diff options
Diffstat (limited to '32062.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 32062.txt | 19462 |
1 files changed, 19462 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/32062.txt b/32062.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f53129e --- /dev/null +++ b/32062.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19462 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Daltons, Volume II (of II), by Charles James Lever + +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 Daltons, Volume II (of II) + Or,Three Roads In Life + +Author: Charles James Lever + +Illustrator: Phiz. + +Release Date: April 19, 2010 [EBook #32062] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DALTONS, VOLUME II (OF II) *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE DALTONS; + +OR, + +THREE ROADS IN LIFE. + + +By Charles Lever. + +With Illustrations By Phiz. + + +In Two Volumes: Volume Two. + +Boston: + +Little, Brown, And Company. + +1904. + + + + +THE DALTONS; or, THREE ROADS IN LIFE + + + + +CHAPTER I. A MORNING OF MISADVENTURES. + +"Well, my Lord, are we to pass the day here," said Count Trouville, +the second of the opposite party, as Norwood returned from a fruitless +search of George Onslow, "or are we to understand that this is the +English mode of settling such matters?" + +"I am perfectly ready, Monsieur le Comte, to prove the contrary, so far +as my own poor abilities extend," said Norwood, calmly. + +"But your friend has disappeared, sir. You are left alone here." + +"Which is, perhaps, the reason of your having dared to insult me," +rejoined the other; "that being, perhaps, the French custom in such +affairs." + +"Come, come, gentlemen," interposed an old cavalry officer, who acted +as second friend to Guilmard, "you must both see that all discussion of +this kind is irregular and unseemly. We have come here this morning for +one specific purpose,----to obtain reparation for a great injury. The +gentleman who should have offered us the amende has suddenly withdrawn +himself. I offer no opinion on the fact that he came out accompanied by +only one friend; we might, perhaps, have devised means to obviate this +difficulty. For his own absence we have no remedy. I would therefore ask +what you have to propose to us in this emergency?" + +"A little patience,--nothing more. My friend must have lost his way; +some accident or other has detained him, and I expect to see him here +every instant." + +"Shall we say half an hour longer, my Lord?" rejoined the other, taking +out his watch. "That will bring us to eight o'clock." + +"Which, considering that our time was named 'sharp six,'" interposed +Trouville, "is a very reasonable 'grace.'" + +"Your expression is an impertinence, Monsieur," said Norwood, fiercely. + +"And yet I don't intend to apologize for it," said the other, smiling. + +"I 'm glad of it, sir. It's the only thing you have said to-day with +either good sense or spirit." + +"Enough, quite enough, my Lord," replied the Frenchman, gayly. "'Dans la +bonne societe, on ne dit jamais de trop.' Where shall it be, and when?" + +"Here, and now," said Norwood, "if I can only find any one who will act +for me." + +"Pray, my Lord, don't go in search of him," said Trouville, "or we shall +despair of seeing you here again." + +"I will give a bail for my reappearance, sir, that you cannot doubt of," +cried Norwood, advancing towards the other with his cane elevated. + +A perfect burst of horror broke from the Frenchmen at this threat, +and three or four immediately threw themselves between the contending +parties. + +"But for this, my Lord," said the old officer, "I should have offered +you my services." + +"And I should have declined them, sir," said Norwood, promptly. "The +first peasant I meet with will suffice;" and, so saying, he hurried +from the spot, his heart almost bursting with passion. With many a +malediction of George--with curses deep and cutting on every one whose +misconduct had served to place him in his present position--he took his +way towards the high-road. + +"What could have happened?" muttered he; "what confounded fit of +poltroonery has seized him? a fellow that never wanted pluck in his +life! Is it possible that he can have failed now? And this to occur at +the very moment they are beggared! Had they been rich, as they were a +few months back, I'd have made the thing pay. Ay, by Jove! I 'd have +'coined my blood,' as the fellow says in the play, and written a +swingeing check with red ink! And now I have had a bad quarrel, and +nothing to come of it! And so to walk the high-roads in search of some +one who can load a pistol." + +A stray peasant or two, jogging along to Florence, a postilion with +return horses, a shabbily dressed curate, or a friar with a sack behind +him, were all that he saw for miles of distance, and he returned +once more to interrogate the calessino driver as to the stranger who +accompanied him from the city. + +Any one whose misfortune it may have been to make inquiries from +an Italian vetturino of any fact, no matter how insignificant or +unimportant, will sympathize with Norwood's impatience at the evasive +and distrustful replies that now met his questions. Although the fact +could have no possible concern or interest for him, he prevaricated and +contradicted himself half-a-dozen times over, as to the stranger's age, +country, and appearance, so that, utterly baffled and provoked, the +Viscount turned away and entered the park. + +"I, too, shall be reported missing, I suppose," said he, bitterly, as he +walked along a little path that skirted a piece of ornamental water. "By +Jupiter! this is a pleasant morning's work, and must have its reparation +one day or other." + +A hearty sneeze suddenly startled him as he spoke; he turned hastily +about, but could see no one, and yet his hearing was not to be deceived! +He searched the spot eagerly; he examined the little boat-shed, the +copse, the underwood,--everything, in fact,--but not a trace of living +being was to be seen; at last a slight rustling sound seemed to issue +from a piece of rustic shell-work, representing a river god reclining +on his urn, and, on approaching, he distinctly detected the glitter of a +pair of eyes within the sockets of the figure. + +"Here goes for a brace of balls into him," cried Norwood, adjusting a +cap on his pistol. "A piece of stonework that sneezes is far too like a +man to be trusted." + +Scarcely was the threat uttered, when a tremulous scream issued from +within, and a voice, broken with terror, called out,---- + +"D-don't fire, my Lord. You'll m-m-murder me. I'm Purvis--Sc-Sc-Scroope +Purvis." + +"How did you come to be there, then?" asked Norwood, half angrily. + +"I 'll tell you when I g-get out!" was the answer; and he disappeared +from the loophole at which he carried on the conversation for some +seconds. Norwood began to fancy that the whole was some mystification of +his brain, for no trace of him was to be had; when he emerged from +the boat-house with his hat stripped of the brim, and his clothes in +tatters, his scratched face and hands attesting that his transit had not +been of the easiest. "It's like a r-r-rat-hole," cried he, puffing for +breath. + +"And what the devil brought you there?" asked Norwood, rudely. + +"I ca-came out to see the fight!" cried he; "and when you're inside +there you have a view of the whole park, and are quite safe, too." + +"Then it was you who drove out in the calessino meant for the doctor?" +said Norwood, with the air of a man who would not brook an equivocation. + +"Yes; that was a d-d-dodge of mine to get out here," said he, chuckling. + +"Well, Master Purvis," said Norwood, drawing his arm within his own, "if +you can't be the 'doctor,' you shall at least be the 'second.' This is a +dodge of mine; so come along, and no more about it." + +"But I ca-can't; I never was--I never could be a se-se-second." + +"You shall begin to-day, then, or my name's not Norwood. You've been the +cause of a whole series of mishaps and misfortunes; and, by Jove! if the +penalty were a heavier one, you should pay