of his intimates, hearing he was +going to France, suggested "that's where the brandy comes from;" but it +was instantly overclouded by the remark which followed. "I suppose, +though, you won't be able to drink much more of it than you do here:" on +realizing which crushing fact, his melancholy became, if possible, more +profound than ever. Indeed, since he crossed the Channel, he had spent +most of his leisure moments in a sort of chronic blasphemy, which, it is +to be hoped, afforded him some slight relief and consolation, as it was +wholly unintelligible to his audience; for, to do Dick justice, in his +sister's presence the door of his lips was always strictly guarded. + +However, to Dorade they came--hours after their time, of course, but +perfectly safe: no accident ever does happen in France to any thing +properly booked, except to luggage sent by _roulage_, to which there +attaches the romantic uncertainty of Vanderdecken's correspondence. +Cecil rather liked traveling; it never tired her; so, by midnight she +had seen Mrs. Danvers, weary and querulous, to bed--gone through a +variety of gymnastics in the way of _accolades_, with Fanny +Molyneux--taken some trouble in inquiring about shooting and other +amusements likely to divert her brother from his sorrows--and yet did +not feel very sleepy. + +They ignore shutters in these climes; and her reflection was still +flitting backward and forward across the white window-blinds as Royston +Keene came home from the Cercle. He knew the room, or guessed who the +shadow belonged to; and as he moved away, after pausing a minute or two, +he waved his hand toward it, with a gesture so unwarrantably like a +salute that, were _silhouettes_ sensitive or prudish, it might have +proved an offense not easily forgiven. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The next morning was so soft and sunny that it tempted Miss Tresilyan +out on the terrace of their hotel very soon after breakfast. She was +waiting for her brother on the top of the steps leading down into the +road, when Major Keene passed by again. If he had never heard of her +before, the smooth sweeping outline of her magnificent form, and the +careless grace of her attitude, as she stood leaning against the stone +balustrade, were not likely to escape an eye that was wont to light on +every point of feminine perfection, as a poacher's does on a sitting +hare. But he never got so far as her face then; and hardly had time to +criticise her figure; for at that moment a brisk gust of the _mistral_ +swept round the corner, and revealed a foot and ankle so marvelously +exquisite, that they attracted his eyes, as long as he dared to fix them +without risking a stare; and kept his thoughts busy till he saw her +again. "_Caramba!_" he muttered, half aloud. "I don't wonder at any one +who has seen _that_ not looking at a nautch-girl afterward." And he +quickened his pace toward Mr. Molyneux's house. He met them before he +reached their door. + +"I am going to Miss Tresilyan," Fanny said. "Isn't it lucky, her first +morning here being such a delicious one?" + +"Ah! I thought that was your point," answered Keene. "There must be a +tremendous amount of 'gushing' to be got through still: the accumulation +of--how many months? I suppose you only took the rough edge off last +night. Don't hurt her, please, that's all. And, Hal, you were actually +going to preside over the meeting of two young hearts, and gloat over +their emotions, and spoil their innocent amusements? I wonder at you. +Means well, Mrs. Molyneux; but he's _so_ thoughtless." + +Fanny laughed. "I think I could do without him. But we mean to walk this +afternoon, and he may come then; and you too, Major Keene, if you are +good." + +"I'll enter into all sorts of recognizances to keep the peace," was the +reply; "but I should have thought you might trust me by this time. It's +that excitable husband of yours that wants disciplining. I'll give him +some soda-water by way of a precaution. Then, when you have sacrificed +to friendship sufficiently, you will lionize Miss Tresilyan? The Castle +first, of course. Shall we meet you there at two?" + +Harry did not quite see the thing in this light, and looked slightly +disappointed; but he yielded the point, as he always did, and went away +dutifully with his superior officer. + +"Describe the brother," the latter said, abruptly, when they had gone a +few steps. + +"Well, I believe he's the most ignorant man in Great Britain," answered +Molyneux: "that's his _spécialité_. He never had much education; and he +has been trying to forget that little, 'hard all,' ever since he was +eighteen. You remember how our fellows used to laugh at me about my +epistles? I could give him 21lb., and a beating any day. They say, two +men have to stand over him whenever he tries to write a letter, for no +_one_ is strong enough to keep him straight in his spelling and grammar. +If he tries it on alone, he gets bewildered in the second sentence, and +wanders up and down, knocking his head against particles and parts of +speech, like the man in the Maze; and throws up the sponge at last, +utterly beat. Helplessly devoted to his sister, but rather obstinate +with other people, and apt to be sulky sometimes; but good-natured on +the whole; and drinks _very_ fair." + +"Oh, he drinks fair, does he?" Royston said, meditatively. "Has that any +thing to do with his brotherly affection? Every body who is fond of Miss +Tresilyan seems to take to liquor. Annesley was pretty sober till he +knew her. It's rather odd. I don't suppose she encourages them?" + +"Certainly not; at least, I know she has tried to stint Dick in his +brandy very often. It's the only point she has never been able to +carry." + +"A man must be firm about some one thing," the other remarked, "or +there's an end of free-agency altogether. He has no intellects to be +affected by it apparently; and I dare say his health does not suffer +much yet. It's a question of constitution, after all." + +He dropped the subject then, and was very silent all the rest of the +morning, till they came to the place of meeting. Somehow or another, it +did not occur to him to mention to Harry what he had seen on the +terrace. + +They had not waited long before the three women came slowly up the +zigzags of the path that wound round the Castle-hill. Dick Tresilyan had +"got his pass signed" for the day, and had started off, with his +courier, to make the lives of several natives a burden to them, on the +subject of _bécasses_ and _bécassines_. + +Cecil might have been known by her walk among ten thousand. She seemed +to float along without any visible exertion, as if her dress were +buoyant, and bore her up in some mysterious fashion; but, looking +closer, and marking how straight and firmly and lightly every footfall +was planted, you gave the narrow arched instep, and the slender rounded +ankle, the credit they well deserved; marveling only that so delicate a +symmetry could conceal so much sinewy power. Upon this occasion, she was +evidently accommodating her pace to that of Mrs. Danvers; and no racing +man could have seen the two, without thinking of one of the Flyers of +the turf walking down by the side of the trainer's pony. + +Miss Tresilyan's hat, of a soft black felt, shaded by a black cock's +feather, was decidedly in advance of her age: for that very provocative +head-gear, with the many-colored _panaches_, had not then become so +common; and even the Passionate Pilgrim might hope (with luck) to walk +along a pier or a parade, without meeting a succession of Red +Rovers--each capable of boarding him at a minute's notice, and making +all his affections walk the plank. Her tunic of iron-gray velvet, +without fitting tightly to her figure, still did it fair justice; and, +from the tie of her neck-ribbon, down to the wonderful boots that slid +in and out from under the striped scarlet kirtle over which her dress +was looped up, there was not the minutest detail that might not have +challenged and baffled criticism. + +Royston Keene appreciated all this thoroughly. No man alive held the +stale old adage of "Beauty when unadorned," etc., in profounder scorn. A +pair of badly-fitting gloves, a soiled _collerette_, or a tumbled dress, +had cured more than one of the fever fits of his younger days; and he +was ten times as fastidious now. + +He drew a long, slow breath of intense enjoyment, as a thirsty cricketer +may do after the first deep draught of claret-cup that rewards a two +hours' innings. "It's very refreshing, after weeks of total abstinence, +to see a woman who goes in for dress, and does it thoroughly well." He +had no time for more, for the others were almost within hearing. + +When the introductions were over, Mrs. Danvers said she was tired, and +must rest a little. Very few words will do justice to her personal +appearance. Brevity, and breadth, and bluntness were her chief +characteristics, which applied equally to her figure, her face, and her +extremities, and, not unfrequently, to her speech too. Her health was +really infirm, but she never could attain the object of many an +invalid's harmless ambition--looking interesting. Illness made her +cheeks look pasty, but not pale; it could not fine down the coarsely +moulded features, or purify their ignoble outline. Her voice was against +her, certainly; perhaps this was the reason why, when she bemoaned +herself, so many irreverent and hard-hearted reprobates called it +"whining." It was very unfortunate; for few could be found, even in the +somewhat exacting class to which she belonged, more anxious and active +in enlisting sympathy. She was looking especially ill-tempered just +then, but Major Keene was not easily daunted, and he went in at her +straight and gallantly--about the weather, it is needless to say, both +being English. While Mrs. Danvers was disagreeing with him, Cecil took +her turn at inspection. Royston's name was familiar to her, of course, +for no one ever talked to Mrs. Molyneux for ten minutes without hearing +it. Though she had scarcely glanced at him in the morning, she had +decided that the tall, erect figure and the enormous mustache, with its +_crocs à la mousquetaire_, could only belong to Fanny's Household Word. +It was very odd--she had not a shade of a reason for it--but neither had +_she_ mentioned that rencontre to her friend. Perhaps they had so many +other things to talk about. She could scan him now more narrowly, for +his face was turned away from her. The result was satisfactory: when +Major Keene stood up on his feet, not even his habitual laziness could +disguise the fair proportions and trained vigor of a stalwart +man-at-arms; and be it known that Cecil's eye, though not so +professional as that of Good Queen Bess, loved to light upon such +dearly. + +"Harry," Mrs. Molyneux observed, "Mr. Fullarton called while I was at +the _Lion d'Or_ this morning, and staid half an hour. He is so very +anxious to get Cecil to lead the singing in church." + +"Yes; he has been, so to speak, throwing his hat up ever since he heard +you were coming, Miss Tresilyan," was the reply. "I suppose he +calculated on your vocal talents; there's the nuisance of having an +European reputation, you are always expected to do something for +somebody's benefit. I hope you'll indulge him, in charity to us. You +have no idea what it has been. Two Sundays ago, for instance, a Mr. +Rolleston and his wife volunteered to give us a lead. He didn't look +like a racing man; and yet he must have been. I never saw any thing more +artistically done. He went off at score, and made the pace so strong +that he cut them all down in the first two verses; and then the wife, +who had waited very patiently, came and won as she liked--nothing else +near her." + +Cecil thought the illustration rather irreverent, and did not smile. +Keene saw this as he turned round. + +"The turf slang has got into your constitution, I think, since you won +that Garrison Cup. It's very wrong of you not to cure yourself, when you +know how it annoys Mrs. Molyneux. He is right, though, Miss Tresilyan; +it is a case of real distress: our vocal destitution is pitiable; so, if +you have any benevolence to spare, do bestow it upon us, and your +petitioners will ever pray, etc." + +Now it so happened that Fanny valued that same cup above all her +earthly possessions, as a mark of her husband's prowess. No testimonial +ever gave so much satisfaction to a popular rector's wife as that little +ugly mug afforded her, albeit it was the very wooden-spoon of racing +plate. So she first smiled consolingly at the culprit, who was already +contrite, and then looked up at the last speaker with amusement and +wonder glittering in her pretty brown eyes. She did not see what +interest the subject could have for Keene, who had only darkened the +chapel doors once since they came. Mr. Fullarton, indeed, was supposed +to have alluded to him several times--his discourses were apt to take a +personal and individualizing turn--but he had never had the satisfaction +of a "shot in the open" at that stout-hearted sinner. + +Royston caught _la mignonne's_ glance, and understood it perfectly, but +not a line of his face moved. He was waiting for Cecil's reply very +anxiously: he had not heard her speak yet. + +"Mr. Fullarton is rather rash," she said, "for our acquaintance is +slight, and I don't think he ever heard me sing. But I shall do my best +next Sunday. Every one ought to help in such a case as much as they +can." + +"Yes, and you will do it so beautifully, dearest!" Cecil bit her lip, +and colored angrily. Nothing annoyed her like Mrs. Danvers' obtrusive +partisanship and uncouth flattery. + +The gleam of pleasure that shone out on Keene's dark face for a moment, +only Harry interpreted rightly. He had scarcely listened to the words, +but he thought, "I knew I was right; I knew the voice would match the +rest!" When they moved on again, he walked by Miss Tresilyan's side, and +"still their speech was song." + +His first remark was, "I hope you condescend to ballads sometimes? I +confess to not deriving much pleasure from those elaborate performances +where the voice tries dangerous feats of strength and agility: even at +the Opera they make one rather uncomfortable. Some of the very +scientific pieces suggest ideas of homicide or suicide, as the case may +be, according to my temper at the moment. Of course, I know less than +nothing about music; but I don't think this quite accounts for it. I +really believe that unsophisticated human nature revolts at the +_bravura_." + +It was rare good fortune, so early in their acquaintance, to tempt forth +the brilliant smile that always betrayed when Cecil was well pleased. + +"Mrs. Molyneux has told you what my tastes are?" she said. "I have never +tried _bravuras_ since I left off masters, and even then I only +attempted them under protest. But there are some quiet songs I like so +much that I sing them to myself when I am out of spirits, and it does me +good. Don't you like the old-fashioned ones best? I fancy, in those +days, people felt more what they wrote, and did not consider only how +the words would suit the composer." + +"Probably," Keene replied. "If Charles Edward was of no other use, some +good strong lines were written about him. I do not think he lived in +vain. There are no partisans now. The only songs of the sort that I ever +saw with any _verve_ in them were some seditious Irish ones: rather +spirited--only they had not grammar enough to ballast them. The writer +either was, or wanted to be, transported. We are _all_ very fond of the +Guelphs--at least every body in decent society is--and that is just the +reason why we are not enthusiastic. We are all ready to 'die for the +throne,' etc., but we don't see any immediate probability of our +devotion being tested. So the laureate only rhymes loyally, and he at +stated seasons, and in a temperate, professional style." + +"Please don't laugh at Tennyson," she interrupted; "I suppose it is very +easy to do so, for so many people try it; but I never listen to them if +I can help it." + +"A premature warning," was the grave reply; "I had no such idea. I +admire Tennyson fully as much as you can do, and read him, I dare say, +much oftener. I was only speaking of his performances in the _manège_; +indeed, there is not enough of these to make a fair illustration, so I +was wrong to bring them in. When he settles to his stride, few of the +'cracks' of last century seem able to live with him. They have not set +all his best things to music. A clever composer might do great things, I +fancy, with 'The Sisters,' and the _refrain_ of 'the wind in turret and +tree.'" + +"It would never be a very general favorite," Miss Tresilyan observed. +"It seems hardly right to set to music even an imaginary story of great +sin and sorrow. I saw a sketch of it some time ago. The murderess was +sitting on a cushion close to the earl's body, with her head bent so low +that one of her black tresses almost touched his smooth golden curls; +you could just see the hilt of the dagger under her left hand. That, and +the corpse's quiet, pale face were the only two objects that stood out +in relief; for the storm outside was stirring the window-curtains, and +making the one lamp flare irregularly. Her features were in the shadow, +and you had to fancy how hard, and rigid, and dreary they must be. It +was the merest sketch, but if it had been worked out, it would have made +a very terrible picture." + +"A good conception," Royston said; "well, perhaps it would not be a +pleasant song to sing, but better, I should think, than some of those +dreadful sentimental ones. They are not much worse than the Strephon and +the Chloe class, in which our ancestors delighted; still, they are +indefensible. If our Lauras find Petrarchs now, they are usually very +beardless ones, and the green morocco cover, with its golden lock, +covers their indiscretions. Those who write love ditties for the piano +_must_ celebrate a shadow who can't be critical. Imagine any man +insulting a real woman of average intellect with 'Will you love me then +as now!'" + +"Yes," she assented, "they are too absurd as a rule. They make our +cheeks burn, as if we were performing some very ridiculous part in low +comedy; but they do not warm one's heart, like 'Annie Laurie.'" + +"Ah! it's curious how that always suggests itself as the standard to +compare others with: not fair, though, for it makes most of them sound +so feeble and effeminate. Douglas of Finland wrote it, you know, in the +campaign which finished him. Long before that the charming Annie had +given her promise true to Craigdarroch; and she had to keep it, _tant +bien que mal_, for it was pronounced in the Tron Church, instead of on +the braes of Maxwellton. I wonder if she inscribed those verses in her +scrap-book? I dare say she did, and sang them to her grandchildren, in a +cracked treble." + +"I am so sorry you told me that," Cecil exclaimed; "my romance was quite +a different one, and not nearly so sad. I always fancied the man who +wrote those lines must have ended so happily! One would despise her +thoroughly if she could ever have forgiven herself, or forgotten him." + +Her eyes brightened, and her cheeks flushed as she spoke. The momentary +excitement made her look so handsome that Keene's glance could not +withhold admiration; but there was no sympathy in it, any more than in +his cold, quiet tones. + +"No, don't despise her," he said. "She could scarcely be expected to +wait for a corporal in the Scottish regiment. When the cavaliers sailed +from home they knew they were leaving every thing but honor behind them; +of course, their mistresses went with the other luxuries. They had not +many of these in the brigade, if we can believe history. Fortunately for +us (or we should have missed the song) Finland never knew of the 'fresh +fere' who dried the bright blue eyes so soon. He would not have carried +his pike so cheerily either, if his eyes had been good enough to see +across the German Ocean. Well, perhaps the story isn't true; very few +melodramatic legends are." + +"I shall try not to believe it; but I am afraid you have destroyed an +illusion." + +"You don't say so?" was the reply. "I regret it extremely. If I had but +known you carried such things about with you! Indeed, I will be more +careful for the future. We are out-walking the main-guard, I see. Shall +we wait for them here? It is a good point of view. One forgets that +there are two invalids to be considered." + +Did Royston Keene speak thus purposely, on the principle of those +practiced periodical writers, who always leave their hero in extreme +peril, or their heroine on the verge of a moral precipice, in order to +keep our curiosity tense till the next number? If not, chance favored +him by producing the very effect he would have desired. + +His companion's fair cheek flashed again, and this time a little +vexation had something to say to it. It was incontestably correct to +wait for the rest of the party, but she would have preferred originating +the suggestion. Besides, the conversation had begun to interest her; and +she liked being amused too well not to be sorry for its being cut short +abruptly. She thought Major Keene talked epigrammatically; and the +undercurrent of irony that ran through all he said was not so obtrusive +as to seriously offend her. + +It was no light ordeal he had just passed through. First impressions are +not made on women of Cecil Tresilyan's class so easily as they are upon +guileless _débutantes_; but they are far more important and lasting. It +is useless attempting to pass off counterfeit coin on those expert +money-changers; but they value the pure gold all the more when it rings +sharp and true. It is always so with those who have once been Queens of +Beauty. A certain imperial dignity attaches to them long after they have +ceased to reign: over the brows that have worn worthily the diadem +there still hangs the phantasm of a shadowy crown. There need be nothing +of repellent haughtiness, or, what is worse, of evident condescension; +but, though they are perfectly gentle and good-natured, we risk our +little sallies and sarcasms with timidity, or at least diffidence; +feeling especially that a commonplace compliment would be an inexcusable +profanation. Our sword may be ready and keen enough against others, but +before _them_ we lower its point, as the robber did to Queen Margaret in +the lonely wood. We are conscious of treading on ground where stronger, +and wiser, and better men have knelt before us; and own that the altar +on which things so rare and precious have been laid has a right to be +fastidious as to the quality of incense. + +Not the less did such glory of past royalty surround the Tresilyan +because she had abdicated, and never been dethroned. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +There is something singularly refreshing in the enthusiasm that one +pretty and fascinating woman will display when speaking of another +highly gifted as herself--perhaps even more so. It seems to me there is +more honesty here, and less stage-trick and conventionality, than is to +be found in most manifestations of sentiment that take place in polite +society. A perfectly plain and unattractive female may, of course, be +sincerely attached to her beautiful friend, but her partisanship must be +somewhat theoretical; it has not the _esprit de corps_ which +characterizes the other class. These last can count victories enough of +their own to be able to sympathize heartily with the triumphs of their +fellows without envying or grudging them one. What does it matter if +Rose has slain her thousands and Lilian her tens of thousands? It is +always "so much scored up to our side." + +Would you like to assist, invisibly, at one of those two-handed +"free-and-easies," where notes are compared and confidences exchanged, +where the fair warriors "shoulder their _fans_, and show how fields were +won?" Perhaps our vanity would suffer though our curiosity were +gratified. The proverb about listeners has come in since the time of +Gyges, it is true; but his luck was exceptional, and would not often +follow his Ring. Campaspe _en déshabille_ is not invariably kind. It is +a popular superstition that men are apt, at certain seasons, to speak +rather lightly, if not superciliously, of the beings whom they ought to +delight to honor. If so, be sure the medal has its reverse. When you +secured that gardenia from Amy's bouquet, or that ribbon from Helen's +glove trimming, you went home with a placid sense of self-gratulation, +flattering yourself you had done it rather diplomatically, without +compromising your boasted freedom by word or sign. Perhaps, two hours +later, you figured conspicuously in a train of shadowy captives adorning +the conqueror's ideal ovation. A change of color of which you were +unconscious, a tremulous pressure of fingers that you risked +involuntarily--a sentence that was meant to be careless and indifferent, +but ended by being earnest and imploring--all these were commented upon +in the select committee, and estimated at their proper value. + +Very keen-sighted are those soft almond eyes ambushed behind their +trailing lashes, and from them the sternest stoic may not long conceal +his wound. The Knight of Persia never groaned, or shrank, or drooped his +crest when the quarrel struck him; but Amala needed only to look down to +see his blood red upon the waters of the ford. Some penalty must attach +itself to unauthorized intruders, even in thought, upon the _Cerealia_. +I don't wish to be disagreeable, or to suggest unpleasant misgivings to +the masculine mind, but--do you think we are always compassionated as +much as we deserve? I own to a horrible suspicion that our betrayals of +weakness form matter of exultation, and that our tenderest emotions are +not unfrequently derided. + +Clearly this delightful sympathy can only exist where fancies, and +ambitions, and interests do not clash. They seldom need do so: there is +room enough for all. So much disposable devotion is abroad in this +world, that no one woman can monopolize it. It is a tolerably fair +handicap, on the whole; and even the second horse may land a very +satisfactory stake. Never was night when the moon shone so dazzlingly as +to blind us to the brilliancy of "a star or two beside." Bothwell, and +Châtelet, and Rizzio were not the only love-stricken ones in Holyrood. +Had the Queen of Scots been thrice as charming, glances, and sighs, and +words enough would still have been found to satisfy the most exacting of +her Maries. + +Fanny Molyneux was a capital specimen of the thorough-paced partisan. +She was terribly indignant at dinner on that first day of their meeting, +when Major Keene would not endorse _all_ her raptures about her +favorite. He assented to every thing, certainly; but though his +approbation was decided it was perfectly calm. He intrenched himself +behind his natural and acquired _sang-froid_, and the fair assailant +could not force those lines. + +"Don't be unreasonable," Royston said at last. "As Macdonough always +says when he has lost the first two rubbers, 'the night is young and +drink is plenty.' Admiration will develop itself if you only give it +time. I have serious thoughts already of adding another to the many +little poems that must have been written about Miss Tresilyan. Shall I +send it to the 'United Service Gazette?' It would be a great credit to +our branch of the profession. No dragoon has published a rhyme since +Lovelace, I believe. I've got as far as the first line: + + Ah, Cecil! hide those eyes of blue." + +"I think I've heard something very like that before," Fanny answered, +laughing. "She deserves a prettier compliment than a _réchauffé_." + +"Have you heard it before? Well, I shouldn't wonder. You don't expect +one to be original and enthusiastic at the same moment, when both are +out of one's line? I own it, though. Your princess merits all the +vassalage she has found--better than she will meet with here--if only +for the perfection of her costume. That _is_ a triumph. Honor to the +artist who built her hat. I drink to him now, and I wish the Burgundy +were worthier of the toast. (Hal, this Corton does not improve.) I +should advise you to secure the address of her _bottier_. You know her +well enough to ask for it, perhaps? It must be a secret." + +"Then you have not found out how very clever she is?" + +"Pardon me," was the reply; "I can imagine Miss Tresilyan perfectly well +educated; so well, that she might dispense with carrying about a living +voucher in the shape of that dreadful _ex-institutrice_. I never knew +what makes very nice women cling so to very disagreeable governesses. +Perhaps there is a satisfaction in patronizing where you have been +ruled, and in conferring favors where you have only received +'impositions'--a pleasant consciousness of returning good for evil. +There is no other rational way of accounting for it." + +_La mignonne_ was not indignant now, as might have been expected; but +she gazed at the speaker long and more searchingly than was her wont, +with something very like pity in her kind, earnest eyes. + +"I suppose you would not sneer so at every thing if you could help it," +she said. "I am not wise enough to do so; but I don't envy you." + +Royston's hard cold face changed for an instant, and the faintest flush +lingered there, about as long as your breath would upon polished steel. +It was not the first time that one of her random shafts had struck him +home. All the sarcasm had died out of his voice as he answered slowly-- + +"Don't you envy me? You are right there. And you think you are not wise +enough to be cynical? If there was any school to teach us how to turn +our talents to the best account, I know which of us two would have most +to learn." When he spoke again it was in his usual manner, but upon +another and perfectly indifferent subject. + +Harry had taken no part in the discussion. Always languid, toward night +he generally felt especially disinclined to any bodily or mental +exertion. At such times there was nothing he liked so well as to lie on +his sofa and assist at a passage-of-arms between his wife and Keene, +encouraging either party occasionally with an approving smile, but +preserving a cautious and complete neutrality. On the present occasion +he had his own reasons for not being disappointed about the latter's +appreciation of Miss Tresilyan. Had he felt any such misgivings, they +would have vanished later in the evening. + +The doctor was a stern man; but he must have been more than human to +have stood fast against the entreaties and cajolement with which his +patient backed up the petition, "to be allowed just one cigar before +going to roost." The prospect of this compensating weed had supported +poor Harry through the dullness and privations of many monotonous days. +As the appointed time drew nigh, he would freshen up visibly, just like +the camels when, staggering fetlock deep through the sand-wastes, they +scent the water or sight the clump of palms. Was there more in all this +than could be traced to the mere soothing influence of the nicotine and +flavor of the tobacco? Might not this one old habit still indulged have +been the only link that sensibly connected the invalid with those +pleasant days, when he enjoyed life so heartily, with so many cheery +comrades to keep him in countenance--when he would have laughed at the +idea of any thing short of a sabre-cut, a shot-wound, or a rattling fall +over an "oxer," bringing him down to that state of helpless dependence, +when our conception of womankind resolves itself into the ministering +angel? Harry certainly could not have told you if this were so; for an +inquiry into the precise nature of his sensations would have posed him +at any time quite as completely as a question in hydrostatics or plane +trigonometry. At any rate, the consumption of The Cigar was a very +important ceremony with him; not conducted in the thoughtless and +improvident spirit of men who smoke a dozen or so a day, but partaking +rather of the character of a sacrifice, at once festal and solemn. There +were times, as we have said before, when he would break out of bounds +recklessly; but upon such occasions he gave himself no time to reflect; +so there was nothing then of calm and deliberate enjoyment; and these +escapades grew more and more rare as the warnings of his constitution +spoke more imperiously. + +Among the very few traits of amiability that Major Keene had ever +displayed, were the sacrifices of personal convenience he would make for +Harry Molyneux. He had given up a good many engagements to see his +comrade through that especial hour; and, if the day had left any +available geniality in him, it was sure to come out then. Upon this +occasion, however, he was remarkably silent, and answered several times +at random as if his thoughts were roving elsewhere: they were not +unpleasant ones, apparently, for he smiled twice or thrice to himself, +much less icily than usual. At last he spoke abruptly, after a long +pause--Miss Tresilyan's name had not once been mentioned--"Hal, you know +that old hackneyed phrase, about 'a woman to die for?' I think we have +seen one to-day who is worth living for; which is saying a good deal +more." + +"You like her, then?" Molyneux asked. + +"Yes--I--like--her." The words came out as if each one had been weighed +to a grain; and his lip put on that curious smile once more. + +Harry did not feel quite satisfied. He would have preferred hearing +more, and inferring less; but acting upon his invariable rose-colored +principle, he would not admit any disagreeable surmises, and went to bed +under the impression that "it was all right," and that Royston was in a +fair way toward being repaid for the sacrifices he had made to +friendship. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The Saturday night is waning, but Molyneux shows no signs of moving yet +from Keene's apartments. He has been a model of prudence though so far, +as to his drinks, and, in good truth, their companion is not amusing, or +instructive, or convivial enough, to tempt or to excuse transgression. + +Dick Tresilyan looks about twenty-five, strongly and somewhat heavily +built; rather over the middle height, even with the decided stoop of his +broad, round shoulders. He carries far too much flesh to please a +professional eye, and by the time he is fifty will be very unwieldy; but +there is more activity in him than might be supposed, and he walks +strongly and well, as you would find if you tried to keep pace with him +through the turnips on a sultry September day. His face, without a +pretension to beauty in itself, suggests it--just the face that makes +you say, "that man must have a handsome sister;" indeed, it bears an +absurdly strong family likeness to Cecil's, amounting to a parody. But +the outline of feature which in her is so fine and clear, is dull and +filled out even to coarseness. It reminded one of looking at the same +landscape, first through the medium of a bright blue sky, and then +through driving mist, when crag, and cliff, and wood still show +themselves, but blurred and dimly. His hair and eyes are, by several +shades, the lighter of the two. The great difference is in the mouth. +Cecil's is so delicately chiseled, so apt at all expressions, from +tender to provocative, that many consider it one of her best points; her +brother's is so weak and undecided in its character (or rather want of +character), that it would make a more intellectual face vacuous and +inane. + +The "Tresilyan constitution" holds its own gallantly against the inroads +of hardish living, and Dick looks the picture of rude health. Men +endowed with an invincible obtuseness of intellect and feeling, have no +mental wear and tear, and if the machine starts in good order, it seems +as if it might last out indefinitely; so it would, I dare say, if it +were not for a propensity to drink, and otherwise to abuse their bodily +advantages, peculiar to this class. But for this neutralizing element in +their composition perhaps they would live as long as crows or elephants, +and we should be visited by a succession of stupid Old Parrs; which +would be a very dreadful dispensation indeed. The present subject takes +a good deal of exercise, to be sure, and naturally, few cares have ever +troubled him; he has always had more money than he knew what to do with, +and--as for serious annoyances, a certain train of thought is necessary +to form them, while our poor Dick's brain is utterly incapable of +holding more than one idea at a time. Whatever may happen to be the +dominant thought, reigns with an undivided empire, and will not endure a +rival even near its throne, till it is violently thrust out and +annihilated by its successor, on the principle of + + The priest that slays the slayer, + And shall himself be slain. + +He never originates a conception, of course, but is always open to a +fair offer in the way of a suggestion from any body, and adopts it with +the blind zeal of a proselyte. It follows that chance occurrences may +bother him for the moment, but he is saved an infinity of trouble by +being independent of foresight and memory. To this last defect there is +one exception. If he is crossed, or vexed, or injured, he cherishes +against the offender a dull, misty, purposeless sort of resentment, +scarcely amounting to animosity, but can not explain, either to you or +to himself, _why_ he does so. Fortunately he is tolerably harmless and +unsuspicious, for to reconcile him would be simply impossible. + +Not one _mésalliance_ could be detected in the main line of the +Tresilyans; but there must have been a blot somewhere, a link of base +metal in the golden chain, of which an adulteress and her confessor +could have told. Perhaps the son of the transgressor bore no stigma on +his forehead, and ruffled it among his peers as bravely as the best of +them, never witting of his mother's dishonor; but the stain had come out +in this generation. Even the faults and vices of that strong, stubborn +race were curiously distorted and caricatured in their representative. +His pride, for instance, chiefly displayed itself in a taste for low +company, where he could safely lord it over his inferiors. He did this +whenever he had a chance, but, to do him justice, by no means in an +ill-natured or bullying way. He had resided almost entirely on his own +estates; and, during his rare visits to London, had not extended his +knowledge of the world beyond the experience that may be picked up by +frequenting divers equivocal places of public resort, and from +occasional forays on the extreme frontier of the _demi-monde_. The +result was, that in general society he felt himself in a false position, +and was evidently anxious to escape into a more congenial atmosphere. + +Can you guess why I have lingered so long over a portrait that might +well have been dispatched in three lines? It is because, in the eyes of +those who knew Cecil Tresilyan, some interest must attach itself to the +basest thing that bears her name; it is because there are men alive who +think that the broidery of her skirt, or the trimming of her mantle, +deserve describing better than the shield of Pelides; who hold that one +of her dark chestnut tresses is worthier of a place among the stars than +imperial Berenicè's hair. A lame excuse, I admit, to the many that never +saw her--even in their dreams. + +On this particular evening Dick was supremely happy. Keene had got him +upon shooting--the only subject on which that unlucky man could talk +without committing himself; and, by the time he was well into his fourth +tumbler of iced Cogniac and water, he was achieving a rare +conversational triumph; for he had left off answering monosyllabically, +had volunteered an observation or two, and even ventured to banter his +companions about their not availing themselves sufficiently of the +sporting resources in the neighborhood. + +"There are several boars near here," he was saying; "they shoot them +sometimes, and you can go if you manage properly. I wonder you men never +found that out." + +"Ah! they _did_ talk a good deal about pigs," Royston remarked +indifferently. "But, you see, we used to stick them in the Deccan. The +first time I heard of their way of doing it here, I felt very like +Deering when they asked him to shoot a fox in Scotland. Tom Deering, you +know, the old boy that has hunted with the Warwickshire and Atherstone +for thirty seasons, and could tell you the names, ages, and colors of +the hounds better than he could those of his own small +family--pedigrees, too, I shouldn't wonder." + +Dick tried to look as if he had known the man from his childhood, and +succeeded but very moderately. + +"Well," the other went on, "they were beating a cover for roe, and the +gillie suggested a particular pass, as the most likely to get a shot at +what he called a 'tod.' It was some time before Tom realized the full +horror of the proposition: when he did, he shut his eyes like a bull +that is going to charge, and literally _fell_ upon the duinhe-wassel, +bellowing savagely. He had no more idea of using his hands than a +fractious baby; but it is rather a serious thing when sixteen stone of +solid flesh becomes possessed by a devil. Robin Oig was overborne by the +onset, and did not forget the effects of it that season." + +Tresilyan laughed applaudingly, as he always did when he could +understand more than half a story. + +"I suppose it's pretty good fun hunting them out there?" he said, going +off at score, as usual, on the fresh theme. + +"Not bad," Keene replied; "sharp going while it lasts, and a little +knack wanted to stick them scientifically. Some say it's more exciting +than fox-hunting, but that's childish; I never heard a man assert it +whose liver was not on the wane. It's more dangerous, certainly. A +header into the Smite or the Whissendine is nothing to a fall backward +into a nullah, with a beaten horse on the top of you." + +Molyneux woke up from a reverie. The familiar word stirred his blood +like a trumpet, and it flashed up brightly in his pale cheek as he +spoke. "Ah! we have had a brushing gallop or two in the gay old times, +before we got married, and invalided, and all that sort of thing. Dick, +I should like to tell you how I got my first spear." + +"Of course you would," the major said, resignedly; "it's my fault for +starting the subject. Get over it quickly then, please." He did not stop +him, though, as he would have done on another occasion--_pour cause_. + +"I had been entered some time at boar," Harry began, "before I had any +luck at all. Ride as hard as I would at the start, the old hands _would_ +creep up at the finish, just in time to get 'first blood.' I gave long +prices for my Arabs, too, and didn't spare them. I own I got +discouraged, and thought the whole thing a robbery, a delusion, and a +snare. One day, however, we had a good deal of deep, marshy ground at +first, and a quick gallop afterward, which served my light weight well. +I had it all to myself when he came to bay; so I went in, full of +confidence, and gave point, as I thought, well behind the +shoulder-blade. I did not calculate on the pace we were going, and I was +just three inches too forward. My horse was as young and hot as I was, +and though he had no idea of flinching, didn't know how to take care of +himself. The instant the brute felt the steel he wheeled short round, +and cut The Emperor's forelegs clean from under him. We all came down in +a heap; my spear flew yards away; and there I was on my face, clear of +my horse, with my right wrist badly sprained. Would you have fancied the +position? _I_ didn't. The devil was too blown to begin offensive +operations at once, for we had burst him along pretty sharply, but he +stood right over me, champing and rasping his tusks, and getting his +wind for a good vicious rip. I felt his boiling foam dropping upon me as +I lay quite still. I thought that was the best thing to do. All at once +hoofs came up at a hard gallop; something swept above me with a rush; +there was a short, smothered sound like a tap on a padded door, and then +the beast stretched himself slowly out across my legs, and shivered, and +died. That man opposite to you had leapt his horse over us both, and, +while he was in the air, speared the boar through the spinal marrow. If +he had been struck any where else he might still have torn me badly +before the life was out of him. Neatly done, wasn't it?" + +Harry drank off the remains of his sherry and seltzer rather excitedly, +and then sighed. He was thinking how often, in other days, when health +and nerves were to the fore, he had drained a stronger and deeper +draught to "Snaffle, spur, and spear!" + +"A mere stage trick," Keene remarked; "effective, but not in the least +dangerous, with a horse under you as steady as poor old Mahmoud. May his +rest be