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diff --git a/22845.txt b/22845.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3be61b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/22845.txt @@ -0,0 +1,800 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Beauty Of The Village, by Mary Russell Mitford + +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: The Beauty Of The Village + +Author: Mary Russell Mitford + +Release Date: October 2, 2007 [EBook #22845] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BEAUTY OF THE VILLAGE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE BEAUTY OF THE VILLAGE + +By Mary Russell Mitford + + +Three years ago, Hannah Colson was, beyond all manner of dispute, +the prettiest girl in Aberleigh. It was a rare union of face, form, +complexion, and expression. Of that just height, which, although +certainly tall, would yet hardly be called so, her figure united to +its youthful roundness, and still more youthful lightness, an airy +flexibility, a bounding grace, and when in repose, a gentle dignity, +which alternately reminded one of a fawn bounding through the forest, or +a swan at rest upon the lake. A sculptor would have modelled her for the +youngest of the Graces; whilst a painter, caught by the bright colouring +of that fair blooming face, the white forehead so vividly contrasted +by the masses of dark curls, the jet-black eyebrows, and long rich +eyelashes, which shaded her finely-cut grey eye, and the pearly teeth +disclosed by the scarlet lips, whose every movement was an unconscious +smile, would doubtless have selected her for the very goddess of youth. +Beyond all question, Hannah Colson, at eighteen, was the beauty of +Aberleigh, and, unfortunately, no inhabitant of that populous village +was more thoroughly aware that she was so than the fair damsel herself. + +Her late father, good Master Colson, had been all his life a respectable +and flourishing master bricklayer in the place. Many a man with less +pretensions to the title would call himself a builder now-a-days, or +"by'r lady," an architect, and put forth a flaming card, vaunting his +accomplishments in the mason's craft, his skill in plans and elevations, +and his unparalleled dispatch and cheapness in carrying his designs into +execution. But John Colson was no new-fangled personage. A plain honest +tradesman was our bricklayer, and thoroughly of the old school; one +who did his duty to his employers with punctual industry, who was never +above his calling, a good son, a good brother, a good husband, and an +excellent father, who trained up a large family in the way they should +go, and never entered a public-house in his life. + +The loss of this invaluable parent about three years before had been +the only grief that Hannah Colson had known. But as her father, although +loving her with the mixture of pride and fondness, which her remarkable +beauty, her delightful gaiety, and the accident of her being by many +years the youngest of his children, rendered natural, if not excusable, +had yet been the only one about her, who had discernment to perceive, +and authority to check her little ebullitions of vanity and self-will; +she felt, as soon as the first natural tears were wiped away, that a +restraint had been removed, and, scarcely knowing why, was too soon +consoled for the greatest misfortune that could possibly have befallen +one so dangerously gifted. Her mother was a kind, good, gentle woman, +who having by necessity worked hard in the early part of her life, still +continued the practice, partly from inclination, partly from a sense +of duty, and partly from mere habit, and amongst her many excellent +qualities had the Ailie Dinmont propensity of giving all her children +their own way,* especially this the blooming cadette of the family: +and her eldest brother, a bachelor,--who, succeeding to his father's +business, took his place as master of the house, retaining his surviving +parent as its mistress, and his pretty sister as something between a +plaything and a pet, both in their several ways seemed vying with each +other as to which should most thoroughly humour and indulge the lovely +creature whom nature had already done her best or her worst to spoil to +their hands. + + * "Eh, poor things, what else have I to give them?" This + reply of Ailie Dinmont, and indeed her whole sweet + character, short though it be, has always seemed to me the + finest female sketch in the Waverly Novels--finer even, + because so much tenderer, than the bold and honest Jeanie + Deans. + +Her other brothers and sisters, married and dispersed over the country, +had of course no authority, even if they had wished to assume anything +like power over the graceful and charming young woman whom every one +belonging to her felt to be an object of pride and delight; so +that their presents and caresses and smiling invitations aided in +strengthening Hannah's impression, poor girl though she were, that her +little world, the small horizon of her own secluded hamlet, was made for +her, and for her only; and if this persuasion had needed any additional +confirmation, such confirmation would have been found in the universal +admiration of the village beaux, and the envy, almost