it." + +"I tell you, I n-never saw a duel; I--I never f-fought one; I never will +fight one; I don't even know how they g-go about it." + +"You shall learn, sir, that 's all," said Norwood, as he hastened along, +dragging the miserable Purvis at his side. + +"But for you, sir," continued he, in a voice thick with passion,--"but +for you, sir, and your inveterate taste for prying into what does not +concern you, we should have experienced no delay nor disappointment this +morning. The consequences are, that I shall have to stand where another +ought to have stood, and take to myself a quarrel in which I have had no +share." + +[Illustration: 022] + +"H-how is that? Do----do----do tell me all about it!" cried Purvis, +eagerly. + +"I 'll tell you nothing, sir, not a syllable. Your personal adventures +on this morning must be the subject of your revelations when you get +back to Florence, if ever you do get back." + +"Why, I--I'm----I'm not going to fight anybody," exclaimed he, in +terror. + +"No, sir, but _I_ am; and in the event of any disastrous incident, +_your_ position may be unpleasant. If Trouville falls, you 'll have to +make for Lombardy, and cross over into Switzerland; if he shoots me, +you can take my passport; it is _vise_ for the Tyrol. As they know me +at Innsprueck, you 'd better keep to the southward,--some of the smaller +places about Botzen, or Brixen." + +"But I don't know Bo-Bo-Botzen on the map! and I don't see why I 'm to +sk-sk-skulk about the Continent like a refu-refu-refugee Pole!" + +"Take your own time, then; and, perhaps, ten years in a fortress may +make you wiser. It's no affair of mine, you know; and I merely gave you +the advice, as I 'm a little more up to these things than you are." + +"But, supposing that I 'll have no-nothing to do with the matter, that I +'ll not be present, that I refuse to see--" + +"You shall and you must, sir; and if I hear another word of objection +out of your mouth, or if you expose me, by any show of your own +poltroonery, to the ribald insolence of these Frenchmen, by Heaven! I +'ll hold your hand in my own when I fire at Count Trouville." + +"And I may be mu-mu-murdered!" screamed Purvis. "An innocent man's +bl-blood shed, all for nothing!" + +"Bluebeard treated his wives to the same penalty for the same crime, +Master Purvis. And now listen to me, sir, and mark well my words. With +the causes which have led to this affair you have no concern whatever; +your only business here is in the capacity of my second. Be present when +the pistols are loaded; stand by as they step the ground; and, if you +can do no more, try, at least, to look as if you were not going to be +shot at." Neither the counsel nor the tone it was delivered in were very +reassuring; and Purvis went along with his head down and his hands in +his pockets, reflecting on all the "accidents by firearms" he had read +of in the newspapers, together with the more terrible paragraphs about +fatal duels, and criminal proceedings against all concerned in them. + +The Frenchmen were seated in the garden, at a table, and smoking their +cigars, as Norwood came up, and, in a few words, explained that a +countryman of his own, whom he had met by chance, would undertake the +duties of his friend. + +"I have only to say, gentlemen," he added, "that he has never even +witnessed an affair of this kind; and I have but to address myself to +the loyal good faith of Frenchmen to supply any deficiencies in his +knowledge. Mr. Purvis, Messieurs." + +The old Colonel, having courteously saluted him, took him to a short +distance aside, and spoke eagerly for a few minutes; while Norwood, +burning with anxiety and uneasiness, tried to smoke his cigar with every +semblance of unconcern. + +"I 'm sure, if you think so," cried Scroope, aloud, "I'm not the m-man +to gainsay the opinion. A miss is as g-g-good as a m-mile; and as he did +n't strike him--" + +"Tonnerre de Dieu! sir--strike him!" screamed the old soldier. "Did you +say strike him?" + +"No, I didn't--I couldn't have meant that," broke in Purvis. "I meant to +remark that, as there was no mischief done--" + +"And who will venture to say that, sir?" interposed the other. "Is it +nothing that a Frenchman should have been menaced?" + +"That's a gr-great deal,----a tremendous deal. It's as much as beating +another man; I know that," muttered poor Purvis, deprecatingly. + +"Is this a sneer, sir?" asked the Colonel, drawing himself up to his +full height. + +"No, no, it ain't; no, upon my soul, I 'm quite serious. I never was less +disposed for a jest in my life." + +"You could never have selected a less opportune moment for one, sir," +rejoined the other, gravely. "Am I to conclude, sir," resumed he, after +a second's interval, "that we have no difference of opinion on this +affair?" + +"None whatever. I agree with you in everything you have s-said, and +everything you in-intend to say." + +"Your friend will then apologize?" resumed the Colonel. + +"He shall,--he must." + +"Simply expressing his regret that an unguarded action should have +occasioned a misconception, and that in lifting his arm he neither +intended the gesture as a menace nor an insult. Is n't that your +meaning?" + +"Just so; and that if he _had_ struck he would n't have hurt him." + +"Feu d'enfer! sir, what _are_ you saying? or do you mean this for a +mockery of us?" screamed the Colonel, in a fit of passion. + +"You terrify me so," cried Purvis; "You are so impeimpe-impetuous, +I don't know what I 'm saying." + +The Frenchman measured him with a glance of strange meaning. It was +evident that such a character was somewhat new to him, and it required +all his skill and acuteness to comprehend it "Very well, sir," said +he, at last, "I leave the details entirely to yourself; speak to your +friend, arrange the matter between you, and let us finish the affair as +speedily as may be." + +"What is all this delay about?" muttered Norwood, angrily, as the +other joined him; "is there any difficulty in stepping twelve or twenty +paces?" + +"None; but we've hit upon a b-better plan, and you've only to say that +you 're sorry for it all, that you did n't m-mean anything, and that you +never did b-b-beat a Frenchman, nor will you ever do so in future." + +"Why, what do you mean?" asked Norwood, in astonishment. + +"That we 'll all go back and lunch at the 'Luna;' for there's no-nothing +to fight about." + +Norwood pushed by him contemptuously, and with hurried steps walked up +to where the old Colonel stood. "You are a French officer, sir," said +he, "and I rely upon your honor that, whether from the ignorance or +inaptitude of that gentleman, no blame may attach itself to me in this +business. I have no apology to offer, nor any amende save one." + +"Very well, sir, we are ready," said the Colonel. "I will ask one of my +countrymen to act for you, for I see you are in very indifferent hands." + +And now, like men who were well accustomed to the task, they set about +the details of the duel; while Purvis, being at full liberty, slipped +from the spot, and retired into the wood. + +"You 've won the first fire, my Lord," said a young Frenchman to +Norwood. "The conditions are twelve paces--back to back--to torn at the +word, and fire." + +Norwood bowed, and, without speaking, followed the other to the spot +where he was to stand. As he waited thus, pistol in hand, he was +directly opposite to the place wherein Purvis had taken refuge, and who, +seeing Norwood in front of him, with a cocked pistol, and his finger on +the trigger, uttered a scream of terror, and fell flat on the ground. +Before the rest could discover the cause of the outcry, a shout from +outside of "The Police!" "The Gendarmes!" was heard, and Dr. Grounsell +rushed into the garden, followed by several dismounted dragoons. In +an instant all were away. Norwood sprang over a low balcony into a +vineyard; while in various directions the others scampered off, leaving +Purvis alone upon the field. + +But too happy to have fallen into the safe keeping of the authorities, +Purvis accepted his captivity with a most placid contentment. + +"Where's