glorious! Gilbert killed a tiger that had got loose in the same +way, which _was_ something to talk about, for even clean-bred Arabs +don't like facing tigers. You made rather better time than usual over +that story to-night, Hal; it's practice, I suppose." + +Tresilyan's eyes fastened on the speaker, full of a heavy, pertinacious +admiration. You might have told him of the noblest action of generosity +or self-denial that ever constituted the stock in trade of a moral hero, +and he would have listened patiently, but without one responsive +emotion. Bodily prowess and daring he could appreciate. Keene's physical +_prestige_ was just the thing to captivate his limited imagination; +besides which the ground was prepared for the seed-time. He had some +soldier friends, and dining with these at the "Swashing Buckler," he had +heard some of those club chronicles in which the Cool Captain's name +figured prominently. + +The latter interpreted perfectly well the gaze that was riveted upon +him, without being in the least flattered by it. He felt, perhaps, the +same sort of satisfaction that one experiences when, fighting for the +odd trick, the first card in our hand is a heavy trump. Dick's thorough +and undivided allegiance once secured, was a good card in the game he +was playing at the moment. Whatever his thoughts might have been, his +face told no tales. He had been flooring glass for glass with his guest +till the liquor began to work its way into the cracks even of such a +seasoned vessel; but, for any outward or visible sign in feature, +speech, or manner, he might have been assisting at a teetotaller's +_soirée_. + +Very often--late on guest-nights, or other tournaments of deep drinking, +where Trojan and Tyrian met to do battle for the credit of their +respective corps--the calm, rigid face, never flushing beyond a clear +swarthy brown, and the cold, bright, inevitable eyes, had stricken +terror into the hearts of bacchanalian Heavies, and given consolation, +if not confidence, to the Hussars, who were failing fast: these knew +that though their own brains might be reeling and their legs +rebelliously independent, their single champion was invincible. As the +last of the Enomotæ went down, he saw Othryades standing steadfastly, +with never a trace of wound or weakness, still able and willing to write +[Greek: NIKH] on his shield. + +When our poor Dick was once thoroughly impressed, for the first time, +with awe or admiration, either for man or woman, he generally fell into +a species of trance, from which it was exceedingly difficult to bring +him round. He would have sat there, staring stupidly, till morning, with +perfect satisfaction to himself, if Molyneux had not attacked him with a +direct question, "How long do you think of staying at Dorade? And have +you made any plans afterward?" + +_Le mouton qui rêvait_ roused himself with an effort, and searched the +bottom of his empty glass narrowly for a reply. Eventually he succeeded +in finding one: + +"Cecil talks about two months; then we are to go on by Nice, Genoa, +Florence, Rome, and Naples, and so come back by--Italy." He had got up +the first names by rote, and run them off glibly enough, but was +evidently at fault about the last one. I fancy he had some vague idea of +Austrian troops being quartered in these regions, and looked upon +Hesperia in the light of an obscure state or moderate-sized town +somewhere in the north of Europe. + +Harry was balked in his inclination to laugh; the rising smile was +checked upon his lip, just in time, by a glance from his chief, severely +authoritative. + +"Italy?" the latter said, without a muscle moving; "well, I shouldn't +advise you to stay long there. It's rather a small place, and very +stupid; no society whatever. The others will amuse you, as you have +never seen them." + +He rose as he spoke the last words. Perhaps he thought he had done that +night "enough for profit and more than enough for glory." The Cool +Captain seldom suffered himself to be bored without an adequate object +very clearly in view. + +"Hal, I am going to turn you out. It is far too late for you to be +sitting up, and we have a good deal to do to-morrow." + +Molyneux did not quite comprehend what extraordinary labors were before +any of them, but he rose without making an objection, and Tresilyan +prepared to accompany him. Dick considered that individually he had been +remarkably brilliant, and had left a favorable impression behind him. +But all this newly-acquired confidence, and much strong drink were not +sufficient to embolden him to risk, as yet, a _tête-à-tête_ with Royston +Keene. + +Long after they had departed the major sat gazing steadfastly at the +logs burning on the hearth. If he had gone straight to bed, the enormous +dullness of one of the party would have weighed him down like a +nightmare. + +Is there one of us who can not remember having seen prettier pictures in +a flame-colored setting than the Royal Academy has ever shown him? What +earthly painter could emulate or imitate the coquettish caprice of light +and shadow, that enhances the charms, and dissembles all possible +defects in those fair, fleeting Fiamminas? Something like this effect +was to be found in the miniatures that were in fashion a dozen years +ago; where part only of a sweet face and a dangerously eloquent eye +looked at you out of a wreath of dusky cloud, that shrouded all the rest +and gave your imagination play. Truly it was not so utterly wrong, the +ancient legend that wedded Hephæstus to Aphroditè. The Minnesingers and +their coevals spoke fairly enough about Love, and probably had studied +their subject; but, rely upon it, passionate Romance died in Germany +when once the close stoves prevailed. Don't you envy the imagination of +the dreamer who could trace a shape of loveliness in those dreadful +glazed tiles? + +Being rather a _Guebre_ myself, I once got enthusiastic on the subject +in the company of an eccentric character, who very soon made me repent +my expansiveness. If he had committed any atrocious crime (he was a +small sandy-haired creature, and wore colored spectacles), no one knew +of it, and he never hinted at its nature; but his whole ideas seemed +tinged with a vague gloomy remorse that made him a sadder, but scarcely +a wiser or better man. Perhaps it was a monomania; let us hope so. On +that occasion he heard me out quite patiently; then the blue glasses +raised themselves to the level of my eyes, and I felt convinced their +owner was staring spectrally behind them. Considering that he measured +about thirty-four inches round the chest, his voice was extraordinarily +deep and solemn: it sounded preternaturally so as he said very slowly, +"There is one face that does not often leave me alone here, and will +follow me, I think, when I go to my appointed place: I see it now, as I +shall see it throughout all ages--always _by firelight_." + +I felt very wroth, for surely to suggest a new and unpleasant train of +ideas is an infamous abuse of a _tête-à-tête_. I told my friend so; and, +as he declined to retract or apologize, or in any wise explain himself, +departed with the conviction that, though a clever man and an original +thinker, he was by no means an exhilarating or instructive companion. I +should have borne him a grudge to this day, but as I was walking home, +decidedly disconsolate (there's no such bore as having a pet fancy +spoiled, it is like having your favorite hunter sent home with two +broken knees), it suddenly occurred to me that if the penitent was in +the habit of looking at the fire through those blue barnacles, it was +not likely there would be much rose-color in his visions. In great +triumph I retraced my steps, and knocked the culprit up to put in this +"demurrer." I flatter myself it floored him. He did attempt some lame +excuse about "taking his spectacles off at such times," but I refused to +listen to a word, and marched out of the place with drums beating and +colors flying, first exasperating him by the assurance of my complete +forgiveness. Since then, if sitting alone, _ligna super foco largè +reponens_, I involuntarily recur to that ill-favored conception, it +suffices to contrast with it the grotesque appearance of its originator, +and the pale phantom evanisheth. + +I have no excuse to offer for this long and egotistical anecdote, except +the pendant which Maloney used to attach to his ultra-_marine_ +stories--"The point of it is, that--it's strictly true." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Another and a much more reputable Council of Three sat that night in +Miss Tresilyan's apartments. Mr. Fullarton represented the male element +there, and was in great force. The late accession to his flock had +decidedly raised his spirits: he knew how materially it would strengthen +his hands; but, independently of all politic consideration, Cecil's +grace and beauty exercised a powerful influence over him. Do not +misconstrue this. I believe a thought had never crossed his mind +relating to any living woman that his own wife might not have known and +approved; nevertheless was it true, that Mr. Fullarton liked his +penitents to be fair: not a very eccentric or unaccountable taste +either. It is a necessity of our nature to take more delight in the +welfare and training of a beautiful and refined being, than in that of +one who is coarse and awkward and ugly. Even with the merely animal +creation we should experience this; and not above one divine in fifty is +_more_ than human, after all. + +So, gazing on the fair face and queenly figure that were then before +him, and feeling a sort of vested interest in their possessor, the heart +of the pastor was merry within him; and he, so to speak, caroused over +the profusely-sugared tea and well-buttered _galette_ with a decorous +and regulated joviality; ever as he drank casting down the wreaths of +his florid eloquence at the feet of his entertainers. In any atmosphere +whatsoever, no matter how uncongenial, those garlands were sure to +bloom. His zeal was such a hardy perennial that the most chilling +reception could not damage its vitality. Principle and intention were +both all right, of course, but they were clumsily carried out, and the +whole effect was to remind one unpleasantly of the clockmaker puffing +his wares. At the most unseasonable times and in the most incongruous +places, Mr. Fullarton always had an eye to business, introducing and +inculcating his tenets with an assurance and complacency peculiar to +himself. Sometimes he would adopt the familiarly conversational, +sometimes the theatrically effective style; but it never seemed to cross +his mind that either could appear ridiculous or grotesque. Some absurd +stories were told of his performances in this line. On one occasion, +they say, he addressed his neighbor at dinner, to whom he had just been +introduced, abruptly thus: "You see, what we want is--more faith," in +precisely the manner and tone of a _gourmet_ suggesting that "the soup +would be all the better for a little more seasoning;" or of Mr. Chouler +asserting, "the farmers must be protected, sir." On another, meeting for +the first time a very pious and wealthy old man (I believe a joint-stock +bank director), he proceeded to sound him as to his "experiences." The +unsuspecting elder, rather flattered by the interest taken in his +welfare, and never dreaming that such communications could be any thing +but privileged and confidential, parted with his information pretty +freely. Mr. Fullarton was so delighted at what he had heard that he +turned suddenly round to the mixed assembly and cried out. "Why, here's +a blessed old Barzillai!" His face was beaming like that of an +enthusiastic numismatist who stumbles upon a rare Commodus or an +authentic Domitian. There were several people present of his own way of +thinking; but some, even among those, felt very ill afterward from their +efforts to repress their laughter. The miserable individual thus endued +with the "robe of honor" would have infinitely preferred the most +scandalously abusive epithet to that fervid compliment. He would have +parted with half his bank shares at a discount (they were paying about +14 per cent. then--you can get them tolerably cheap now) to have been +able to sink into his shoes on the spot; indeed these were almost large +enough to form convenient places of refuge. It had a very bad effect on +him: he never again unbosomed himself on any subject to man, woman, or +child. Even in his last illness--though he must have had one or two +troublesome things on his mind, unless he had peculiar ideas, as to the +propriety of ruining widows and orphans--he declined to commit himself, + + But locked the secret in his breast, + And died in silence, unconfessed. + +On that Saturday night, to one of the party at all events, Mr. +Fullarton's presence was very welcome. Mrs. Danvers was somewhat of a +hard drinker in theology, and, like other intemperate people, was not +over particular as to the quality of the liquors set before her, +provided only that they were hot and strong, and unstinted. The +succulent and highly-flavored eloquence to which she was listening +suited her palate exactly, besides which, the chaplain's peculiar +opinions happened to coincide perfectly with her own. As the evening +progressed she got more and more exhilarated; and at length could not +forbear intimating "how sincerely she valued the privilege of sitting +under so eminent a divine." + +The latter made a scientific little bow, elaborated evidently by long +practice, expressive at once of gratification and humility. + +"A privilege, if such it be, dear Mrs. Danvers, that some of my +congregation estimate but very lightly. You would hardly believe how +many members of my flock I scarcely know, except by name. It is a sore +temptation to discouragement. I fear that Major Keene's pernicious +example is indeed contagious, and that his evil communications have +corrupted many--alas! too many." He rounded off the period with a +ponderous professional sigh. + +Miss Tresilyan was leaning back in her arm-chair: as the wood-fire +sprang up brightly and sank again suddenly, her great deep eyes seemed +to flash back the fitful gleams. It was long since she had spoken. In +truth, she had been drawing largely upon her piety at first, to make +herself feel interested, and, when this failed, upon her courtesy, to +appear so; but she was conscious of relapses more and more frequent into +the dreary regions of Boredom. Every body _would_ agree with every body +else so completely! A bold contradiction, a stinging sarcasm, or a +caustic retort, would have been worth any thing just then to take off +the cloying taste of the everlasting honey. She roused herself at these +last words enough to ask languidly, "What has he done?" + +There could not be a simpler question, nor one put more carelessly; but +it was rather a "facer" to Mr. Fullarton, who dealt in generalities as a +rule, and objected to being brought to book about +particulars--considering, indeed, such a line of argument as indicative +of a caviling and narrow-minded disposition in his interlocutor. + +"Well," he said, not without hesitation, "Major Keene has only once been +to church; and, I believe, has spoken scoffingly since of the discourse +he heard delivered there. Yet I may say I was more than usually +'supported' on that occasion." The man's thorough air of conviction +softened somewhat the absurd effect of his childish vanity. + +Cecil would have been sorry to confess how much excuse she felt inclined +to admit just then for the sins both of commission and omission--sins +that, at another time, when her faculties were fresh and her judgment +unbiassed, she might have looked upon as any thing but venial. Ah! Mr. +Fullarton, the seed you have scattered so profusely to-night is +beginning to bear fruit already you never dreamed of. Beet-root and +turnips will not succeed on _every_ soil. It must be long before a +remunerative crop of these can be gathered from the breezy upland which +for centuries, till the heather was burned, has worn a robe of +uncommercial but imperial purple. + +Nevertheless, Miss Tresilyan frowned perceptibly. It looked very much as +if Keene had been amusing himself at her expense when he affected an +interest in her leading the choir. Unwittingly to "make sport for the +men of war in Gath" by no means suited the fancy of that haughty ladye. + +"It is very wrong of him not to come to church," she observed after a +pause (for the sin of sarcasm disapproval was not so ready, and she made +the most of scanty means of condemnation). "Yet I scarcely think he can +be actively hostile. You know he almost lives with the Molyneuxs, and +has great influence with them. Do they not attend regularly?" + +Mr. Fullarton admitted that they did. "But," said he, "constant +intercourse with such a man must ere long have its injurious effect. +Indeed, I felt it my bounden duty to warn Mrs. Molyneux on the subject. +I grieve to say she treated my admonition with a very unwarrantable +levity." + +Mrs. Danvers's sympathetic groan was promptly at the service of the +speaker; fortunately, turning to thank her for it by a look, he missed +detecting her pupil's smile. She could fancy so well Fanny's little +_moue_, combining amusement, vexation, and impertinence, while +undergoing the ecclesiastical censure. + +"You must be merciful to Mrs. Molyneux," she remarked, with a demure +gravity that did her credit under the circumstances. "She is my greatest +friend, you know. When a wife is so very fond of her husband, surely +there is some excuse for her adopting his prejudices for and against +people?" + +The pastor brightened up suddenly: he had just recollected another fact +to fire off against the _bête noir_. + +"I forgot to tell you that Major Keene is much addicted to play, and, +besides, is intimate with the Vicomte de Châteaumesnil. _Noscitur a +sociis._" The reverend man was an indifferent classic, but he had a way +of flashing scraps out of grammars and _Analecta Minora_ before women +and others unlikely to be down upon him, as if they were quotations from +some recondite author. + +"You can not mean that cripple who is drawn about in a wheel-chair?" +Cecil asked. "We saw him to-day, only for a moment, for he drew his +cloak over his face as we passed. I never saw such a melancholy wreck, +and I pitied him so much that I fear he will haunt me." + +Far deeper would have been the compassion had she guessed at the pang +that shot straight to Armand's heart as he veiled his blasted features +and haggard eyes, feeling bitterly that such as he were not worthy to +look upon her in the glory of her brilliant beauty. + +"A notorious atheist and profligate," was the reply. "We can not regard +his sore affliction in any other light than a judgment--a manifest +judgment, dear Miss Tresilyan." + +There was grave disapproval and just a shade of contempt in the face of +one of his hearers as she said, "The hand of God is laid so heavily +there that man may surely forbear him." But Mrs. Danvers struck in to +her favorite's rescue, rejoicing in an opportunity of displaying her +partisanship. + +"A judgment, of course. It would be sinful to doubt it. Besides, do not +_others_ suffer?" (She cast up her eyes here pointedly, as though she +said, "There may be more perfect saints, but if you want a fair specimen +of the fine old English martyr--_me voici_.") "Cecil, my love, I wonder +you did not perceive Major Keene's true character at once. You were +talking to him a good deal the other day." + +"He did not favor me with any remarkably heretical opinions," Miss +Tresilyan replied, carelessly. "Perhaps they have been exaggerated. At +all events, he is not likely to do us much harm. Don't you think _we_ +are safe, Bessie? Dick does not care much for play; and his ideas on +religious subjects are so very simple that it would be hard to unsettle +them." + +Clearly she thought the topic was exhausted, but it had a strange +fascination for Mr. Fullarton. One of the many good-natured people, who +especially abound in those semi-English Continental towns, had been kind +enough to quote or misquote to him a remark of Royston's about that +sermon; and on this topic the chaplain was very vulnerable. He would +have forgiven a real substantial injury far sooner than a depreciation +of his discourses. + +Was he one whit weaker or more susceptible than his fellows? I think +not. All the philosophy on earth will not teach us to endure without +wincing a mosquito's bite. The hardiest hero bears about him one spot +where an ivy-leaf clinging intercepted the petrifying water--a tiny +out-of-the-way spot, not very near the head or heart, but palpable +enough to be stricken by Paris's arrow or Hagen's spear. Cæsar is very +sensitive about that bald crown of his, and fears lest even the laurel +wreath should cover it but meagrely. Many wars, since that which brought +Ilium to the dust, might have been traced to slighted vanity, and many +excellent Christians have waxed quite as wroth as the queen of +heathenish heaven about the _spretæ injuria formæ_. (Do you think this +is a peculiarly feminine failing? I have seen a first-class man and +Ireland scholar look massacres at the child of his bosom friend, when +the unconscious innocent made disagreeable remarks on his personal +appearance, alluding particularly to the shape of his nose, which was +_not_ Phidian. He has since been heard to speak of that terrible deed in +Bethlehem as a painful but justifiable measure of political expediency; +and is inclined, on many grounds, to excuse and sympathize with the stem +Idumean.) The insult offered to the embassador in Tarentum was only the +outbreak of a single drunkard's brutality, but all the wealth of the +fair city of Phalanthus did not suffice to pay the account for washing +the soiled robe white again; and blood enough ran down her streets to +have quenched some blazing temples before the Romans would give her a +receipt in full. + +Arguing from these _data_, we may conclude that Mr. Fullarton was +laboring under a slight delusion in believing (which he did sincerely) +that only a pure and disinterested zeal for the welfare of his flock +impelled him to say, "I shall make it my business to inquire more fully +into Major Keene's antecedents. I am convinced there is something +discreditable in the background, and it may be well to be armed with +proofs in case of need." + +Though _he_ may have deceived himself completely as to the nature of the +spirit that possessed him, Cecil Tresilyan was more clear-sighted. She +had not failed to remark a certain vicious twinkle in the speaker's eye +and a deeper flush on his ruddy countenance, betokening rather a mundane +resentment. Her lip began to curl. + +"How very disagreeable some of your duties must be. No doubt you +interpret them correctly, but in this case perhaps it would be well to +be _quite_ sure before acting on the offensive. If I were a man--even a +clergyman--I don't think I should like to have Major Keene for my +declared enemy." + +The text with which the chaplain enforced his reply--expressive of a +determination to keep his own line at all hazards, strong in the +rectitude of his cause--had better not be quoted here, especially as it +was not apposite enough to "lay" the contradictory spirit that was alive +in his fair opponent. (How very angry Cecil would have been if she had +been told ten minutes ago that such an expression would apply to her!) +The temptation to answer sharply was so powerful that she took refuge in +distant coldness. + +"You quite misunderstand me, Mr. Fullarton. I never dreamed of offering +advice; it would have been excessively presumptuous in me, especially as +I have not the faintest interest in the subject we have been talking +about. Need we discuss it any longer? I think Major Keene has been too +highly honored already." + +That weary look was so manifest now on the beautiful face that even the +chaplain, albeit tenacious of his position as a sea-anemone, felt that, +for once, he had overstaid his time and was periling his popularity. So, +after an expansive benediction, and an entreaty that they would be early +at church on the morrow, he went "to his own place." + +With a sigh of admiration--"What an excellent man, and how well he +talks!" said Bessie Danvers. + +With a sigh of relief--"He talks a great deal, and it is very late," +said Cecil Tresilyan. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +From his "coign of vantage" in the reading-desk the next morning, Mr. +Fullarton surveyed a crowded congregation, serenely complacent and +hopeful, as a farmer in August looking down from the hill-side on golden +billows of waving grain. Visitors had been pouring in rather fast during +the week; and there was a vague, general impression, which no individual +would have owned, that they were to hear something unusually good. For +once expectation was not to be disappointed--a remarkable fact, when one +considers how much dissatisfaction is created, as a rule, in the popular +mind, by the shortcomings of eclipses, processions, Vesuvian eruptions, +new operas, and other advertised attractions, natural and artificial. +The singing was really a success. Miss Tresilyan's magnificent voice did +its duty nobly, and did no more. Without overpowering or singling itself +out from the others, it lured them on to follow where they could never +have gone alone: the choir was kept in perfect order without even +knowing that it was disciplined. + +There was an elderly Englishman who had resided at Dorade ever since he +had a slight difference of opinion with the Bankruptcy Court a quarter +of a century back. Drifting helplessly and aimlessly about Europe in +search of employment, he had taken root where he came ashore, and +vegetated, as floating weeds will do. He picked up rather a precarious +livelihood by acting as a species of factotum to his countrymen in the +season, ministering, not injudiciously, to their myriad whims and +necessities. Among his multifarious functions, perhaps the most +respectable and permanent was that of clerk to the English chapel. He +was by no means a very religious man, nor were his morals quite +unexceptionable, but he had completely identified himself with the +fortunes and interests of that modest building. A sneer at its +capabilities or a doubt as to its prospects would exasperate him at any +time far more than a direct insult to himself (to be sure there was +little self-respect left to be offended). When disguised in drink, which +was the case tolerably often, he generally proposed to settle the +question by the ordeal of battle, and was only to be appeased by an +apology or a great deal more liquor. + +On this occasion the success and the singing combined--for excess and +hardship had not quite deadened a good ear for music--moved the old +castaway strangely. His thoughts wandered back to the misused days when +he had friends, and a position, and character; when he was a householder +and vestryman, and even dreamt ambitiously of a churchwardenship. He +could see distinctly his own pew, with the gray, worm-eaten panels, +where he had sat many and many a warm afternoon, resisting sternly, as +became a man of mark in the parish, treacherous inclinations to slumber. +He saw the ponderous brown gallery--eyesore to archæologists--which held +the village choir: there they were, with the sun streaming in on their +heads through the western window, till even the faded red cushion in +front deepened into rich crimson, chanting their quaint old anthems with +right good courage, though every one got lost in the second line, and, +after much independent exertion of the lungs, just came up in time to +join in the grand final rally. He saw the mild-faced, gray-haired parson +mounting slowly the pulpit stairs, adjusting and manoeuvring the +refractory gown that _would_ come off his shoulders with the nervous +gesture which, beginning in timidity, had grown into a habit that was +part of the man. More plainly than all--he saw a low, green mound, just +beyond the chancel walls, where one was sleeping who had lavished on him +all the treasures of a rare, unselfish, trusting love; the dear, meek, +little wife, who was so proud of her husband's few poor talents, so +indulgent to his many failings, who ever had an excuse ready to answer +his self-reproaches, whose weak, thin hand was always strong enough to +pluck him back from ruin and dishonor, till it grew stiff and cold. She +knew it, too, for he remembered the wail that burst from her lips when +she thought she was alone, the night before she died--"Ah! who will save +him now that I am gone?" How miserable and lonely he was long after they +buried her! How incessantly he used to repeat those last words, meant to +be comforting, that she spoke, with her arm wound round his neck, +"Darling, you have been so very, very kind to me!" So it went on, till +the devil of drink, choosing his time cunningly, entered into him, and +battled with and drove out the angel. A strange resurrection! Memories +that had died years ago, withering from very shame, began to curl and +twine themselves round the hard, battered heart as tenderly as ever. +These pictures of the past were still vivid and clear, when he became +aware of a dimness in his eyes that blinded them to all real surrounding +objects; he felt so surprised that it broke the spell; tears had almost +forgotten the way to his eyes. + +Not very probable, is it, that a prosaic elderly clerk should dream of +all this during the three last verses of a hymn? Well, the steadiest +imagination is apt to disregard sometimes the proprieties of place; and +as for space--of course the visions of the night are quicker on the wing +than their rivals of the day; yet there must be some analogy, and, they +say, we pass through the vicissitudes of half a lifetime in the few +seconds before we wake. + +Cecil was really pleased with the result of the singing. She would have +been even more so had it not been for the marked expression of approval +on the face of Royston Keene. It was evident she had been on her trial. +The cool, tranquil, appreciative smile was very provoking. It made her +feel for the moment like a _prima donna_ on her first appearance at a +new theatre. + +Unusually eloquent and verbose was the sermon that day, for not only was +the preacher aware that bright eyes looked upon his deeds, but he saw +his enemies in the front of the battle. Surely all extemporaneous +speakers, in court, pulpit, or senate, must be accessible to such +external influences. It ought not to be so, of course, but I fancy it +_is_. Would John Knox have been so fiery in denunciation if those wicked +maids of honor had not derided him? I doubt if a discourse delivered in +a Union would ever soar to sublimity, even if the excellent paupers +could be supposed to understand it. So, with every sentence more +plaintive grew Mr. Fullarton's lamentations over worldlings and their +vanities, more bitter his invectives against those who, having +themselves broken out of the fold, seek to lead others astray. An +occasional gesture--something too expressive--was not needed to point +his animadversions. The object of them sat with his head slightly bent, +neither by frown nor smile betraying that a single allusion had gone +home. The simple truth was, that he scarcely caught one word. The last +cadence of sweeter tones was still lingering in his ears, and had locked +them fast against all other sounds. The energetic divine might have +poured out upon his guilty head yet stormier vials, and he would never +have heard one roll of the thunder. However, the dearest friends must +part, and all orations must come to an end, except those of the +much-desiderated Chisholm Anstey, of whom an old-world parliament was +not worthy; so, after "a burst of forty-five minutes without a check," +the chaplain dismissed his beloved hearers to their digestion. + +The stream, as it flowed out, divided, and broke up into small pools of +conversation. Miss Tresilyan and her chaperone joined the Molyneux +party, just as Fanny was saying to Keene that "she hoped he would profit +by much in the sermon that was evidently meant for him." + +"_Was_ he personal?" the latter asked, so indifferently; "I didn't +notice it. Well, I suppose it amuses him, and it certainly does not hurt +me." (Mrs. Danvers sniffed indignantly--a form of protest to which her +nose, from its construction, was eminently adapted; but he went on +before she could speak) "Miss Tresilyan, will you allow perhaps the +unworthiest member of the congregation to express an opinion that the +singing went off superbly?" + +Her beautiful eyes glittered somewhat disdainfully. "Thank you, you are +very good. But I think you have hardly a right to be critical. I should +like to have some one's opinion who is _really_ interested in the +chapel. It was scarcely worth taking so much trouble to appear so the +other day. You know what Liston said about the penny? 'It is not the +value of the thing, but one hates to be imposed upon.' Delusions are not +so agreeable as illusions, Major Keene." + +Royston was very much pleased. He liked above all things to see a woman +stand up to him defiantly; indeed, if they were worth "setting to with," +he always tried to get them to spar as soon as possible, to find out if +they had any idea of hitting straight. He did not betray his +satisfaction, though, as he answered quite calmly, "Pardon me, I could +not be so impertinent as to attempt a 'delusion' on so short an +acquaintance. I deny the charge distinctly. I believe that residence in +Dorade, and a certain amount of subscription, constitute a member of Mr. +Fullarton's congregation, and give one a franchise. He has not thought +fit to excommunicate me publicly as yet. I really was interested in the +subject, for I fully meant to go to church this morning, and I mean to +go again." + +Insensibly they had walked on in advance of the others. She shook her +head with a saucy incredulity--"I am no believer in sudden conversions." + +"Nor I; I was not speaking of such; but I am very fond of good singing, +and I would go any where to hear it. Did our chaplain include hypocrisy +among my other disqualifications for decent society last night? I +understand he is good enough to furnish a catalogue of them to all new +comers." + +Cecil certainly had not abused him then; so there was not the slightest +necessity for her looking guilty and conscious, both of which she felt +she was doing as she replied--"I am sure Mr. Fullarton would not asperse +any one's character knowingly. He could only speak from a sense of duty, +perhaps not a pleasant one." + +"Quite so," said Royston; "I don't quarrel with him for any fair +professional move. If he thinks it necessary or expedient to prejudice +indifferent people against me, he is clearly right to do so. Ah! I see, +you think I dislike him. I don't, indeed. Morally and physically, he +seems a little too unctuous, that's all. Capital clergyman for a cold +climate! Fancy how useful he would be in an Arctic expedition. They +might save his salary in Arnott's stoves: I'm certain he _radiates_." + +Miss Tresilyan knew that it was wrong to smile. But she had an +unfortunately quick perception of the ridiculous, and the struggles of +principle against a sense of humor were not always successful. She would +not give up her point, though. "I can not think that you judge him +fairly," she persisted. + +"Perhaps not; but there is a large class who would scarcely be much +moved by stronger and abler words than, I suppose, we heard +to-day--spoken as they were spoken. These preachers won't study the +fitness of things; that's the worst of it. I have known a garrison +chaplain deliver a discourse that, I am convinced, was composed for a +visitation. It seems absurd to hear a man warning us against a +particular sin, and threatening us with all sorts of penalties if we +indulge in it, when it is impossible that he himself should ever have +felt the temptation. We want some one who can find out the harmless side +of our character, as well as the diseased part, and work upon it. Such a +person may be as strict and harsh as he pleases, but he is listened to." +He paused for a moment, and went on in a graver tone--"I think it might +have done even _me_ some good, when I was younger, to have talked for +half an hour with the man who wrote 'How Amyas threw his sword away.'" + +Cecil could not disagree with him now, nor did she wish to do so. She +liked those last words of his better than any he had spoken. Remember, +she was born and bred in the honest west country, where one, at least, +of their own prophets hath honor. If you want to indulge your enthusiasm +for the Rector of Eversley, let your next walking-tour turn thitherward; +for on all the sea-board from Portsmouth to Penzance, there is never a +woman--maid, wife, or widow--that will say you nay. + +Keene saw his advantage, but was far too wise to follow it up then. The +weaker sex, as a rule, are acute but not very close reasoners; they mix +up their majors and minors with a charming recklessness; and, if +innocent of nothing else, are generally guiltless of a syllogism. It +follows that, in the course of an argument, it is easy enough to +entangle them in their talk. When such a chance occurs, don't come down +on your pretty antagonist with "I thought you said so and so," but be +politic as well as generous, and pass it by. They will do more justice +to your self-denial than they would have done to your dialectic talents. +Corinna loves to be contradicted, but hates to be convinced, and dreads +no monster so much as a short-horned--dilemma. She may forgive the first +offense as inadvertent, but "one more such victory and you are lost." +Think how often clemency has succeeded where severity would have failed. +What did that discreet Eastern emir, when he found his fair young wife +sleeping in a garden, where she had no earthly business to be? He laid +his drawn sabre softly across her neck, and retired without breaking her +slumbers. The cold blade was the first thing Zuleika felt when she woke; +I can not guess what her sensations were; but when she gave the weapon +back to her solemn lord, she pressed her rosy lips thrice on the blue +steel, and made a vow that she most probably kept; and Hussein Bey +never was happier, than when he drew her back to his broad breast, +looking into her face silently with his calm, grave smile. + +I fancy our sisters enter into an argument with more simple good faith +and eagerness than we are wont to indulge in; so that it is probably +easier to tease and exasperate them, which is amusing enough while it +lasts. But no doubt it hurts them sometimes more than we are aware of; +and, after all, breaking a butterfly on the wheel is poor pastime, and +not a very athletic sport. The glory, too, to be won is so small that it +scarcely compensates for the pain we inflict, and may, perchance, +eventually _feel_. Is Achilles inclined to be proud of the strength of +his arm, or the keenness of his falchion, as he grovels in the dust at +the slain Amazon's side? Nay, he would give half his laurels to be able +to close that awful gaping wound--to see the proud lips soften for a +moment from their immutable scorn--to detect the faintest tremor in the +long white limbs that never will stir again. + +The solemnity of these illustrations, in which battles, murders, and +sudden deaths are mingled, will prove that I regard the subject as by no +means trivial, but am sincerely anxious to warn my comrades against +yielding to a temptation which assails us daily. + +On these principles the Cool Captain acted, then. His gay laugh opened a +bridge to the retreating enemy as he said, "How my poor character must +have been worried last night! I wish Mrs. Molyneux had been there. She +is good enough to stand up for her old friend sometimes. I could hardly +expect _you_ to take so much trouble for a very recent acquaintance." + +"Of course not," replied Cecil. "I was not in a position to contradict +any thing, even if I had wished to do so. But, I remember, I thought I +would speak to you about my brother. You know enough of him already to +guess why I am nervous about him. I almost forced him to take me abroad; +and he is exposed to so many more dangers here than at home. Please, +don't encourage him to play, or tempt him into any thing wrong. Indeed, +I don't mean to speak harshly or uncourteously, so you need not be +angry." + +She raised her eyes to her companion's with a pretty pleading. He met +them fairly. Whatever his intentions might be, no one could say that the +major ever shrank from looking friend or foe in the face. + +"I am sorry that you should think the warning necessary. Supposing that +it were so--on my honor, he is safe from me. I should like to alter your +opinion of me, if it were possible. Will you give me a chance?" The +others joined them before she could reply; but more than once that day +Cecil wondered whether, even during their short acquaintance, she had +not sometimes dealt scanty justice to Royston Keene. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +There is a pleasant theory--that every woman may be loved, once at least +in her life, if she so wills it. It must be true: how, otherwise, can +you account for the number of hard-featured visages--lighted up by no +redeeming ray of intellect--that preside at "good men's feasts," and +confront them at their firesides? How do the husbands manage? Do they, +from constantly contemplating an inferior type of creation, lose their +comparing and discriminating powers, so that, like the Australian and +Pacific aborigines, they come to regard as points of beauty +peculiarities that a more advanced civilization shrinks from? Or do +their visual organs actually become impaired, like those of captives who +can see clearly only in their own dungeon's twilight, and flinch before +the full glare of day? If neither of these is the case, they must +sometimes sympathize with that dreary dilemma of Bias which the adust +Aldrich quotes in grim irony--[Greek: _Ei men kalên, exeis koinên, ei d' +aischran, poinên_] (Whether of the two horns impaled the sage of +Priene?) Some, of course, are fully alive to the outward defects of +their partners; but few are so candid as the old Berkshire squire, who, +looking after his spouse as she left the room, said, pensively, +"Excellent creature, that! I've liked her better every day for twenty +years, but I've always thought she's the plainest-headed woman in +England!" Fewer still would wish to emulate the sturdy plain-speaking of +the "gudeman" in the Scottish ballad, who, when his witch-wife boasted +how she bloomed into beauty after drinking the "wild-flower wine," +replied, undauntedly, + + "Ye lee, ye lee, ye ill womyn, + Sae loud I hear ye lee; + The ill-faured'st wife i' the kingdom of Fife + Is comely compared wi' thee." + +He could stand all the other marvels of the Sabbat, but _that_ was too +much for his credulity. + +No doubt many of these Ugly Princesses are endowed with excellent +sterling qualities. The old Border legend says there never was a happier +match than that of "Muckle-mou'ed Meg," though her husband married her +reluctantly with a halter tightening round his neck. But such advantages +lie below the surface, and take some time in being appreciated. The +first process of captivation is what I don't understand--unless, indeed, +there are sparkles in the quartz, invisible to common eyes, that tell +the experienced gold-seeker of a rich vein near. + +Well, we will allow the proposition with which we started; but do you +suppose its converse would hold equally good--that every woman could +_love_ once if she wished it? Nine out of ten of them would, I dare say, +answer boldly in the affirmative; but in a few rather sad and weary +faces you might read something more than a doubt about this; and lips, +not so red and full as they once were, on which the wintry smile comes +but rarely, could tell perhaps a different story. The precise mould that +will fit _some_ fancies is as hard to find as the slipper of Cendrillon; +and so, in default of the fairy _chaussure_, the small white foot goes +on its road unshod, and the stones and briers gall it cruelly. + +With men it does not so much matter. They have always the counteracting +resources of bodily and mental exertion, against which the affections +can make but little head. Indeed, some of the most distinguished in +arts, in arms, if not in song, seem to have gone down to their graves +without ever giving themselves time to indulge in any one of these. +Perhaps they never missed a sentiment which would have been very much in +their way if they had felt it. If all tales are true, mathematics are a +very effectual Nénuphar. But with women it is different. _They_ can't be +always clambering up unexplored peaks, or inventing improvements in +gunnery, or commanding irregular corps, or bringing in faultless reform +bills, or finding out constellations, or shooting big game, or resorting +to any of _our_ thousand-and-one safety-valves to superfluous +excitement. Are crochet, or crossed letters, or charity-schools, or even +Cochins and _Crève-coeurs_, so entirely engrossing as to drown forever +the reproaches of nature, that will make herself heard? If not, surely +the most phlegmatically proper of her sex does sometimes feel sad and +dissatisfied when she thinks that she has never been able to care for +any one more than for her own brother. It must seem hard that, when the +frost of old age comes on, she shall not have even a memory to look upon +to warm her. But in the world here, such temptations to discontent +abound; but the most guileless votary of the _Sacré Coeur_ might +confess regrets and misgivings like these without meriting any extra +allowance of fast and scourge. + +If we were to reckon up the cases we have heard of women who have "gone +wrong," and made, if not _mésalliances_, at least marriages inexplicable +on any rational grounds, it would fill up a long summer's day, even +without drawing on darker recollections of post-nuptial transgression. +In these last cases, perhaps, the altar and absolute indifference was a +more dangerous element than Mrs. Malaprop's "little aversion," which is, +at all events, a _positive_, thing to work upon. Lethargies are harder +to cure, they say, than fevers. Certainly they have the warning examples +of others who have so erred, and paid for it by a life-long repentance; +but that never has stopped them yet, and never will. Remember the reply +of the _débutante_ to her austere parent when the latter refused to take +her to a ball, saying that "_she_ had seen the folly of such things." "I +want to see the folly of them too." Few of us men can realize the +feeling that, with our sisters, may account for, though not excuse, much +folly and sin. They see others happy all around them: it is hard to fast +when so many are feasting. So there comes a shameful sense of +ignorance--a vague, eager desire for knowledge--a terror of an isolation +deepening and darkening upon them, and a determination, at any risks, to +balk at least _that_ enemy--and so, like the poor lady of Shalott, they +grow restless, and reckless, and rebellious at last. They are safe where +they are, but the days have so much of dull sameness that there is a +sore temptation in the unknown peril. "Better," they say, "than the +close atmosphere of the guarded castle and the phantasms of fairy-land, +one draught of the fresh outer air--one glimpse of real life and +nature--one taste of substantial joys and sorrows that shall wake all +the pulses of womanhood, even though the experience be brief and dearly +bought, though the web woven while we sat dreaming must surely be rent +in twain--ay, even though the curse, too, may follow very swiftly, and +the swans be waiting at the gate that shall bear us down to our +burying." + +If staid and cold-blooded virgins and matrons are not exempt from these +disagreeable self-reproaches, how did it fare with Cecil Tresilyan, in +whom the energy of a strong temperament was stirring like the spring-sap +in a young oak-tree? Should she die conscious of the possession of such +a wealth of love, with none to share or inherit it? She had seen such +numbers of her friends and acquaintance "pair off," that she began to +envy at last the facility of attachment that she had been wont to hold +in scorn. Very many reflections of "lovers lately wed" had been cast +upon her mirror, and yet the One knightly shadow was long in coming. Can +it be that yonder gleam through the trees is the flash of his distant +armor? + +I hope this illustrated edition of rather an old theory has not bored +you much; because it would have been just as simple to have said at once +that, as the days went on in Dorade, and they were thrown constantly +into each other's society, Major Keene began to monopolize much more of +Cecil Tresilyan's thoughts than she would have allowed if she could have +helped it; for, though she considered Mr. Fullarton's testimony unfairly +biased by prejudice, she could not doubt that Royston was by no means +the most eligible object to centre her young affections upon. He +carefully avoided discussion or display of any of his peculiar opinions +in her presence, and on such occasions seemed inclined to soften his +habitually sardonic and depreciatory tone. Once or twice, when they did +disagree, she observed that he contrived to make some one else take her +side, and then argued the point, as long as he thought it worth while, +with the last opponent. Beyond the courtesy which invariably marked his +demeanor toward her sex, this was the only sign of especial deference +that he had shown. She never could detect the faintest approach to the +adulation that hundreds had paid her, and which she had wearied of long +ago. Nevertheless, she knew perfectly that on many subjects, generally +considered all-important, they differed as widely as the poles. + +Perpetual struggles between the spirit and the flesh made Cecil's heart +an odd sort of debatable land; if she could not always insure success +and supremacy to the right side, she certainly did endeavor to preserve +the balance of power. Personally she rather disliked Mr. Fullarton, but +she seemed to look upon him as the embodiment of a principle, and the +symbol of an abstraction. He represented there the Establishment which +she had always been taught to venerate; and so she felt bound, as far as +possible, to favor and support him; just as Goring and Wilmot, and many +more wild cavaliers, fearing neither God nor devil, mingled in their +war-cry church as well as king. (Rather a rough comparison to apply to a +well-intentioned demoiselle of the nineteenth century, but, I fancy, a +correct one.) Thus, if she indulged herself in a long _tête-à-tête_ with +Keene, she was sure to be extraordinarily civil to the chaplain soon +after; and if she devoted herself for a whole evening to the society of +the priest and his family, the soldier was likely to benefit by it on +the morrow. Unluckily, the sacrifice of inclination was all on _one_ +side. + +The antagonists had never, as yet, come into open collision. It was not +respect or fear that made them shy of the conflict, but rather a +feeling, which neither could have explained to himself, resembling that +of leaders of parties in the House, who decline measuring their strength +against each other on questions of minor importance, reserving +themselves for the final crisis, when the want-of-confidence vote shall +come on. Once only there was a chance of a skirmish--the merest affair +of outposts. + +Keene had been calling on the Tresilyans one evening, in the official +capacity of bearer of a verbal message from Mrs. Molyneux. It was the +simplest one imaginable; but as graver embassadors have done before him, +liking his quarters he dallied over his mission. (If Geneva, instead of +Paris, were chosen for the meeting of a Congress, would not several +knotty points be decided much more speedily?) When, at last, all was +settled, it seemed very natural that he should petition Cecil for "just +one song;" and you know what that always comes to. Royston never would +"turn over" if he could possibly avoid it; he considered it a willful +waste of advantages, for the strain on his attention, slight as it might +be, quite spoiled his appreciation of the melody. Perhaps he was right. +As a rule, if one wanted to discover the one person about whose approval +the fair _cantatrice_ is most solicitous, it would be well to look _not_ +immediately behind her ivory shoulder. At all events, he had made his +peace with Miss Tresilyan on this point long ago. So he drew his +arm-chair up near the piano, but out of her sight as she sang, and sat +watching her intently through his half-closed eyelids. + +I marvel not that in so many legends of witchery and seduction since the +_Odyssey_ the [Greek: _thespesiê aoidê_] has borne its part. "But," the +Wanderer might say, replying against Circè's warning, "have we not +learned prudence and self-command from Athenè, the chaste Tritonid? Have +not ten years under shield before Troy, and a thousand leagues of +seafaring, made our hearts as hard as our hands, and our ears deaf to +the charms of song? Thus much of wisdom, at least, hath come with +grizzled hair, that we may mock at temptations that might have won us +when our cheeks were in their down. O most divinely fair of goddesses! +have we not resisted your own enchantments? Shall we go forth scathless +from Ææa to perish on the Isle of the Sirens?" But the low, green hills +are already on the weather beam, and we are aware of a sweet weird chant +that steals over the water like a living thing, and smooths the ripple +where it passes. How fares it with our philosophic Laertiades? Those +signs look strangely unlike incitements to greater speed; and what mean +those struggles to get loose? Well, perhaps, for the hero that the good +hemp holds firm, and that Peribates and Eurylochus spring up to +strengthen his bonds; well, that the wax seals fast the ears of those +sturdy old sea-dogs who stretch to their oars till Ocean grows hoary +behind the blades; or nobler bones might soon be added to the myriads +that lie bleaching in the meadow, half hidden by its flowers. It was +not, then, so very trivial, the counsel that she gave in parting +kindness-- + + [Greek: _Kirkê euplokamos, deinê theos audêessa_.] + +Are we in our generation wiser than the "man of many wiles?" Dinner is +over, and every one is going out into the pleasance, to listen to the +nightingales. + +"It will be delicious; there is nothing I should like so much; but I--I +sprained my ankle in jumping that gate; and Amy" (that's "my cousin who +happens to sing"), "I heard you cough three times this morning. _You_ +won't be so imprudent as to risk the night air? Ah! they are gone at +last; and now, Amy dear--good, kindest Amy!--open the especial crimson +book quickly, and give me first your own pet song, and then mine, and +then 'The Three Fishers,' and then 'Maud,' and then, I suppose, they +will be coming back again; but by that time, they may be as enthusiastic +as they please, we shall be able to meet them fairly." + +Things have changed since David's day; spirits are raised sometimes now, +as well as laid, by harp and song. In good truth, they are not always +evil ones. + +On that night, Royston Keene listened to the sweet voice that seemed to +knock at the gates of his heart--gates shut so long that the bars had +rusted in their staples--not loudly or imperiously, but powerful in its +plaintive appeal, like that of those one dearly loved, standing without +in the bitter cold, and pleading--"Ah! let me in!" He listened till a +pleasant, dreamy feeling of _domesticity_ began to creep over him that +he had never known before. He could realize, then, that there were +circumstances under which a man might easily dispense with high play, +and hard riding, and hard flirting (to give it a mild name), and hard +drinking, and other excitements which habit had almost turned into +necessities, without missing any one of them. There were two words which +ought to have put all these fancies to flight, as the writing on the +wall scattered the guests of Belshazzar--"Too Late." But he turned his +head away, and would not read them. He had actually succeeded in +ignoring another disenchanting reality--the presence of Mrs. Danvers. +That estimable person seemed more than usually fidgetty, and disposed to +make herself, as well as others, uncomfortable. There was evidently +something on her mind from her glancing so often and so nervously at the +door. It opened at last softly, just as Cecil had finished "The +Swallow," and revealed Mr. Fullarton standing on the threshold. The +latter was not well pleased with the scene before him. There was an air +of comfort about it which, under the circumstances, he thought decidedly +wrong; besides which he could not get rid of a vague misgiving (the +rarest thing with him!) that his visit was scarcely welcome or well +timed. + +Miss Tresilyan rose instantly to greet the intruder (yes, that's the +right word) with her usual calm courtesy. Very few words had been +exchanged for the last hour, but she was perfectly aware--what woman is +not?--of the influence she had exercised over her listener. That +consciousness had made her strangely happy. So, _she_ certainly could +have survived the chaplain's absence. Royston Keene rose too, quite +slowly. There are compounds, you know, that always remain soft and +ductile in a certain temperature, but harden into stone at the first +contact with the outer air. It was just so with him. Even as he moved, +all gentle feelings were struck dead in his heart, and he stood up a +harder man than ever, with no kinder emotion left than bitter anger at +the interruption. He could not always command his eyes, he knew; and, if +he had not passed his hand quickly over his face just then, their +expression might have thrilled through the new-comer disagreeably. + +"Cecil, dearest," Mrs. Danvers said, with rather an awkward assumption +of being perfectly at her ease, "Mr. Fullarton was good enough to say he +would come and read to us this evening, and explain some passages. I +don't know why I forgot to tell you. I meant to do so, but--" Her look +finished the sentence. Royston, like the others, guessed what she meant, +and _you_ may guess how he thanked her. + +Cecil colored with vexation. She was so anxious to prevent Mrs. Danvers +from feeling dependent that she allowed her to take all sorts of +liberties, and the amiable woman was not disposed to let the privilege +fall into disuse. On the present occasion there was such an absurd +incongruity of time and place that she might possibly have tried to +evade the "exposition," but she happened just then to meet Keene's eye. +The sarcasm there was not so carefully veiled as it usually was in her +presence. Never yet was born Tresilyan who blenched from a challenge; so +she answered at once to express "her sense of Mr. Fullarton's kindness, +and her regret that he had not come earlier in the evening." If Royston +had known how bitterly she despised herself for disingenuousness he +would have been amply avenged. + +Even while she was speaking he closed the piano very slowly and softly. +It did not take him long to put on his impenetrable face, for when he +turned round there was not a trace of anger left; the scarce suppressed +taunt in Cecil's last words moved him apparently no more than Mrs. +Danvers's glance of triumph. + +"I owe you a thousand apologies," he said, "for staying such an +unwarrantable time, and quite as many thanks for the pleasantest two +hours I have spent in Dorade. Don't think I would detain you one moment +from Mr. Fullarton and your devotional exercises. You know--no, you +_don't_ know--the verse in the ballad: + + 'Amundeville may be lord by day, + But the monk is lord by night; + Nor wine nor wassail would stir a vassal + To question that friar's right.'" + +He went away then without another word beyond the ordinary adieu. +Royston had a way of repeating poetry peculiar to himself--rather +monotonous, perhaps, but effective from the depth and volume of his +voice. You gained in rhythm what you lost in rhyme. The sound seemed to +linger in their ears after he had closed the door. + +As the echo of the firm, strong footstep died away, a virtuous +indignation possessed the broad visage of the divine. + +"It is like Major Keene," said he, "to select as his text-book the most +godless work of the satanic school; but I should have thought that even +he would have paused before venturing, in this presence, on a quotation +from _Don Juan_." + +At that awful word Mrs. Danvers gave a little shriek as if "a bee had +stung her newly." Had she been a Catholic she would have crossed herself +an indefinite number of times: will you be good enough to imagine her +protracted look of holy horror? Cecil's eyes were glittering with +scornful humor as she answered, very demurely, "What an advantage it is +to be a large, general reader! It enables one to impart so much +information. Now Bessie and I should never have guessed where those +lines came from if you had not enlightened us. They seemed harmless +enough in themselves, and Major Keene was considerate enough to leave us +in our ignorance. So Byron comes within the scope of your studies, Mr. +Fullarton. I thought you seldom indulged in such secular authors?" The +chaplain was quite right in making his reply inaudible: it would have +been difficult to find a perfectly satisfactory one. However, the hour +was late enough to excuse his beginning the reading without farther +delay. It was not a success. There was a stoppage somewhere in the +current of his mellifluous eloquence; and the exposition was concluded +so soon, and indeed abruptly, that Mrs. Danvers retired to rest with a +feeling of disappointment and inanition, such as one may have +experienced when, expecting a "sit-down" supper, we are obliged to +content ourselves with a meagrely-furnished _buffet_. For some minutes +after Mr. Fullarton had departed Miss Tresilyan sat silent, leaning her +head upon her hand. At last she said, "Bessie, dear, you know I would +not interfere with your comforts or your arrangements for the world; +but, the next time you wish to have a repetition of this, would you be +so very good as to tell me beforehand? I think I shall spend that +evening with Fanny Molyneux. I do not quite like it, and I am sure it +does me no real good." + +She spoke so gently that Mrs. Danvers was going to attempt one of her +querulous remonstrances, but she happened to look at the face of her +patroness. It wore an expression not often seen there; but she was wise +enough to interpret it aright, and to guess that she had gone far +enough. It was ever a dangerous experiment to trifle with the Tresilyans +when their brows were bent. So she launched into some of her +affectionate platitudes and profuse excuses, and under cover of these +retreated to her rest. It is a comfort to reflect that she slept very +soundly, though she monopolized all the slumber that night that ought to +have fallen to Cecil's share. + +What did Royston Keene think of the events of the evening? As he went +down the stairs I am afraid he cursed the chaplain once heartily, but on +the whole he was not dissatisfied. At all events, the short walk down to +the club completely restored his _sang-froid_, and the last trace of +vexation vanished as he entered the card-room and saw the "light of +battle" gleam on the haggard face of Armand de Châteaumesnil. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +There was in Dorade a stout and meritorious elderly widow, who formed a +sort of connecting link between the natives and the settlers. English by +birth, she had married a Frenchman of fair family and fortune, so that +her habits and sympathies attached themselves about equally to the two +countries. You do not often find so good a specimen of the hybrid. She +gave frequent little _soirées_, which were as pleasant and exciting as +such assemblages of heterogeneous elements usually are--that is to say, +very moderately so. The two streams flowed on in the same channel, +without mingling or losing their characteristics. I fancy the fault was +most on our side. + +We no longer, perhaps, parade Europe with "pride in our port, defiance +in our eye;" but still, in our travels, we lose no opportunity of +maintaining and asserting our well-beloved dignity, which, if rather a +myth and vestige of the past, at home, abroad, is a very stern reality. +Have you not seen, at a crowded _table d'hôte_, the British mother +encompass her daughters with the double bulwark of herself and their +staid governess on either flank, so as to avert the contamination which +must otherwise have certainly ensued from the close proximity of a +courteous white-bearded Graf, or a _fringante_ vicomtesse whose eyes +outshone her diamonds? May it ever remain so! Each nation has its vanity +and its own peculiar glory, as it has its especial produce. O cotton +mills of Manchester! envy not nor emulate the velvet looms of Genoa or +Lyons; you are ten times as useful, and a hundredfold more remunerating. +What matters it if Damascus guard jealously the secret of her fragrant +clouded steel, when Sheffield can turn out efficient sword-blades at the +rate of a thousand per hour? _Suum cuique tribuito._ Let others aspire +to be popular: be it ours to remain irreproachably and unapproachably +respectable. + +So poor Mdme. de Verzenay's efforts to promote an _entente cordiale_ +were lamentably foiled. When the English mustered strong, they would +immediately form themselves into a hollow square, the weakest in the +centre, and so defy the assaults of the enemy. Now and then a daring +Gaul would attempt the adventure of the Enchanted Castle, determined, if +not to deliver the imprisoned maidens, at least to enliven their +solitude. See how gayly and gallantly he starts, glancing a saucy adieu +to Adolphe and Eugène, who admire his audacity, but augur ill for its +success. _Allons, je me risque. Montjoie St. Denis! France à la +rescousse!_ He winds, as it were, the bugle at the gate, with a +well-turned compliment or a brilliant bit of _badinage_. Slowly the +jealous valves unclose; he stands within the magic precinct--an eerie +silence all around. Suppose that one of the Seven condescends to parley +with him; she does so nervously and under protest, glancing ever over +her shoulder, as if she expected the austere Fairy momentarily to +appear; while her companions sit without winking or moving, cowering +together like a covey of birds when the hawk is circling over the +turnip-field. How can you expect a man to make himself agreeable under +such appalling circumstances? The heart of the adventurer sinks within +him. Lo! there is a rustling of robes near; what if Calyba or Urganda +were at hand? _Fuyons!_ And the knight-errant retreats, with drooping +crest and smirched armor--a melancholy contrast to the _preux chevalier_ +who went forth but now chanting his war-song, conquering and to conquer. +The remarks of the discomfited one, after such a failure, were, I fear, +the reverse of complimentary; and the unpleasant word _bégueule_ figured +in them a great deal too often. + +Cecil and Fanny Molyneux were certainly exceptions to the rule of +unsociability, but the general dullness of those _réunions_ infected +them, and made the atmosphere oppressive; it required a vast amount of +leaven to make such a large, heavy lump light or palatable. Besides, it +is not pleasant to carry on a conversation with twenty or thirty people +looking on and listening, as if it were some theatrical performance that +they had paid money to see, and consequently had a right to criticise. +The fair friends had held counsel together as to the expediency of +gratifying others at a great expense to themselves on the present +occasion, and had made their election--not to go. + +Early the next morning Miss Tresilyan encountered Keene; their +conversation was very brief; but, just as he was quitting her, the +latter remarked, in a matter-of-course way, "We shall meet this evening +at Madame de Verzenay's?" + +She looked at him in some surprise, for she knew he must have heard from +Mrs. Molyneux of their intention to absent themselves. She told him as +much. + +"Ah! last night she did not mean to go," replied Royston; "but she +changed her mind this morning while I was with them. When I left them, +ten minutes ago, there was a consultation going on with Harry as to what +she should wear. I don't think it will last more than half an hour; and +then she was coming to try to persuade you to keep her fickleness in +countenance." + +Now the one point upon which Cecil had been most severe on _la mignonne_ +was the way in which the latter suffered herself to be guided by her +husband's friend. It is strange how prone is the unconverted and unmated +feminine nature to instigate revolt against the Old Dominion--never more +so than when the beautiful _Carbonara_ feels that its shadow is creeping +fast over the frontier of her own freedom. Nay, suppose the conquest +achieved, and that they themselves are reduced to the veriest serfdom, +none the less will they strive to goad other hereditary bondswomen into +striking the blow. Is it not known that steady old "machiners," broken +for years to double harness, will encourage and countenance their +"flippant" progeny in kicking over the traces? How otherwise could the +name of mother-in-law, on the stage and in divers domestic circles, have +become a synonym for firebrand? Look at your wife's maid, for instance. +She will spend two thirds of her wages and the product of many silk +dresses ("scarcely soiled") in furnishing that objectionable and +disreputable suitor of hers with funds for his extravagance. He has +beggared two or three of her acquaintance already, under the same flimsy +pretense of intended marriage, that scarcely deludes poor Abigail; she +has sore misgivings as to her own fate. Alternately he bullies and +cajoles, but all the while she knows that he is lying, deliberately and +incessantly, yet she never remonstrates or complains. It is true that, +if you pass the door of her little room late into the night, you will +probably go to bed haunted by the sound of low, dreary weeping; but it +would be worse than useless to argue with her about her folly; she +cherishes her noisome and ill-favored weed as if it were the fairest of +fragrant flowers, and will not be persuaded to throw it aside. Well, if +you could listen to that same long-suffering and soft-hearted young +female, in her place in the subterranean Upper House, when the conduct +of "Master" (especially as regards Foreign Affairs) is being canvassed; +the fluency and virulence of her anathemas would almost take your breath +away. Even that dear old housekeeper--who nursed you, and loves you +better than any of her own children--when she would suggest an excuse or +denial of the alleged peccadilloes, is borne away and overwhelmed by the +abusive torrent, and can at last only grumble her dissent. Very few +women, of good birth and education, make _confidantes_ nowadays of their +personal attendants; and the race of "Miggs" is chiefly confined to the +class in which Dickens has placed it, if it is not extinct utterly. But +there is a season--while the brush passes lightly and lingeringly over +the long trailing "back hair"--when a hint, an allusion, or an +insinuation, cleverly placed, may go far toward fanning into flame the +embers of matrimonial rebellion. I know no case where such serious +consequences may be produced, with so little danger of implication to +the prime mover of the discontent, except it be the system of the +patriotic and intrepid Mazzini. Many outbreaks, perhaps--quelled after +much loss on both sides, in which the monarchy was only saved by the +judicious expenditure of much _mitraille_--might have been traced to the +covert influence of that mild-eyed, melancholy _camériste_. + +Cecil, who was not exempt from these revolutionary tendencies, any more +than from other weaknesses of her sex, was especially provoked by this +fresh instance of Fanny's subordination. + +"Mrs. Molyneux is perfectly at liberty to form her own plans," she said, +very haughtily. "Beyond a certain point, I should no more dream of +interfering with them than she would with mine. She is quite right to +change her mind as often as she thinks proper, only in this instance I +should have thought it was hardly worth while." + +"Well," Keene answered, in his cool, slow way, "Mrs. Molyneux has got +that unfortunate habit of consulting other people's wishes and +convenience in preference to her own; it's very foolish and weak; but it +is so confirmed, that I doubt even _your_ being able to break her of it. +This time I am sure you won't. It is a pity you are so determined on +disappointing the public. I know of more than one person who has put off +other engagements in anticipation of hearing you sing." + +He was perfectly careless about provoking her now, or he would have been +more cautious. That particular card was the very last in his hand to +have played. Miss Tresilyan was good-nature itself in placing her +talents at the service of any man, woman, or child who could appreciate +them. She would go through half her _repertoire_ to amuse a sick friend +any day; neither was she averse to displaying them before the world in +general at proper seasons, but she liked the "boards" to be worthy of +the prima donna, and had no idea of "starring it in the provinces." All +the pride of her race gathered on her brow just then, like a +thunder-cloud, and her eyes flashed no summer lightning. + +"Madame de Verzenay was wrong to advertise a performer who does not +belong to her _troupe_. I hope the audience will be patient under their +disappointment, and not break up the benches. If not, she must excuse +herself as best she may. I have signed no engagement, so my conscience +is clear. I certainly shall not go." + +The bolt struck the granite fairly, but it did not shiver off one +splinter, nor even leave a stain. Royston only remarked, "Then for +to-day it is useless to say _au revoir_;" and so, raising his cap, +passed on. + +The poor _mignonne_ had a very rough time of it soon afterward. Cecil +was morally and physically incapable of scolding any one; but she was +very severe on the sin of vacillation and yielding to unauthorized +interference. The culprit did not attempt to justify herself; she only +said, "They both wanted me to go so much, and I did not like to vex +Harry." Then she began to coax and pet her monitress in the pretty, +childish way which interfered so much with matronly dignity, till the +latter was brought to think that she had been cruelly harsh and stern; +at last she got so penitent that she offered to accompany her friend, +and lend the light of her countenance to Madame de Verzenay. For this +infirmity of purpose many female Dracos would have ordered her off to +instant execution--very justly. That silly little Fanny only kissed her, +and said, "She was a dear, kind darling." What can you expect of such +irreclaimably weak-minded offenders? They ought to be sentenced to six +months' hard labor, supervised by Miss Martineau; perhaps even this +would not work a permanent cure. Still, on The Tresilyan's part, it was +an immense effort of self-denial. She was well aware how she laid +herself open to Royston Keene's satire, and how unlikely he was this +time to spare her. Only perfect trust or perfect indifference can make +one careless about giving such a chance to a known bitter tongue. + +However, having made up her mind to the self-immolation, she proceeded +to consider how best she should adorn herself for the sacrifice. Others +have done so in sadder seriousness. Doubtless, Curtius rode at his last +leap without a speck on his burnished mail: purple, and gold, and gems +flamed all round Sardanapalus when he fired the holocaust in Nineveh: +even that miserable, dastardly Nero was solicitous about the marble +fragments that were to line his felon's grave. So it befell that, on +this particular evening, Cecil went through a very careful toilet, +though it was as simple as usual; for the ultra-gorgeous style she +utterly eschewed. The lilac trimmings of her dress broke the dead white +sufficiently, but not glaringly, with the subdued effect of color that +you may see in a campanula. The _coiffure_ was not decided on till +several had been rejected. She chose at last a chaplet of those soft, +silvery Venetian shells--such as her bridesmaids may have woven into the +night of Amphitritè's hair when they crowned her Queen of the +Mediterranean. + +It was a very artistic picture. So Madame de Verzenay said, in the midst +of a rather too rapturous greeting; so the Frenchmen thought, as a low +murmur of admiration ran through their circle when she entered. Fanny, +too, had her modest success. There were not wanting eyes that turned for +a moment from the brilliant beauty of her companion to repose themselves +on the sweet girlish face shaded by silky brown tresses, and on the +perfect little figure floating so lightly and gracefully along amid its +draperies of pale cloudy blue. + +Miss Tresilyan felt that there might be _one_ glance that it would be a +trial to meet unconcernedly, and she had been schooling herself +sedulously for the encounter. She might have spared herself some +trouble; for Royston Keene was not there when they arrived. She knew +that Mrs. Molyneux had told him of the change in their plans; but the +latter did not choose to confess how she had been puzzled by the very +peculiar smile with which the major greeted the intelligence: it was the +only notice he took of it. So the evening went on, with nothing to raise +it above the dead level of average _soirées_. Cecil delayed going to the +piano till she was ashamed of making more excuses, and was obliged to +"execute herself" with the best grace she could manage. Even while she +was singing, her glance turned more than once toward the door; but the +stalwart figure, beside which all others seemed dwarfed and +insignificant, never showed itself. It was clear _he_ was not among +those who had given up other engagements to hear her songs. If we have +been at some trouble and mental expense in getting ourselves into any +one frame of mind--whether it be enthusiasm, or self-control, or +fortitude, or heroism--it is an undeniable nuisance to find out suddenly +that there is to be no scope for its exercise. Take a very practical +instance. Here is Lieutenant Colonel Asahel ready on the ground, +looking, as his conscience and his backers tell him, "as fine as a star, +and fit to run for his life;" at the last moment his opponent pays +forfeit. Just ascertain the sentiments of that gallant fusileer. Does +the result at all recompense him for the futile privations and wasted +asceticism of those long weary months of training--when pastry was, as +it were, an abomination unto him--when his lips kept themselves +undefiled from dryest Champagne or soundest claret--when he fled, fast +as Cinderella, from the pleasantest company at the stroke of the +midnight chimes? Of course he feels deeply injured, and would have +forgiven the absentee far more easily if the latter had beaten him +fairly, on his merits, breasting the handkerchief first by half a dozen +yards. + +On this principle, Miss Tresilyan labored all that evening under an +impression that Keene had treated her very ill, and was prepared to +resent it accordingly. Another there besides herself felt puzzled and +uncomfortable. Harry Molyneux could not understand it at all. Royston +had seemed so very anxious in the morning to induce Fanny to go--a +proceeding which would probably involve the presence of her +"inseparable;" and disinterested persuasion was by no means in the Cool +Captain's line. So Harry went wandering about in a purposeless, +disconsolate fashion for some time, till he found himself near Cecil. I +fancy he had an indistinct idea that some apology was owing to _her_ for +his chief's unaccountable absence; at all events, he began to confide +his misgivings on the subject as soon as the men who surrounded her +moved away. They soon did so; for The Tresilyan had a way, quite +peculiar to herself, of conveying to those whom she wished to get rid of +that their audience was ended, without speaking one word. There was a +very unusual element of impatient pettishness in her reply. + +"What a curious fascination Major Keene appears to exercise over his +friends! I suppose you would think it quite wrong to be amused any where +unless he were present to sanction it. Do you become a free agent again +when you are given up entirely to your own devices? And do _all_ +subalterns keep up that veneration for their senior officers after they +have left the service? It seems to be carrying the _esprit du corps_ +rather far." + +Harry laughed out his own musical laugh; even the imputation of +dependency and helplessness which is apt to ruffle most people fell back +harmlessly from his impenetrable good-humor. "I dare say it does look +very absurd. But you ought to have lived with him as long as I have done +to understand how naturally Royston gains his influence, and makes us do +what he chooses." + +"Certainly I can not understand it. The _poco-curante_ style is so very +common just now that one gets rather tired of it. I do not like the +affectation at all, but I dislike the reality still more. I believe it +_is_ a reality with Major Keene. I can not fancy him betraying any +unrestrained excitement, however strong the passion that moved him might +be. You have never known him do so, now? Confess it." + +"Yes I have, once," he answered, gravely, "and I never wish to see it +again." + +Cecil always liked talking to Harry Molyneux. On the present occasion +the mere sound of his voice seemed to go far toward soothing her +irritation: many others had experienced the same effect from those +kindly gentle tones. Perhaps, too, the subject had an interest for her +that she would not own. "Would it tire you to tell me about it? I am not +particularly curious, but I have been so much bored to-night that a very +little would amuse me." + +He hesitated for an instant. "It is not _that_; but I don't know if _I_ +am right in telling you. Perhaps you would not like him the better for +it, though he could not help it. Shall I? Well, it was in the second of +our Indian battles, and the first time we had really been under fire; +before it was only nominal. We had been sitting idle for two hours or +more, watching the infantry and the gunners do their work; and right +well they did it. The Sikhs were giving ground in all directions; but +they began to gather again on our right, and at last we were told to +send out three squadrons and break them at three different points. Keene +was in command of mine. I never saw him look so enchanted as he did when +the orders came down. I heard the chief warning him to be cautious, not +to go too far (for there was a good deal of broken ground ahead), but to +wheel about as soon as we had got through their lines, and to fall back +immediately on our position. Royston listened and saluted, but I know he +didn't catch one word; he kept looking over his shoulder all the time +the colonel was speaking, as if he grudged every second. We were very +soon off; and almost before I realized the situation we were closing in +on the enemy, wrapped up in our own dust and in their smoke, for the +firing became heavy directly we got within range. Now I don't think I +ought to be telling you all this: it is not quite a woman's story." + +"Please go on. I like it." How grandly it flashed up in her cheek as she +spoke--the fiery Tresilyan blood that had boiled in the veins of so many +brilliant soldiers, but through twenty generations had never cooled down +enough to breed one statesman! + +He had taken breath by this time. "I won't make it longer than I can +help, but it is difficult to tell some things very briefly. It was my +first real charge, you know; I suppose every man's sensations are rather +peculiar under such circumstances. I did not feel much alarmed--there +wasn't time for that--but the smoke, and the noise, and the excitement +made me so dizzy that I could hardly sit straight in my saddle. When we +got within a hundred and fifty yards of the Sikhs their fire began to +tell. I heard a bubbling, smothered sort of cry close behind me, and I +looked back just in time to see a trooper fall forward over his horse's +shoulder shot through the throat. Several more were hit, and our fellows +began to waver a little--not much. Just then Royston's voice broke in: +it was so clear and strong that it set my nerves right directly, and the +dizzy, stifling feeling went away, as it might have done before a +draught of fresh pure air. 'Close up there, the rear rank. Keep cool, +men! Steady with your bridle-hands, and strike fairly with the edge. +_Now!_' + +"He was three lengths ahead of his squadron, and well in among the +enemy, when that last word came out. It was sharp work while it lasted, +for the Sikhs fought like wounded wildcats: one fixed his teeth in my +boot, and was dragged there till my covering-sergeant cut him loose; but +we were soon through them. When we had wheeled, and were dressing into +line, I caught sight of Keene's face. It was so changed that I should +hardly have known it: every fibre was quivering with passion; and his +eyes--I've not forgotten them yet. We ought to have fallen back +immediately on our old ground, but it was so evident he did not mean +this, that I ventured to suggest to him what our orders had been. I was +not second in command; but of my two seniors one was helpless (the +stupidest man you ever saw), and the other hard hit. Royston faced round +on me with a savage oath, 'How dare you interfere, sir! Are you in +command of this squadron?' Then he turned to the troopers, 'Have you had +half enough yet, men? _I haven't._' I am very sure he had lost his head, +or he would never have spoken to me so, still less have made that last +appeal, for he was the strictest disciplinarian, and looked upon his men +as the merest machines. It seemed as if the devil that possessed him had +gone out into the others too, for they all shouted in reply--not a +cheery honest hurra! but a hoarse, hungry roar, such as you hear in wild +beasts' dens before feeding-time. An old troop-sergeant, a rigid pious +Presbyterian, spoke for the rest, grinding and gnashing his teeth: +'We'll follow the captain any where--follow him to hell!'" (Harry's +voice had all along been subdued, but it was almost a whisper now:) "I +do hope those words were not reckoned against poor Donald Macpherson, +for when we got back his was one of the thirteen empty saddles. So we +broke up, and went in again at the Sikhs, who were collecting in +black-looking knots and irregular squares all round. It was an +indescribable sort of a _mêlée_, every man for himself, and--I dare not +say--God for us all. I suppose I was as bad as the rest when once fairly +launched, and we all thought we were doing our duty; but I should not +like to have so many lives on my head and hand as Royston could count +that night. Remember _we_ suffered rather severely. + +"As we took up our position again I saw the colonel was not well +pleased. He had little of the romance of war about him, and did not +understand his officers acting much on their own discretion. Without +hearing the words, I could guess, from the expression of his hard old +face, that he came down on the squadron-leader heavily. When I ranged up +by Keene's side soon afterward, he looked up at me absently. 'I was +thinking,' he said (now one naturally expected a sentiment about the +scene we had just gone through, or a reflection on the injustice of +chiefs in general)--'I was thinking what rubbish those army-cutlers +sell, and call it a sword-blade.' He held up a sort of apology for a +sabre, all notched, and bent, and blunted; then he began to inquire if I +had been hit at all. I had escaped with hardly a scratch; but I saw an +ugly cut above his knee, and blood stealing down his bridle-arm. 'Bah! +it's nothing,' Royston observed, answering the direction of my eyes; +'but--if the tulwar and the reprimand had both been sharper--confess, +Hal, that this time, _Le jeu valait bien la chandelle?_' + +"We never had a real rattling charge after that day, at least none +exciting enough to warm him thoroughly. Now I am very sorry I have told +you all this: it is not a nice story; but it is your own fault if I have +bored you. Besides, Madame de Verzenay will never forgive me for +monopolizing you so long. I do think she does me the honor to believe in +a flirtation." + +Cecil's heightened color and sparkling eyes might have justified such a +suspicion in a distant and unprejudiced observer. Does not this show us +how very cautious we ought to be in forming hasty conclusions from +appearances which are proverbially deceptive? I protest I am filled with +remorse and contrition while I reflect how often, in thought, I may have +wronged and misjudged the innocent. I dare say, in many outwardly +flagrant cases, the offenders were only expatiating on the merits or +demerits of absent friends. Such a subject is quite engrossing enough to +excuse a certain amount of "sitting out," and some people _always_ blush +when they are at all interested. The selection of the staircase, the +balcony, or the conservatory for the discussion is the merest +atmospheric question. I subscribe to Mr. Weller's idea--only "turnips" +are incredulous. _Vive la charité!