as general, of the +village belles, particularly in the latter; the envy of rival beauties +being, as every body knows, of all flatteries the most piquant and +seducing--in a word, the most genuine and real. The only person from +whom Hannah Colson ever heard that rare thing called truth, was her +friend and school-fellow, Lucy Meadows, a young woman two or three years +older than herself in actual age, and half a lifetime more advanced in +the best fruits of mature age, in clearness of judgment, and steadiness +of conduct. + +A greater contrast of manner and character than that exhibited between +the light-headed and light-hearted beauty, and her mild and quiet +companion could hardly be imagined. Lucy was pretty too, very pretty; +but it was the calm, sedate, composed expression, the pure alabaster +complexion, the soft dove-like eye, the general harmony and delicacy of +feature and of form that we so often observe in a female _Friend_; +and her low gentle voice, her retiring deportment, and quaker-like +simplicity of dress were in perfect accordance with that impression. Her +clearness of intellect, also, and rectitude of understanding, were such +as are often found amongst that intelligent race of people; although +there was an intuitive perception of character and motive, a fineness +of observation under that demure and modest exterior, that, if Lucy had +ever in her life been ten miles from her native village, might have been +called knowledge of the world. + +How she came by this quality, which some women seem to possess by +instinct, Heaven only knows! Her early gravity of manner, and sedateness +of mind, might be more easily accounted for. Poor Lucy was an orphan, +and had from the age of fourteen been called upon to keep house for her +only brother, a young man of seven or eight-and-twenty, well to do in +the world, who, as the principal carpenter of Aberleigh, had had much +intercourse with the Colsons in the way of business, and was on the most +friendly terms with the whole family. + +With one branch of that family James Meadows would fain have been upon +terms nearer and dearer than those of friendship. Even before John +Colson's death, his love for Hannah, although not openly avowed, had +been the object of remark to the whole village; and it is certain that +the fond and anxious father found his last moments soothed by the hope +that the happiness and prosperity of his favourite child were secured +by the attachment of one so excellent in character and respectable in +situation. + +James Meadows was indeed a man to whom any father would have confided +his dearest and loveliest daughter with untroubled confidence. He joined +to the calm good sense and quiet observation that distinguished his +sister, an inventive and constructive power, which, turned as it was +to the purposes of his own trade, rendered him a most ingenious and +dexterous mechanic; and which only needed the spur of emulation, or the +still more active stimulus of personal ambition, to procure for him high +distinction in any line to which his extraordinary faculty of invention +and combination might be applied. + +Ambition, however, he had none. He was happily quite free from that +tormenting taskmaster, who, next perhaps to praise, makes the severest +demand on human faculty, and human labour. To maintain in the spot where +he was born, the character for honesty, independence, and industry, that +his father had borne before him, to support in credit and comfort the +sister whom he loved so well, and one whom he loved still better, formed +the safe and humble boundary of his wishes. But with the contrariety +with which fortune so often seems to pursue those who do not follow +her, his success far outstripped his moderate desires. The neighbouring +gentlemen soon discovered his talent. Employment poured in upon him. His +taste proved to be equal to his skill; and from the ornamental out-door +work--the Swiss cottages, and fancy dairies, the treillage and the +rustic seats belonging to a great country place,--to the most delicate +mouldings of the boudoir and the saloon, nothing went well that wanted +the guiding eye and finishing hand of James Meadows. The best workmen +were proud to be employed by him; the most respectable yeomen offered +their sons as his apprentices; and without any such design on his part, +our village carpenter was in a fair way to become one of the wealthiest +tradesmen in the county. + +His personal character and peculiarly modest and respectful manners +contributed not a little to his popularity with his superiors. He was +a fair slender young man, with a pale complexion, a composed but +expressive countenance, a thoughtful, 'deep-set,' grey eye, and a +remarkably fine head, with a profusion of curling brown hair, which gave +a distinguished air to his whole appearance; so that he was constantly +taken by strangers for a gentleman; and the gentle propriety with which +he was accustomed to correct the mistake was such as seldom failed to +heighten their estimation of the individual, whilst it set them right as +to his station. Hannah Colson, with all her youthful charms, might think +herself a lucky damsel in securing the affections of such a lover as +this; and that she did actually