Captain Onslow? Have you seen him, sir?" whispered Grounsell to +him. + +"I have seen everybody, but I don't re-remember anything. It's all a +dr-dr-dream to me." + +"There was no duel? They hadn't fought?" asked Grounsell. + +"I--I--I think not; pro-pro-probably not," said Purvis, whose faculties +were still very cloudy. + +Grounsell turned away from him in disdain, and entered the house. To +all his inquiries from the waiters of the inn the answers were vague and +insufficient, nor could the doctor discover either what had occurred, +or the reasons of the long delay on the ground. Meanwhile the +_Carabinieri_, stimulated by liberal promises of reward, were searching +the park in every quarter, and scouring the country around to arrest the +fugitives; and the peasantry, enlisted in the pursuit, hastened hither +and thither to aid them. Whether really unable to come up with them, +or, as is more probable, concurring in the escape through bribery, the +dragoons returned to the inn after about an hour's absence, without the +capture of a single prisoner. + +Grounsell cursed their Italian indolence, and reviled every institution +of their lazy land. How he raved about foreign falsehood and rascality, +and wished for a London detective and a magistrate of Bow Street! Never +did Lord Palmerston so thirst to implant British institutions in a +foreign soil, as did he to teach these "macaroni rascals what a good +police meant." What honest indignation did he not vent upon English +residents abroad, who, for sake of a mild climate and lax morality, +could exchange their native country for the Continent; and at last, +fairly worn out with his denunciations, he sat down on a bench, tired +and exhausted. + +"Will you t-t-tell them to let me go?" cried Purvis. "I've done +nothing. I never do anything. My name is Purvis,--Sc-Sc-Scroope +Purvis,--bro-brother to Mrs. Ricketts, of the Villino Zoe." + +"Matters which have no possible interest for _me_, sir," growled out +Grounsell; "nor am I a corporal of gendarmes, to give orders for your +liberation." + +"But they 'll take me to--to prison!" cried Purvis. + +"With all my heart, sir, so that I be not your fellow captive," rejoined +the doctor, angrily, and left the spot; while the police, taking as many +precautions for securing Purvis as though he had been a murderer or a +house-breaker, assisted him into a caleche, and, seated one on either +side of him, with their carbines unslung, set out for Florence. + +"They'll take me for Fr-Fr-Fra Diavolo, if I enter the city in this +fashion," cried Purvis; but certainly his rueful expression might have +belied the imputation. + +Grounsell sat down upon a grassy bench beside the road, overcome with +fatigue and disappointment. From the hour of his arrival in Florence, he +had not enjoyed one moment of rest. On leaving Lady Hester's chamber he +had betaken himself to Sir Stafford's apartment; and there, till nigh +daybreak, he sat, breaking the sad tidings of ruin to his old friend, +and recounting the terrible story of disasters which were to crush him +into poverty. Thence he hastened to George Onslow's room; but he was +already gone. A few minutes before he had started with Norwood for +Pratolino, and all that remained for Grounsell was to inform the police +of the intended meeting, while he himself, wisely suspecting that +nothing could go forward in Florence unknown to Jekyl, repaired to that +gentleman's residence at once. + +Without the ceremony of announcement, Grounsell mounted the stairs, and +opened the door of Jekyl's apartment, just as its owner had commenced +the preparations for his breakfast. There was an almost Spartan +simplicity in the arrangements, which might have made less composed +spirits somewhat abashed and ill at ease. The little wooden platter of +macaroni, the small coffee-pot of discolored hue and dinged proportions, +the bread of Ethiopian complexion, and the bunch of shrivelled grapes +offered a meal irreproachable on the score of either costliness or +epicurism. But Jekyl, far from feeling disconcerted at their exposure to +a stranger's eyes, seemed to behold them with sincere satisfaction, and +with a most courteous smile welcomed the doctor to Florence, and thanked +him for the very polite attention of so early a visit. + +"I believe I ought to apologize for the unseasonable hour, sir," +blundered out Grounsell, who was completely thrown off his balance by +this excessive urbanity; "but the cause must plead for me." + +"Any cause which has conferred the honor on me is sure of being +satisfactory. Pray come nearer the table. You 'll find that macaroni +eat better than it looks. The old Duke de Montmartre always recommended +macaroni to be served on wood. His maxim was, 'Keep the "plat d'argent" +for a mayonnaise or a galantine.'" + +"Excuse me if I cannot join you, sir. Nothing but a matter of extreme +importance could warrant my present intrusion. I only reached this city +a few hours back, and I find everything at the Mazzarini Palace in +a state of discord and confusion. Some are questions for time and +consideration; others are more immediately pressing. One of these is +this affair of George Onslow's. Who is he about to meet, and for what?" + +"His antagonist is a very agreeable young man; quite a gentleman, I +assure you, attached to the French mission here, and related to the +'Morignys,' whom you must have met at 'Madame Parivaux's' formerly." + +"Never heard of one of them, sir. But what's the quarrel?" + +"It originated, I believe, in some form of disputation,--an +altercation," simpered Jekyl, as he sweetened and sipped his coffee. + +"A play transaction,--a gambling affair, eh?" + +"I fancy not; Count Guilmard does not play." + +"So far, so good," said Grounsell. "Now, sir, how is it to be +arranged?--what settlement can be effected? I speak to you frankly, +perhaps bluntly, Mr. Jekyl, for my nature has few sympathies with +courteous ambiguities. Can this business be accommodated without a +meeting?" + +Jekyl shook his head, and gave a soft, plaintive little sigh. + +"Is friendly interference out of the question, sir?" + +Another shake of the head, and a sigh. + +"Is there any law in the country? Can the police do nothing?" + +"The frontiers are always easily accessible," simpered Jekyl, as he +stole a look at his watch. + +"Ay, to be sure," broke in Grounsell, indignantly; "the very geography +of the Continent assists this profligacy, and five paces over an +imaginary boundary gives immunity in a case of murder! Well, sir, come +along with me to the place of meeting. It is just possible that we may +be of some service even yet." + +"Nothing could be more agreeable to me than the opportunity of +cultivating your acquaintance, Dr. Grounsell; but I have already +sent off a few lines to Lord Norwood, to apologize for my absence,--a +previous engagement." + +"What! at this hour of the morning, sir!" burst out Grounsell. + +"Even at this early hour, doctor, our cares commence," said Jekyl, +blandly. + +"Upon this occasion they must give way to duties, then," said Grounsell, +sternly. "The word may sound strangely in your ears, sir, but I use it +advisedly you have been well received and hospitably entertained by +this family. They have shown you many marks of kindness and attention. +Now is the opportunity to make some sort of requital. Come, then, and +see if this young man cannot be rescued from peril." + +"You touch my feelings in the very tenderest spot," said Jekyl, softly. +"When gratitude is mentioned, I am a child,--a mere child." + +"Be a man, then, for once, sir; put on your hat and accompany me," cried +Grounsell. + +"Would you have me break an appointment, doctor?" + +"Ay, to be sure I would, sir,--at least, such an appointment as I +suspect yours to be. This may be a case of life or death." + +"How very dreadful!" said Jekyl, settling his curls at the glass. +"Pascal compares men to thin glass phials, with an explosive powder +within them, and really one sees the force of the similitude every day; +but Jean Paul improves upon it by saying that we are all burning-glasses +of