_ + +After a minute or two Miss Tresilyan spoke: "No, I don't think worse of +Major Keene. As you say, I suppose he could not help it; but it must be +terrible, when passions that are habitually restrained do break loose. +No wonder that you do not wish to see such a sight again. It is very +different, reading of battles and hearing of them from one who was an +actor. Do you know, I think you have an undeveloped talent for +narration. There, that ought to console you, even if Madame de Verzenay +should asperse your character." + +At this moment Harry was contemplating the proceedings of his pretty +little wife at the opposite side of the room with an intense +satisfaction and pride. + +"If I _had_ yielded to temptation," he said, "I am sure Fan could not +reproach me. She would keep a much greater sinner in countenance. Miss +Myrtle is a thousand times worse since she married. Just remark that +by-play with the handkerchief. You don't suppose M. de Riberac cares one +straw about Valenciennes lace? It makes one feel _Moorish_ all over. +You need not be surprised if she is found smothered or strangled in the +morning. I am 'not easily moved to jealousy, but being moved--'" + +"Don't be too murderous," laughed Cecil; "you are certain to regret it +afterward. We will reproach her as she deserves on our way home. Is it +not very late?" + +She wanted to be alone to think over what she had heard; and in good +truth, waking or sleeping, the watches of that night were crowded with +dreams. + +All this time where was Royston Keene? He had been really anxious to +induce Miss Tresilyan to present herself at Madame de Verzenay's, for he +liked her well enough already to feel a personal interest in her +triumphs; but, after their interview in the morning (though he thought +it probable that Fanny's persuasive powers might prevail), he had +determined himself not to go, and he did not change his resolutions +lightly. Still he could not resist the temptation of getting one glimpse +at her in "review order." If Cecil had been very observant when she went +down to her carriage, she must have noticed a tall figure standing back, +half masked by a pillar, whose eyes literally flashed in the darkness as +they fastened on her in her passage through the lighted hall, and drank +in every item of her loveliness. He stood still for some moments after +she was gone, and then walked slowly down to the Cercle. While they were +talking about him at Madame de Verzenay's, Royston was holding his own +gallantly at _écarté_ with Armand de Châteaumesnil, for the honor of +England and--ten Napoleons a side. As was his wont, he played superbly; +but he spoke seldom, and hardly seemed to hear the comments of the +crowded _galèrie_. In truth, at some most critical points--when the game +was in abeyance at _quatre à_--a delicate proud face, and a shell wreath +glistening in velvet hair, _would_ rise before him, and dethrone in his +thoughts the painted kings and queens. His adversary did not fail to +observe this; but he said nothing till the play was ended and most of +the others had left the room. Then he laid his hand on Keene's arm, and +drew his head down to the level of his own lips, and spoke low: + +"Mon camarade, je me rappelle, d'avoir vu, il y a quelques ans, au Café +de la Régence, un homme qui tenait tête, aux échecs, à quatre +concurrens. Les habitués en disaient des merveilles. Mais ce n'était +qu'un bon bourgeois après tout; et, nous autres, nous sommes plus forts +que les bourgeois. Vouz avez joué ce soir les deux parties que, dit le +proverbe, c'est presque impossible de remporter simultanément; et je ne +me tiens pas pour le seul perdant." + +Royston did not seem in the least inclined to smile; had he done so +Armand would have been bitterly disappointed. As it was, he answered +very coldly, without a shade of consciousness on his face. + +"Un compliment mérite toujours des remercimens, M. le Vicomte, même +quand on ne le comprend pas. Pardon, si je vous engage, de ne pas +expliquer plus clairement votre allégorie." + +The other looked up at him with an expression that might almost have +been mistaken for sympathy. + +"Parbleu!" he muttered, "si beau joueur merite bien de gagner!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Sometimes, lying on the cliffs of Kerry or Clare, on a cloudless autumn +day, when not a breath of wind is stirring, you may see rank after rank +of heavy purple billows rolling sullenly in from the offing: these are +messengers coming to tell us of battles fought a thousand leagues to the +westward, in which they, too, have borne their part. Before the mail +comes in we are prepared to hear of a storm that has worked its wicked +will for nights and days, thundering among the granite boulders of +Labrador, or tearing through the fog-banks of Newfoundland. This is +perhaps the most commonplace of all ancient comparisons; but where will +you find so apt a parallel for the vagaries of the human heart as the +phases of the deep, false, beautiful sea? + +On the morning after Madame de Verzenay's party, Cecil rose in a very +troubled frame of mind. She had no feeling of irritation left against +Royston Keene; but she was uneasy, and uncomfortable, and loth to meet +him. What she had felt and what she had heard had moved her too deeply +for her to resume at once her wonted composure. So it was that she +accepted very readily an invitation from Mrs. Fullarton to accompany +herself and children on a mild botanizing excursion among the hills. +These small _fêtes_ went a long way with that hard-working and +meritorious woman; what with anticipation and retrospect, each lasted +her about two months. Miss Tresilyan was prevented from starting with +the rest of the party; but the chaplain himself was to escort her to the +place of rendezvous, his little daughter Katie being retained to be +invested with the temporary and "local" rank of chaperone--a formality +which, in these days of scanty faith, even married divines are not +allowed to dispense with. The quartette was completed by the +mule-driver--one of those remarkable boys who converse invariably in a +tongue which the beasts of burden seem to understand and sympathize +with, but which, to any other creature whatsoever, is absolutely +destitute of meaning. They had some way to go; so Cecil had taken up +Katie before her on her mule; the pastor walked by her side, glozing +(for the road was not very steep) on all sorts of subjects, gravely and +smoothly, as was his wont. They had crossed the first line of hills, and +were descending into the valley beyond, when, turning a sharp corner +where a projecting rock almost barred the path, they came suddenly on +Royston Keene. He was lying at full length, his head resting against the +knotted root of an olive, with eyes half closed, and the cigar between +his lips, that seldom left them when he was alone. It _was_ odd that he +should have selected that especial spot for the scene of his _siesta_. +Cecil did her very utmost to look unconcerned: it was too provoking that +she could not help blushing! Mr. Fullarton evidently looked upon it in +the light of an ambush. Had he ventured to give his thoughts utterance, +certainly the ready text would have sprung to his lips, "Hast thou found +me, O mine enemy?" If there was "malice prepense" there, the "enemy" +deserved some credit for the perfectly natural air of surprise with +which he rose and greeted them. + +"Are you recruiting after last night's triumphs, or escaping from +popular enthusiasm, Miss Tresilyan? I have met several Frenchmen already +who are quite childish about your singing. I should not advise you to +venture on the Terrace to-day. There might be temptations to vanity, +which Mr. Fullarton will tell you are dangerous." + +She had so completely made up her mind to some allusion to her change of +purpose, or to his own absence, that it was rather aggravating to find +him ignore both utterly. But she rallied well. + +"Nothing half so imaginative, Major Keene. It was a very stupid party, +and I only sang once, as, I dare say, you have heard. We are only going +to help Mrs. Fullarton to find some wild-flowers. I hope you have not +anticipated us?" + +He _fixed_ her with the cool, appreciative look that was harder to meet +than even his sneer. + +"No; the flowers are safe from me. I don't care enough about them to +keep them; and it is a pity to pick them and throw them away to wither. +But I would have asked to be allowed to help you in your search, only--I +don't like to spoil a picture. You brought a very good one to my mind as +you turned the corner, a 'Descent into Egypt,' that I saw long ago. The +blot _there_, I remember, was a very stout, rubicund Joseph, not at all +worthy of the imperial Madonna." + +While he was speaking he drew back, and leaned lazily against the stem +of the olive, with the evident intention of resuming his original +posture as soon as courtesy would allow. Miss Tresilyan could not +restrain a quick gesture of impatience. + +"As we did not come out to _poser_, Mr. Fullarton, don't you think we +had better not delay any longer? We are so late already, that I am sure +the rest of the party will be tired of waiting." + +Guess if her companion was loth to obey her. + +They moved on for some time almost in silence. Cecil's thoughts were +busy with a picture too--not the less vivid because only her own +imagination had painted it. Her deep, dreamy eyes passed over the +landscape actually before them without catching one of its details: they +were looking on a desolate stony plain, cracked and calcined by a fierce +Indian sun--a few plumy palms in the background, and the rocky bed of a +river half dried up--in the foreground a crowd of wild barbaric +soldiery, with savage, swarthy features, bareheaded or white-turbaned; +mingled with these were horsemen in the uniform of our light dragoons, +sabring right and left mercilessly. In the very centre of the _mêlée_ +was one figure, round which all the others seemed to group themselves as +mere accessories. She saw, very distinctly, the dark, determined face, +set, every line of it, in an unspeakable ferocity, with a world of +murderous meaning in the gleaming eyes--so distinctly that it drove out +the remembrance of the same man's face, expressive of nothing but +passionless indifference, though she looked upon it but a few minutes +since under the gray branches of the olive. She almost heard his clear, +imperious tones cheering on and rallying his troopers, when a ruder +voice broke her reverie. + +"_Halte là!_" + +If there was one thing that miserable muleteer-boy ought to have known +better than another, it was the insuperable objection entertained by the +Provençal peasant to any thing like trespass on his territory (the +touchiness of the _propriétaire_ bears generally an inverse ratio to the +extent of his possessions); yet, to make a short cut of about two +hundred yards, he had led his party through a gap in the low stone wall +over a strip of ground belonging to the very man who was least likely to +overlook the intrusion. Jean Duchesne had a bad name in the +neighborhood, and deserved it thoroughly; he was surly enough when sober +(which was the exception), but when drunk there were no bounds to his +blind, brutish ferocity, and his great personal strength made him a +formidable antagonist. He was not an agreeable object to contemplate, +that gaunt giant, as he stood there in his squalid, tattered dress, with +rough, matted hair, and face flushed by recent intemperance, and flecked +with livid stains of past debauches. You may see many such crowding +round the guillotine or the tumbrel in pictures of the French +Revolution. + +It is very odd that one can not write or read those two words without a +boiling of the blood, a tingling at the fingers' ends, and a tightening +of the muscles of the forearm--ineffably absurd when excited by a +recollection seventy years old! Yet so it is. You may talk of oppression +till you are tired; you may catalogue all the wrongs that _Jacques +Bonhomme_ endured before his day of retaliation came; you may bring in +your pet illustration of "the storm that was necessary to clear the +atmosphere;" but you will never make some of us feel that the guilt of +an Order--had it been blacker by a hundred shades--palliated the +Massacre of its Innocents. If the _Marquis_ and _Mousquetaire_ only had +suffered, they might have laid down their lives cheerfully, as they +would have done the stake of any other lost game; and as for the +priests, it was their privilege to be martyrs. But think of those fair +matrons, and gentle girls, and delicate _mignonnes_, that had been +petted from their childhood, cooped up in the foul courts of the Abbaye +and La Force, with even the necessaries of life begrudged them, till the +light died in their eyes and the gloss faded from their tresses; and +then brought out to die in the chill, misty _Brumaire_ morning, howled +at and derided by the swarm of bloodsuckers, till they cowered down, not +in fear, but sickening horror, welcoming Samson and his satellites as +friends and saviors. Remember, too, that there was scarcely an exception +to the rule of patient courage, calm self-sacrifice, and pride of birth +that never belied itself. Dubarry might shriek on the scaffold, but the +Rohans died mute. + +Of all the digressions we have indulged in, this is perhaps the most +unwarrantable; and, though it has relieved me unspeakably, I hereby +tender a certain amount of contrition for the same. _Revenons à nos +moutons_--though there was very little of the sheep in the appearance of +Jean Duchesne, whose demeanor (when we left him) you will recollect was +decidedly aggressive. It was evident that the mule-boy thought mischief +was brewing, for he twisted his features--irregular and _tumbled_ enough +already--into divers remarkable contortions expressive of remorse and +terror. + +"Who, then, dares to trespass on my lands? Do you think we sow our crops +for your cursed mules to trample on?" + +He spoke in a hoarse, thick voice (suggestive of spirituous liquors), +and in the disagreeable Provençal dialect, which must have altered +strangely since the time of the _troubadours_: brief as his speech was, +it found room for more than one of those expletives which are nowhere so +horribly blasphemous as in the south of France. + +Cecil had started slightly at the first interjection, which broke her +day-dream, but she was not otherwise alarmed or discomposed: she seemed +to regard the _propriétaire_ simply as an unpleasant obstacle to their +progress, and glanced at Mr. Fullarton as if she expected him to clear +it away. The latter was not good at French, but he did manage to express +their sorrow if they had done any harm unconsciously, and their wish to +retire instantly. "Not before paying," was the reply. "_Quinze francs de +dedommagemens; et puis, filez aux tous les diables!_" + +Women are not expected to carry purses or any other objects of simple +utility; but why Mr. Fullarton should have left his at home on this +particular day is between himself and his own conscience. The party very +soon realized the fact that they could muster about a hundred and fifty +centimes among them. + +Even kings and kaisers, when _incogniti_, have ere this been reduced to +the extremest straits of ignominy from the want of a few available +pieces of silver; and, in ordinary life, five shillings ready at the +moment are frequently of more importance than as many hundreds in +expectancy. There lives even now a man who missed the most charming +rendezvous with which fortune ever favored him, because he rode a mile +round to avoid a turnpike, not having wherewithal to pay it. Since that +disastrous day he is ever furnished with such a weight of small change +that, had Cola Pesce carried it, the strong swimmer must have sunk like +a stone--in penance, probably, even as James of Scotland wore the iron +belt. At a pause in the conversation you may hear him rattling the +coppers in his pocket moodily, as the spectres in old romances rattle +their chains; but his remorse is unavailing. A fair chance once lost, +Whist and Erycina never forgive. The beautiful bird that might _then_ +have been limed and tamed shook her wings and flew away exultingly: far +up in air the unlucky fowler may still sometimes hear her clear mocking +carol, but she is too near heaven for his arts to reach, and has escaped +the toils forever. + +On the present occasion Katie Fullarton "flashed" her one half-franc +with great courage and confidence, but the display of all that small +capitalist's worldly wealth did not mollify Jean Duchesne. He had been +lashing himself up all along into such a state of brutal ferocity, that +he would have been disappointed if his extortion had been immediately +satisfied; so he broke in savagely on the chaplain's confused excuses +and promises to settle everything at a fitting season: "Tais toi, +blagueur! On ne me floue pas ainsi avec des promesses; je m'en fiche pas +mal. Au moins, on me laissera un gage." His blood-shot eyes roved from +one object to another till they lighted on the parasol that Miss +Tresilyan carried: it was of plain dark-gray silk, with a slight black +lace trimming, but the carvings of the ivory handle made it of some real +value. Before any one could divine his intention he had plucked it +rudely from her hand. + +Almost with the same motion Cecil set Katie down, and sprang herself +from the saddle. In her eyes there was such intensity of anger that the +drunken savage recoiled a pace or two, and for the first time in his +life felt something like self-contempt: to have saved her soul she could +not have spoken one word, but her silence was expressive enough as she +turned to Mr. Fullarton. It is difficult to say what line she expected +him to take--not the _voie de fait_ certainly; at least, if the +hypothesis had been put to her when she was cool enough to consider it, +she would utterly have repudiated such an idea. Perhaps she had a right +to look for moral support, if not for active championship. + +We will not enter into the vexed question of physical courage and +cowardice: it is a truism to say that the latter may co-exist with great +moral firmness, which is, of course, far the superior quality. They will +tell you that, when confronted with mere personal peril, a butcher or +grenadier may match the best of us. Possibly; I am not going to dispute +it. Only remember that there are occasions (very few in these civilized +days) when the most refined of _bas-bleus_ would rather see a strong, +brave, honest man at her side, than an abstruse philosopher, a clever +conversationalist--ay, even than a perfect Christian--whose nerves are +not to be depended on; when Parson Adams would be worth a bench of +bishops. We can not all be athletes; and, with the best intentions, some +of us at such times are liable to defeat and discomfiture. The most +utterly fearless man I ever knew had a _biceps_ that his own small +fingers could have spanned. No woman, however--keeping the attributes of +her sex--would think the worse of her champion for being trampled under +foot when he had done his best to defend her. You know their province is +to console, and even pet the vanquished; they make up lint for the +wounded as readily as they weave laurels for the conquerors. But when +they have once seen a man play the coward, the silver tongue, with all +its eloquent explanation and honeyed pleadings, will hardly banish from +their eyes the peculiar expression wavering betwixt compassion and +contempt. They may forgive cruelty, or insolence, or even treachery--in +time; but they can find no palliation, and little sympathy, for that one +unpardonable sin. Truly, transgression in this line, beyond a certain +point, may scarcely be excused; for weakness may be controlled, if not +cured: if we can not be dashingly courageous, we may at least be +decently collected: not all may aspire to the cross of valor, but it is +not difficult to steer clear of courts-martial. + +A man is not pleasant to contemplate when terror has driven out all +self-command; so we will not draw Mr. Fullarton's picture: he could +scarcely stammer out words enough to suggest an immediate retreat. It +was painful--_not_ ludicrous--to see how justly his own child +appreciated the position: the little thing left her father's side +instinctively, and clung for protection to Cecil Tresilyan. The latter +saw instantly how matters stood; and if the glance she cast on the +aggressor was not pleasant to meet, far more unendurable was that which +fell upon her unlucky companion: it was piercing enough to penetrate the +strong armor of his wonderful self-complacency, and to rankle for many a +day. She struck her small foot on the ground with a gesture of imperial +disdain. Even so the Scythian Amazon might have spurned the livid head +of Cyrus the Great King. + +"I will not stir till I see if no one will come who can take my part. +Ah! I would give--" + +"Don't be rash, Miss Tresilyan. You might be taken at your word." + +Cecil turned quickly, with a delicious sense of confidence and triumph +thrilling through every fibre of her frame: on the top of the rock that +rose ten feet high, like a wall, on their right, stood Royston Keene. A +more pacific character would have dared a greater danger for the reward +and the promise of her eyes. + +He took in the whole scene at a glance (perhaps he had heard more than +he chose to own), and, swinging himself lightly down, strode right +across the _potager_ with a disregard of the proprietor's interests and +feelings refreshing to see. + +"It seems to me that the ancient positions have been reversed. You have +been spoiled by the Egyptians, Miss Tresilyan. Shall we try the secular +arm? You have scarcely been safe under the protection of the +church--_militant_." + +There was a pause before the last word, and it was unpleasantly +emphasized. Then he advanced a step or two toward the Frenchman, without +waiting for a reply, and spoke in a totally different tone--brief and +imperative--"_Tu vas me rendre ça?_" + +Duchesne had been rather startled by the apparition of the new-comer, +and, if he had been cool enough to reflect, would not have fancied him +as an antagonist; but his passion blinded him, and strong drink had +heated his brutal blood above boiling point; he ground his teeth, as he +answered, till the foam ran down-- + +"Le rendre--à toi--chien d'Anglais? je m'en garderai bien. Si la belle +demoiselle veut le ravoir, elle viendra demain, me prier bien gentiment; +et elle viendra--seule." + +Now Royston Keene was thoroughly impregnated with the bitterest of +aristocratic prejudices: no man alive more utterly ignored the doctrines +of liberty, equality, and fraternity; besides this, he had acquired, to +an unusual extent, the overbearing tone and demeanor which the habit of +having soldiers under them is supposed to bring, too commonly, to modern +centurions. He actually experienced a "fresh sensation" as he heard the +insult leveled by those coarse plebeian lips at the woman "he delighted +to honor." His swarthy face grew white down to the lips, whose quivering +the heavy mustache could not quite conceal, and he shivered from head to +foot where he stood. Jean Duchesne thought he detected the familiar +signs of a terror he had often inspired. "Tu as peur donc? Tu +tressailles déjà, blanc-bec! Tonnerre de Dì! tu as raison." Not a trace +of passion lingered in the major's clear, cold voice, that fell upon the +ear with the ring of steel. "On ne tressaille pas, quand on est sûr de +gagner. Regarde donc en arrière." + +Involuntarily the Frenchman looked behind him, expecting a fresh +adversary from that quarter. As he turned his head Keene sprang forward, +and plucked the parasol from his grasp: in one second he had laid it +lightly in its owner's hand; in the next he had returned to his +position, and stood, ready for the onset, motionless as the marble +Creugas. + +He had not long to wait. Even a "well-conditioned" Gaul does not like +being outwitted, and the successful _ruse_ exasperated Duchesne into +insanity. Roaring like a wild beast that has missed its spring, he +rushed in to grapple. Royston never moved a finger till the enemy was +well within distance; then, slinging his left hand straight out from the +hip, he "let him have it" fairly between the eyes. + +One blow--only one--but a blow that, had it been stricken in the days of +Olympian and Nemean contests--where Pindar and his peers were +"reporters"--might well have earned a dithyramb; a blow that would have +gladdened the sullen spirit of the old gladiator who trained the Cool +Captain, if the prophet had lived to see his auguries fulfilled, or if +sights and sounds from upper earth could penetrate to the limbo of +defunct athletæ. Nothing born of woman could have stood before it, and +it was small blame to Jean Duchesne that he dropped like a log in his +tracks. In another instant his conqueror had one knee on the chest of +the fallen man, and both hands were griping his throat. + +His own face was fearfully changed. It wore an expression that has been +very often seen in the sixty centuries that have passed since Cain +struck his brother down, but has very seldom been described; for the +dead tell no tales beyond what their features, stiffened in hopeless +terror, may betray. It has been seen on lost battle-fields--in the +streets of cities given up to pillage, when the storming is just over +and the carnage begun--on desolate hill-sides--in dark forest-glades--in +chambers of lonely houses, strongly but vainly barred--in every place +where men in the death agony have "cried and there was none to help +them." It was full time for _some one_ to interfere when the devil had +entered into Royston Keene. + +From the moment that affairs had assumed such a different aspect Mr. +Fullarton had gradually been recovering his composure, and by this time +was quite himself again. He advanced confidently, and, laying his hand +on the major's shoulder with an imposing air, and with his best pulpit +manner, enunciated, "Thou shalt do no murder!" The latter, as we have +already said, was utterly beside himself; but even this can not excuse +the abrupt, impatient movement that sent such an eminent divine reeling +three paces back. The rigid lips only twisted themselves into an evil +sneer, and the cruel fingers tightened their gripe till the features of +the prostrate wretch grew convulsed and black. + +The whole scene had passed so quickly, though it takes so long to +describe (some of us never _can_ succeed in stenography), that Cecil +felt perfectly lost in a whirl of conflicting emotions, till she saw the +face in life before her that she had been fancying ever since last +night. A great fear came over her, but she overcame it, and her woman's +instinct told her what to do. She laid her little hand upon Keene's arm +before he was aware that she was near, and whispered so that only he +could hear, "For _my_ sake." Only these three simple words; but the +exorcism was complete. + +Again a shiver ran all through the hardy frame, and for once Love was +more powerful than Hate. He loosed his hold--slowly though, and +reluctantly--and rose to his feet, passing his hand over his eyes in a +strange, bewildered way; but in five seconds his wonderful self-command +asserted itself, and he spoke as coolly as ever. "A thousand pardons. +One does forget one's self sometimes when the _canaille_ are provoking, +but I ought to have remembered what was due to _you_." + +Though she could not speak, she tried to smile; but strong reaction had +come on. In the pale woman that trembled so painfully it was hard to +recognize proud Cecil Tresilyan. Royston was watching her narrowly, and +his tone softened till it made his simple words a caress. "Don't make me +more angry with myself than I deserve. Indeed, there is nothing more to +alarm or distress you. If you would only forgive me!" He helped her into +the saddle as he spoke, and she submitted passively. But the happy +feeling of perfect trust in him was coming back fast. + +Jean Duchesne had somewhat recovered from his stupor, and was leaning on +one arm, panting heavily, still in great pain; but he was inured to all +sorts of broils, and evidently he would soon recover from the effects of +this one, though he had never been so roughly handled. It was sheer +terror that made him lie so still: he dared move no more than a whipped +hound while in the presence of his late opponent. + +The others turned slowly homeward, for it is needless to say the +wild-flowers and the rendezvous were forgotten. As they turned the +corner which cut off the view of Duchesne's ground, Royston looked back +once, longingly. It was well for Cecil's nerves, in their disturbed +state, that she did not catch that Parthian glance. Ah, those +ungovernable eyes! They were gleaming with the expression that +Kirkpatrick's may have worn when he turned into the chapel where the Red +Comyn lay, growling, "_I_ mak sicker." + +None of the party were much disposed for conversation; for even Mr. +Fullarton did not feel equal to "improving the occasion" just then. +Cecil broke the silence at last: it was where the road was so narrow +that only two could walk abreast: Royston never left her bridle-rein. +"You must fancy that I have thanked you; I can not do so properly now. +It is strange, though, that you should have come up so very opportunely. +Was it a presentiment that made you follow us?" + +The answer was so low that she had almost to guess at it from the motion +of his lips, "Have you forgotten Napoleon's last rallying-cry, '_Qui +m'aime me suit?_'" No wonder that his pulse would throb exultantly as he +saw the bright, beautiful blush that swept over his companion's cheek +and brow! They had almost reached home when he spoke again, "You would +have been liberal in your promises twenty minutes ago if I had not +stopped you, Miss Tresilyan. I _should_ like to have some memorial of +to-day. Very childish, is it not? Will you give me _this_? I deserve +something for saving that pretty parasol." He touched the glove she had +just drawn off--a light riding-gauntlet, fancifully cut, and embroidered +with silk. Cecil hesitated, though she would have been loth to refuse +him any thing just then. She felt, as most proud, sensitive women feel +the first time they are asked for what may be interpreted into a _gage +d'amour_. The tribute may be nominal, and the suzerain may be lenient +indeed, but none the less does it establish vassalage. + +Royston interpreted her reluctance aright, and went on with an +earnestness very unusual with him: for once it was honest and true. +"Pray trust me. The moment I cease to value that _souvenir_ as it +deserves, on my honor I will return it." + +He was fated to triumph all through that day. When Cecil was alone she +put something away with a very unnecessary carefulness, for surely +nothing can be more valueless than a glove that has lost its mate. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +I am almost ashamed to confess how deeply the scene she had witnessed +affected Cecil Tresilyan. The exhibition of Keene's fierce temper ought +certainly to have warned, if it did not disgust her. She could only +think--"It was for my sake that he was so angry, and he yielded to my +first word." + +There is rather a heavy run just now against the "physical force" +doctrine. It seems to me that some of its opponents are somewhat +hypercritical. For many, many years romancists persisted in attributing +to their principal heroes every point of bodily perfection and +accomplishment; no one thought then of caviling at such a +well-understood and established type. That most fertile and meritorious +of writers, for instance, Mr. G. P. R. James, invariably makes his _jeun +premier_ at least moderately athletic; so much so, that when he has the +villain of the tale at his sword's point we feel a comfortable +confidence that virtue will triumph as it deserves. As such a +contingency is certain to occur twice or thrice in the course of the +narrative, a nervous reader is spared much anxiety and trouble of mind +by this satisfactory arrangement. _Nous avons changé tout cela._ Modern +refinement requires that the chief character shall be made interesting +in spite of his being dwarfish, plain-featured, and a victim to +pulmonary or some more prosaic disease. Clearly we are right. What is +the use of advancing civilization if it does not correct our taste? What +have we to do with the "manners and customs of the English" in the +eighteenth century, or with the fictions that beguiled our boyhood? Let +our motto still be "Forward;" we have pleasures of which our grandsires +never dreamed, and inventions that they were inexcusable in ignoring. We +are so great that we can afford to be generous. Let them sleep well, +those honest but benighted ancients, who went down to their graves +unconscious of "Aunt Sally," and perhaps never properly appreciated +_caviare_! + +It is true that there are some writers--not the weakest--who still +cling to the old-fashioned mould. Putting Lancelot and Amyas out of the +question, I think I would sooner have "stood up" to most heroes of +romance than to sturdy Adam Bede. It can't be a question of religion or +morality, for "muscular _Christianity_" is the stock-sarcasm of the +opposite party: it must be a question of good taste. Well, ancient +Greece is supposed to have had some floating ideas on _that_ subject, +and she deified Strength. It is perfectly true, that to thrash a +prize-fighter unnecessarily is not a virtuous or glorious action, but I +contend that the _capability_ of doing so is an admirable and enviable +attribute. There are grades of physical as well as of moral perfection; +and, after all, the same Hand created both. + +Have I been replying against the critics? _Absit omen!_ They are more +often right, I fear, than authors are willing to allow; for it _is_ +aggravating to have one's pet bits of pathos put between inverted commas +for the world in general to make a mock at (we could hardly write them +down without tears in our eyes), and to have our story condensed into a +few clever, pithy sentences (all in the present tense), till its +weakness becomes painfully apparent. More than this, our candid friends +are impalpable. Real life can furnish us with enough substantial +opponents for us not to trouble ourselves about Junius. Neither in war +nor love is it expedient to grasp at shadows. Ah! Mr. Reade, why were +you not warned by Ixion? + +One thing is certain: however sound your arguments in depreciation of +personal prowess may be, you will never gain a unanimous feminine +verdict. It must be an extraordinary exhibition of mental excellence +that will really interest the generality of our sisters for the moment +as deeply as a very ordinary feat of strength or skill. It is not that +they can not thoroughly appreciate rectitude of feeling, brilliancy of +conversation, and distinguished talent; but remember the hackneyed +quotation: + + Segnius irritant animum demissa per aures, + Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus. + +If you want a proof of the correctness of Horace's opinion, go up to +"Lord's" this month, and watch the flutter among the fair spectators, +just after a "forward drive" over the Pavilion; or, better still, the +next time the "Grand Military" comes off at Warwick, mark the reception +that the man who rides a winner will meet with in the stand. +Conventionality has done a good deal, but it has not refined away all +the frank, impulsive woman-nature yet. The knights are dust, and their +good swords rust; but dame and demoiselle are very much the same as they +were in the old days, when the Queen of Scots could sing + + How they reveled through the summer night, + And by day made lanceshafts flee, + For Mary Beatoun, and Mary Seatoun, + And Mary Fleming, and me. + +Will this long and rather rash _tirade_ in the least excuse Cecil +Tresilyan? Of course not. My poor heroine! It was very unnecessary--that +advertisement that she was not superior to the weaknesses of her sex; +for it seems to me, with every chapter, she has been growing more +fallible and frail. She was utterly incapable of being at all +demonstrative or "gushing;" but her preference for Royston Keene was now +quite undisguised. + +Mrs. Danvers was bitterly exasperated. It would be unjust to deny that +she was greatly actuated by a sincere interest in her _ci-devant_ +pupil's welfare; but other feelings were at work. + +It is very remarkable how a perfectly well-principled woman will connive +at what she can not approve so long as she is taken unreservedly into +confidence; but when once one secret is kept back the danger of her +antagonism begins; the magic draught that has lulled the vigilant +Gryphon to sleep loses its potency; the guardian of the treasure +awakes--more savage because conscious of a dereliction in duty--and woe +to the Arimaspian! The cold, pale, chaste moon comes forth from behind +the cloud, determined to reveal every iota of transgression: no farther +chance of concealment here--_Reparat sua cornua Phoebe_. + +So, to the utmost of her small powers, Bessie did endeavor to thwart and +counteract the adversary. Her line was consistently plaintive. In season +and out of season she whined and wept profusely. This was the last +resource of her simple strategy: when the enemy was getting too strong +to be met in open field, she adopted the Dutch plan of opening the +sluices and trying to drown him. It is painful to be obliged to state +that the inundation did not greatly avail. As she had done from the +first, Cecil declined to make any confidences, or indeed to discuss the +question at all. + +Mr. Fullarton, too, felt keenly the defection of a promising proselyte. +Since that unfortunate afternoon Miss Tresilyan had been perfectly +civil, but always very cold; and he could not but be aware that he had +lost ground then that he never could hope to regain. The divine must +have been very desperate when he ventured to attack that impracticable +brother. It was not a judicious move; nor would any one have tried it +who knew Dick Tresilyan. It was not only that he liked and admired +Royston Keene, but he had a blind confidence in his sister that nothing +on earth could disturb: the evidence of his own senses would not have +affected it in the least. "Whatever _she_ does is right," he thought; +and he clung to that idea, as many other true believers will do to a +creed that they can not understand. So when the question was broached he +was not very angry (for he did _more_ than justice to the chaplain's +sense of duty), but he stubbornly declined to enter upon it at all. Mr. +Fullarton was so provoked that he was goaded into a taunt that he ought +to have been ashamed of. + +"Perhaps you are right," he said; "Major Keene is so formidable an +adversary, that it is hardly safe to interfere with him." (These "men of +peace"--_quand ils s'y prennent_! I believe the most exasperating man in +England, at this moment, to be an influential Quaker.) + +Dick Tresilyan took a long time (as was his wont) in finding out what +was meant; when he did, even his limited intellect appreciated its bad +taste and absurdity. A hundred sarcasms would not have disconcerted the +pastor so completely as his honest, hearty laugh. + +"Ah! you think I'm afraid of him? No--they don't breed cowards where I +come from. I never heard that idea but once before; that was at the +Truro fair. I wasn't in very good company, and they 'planted' a big +miner on me at last. He wanted me to wrestle, and when I wouldn't, he +said--just what you did. But I remember all the others laughed at him. +They know _us_ in those parts, you see. He'd better have kept quiet; for +though he puzzled me at first with a 'back trick' he had, I knew more +than he did, and he got an awkward fall; I don't think he'll ever do a +good day's work again." He paused, and his brow darkened strangely, and +all his face changed, till it resembled more closely than it had often +done the portraits of come of the "bitter, bad Tresilyans." "I suppose +you mean well, Mr. Fullarton, but I'm not going to thank you. We can +manage our affairs without your meddling; and if you're wise you'll +leave us alone." It will be seen that the chaplain did not take much by +his motion. + +Neither was Fanny Molyneux well satisfied with the turn affairs had +taken lately. That poor little "white witch" was really alarmed by the +unruly character of the spirit that she had been anxious to raise; she +did not know the proper formula for sending it back to its own place; +and, if she had, the stubborn demon would only have mocked at her simple +incantations. Though she loved Cecil dearly, she was too much in awe of +her to venture upon remonstrance or warning; indeed, the few mild hints +that she _did_ throw out had not met with such success as to tempt her +to follow them up. So she was, perforce, reduced to an unarmed +neutrality. + +Her husband was perhaps the most thoroughly uncomfortable of the party. +He knew the circumstances and bearings of the question better than any +one else, and would have sacrificed a good deal ("his right hand," I +believe, is the proper phrase) to have averted the probable result. But +he had not sufficient strength of mind to take the decided measures that +might have been of some avail; in fact, he had a vague idea that to act +on the offensive against his old comrade would be unpardonable +treachery. Arguing with the latter was simply absurd; for this reason, +if for no other, that from the moment his feelings became really +interested, no amount of diplomacy would have induced him to enter upon +the subject. Harry went about with a miserable, helpless sense of +complicity weighing him down, which was much aggravated by a few words +which dropped one morning from Dick Tresilyan. + +Dick had been dining _tête-à-tête_ with Keene on the previous evening +after a hard day's snipe shooting, and bore evident traces about him of +a heavy night--a fact which he lost no time in alluding to, not without +a certain pride, like the man in Congreve's play, who exults in having +"been drunk in excellent company." "We had a very big drink," he said, +confidentially, "and the major got more than his allowance. He didn't +know what he was talking about at last, and he told me more of his +affairs than most people know, I think; of course, I'm as safe as a +church;" and Dick made a gallant but abortive attempt to wink with one +of his swollen eyelids. + +Molyneux shrank away from the speaker with something very like a +suppressed groan--he had heard _that_ said before, and remembered what +came of it. Credulity was as dangerous when men thought Royston Keene +had lost his head as when women flattered themselves he had lost his +heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +If you will be good enough to look back on the one romance in which, +like the rest of the world, you probably indulged yourself, you will +remember, perhaps more distinctly than any other feature, the +_presentiment_ which haunted you from the very beginning. We were +absurdly sanguine and hopeful in those days--full of chivalrous resolves +and unlimited aspirations; but still the feeling would come back--if, +indeed, it ever left us--that in the dim background there was difficulty +and danger. We were not surprised when the small white speck rose out of +the sea, and it needed no prophet to tell us then that the heavens would +soon be black with clouds, and that there would be a great rain (which, +indeed, was the case, for there ensued a long continuance of wet +weather; it was a very tearful season). Oddly enough, that same +presentiment did not make us particularly melancholy or uncomfortable, +but seemed rather to give a zest to our simple pleasures, relieving them +from any tinge of sameness or insipidity. When the _dénouement_ came we +did not exactly see things in the same light certainly, and it took some +time to settle thoroughly down into our present theory, that "it was all +for the best." + +It is the old story of Thomas the Rhymer over and over again (we were +all rhymers once). The lover knows that there is peril in the path, but +not the less joyously he strides on by the side of the beautiful queen. +How sweetly they ring, the silver bells on the neck of the milk-white +palfrey; not so sweetly, though, as her low, musical tones. So on they +fare, till the world of realities is left far behind, and they find +themselves at their journey's end. It is very happy, that year spent in +her kingdom; but so like a dream that he does not appreciate its +pleasures so well at the moment as he will in the weary after-years. Yet +the waking came too soon. The sojourner had not half grown tired of his +resting-place; the bloom has not faded on the wondrous fruits and +flowers: the strangely sweet wine has not lost its savor, when it is +time for him to be gone, for a dreadful whisper runs through the company +that to-morrow the teind to hell must be paid. Well, the black +tax-gatherer is balked by a