think so was the persuasion of those +who knew her best--of her mother, of her brother William, and of Lucy +Meadows; although the coy, fantastic beauty, shy as a ring-dove, wild +as a fawn of the forest, was so far from confessing any return of +affection, that whilst suffering his attentions, and accepting his +escort to the rural gaieties which beseemed her age, she would now +profess, even while hanging on his arm, her intention of never marrying, +and now coquet before his eyes with some passing admirer whom she had +never seen before. She took good care, however, not to go too far in her +coquetry, or to flirt twice with the same person; and so contrived +to temper her resolutions against matrimony with "nods and becks and +wreathed smiles," that, modest as he was by nature, and that natural +modesty enhanced by the diffidence which belongs to a deep and ardent +passion, James Meadows himself saw no real cause for fear in the pretty +petulance of his fair mistress, in a love of power so full of playful +grace that it seemed rather a charm than a fault, and in a blushing +reluctance to change her maiden state, and lose her maiden freedom, +which had in his eyes all the attractions of youthful shamefaced-ness. +That she would eventually be his own dear wife, James entertained +no manner of doubt; and, pleased with all that pleased her, was not +unwilling to prolong the happy days of courtship. + +In this humour Lucy had left him, when, towards the end of May, she +had gone for the first time to spend a few weeks with some relations in +London. Her cousins were kind and wealthy; and, much pleased with the +modest intelligence of their young kinswoman, they exerted themselves +to render their house agreeable to her, and to show her the innumerable +sights of the Queen of Cities. So that her stay, being urged by James, +who, thoroughly unselfish, rejoiced to find his sister so well amused, +was prolonged to the end of July, when, alarmed at the total cessation +of letters from Hannah, and at the constrained and dispirited tone which +she discovered, or fancied that she discovered in her brother's, Lucy +resolved to hasten home. + +He received her with his usual gentle kindness and his sweet and +thoughtful smile; assured her that he was well; exerted himself more +than usual to talk, and waived away her anxious questions by extorting +from her an account of her journey and her residence, of all that she +had seen, and of her own feelings on returning to her country home after +so long a sojourn in the splendid and beautiful metropolis. He talked +more than was usual with him; and more gaily; but still Lucy was +dissatisfied. The hand that had pressed hers on alighting was cold as +death; the lip that had kissed her fair brow was pale and trembling; his +appetite was gone, and his frequent and apparently unconscious habit of +pushing away the clustering curls from his forehead proved, as plainly +as words could have done, that there was pain in the throbbing temples. +The pulsation was even visible; but still he denied that he was ill, and +declared that her notion of his having grown thin and pale was nothing +but a woman's fancy,--the fond whim of a fond sister. + +To escape from the subject he took her into the garden,--her own pretty +flower garden, divided by a wall covered with creepers from the larger +plot of ground devoted to vegetables, and bounded on one side by +buildings connected with his trade, and parted on the other from a +well-stored timber-yard, by a beautiful rustic screen of fir and oak and +birch with the bark on, which terminating in a graceful curve at the end +next the house, and at that leading to the garden in a projecting +gothic porch,--partly covered by climbing plants, partly broken by tall +pyramidal hollyhocks, and magnificent dahlias, and backed by a clump +of tall elms, formed a most graceful veil to an unsightly object. +This screen had been erected during Lucy's absence, and without her +knowledge; and her brother smiling at the delight which she expressed, +pointed out to her the splendid beauty of her flowers and the luxuriant +profusion of their growth. + +The old buildings matted with roses, honeysuckles, and jessamines, +broken only by the pretty out-door room which Lucy called her +greenhouse; the pile of variously tinted geraniums in front of that +prettiest room; the wall garlanded, covered, hidden with interwoven +myrtles, fuschias, passion-flowers, clematis, and the silky blossoms +of the grandiflora pea; the beds filled with dahlias, salvias, +calceolarias, and carnations of every hue, with the rich purple and +the pure white petunia, with the many-coloured marvel of Peru, with +the enamelled blue of the Siberian larkspur, with the richly scented +changeable lupine, with the glowing lavatera, the dark-eyed hybiscus, +the pure and alabaster cup of the white Oenothera, the lilac clusters of +the phlox, and the delicate blossom of the yellow sultan, most elegant +amongst flowers;--all these, with a hundred other plants too long to +name, and all their various greens, and the pet weed mignionette growing +like grass in a meadow, and mingling its aromatic odour amongst the +general fragrance--all this sweetness and beauty glowing in the evening +sun, and breathing of freshness and of cool air, came with such a thrill +of delight upon the poor village maiden, who, in spite of her admiration +of London, had languished in its heat and noise and dirt, for the calm +and quiet, the green leaves and the bright flowers of her country home, +that, from the very fulness of her heart, from joy and gratitude and +tenderness and anxiety, she flung her arms round her brother's neck and +burst into tears. + +Lucy was usually so calm and self-commanded, that such an ebullition of +feeling from her astonished and affected James Meadows more than any +words, however tender. He pressed her to his heart, and when, following +up the train of her own thoughts,--sure that this kind brother, who had +done so much to please her was himself unhappy, guessing, and longing, +and yet fearing to know the cause,--when Lucy, agitated by such +feelings, ventured to whisper "Hannah?" her brother placing her gently +on the steps leading to the green-house, and leaning himself against the +open door, began in a low and subdued tone to pour out his whole heart +to his sympathising auditress. The story was nearly such as she had been +led to expect from the silence of one party, and the distress of the +other. A rival--a most unworthy rival--had appeared upon the scene; and +James Meadows, besides the fear of losing the lovely creature whom he +had loved so fondly, had the additional grief of believing that the man +whose flatteries had at least gained from her a flattering hearing, was +of all others the least likely to make her respectable and happy.--Much +misery may be comprised in few words. Poor James's story was soon told. + +A young and gay Baronet had, as Lucy knew, taken the manor-house and +manor of Aberleigh: and during her absence, a part of his retinue with +a train of dogs and horses had established themselves in the mansion, in +preparation for their master's arrival. Amongst these new comers, by far +the most showy and important was the head keeper, Edward Forester, a +fine looking young man, with a tall, firm, upright figure, a clear dark +complexion, bright black eyes, a smile alternately winning and scornful, +and a prodigious fluency of speech, and readiness of compliment. He fell +in love with Hannah at first sight, and declared his passion the same +afternoon; and, although discouraged by every one about her, never +failed to parade before her mother's house two or three times a-day, +mounted on his master's superb blood-horse, to waylay her in her walks, +and to come across her in her visits. Go where she might, Hannah was +sure to encounter Edward Forester; and this devotion from one whose +personal attractions extorted as much admiration from the lasses, her +companions, as she herself had been used to excite amongst the country +lads, had in it, in spite of its ostentatious openness, a flattery that +seemed irresistible. + +"I do not think she loves him, Lucy," said James Meadows, sighingly; +"indeed I am sure that she does not. She is dazzled by his showiness and +his fluency, his horsemanship and his dancing; but love him she does not. +It is fascination, such a fascination as leads a moth to flutter round +a candle, or a bird to drop into the rattlesnake's mouth,--and never was +flame more dangerous, or serpent more deadly. He is unworthy of her, +Lucy,--thoroughly unworthy. This man, who calls himself devoted to a +creature as innocent as she is lovely,--who pretends to feel a pure +and genuine passion for this pure and too-believing girl, passes his +evenings, his nights, in drinking, in gambling, in debauchery of the +lowest and most degrading nature. He is doubtless at this very instant +at the wretched beer-shop at the corner of the common--the haunt of +all that is wicked, and corrupter of all that is frail, 'The Foaming +Tankard'. It is there, in the noble game of Four Corners, that the man +who aspires to the love of Hannah Colson passes his hours.--Lucy, do +you remember the exquisite story of Phoebe Dawson, in Crabbe's Parish +Register?--such as she was, will Hannah be. I could resign her, Heaven +knows, grievous as the loss would be, to one whom she loved, and who +would ensure her happiness. But to give her up to Edward Forester--the +very thought is madness!" + +"Surely, brother, she cannot know that he is so unworthy! surely, +surely, when she is convinced that he is so, she will throw him off like +an infected garment! I know Hannah well. She would be protected from +such an one as you describe, as well by pride as by purity. She cannot +be aware of these propensities." + +"She has been told of them repeatedly; but he denies the accusation, and +she rather believes his denial than the assertion of her best friends. +Knowing Hannah as you do, Lucy, you cannot but remember the petulant +self-will, the scorn of contradiction and opposition, which used half to +vex and half to amuse us in the charming spoilt child. We little dreamt +how dangerous that fault, almost diverting in trifles, might become +in the serious business of life. Her mother and brother are my warm +advocates, and the determined opponents of my rival; and therefore, to +assert what she calls her independence and her disinterestedness, (for +with this sweet