various degrees of density, so that our passions ignite at different +grades of heat." + +"Mine are not very far from the focal distance at this moment," said +Grounsell, with savage energy; "so fetch your hat, sir, at once, or--" + +"Unless I prefer a cap, you were going to add," interposed Jekyl, with a +sweet smile. + +"We must use speed, sir, or we shall be too late," rejoined the doctor. + +"I flatter myself few men understand a rapid toilet better," said Jekyl, +rising from the table; "so if you'll amuse yourself with 'Bell's Life,' +'Punch,' or Jules Janin, for five minutes, I 'm your man." + +"I can be company for myself for that space, sir," said the other, +gruffly, and turned to the window; while Jekyl, disappearing behind the +drapery that filled the doorway, was heard humming an opera air from +within. + +Grounsell was in no superlative mood of good temper with the world, nor +would he have extended to the section of it he best knew the well-known +eulogy on the "Bayards." "Swindlers," "Rakes," and "Vagabonds" were +about the mildest terms of the vocabulary he kept muttering to himself, +while a grumbling thunder-growl of malediction followed each. The very +aspect of the little chamber seemed to offer food for his anger; the +pretentious style of its decoration jarred and irritated him, and he +felt a wish to smash bronzes and brackets and statues into one common +ruin. + +The very visiting-cards which lay scattered over a Sevres dish offended +him; the names of all that were most distinguished in rank and station, +with here and there some little civility inscribed on the corner, +----"Thanks," "Come, if possible," or "Of course we expect +you,"--showing the social request in which Jekyl stood. + +"Ay," muttered he to himself, "here is one that can neither give dinners +nor balls, get places nor pensions nor orders, lend money nor lose +it, and yet the world wants him, and cannot get on without him. The +indolence of profligacy seeks the aid of his stimulating activity, and +the palled appetite of sensualism has to borrow the relish from vice +that gives all its piquancy. Without him as the fly-wheel, the whole +machinery of mischief would stand still. His boast is, that, without a +sou, no millionnaire is richer than he, and that every boon of fortune +is at his beck. He might add, that in his comprehensive view of +wickedness he realizes within himself all the vice of this good capital. +I 'd send such a fellow to the treadmill; I 'd transport him for life; +I 'd sentence him to hunt kangaroos for the rest of his days; I'd--" He +stopped short in his violent tirade; for he suddenly bethought him how +he himself was at that very moment seeking aid and assistance at his +hands; and somewhat abashed by the recollection, he called out, "Mr. +Jekyl, are you ready yet?" + +No answer was returned to this question, and Grounsell repeated it in a +louder voice. All was silent, and not even the dulcet sounds of the +air from "Lucia" broke the stillness; and now the doctor, losing all +patience, drew aside the curtain and looked in. The chamber was empty, +and Jekyl was gone! His little portmanteau, and his still +smaller carpet-bag, his hat-case, his canes--every article of his +_personnel_--were away; and while Grounsell stood cursing the "little +rascal," he himself was pleasantly seated opposite Lady Hester and Kate +in the travelling-carriage, and convulsing them with laughter at his +admirable imitation of the poor doctor. + +Great as was Grounsel's anger at this trickery, it was still greater +when he discovered that he had been locked in. He quite forgot the +course of time passed in his meditations, and could not believe it +possible that there was sufficient interval to have effected all these +arrangements so speedily. + +Too indignant to brook delay, he dashed his foot through the door, and +passed out The noise at once summoned the people of the house to the +spot, and, to Grounsell's surprise, the police officer amongst them, +who, in all the pomp of office, now barred the passage with a drawn +sword. + +[Illustration: 032] + +"What is it?--what's this?" cried he, in astonishment. + +"Effraction by force in case of debt is punishable by the 127th +section of the 'Code,'" said a dirty little man, who, with the air of a +shoeblack, was still a leading member of the Florence "Bar." + +"I owe nothing here,----not a farthing, sir; let me pass," cried +Grounsell. + +"'Fathers for sons of nonage or over that period, domiciliated in the +same house,'" began the Advocate, reading out of a volune in his hand, +"'are also responsible.'" + +"What balderdash, sir! I have no son; I never was married in my life; +and as for this Mr. Jekyl, if you mean to father him on me, I'll resist +to the last drop of my blood." + +"'Denunciation and menace, with show of arms or without,'" began the +lawyer again, "'are punishable by fine and imprisonment.'" + +Grounsell was now so worked up by fury that he attempted to force a +passage by main strength; but a general brandishing of knives by all +the family, from seven years of age upwards, warned him that the attempt +might be too serious, while a wild chorus of abusive language arose from +various sympathizers who poured in from the street to witness the scene. + +A father who would not pay for his own son! an "assassin," who had no +bowels for his kindred; a "Birbante," a "Briccone," and a dozen similar +epithets, rattled on him like hail, till Grounsell, supposing that the +"bite" might be in proportion to the "bark," retreated into a small +chamber, and proposed terms of accommodation. Few men take pleasure +in acquitting their own debts, fewer still like to pay those of their +neighbors, and Grounsell set about the task in anything but a pleasant +manner. There was one redeeming feature, however, in the affair. +Jekyl's schedule could not have extracted a rebuke from the severest +Commissioner of Bankruptcy. His household charges were framed on the +most moderate scale of expenditure. A few crowns for his house-rent, +a few "Pauls" for his eatables, and a few "Grazie" for his washing, +comprised the whole charge of his establishment, and not even Hume would +have sought to cut down the "estimates." Doubtless more than one half of +the demands were unjust and extortionate, and many were perhaps already +acquitted; but as all the rogueries were but homoeopathic iniquities +after all, their doses might be endured with patience. His haste to +conclude the arrangements had, however, a very opposite tendency. The +more yielding he became, the greater grew their exactions, and several +times the treaty threatened to open hostilities again; and at last it +was full an hour after Jekyl's departure that Grounsell escaped from +durance, and was free to follow George Onslow to Pratolino. + +With his adventures in the interval the reader is sufficiently +acquainted; and we now come back to that moment where, bewildered and +lost, he sat down upon the bench beside the high-road. + + + + +CHAPTER II. A SAD HOUSEHOLD + +It was already past noon when Grounsell reached Florence. He was delayed +at the gate by the authorities examining a peasant's cart in front of +him,--a process which appeared to take a most unusual degree of care +and scrutiny,--and thus gave the doctor another occasion for inveighing +against the "stupid ignorance of foreigners, who throw every possible +impediment in the way of traffic and intercourse." + +"What have they discovered now?" cried he, testily, as in a crowd of +vehicles, of all sorts and sizes, he was jammed up like a coal-vessel in +the river. "Is the peasant a revolutionary general in disguise? or has +he got Bibles or British cutlery under the straw of his baroccino?" + +"No, Eccellenza." (Every one in a passion in Italy is styled Eccellenza, +as an "anodyne.") "It's a sick man, and they don't know what to do with +him." + +"Is there a duty on ague or nervous fever?" asked he, angrily. + +"They suspect he's dead, Eccellenza; and if so, there's no use in +bringing him into the city, to bring him out again by and by." + +"And don't they know if a