day, and the wanderer is back at Ercildoune +again. Very dreary looks the gray, bare moorland. Do they call that +foliage on the stunted fir-trees? It is only the ghost of a forest. The +trim parterres have no beauty or fragrance for one that has lingered in +more glorious gardens and plucked redder roses. Tabret and viol jangle +harshly in the ears that have rioted in melodies made by fairy harpers. +The village maidens may be comely, but they are somewhat clumsy withal; +the earthen floor trembles under their feet when they lead their simple +dances; very different from the steps that kept time to a wild, weird +music, stirring but scarcely bending the grass-blades. There is no color +in their flaxen locks, and little light in their pale-blue eyes; these +will not bear comparison with the smooth, braided tresses that +glistened like blue-black serpents, or the glances that rained down +liquid fire through the twilight of the forests of Elf-land. Slowly the +discontented dreamer realizes the fact that the spell is still upon +him--riveted when he stole that first fatal kiss in despite of his +mistress's warning. Nothing is left for him now but to expiate his folly +in the loneliness of the gray old tower, and to look forth, hoping to +see the grass-green robe gleam again against the setting sun, and to +hear the silver bells chime once more in the still evening air. +Vain--worse than vain. With stiffened limbs and grizzled hair, we are +not worth beguiling. + +This is essentially a masculine illustration, and only applies to Cecil +Tresilyan thus far. She was sensible of the influence that strengthened +its hold upon her every day, and did not now wish or try to resist it, +but she grew proportionately doubtful and uneasy about the event. A +feeling, very strange and new to one of a temperament like hers, began +to creep over her now and then. At such times she owned that her eyes +were the more eagerly and steadfastly fixed on the Present, because they +did not dare to look into the Future. Yet, as far as she knew, there was +no ground for much apprehension. + +It is always so. Only when we are carrying something rare and precious +do we appreciate the possible perils of the road. How much steeper the +hills are now, how much deeper and darker the ravines, how much more +frequent the crags that might so easily conceal a marauder, than when we +passed them some months ago chanting the reckless roundel of the _vacuus +viator_. + +We said, you remember, before, that Miss Tresilyan had one subject of +self-reproach, for which she had never gained her own absolution. The +whispers that had never been quite silenced began to make themselves +heard unpleasantly often, and now they just hinted at Retribution. As +our poor Cecil must come to confession some time or another, it seems to +me this is a convenient season. + +At the country-house where she was spending Christmas, three years +before the date of our story, she met Mark Waring. She knew his +antecedents: how, when sudden troubles came upon his family, he gave up +diplomacy, which he had entered upon, and took up the law--hating it +cordially--simply because a fair opening was given him there of securing +to his mother and sisters something better than bread. He never +pretended to feel the slightest interest in his profession, but went on +slaving at it resolutely and successfully. He made no merit of it +either, but always spoke, and I believe thought of it, as the merest +matter of course--the right thing to do under the circumstance. There +was a hardihood of principle about all this which Cecil rather admired; +and his frank, bold bearing, and simple, straightforward way of putting +thoughts that were worth listening to into terse, strong language, aided +the first favorable impression. She determined to make Mark like her; +and when she had a fancy of this kind, she was apt to carry it out +without much consideration for the comfort or convenience of the person +destined to the experiment. She had no deliberate intention of doing any +body any harm; but those innocent little whims and projects of +amusement do more mischief sometimes than the most systematic +machinations of devil-craft. Why, when you begin even to _write_ a +chapter, it is very difficult to say where it will end; when you begin +to talk it or act it, it is harder still to prophesy aright. A +character, or a sentence, or an idea, which looked quite insignificant +at first, assumes perfectly portentous dimensions and importance before +we have done with it; so that the alternate effect is nearly as +startling when realized as that produced by Alice's conjuration: + + She crossed him thrice, that lady bold; + He rose beneath her hand, + The fairest knight on Scottish mould, + Her brother, Ethert Brand. + +So while Cecil was drawing on Mark Waring to talk about his daily +life--sympathizing with him about his hard, distasteful work, and +pitying his loneliness, she never guessed how her words were being +branded, one by one, on the earnest, steadfast heart, that her own lofty +nature was not worthy to understand. In a week after their first meeting +she had drawn from him all the love he had to give; and men of Mark +Waring's mould can only find room for one love in a lifetime. Such +characters are exceptional, fortunately; for they are very impracticable +and difficult to get on with, and their antiquated notions are +perpetually contrasting and conflicting with the established prejudices +of polite and well-organized society--sometimes even checking the same +for an instant in its easy, conventional flow. They _won't_ see that of +all ways of spending time and thought, the most absurdly unprofitable is +to waste them on a memory. Yet--O mine excellent friend and cynical +preceptor! to whom, for sage instruction, I owe a debt of gratitude that +I never mean to repay--I beseech you, consort not too much with these +misguided men. They are not likely to infect you with their pestilent +doctrines and principles; but they may, in an unguarded moment, make you +do violence to your favorite maxim--_Nil admirari_. + +With all his strong common sense, Mark was lamentably deficient in +worldly wisdom. He never saw the obstacles that would have daunted +others. Could any thing be more improbable than that the most triumphant +beauty of the season should seriously incline to share the long up-hill +struggle of a rising barrister? Those dull Temple-chambers are lucky +enough if the sun condescends to visit them at rare intervals in his +journey westward. But Waring's own singleness of purpose beguiled him +more effectually than the most inordinate vanity could have done. +Putting character out of the question, he thought a woman could only +derogate by allying herself to one of inferior birth; and he knew his +own blood to be nearly equal to Miss Tresilyan's. He was right so +far--if she had only loved him she would have subscribed readily to +every article of his simple, knightly creed. The last idea that entered +his mind was, that she could have stooped so low as to trifle with him. +It was the old mistake. We measure other people's feelings by the +intensity of our own, and think it hard when we meet with +disappointment. Yet a certain misgiving, that he did not like to +analyze, kept him from bringing the question to an issue till the day +before his departure. Then he told her frankly what his prospects were, +and asked her to share them. + +Now "the Refuser" was so used to seeing men commit themselves in this +way on the very shortest notice, and without the faintest encouragement, +that the situation had ceased to afford her much excitement: a proposal +no more made her nervous than file-firing does a thoroughly-broken +charger. For once, however, she felt uncomfortable and vexed with +herself, though she did not guess the extent of the harm she had done. +Nothing could be kinder or gentler than her answer, but nothing could be +more decisive. On the cold, smooth rock there was not a cleft or a +trailing weed for despair to cling to in its drowning agony. So the hope +of Mark Waring's life went down there without a cry or a struggle--as it +is fitting the hope of a strong heart should die--into the depths of the +great sea that never will give up its dead. + +The lover of the present day is rather a curious study immediately after +he has encountered a defeat or disappointment. Sometimes the phase is a +mild melancholy. I remember a case of this sort not very long ago. The +reflections on things in general that flowed constantly from that man's +lips for the space of about a fortnight were incredible to those who +knew him well. They were so calmly philosophic--so pleasantly ironical, +without a tinge of bitterness--so frequently relieved by the flashes of +keen humor--that to listen to them (the weather being intensely hot) was +soothing and refreshing in the extreme. Every body was sorry when he was +consoled; for, since that time he has never made an observation worth +recording. She was a very clever woman who reduced our friend to this +abnormal state, though she grossly maltreated him; and, from close +association, some of her conversational talent, perhaps insensibly, had +got into his constitution; but it could not thrive in such an +uncongenial soil, where there was nothing to nourish it. Some men, +again, take the reckless and boisterous line, plunging for a while into +all sorts of demoralization, with an evident contentment in having a +fair excuse for the same in their disappointment. Certainly it is rather +a luxurious state of things--to satisfy one's vengeance while gratifying +one's appetites--and to know that people are saying all the time, "Poor +Charlie! He's very much to be pitied. It's entirely Fanny Grey's fault. +He is dreadfully altered since she behaved to him so shamefully." +Others--probably the majority--go for complete indifference, and succeed +creditably on the whole. A few, _very_ few, know that their happiness +has got its death-wound, and are able to take it bravely and silently. +It is of one of these last we are speaking. + +Mark Waring was too honest to affect insensibility; he was not of the +stuff out of which accomplished actors are made. He walked quickly to +the window, that his face might not betray him, and did not turn round +till he thought he had disciplined it thoroughly. It was but a half +victory after all; for when Cecil met his eyes her cheek became the +paler of the two. She read there enough to make her wish that she could +give up all her former triumphs, and undo this last success. She tried +to tell him that she was deeply grieved and repentant; but the words +would not come. Mark forgot his own sorrow when he saw large drops +hanging ready to fall on the dark, long eyelashes. + +"Pray do not distress yourself," he said, quite steadily; "such +presumption as mine deserves harsher treatment than it has met with from +you. You are not answerable for my extravagant self-delusions. I would +ask you to forgive me for having been so precipitate--only I know, now, +that if I had waited seven years your answer would have been the same. +Let us part in kindness; it will be very long before we meet again; but +I do not think I shall forget you; and I hope you will remember me if +you ever want a hand or head to carry out any one of your wishes or +whims. It would make me very happy if I could so serve you. Now, +good-by. It is only going this afternoon instead of to-morrow. I must +try and make up for lost time, too, by working a little harder." + +The smile that accompanied those last words haunted Cecil for many, many +days. She knew already enough of Waring to be certain that he would +never sink into maudlin sentimentality; it saddened her inexpressibly to +fancy him alone in his gloomy chambers, when the night was waning, +chained to those crabbed law-papers from a dreary sense of duty, but +without a hope or an interest to cheer him on; he had given up ambition +long ago. (There are many clocks that keep time to a second, when their +striking part is ruined utterly.) She felt angry, then and afterward, +that she could find no words to say the least appropriate or expressive; +she held out her hand timidly, pleading for forgiveness with her eyes. +He just touched it with his lips before he let it go. That kiss of peace +was a more precious tribute than any of her hundred vassals had offered +to the proud Tresilyan. So they parted. + +Cecil's conscience was disagreeably uncompromising, and for a long time, +declined to admit any valid excuse for the mischief she had done; but +time and change are efficient anodynes; and her penance was nearly +completed when she came to Dorade. Of late, however, the reproachful +vision had presented itself oftener than ever. She realized more +completely the pain that Mark Waring must have endured, as she guessed +what would be the bitterness of her own feelings, if it should prove +that she had mistaken Royston Keene. That sorrowful memory seemed to +rise before her like a warning spectre, waving her back from the path +she had begun to tread. Truly, Cecil Tresilyan _was_ different from the +generality of her sex; or, when her own heart was sorely imperiled, she +would never have found time to think so often, and so regretfully, of +one that she had broken. But, when a woman has once determined to set +her whole fortunes on the turn of a die, where is the monitor that will +teach her prudence or self-restraint? She will hardly be persuaded +"though one rose from the dead." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Royston Keene had indeed good reason to augur ill of the ending of his +love-dream; but it was in his nature always to walk straight on to the +accomplishment of his purpose, overlooking the obstacles that lay +between and the dangers that lay beyond. This partly accounted for his +utter insensibility to ordinary inconveniences and annoyances. His own +words to Molyneux one day, when the latter remarked on this peculiarity, +though somewhat allegorical, expressed his theory and practice fairly: +"Hal, when we are traveling, we always remember where we change our +large notes; but life is not long enough to recollect how the thalers +and piastres go." His companion thought this rather a brilliant +illustration, especially as it squared with his own ideas of existence. +But in reality, between the two men there was a marked distinction. A +genial kindliness in the one, and a hard unscrupulous determination in +the other, worked out nearly the same results. + +Royston liked Cecil Tresilyan better than any woman he had ever seen, +and he made up his mind to win her. It is more than doubtful if he took +the probable consequences to either into consideration at all. Foot by +foot he was gaining ground till he felt almost sure of success; but this +confidence never made him for an instant less vigilant in watching the +chances, less careful in scoring every point of the game. He had played +it long enough to know these right well. + +Yet to him, too, the Past brought its warning. He was rarely troubled or +favored with dreams; but one night was an exception to the rule. To +understand it you must look back once more, and bear with me while we +moralize yet again. _Excusez du peu._ + +There is a regret that has power to move and torment the coldest Stoic +that vegetates on earth; it comes when our own hand or act has slain the +one living thing that loved us best of all. We may have done the deed +unwittingly or unwillingly; we may have been unconscious of the love +that was borne us till it was too late for acknowledgment; we may never +in thought or word or act have injured our victim before that last wrong +of the death-blow; well for those who can plead so fair an excuse; yet +even this, with all the rest, the inexorable Nemesis laughs to scorn. I +wonder that poets and dramatists have not oftener selected this saddest +theme. It may be true that the last murmur from the lips of the +Llewellyn, when his life was ebbing away in the Pass of the Ambush, +syllabled the name, not of wife or child or friend, but of a stanch +wolfhound; and perhaps tears less bitter have been shed over the graves +of many exemplary Christians than those that sprinkled the turf under +the birch-trees where Gelert was sleeping. It could not free the Ancient +Mariner from the remorse that clung to him like a poisoned garment till +it made him a "world's wonder," because, when he shot the albatross, he +thought he was benefiting his fellows. Not less accusingly did the +voices of the sea wail in the ears of the desolate Viking, because, when +the bitter arrow went aside, he was fighting hard to save Oriana. +Nothing could be more correct than the conduct of Virginius, or more +creditable to a Roman father; but when he harangued in the Forum in +after days, I doubt if the commons thronged so densely as to shut out +from the demagogue a vision of fair hair dabbled in blood, gleaming +awfully in the sunlight, and of dark-blue eyes turned upon him in a +wondering horror till that look froze in them forevermore. I doubt if +the cheers of his partisans were so noisy as to drown the memory of a +certain choked shivering moan; in the long, lonely winter nights at +least, be sure those sights and sounds visited the tribune's hearth, +often enough to satisfy the savage spirit of the doomed decemvir. + +It was this remorse which had stricken Royston Keene sorely, even +through his armor of proof, as he knelt, not very long ago, by the side +of a death-bed. A woman lay there, scarcely past girlhood, and fair +enough to have been the pride of any English household, as daughter or +sister or wife. You shall not read unnecessarily an episode of sin and +bitter sorrow, and of shame that was not less heavy to bear because the +eyes of the world were blinded and saw it not. It is enough to say that +the blood of Emily Carlyle was as certainly on her tempter's head as +that of any one of those whom he had slain in open fight with shot or +steel. This is what she answered when he asked her to forgive him: "My +own, I have forgiven you long ago! I could not help it if I would. I can +not reproach you either, for though I have tried hard to repent, I fear, +if all were to come over again, I should not act more coldly or wisely. +But listen! I know you will be able, if you choose it, to make others +love you nearly as well as I have done--and you _will_ choose it. +Darling, promise me that, for my sake, you will spare _one_. I could die +easier if I thought my intercession had saved another's soul, though I +was so weak in guarding my own. It might help me too, perhaps--if any +thing can help me--where I am going." Even Royston Keene shivered at the +low terror-stricken whisper in which these last words were spoken. He +gave the promise though, and remembered it occasionally till--the time +for keeping it came. + +The major had been spending the evening with Cecil Tresilyan, making +arrangements for a pic-nic that was to take place two days later. He had +had a passage-of-arms or two with Mrs. Danvers, wherein that +strong-principled but weak-minded enthusiast had been utterly +discomfited and routed with great slaughter. Altogether it was very +pleasant entertainment; and he went to his rest in a state of great +contentment and satisfaction. He woke (or seemed to wake) with a sudden +start and shudder, for he was aware of the presence of something in the +room that was not there when he lay down. + +Out of the black darkness a face slowly defined itself, bending over the +pillow and creeping close to his own--only a face--he could not +distinguish even the outline of a figure. He knew it very well, and the +eyes, too--but there was an upbraiding there that, while she lived, he +had never seen in those of gentle Emily Carlyle; and a reproach came +from the white lips, though they did not move to give it passage. "All +forgotten! I--the promise, too. And yet--I suffer--I suffer always." The +sad, pleading expression of the face and eyes vanished then; and a +strange, pale glare, not like the moonlight, that seemed to come from +within, lighted them up--fixed and rigid, yet eloquent, of unutterable +agony: there was written plainly the self-abhorrence of a heart +conscious of the coils of the undying worm--the despair of a soul +looking far into Futurity, yet seeing no end to the wrath to come. Then +the darkness swallowed up all; and, before Keene thoroughly roused +himself--with a smothered cry--he knew that he was alone again. + +A cold dew lingered on the dreamer's forehead, as if a breath from +beyond the grave had lately passed over it; but terror was not the +predominating feeling. He had ruled that timid, trusting girl too long +and too imperiously to quail before her disembodied spirit. But a +strange sadness overcame him as he pondered upon all that she had +endured--and might still be enduring--for his sake: a glimmer of +something like generosity and compassion flickered for a brief space +over the surface of the cast-steel heart. He rose, and leaned out into +the steady, outer moonlight, musing for several minutes, and then began +muttering aloud. "It would be as well to clear off one debt at least. I +did pass my word. She deserves this sacrifice, if it were only for never +complaining: let her have her way. By G--d, I'll go off to-morrow +evening, and I'll tell Cecil so as soon as I can see her. Bah! what is a +man worth if he can not forget? Besides, I don't know--" The rest of his +doubts and scruples he confessed--not even to the stars. + +Climate has a great deal to answer for. A sudden tempest or an opportune +mist has turned the scale of more battles than some of the most +successful generals would have liked to own. If the next morning had +broken sullenly, things might have gone far otherwise. But it was one of +those brilliant days that make even the invalids not regret, for the +moment, that they have given up all English comforts and home-pleasures +for the off-chance of wringing another month or two of life out of the +wreck of their constitution. Every thing looked bright and in holiday +guise, from the wreaths of ivy glistening on the brows of the shattered +old castle, down to the [Greek: _anêrithmong elasma_] of the +turquoise-sea. Under the circumstances, it was very unlikely that +Royston would keep to his virtuous resolutions. The first half of them +he carried out perfectly: he did go straight to Cecil Tresilyan, and +tell her of his intentions to depart. She did not betray much of her +disappointment or surprise, but she argued with so fascinating a +casuistry against the necessity of such a sudden step, that it was no +wonder if she soon convinced her hearer of the propriety of at least +delaying it. In a case like this an excuse of "urgent private affairs" +that would suffice for the most rigid martinet that ever tyrannized over +a district or a division sounds absurdly trivial and insincere. When a +proud beauty does condescend to plead, a man who really cares for her +must be very peculiarly constituted if he remains constant in denial. + +The vision of the night had faded away already. Those poor ghosts! They +have no chance--the mystics say--against embodied spirits, if the latter +only keep up their courage, and choose to assert their supremacy. +Besides, they must, perforce, fly before the dawn. And what dawn was +ever so bright as the Tresilyan's smile when she guessed from Royston's +face, without his speaking, that she had won the day? + +So the pic-nic came off according to the arrangement. The weather and +every thing else looked so promising that even the vinegar in Bessie +Danvers's composition was acidulated; and, when Keene greeted her at +the place of _rendezvous_, she favored him with just such a smile as one +of the grim Puritan dames, in a rare interval of courtesy, may have +granted to Claverhouse or Montrose--the right of reprobation being +reserved. It is greatly to be feared that the Malignant did not +appreciate the condescension, his attention was so entirely taken up in +another quarter. + +Cecil Tresilyan was perfectly dazzling in the splendor and insolence of +her beauty: the calm self-possession that usually distinguished her +seemed changed into almost reckless high spirits: even her dress +betrayed a certain intention of coquetry; and her splendid violet eyes +flashed ever and anon with a mischievously mutinous expression that made +their glance a challenge. Such a frame of mind the Scotch describe when +they speak of a person being "fey," holding it to be a sure presage of +impending disaster. + +Oh, guileless maidens! be warned, and trust not to attractive +appearances. Lo! there is not a cloud in the sky that smiles over the +Nysian vale; all round the roses and lilies are blooming, till the air +is faint with their perfume; merry and musical rings the laugh of +Persephone, as she goes forth with her comrades a-Maying; but worse +things than serpents lurk beneath the waving grass. We, who have read +the ancient legend, listen already for the roll of the nether thunder: +we know that, in another minute, the earth will disgorge Aïdoneus, the +smart ravisher, with his iron chariot: then will come a struggle of the +dove in the clutch of the falcon--a cry for help drowned in a hoarse +growl of triumph--shrieks and wild disorder among the flying nymphs; but +the loveliest of the land will rejoin them never any more. Demeter +(like other careful chaperones), when she is most wanted, is far away, +tending her corn-lands or reveling in the odors of sacrifice. Finding +her after long-baffled search, she will hardly recognize her innocent +child in the pale Queen of Shades, that seems worthy of her awful throne +far-gleaming through the leaden twilight: the little hand that used to +weave garlands so deftly sways the golden sceptre right royally; but the +deep, solemn eyes have forgotten how to smile. She who once wept +bitterly over her pet bird when it died listens, unmoved, to the clank +of Megæra's scourge, and to the wail of a million spirits in torment. +Her beauty is more magnificent than ever, but it is tinged with the +austere and dreary majesty that befits the consort of the King of Hell. +Ah, woeful mother! desist from intercession, and dry those unavailing +tears: it is too late now to tempt her to follow you, even if Hades will +let its empress depart for a season: the pure, natural fruits of your +upper earth have lost all savor for the lips that once have tasted the +fatal pomegranate. + +Mr. Fullarton and his family completed the party, which was confined to +the Molyneux's set. The chaplain was strangely nervous, fussy, and +important: it seemed as if the possession of some weighty secret that he +was eager, yet afraid to divulge, had disturbed his phlegmatic +complacency. He took the first opportunity of beseeching Miss Tresilyan +to be allowed to act as her escort: it was customary on all these +expeditions that each dame and demoiselle, besides the professional +muleteer, should be attended by at least one "dismounted skirmisher." +Cecil was rather puzzled by the petition, and by the earnest way in +which it was preferred; but she was too happy to deny any body any thing +just then; besides which she felt conscious of having visited her pastor +of late with a certain amount of neglect, not to say contumely. So she +consented, graciously; but the sidelong glance at Keene, asking for his +sympathy, did not escape her reverend cavalier. + +It was evident that Mr. Fullarton had something on his mind that he +intended to impart to his companion; but it was equally clear that he +did not see his way to the confidence. The path turned abruptly across +the line of hills; and while he was hesitating and looking about for a +fair opening, it got so steep and rugged that it soon left him no breath +for the disclosure. Before they had gone half a league the divine was +decidedly in difficulties; he rolled hither and thither, panting +painfully, like one who has already endured all the burden and heat of +the day. Still he clung obstinately to Cecil's bridle-rein, rather +assisted than assisting, till they reached a point where the road +resembled greatly a flight of garret stairs, without any regularity in +the steps thereof. The mule and its leader stumbled together; the former +recovered itself cleverly after the fashion of its kind; but such a +_tour de force_ far exceeded the exhausted energies of the pursy pastor. +He was fairly "down upon his head." + +Since the cavalcade started, Major Keene had not attempted to disturb +the order of march; at first he walked by the side of Fanny Molyneux, +and did his best to amuse her; when the path became too narrow for three +abreast, he resigned the charge to Harry (who never, willingly, when _en +voyage_, abdicated the charge of his _mignonne_), and went on by +himself, just in the rear of Miss Tresilyan and her clerical escort. He +presented, in truth, a striking contrast to that over-tasked +pedestrian--going easily, within himself, without a quickened breath, or +a bead of moisture on his forehead. _Shikari_ of the Upper Himalayas, +gillies of Perthshire and the Western Highlands, chamois-hunters of the +Tyrol, and guides of Chamounix or Courmayeur, could all have told tales +of that long, slashing stride, to which hill or dale, rough or smooth, +never came amiss; before which even the weary German miles were +swallowed up like furlongs. He sprang quickly forward when he saw the +mishap of his front rank; Miss Tresilyan was quite safe, so he only gave +her a smile in passing, and then raised the fallen ecclesiastic, with a +studied and ostentatious tenderness that would have aggravated a saint. + +"I hope you are not severely hurt, Mr. Fullarton? You really should be +less rash in over-exciting yourself. The spirit is willing, but the +flesh is--somewhat 'short of work.' May I relieve you of your +responsibility till you have recovered your wind?" + +In spite of his own sacred character, and the proprieties of time and +place, had Keene been weak and of small stature, it is within the bounds +of possibility that the pastor might have assaulted him, there and then. + +If it had not been for that unfortunate sense of the ridiculous which +was perpetually offering temptations to Miss Tresilyan, she would have +undoubtedly on this occasion espoused the losing side; but she exhausted +all her powers of self-control in expressing (with decent gravity) her +sorrow, that her guide should have come to grief in her service. She had +none left wherewith to concoct a rebuke for the Cool Captain. +Considering the circumstances, Mr. Fullarton's laugh, and attempt at a +jest on his own discomfiture, did him infinite credit. With the +smothered expression that half escaped his lips as he fell to the rear, +the chronicler has no earthly concern. + +As the other two moved onward, Royston spoke, his dark eyes glittering +scornfully-- + +"I wonder if women will ever get tired of deriding us, or we of +ministering to their amusement? It must have been a great satisfaction +to Anne of Austria to see Richelieu dance that saraband. (But Mazarin +paid her off for it. I am very glad that the cardinal was avenged by the +_charlatan_.) Now, how could you allow the shepherd to be so rash? +Consider that he has a large and increasing family totally dependent on +him for support. If I were Mrs. Fullarton, I would bring an action +against you. It is a necessity that his successor should quote +_something_; and he really did bring to my mind the description of the +White Bull of Duncraggan, who started up-hill so vigorously-- + + But steep and flinty was the road, + And sharp the hurrying pikemen's goad, + And when we came to Dennan's Row, + A child might scatheless stroke his brow. + +I shouldn't like to be the child, though," he added, meditatively, with +a backward glance at the object of his remarks, who indeed did present a +very "dissolving view." + +The tone and manner of his speaking showed how much, within the last few +weeks, the relations of the two had altered: the scale was already +wavering, and ere long might be foretold a change in the balance of +power. + +His beautiful companion shook her head till the soft curling plumes that +nestled round her hat danced again; but the effect of the reproving +gesture was quite spoilt by the laugh that followed it, suppressed +though clear as a silver bell. + +"I will not be made an accomplice in your irreverent comparisons; I +don't admit the resemblance; if there were one, it was too bad of 'the +pikemen' not to be more considerate. You always try to impute malicious +motives to the most innocent. How could I guess that Mr. Fullarton would +suffer so for his devotion to my interests? I will give you back your +quotation in kind. See! if I were as mischievous as you insinuate-- + + My loss may pay my folly's tax; + I've broke my trusty battle-axe." + +The ivory handle of her parasol (the same that had been rescued from +Duchesne) chanced to be entangled in the bridle when the mule stumbled, +and the jerk snapped the frail shaft in two. Keene took the fragment +from her, and looked at it for an instant. + +"Poor thing!" he said compassionately; "so it was fated to be +short-lived? It was hardly worth while saving it from the wrath of the +sinner, if it was to be sacrificed so soon to the awkwardness of the +saint." + +"Not at all," Cecil replied. "It was my fault, for being so heedless. +But I can not afford another misadventure to-day. Will you take great +care of me?" + +Her soft, caressing tones thrilled through Royston's veins till the +blood mounted to his forehead; but he made no answer in words, only +looking up earnestly into her face with his rare smile. + +I have tried throughout to avoid inflicting on you a dialogue that does +not bear in some way on the incidents of our tale; on this principle we +will not record the conversation that occupied those two till they +reached the crown of the pass. It was probably interesting to _them_, +for it was long before either forgot a word that was spoken. But the +imagination or the memory of the reader will doubtless fill up a better +fancy-sketch than the one omitted here. + +There was a general halt on the brow of the hill. Indeed the view was +worth a pause. From below their feet the tract of low woodland rolled +right down to the edge of the sea, like a broad tossing river, swelling +into great billows of gray or dark green, where the taller olives or +fir-trees grew, and broken here and there with islets of many-colored +stone. With the rest came up the chaplain, who had recovered by this +time his breath, and, to a certain extent, his equanimity. While the +others stood silent, he saw one of those openings for improving the +occasion professionally of which he was ever so ready to avail himself. +So, casting his hand abroad theatrically, he declaimed, + + How glorious are thy works, Parent of Good! + +The words came oozing out in the oiliest of his unctuous tones; and the +elocutionist's expansive glance fell first on the landscape +patronizingly, then on the by-standers encouragingly. It was as though +he said, "You may fall to, and admire now. I have asked a blessing." +Nothing more occurred worthy of note till they reached their destination +in safety. + +Of course, "there never was such a place for a picnic;" but, as that has +been said of about three hundred different spots in every civilized +country of Europe, it is certainly not worth while describing this +particular one. The luncheon went on very much as such things always do +when the arrangements are perfect, the commissariat unexceptionable, and +the guests hungry and happy. + +Mr. Fullarton, however, applied himself so assiduously to Champagne-cup +that his sober-minded helpmate (the only person who took much notice of +his proceedings) was filled with an uncomfortable wonder. At last, +during a pause in the general conversation, he addressed Royston +abruptly--there was a strange huskiness in his voice, and his lower lip +kept trembling-- + +"I heard from Naples this morning. My friend mentions having met Mrs. +Keene there." + +The major looked up at the speaker with the cool, indifferent glance +that had often irritated him. "Indeed! I was not aware that my mother +had got so far south yet. She wrote last from Rome." The other tossed +off his glass with an unsteady hand, and set it down sharply. "I never +heard of your mother, sir," he said; "I was speaking of--_your wife_." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +To quarrel with a man over his cups, or in any wise to molest him in his +drink, is an offense against the proprieties that even the good-natured +Epicurean can not find it in his easy heart to palliate or pardon. On +this point he speaks mildly, but very firmly: + + Natis in usum lætitiæ scyphis + Pugnare, Thracum est. Tollite barbarum + Morem: verecundumque Bacchum + Sanguineis prohibete rixis. + +The ghost of Banquo was an uncivilized spectre, or--strong as was the +provocation--it would have confronted Macbeth in any other place sooner +than the banqueting-hall. The worst deed in the life of a cruel, false +king was the setting on of the black bull's head before the doomed +Douglases; and perhaps Pope Alexander, though singularly exempt from all +vulgar prejudice, found it hard to obtain his own pontifical absolution +for the poisoned wine in which he pledged the Orsini and Colonna. In +these, and a hundred like instances, there was certainly the shadowy +excuse of political expediency or necessity; but what shall we say of +that individual who interrupts the harmony of a meeting solely to +gratify his own private pique or pleasure? Truly, with such enormities +Heaven "heads the count of crimes." I consider the most abominable act +of which Eris was ever guilty was the selection of that particular +moment for the production of the golden apple. If she was bound to make +herself obnoxious, she might have waited till the Olympians were sitting +in conclave, or at least at home again. It was infamous to disturb them +while doing justice to the talents of Peleus's _cordon-bleu_. I wish +very much that injured and querulous OEnone had met her somewhere on +the slopes of Ida, and "given her a piece of her mind." + +On these grounds I venture to hope that all well-regulated readers will +concur with me in pronouncing Mr. Fullarton's conduct totally +indefensible. It would have been so easy to have communicated his +intelligence to any that it might concern, discreetly, at a fitting +place and time, instead of casting it into the midst of a convivial +assembly like a fulminating ball. Under other circumstances, he would +probably have taken the quieter course; but he had been smarting for +some time under a succession of provocations, real and fancied, from +Royston Keene, and his own misadventure that morning had filled the cup +of irritation brimful. It was the old exasperating feeling-- + + Earl Percy sees my fall. + +Whatever might be the cost, he could not make up his mind to let slip so +fair a chance of embarrassing his imperturbable enemy. There is no +saying what he would have given to see that marvelous self-command for +once thoroughly break down. It is unfortunate that the best-laid plans +can not always insure a triumph. The chaplain certainly did succeed in +producing a "situation," and in reducing most of the party to that +uncomfortable frame of mind which is popularly described as "wishing +one's self any where;" but the person who seemed most completely +unconcerned was the man at whom the blow was leveled. + +The major shook his head with a quick gesture of impatience, just as if +some insect had lighted on his forehead; beyond this, for any evidence +of his being annoyed by it, Mr. Fullarton's last remark might have +related to missionary prospects or Chinese politics. The steady color on +his swarthy face neither lost nor gained a shade. There was not a sign +of anger, or shame, or confusion in his clear, bold eyes; and, when he +answered, there was not one fresh furrow on the brow that, at lighter +provocation, was so apt to frown. + +"I give you credit for being utterly ignorant of what you are talking +about, Mr. Fullarton. You could not possibly guess how disagreeable the +subject would be to me. As it can't be in the least interesting to any +one else, suppose we change it?" + +Just the same cold, measured voice as ever, with only a slight sarcastic +inflection to vary the deep, grave tones; but a very close observer +might have seen his fingers clench the handle of a knife while he was +speaking, as if their gripe would have dinted the ivory. + +It was hardly to be expected that the rest of the party would emulate +the _sang-froid_ of the Cool Captain. Sailing under false colors is a +convenient practice enough, and productive sometimes of many prizes; but +divers penalties attach to its detection, on land as well as on sea. +Indeed, it involves the necessity of _somebody's_ appearing as a +convicted impostor. On the present occasion--as the actor for whom the +character was cast utterly declined to play it--the part fell to poor +Harry Molyneux, who certainly looked it to perfection. In all his little +difficulties and troubles, when hard pressed, he was wont to fall back +upon the reserve of _la mignonne_, sure of meeting there with sympathy, +if not with succor. He dared not do so now. He dared not encounter the +reproach of the beautiful, gentle eyes that had never looked into his +own otherwise than trustfully since they first told the secret that she +loved him dearly. The half-smothered cry that broke from Fanny's lips +when the chaplain made his disclosure went straight to the heart of her +treacherous husband. He felt as if he deserved that those pretty lips +should never smile upon him again. + +Oh, all my readers!