perverse creature the worldly prosperity which I valued +chiefly for her sake makes against me,) she will fling herself away on +one wholly unworthy of her, one whom she does not even love, and with +whom her whole life will be a scene of degradation and misery." + +"Will he be to-night at the Foaming Tankard?" + +"He is there every night!" + +At this point of their conversation the brother was called away; and +Lucy, after a little consideration, tied on her bonnet, and walked to +Mrs. Colson's. + +Her welcome from William Colson and his mother was as cordial and hearty +as ever, perhaps more so; Hannah's greetings were affectionate, but +constrained. Not to receive Lucy kindly was impossible; and yet her own +internal consciousness rendered poor Lucy, next perhaps to her brother, +the very last person whom she would have desired to see; and this +uncomfortable feeling increased to a painful degree, when the fond +sister, with some diminution of her customary gentleness, spoke to her +openly of her conduct to James, and repeated with strong and earnest +reprehension, all that she had heard of the conduct and pursuits of her +new admirer. + +"He frequent the Foaming Tankard! He drink to intoxication! He play for +days and nights at Four Corners! It is a vile slander! I would, answer +for it with my life! He told me this very day that he has never even +entered that den of infamy." + +"I believe him to be there at this very hour," replied Lucy, calmly. And +Hannah, excited to the highest point of anger and agitation, dared +Lucy to the instant proof, invited her to go with her at once to the +beer-house, and offered to abandon all thoughts of Edward Forester if he +proved to be there. Lucy, willing enough to place the fate of the cause +on that issue, prepared to accompany her; and the two girls were so +engrossed by the importance of their errand, that they did not even hear +Mrs. Colson's terrified remonstrance, who vainly endeavoured to detain +or recal them by assurances that smallpox of the confluent sort was in +the house; and that she had heard only that very afternoon, that a young +woman, vaccinated at the same time, and by the same person with her +Hannah, lay dead in one of the rooms of the Foaming Tankard. + +Not listening to, not even hearing her mother, Hannah walked with the +desperate speed of passion through the village street, up the winding +hill, across the common, along the avenue; and reached in less time +than seemed possible the open grove of oaks, in one corner of which this +obnoxious beer-house, the torment and puzzle of the magistrates, and the +pest of the parish, was situated. There was no sign of death or sickness +about the place. The lights from the tap-room and the garden, along one +side of which the alley for four-corners was erected, gleamed in the +darkness of a moonless summer night between the trees; and even farther +than the streaming light, pierced the loud oaths and louder laughter, +the shouts of triumph, and the yells of defeat, mixed with the dull +heavy blows of the large wooden bowl, from the drunken gamesters in the +alley. + +Hannah started as she heard one voice; but, determined to proceed, she +passed straight through the garden-gate, and rushed hastily on to the +open shed where the players were assembled. There, stripped of his coat +and waistcoat, in all the agony of an intoxicated gambler, stood Edward +Forester, in the act of staking his gold-laced hat upon the next cast. +He threw and lost; and casting from him with a furious oath the massive +wooden ball, struck, in his blind frenzy, the lovely creature transfixed +in silent horror at the side of the alley, who fell with the blow, and +was carried for dead into the Foaming Tankard. + +Hannah did not, however, die; although her left arm was broken, her +shoulder dislocated, and much injury inflicted by the fall. She lived, +and she still lives, but no longer as the Beauty of the Village. Her +fine shape injured by the blow, and her fair face disfigured by the +smallpox, she can no longer boast the surpassing loveliness which +obtained for her the title of the Rose of Aberleigh. And yet she +has gained more than she has lost, even in mere attraction; the vain +coquettish girl is become a sweet and gentle woman; gaiety has been +replaced by sensibility, and the sauciness of conscious power, by the +modest wish to please. In her long and dangerous illness, her slow +and doubtful convalescence, Hannah learnt the difficult lesson to +acknowledge and to amend her own faults; and when, after many scruples +on the score of her changed person and impaired health, she became the +happy wife of James Meadows, she brought to him, in a corrected temper +and purified heart, a dowry far more precious in his mind than the +transient beauty which had been her only charm in the eyes of Edward +Forester. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Beauty Of The Village, by Mary Russell Mitford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BEAUTY OF THE VILLAGE *** + +***** This file should be named 22845.txt or 22845.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/8/4/22845/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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