man be dead or alive?" + +"Not when he's a foreigner, Illustrissimo; and such is the case here." + +"Ah, very true!" said Grounsell, dryly, as if acquiescing in the truth +of the remark. "Let me have a look at him; perhaps I can assist their +judgment." And with this he descended, and made his way through the +crowd, who, in all the eagerness of curiosity, thronged around the cart +A peasant's great-coat was drawn over the figure and even the face +of the sick man, as he lay at full length on the mat flooring of the +baroccino; and on his chest some pious hand had deposited a rosary and a +wooden crucifix. + +Grounsell hastily drew back the covering, and then clutching an arm of +those at either side of him, he uttered a faint cry, for the pale and +deathlike features before him were those of George Onslow. The instincts +of the doctor, however, soon rose above every other feeling, and his +hand seized the wrist and felt for the pulse. Its beatings were slow, +labored, and irregular, denoting the brain as the seat of injury. +Grounsell, therefore, proceeded to examine the head, which, covered with +clogged and matted blood, presented a terrific appearance; yet neither +there nor elsewhere was there any trace of injury by fire-arms. The +history of discovery was soon told. A shepherd had detected the body as +he passed the spot, and, hailing some peasants on their way to Florence, +advised their taking charge of it to the city, where they would be +surely recompensed. The natural suggestion of Grounsel's mind was that, +in making his escape from the gendarmes, Onslow had fallen over a cliff. +To convey him home, and get him to bed, if possible, before Sir Stafford +should hear of the misfortune, was his first care; and in this he +succeeded. It was the time when Sir Stafford usually slept; and +Grounsell was able to examine his patient, and satisfy himself that no +fatal injury was done, long before the old Baronet awoke. + +"Sir Stafford wishes to see you, sir; he asked for you repeatedly +to-day," said Proctor. + +"Has he heard--does he know anything of this?" said Grounsell, with a +gesture to the bed where George lay. + +"Not a word, sir. He was very cheerful all the morning, but wondering +where you could have gone, and what Mister George was doing." + +"Now for it, then," muttered Grounsell to himself, as, with clasped +hands and knitted brows, he walked along; his mind suffering the very +same anxieties as had oftentimes beset him on the eve of some painful +operation in his art. + +"Well, Grounsell," said the old man, with a smile, as he entered, "is +it to give me a foretaste of my altered condition that you all desert me +to-day? You have never come near me, nor George either, so far as I can +learn." + +"We've had a busy morning of it, Stafford," said the doctor, sitting +down on the bed, and laying his finger on the pulse. "You are +better--much better to-day. Your hand is like itself, and your eye is +free from fever." + +"I feel it, Gronnsell,--I feel as if, with some twenty years less upon +my back, I could like to begin my tussle with the world, and try issue +with the best." + +"You 're young enough, and active enough yet, for what is before you, +Stafford. Yesterday I told you of everything in colors perhaps gloomier +than reality. The papers of to-day are somewhat more cheery in their +tidings. The hurricane may pass over, and leave us still afloat; but +there is another trial for you, my old friend, and you must take heart +to bear it well and manfully." + +Sir Stafford sat up in his bed, and, grasping Grounsell by either +shoulder, cried out, "Go on--tell it quickly." + +"Be calm, Stafford; be yourself, my old friend," said Grounsell, +terrified at the degree of emotion he had called up. "Your own +courageous spirit will not desert you now." + +"I know it," said the old man, as, relaxing his grasp, he fell back upon +the pillow, and then, turning on his face, he uttered a deep groan. "I +know your tidings now," cried he, in a burst of agony. "Oh, Grounsell, +what is all other disgrace compared to this?" + +"I am speaking of George--of your son," interposed Gronnsell, hastily, +and seizing with avidity the opportunity to reveal all at once. "He left +this for Pratolino this morning to fight a duel, but by some mischance +has fallen over a cliff, and is severely injured." + +"He's dead,--you would tell me he is dead!" said the old man, in a +faint, thrilling whisper. + +"Far from it Alive, and like to live, but still sorely crushed and +wounded." + +"Oh, God!" cried the old man, in a burst of emotion, "what worldliness +is in my heart when I am thankful for such tidings as this! When it is a +relief to me to know that my child--my only son--lies maimed and broken +on a sick-bed, instead of--instead of--" A gush of tears here broke in +upon his utterance, and he wept bitterly. + +Grounsell knew too well the relief such paroxysms afford to interfere +with their course; while, to avoid any recurrence, even in thought, +to the cause, he hurriedly told all that he knew of George's intended +meeting with the Frenchman, and his own share in disturbing the +rendezvous. + +Sir Stafford never spoke during this recital. The terrible shock seemed +to have left its stunning influence on his faculties, and he appeared +scarcely able to take in with clearness the details into which the other +entered. + +"She's gone to Como, then," were the first words he uttered,----"to +this villa the Prince has lent her?" + +"So I understand; and, from what Proctor says, the Russian is going to +marry the Dalton girl." + +"Miss Dalton is along with Lady Hester?" + +"To be sure; they travel together, and George was to have followed +them." + +"Even scandal, Grounsell, can make nothing of this. What say you, man?" + +"You may defy it on that score, Stafford. But let us talk of what is +more imminent,----of George." + +"I must see him, Grounsell; I must see my poor boy," said he, rising, +and making an effort to get out of bed; but weakness and mental +excitement together overcame him, and he sank back again, fainting and +exhausted. To this a deep, heavy sleep succeeded, and Grounsell stole +away, relieved in mind by having acquitted himself of his painful task, +and free to address his thoughts to other cares. + +"Lord Norwood wishes to see you, sir," said a servant to the doctor, as +he at last seated himself for a moment's rest in his chamber; and before +Grounsell could reply, the noble Viscount entered. + +"Excuse this abrupt visit, sir; but I have just heard of poor Onslow's +accident Is there any danger in his condition?" + +"Great and imminent danger, my Lord." + +"By Jove!--sorry for it you don't happen to know how it occurred?" + +"A fall, evidently, was the cause; but how incurred, I cannot even +guess." + +"In the event of his coming about again, when might we expect to see him +all right,--speaking loosely, of course?" + +"Should he recover, it will take a month, or, perhaps, two, before he +convalesces." + +"The devil it will! These Frenchmen can't be made to understand the +thing at all; and as Guilmard received a gross personal outrage, he is +perfectly out of his mind at the delay in obtaining satisfaction. What +is to be done?" + +"I am a poor adviser in such cases, my Lord; nor do I see that the +matter demands any attention from us whatever." + +"Not from _you_, perhaps," said Norwood, insolently; "but I had the +misfortune to go out as his friend! My position is a most painful and +critical one." + +"I should suppose that no one will understand how to deal with such +embarrassments better than your Lordship." + +"Thanks for the good opinion; the speech I take to be a compliment, +however you meant it. I believe I am not altogether unskilled in such +affairs, and it is precisely because such is the case that I am here +now. Onslow, in other hands than mine, is a ruined man. The story, tell +it how you will, comes to this: that, having gone out to meet a man he +had grossly insulted, he wanders away from the rendezvous, and is found +some hours after at the foot of the cliff, insensible. He may have +fallen, he may have been waylaid,--though everything controverts this +notion; or, lastly, he may have done the act himself. There will be +advocates for each view of the case; but it is essential, for his honor +and reputation, that one story should be authenticated. Now, I am quite +ready to stand godfather to such a version, taking all the consequences, +however serious, on myself." + +"This is very kind, very generous, indeed, my Lord," said Grounsell, +suddenly warming into an admiration of one he was always prejudiced +against. + +"Oh, I'm a regular John Bull!" said the Viscount, at once assuming the +burden of that canticle, which helped him in all moments of hypocrisy. +"Always stand by the old stock,--nothing like them, sir. The Anglo-Saxon +blood will carry all before it yet; never suffer a rascally foreigner +to put his foot on one of your countrymen. Have him out, sir; parade the +fellow at once: that's my plan." + +"I like your spirit!" cried Grounsell, enthusiastically. + +"To be sure you do, old cock!" exclaimed Norwood, clapping him +familiarly on the shoulder. "Depend upon it, _I_ 'll pull George through +this. _I_ 'll manage the matter cleverly. There must be no mistake about +it; no room for doubt or equivocation, you know. All straightforward, +open, and manly: John Bull every inch of It That's _my_ notion, at +least,----I hope it's yours?" + +"Perfectly,--thoroughly so!" + +"Well, then, just hand that note to Sir Stafford." Here he placed a +sealed letter in Grounsell's hand. "Tell him what I've just told you. +Let him fairly understand the whole question, and let me have the +contents this evening at the _cafe_ in the Santa Trinita,--say about +nine o'clock; not later than that These fellows always gather about that +hour." + +"I'll take care of it," said Grounsell. + +"All right!" cried Norwood, gayly, as he arose and adjusted the curls +beneath his hat. "My compliments to the old gent, and tell George not to +make himself uneasy. He 's in safe hands. Good-bye." + +"Good-bye, my Lord, good-bye," said Grounsell, who, as he looked +after him, felt, as it were, unconsciously recurring to all his former +prejudices and dislikes of the noble Viscount "Those fellows," muttered +he, "are as inexplicable to me as a new malady, of which I neither know +the stages nor the symptoms. The signs I take for those of health may +be precisely the indications of corruption; and what I deem unsound may +turn out to be exactly the opposite." And so be fell into a musing fit, +in which certainly his estimate of Lord Norwood continued steadily +to fall lower and lower the longer he thought of him. "He must be +a rogue!--he must be a scoundrel! Nature makes all its blackguards +plausible, just as poison-berries are always brilliant to look at They +are both intended to be the correctives of rash impressions, and I +was only a fool ever to be deceived by him. Out of this, at all +hazards,--that's the first thing!" muttered Grounsell to himself, as +he walked hastily up and down the room. "The place is like a plague +district, and we must not carry an infected rag away from it! Glorious +Italy, forsooth! There's more true enlightenment, there's a higher +purpose, and a nobler view of life in the humblest English village, than +in the proudest halls of their Eternal City!" + +In such pleasant reflections on national character he entered Sir +Stafford's room, and found his friend seated at a table covered with +newly arrived letters; the seals were all unbroken, and the sick man was +turning them over, and gazing at the different handwritings with a sad +and listless apathy. + +"I 'm glad you 've come, Grounsell. I have not courage for this," said +he, pointing to the mass of letters before him. + +"Begging impostors, one half of them, I 'll be sworn!" said Grounsell, +seating himself to the work. "Was I not right? Here's a Cabinet Minister +suing for your vote on an Irish question, and entreating your speedy +return to England, 'where, he trusts, the object you are both interested +in may be satisfactorily arranged.' Evasive rascal! Could n't he say, +'you shall have the Peerage for your support'? Would n't it be more +frank and more intelligible to declare, 'We take you at your price'? +These," said he, throwing half a dozen contemptuously from him, "are +all from your constituents. The 'independent borough' contains seventy +electors; and if you owned the patronage of the two services, with a +fair share of the public offices and India, you could n't content them. +I 'd tell them fairly, 'I have bought you already; the article is paid +for and sent home. Let us hear no more about it!' This is more cheering. +Shoenhals, of Riga, stands firm, and the Rotterdam house will weather +the gale. That's good news, Onslow!" said he, grasping the old man's +hand. "This is from Calcutta. Prospects are brightening a little in that +quarter, too. Come, come,--there's some blue in the sky. Who knows what +good weather 's in store for us?" + +Onslow's lip trembled, and he passed his hand over his eyes without +speaking. + +"This is from Como," said Grounsell, half angrily, tossing away a highly +perfumed little three-cornered note. + +"Give it to me,----let me see it," said Onslow, eagerly; while with +trembling fingers he adjusted his spectacles to read. Grounsell handed +him the epistle, and walked to the window. + +"She's quite well," read Sir Stafford, aloud; "they had delightful +weather on the road, and found Como in full beauty on their arrival." +Grounsell grumbled some angry mutterings between his teeth, and shrugged +up his shoulders disdainfully. "She inquires most kindly after me, and +wishes me to join them there, for Kate Dalton's betrothal." + +"Yet she never took the trouble to visit you when living under the same +roof!" cried Grounsell, indignantly. + +The old man laid down the letter, and seemed to ponder for some moments. + +"What's the amount?--how much is the sum?" asked Grounsell, bluntly. + +"The amount!--the sum!----of what?" inquired Sir Stafford. + +"I ask, what demand is she making, that it is prefaced thus?" + +"By Heaven! if you were not a friend of more than fifty years' standing, +you should never address me as such again," cried Onslow, passionately. +"Has ill-nature so absorbed your faculties that you have not a good +thought or good feeling left you?" + +"My stock of them decreases every day,----ay, every hour, Onslow," said +he, with a deeper emotion than he had yet displayed. "It is, indeed, +a sorry compromise, that if age is to make us wiser, it should make us +less amiable, also!" + +"You are not angry with me?--not offended, Grounsell?" said Onslow, +grasping his hand in both his own. + +"Not a bit of it But, as to temperament, _I_ can no more help _my_ +distrust, than _you_ can conquer _your_ credulity, which is a happier +philosophy, after all." + +"Then come, read that letter, Grounsell," said Onslow, smiling +pleasantly. "Put your prejudices aside for once, and be just, if not +generous." + +Grounsell took the note, and walked to the window to read it. The +note was just what he expected,--a prettily turned inquiry after +her husband's health, interwoven with various little pleasantries of +travelling, incidents of the road, and so forth. The invitation was a +mere suggestion, and Grounsell was half angry at how little there was to +find fault with; for, even to the "Very sincerely yours, Hester Onslow," +all was as commonplace as need be. Accidentally turning over the page, +however, he found a small slip of silver paper,--a bank check for five +hundred pounds, only wanting Onslow's signature. Grounsell crushed it +convulsively in his palm, and handed the note back to Onslow, without a +word. + +"Well, are you convinced?