--masculine especially--whose patience has carried +you thus far, remark, I beseech you, the dangers that attend any +dereliction from the duty of matrimonial confidence. What right have we +to lock up the secrets of our most intimate friends, far less our own, +instead of pouring them into the bosom of the [Greek: _bathukolpos +akoitis_], which is capacious enough to hold them all, were they tenfold +more numerous and weighty? Such reticence is rife with awful peril. In +our folly and blindness, we fancy ourselves secure, while the ground is +mined under our guilty feet, and the explosion is even now preparing, +from which only our _disjecta membra_ will emerge. Of course, some +cold-hearted caviler will begin to quote instances of carefully-planned +and promising conspiracies, which miscarried solely because the details +reached a feminine ear. It may have been so; but I don't see what +business conspiracies have to succeed at all. Long live the +Constitution! Truly, such delightful confidences must be something +one-sided, for the mildest Griselda of them all would be led as a +"Martha to the Stakes" sooner than concede to her husband the +unrestricted supervision of her correspondence. I have indeed a dim +recollection of having heard of _one_ bride of seventeen, who, during +the honeymoon, was weak and (_selon les dames_) wicked enough to submit +to profane male eyes epistles received from the friends of her youth, in +their simple entirety, instead of reading out an expurgated edition of +the same. She had been brought up in a very dungeon of decorum by a +terrible grandmother, a rigid moralist, whom no man ever yet beheld +without a shiver; and during those first few weeks after her escape she +was probably intoxicated by the novel sense of freedom, besides which, +she was perfectly infatuated about "Reginald;" but all this could not +exculpate her when arraigned before her peers. She lived long enough to +repent and to reassert, to some extent, her lost matronly dignity, but +she died very young--let us hope in fair course of nature. She had +violated the first law of a guild more numerous and influential than +that of the Freemasons. Examples are necessary from time to time, and, +though the _Vehme-gericht_ may pity the offender, it may not therefore +linger in its vengeance. Nevertheless, my brethren, our course is clear. +Let us resign to the chatelaine the key of the letter-bag and the +censorship thereof. If, after due warning, our light-minded friends +_will_ write to us in terms that mislike that excellent and punctilious +inspectress, they must aby it in the cold looks and bitter innuendoes +which will be their portion when they come to us in the next hunting +season. Our conscience, at least, will be pure and undefiled, and we +shall pass to the end of our pilgrimage _sans peur_, though perchance, +even then, not _sans reproche_. "Servitudes," as Miggs, the veteran +vestal remarked, "is no inheritance," but there are natures who thrive +rarely in this tranquil and inglorious condition. Such men live, as a +rule, pretty contentedly to a great old age, and die in the odor of +intense respectability. Salubrious, it seems, as well as creditable to +the patient, is a _régime_ of moderate hen-pecking, only it is necessary +that he should be of the intermediate species between Socrates and +Georges Dandin. + +Mrs. Danvers would certainly have indulged openly in that immoderate +exultation to which all minor prophets are prone when their predictions +chance to be verified, but this was checked by her constitutional +timidity. She was horribly afraid of the effect that the revelation +might have on her patroness; therefore what precise meaning was implied +by the complicated contortions of her countenance no mortal can guess or +know. Her sensations probably resolved themselves into an excess of +admiration for the pastor in his new character of a denouncer of +detected guilt and champion of imperiled innocence, added to which was a +vague desire to lanch her own anathema maranatha at Royston Keene. + +Dick Tresilyan took the whole thing with remarkable coolness, not to say +complacency. He nodded his head, and smiled, and winked cunningly aside +at Molyneux, as if to intimate that he had known all about it long ago, +and, indeed, so far he had been admitted into the major's confidence on +the night when the latter was supposed to have "lost his head." By what +sophistries Royston had succeeded in masking his purpose and making his +case good, even to such an unsuspicious mind and easy morality, the +devil could best tell, who in such schemes had rarely failed him. + +We have left Cecil to the last. My proud, beautiful Cecil--was she not +born for better things than to be made the prize of all those plottings +and counter-plottings--to surrender the key of her heart's treasures to +one who was unworthy to kiss the hem of her robe--and now to have her +self-command tried so cruelly to gratify the wounded vanity of a weak, +shallow enthusiast? + +She did not flinch or start when Mr. Fullarton's words caught her ear, +but a heavy, chill faintness stole over her, till she felt all her limbs +benumbed, and every thing before her eyes grew misty and dim. The +numbness passed away almost immediately, but still the figures around +her appeared distorted and fantastically exaggerated; they seemed to be +tossing and whirling round one steadfast centre, as the dead leaves in +winter eddy round the marble head of a statue; that single centre-object +remained, throughout, distinct and unaltered in its aspect, while all +else was confused and uncertain--the face of Royston Keene. The sight of +that face--not defiant or even stern, but immutable in its cold +tranquillity--acted on Cecil as a magical restorative; it seemed as +though he were able, by some mesmeric influence, to impart to her a +portion of his own miraculous self-control. Before his reply to the +chaplain was ended, she threw back her proud head with the old imperial +gesture, as if scorning her own momentary weakness; no mist or shadow +clouded the brilliant violet eyes; she might speak safely now, without +risking a false note in the music. It was no light peril that she +escaped; the betrayal of emotion under such circumstances would have +weighed down a meeker spirit than The Tresilyan's with a sense of +ineffaceable shame; for remember--however marked her partiality for +Keene might have been--there had been no suspicion of an engagement +between them. Had she broken down then, she would not have forgiven +Royston to her dying day: she never _did_ forgive the chaplain. As it +was--by a strange anomaly--at the very moment when she became aware of +having been deluded and misled, in intention if not by actually spoken +words--when she had most reason to hate or despise the "enemy who had +done her this dishonor"--she felt his hold upon her heart strengthened, +as though he had justified his right to command it. Not to women alone, +but to all beautiful, wild creatures, the ancient aphorism applies: the +harder they are to discipline, the better they love their tamer. Cecil +thought, "there is not another man alive whose eyes could meet mine so +daringly:" and the haughty spirit bowed itself, and did obeisance to its +suzerain. Different in many respects as good can be from evil--in one, +those two were as fairly matched as Thiodolf and Isolde. Who can tell +what wealth of happiness might have been stored up for both, if they had +only not met--too late? + +These two words seem to me the most of any that are written or spoken. +They strike the key-note of so many human agonies, that they might form +a motto, apter than Dante's, for the gates of hell. Very few may hear +them without a melancholy thrill; well--if they do not bring a bitter +pang. Like those awful conjurations that blanched in utterance the lips +of the boldest magi, they have a fearful power to wake the dead. Lo! +they are scarcely syllabled when there is a stir in the grave-yard +where sad or guilty memories lie buried; the air is alive with phantoms; +the watcher may close his eyes if he will: not the less is he sensible +of the presence of those pale ghosts that come trooping to their +vengeance. Many, many hours must pass before the spell is learned that +will send them back to their tombs again. + +Not long ago I heard a story that bears upon this. The man of whom it +was told lost his love after he had fairly wooed and won her. It matters +not what suspicion, or misconception, or treachery parted them; but +parted they were for eight miserable years. Then the lady repented or +relented, and came to her lover to make her confession. When she had +done speaking, she looked up into his face: she saw no light of gladness +or welcome there--only a deepening and darkening of the weary look of +pain: the arms whose last tender clasp she had not forgotten yet, never +opened to draw her to his breast. He bent his head down upon his shaking +hands, and the heavy drops that are sometimes wrung from strong men in +their agony began to trickle through his fingers. In old days he could +never bear to see her sad for a moment; now, he sat as though he heard +her not, while she lay at his feet, wailing to be forgiven. When he +could perfectly control his voice he said, + +"More than once, in my dreams, I have seen you so, and I have heard you +say what you have said to-day. I answered then as I answer now--I never +can forgive you. I do not know that you would not regain your old +ascendency; I believe you are as dangerous, and I as weak, as ever. But +I do know that, the more fascinating I found you, the harder it would be +to bear. Thinking of what I had missed through that accursed time of +famine would drive me mad soon. I have got used to my present burden: I +won't give you the chance of making it heavier. Those tears of mine were +selfish as well as childish; they were given to the happiness and hope +that you killed eight years ago. Stay--we parted with a show of kindness +then; we will not part in anger now." + +He laid his lips on her forehead as he raised her up--a grave, cold, +passionless kiss, such as is pressed on the brow of a dear friend lying +in his shroud. They never met alone again. + +It is exasperating to think how long I have taken to describe events and +emotions that passed in the space of a few minutes; but to place all the +_dramatis personæ_ in their proper positions does take time, unless the +stage-manager is very experienced. Will you be good enough to imagine +the picnic broken up (_not_ in confusion), and the "strayed revelers" on +their way to Dorade? Nothing worthy of note occurred on the spot; a +commonplace conversation having been started and maintained in a way +equally creditable to all parties concerned. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +All the inquiries that the chaplain had "felt it his duty" to make +respecting the antecedents of Royston Keene had failed to elicit any +thing more discreditable than may be said of the generality of men who +have spent a dozen years in rather a fast regiment, keeping up to the +standard of the corps. Doubtless graver charges might have been imputed +to him, if the whole truth had been known; but the living witnesses who +could have proved them had good reasons for their silence. Whether +successful or defeated, the Cool Captain was not wont to take the world +into his confidence. As for betraying his own or another's secrets--his +lips were about as likely to do _that_ as those of an effigy on a +tomb-stone. + +Naples was a cover that the reverend investigator had not drawn; so he +was considerably startled by the following words in a letter from +thence, received that morning: "I meet a lady constantly in society +here, of whose history I am curious to know more. She is the wife of +Major Keene, the famous Indian _sabreur_; but has been separated from +him for several years. She never makes an allusion to his existence; it +was by the merest chance that I heard this, and also that her husband is +spending the winter at Dorade. Perhaps you can throw some light on the +cause of the 'separate maintenance?' People are not particular here, and +have no right to be; still, one would like to know. I fancy it can not +be her fault; she is perfectly gentle in her manner, but rather +cold--very beautiful too, in a placid, statuesque style." It is not +worth transcribing the writer's farther speculations. If a silent, but +ultra-fervent benediction can at all profit the person for whom it is +intended, very few people have been so well paid for epistolary labor, +as was, then, Mr. Fullarton's correspondent. The reason why has already +been explained. + +Well, he had made his great _coup_ without carefully counting the +cost--that financial pleasure was still to come. He could not help +feeling that it had been rather _fiasco_. The man whom he had purposed +utterly to discomfit had throughout been provokingly at his ease; the +best that could be made of it was, a drawn battle. A disagreeable +consciousness crept over the chaplain of having made himself generally +obnoxious, without reaping any equivalent advantage or even +satisfaction. No one seemed to look kindly or admiringly at him since +the disclosure, except Mrs. Danvers; and, glutton as he was of such +dainties, the adulation of that exemplary but unattractive female began +rather to pall on his palate. He was clear-sighted enough to be aware +that Miss Tresilyan was probably offended with him beyond hope of +reconciliation, but this did not greatly trouble him. He had been +sensible for some time of the decay of his influence in that quarter. +Last of all rose on his mind, with unpleasant distinctness, Cecil's +warning, "If I were a man, I should not like to have Major Keene as my +enemy." He had thrown the lance over that enemy's frontier, and it was +now too late to talk of truce. A dread of the consequences overcame him +as he thought of the reprisals that might be exacted by the merciless +and unscrupulous guerilla. True, it was not very evident what harm the +latter could do him; nevertheless, he could not shake off a vague, +depressing apprehension. More and more, as he strolled on, moodily +musing, far in the rear of the rest, he felt inclined to appreciate the +wisdom of the ancient proverb, "Let sleeping dogs lie." Years afterward +he remembered with what a startled thrill, raising his eyes at a sharp +angle of the path, he found himself face to face with Royston Keene. + +For some seconds they contemplated each other silently--the priest and +the soldier. A striking contrast they made. The one, heated, and +excited, and nervous, both in appearance and manner, looking more like a +culprit brought up for judgment than a pillar of the Established Church; +the other, outwardly as undemonstrative as the rock against which he +leaned--just a shade of paleness telling of the sharp mental struggle +from which he had come out victorious--his whole bearing and demeanor +precisely what might have been expected if he had been sitting on a +court-martial. + +The absurdity of the position struck the chaplain as soon as he +collected himself from his first surprise. It never would do for _him_ +to look as if he had any thing to be ashamed of; so, summoning to his +aid all the dignity of his office and his own self-importance, with a +great effort, he spoke steadily: + +"I presume you wish to talk to me, Major Keene? I shall be glad to hear +any thing that you may have to communicate or explain. It is my duty as +well as my desire to be useful to any member of my congregation, however +little disposed they may be to avail themselves of their privileges. +Interested, as I must be in the welfare of all committed to my charge, I +need hardly say that the course you have chosen to pursue here has +caused me great pain and anxiety--I own, not so much for your sake as +that of others, to whom your influence was likely to be pernicious. What +I heard this morning makes matters look still worse. I wish I could +anticipate any satisfactory explanation." + +The old _ex cathedrâ_ feeling came back upon him while he was speaking; +his tone, gradually becoming rounder and more sonorous, showed this. Was +he so besotted by sacerdotal confidence as to fancy that he could win +that grim penitent to come to him to be confessed or absolved? + +Since the chaplain first saw him Royston had never changed his attitude. +He was leaning with his shoulder against the corner of rock round which +the path turned, standing half across it, so that no one could pass him +easily. The dense blue cloudlets of smoke kept rolling out from his lips +rapidly, but regularly, and his right hand twined itself perpetually in +the coils of his heavy brown mustache. That gesture, to those who knew +his temper well, was ever ominous of foul and stormy weather. He did not +reply immediately, but, taking the cigar from his mouth, began twisting +up the loose leaf in a slow, deliberative way. At last he said, + +"You did that rather well this morning. How much did you expect to get +for it? My wife is liberal enough in her promises sometimes, when she +wants to make herself disagreeable, but she don't pay well. You might +have driven a better bargain by coming to me. I would have given you +more to have held your tongue." His tone was such as the other had never +heard him use--such as most people would be loth to employ toward the +meanest dependent. No description can do justice to the intensity of its +insolence; it made even Mr. Fullarton's torpid blood boil resentfully. + +"How dare you address such words to me?" he cried out, trembling with +rage. "If it were not for my profession--" + +"Stop!" the other broke in, rudely; "you need not trouble yourself to +repeat that stale clap-trap. You mean to say that, if I were not safe +from your profession, I should not have said so much. It isn't worth +while lying to yourself, and I have no time to trifle. The converse is +the truer way of putting it. You know better than I can tell you that, +if you had been unfrocked, you would never have ventured half what you +have done to day. You don't stir from hence till this is settled. Do you +suppose I'll allow my private affairs to be made, again, an occasion for +indulging your taste for theatricals?" + +The chaplain flushed apoplectically. He just managed to stammer out, + +"I will not remain another instant to listen to your blasphemous +insults. If you mean to prevent me from passing, I will return another +way." + + Scornfully + He turned; but thrilled with priestly wrath, to feel + His sacred arm locked in a grasp of steel. + +A bolder man might have got nervous, finding himself on a lonely +hill-side, face to face with such an adversary, reading, too, the savage +meaning of those murderous eyes. Remember that Mr. Fullarton held +Royston capable of any earthly crime. His own short-lived anger was +instantly annihilated; the sweat of mortal terror broke out over all his +livid face; his lips could hardly gasp out an unintelligible prayer for +mercy. + +The soldier's stern face settled into an expression of contempt: in his +gentlest moods he could find little sympathy for purely physical fear. + +"Don't faint," he said; "there is no occasion for it. Do you think I +shall 'slay you as I slew the Egyptian yesterday?' Well, I have scanty +respect for your office, especially when its privileges are abused. If +it were not for good reasons, I would serve you worse than I did that +drunken scoundrel who frightened you almost to death down there among +the vines; but that don't suit my purpose. Listen: if you dare to +interfere again, by word, or deed, or sign, in the affairs of me and +mine, I know a better way of making you repent it." + +As soon as he saw that there was no real danger to life or limb, the +chaplain's composure began to return. He launched forth immediately into +a gallant though incoherent defiance. Royston's features never for an +instant changed or softened in their scorn. + +"Fair words," he retorted; "but I'll make your bubbles burst. You don't +monopolize _all_ the resources of the Private Inquiry Office;" and, +stooping down, he whispered a dozen words in the other's ear. They +related to a charge brought against Mr. Fullarton years ago, so +circumstantial and difficult to disprove that, with all the advantages +of counter-evidence at hand, it had well-nigh borne him down. He knew +right well that, if it were once revived here abroad, where the lightest +suspicion is caught up and used so readily, the consequences would be +nothing short of utter ruin. He was a poor man, with a large family. No +wonder if he quailed. + +"You know--you know," he gasped, "that it is a vile, cruel falsehood." + +To do him justice, he spoke the simple truth there. + +With a cold, tranquil satisfaction, the major contemplated his victim's +agony. + +"I choose to know nothing about it, except that it carries more +probability than most stories one hears. The world in general is, +fortunately, not incredulous, and I have seen a man 'broke' on lighter +evidence. Well, you will take your own course, and I shall take mine. I +fancy we understand each other--at last." + +By a superhuman effort the unlucky ecclesiastic did contrive to mutter +something about his "determination to do his duty." Royston listened to +him with his worst smile. + +"I'll take my chance about that," he said. "I feel tolerably safe. Now +I'll leave you to settle the affair between your interest and your +conscience." + +He turned on his heel, and strode away without another word. Long after +he was out of sight the chaplain stood fixed in the same attitude of +panic-stricken, helpless despondency. By my faith! even in these +degenerate days, we have petrifying influences left that may match the +head of the Gorgon. + +Meanwhile, the others were wending slowly homeward, truly in a very +different mood from that in which they had gone forth that morning. Even +as no man can be pronounced happy till the hour of his death, so can no +excursion or entertainment be called successful till night has fairly +closed in. Caprice of climate is only one of the many sources of +disappointment, and the event justifies so seldom our sanguine +predictions that we have little right to complain of false and fallible +barometers. It is worthy of remark how often these trifles illustrate +that trite and time-honored simile of Life. The vessel starts gayly +enough, heeling over gracefully to the land-wind in the old, approved +fashion--"Youth at the prow, and pleasure at the helm"--there is not a +misgiving in the heart of any of the passengers; they can not help +pitying those left behind on the shore. What a cheery adieu they wave to +the friends who come down to wish them "good-speed!" After a voyage more +or less prolonged the same ship drifts in slowly shoreward, over the +harbor-bar, under the calm of the solemn sunset. Even the deepening +twilight can not disguise the evidences of a terrible "sea-change." Not +a trace of paint or gilding remains on the wave-worn, shattered timbers. +Sails rent and cordage strained tell tales of many storm-gusts, or, +perchance, of one tornado; and see! her flag is flying half-mast high: +the corpse of the Pilot is on board. Let us stand aside, lest we meet +the passengers as they land. It were worse than mockery to ask how the +yachting trip has sped. + +Miss Tresilyan rode somewhat in advance of the rest, under her brother's +escort. Dick was a model in his own line, and other brothers-of-beauties +might well imitate his moderation and discretion. He never thrust +himself into the conversation, or into her presence, when there was a +chance of his intrusion being ill-timed, but was always at hand when he +was wanted: the slightest sign, or even a glance, from Cecil, brought +him to her side, and there he would march for hours in silent but +perfect satisfaction. On the present occasion he seemed disposed to be +unwontedly talkative, and to indulge in certain speculations relative to +the intelligence they had just heard. It was true, he knew it before, +but nothing had been disclosed to him beyond the simple fact that +Royston was married, and married unhappily. Cecil checked him gently, +but very decidedly. + +"I had rather not hear or say one word on the subject. It ought not to +interest either of us. In good time, I suppose, we shall be told all +that it is fitting we should know. Meanwhile, it would be very wrong to +make conjectures. No one has any right to pry into Major Keene's affairs +if he chooses to keep them secret. I do not believe any one ever did so, +even in thought, without repenting it. I dare say Mr. Fullarton will +find this out soon, and I shall not pity him in the least. A person +_ought_ to be punished who tries to startle people in that disagreeable +way. Did you hear Fanny's little shriek? I have not had time to laugh at +her about it yet. The path is too narrow for two to ride abreast." + +The light tone and manner of her last words might have deceived a closer +observer than honest Dick Tresilyan. He lapsed into silence; but, after +some time, his meditations assumed a cheerfully-roseate hue, as they +resolved themselves into the fixed idea that Royston was lingering +behind "to have it out with the parson." + +Some distance in the rear walked Harry Molyneux, holding dutifully his +wife's bridle-rein. It was very touching to see the diffidence and +humility with which he proffered his little attentions, which were +accepted, as it were, under protest. The truth was that _la mignonne_ +had forgiven him already, and it was with great difficulty she refrained +from telling him so, by word or smile. Her soft heart melted within her +at the sight of the criminal's contrition, and decided that he had done +penance enough during the last half hour to atone for a graver +misdemeanor; but she deferred asking for explanations till a more +convenient season, when there should be no chance of interruption; and +meanwhile, on grounds of stern political necessity, _elle le boudait_. +(If any elegant scholar will translate that Gallicism for me literally, +I shall feel obliged to him.) + +Fancy the sensations of a man fighting his frigate desperately against +overwhelming odds, when he sees the outline of a huge "liner," with +English colors at the main, looming dimly through the smoke, close on +the enemy's quarter; or those of the commander of an untenable post when +the first bayonets of the relieving force glitter over the crest of the +hill, and you will have a fair idea of Harry's relief as he looked back +and saw Keene rapidly gaining on them with his swift, slashing stride. +As he fell back and yielded his post to Royston, this was written so +plainly on his face that the latter could not repress a smile; but there +was little mirth in his voice when he addressed Fanny--she had never +heard him speak so gently and gravely: "I know that you are angry with +your husband, as well as with me, for keeping you in the dark so long. I +must make his peace with you, even if I fail in making my own. He could +not tell you one word without breaking a promise given years ago. If he +had done so, in spite of the excuse of the strong temptation, I would +never have trusted him again. Ah! I see you have done him justice +already: that is good of you. Now for my own part. Why I did not choose +to let you into the secret as soon as I began to know you well I can +hardly say. Hal will tell you all about it, and you will see that, for +once, I was more sinned against than sinning; so I was not afraid of +your thinking worse of me for it. Perhaps the last thing that a man +likes to confess is his one arch piece of folly, especially if he has +paid for it as heavy a price as attaches to most crimes. I think I am +not sorry that you were kept in the dark till now. The past has given me +some pleasant hours with you that might have been darkened if you had +known all. I wish you would forgive me. We have always been such good +friends, and, in your sex at least, I can reckon so few." + +If he had spoken with his ordinary accent, Fanny would scarcely have +yielded so readily, but the strange sadness of his tone moved her +deeply. A mist gathered in her gentle eyes as she looked at him for some +moments in silence, and then held out a timid little tremulous hand. + +"I should not have liked you worse for knowing that you had been unhappy +once," she whispered; "but I ought never to have been vexed at not being +taken into confidence. I don't think I am wise or steady enough to keep +secrets; only I wish--I do wish--that you had told Cecil Tresilyan." + +He answered her in his old cool, provoking way, "I know what you mean to +imply, but you do Miss Tresilyan less than justice, and me too much +honor. What right have you to infer that I look upon her in any other +light than a very charming acquaintance, or that she feels any deeper +interest in to-day's revelation than if she had heard unexpectedly that +any one of her friends was married? Surprises are seldom agreeable, +especially when they are so clumsily brought about. I am sure she has +not told you any thing to justify your suspicions." + +Fanny was the worst casuist out. She was seldom certain about her facts, +and when she happened to be so, had not sufficient pertinacity or +confidence to push her advantage. Her favorite argument was ever _ad +misericordiam_. "I wish I could quite believe you," she said, +plaintively; "but I can't, and it makes me very unhappy. You must see +that you ought to go." + +Her evident fear of him touched Royston more sharply than the most +venomous reproach or the most elaborate sarcasm could have done; but he +would not betray how it galled him. "Three days ago," he replied, "I had +almost decided on departure; now it does not altogether depend on me. +But you need not be afraid. I shall not worry you long; and while I stay +I have no wish, and, I believe, no power, to do any one any harm." She +looked at him long and earnestly, but failed to extract any farther +confession from the impenetrable face. Keene would not give her the +chance of pursuing the subject, but called up Harry to help him in +turning the conversation into a different channel and keeping it there. +Between the two they held the anxieties and curiosities of the oppressed +_mignonne_ at bay till they entered Dorade. + +They were obliged to pass the Terrasse on their way home: there, alone, +under the shadow of the palms, sat Armand de Châteaumesnil. The +invalid's great haggard eyes fixed themselves observantly on Cecil +Tresilyan as she went by. He laid his hand on the major's sleeve when he +came to his side, and said, in a hoarse whisper, "Qu'as tu fait donc, +pour l'atterrer ainsi?" The other met the searching gaze without +flinching, "Je n'en sais rien; seulement--on dit que je suis marié." If +the Algerian had been told on indisputable authority that Paris and its +inhabitants had just been swallowed up by an earthquake, he would only +have raised his shaggy brows in a faint expression of surprise, exactly +as he did now. "Tu es marié?" he growled out. "A laquelle donc des deux +doit on compâtir--Madame ou Mademoiselle?" Yet he did not like Keene the +worse for the impatient gesture with which the latter shook himself +loose, muttering, "Je vous croyais trop sage, M. le Vicomte, pour vous +amuser avec ces balivernes de romancier." + +Fanny Molyneux and Cecil passed the evening together _tête-à-tête_. That +kind little creature had a way of taking other people's turn of duty in +the line of penitence and apology. On the present occasion she was +remarkably gushing in her contrition, though her own guilt was +infinitesimal; but she met with scanty encouragement. She had found time +to extract from Harry all the details of the matrimonial misadventure, +and wished to give her friend the benefit of them. Miss Tresilyan would +not listen to a word. She did not attempt to disguise the interest she +felt in the subject, but said that she preferred hearing the +circumstances from Royston's own lips. With all this her manner had +never been more gentle and caressing: she succeeded at last in deluding +Fanny into the belief that every body was perfectly heart-whole, and +that no harm had been done, so that that night _la mignonne_ slept the +sleep of the innocent, no misgivings or forebodings troubling her +dreams. Those brave women!--when I think of the pangs that they suffer +uncomplainingly, the agonies that they dissemble, I am inclined to +esteem lightly our own claims to the Cross of Valor. How many of them +there are who, covering with their white hand the dagger's hilt, utter +with a sweet, calm smile, and lips that never tremble, the falsehood +holier than most outspoken truths--_Poetus non angit_! + +When Cecil returned home Mrs. Danvers was waiting for her, ready with +any amount of condolence and indignation. She checked all this, as she +well knew how to do; and at last was alone in her own chamber. Then the +reaction came on; with natures such as hers, it is a torture not to be +forgotten while life shall endure. + +There were not wanting in Dorade admirers and sentimentalists, who were +wont to watch the windows of The Tresilyan as long as light lingered +there. How those patient, unrequited astronomers would have been +startled if their eyes had been sharp enough to penetrate the dark +recess where she lay writhing and prone, her stricken face veiled by the +masses of her loosened hair, her slender hands clenched till the blood +stood still in their veins, in an agony of stormy self-reproach, and +fiery longing, and injured pride; or if their ears had caught the sound +of the low, bitter wail that went up to heaven like the cry from Gehenna +of some fair, lost spirit, "My shame--my shame!" + +Under favor of the audience, we will drop the curtain here. One of our +puppets shall appear to-night no more. When a heroine is once on the +stage, the public has a right to be indulged with the spectacle of her +faults and follies, as well as of her virtues and excellences; yet I +love the phantasm of my queenly Cecil too well to parade her discrowned +and in abasement. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Other eyes besides Cecil's kept watch through the night that followed +that eventful day. Royston's never closed till the dawning. Sometimes +sitting motionless, sunk in his gloomy meditations, sometimes walking +restlessly to and fro, and cooling his hot forehead in the current of +the fresh night air, he kept his mind on a perpetual strain, calculating +all probable and improbable chances; and the dull red light was never +quenched, that told of perpetually-renewed cigars. + +I fancy I hear an objection, springing from lips that are wont to be +irresistible, leveled against such an atrocious want of sentiment. +Fairest critic! we will not now discuss the merits or demerits of +nicotine, considered as an aid to contemplation, or an anodyne; but do +you allow enough for the force of habit? Putting aside the case of those +Indian captives, who are allowed a pipe in the intervals of torment (for +these poor creatures have had no advantages of education, and are beyond +the pale of civilized examples), do you not know that men have finished +their last weed while submitting to the toilette of the guillotine? We +are told that a Spaniard has begged of his confessor a light for his +_papelito_ within sight of a freshly dug grave, when the firing-party +was awaiting him one hundred paces off with grounded arms. + +Only when the sky was gray did Royston lie down to rest; but he slept +heavily late into the morning. His first act, when he rose, was to send +a note to Cecil Tresilyan, begging her to meet him at a named place and +time: she did not answer it, nevertheless he felt certain she would +come. Assignations were no novelties to him, but he had gone forth to +bear his part in more than one stricken field, where the chances of life +and death were evenly poised, without any such despondency or +uncertainty as clung to him then on his way to the appointed spot. He +arrived there first, but he had not waited long when Cecil came slowly +along the path that led into the heart of the woodland. As she drew +near, Keene could not help thinking of the first time his eyes had +lighted on her, mounting the zigzags of the Castle-hill. There was still +the same elasticity of step, the same imperial carriage of the graceful +head; but a less observant eye would have detected the change in her +demeanor. The pretty petulance and provocative manner which, contrasting +with the royalty of her form and feature, contributed so much to her +marvelous fascinations, had departed, he feared, never to return. + +Many instances occur daily where the same painfully unnatural gravity +exasperates us, when its cause can not be traced up to either guilt or +sorrow. Ah! Lilla, there are many who think that your wild-flower wreath +was a more becoming ornament than that diamond circlet--bridal gift of +the powerful baron. Sweet Eugenia! faces that were never absent from +your _levées_ in old times you have missed at your court since you +wedded Cæsar. + +Both were outwardly quite calm, but who can guess which of those two +strong hearts was most conscious of tremor or weakness when Royston and +Cecil met? His hand at least was the steadier, for her slight fingers +quivered nervously in his grasp. He did not let them go till he began to +speak. + +"Whatever your decision may be after hearing me, I shall always thank +you for coming here. It was like you--to give me the chance of speaking +for myself. At least no falsehood or misconception shall stand between +us. Will you listen to my story?" + +"I came for no other purpose," Cecil said, and she sat down on the trunk +of a fallen olive: she knew there would be need to husband all her +strength. Thinking of these things, in after days, she never forgot how +carefully he arranged his plaid on the branches behind her, so as to +keep off the gusts of wind that ever and anon blew sharply. At that very +instant, as if there were some strange sympathy in the elements, the sun +plunged into the bosom of a dull leaden cloud, and there came a growl of +distant thunder. + +"I shall not tax your patience long," Royston went on. "It shall only be +the briefest outline. But do not interrupt me till I have ended; it is +hard enough to have to begin and go through with it. I can not tell you +why I married. Many people asked me the question at the time, and I have +asked it of myself often since, but I never could find any satisfactory +answer. The woman I chose was then very beautiful, and it was not a +disadvantageous match, but I had seen fairer faces and fortunes go by +without coveting them. I think a certain obstinacy of purpose, and an +absurd pleasure in carrying off a prize (such a prize!) from many rivals +was at the bottom of it all. In six months I began to appreciate the +inconveniences of living with a statue; but I can say it truly, I never +dreamed of betraying her. Yet I had temptations. Remember I was not yet +twenty-two, and one does not bear disappointments well at that age. We +had not been married quite a year when an officer in a native regiment +died, up in the Hills, of _delirium tremens_. Do you know that, under +such circumstances, there is always a commission appointed to examine +the dead man's papers. I could not help seeing that, for some days past, +my wife's manner had been strangely sullen and cold, but I had no +suspicion of the truth. I don't think I have ever been so surprised as +when the president of the commission brought me a bundle of her letters. +I never saw her paramour: he must have been more fool than scoundrel to +have kept what he ought to have burned. I did not thank the man who gave +me those papers, and I never spoke to him again. I only read one of +them: it was written soon after our marriage. I went to my wife with +_this_ in my hand. She listened to me in her own icy way, not denying or +confessing any thing; but she defied me to prove actual infidelity +either before or after my authority began. I could not do it, whatever I +might think. I could only prove a course of lies and _chicanerie_, +worked out by her and all her family, that would have sickened the most +unscrupulous schemer alive. I told her I would never sleep under the +same roof with her again. She laughed--if you could hear her laugh, you +would excuse me for more than I have done--and said, 'You can't get a +divorce.' She was right there. So it was settled that we were to live +apart without any public scandal. But her people would not accept this +position. They sent a brother to bully me. It was an unwise move. My +temper was wilder in those days, and I had strong provocation; yet I +repent that I did not keep my hands off the throat of that wretched, +blustering civilian. It was all arranged peacefully at last, and I have +not seen her since, though I hear of her from time to time, as I did +yesterday. This happened eleven long years ago, and she has never given +me a chance of ridding myself of her since. She is always carefully +circumspect, and so works out a patient revenge, though I believe I did +her no wrong. You have heard all I dare to tell you, and all the truth. +Judge me now." + +For the last few minutes a great battle had been waging in Cecil +Tresilyan's heart. Can the wisest of us, before the armies meet, +prophesy aright as to the issue of such an Armageddon? + +Twice she tried to speak, and found her voice rebellious; at last she +answered, in a faint, broken tone, "I can not say how I pity you." + +He threw back his lofty head in anger or disdain. + +"I will not accept groundless compassion, even from you. Do not deceive +yourself. I have learned how to bear my burden; it scarcely cumbers me +now. It has fretted me more in the last three weeks than it has done for +years. I only wish you to decide whether I did very wrong in keeping +back the knowledge of all this from you; and, if I have offended +unpardonably, what my punishment shall be." + +There was something more than reproach in the glance that flashed upon +him out of the violet eyes; for an instant they glittered almost +scornfully; her lip, too, had ceased to tremble, and the silver in her +voice rang clear and true-- + +"You are not afraid to ask that question--remembering many words +addressed to me, each one of which was an insult--from you? You dare not +yet dishonor me in your thoughts so far as to doubt how I should have +acted _at first_, if I had known your true position. Or are you amusing +yourself still at my expense? I had thought you more generous." + +The gloom on Royston's face deepened sullenly: though he had schooled +himself up to a certain point of humility, even from her he could ill +brook reproof. + +"Those insults were not premeditated, at least," he retorted. "Have you +not got accustomed yet to men's losing their heads in your presence, and +then talking as the spirit moved them? And you think I am amusing myself +now. _Merci!_ there runs something in my veins warmer than ice-water." + +His accent was abrupt, even to rudeness, yet Cecil felt a thrill of +guilty triumph as she heard it, and marked the shiver of passion that +shot through the colossal frame from brow to heel. A more perfect +specimen of immaculate womanhood might not have been insensible to that +acknowledgment of her power. But she shook her head in sorrowful +incredulity. + +"You do less than justice to your self-control. But it is too late for +reproaches. I forgive you for any wrong that you may have done me, even +in thought or intention. I wish the past could be buried. For the +future, I can say only this--we must part, and that instantly; it is +more than time." + +Keene had expected some such answer, and it did not greatly disconcert +him. After pausing a second or two he said, + +"I did not ask you for your decision without meaning to abide by it. But +it would be well to pause before you make it final. Remember--we shall +not part for days, or months, if you send me away now. At least, you +need not fear persecution. Yet it is difficult to reconcile one's self +to banishment. Will you not give me a chance of making amends for the +folly you complain of? I can not promise that my words shall always be +guarded, and my manner artificial; but I think I would rather keep your +friendship than win the love of any living woman, and I would try hard +never to offend you. Let us finish this at once. You have only to say +'leave me,' and I swear that you shall be obeyed to the letter." + +On that last card hung all the issue of the game that he would have sold +his soul to win; yet he spoke not eagerly, though very earnestly, and +waited quietly for her reply, with a face as calm as death. + +Cecil ought not to have hesitated for an instant: we all know that. But +steady resolve and stoical self-denial, easy enough in theory, are often +bitterly hard in practice. It is very well to preach to the wayfarer +that his duty is to go forward and not tarry. But fresh and green grow +the grasses round the Diamond of the Desert; pleasantly over its bright +waters droop the feathery palms. How drearily the gray arid sand +stretches away to the sky-line! Who knows how far it may be to the next +oasis? Let us rest yet another hour by the fountain. + +From any deliberate intention to do wrong Cecil was as pure as any +canonized saint in the roll of virgins and martyrs; but if she had been +a voluptuary as elaborate as La Pompadour, she could not have felt more +keenly that her love had increased tenfold in intensity since it became +a crime to indulge it. The passionate energy that had slumbered so long +in her temperament was thoroughly roused at last, and would make itself +heard clamorously enough to drown the still small voice, that said +"beware and forbear." Her principles were good, but they were not strong +enough to hold their own. O pride of the Tresilyans! that had tempted to +sin so many of that haughty house, when you might have saved its fairest +descendant, was it the time to falter and fail? She looked up piteously +in her great extremity; there was a prayer for help in her eyes, but +between them and heaven was interposed a stern bronze face, not a line +of it softening. + +At length the faint, broken whisper came--"God help me! I _can not_ say +it." + +There was a pause, but not a stillness, for the beating of her +companion's heart was distinctly audible. Then Cecil spoke again in her +own natural caressing tones: + +"You will be good and generous, I know. See how I trust you!" + +The thought of how their continued intimacy might touch her fair fame +never seemed to suggest itself for an instant. Yet, remember, The +Tresilyan was no longer a guileless, romantic girl, believing and hoping +all things; she knew right well what scandals and jealousies lurk under +the smooth surface of the society in which she had borne so prominent a +part; she knew that there were women alive who would have given half +their diamonds to have her at their mercy, and torment her at their +will. Was it likely that such would let even a slander sleep? Let the +_Rosière_ of last season lay this reflection to her heart to temper the +immoderation of triumph--"For every one of my victories I have made one +mortal enemy." Not only while in supremacy is the potentate obnoxious to +conspiracies; the dagger is most to be dreaded when the dignity is laid +down. All dethroned and abdicating dictators have not the luck of Sylla. + +Silently and unreservedly to accept such a sacrifice, while the offerer +was resolved not to count the cost, transcended even the cynicism of +Royston Keene. He grasped her arm as though to arrest her attention, and +almost involuntarily broke from his lips words of solemn warning. + +"Let me go on my way alone, while there is time. It is hard to touch +pitch and keep undefiled. Child, you are too pure to estimate your +danger. If you remained as innocent as one of God's angels, the world +would still condemn you." + +Her slender fingers twined themselves round his wrist, so tenderly!--and +she bent down her soft cheek till its blush was hidden on his hand. Then +she looked up in his face with a bright, trustful smile. + +"Great happiness can not be bought without a price. I fear no reproach +so much as that of my own conscience. Do not think I delude myself as to +the risk I am incurring. But if I am innocent, I shall never hear or +heed what the world may say; if I am guilty, I have no right to complain +of its scorn." + +Hardened unbeliever as he was, Royston could have bowed himself there, +and worshiped at her feet. But he would not confess his admiration, +still less betray his triumph. He raised the little white hand that was +free gently to his lips. Not with more reverent courtesy could he have +done homage to an anointed queen. + +"I wish I were worthier of you," he murmured, and no more was said then. + +As they walked slowly homeward, the sullen clouds broke away from the +face of the sun; but a weatherwise observer could have told that the +truce was only treacherous. The tempest bided its time. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +It is not pleasant to stand by and assist at each step of an incantation +that draws down a star from heaven, or darkens the face of the moon. Let +us be content to accept the result, when it is forced upon us, without +inquiring too minutely into the process. Not with impunity can even the +Adepts gain and keep the secrets of their evil Abracadabra. The beard of +Merlin is gray before its time; premature wrinkles furrow the brow of +Canidia; though the terror of his stony eyes may keep the fiends at bay, +the death-sleep of Michael Scott is not untroubled; the pillars of +Melrose shake ever and anon as though an earthquake passed by, and the +monks cross themselves in fear and pity, for they know that the awful +wizard is turning restlessly in his grave. + +As we are not writing a three-volume novel, we have a right, perhaps, +not to linger over this part of our story. For any one who likes to +indulge a somewhat morbid taste, or who happens to be keen about +physiology, there is daily food sufficient in those ingenious romances +_d'Outre-mer_. + +It is hardly worth while speculating how far Cecil deluded herself when +she thought that she was safe in trusting to her own strength of +principle and to the generosity of Royston Keene. All this seems to me +not to affect the main question materially. Does it help us--after we +have yielded to temptation--that our resolves, when it first assailed +us, should have been prudent and sincere, if such a plea can not avert +the consequences or extenuate the guilt? The grim old proverb tells us +how a certain curiously tesselated pavement is laid down. Millions of +feet have trodden those stones for sixty ages, yet they may well last +till the Day of Judgment, they are so constantly and unsparingly +renewed. + +It is more than rashness for any mortal to say to the strong, +treacherous ocean, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther;" it is +trenching on the privilege of Omnipotence. The dikes may be wisely +planned and skillfully built; but one night a wilder wind arises than +any that they have withstood; the legions of the besieging army are +mustering to storm. At one spot in the seawall, where patient miners +have long been working unseen, a narrow breach is made, widening every +instant; it is too late now to fly; the wolfish waves are within the +intrenchments, mad for sack and pillage. On the morrow, where trim +gardens bloomed, and stately palaces shone, there is nothing but a waste +of waters strewn with wrecks and blue, swollen corpses. The Zuyder Zee +rolls, ten fathoms deep, over the ruins of drowned Stavoren. + +So we will not enter minutely into the details of poor Cecil's +demoralization--gradual, but fearfully rapid. It was not by words that +she was corrupted; for Royston was still as careful as ever to abstain +from uttering one cynicism in her presence; but none the less was it +true that daily and hourly some fresh scruple was washed away, some holy +principle withered and died. The recklessness which ever carried him on +straight to the attainment of a purpose or the indulgence of a fancy, +trampling down the barriers that divide good from evil, seemed to +communicate itself to Cecil contagiously. She seldom ventured on +reflection now--still less on self-examination; but she could not help +being herself sensible of the change: thoughts that she would have +shrunk back from in horror not so long ago (if she could have +comprehended them fully) had ceased now to startle or repel her as she +looked them in the face. Do not suppose for an instant that there was a +corresponding alteration in her outward demeanor, or that it displayed +any wildness or eccentricity. Melodrama, etc., may be very successful at +a trans-pontine theatre, but it is unpardonably out of place in our +_salons_. The Tresilyan understood the duties of her social, if not of +her moral position (so long as the first was not forfeited) as well as +the strictest duenna alive. Though she might choose to defy the world's +censure, she never dreamed of giving an opening to its ridicule; she was +less capable of _gaucherie_ than of a crime. In her bearing toward +others she was just the same as ever; if any thing, rather more +brilliant and fascinating, and, if crossed or interfered with, perhaps a +shade more haughtily independent. + +Only when alone with Royston did she betray herself. It was sad to see +how completely the stronger and worse nature had absorbed the weaker and +better one till all power of volition and free agency vanished, and even +individuality was lost. She was not sentimental or demonstrative in his +presence (on the contrary, at such times, that loveliest face was very +apt to put on the delicious _mine mutine_, which made it perfectly +irresistible), but the idea seemed never to enter her mind that it would +be possible to resist or controvert any seriously-expressed wish of +her--_lover_. There! the word is written; and woe is me! that I dare not +erase it. It must have come sooner or later, and it is as well to have +got it over. + +According to all rules for such cases laid down and provided, Cecil's +life ought to have been spent in alternations between feverish +excitement and poignant remorse. But the truth must be told--she was +unaccountably happy. The simple fact was that she had no time to be +otherwise. Even when entirely alone her conscience could find no +opportunity of asserting itself. Her thoughts were amply occupied with +recalling every word that Royston had said, and with anticipating what +he would say at their next meeting. It is idle to suppose that remorse +can not be kept at arm's length for a certain time; but the debt +recklessly incurred must generally be paid to the uttermost farthing. +Life, if sufficiently prolonged, will always afford leisure for +reflection and retrospect, and at such seasons we appreciate in full +force the tortures of "solitary confinement." The criminal may go on +pilgrimage to a hundred shrines, and never light on the purification +that will scare the Erinnyes. + +In this instance the victor certainly did not abuse his advantage, and +was any thing but exacting in his requirements. It was strange how his +whole manner and nature altered when alone with his beautiful captive. +The more evident became her subjugation, the more he seemed anxious to +treat her with a delicate deference. They talked, as a rule, on any +subject rather than their own feelings; and he spoke on all such +indifferent topics honestly, if not wisely. For the rest of the world +his sarcasm and irony were ready as ever; he kept all his sincerity and +confidence for Cecil Tresilyan. This is the secret of the influence +exercised by many men, at whose successes we all have marveled. Sweet, +as well as disenchanting experiences are sometimes gained behind the +scenes. None but those who have tried it can appreciate the delight of +finding, in a manner that the uninitiate call cold and repellent, an +ever-ready loving caress. But in Royston's case there was no acting: it +was only that he allowed Cecil to see one phase of hid character that +was seldom displayed. + +The subordinates in the drama betrayed much more outward concern and +disquietude than the principals. When Fanny Molyneux found that Royston +did not intend to evacuate his position, she tried the effect of a +vigorous remonstrance on her friend. The latter heard her patiently, but +quite impassively, declining to admit any probability of danger or +necessity to caution. _La mignonne_ was not convinced, but she yielded. +She wound her arm round Cecil's waist, as they sat and whispered, +nestling close to her side--"Dearest, remember this: if any thing should +happen, I shall always think that some blame belongs to me, and I will +never give you up--never." + +The Tresilyan bent her beautiful swan-neck, as though she were caressing +a dove nestling in her bosom, and pressed her lips on her companion's +cheek long and tenderly. + +"I could not do _that_," she said, "if I were guilty." + +Neither had Harry refrained from lifting up his testimony against what +he saw and suspected. The major would take more from him than from any +man alive; he was not at all incensed at the interference. + +"My dear Hal," he said, "don't make an old woman of yourself by giving +credit to scandal, or inventing it for yourself. If you choose to be +worried before your time, I can't help it; but it is more than +unnecessary. Una can take care of herself perfectly well, without your +playing the lion. Besides--what is the brother there for? You know there +are some subjects I never talk about to you, and you don't deserve that +I should be communicative now. But listen--you shall not think of Cecil +worse than she is: up to this time, I swear, even her lips are pure from +me. Now I hope you are satisfied; you have made me break my rule, for +once; drop the subject, in the devil's name." + +Though fully aware of his friend's unscrupulous character, Harry was +satisfied that nothing _very_ wrong had occurred so far. Royston never +lied. + +"I'm glad that you can say so much," he replied; "the worst of it is, +people will talk. I wonder that obnoxious parson has not made himself +more disagreeable already. I didn't go to church last Sunday afternoon, +because I felt a conviction that he was going to be personal in his +sermon." + +The major laughed his hard, unpleasant laugh. "Don't let that idea +disturb your devotions another time. He is not likely to bite or even to +bark very loud: he don't get my muzzle off in a hurry." + +Indeed, it was profoundly true that since the disclosure the chaplain's +reticence had become remarkable. When his own wife questioned him on the +subject (very naturally), he checked her with some asperity, and read +her a lecture on feminine curiosity that moved the poor woman, even to +weeping. Mrs. Danvers was greatly surprised and disconcerted by the +decision with which Mr. Fullarton rejected her suggestion, that he +should aid and abet in thwarting Keene's supposed designs. "He had +thought it right," he said, "to make Miss Tresilyan and others aware of +the real state of the case; but he did not conceive that farther +interference lay within the sphere of his duty." It was odd how that +same once arbitrarily elastic sphere had contracted since the prophet +met the lion in the pathway! Dick Tresilyan--the only other person much +interested in the progress of affairs--did not seem to trouble himself +much about them. He was perpetually absent on shooting expeditions; but, +when at home, it was observed that he drank harder than ever, getting +sulky sometimes without apparent reason, and disagreeably quarrelsome. + +Royston had only stated the simple fact when he said that Cecil was free +from any stain of actual guilt or dishonor. Whether the credit of having +borne her harmless was most due to her own prudence and remains of +principle, or to her tempter's self-restraint, we will not, if you +please, inquire. It is as well to be charitable now and then. Her escape +was little less than miraculous, considering how often she had trusted +herself unreservedly to the mercy of one who was wont to be as unsparing +in his love as in his anger. Let not this immunity be made an excuse for +credulous confidence, or induce others to emulate her rashness. The +Millenium will not come in our time, I fancy; and, till it arrives, +neither child nor maiden may safely lay their hand on the cockatrice's +den. The ballad tells us that Lady Janet was happy at last; but she paid +dearly through months of sorrow and shame for those three red roses +plucked in the Elfin Bower. The precise cause of Keene's forbearance it +would be very difficult to explain: more than one feeling probably had +to do with it. + +If memory has any pleasures worth speaking of (which many grave and +learned doctors take leave to doubt), certainly among the purest is the +recollection of having once been endowed with the whole love of a rare +and beautiful being which we did not abuse or betray. This is the only +sort of lost riches on which we can look back with comfort out of the +depths of present and pressing poverty; the pearl is so very precious +that it confers on its possessor a certain dignity which does not +entirely pass away, even when the jewel has slipped from his grasp, +following the ring of Polycrates. Alas! alas! less generous than the +blue Ægæan are the sullen waters of the deep. _Mare mortuum._ Only on +these grounds can that wonderful self-possession be accounted for, which +enables men, seemingly ill-fitted for the situation, to confront the +world in all its phases with so grand a calmness. It is refreshing to +see how even coquetry recoils from that armor of proof, and to fancy how +the dead beauty might triumph over the defeat of her living rivals, +laughing the seductions of their loveliness to scorn. Even in crises of +graver difficulty, where sterner assailants are to be encountered than +Helen's magical smile or Florence's magnetic eyes, the invisible +presence seems to inspire her lover with supernatural valiance. Remember +the story of Aslauga's Knight; when once through the cloud of +battle-dust gleamed the golden tresses, horse and man went down before +him. + +Royston was not half good enough to appreciate all this; yet some +shadowy and undefined feeling, allied to it, may have helped to hold him +back from pushing his advantage to the uttermost. Another and more +selfish presentiment worked probably more powerfully. There was one +phantom from which the Cool Captain never could escape; for years it had +followed close on the consummation of all his crimes, and was, in truth, +their best avenger: his Nemesis was satiety. He knew too well how the +sweetest flowers lost their color and fragrance, so soon as they were +plucked and fairly in his grasp, not to shrink before the prospect of a +certain disenchantment. This curse attaches to many of his kind: the +instant the prize is won there arise misgivings as to its value; and +defects develop themselves hourly in what seemed faultless perfection +before. It is boys' play to simulate being _blasé_; but the reality +makes mature manhood disbelieve any thing sooner than inevitable +retribution. Very often the thought forced itself upon Keene's mind, "If +I were to weary of _her_ too?" and made him pause before he urged Cecil +to the step that must have linked him to her fate forever. + +Under other circumstances his patience might have held out still longer; +but there were numberless difficulties and obstacles in the way of their +meeting, and the perpetual constraint fretted Royston sorely. His +principle always had been not openly to violate conventionalities +without gaining an adequate equivalent; so he was more careful of +Cecil's reputation than she was inclined to be, and, among worse +lessons, taught her prudence. They met very seldom alone. When Mrs. +Danvers was present she made it her business to be as much as possible +in the way; and her awkward attempts at interference were sometimes +inexpressibly provoking. On one particular evening she had been +unusually pertinacious and obtrusive. The major stood it tolerably well +up to a certain point, but his savage temper gradually got the better of +him; his face grew darker and darker, till it was black as midnight when +he rose to go, and his lips were rigid as steel. It was evident he had +come to some resolution that he meant to keep. When he was wishing +Bessie "good-night," he held her hand imprisoned for a moment without +pressing it. "You are so good a theologian," he said, "that perhaps you +can tell me where a text comes from that has haunted me for the last +hour. It speaks of some one who 'loosed the bands of Orion.'" His manner +and the sudden address disconcerted Mrs. Danvers so completely as to +incapacitate her from reply: she suffered "judgment to go by default;" +and left Royston under the impression that she had never read the Book +of Job. + +The next day he asked Cecil to elope with him. + +She listened without betraying either terror, or anger, or disdain; but +she raised her beautiful eyes to his with a sad, searching inquiry, +before which many men would have quailed. "Have you counted the cost to +yourself and to me?" + +"I have done both," replied Keene, gravely. "I can not say that you will +never repent it; but I know that I shall never regret it." + +There were no promises or vows exchanged; but a silence for two long +minutes; and, when these were passed, the sweet, pure lips had lost +their virginity. + +So with few more words it was finally arranged; and the next day Royston +left Dorade to make preparations all along the road of their intended +flight. Their plan was to take boat at Marseilles for the East, making +their first permanent resting-place one of the islands of the Grecian +Archipelago. Both were most anxious to evade any possibility of +interception, more especially of collision with Dick Tresilyan. + +On that evening Cecil was alone in her own room (Mrs. Danvers had gone +out to a sort of love-feast at the Fullartons', where the company were +to be entertained with weak tea and strong doctrine _à discretion_). She +had rejected the offer of Fanny's companionship on the plea, not +altogether false, of a tormenting headache. _La mignonne_ was too +innocent to suspect the reason that made her friend shudder in their +parting embrace, half averting her cheek, though Cecil's arms clung +round her as though they would never let her go. The saddest feeling of +the many that were busy then in the guilty, troubled heart, was a +consciousness that in a few hours the gulf between them would be deep +and impassable as the chasm dividing Abraham from Dives. + +Miss Tresilyan had taken unconsciously an attitude in which you saw her +once before, half-reclined, and gazing into the fire; outwardly still +remained the same pensive, languid grace; but very different was the +careless reverie that had stolen over her then, from the wild chaos of +conflicting thoughts that involved her now. + +Her whole being was so bound up in Royston Keene's, that she felt +without him there would be nothing worth living for; neither had she the +faintest misgiving as to the chances of his inconstancy. There had +descended to her some of the stability and determination of purpose +which had made many of her race so powerful for good or evil; in the +pursuit of either they would never admit a doubt, or listen to a +compromise. When Cecil believed, she believed implicitly, and, not even +with her own conscience, made conditions of surrender. So long as _his_ +strong arm was round her, she felt that she could defy shame, and even +remorse; but how would it be if that support should fail? He had not +been away yet twenty hours, and already there came creeping over her a +chilling sense of helplessness and desolation. She knew her lover's +violent passions and haughty temper, impatient of the most distant +approach to insolence or even contradiction from others, too well not to +be aware that such a man walked ever on the frontier-ground between life +and death. Suppose that he were taken from her?--her spirit, dauntless +as it was, quailed before the ghastly terrors of imagined loneliness. An +evil voice that had whispered perhaps in the ear of more than one of the +"bitter, bad Tresilyans," seemed to murmur, "You, too, can die:" but +Cecil was not yet so lost as to listen to the suggestion of the subtle +fiend. She wasted no regrets on the past, and the wreck of all its +brilliant promises: she was resolute to meet the perils of the future; +nevertheless, her heart was heavy with apprehension. Remember the answer +that the stout Catholic made to Des Adrets, when the savage baron +taunted him with cowardice for shrinking twice from the death-leap on +the tower, "_Je vous le donne, en dix_." So it is not in +womanhood--however ruined in principle or reckless of the consequences, +to venture deliberately, without a shudder, on the fatal plunge from +which no fair fame has ever risen unshattered again. Even prejudices may +not be torn up by the roots without stirring the earth around them. + +She might have sat musing thus for about an hour; so deep in thought +that she never heard the _portière_ slowly drawn aside that divided the +room from an ante-chamber. The Tresilyan had her emotions under +tolerable control, and at least was not given to screaming; but she +could hardly repress the startled cry that sprang to her lips when she +raised her eyes. + +The reproachful spectre that had haunted her for years--till very +lately, when a stronger influence chased it away--assumed substance of +form and feature, as the dark doorway framed the haggard, pain-stricken +face of Mark Waring. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +It is not very easy to confront, with decorous composure, the sudden +apparition of the person on earth that one would have least liked to +see. All things considered Cecil carried it off creditably, and greeted +her unexpected visitor with sufficient cordiality. Mark took her offered +hand gravely, without eagerness, not holding it an instant longer than +was necessary. Then he spoke-- + +"They told me I should find you alone. I was so anxious to do so as soon +as possible, that I ventured to break in upon you even at this +unseasonable hour. You will guess that I had powerful reasons." + +The Tresilyan threw back her haughty head, as a war-horse might do at +the first blast of the trumpet: she scented battle in the wind. + +"Will you be good enough to explain yourself?" she said, as she took her +own seat again, and motioned him into another; "I am sure you would not +trifle with me, or vex me unnecessarily." + +Waring did not avail himself of the chair indicated, but crossed his +arms over the back of it, and stood so, regarding her intently. + +"You only do me justice there," he replied; "I will speak briefly, and +plainly too. I came here from Nice to ask you how much truth there is in +the reports that couple your name with Major Keene's?" + +No one likes to give the death-blow to the loyalty of a faithful +adherent, be he ever so humble; and Cecil was bitterly pained that she +could not speak truly, and satisfy him. Her face sank lower and lower, +till it was buried in her hands. Nothing more was needed to convince +Waring that his worst fears were realized; for a moment or two he felt +sick and faint. No wonder; he had given up hope long ago, but not trust +and faith; now, these were blasted utterly. In any religion, whether +true or false, the fanatic is happier, if not wiser, than the infidel; +if you can not replace it with a better, it is cruel to shake the +foundation of the simplest creed. Mark's voice--hollow, and hoarse, and +changed--could not but betray his agony. + +"God help us both! Has it come to this--that you have no words to answer +me, when I dare to hint at your dishonor?" + +She looked up quickly, flushing to her white brow, rose-red with anger. + +"I will not endure this, even from you. Understand at once--I deny your +right to question me." The clear blue eyes met the violet ones with a +steady, judicial calmness, undazzled by their ominous lightning. + +"Listen to me quietly--two minutes longer," he said, "and then resent +my presumption as much as you will. Three years ago it pleased you to +make me the subject of an experiment. How far you acted heedlessly, and +in ignorance of the consequences, I have never stopped to inquire--it +would be wasting time; the sophistries of coquetry are too subtle for +me. I only know what the result has been. Before I met you I could have +offered to any woman, who thought it worth her acceptance, a healthy, +honest love; now--even if I could conquer my present infatuation--I +could only offer a feeling something warmer than friendship; to promise +more would be base treachery. Do you think I would stand by God's altar +with a worse lie than Ananias's on my lips? Is it nothing that, to +gratify your vanity or your whims, you should have condemned a man, +whose blood is not frozen yet, to something worse than widowhood for +life? My religion may be a false and vain idolatry; but it is all I have +to trust to. I will not stand patiently by and see the image that I have +bowed down to worship pilloried for the world to scorn. Now--do you deny +my right to interfere?" + +His words had a rude energy, though little eloquence; but they came so +evidently from the depths of a strong, troubled heart, that they caused +a revulsion in Cecil's feelings; returning remorse bore down her +stubborn pride. Very low and plaintive was the whisper--"Ah! have +mercy--have mercy; you make me so unhappy;" but there came a more +piteous appeal from her eyes. In Mark's stout manhood was an element of +more than womanish compassion and tenderness; he never could bear to see +even a child in tears; no wonder if his anger vanished before the +contrition of the one being whom he loved far better than life. He lost +sight of his own wrongs instantly, but _not_ of the object he had in +view. + +"Forgive me for speaking so roughly; I ought to have declined your +challenge. I behaved better once, you remember. But be patient while I +plead for the right, though, if you would but listen to them, prudence +and your own conscience could do that better than I. When infatuation +exists, it is worse than useless to prove the object of it unworthy, so +I will not attempt to blacken Major Keene's character; besides, it is +not to my taste to attack men in their absence. I fear there are few +capitals in Europe where his name is not too well known. From what I +have heard, I believe his wife was most in fault when they separated, +but the life he has led since deprives him of all right to complain of +her, or condemn her. Recollect you have only heard one side. But it is +not a question of his eligibility as an acquaintance. There is the +simple fact--he is married, and your name being connected with his +involves disgrace. You can not have fallen yet so far as to be reckless +about such an imputation. In my turn I say, 'Have mercy!' Do not force +me henceforth to disbelieve in the purity of any created thing." + +Cecil could only murmur, "It is too late--too late!" The ghastly look of +horror that swept over Waring's face showed that his thoughts had gone +beyond the truth. "I mean," she went on, blushing painfully, "that I +have promised." + +"Promised!" Mark repeated in high disdain; "I have lived too long when I +hear such devil's logic from your lips. You know full well there is more +sin in keeping than in breaking such engagements. I will try to save +you in spite of yourself. Listen. I do not threaten; I know you well +enough to be certain that such an argument would be the strongest +temptation to you to persevere in taking your own course. I simply tell +you what I will do. I shall speak to your brother first; if he can not +understand his duty, or shrinks from it, I will carry out what I believe +to be mine. I utterly disapprove of and despise the practice of dueling, +but, at any risk, I _will_ stand between you and Major Keene. He shall +not gain possession of you while I am alive. When I am dead, if you +touch his hand, you shall know that my blood is upon it, and the guilt +shall be on your own head. I believe that in keeping you apart I should +act kindly toward both. I do him this justice--it would make him +miserable to see you pining away. There are limits to human endurance, +and you are too proud to bear dishonor." + +Cecil felt that every word he had spoken was good and true, and that he +would not waver in his purpose for an instant. She remembered how, when +they were returning together four days ago, the sidelong glance of a +matronly Pharisee had lighted on her in a spiteful triumph, and how, +though neither of them alluded to it afterward, the dark-red flash of +anger had mounted to Royston's forehead. She had ceased to care for +herself, but could she not save _him_ while yet there was time? And +more--had she not wrought wrong enough to Mark Waring without having his +murder on her soul? for she never doubted as to the result if those two +should meet as foes. + +They talk of hair that has grown gray in the briefest space of mental +anguish. It is all a delusion and an old wife's fable. When Cecil rose +the next morning there was not a silver line in her tresses. Outward +signs of the mortal struggle, while it lasted, there were none, for her +clasped hands veiled her face jealously; when she raised it, her cheek +was paler than death and wet with an awful dew, and when she spoke her +voice retained not one cadence of its wonted melody. + +"You have prevailed, as the truth always ought to prevail. Now tell me +what to do." + +Mark Waring would have drained his heart's blood drop by drop to have +lightened one throb of her agony, but he never thought of flinching from +his purpose. + +"There are perils where the only safety lies in flight. You must leave +this before Major Keene returns, and he returns to-morrow." + +Perhaps I have failed in making you understand one hereditary +peculiarity of the Tresilyans. When their hand was fairly laid to the +plow they were incapable of looking back. Had Mark come ten hours later, +when Cecil's purpose was absolutely fixed, all his arguments would have +been futile. As it was, once having decided finally on the line she was +to take, it never occurred to her to make farther objections. "Yes, I +will go," she said; "but I must write to him." + +"I think you ought to do so," answered Waring, "and if you will give me +the letter I will deliver it myself." + +Every vestige of the returning color faded from Cecil's cheek. "You do +not know him: I dare not trust you." He misinterpreted the cause of her +terror. "I promise you that, however angry Major Keene may be, I will +bear it patiently, and never dream of resenting it. He is safe from me +now." + +She smiled very sadly, yet not without a dreary pride; she could have +seen Royston pitted against any mortal antagonist, and never would have +feared for _him_. "You scarcely understand me; I was not anxious for his +safety, but for yours." + +Mark was too brave and single-hearted to suspect a taunt, even had such +been intended. "Then there is nothing more to be settled," he said, +quietly, "but the time and manner of your departure. I will leave you +now; I shall see you before you go." + +Cecil Tresilyan rose and laid her hand on his arm, her beautiful face +fixed in its firm resolve like that of one of those fair Norse Valas, +from whose rigid lips flowed the bode of defeat or victory, when the +Vikings went forth to the Feast of the Ravens. + +"I am not angry with one word you have said to-night; you have only +expressed what my own cowardly conscience ought to have uttered; +nevertheless, to-morrow sees our last meeting. All your account against +me is fairly balanced now. I do not know what I may have to suffer, but +I do know that I _will_ be alone till I die. Perhaps some day I may +thank you in my thoughts for what you have done; I can not--now." + +With a heavy heart Waring owned to himself that her words were bitterly +true. In curing such diseases, the physician must work without hope of +reward or fee; it will be long before the patient can touch without a +shudder the hand that inflicted the saving cautery. + +Her tone changed, and she went on murmuring, low and plaintively, as if +in soliloquy and unconscious of another's presence. + +"I could not help loving him, though I knew it was sin; if there is +shame in confessing it, I can not feel it yet. I wish I had told +him--_once_--how dearly I loved him; I shall never be able to whisper it +to him now, and I dare not write it. No, he will not forget me as he has +forgotten others; but he will hate me, and call me false, and fickle, +and cold. Cold--if he could only read my heart! I never read it myself +till now, when we must be parted forever." + +Is it pleasant, think you, to listen to such words as these, uttered by +the woman that you have worshiped, even if it be hopelessly, for years? +Men have gone mad under lighter tortures than those that Mark Waring was +then forced to endure. But he knew that it was the extremity of her +anguish that had hardened for a season Cecil's gentle, generous, nature, +and made her heedless of the pain she inflicted. So he answered in a +slow, steady voice, such as we employ when trying to calm the ravings of +a fever-fit: + +"Hush! you speak wildly. My presence here does you no good. You may +think of me as hardly as you will; perhaps time will soften your +judgment; if not--I shall still not repent to-night's work. I will come +for your letter at the moment of your departure. Good-night; I pray that +God may help you now, and guard you always." He raised her hand and just +touched it with his lips, with the same grave courtesy that had marked +his manner when they parted last, three years ago, and in another second +Cecil was alone again. + +She was not long in recovering from her bewilderment; and when Mrs. +Danvers returned she was perfectly collected and calm. It is not worth +while recording Bessie's noisy expressions of astonishment and delight, +nor describing Dick Tresilyan's way of receiving notice of the sudden +change in their plans. His stolid composure was not greatly disturbed +thereby; he muttered, under his breath, some sulky anathemas on "women +who never knew their own minds;" but this was only because he considered +a growl to be the form of protest suitable to the circumstances and due +to his masculine dignity. On the whole, he was rather glad to go. It had +become evident, even to his dull comprehension, that great mischief was +brewing somewhere, and for days he had been in a state of hazy +apprehension--as he expressed it, "not seeing his way out of it at all." +So he set about his part of the preparations for their exodus with a +right good will. Neither will we give the details of Cecil's parting +with _la mignonne_. The latter was so rejoiced at the idea of her +friend's being out of harm's way that she did not question her much as +to the reasons for such an abrupt departure: it was not till afterward +that she learned that it had been brought about by the influence of +Waring. It is unnecessary to mention that the adieus were not +accomplished without a certain amount of tears; but they were all shed +by Fanny Molyneux. Cecil dared not yet trust herself to weep. She took a +far more formal farewell of Mr. Fullarton, and the chaplain did not even +venture a parting benediction. + +The heavy traveling-chariot, with its hundred cunning contrivances, is +packed at last, and Karl, the accomplished courier, wiping from his +blonde mustache the drops of the stirrup-cup, touches his cap with his +accustomed formula, "Zi ces dames zont brêtes?" Mark Waring leans over +the carriage door to say "Good-by:" the hand he presses lies in his +grasp, unresponsive and unsympathetic as a splinter from an iceberg. His +sad, earnest look pleads in vain, for there is no softening or kindness +in Cecil's desolate, dreamy eyes. The road on which they are to travel +is the same for some leagues as that along which Royston Keene must +return, and she is thinking, divided between hope and fear, if there may +not be a possibility of their meeting. The wheels move, and hasty +farewells are waved, and Mark stands there half stupefied, unconscious +of any thing but a sense of lonely wretchedness. The one solitary link +that still binds him to Cecil Tresilyan will be severed when the letter +is delivered that he holds in his hand. + +As the carriage swept round the corner of the terrace, it passed close +to the spot where Armand de Châteaumesnil sat basking in the sunshine. +The invalid lifted his cap in courteous adieu, but his face grew dark, +and his shaggy brows were knit savagely. + +"On l'a triché donc, après tout," he muttered; "Sang Dieu! les absens +ont diablement tort." Sunk as she was at that moment in gloomy +meditations, Cecil never forgot that the last object on which her eyes +lighted in Dorade was the blasted wreck of the crippled Algerian. + +Molyneux and his wife stood silent till their friends were quite out of +sight, then Harry turned slowly round and gazed at his _mignonne_. He +knew that the same thought was in both their minds, for her sweet face +was paler than his own. (Neither of them guessed at the truth, and they +saw in Mark Waring nothing more than an old acquaintance of the +Tresilyans.) + +"Royston will be here in four hours," he said, "and who will tell him +this? _I_ dare not." + +Fanny feigned a carelessness that she was far from feeling. + +"I don't know how that is to be managed, but I believe it is all for the +best. He can't kill either of us; that is some comfort." + +Harry did not smile; his countenance wore an expression of grave +anxiety, such as had seldom appeared there. + +"No, he will not hurt us, but I fear he will have _some one's_ blood +before all is done." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +It was past nightfall when Major Keene returned to Dorade. As he drove +past the hotel where the Tresilyans lodged he looked up at the windows +of their apartments, and was somewhat surprised to _see_ no light there; +but no suspicion of the truth crossed his mind. He had made all +preparations for the intended flight with his habitual skill and +foresight. The Levantine steamer left Marseilles early on the third +morning from this, and relays were so ordered along the road as to +prevent the possibility of being overtaken, and just to hit the hour of +the vessel's sailing. So far every thing seemed to promise favorably for +the accomplishment of his purposes, and Royston could not have explained +even to himself the reason of his feeling so moody and discontented. He +went straight to his own rooms, without looking in at the Molyneuxs'; +for he was heated and travel-stained; and, under such circumstances, was +wont to postpone the greeting of friends to the exigencies of the +toilet. This was scarcely concluded when his servant brought him Mark +Waring's card, with a request penciled on it for an immediate interview. + +Even the Cool Captain started perceptibly when he read the name. He was +well acquainted with the episode connected with it; for Cecil had kept +back none of her secrets from him, and this was among the earliest +confidences. _Then_ he had felt no inclination to sneer; but now his lip +began to curl cynically. + +"_Coramba!