--are you satisfied now?" asked Onslow, +triumphantly. + +"I am perfectly so!" said Grounsell, with a deep sigh. "You must write, +and tell her that business requires your immediate presence in England, +and that George's condition will necessitate a return by sea. Caution +her that the Daltons should be consulted about this marriage, which, so +far as I know, they have not been; and I would advise, also, seeing that +there may be some interval before you can write again, that you should +send her a check,--say for five hundred pounds." + +"So you _can_ be equitable,-Grounsell," cried the other, joyously. + +"And here is a letter from Lord Norwood," said Grounsell, not heeding +the remark, and breaking the seal as he spoke. "Laconic, certainly. +'Let me have the enclosed by this evening.--N.' The enclosed are +five acceptances for two hundred each; the 'value received' being his +Lordship's services in upholding your son's honor. Now here, at least, +Onslow, I 'll have my own way." And, with these words, he seated himself +at a table and wrote:---- + + My Lord,--Living in a land where assassination is cheap, and + even men of small fortune can keep a Bravo, I beg to return + your Lordship's bills, without submitting them to my friend + for endorsement, your price being considerably above the + tariff of the country, and more calculated to your own + exigencies than the occasion which it was meant to + remunerate. I am, yours, + + Paul Grounsell. + +"What have you said there, Grounsell? you look so self-satisfied, it can +scarcely be over-civil." + +"There,----'To the Viscount Norwood'" said Grounsell, as he sealed and +addressed the note. "We are getting through our work rapidly. In a week, +or even less, if George's symptoms show nothing worse, we shall get +away from this; and even on the sea one feels half as though it were +England." + +We need not follow Grounsell through the busy days which ensued, nor +track him in his various negotiations with tradespeople, +bankers, house-agents, and that legionary class which are called +"commissionaires." Enough if we say that, in arranging for the departure +of his friends, his impressions of Italian roguery received many an +additional confirmation; and that, when the last day of their sojourn +arrived, his firm conviction was that none but a millionnaire could +afford to live in this the very cheapest capital of Europe! + +And now they are gone! steaming calmly away across the Gulf of Genoa. +They have closed the little episode of their life in Italy, and with +heavy hearts are turning homeward. The great Mazzarini Palace looks sad +and forlorn; nor do we mean to linger much longer on a scene whence the +actors have departed. + + + + +CHAPTER III. A LAST SCENE + +One last glance at the Mazzarini Palace, and we leave it forever. + +Seated in the drawing-room where Lady Hester once held sway, in the +very chair around which swarmed her devoted courtiers and admirers, Mrs. +Ricketts now reclined, pretty much on the same terms, and with probably +some of the same sentiments, as Louis Blanc or his friend Albert might +have experienced on finding themselves domesticated within the Palace of +the Luxembourg. They were, so to say, parallel circumstances. There +had been a great reverse of fortune, an abdication, and a flight. The +sycophants of the day before were the masters now, and none disputed +the pretensions of any bold enough to assume dictation. To be sure, Mrs. +Ricketts's rule, like Ledru Rollings, was but a provisional government; +for already the bills for an approaching sale of everything were +posted over the front of the palace, and Racca Morlache's people were +cataloguing every article with a searching accuracy, very tormenting to +the beholders. + +From some confused impression that they were friends of Lady Hester, and +that Mrs. Ricketts's health was in a precarious condition, Sir Stafford +gave orders that they should not be molested in any way, but permitted +to prolong their stay to the latest period compatible with the +arrangement for sale. A sense of gratitude, too, mingled with these +feelings; for Mrs. Ricketts had never ceased to indite euphuistic +notes of inquiry after George himself,--send presents of impracticable +compounds of paste and preserves, together with bottles of mixtures, +lotions, embrocations, and liniments, one tithe of which would have +invalided a regiment Gronnsell, it is true, received these civilities in +a most unworthy spirit; called her "an old humbug," with a very unpolite +expletive annexed to it; and all but hurled the pharmacopoeia at the +head of the messenger. Still, he had other cares too pressing to suffer +his mind to dwell on such trifles; and when Onslow expressed a wish +that the family should not be disturbed in their occupancy, he merely +muttered, "Let them stay and be d-----d;" and thought no more of them. + +Now, although the palace was, so to speak, dismantled, the servants +discharged, the horses sent to livery for sale, the mere residence was +convenient for Mrs. Ricketts. It afforded a favorable opportunity for a +general "doing up of the Villino Zoe,"--a moment for which all her late +ingenuity had not been able to provide. It opened a convenient occasion, +too, for supplying her own garden with a very choice collection of +flowers from the Mazzarini,--fuchsias, geraniums, and orchidae, being +far beyond all the inventoriai science of Morlache's men; and lastly, it +conferred the pleasing honor of dating all her despatches to her hundred +correspondents from the Palazzo Mazzarini, where, to oblige her dear +Lady Hester, she was still lingering,----"_Se sacrificando_" as she +delighted to express it, "_Jai doveri dell' amicizia_." To these cares +she had now vowed herself a martyr. The General believed in her sorrows; +Martha would have sworn to them; and not a whit the less sincerely that +she spent hours in secreting tulip roots and hyacinths, while a deeper +scheme was in perpetration,--no less than to substitute a copy of +a Gerard Dow for the original, and thus transmit the genius of the +Ricketts family to a late posterity. Poor Martha would have assisted in +a murder at her bidding, and not had a suspicion of its being a crime! + +It was an evening "at home to her few most intimate friends," when +Mrs. Ricketts, using the privilege of an invalid, descended to the +drawing-room in a costume which united an ingenious compromise between +the habit of waking and sleeping. A short tunic, a kind of female +monkey-jacket, of faded yellow satin edged with swansdown, and a cap +of the same material, whose shape was borrowed from that worn by the +beef-eaters, formed the upper portion of a dress to which wide +fur boots, with gold tassels, and a great hanging pocket, like a +sabretasche, gave a false air of a military costume. "It was singular," +she would remark, with a bland smile, "but very becoming!" Besides, it +suited every clime. She used to come down to breakfast in it at Windsor +Castle. "The Queen liked it;" the Bey of Tripoli loved it; and the +Hospodar of Wallachia had one made for himself exactly from the pattern. +Her guests were the same party we have already introduced to our reader +in the Villino Zoe,--Haggerstone, the Pole, and Foglass being the +privileged few admitted into her august presence, and who came to +make up her whist-table, and offer their respectful homage on her +convalescence. + +The Carnival was just over, the dull season of Lent had begun, and the +Rickettses' tea-table was a resource when nothing else offered. Such was +the argument of Haggerstone as he took a cheap dinner with Foglass at +the Luna. + +"She 's an infernal bore, sir,--that I know fully as well as you can +inform me; but please to tell me who is n't a bore." Then he added, in a +lower voice, "Certainly it ain't _you!