_" he muttered; "the plot begins to thicken. What brings the +old lover _en scène_? I hope he does not mean to make himself +disagreeable. I haven't time to quarrel just now; and, besides, it would +worry Cecil. Well, we'll find out what he wants. Tell Mr. Waring that I +am disengaged, and shall be happy to see him." + +The major advanced to meet his visitor with a manner that was perfectly +courteous, though it retained a tinge of haughty surprise. + +"I can not guess to what I am indebted for this pleasure," he said. +"Pardon me, if I ask you to explain your object as briefly as possible. +I have much to do this evening, and my time is hardly my own." + +Waring gazed fixedly at the speaker for a few seconds before he replied. +Like most of his profession, he was an acute physiognomist, and in that +brief space he fathomed much of the character of the man who had rivaled +him successfully. He confessed honestly to himself that there were +grounds, if not excuse, for Cecil's infatuation; but he shrank from +thinking of the danger which she had escaped so narrowly. + +"Yes, I will be as brief as possible," Mark answered at length. "Neither +of us will be tempted to prolong this interview unnecessarily. I have +promised to deliver a letter to you, and when you have read it I shall +have but very few words to say." + +A stronger proof than Keene had ever yet given of superhuman control +over his emotions was the fact that, neither by quivering of eyelid, +change of color, or motion of muscle, did he betray the faintest +astonishment or concern as he took the letter from Waring, and +recognized Cecil's hand on the cover. It was not a long epistle, for it +scarcely extended beyond two sides of a note-sheet. The writing was +hurried, and in places almost illegible: it had entirely lost the firm, +even character which usually distinguished it, from which a very +moderate graphiologist might have drawn successful auguries. Perhaps +this was the reason that Royston read it through twice slowly. As he did +so his countenance altered fearfully; the deadly white look of dangerous +passion overspread it all, and his eyes began to gleam. Yet still he +spoke calmly--"You knew of this being written?" + +"I am happy to say I was more than passively conscious of it," Mark +replied. "I did all in my power to bring about the result that you are +now made aware of, and I thank God that I did not fail." + +While the other was speaking Royston was tearing up the paper he held +into the smallest shreds, and dropping them one by one. The act might +have been involuntary, but seemed to have a savage viciousness about it, +as if a living thing were being tortured by those cruel fingers. (The +poor letter! whatever its faults might have been, it surely deserved a +better fate: it was doubtless not a model of composition, but some of +the epistles which have moved us most in our time, either for joy or +sorrow, might not in this respect emulate Montague or Chapone.) Still he +controlled himself, with a mighty effort, enough to ask, steadily, "Were +you weary of your life, to have done all this, and then come here to +tell me so?" + +Waring laughed drearily. + +"Weary? So weary that, if it had not been for scruples you can not +understand, I would have got rid of it long ago. But I need not inflict +my confidences on you, and I don't choose to see the drift of your +question." + +The devil had so thoroughly by this time possessed Royston Keene, that +even his voice was changed into a hoarse, guttural whisper. "I asked, +because I mean to kill you." + +Mark's gaze met the savage eyes that gleamed like a famished panther's, +with an expression too calm for defiance, though there might have been +perhaps a shade of contempt. + +"Of course I shall guard my own life as best I may, either here or +elsewhere, but I do not apprehend it is in great danger. There is an old +proverb about 'threatened men;' they are not killed so easily as women +are betrayed. Beyond the simplest self-defense, I warn you that I shall +not resent any insult or attack. I will not meet you in the field; and +as for any personal struggle, I don't think that even you would like to +make Cecil Tresilyan the occasion for a broil that might suit two +drunken peasants." + +Though shorter by half a head, and altogether cast in a less colossal +mould, as he stood there, with his square, well-knit frame, and bold +Saxon face, he looked no contemptible antagonist to confront the swarthy +giant. In utter insensibility to fear and carelessness of consequences +(so far as they could affect a steady resolve), the Cool Captain had met +his match at last. Even then, in the crisis of his stormy passion, he +was able to appreciate a hardihood so congenial to his own character; +pondering upon these things afterward, he always confessed that at this +juncture, and indeed all throughout, his opponent had very much the best +of it. Ferocity and violence seemed puerile and out of place when +contrasted with that tranquil audacity. He covered his eyes with his +hand for a moment or so, and when he raised his face it had recovered +its natural impassibility, though the ghastly pallor still remained. +Besides, the truth of Waring's last words struck him forcibly. He +muttered under his breath, "By G--d, he's right _there_, at all events;" +then he said aloud, "Well, it appears you won't fight, so there is +little more to be said between us. You think you can thwart my purposes +or mould them as you like. We'll try it. I told you I had many things to +do to-night: I have one more than I dreamed of on hand. I wish to be +alone." + +Mark gazed wistfully at the speaker without stirring from his seat. "I +know what your intention is perfectly well. You mean to follow her. I +believe it would be quite in vain; you have misjudged Cecil Tresilyan, +if you fancy that she would alter her determination twice. But you might +give her great pain, and compromise her more cruelly than you have done +already. There are obstacles now in your way that you could not +encounter without causing open scandal. Her brother's suspicions are +fairly roused by this time, and he can not help doing his duty: he may +be weak and credulous, but he is no coward. There is no fear of farther +interference from me: my part is played. But I do beseech you to pause. +Supposing the very worst--that you could still succeed in persuading +Cecil to her ruin--are you prepared deliberately to accept the +consequences of the crime? You are far more experienced in such matters +than I: do you know a single instance of such guilt being accomplished +where _both_, before the year was ended, did not wish it undone? I do +not pretend to be interested about your future; but I believe I am +speaking now as your dearest friend might speak. You both delude +yourselves miserably if you think that Cecil could live under disgrace. +I do you so much justice. You would find it unendurable to see her +withering away day by day, with no prospect before her but a hopeless +death. In God's name, draw back while there is time. It is only a sharp +struggle, and self-command and self-denial will come. Loneliness is +bitter to bear: _I_ know that; but what is manhood worth if it can not +bear its burdens? I have put every thing on the lowest grounds, and I +will ask you one question more--you might guard her from some suffering +by hiding her from the world's scorn--could you guard yourself against +satiety?" + +He spoke without a trace of anger or animosity, and the grave, kind +tones made some way in the winding avenues leading to Royston's heart. +Besides this, the last word struck the chord of the misgiving that had +haunted him ever since he proposed the flight, and had already made him +half repent it. But the fortress did not yet surrender. + +"All this while you have had some idea of improving your own position +with Cecil. It is natural enough: yet I fancy you will find yourself +mistaken there." + +Instead of flushing at the taunt, Waring's face grew paler, and there +shot across it a sharp spasm of pain. + +"So you can not understand disinterestedness," he said. "Before I +ventured on interference, I was aware of the certain consequences, and +weighed them all. Miss Tresilyan thought she had done me some wrong; and +I trusted to her generosity to help me when I spoke for the right. But I +knew that the spell could only be used once, and that the canceled debt +could not be revived. I shall never speak to her--perhaps never see +her--on earth again. Do you imagine I love her less for that? Hear this: +I suppose I have as much pride as most men; but I would kneel down here +and set your foot on my neck if I thought the humiliation would save her +one iota of shame or sorrow." + +Keene was fairly vanquished. He was filled with a great contempt for his +own guilty passion, compared with the pure self-sacrifice of Mark's +simple chivalry. He raised his eyes from the ground, on which they had +been bent gloomily while the other was speaking, and answered without +hesitation, "I owe you some amends for much that has been said to-night; +and I will not keep you in suspense a moment unnecessarily. I shall +leave Dorade to-morrow; but it will not be to follow Cecil Tresilyan. +More than this: if there is any chance of our meeting hereafter, on my +honor, I will avoid it. I wish many things could be unsaid and undone; +but nothing has occurred that is past remedy. As far as any future +intentions of mine are concerned, I swear she is as safe as if she were +my sister." + +Waring drew a long breath, as if a ponderous weight had been lifted from +his chest. "I believe you," he said simply: then he rose to go. He had +almost reached the door, when he turned suddenly and stretched out his +hand. It was a perfectly unaccountable and perhaps involuntary impulse; +for he still could not absolve the other from dark and heavy guilt. The +major held it for a few seconds in a gripe that would have paralyzed +weaker fingers: even Mark's tough joints and muscles were long in +forgetting it. He muttered these words between his teeth as he let it +go--"_You_ were worthy of her." So the interview ended--in peace. +Nevertheless, there was little peace that night for Royston Keene; he +passed it alone--how, no mortal can know; but the next morning his +appearance fully bore out the truth of the ancient aphorism, "There is +no rest for the wicked." His face was set in the stoniest calmness, but +the features were haggard and drawn, and fresh lines and furrows were +there deeper than should have been engraved by half a score of years. A +violent, passionate nature does not lightly resign the one object of +its aims and desires. Larches and firs will bear moving cautiously, for +they are well-regulated plants, and natives of a frigid zone; but +transplanting rarely succeeds in the tropics. + +Harry Molyneux came to his friend's apartments early on the following +day, in a very uncomfortable and perplexed frame of mind. In the first +place, he was sensible of that depression of spirits which is always the +portion of those who are left behind when any social circle is broken up +by the removal of its principal elements. There is no such nuisance as +having to stay and put the lights out. Besides this, he was quite +uncertain in what temper Royston would be found; and apprehended some +desperate outbreak from the latter, which would bring things, already +sufficiently complicated, into a more perilous coil. + +Keene's first abrupt words in part reassured him. + +"Well, it is all over; and I am going straight back to England." + +Harry felt so relieved that he forgot to be considerate: he could not +repress his exultation. + +"Is it really all over? I am so very glad!" + +"And I am not sorry," was the reply. The speaker probably persuaded +himself that he was uttering the truth; but the dreary, hopeless +expression of his stricken face gave his words the lie. It cut deep into +Molyneux's kind heart; he felt more painfully than he had ever done the +difficulty of reconciling his evident duty with the demand of an ancient +friendship; on the whole, a guilty consciousness of treachery +predominated. He was discreet enough to forbear all questions, and it +was not till long afterward that he heard an outline of part of what had +happened in the past night; it was told in a letter from Miss Tresilyan +to his wife. Had he been more inquisitive, his curiosity would scarcely +have been gratified. To do Keene justice, he guarded the secrets of +others more jealously than he kept his own: and he would have despised +himself for revealing one of Cecil's, even to his old comrade, without +her knowledge and leave. If the feeling which prompted such reticence +was not a high and delicate sense of honor, it was at least a very +efficient substitute for a profitable virtue. + +"You go to England?" Molyneux went on, after a brief pause. "When do you +start? and what do you mean to do?" + +Royston looked up, and saw his own discontent reflected in the +countenance of his faithful subaltern; he knew he had found there the +sympathy that he was too proud to ask of any living man. + +"I start to-night," he replied; "so you see I have no time to lose. I +can hardly tell you what I mean to do, Hal. Do you remember what we said +about the best way of spending our resources? Well--I have broken into +my last large note; and I suppose I must get rid somehow of the change." + +Harry's answer was not very ready, nor very distinct when it came. "I +wish--I wish, I could help you!" + +For one moment, there returned to Keene's disciplined face a good, +natural expression, which had been a stranger there since the days of +his hot youth; when he first went forth to buckle with the world--frank, +and honest, and fearless; his voice, too, had softened almost to +tenderness. "Old friend, the time has come to say good-by. Our roads +have been the same--for longer than I like to think of: but henceforth +they must lie so far apart, that I doubt if they will ever cross again. +You will see me off, I know; but I may not be able to say then a dozen +words that I should be sorry to leave unsaid. I'll do you this +justice--in no one instance have I ever seen you flinch when I wanted +your help; though often you had no object of your own to serve. I +believe no man ever had a cheerier comrade, or a better backer. I don't +like you the worse for standing aloof during the last five weeks. I +never had one unpleasant word from you; but if any of mine have vexed or +offended you--see now--I ask your forgiveness from the bottom of my +heart." + +It is no shame to Harry's manhood that he could not answer intelligibly; +but ten sentences of elaborate sentiment would hardly have been so +eloquent as the pressure of his honest hand. + +Later in the day, Keene went to take leave of _la mignonne_. He did so +with pain and reluctance. Men, utterly hard and merciless toward their +own species, have been very fond of their pets; even when these last +belonged to an inferior order of creation. Couthon would fondle his +spaniel while he was signing a sheaf of death-warrants; and the Prophet, +who could contemplate placidly a dozen cities in flames, and watch human +hecatombs falling under the sword of Omar or Ali, cut off the sleeve of +his robe rather than disturb a favorite cat in her slumbers. + +Nevertheless, when two people agree to ignore carefully the one subject +that is uppermost in the thoughts of both, the result must be an +uncomfortable constraint and reserve. So the adieus, up to a certain +point, were rather formal. But just as he was going, the same impulse +overcame Royston which had affected him in his interview with Harry +Molyneux. Considering that the age of miracles is past, it was +remarkable that twice in one day the Cool Captain should have approached +so near to the verge of sentimentalism. + +"I hope that I shall see you again before long," he said, "but nothing +seems certain--not even the meeting of friends. I should like to thank +you now for some pleasant days and evenings. You have brought a good +deal of sunshine into my life, since I knew you first. I like to think +that, neither in deed nor intention, I have ever deliberately done you +or Harry any harm. I hope you will go on taking as much care of him, and +making him as perfectly happy as you have done. Perhaps I have vexed you +both, lately; but all that is over, and I fancy the punishment will be +proportionate to the offense before it is ended. Farewell. Don't forget +me sooner than you can help; and while you do remember me, think of me +as kindly as you can." + +He leaned over her as he finished speaking, and his lips just brushed +her smooth forehead. When Charles the martyr embraced his children an +hour before his death, they received no purer or more sinless kiss. A +sob choked Fanny's voice when she would have replied; and the beautiful +brown eyes were so dim with rushing tears, that they never saw him go. + +Keene's last visit in Dorade was to the Vicomte de Châteaumesnil. The +latter manifested no surprise at the sudden departure, and expressed his +regrets with a perfectly calm courtesy. But, at the moment of +leave-taking, he detained the other's hand for a second or so and said, +looking wistfully in his face, "Ainsi, vous partez seul? je ne l'aurais +pas cru; et, je l'avoue franchement, ça me contrarie. N'importe; je +connois votre jeu; et je ne vous tiens pas pour battu, quand c'est +manche à. Ce serait une bêtise, de dire--'au revoir.' Adieu; amusez vous +bien." + +Royston shook his head impatiently; he was too proud to save his credit +by dissembling a defeat; and his reply was quick and decisive. + +"Vous me flattez, M. le Vicomte. Quand on perd, on doit, au moins +l'avouer loyalement, et payer l'en jeu. Cette fois j'ai tant perdu, que +je ne prendrai pas la revanche." + +Not another word was exchanged between them; but Armand had accepted +repulses in his time with more equanimity than he could muster when +ruminating afterward on the discomfiture of Royston Keene. + +Some days later the subject was discussed at the Cercle, and one of the +_habitués_ hazarded several cunning conjectures, and more than cynical +surmises. (Did you ever hear a thoroughly profligate Frenchman sneer a +woman's character away? It is almost worth while overcoming your disgust +to listen to the diabolical ingenuity of his innuendoes. The scandal of +our bitterest dowagers sounds charitable by comparison.) The savage +outbreak of the Algerian's temper, that every one had long been +expecting, came at last with a vengeance. + +"Tu mens, canaille! C'est le meilleur éloge de M. Keene, que les marans +comme toi, ne puissent le comprendre. Quand à Mademoiselle--elle vaut +mille fois tes soeurs, et ta mère. Si tu as le coeur de pousser +l'affaire, je te donnerai raison sur mes béquilles. Pour le pistolet, ma +main n'est pas encore percluse." He held it out, as steady and strong as +it was in the old days when it could sway the sabre from dawn to +twilight and never know weariness. + +If the other persuaded himself that consideration for the invalid's +infirmities made him patient under the insult, his friends were less +romantically credulous: the stigma of that night cleaves to him still. +Brazen it out as he may, the hang-dog look remains, telling us that the +barriers have been at least once broken down which separate the man from +the serf. There would be, perhaps, less mischief abroad if slander were +always so promptly and amply avenged. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +Not long after the events here recorded came a time that we all remember +right well, when, without note of preparation, the war-trumpets sounded +from the east and the north; when Europe woke up, like a giant +refreshed, from the slumber of a forty years' peace, and took down +disused weapons from the wall, and donned a rusted armor. It was a time +rife with romantic episodes, and, as such seasons must ever be, fraught +with peril to the prudence of womankind. There was perpetual recurrence +of the striking antithesis which happened at Brussels before Waterloo, +when the roll of the distant cannon at Quatre Bras mingled with the +music of the duchess's ball. The coldest reserve is apt to melt rapidly, +and the most skillful coquetry is brought to bay, when opposed to +pleading urged possibly for the last time. Those were days of rebuke and +blasphemy to "the gentlemen of England who sat at home at ease;" and +even the Foreign Office "irresistibles" could hardly hold their own. +What chance have the honeyed words of the accomplished civilian against +the simple eloquence of the soldier, who speaks with his life in his +hand? Truly there were many conquests then achieved of which the world +knew nothing, for the victor never came back to claim his prize. + +When the funeral of the Great Duke went by, it was easy to find fault +with some of the details of that pretentious pageant; but which of us +was cool enough to criticise, on the gray February morning, when the +Guards marched out? There were practiced veterans enough to be found in +their ranks; and each of these perhaps could number some who loved him +dearly; but none in the column won such hearty sympathy as those "trim +subalterns, holding their swords daintily," who went forth to their doom +gayly and gallantly, as if pestilence were not lying in ambush at +fever-stricken Varna, and lines of hungry graves waiting for their prey +in the bleak Chersonese. Surely there were sadder faces at home than any +that lined the road; and the anxious crowd at the station represented +very inadequately the "girls they left behind them." + +When the first certain rumors of war prevailed, Royston Keene was +shooting woodcocks in the Hebrides; he hastened back to town without a +moment's delay. We know how quick and unerring, on such occasions, is +the instinct of the Rapacidæ. His object was to get on the +active-service list as soon as possible. With his powerful interest and +high reputation, this was not difficult; and he was soon gazetted to a +Light Cavalry regiment. But he did not go out with the first +detachments, and the summer was far advanced when he reached the Crimea. + +There was great jubilation at his coming. Many out there knew him +personally, well; and others rejoiced at having the opportunity of +judging for themselves if he really deserved his fame. It soon became +apparent that the Cool Captain was strangely altered. To be sure, the +opportunities for general conviviality were few, for mess-rooms and +ante-rooms were phantoms of the imagination, or only pleasant memories; +still, there was a certain amount of agreeable though select _réunions_, +where the vintages of Bordeaux and Burgundy were sufficiently replaced +by regulation rum. At these Royston appeared rarely; and when he did +show there, was remarkably silent, and apt to let a favorable +opportunity, even for a sarcasm, go by. He seemed to prefer the solitude +of his own tent to the most tempting inducements of society. Men +remembered afterward how, if they went in and found him alone, he was +always busy with his revolver, or playing with his sabre. He had refused +two advantageous offers of staff appointments, for no apparent reason +except the desire not to be out of the way if any work were to be done: +and scarcely a day passed when he was not up at head-quarters, trying to +find out if there was any chance of a break in the long inaction of the +cavalry. Whether it was that the old blood-thirstiness had waked again +in a congenial atmosphere, or whether a great weariness weighing on his +spirits made him so impatient and restless, none can know for certain. +Again I say, let us not sift motives too inquisitively. + +It is the morning of the 25th of October, and a lull comes between the +storm-gusts. The "Heavies" have just taken up their position, after that +magnificent charge, in which the Russian lancers were scattered like +dead leaves in autumn when the wind is blowing freshly. There are +murmurs of discontent running the ranks of the Light Brigade; it seems +as if _their_ chance was never coming. One of his intimates grumbles as +much to Royston Keene. The Cool Captain straightens a stray lock of his +charger's mane, and answers, with his old provoking smile, + +"Don't fret yourself, George. I have a presentiment that we shall get +rid of the 'fidgets' before we sleep. See--_that_ looks like business." + +It seemed as if a spirit of prophecy possessed him; for even while he +was speaking, the aide-de-camp came down at speed. There was a pause +while that message was delivered, the exact words of which will never be +known--for you can not summon the dead as witnesses; then a brief +hesitation, and a dozen sentences exchanged between the first and second +in command; and then--every trooper in the Brigade understood what he +had to do. Many drew true and evil augury from the cloud lowering on the +stern features of the "Haughty Earl." + +Keene had been under fire oftener than most there, and his practiced eye +took in and appreciated every item of the peril; nevertheless, his brow +cleared, and all his face lighted up strangely. + +"What did I tell you, young one?" he said to the man who had addressed +him just before; "it will be warmer work than the old Phoenix +field-days; but one comfort is, it won't last so long." + +Before the words were fairly uttered the trumpets rang out; and with a +gayer laugh on his lip than it had worn for many a day, the Cool Captain +led his squadron gallantly into Aceldama. + +We will not describe the charge. Enthusiasts are not wanting who would +rather have ridden in it than have won the highest distinction to which +civilians can aspire. Who dares to object that it was not ultimately +successful? Such a taunt has never been weighed in the balance against +the glories of Thermopylæ. I frequently meet in society one of the +Paladins of that fatal Roncesvalles. In private life he has few +peculiarities, except a tendency to engage in each and every game of +chance, and a perfect monomania for waltzing. Yet I regard him with an +immense respect and reverence, that the object of the feeling would be +the last to understand. I think of the awful peril out of which the +delicate, feminine face has come without a scar; and I protest I would +no more dream of speaking to him angrily or slightingly, than I would +venture to discourse about the Derby to the Bishop of O----, or to offer +to that dignified prelate the current odds against the favorite. Rely +upon it, in many homes of England (if the Manchestrians leave them +standing) there will be one family portrait that our children will most +delight to honor. Pointing out to strangers the crowning glory of their +house, they will pass by grave effigies of lawyers, ecclesiastics, and +statesmen, and pause opposite to a martial figure, dressed in the +uniform of a light dragoon. All his ancestors shall give precedence to +the simple soldier, who rode that day in the van of the Six Hundred. + +Yes, we will leave that charge alone. The most hackneyed of professional +_littérateurs_ might shrink from sitting down to his writing-desk, to +make merchandise of such a "deed of _derring-do_." Nevertheless, Royston +Keene bore his part in it manfully; and the troopers talk yet of the +feats of skill and strength wrought by his sabre. + +The immunity from dangers of shot and steel for which he had been always +remarkable, did not seem to have deserted him; for he had come out of +the batteries without a scratch, and had fought his way through more +than one knot and peloton of the enemy, with no scathe beyond a slight +flesh-wound. In one of these encounters he had got separated from such +remnants of his squadron as still held together (you know even regiments +lost their unity in that terrible _mêlée_), the only man who still kept +near him was his covering-sergeant. All this while the fire from the +Russian guns on the hill-side grew heavier and heavier, while the cruel +grape-shot ripped through the mingled masses of friends and foes: making +sudden, unsightly gaps here and there, just as may be seen in a field of +ripe corn "laid" by the lashing hail. The good horse on which Keene was +mounted had not been out from England long enough to suffer materially +in wind or limb; he was in very fair condition, and had carried his +master splendidly so far, with equal luck in escaping any serious +injury. Five hundred yards more would have placed them in safety, within +the position where the Heavy Brigade was already moving up to cover the +retreat of their comrades, when the Templar, going at top-speed, pitched +suddenly forward, as a ship does when she founders; and, after rolling +once half over his rider, lay still, with limbs just faintly quivering. +Two grape-shot, making one wound, had crashed right into his chest and +through the heart. + +His covering-sergeant was within three lengths of Royston when the +latter went down: he pulled up and sprang down instantly, and was by his +officer's side in a second, trying to extricate him. + +"Hold up, Major," he said cheerily; "that's nothing. Take my horse. +He'll carry you in; and I can manage well enough." + +The strong soldier reeled, from sheer weakness, as he was speaking; for +the blood was spouting in dark-red jets from a ghastly cut in his bridle +arm: yet he seemed to see nothing in his offer but a simple act of duty; +though men have won a place in history for meaner self-sacrifice. One of +the most remarkable peculiarities about the Cool Captain was the hold he +maintained over the affections and impulses of those with whom he was +brought in contact, without any visible reason for such influence. He +was the strictest possible disciplinarian; and his demeanor toward his +subordinates was consistently dictatorial; yet the present case was only +one instance of the enthusiasm with which they regarded him. + +Keene looked up at the speaker wistfully, from where he lay; and his +face softened in its set sternness. + +"You're a good fellow, Davis," he said; "but I would not avail myself of +your generosity if I could. I can't take much credit for refusing it. My +thigh is broken; and I am hurt besides. I couldn't keep the saddle for +ten seconds. Draw my right gauntlet off, and take my ring; you deserve +it better than the Cossacks. Keep it as long as you like; it will always +bring you a fifty, if you get hard up. And take _this_ too." He put his +hand into the breast of his uniform; but drew it back quickly. "No: it +shall stay with me while I live." + +His tone and manner were just the same as if he had met with a heavy +fall, out hunting, and were answering some good-natured friend who had +stopped to pick him up. + +The trooper took the ring; but he lingered still. Royston saw a knot of +the enemy sweeping down on them, like ravens on a stag wounded to the +death; his voice resumed its wonted accent of irresistible command. + +"Did you hear what I said? I told you to go. Those devils will be down +on us in less than a minute. I have not fired one barrel of my revolver, +and I'm good for one or two of them yet." + +The habit of obedience, more than the instinct of self-preservation, +made Davis mount and ride away without another word. He looked back, +though, as he did so. He heard three distinct reports from Keene's +revolver: two of the enemy's skirmishers dropped to the shots, and the +third wavered in his saddle; the rest closed round the fallen man with +leveled lances. The stout sergeant looked back no more; but he set his +teeth hard, and turned out of his way to encounter a stray Russian, and +laid the foeman's face open from eyebrow to lip, with an awful +blasphemy. The spot where Royston fell was so near to the British lines +that those who slaughtered him dared not stay for plunder. Half an hour +later, Davis and two more volunteers went out and brought in the mangled +body of the best swordsman in the Light Brigade. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +Not dead yet! + +Though the bloody Muscovite spearmen thought they had left a corpse +behind them, and though the surgeons who examined him decided that he +could not survive the night, the obstinate vitality in Royston Keene +still lingered on, refusing to yield to wounds that might have drained +the life out of three strong men. It seemed as if some strange doom were +upon him, such as was laid on the Black Slave in the _Arabian Nights_, +loved by the enchantress-queen; or a Durindarte in the old romance, +where the tortured spirit, enthralled by potent spells, was withheld for +a season from departure, though its tenement was all shattered and +ruined. His case from the first was utterly hopeless; and his bodily +helplessness at times almost resembled catalepsy; yet his faculties were +quite clear. He could recognize his friends, and talk with them quite +composedly; cry or complaint never once issued from those rigid lips. +They sent him down to Scutari at last, not with any hope of his +recovery, but wishing to insure him all available comforts in his dying +moments. It was a rough passage (even on invalids the cruel Euxine had +little mercy) this, and the pain of transport through the few hundred +yards that were between the vessel and the hospital almost exhausted the +dregs of Royston's strength. When they laid him down on the bed allotted +to him, in a small room of the main ward, of which he was to be the sole +tenant, none of the surgeons could have told if they were dealing with +life or death. Work was so heavy on their hands at that dreadful season, +that they could not devote more than a certain space of precious time to +any one patient; so after trying all means and appliances of recovery in +vain, they left Keene for a while in his swoon. It seemed as if he would +never open his eyes again. They unclosed slowly at last, still dim with +the deathly faintness; his head was dizzy and confused; and in his ears +there was a dull, droning sound, like the murmur of a distant sea. As +objects and sounds assumed more distinctness, he became aware of the +figure of a woman sitting on the ground by the side of his couch--her +head buried in her hands--rocking herself ever to and fro, and never +pausing in her low, heart-broken wail. If old tales speak truth, such a +figure might be seen in dark corners of haunted houses; and such a wail +might echo at dead of night through chambers conscious of some fearful +crime. Instinct more than reason revealed to Royston the truth. + +The lips that under the thrusts of Russian lances, and through all +subsequent tortures, had guarded so jealously the secret of his agony, +could not repress a groan as they syllabled the name of--Cecil +Tresilyan. + +It was so. The brilliant beauty who for two seasons had ruled the world +in which she moved so imperiously--insatiate of conquest, and defying +rivalry--the delicate _aristocrate_ who from her childhood had been used +to every imaginable luxury, and had appreciated them all--was found +again, here, in the gray robe of a Sister of Charity, content to endure +real, bitter hardships, and to witness daily sights from which +womanhood, with all its bravery, must needs recoil. The motives that had +urged her to such a step would be hard indeed to define. The same +weariness and impatience of inaction that have been alluded to in the +case of Royston Keene may have had much to do with it; to this, perhaps, +was added a feeling of wild remorse, seeking to vent itself in +self-torturing penance, such as impelled kings and conquerors in old +days to don the palmer's gown, and macerate their bodies by fast and +scourge; there may have been, too, some vague, unacknowledged longing to +seize the last chance of seeing her lost love once again. Might she not +tend _him_ as she nursed the other wounded, without adding to the weight +of her sin? If she ever entertained such an idea, her punishment may +well have atoned for her offense, when she came suddenly and unprepared +into that sick-chamber, and looked upon the mangled wreck lying +senseless there. + +Royston spoke first. "What brought you here?" If it was possible that he +could feel any thing like terror, surely the hollow, tremulous voice +betrayed it then. + +Cecil Tresilyan sprang to her feet as if an electric shock had moved +her, and stood gazing at him with her great, desolate, tearless eyes; +all her misery could not make them hard or haggard, nor dispel their +marvelous enchantment. Royston marked the impulse that would have drawn +her to his side; and threw out one weak hand to warn her off; with the +other he tried to cover his own scarred, ghastly face. "Don't come near +me," he muttered; "I can't bear it." Her woman's instinct fathomed his +meaning instantly: he thought that even _she_ must shrink from him. She +laughed out loud (for her brain was almost turning) as she knelt down +and raised his head on her arm, and smoothed his matted hair, and kissed +the death-damp from his forehead, murmuring between the caresses, "You +dare not keep me from you. Do you think that _I_ fear you, my own--my +own!" + +The glory of a great triumph--grand, even if sinful--lighted up the face +of the dying man; and intense passion made even his voice strong and +steady. "I believe this is better than the paradise we dreamed of in the +island of the Greek Sea." + +Without a moment's pause the sweet, sad voice replied, "Yes, it is +better. _Then_ I should have died first, and hopelessly. _Now_ there is +no guilt between us that may not be forgiven." + +Silence lasted till Royston gathered energy to speak again. + +"You remember the glove? See--I have not parted with it yet." He drew +from his breast a case of steel links hung round his neck by a chain: it +held Cecil's gauntlet--stained and stiffened with his blood. That was +the treasure he would not resign when he lay on the ground, waiting for +the Russian lances. "You did not think that I should forget you, because +I never answered your letter?" + +As had happened once before, a portion of his fortitude and self-command +seemed transfused into Cecil Tresilyan. She spoke quite steadily now. + +"How could I misjudge your silence, when I begged you not to write? I +have been very miserable, thinking how angry you would be; and yet I +could not help what I did. But I never fancied you had forgotten me. +Forgetting is not so easy. Now tell me about yourself. I have heard of +that glorious charge. But those terrible wounds--how you must have +suffered!" + +Out of the dim, glazing eyes flashed for one moment a gleam of soldierly +pride. "Yes, we rode straight, on the twenty-fifth--I among the rest. I +suppose I have suffered some pain, but that is all past and gone. I am +sensible of nothing but the great happiness of holding your little hand +once more. See--I can hold it without shame, for my fingers have not +pressed those of any woman alive since we parted." + +She saw how the utterance of those few words told upon him, and +refrained from the delight of listening longer to the voice that was +still to her inexpressibly dear. So she checked him fondly when he would +have gone on speaking. Yet the silence that ensued was first broken by +Cecil. + +"My own! I fear--I fear that you are in great danger. How long we may +_both_ have to suffer, God alone can tell. But will you not see a +clergyman? He might help you though I am weak and powerless." + +A shadow of the old sardonic scorn swept across Keene's emaciated face, +and passed away as suddenly. + +"It is somewhat late for any help that priests can bring. Besides, I can +not dwell now on any of my past sins, save one. All my thoughts are +taken up with the wrong that I have done to you." + +This was true. If there were reproachful phantoms that had a right to +haunt Royston's death-bed, the living presence kept them all at bay. + +Cecil's eyes had never been more eloquent than they were then, but they +spoke of nothing but despair. + +"Ah, heaven! can not you see that all _I_ have to forgive has been +forgiven long ago? What is to become of me if you die hardened in your +sin? Must I live on, _hoping_ that we are parted forever? If you are +pitiless to your own soul, have mercy, at least, upon me!" + +All Royston's former crimes seemed to him venial by comparison, as he +witnessed the misery and abasement of the glorious creature on whom he +had brought such sorrow, if not shame. The remorse that a strong will +and hard heart had stifled so long found voice at last in three muttered +words--"God forgive me!" A very niggardly and inadequate expression of +contrition--was it not?--conceded to a life whose sins outnumbered its +years. Yet the slight thread of hope drawn therefrom has been able since +to hold back Cecil Tresilyan from the abyss of utter desperation. She +forbore to press him farther then, seeing his increasing weakness, and +trusting, perhaps, that a more favorable opportunity would come. + +Indeed, there were a thousand things to be said about the past, in which +both had borne a part, and the future, in which only one could share; +but Royston had estimated rightly the extent of his remaining physical +resources; and when he found how each syllable exhausted him, he became +as chary of words as a miser of his gold. His right hand still grasped +hers firmly; and her delicate cheek was pillowed on his shoulder; the +fingers of his other hand played gently with a long, glossy chestnut +tress that had escaped from the prison of the close cap she wore. So +they remained, for a long time--no sound passing between them, beyond +half-formed whispers of endearment: no one came in to molest them: there +was work enough and to spare, that night, for all in Scutari. The +thought of interruption never crossed Cecil's mind for an instant. +Always careless and defiant of conventionality, or the world's opinion, +she was tenfold more reckless now. Her head was bent down, and her eyes +closed; so that she could not see how the hollows deepened on her +lover's face; nor how the pallor of his cheek darkened rapidly to an +ashen-gray. But inward warnings of approaching dissolution spoke plainly +enough to Royston Keene. He knew what he had to do. + +He raised her head from where it rested, and said, so gently, "If my +time is short, there is the more reason that I should be loth to lose +you, even for an hour. But you must have rest; and I feel as if I could +sleep. Do not try to persuade me; but leave me now. When you think +hereafter of this evening, remember what my last words were. _I loved +you best of all._ Darling--wish me good-night; and come to see me early +to-morrow." + +He guessed, full well, how long that night would last, and what sight +would meet Cecil on the morrow; but he was resolute to spare her one +additional pang, and so endured alone the whole burden of the parting +agony. His whole life had been full of deeds of reckless daring; but, in +good truth, this achievement was its very crown of courage. + +Now, as heretofore, Cecil was incapable of resisting any one of his +expressed wishes or commands; besides this, physical exhaustion was +beginning to overcome her; and she, too, felt that it was time to go. +She leaned down, without speaking, and their lips met in a long, +passionate kiss. So little of vitality lingered in Royston's, that they +remained still icy-cold under the pressure of these ripe, red roses. + +"I will come again, early," she whimpered. + +The last relics of a strength that _had_ been superhuman passed into the +lingering pressure of the hand that bade her tenderly farewell. Half an +hour later the surgeon came to Royston Keene. All that night, shrieks +and groans, and other sounds through which human agony finds a vent, had +been ringing in his ears, till they were weary of the din; but the +silence of that chamber struck the visitor yet more painfully. He looked +for a second gravely at the motionless figure; and laid his ear against +the lips; no breath issued thence that would have stirred a feather; +then he drew very gently the sheet over the dead man's face,--a quiet, +steadfast face,--that even in the death-throe had retained its proud, +placid calm. + +When Cecil Tresilyan saw that same sight the next morning, she did not +scream or faint. Neither then nor afterward did she prove herself +unworthy of her haughty lover, by demonstrating or parading her sorrows. +Many others besides her have taken for their motto, "The heart knoweth +its own bitterness;" and have carried it out to the end unflinchingly. +Verily, they have their reward. If there is little comfort on this side +the grave, and only vague hope beyond it, it is something to escape +condolence. We follow her fortunes no farther. It is needless to give +all the details of the hospital service which occupied her till the +conclusion of the war set her free; and we will not seek to penetrate +into the retreat in the Far West where she is dwelling still. The gray +manor-house guards its secrets well, though it has witnessed in its time +sorrows and sins that might have wrung a voice from granite. Conscious +of many broken hearts and blasted hopes, is the home of the Tresilyans +of Tresilyan. + +I confess to a certain regret, as that graceful figure vanishes from the +stage that never was worthy of her queen-like presence. Was it in +dream-land that I saw the original of the character and face that I have +endeavored, thus roughly, to portray? Perhaps so. But there are visions +so near akin to realities, that one's brain grows dizzy in trying to +disentangle the two. + +It is unfortunate that the void created by any man's death is by no +means proportionate to his intrinsic merits. So it happened that the +loss of Royston Keene was felt more than he deserved. Far and wide over +the surface of the world's sea the circles spread from the spot where +his life went down. He was missed not only by his old comrades in arms: +men who scarcely knew him by sight spared some regret to the favorite +hero of the Light Dragoons. Mark Waring, in the loneliness of his dreary +chambers, gnashed his teeth in bitterness of envy; for he guessed _who_ +would be the chief mourner. Arnaud de Châteaumesnil's remark was +characteristic. Hearing that his old opponent had fallen in the front of +the battle, he struck his hand impatiently on his own crippled limbs, +muttering--"Sang-dieu! Il avait toujours la main heureuse." Harry +Molyneux can not trust his voice to speak of him yet; and other +beautiful eyes besides _La Mignonne's_ were dim with tears when they +read a certain death-gazette. Truly, "great men have fallen in Israel," +and saints have departed in the plentitude of sanctity, without winning +such wealth of regrets as was lavished on the grave of that strong +sinner. Only two women alive--and these he had never wronged--rejoiced +over the news unfeignedly--Bessie Danvers and his own wife. + +Shall we pass judgment on Royston Keene? He had erred so often and +heavily that even the intercession of a penitent who never kneels before +Heaven without mingling his name in her prayers must probably be +unavailing. Yet will we not cast the stone. All temptations, of course, +can be resisted, and ought to be overcome. But there are men born with +so peculiar a temperament, and who seem to have been so completely under +the dominion of circumstances, that they might well be supposed to have +been raised up for a warning. How far are such to be held accountable? +Let us refrain from this subject, remembering how grave and learned +theologians, earnest opponents of Predestinarianism, have been reduced +to the extreme of perplexity when confronted with the ensample of +Pharaoh. + +It would neither be pleasant nor profitable to pry into the secrets of +the black darkness that lies beyond Royston's death-bed; in it few would +be able to distinguish the faintest glimmer of light. But we have no +more authority to fix limits to the long-suffering of Omnipotence, than +we have to dispute the justice of its revenge. Let us stand aside, and +hope + + That Heaven may yet have more mercy than man + On such a bold rider's soul. + +A strange doctrine, that; savoring perhaps of heterodoxy, and perilous +to be adopted by such as can not fathom it thoroughly. But if there be +no germ of truth therein, it were better for some of us that we had +never been born. + + + THE END. + + + + +Transcriber's notes: Obvious spelling/typographical and punctuation +errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other +occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources. + + p6: "take it out of the human race" corrected to "take it out on the + human race" + + p6: "would'nt" corrected to "wouldn't" + + p7: "dreamland" occurs here only; "dream-land" occurs on p66 only, + not at a linebreak; both retained + + p12: "Caramba" is clear and occurs only once in the book; "Coramba" + occurs once and with equal clarity on p59; both retained + + p14: "to his strid ," corrected to "to his stride," + + p15: "esprit de corps" occurs here only; "esprit du corps" also occurs + once (p31); both retained + + p21: archaic spelling "ladye" fits the context, so retained + + p26: added closing quote mark to "burying." + + p33: "vôtre" corrected to "votre" + + p34: "propriètaire" corrected to "propriétaire" + + p36: "dejà" corrected to "déjà" + + p36: "on est sur de" corrected to "on est sûr de" + + p42: "pic-nic" occurs here and on p43, not at a linebreak; "picnic" + occurs on p45 and p47; both retained + + p44: in the first verse quoted by Royston, "pikemen's" is an apparent + misquotation for "pikeman's", and "scatheless" may be a typo for + "scathless" + + p46: "missionery" corrected to "missionary" + + p46: "innuendoes" retained as archaic spelling + + p47: "tranquillity" retained as archaic spelling + + p62: "partez-seul" corrected to "partez seul" + + p62: "betise" corrected to "bêtise" + + p62: "vegeance" corrected to "vengeance" + +The following obscure English words used by the author need no correction + + p32: "tulwar" is a variant spelling of "talwar", a kind of Indian sabre + + p33: "glozing" means explaining away/glossing over + + p39: "teind" is a tithe + + p44: "pursy" means short-winded + + p46: to "aby" means to pay the penalty + + p46: to "lanch" means to throw or let fly + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sword and Gown, by George A. 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