_" + +"Yes, yes,----I agree with you," said Foglass; "she has reason to be +sore about the Onslows' treatment." + +"I said a bore, sir,--not sore," screamed out Haggerstone. + +"Ha!" replied the other, not understanding the correction. "I remember +one day, when Townsend--" + +"D----n Townsend!" said Haggerstone. + +"No, not Dan,--Tom Townsend. That fellow who was always with Mathews." + +"Walk a little quicker, and you may talk as much balderdash as you +please," said the other, buttoning up his coat, and resolving not to pay +the slightest attention to his companion's agreeability. + +"Who is here?" asked Haggerstone, as he followed the servant up the +stairs. + +"Nobody but Count Petrolaffsky, sir." + +"Un Comte a bon compte," muttered Haggerstone to himself, always pleased +when he could be sarcastic, even in soliloquy. "They 'll find it no easy +matter to get a tenant for this house nowadays. Florence is going down, +sir, and will soon be little better than Boulogne-sur-Mer." + +"Very pleasant, indeed, for a month in summer," responded Foglass, who +had only caught up the last word. "Do you think of going there?" + +"Going there!" shouted out the other, in a voice that made misconception +impossible. "About as soon as I should take lodgings in Wapping for +country air!" + +This speech brought them to the door of the drawing-room, into which +Haggerstone now entered, with that peculiar step which struck him as +combining the jaunty slide of a man of fashion with the martial tread of +an old soldier. + +"Ha! my old adherents,----all my faithful ones!" sighed Mrs. Ricketts, +giving a hand to each to kiss; and then, in a voice of deep emotion, +she said, "Bless you both! May peace and happiness be beneath your +roof-trees! joy sit beside your hearth!" + +Haggerstone reddened a little; for, however alive to the ludicrous in +his neighbors, he was marvellously sensitive as to having a part in the +piece himself. + +"You are looking quite yourself again," said he, bluntly. + +"The soul, indeed, is unchanged; the spirit--" + +"What's become of Purvis?" broke in Haggerstone, who never gave any +quarter to these poetic flights. + +"You 'll see him presently. He has been so much fatigued and exhausted +by this horrid police investigation, that he never gets up till late. I +'ve put him on a course of dandelion and aconite, too; the first effect +of which is always unpleasant." + +Leaving Foglass in conclave with the hostess, Haggerstone now approached +the Count, who had for several times performed his toilet operation of +running his hands through his hair, in expectation of being addressed. + +"How d'ye do,----any piquet lately?" asked the Colonel, half +cavalierly. + +"As if I was tinking of piquet, wid my country in shains! How you can +aske me dat?" + +"What did you do with Norwood t'other night?" resumed the other, in a +voice somewhat lower. + +"Won four hundred and fifty,--but he no pay!" + +"Nor ever will." + +"What you say?--not pay me what I wins!" + +"Not a sou of it." + +"And dis you call English noblemans,--pair d'Angleterre!" + +"Hush! Don't be carried away by your feelings. Some men Norwood won't +pay because he does n't know them. There are others he treats the same +way because he _does_ know them,--very equitable, eh?" + +The observation seemed more intelligible to the Pole than polite, for he +bit his lip and was silent, while Haggerstone went on,---- + +"He 's gone, and that, at least, is a point gained; and now that these +Onslows have left this, and that cur Jekyl, we may expect a little +quietness, for a while, at least; but here comes Purvis." And that +worthy individual was led in on Martha's arm, a large green shade over +his eyes, and his face plentifully sprinkled with flour. + +"What's the matter with you, man? you 're 'got up' like a ghost in a +melodrama." + +"They 've taken all the cuti-cuti-cuti--" + +"Call it skin, sir, and go on." + +"Sk-skin off my face with a lin-liniment," cried he, "and I could +sc-scream out with pain whenever I speak!" + +"Balm of marigolds, with the essential oil of crab-apple," said Martha. +"I made it myself." + +"I wish to Hea-Heaven you had tr-tried it, too," whispered he. + +"Brother Scroope, you are ungrateful," said Mrs. Ricketts, with the air +of a Judge, charging. "The vicissitudes of temperature, here, require +the use of astringents. The excessive heat of that police-court--" + +"By the way, how has that affair ended?" asked Haggerstone. + +"I'll tell you," screamed out Purvis, in a burst of eagerness. "They 've +fi-fi-fiued me a hundred and f-f-fifty scadi for being w-where I never +was, and fighting somebody I n-never saw." + +"You got off cheaply, sir. I 've known' a man sentenced to the galleys +for less; and with a better character to boot," muttered he to himself. + +"Lord Norwood and the rest said that I was a pr-pr-principal, and he +swore that he found me hiding in a cave." + +"And did he so?" + +"Yes; but it was only out of curi-curi-curi--" + +"Curiosity, sir, like other luxuries, must be paid for; and, as you seem +a glutton, your appetite may be expensive to you." + +"The mystery remains unsolved as to young Onslow, Colonel?" said Mrs. +Ricketts, half in question. + +"I believe not, madam. The explanation is very simple. The gallant +guardsman, having heard of Guilmard's skill, preferred being reported +'missing' to 'killed,' having previously arranged with Norwood to take +his place. The price was, I fancy, a smart one,--some say five thousand, +some call it ten. Whatever the amount, it has not been paid, and Norwood +is furious." + +"But the accident?" + +"As for that, madam, nothing more natural than to crack your skull when +you lose your head." And Haggerstone drew himself up with the proud +consciousness of his own smartness. + +"Then of course the poor young man is ruined?" observed Martha. + +"I should say so, madam,--utterly ruined. He may figure on the committee +of a Polish ball, but any other society would of course reject him." +This was said to obtain a sneer at Petrolaffsky, without his being able +to guess why. "I believe I may say, without much fear of contradiction, +that these Onslows were all humbugs! The old banker's wealth, my +lady's refinement, the guardsman's spirit, were all in the same +category,--downright humbugs!" + +"How he hates us,--how he detests the aristocracy!" said Mrs. Ricketts, +in a whisper to the Pole. + +"And de Dalton----what of her?----is she millionnaire?" asked +Petrolaffsky. + +"The father a small shopkeeper in Baden, sir; children's toys, +nut-crackers, and paper-knives being the staple of his riches. Foglass +can tell you all about it. He wants to hear about those Daltons," +screamed he into the deaf man's ear. + +"Poor as Job--has n't sixpence--lives 'three-pair back,' and dines for +a 'zwanziger.' Lame daughter makes something by cutting heads for canes +and umbrellas. He picks up a trifle about the hotels." + +"Ach Gott! and I was so near be in loaf wid de sister!" muttered the +Pole. + +"She is likely to d-d-do better, Count," cackled in Purvis. "She caught +her Tartar----ha, ha, ha!" + +"Midchekoff doesn't mean marriage, sir, depend upon it," said +Haggerstone. + +"Martha, leave the room, my dear," said Mrs. Ricketts, bridling. "He +could no more relish a pleasure without a vice than he could dine +without caviare." + +"But they are be-be-betrothed," cried Purvis. "I saw a letter with an +account of the ceremony. Midchekoff fitted up a beautiful chapel at his +villa, and there was a Greek priest came sp-epecial from M-M-M-Moscow--" + +"I thought you were going to say from the moon, sir; and it would be +almost as plausible," croaked Haggerstone. + +"I saw the letter. It was n't shown to me, but I saw it; and it was that +woman from Breslau gave her away." + +"What! old Madame Heidendorf? She has assisted at a great many similar +ceremonies before, sir." + +"It was the Emperor sent her on purpose," cried Purvis, very angry at +the disparagement of his history. + +"In this unbelieving age, sir, I must say that your fresh innocence +is charming; but permit me to tell you that I know old Caroline +Meersburg,--she was sister of the fellow that stole the Archduke +Michael's dress-sword at the Court ball given for his birthday. I +have known her five-and-thirty years. You must have met her, madam, at +Lubetskoy's, when he was minister at Naples, the year after the battle +of Marengo." + +"I was wearing trousers with frills to them, and hunting butterflies at +that time," said Mrs. Ricketts, with a great effort at a smile. + +"I have n't a doubt of it, madam." And then muttered to himself, "And if +childishness mean youth, she will enjoy a perpetual spring!" + +"The ceremony," resumed Purvis, very eager to relate his story, "was +dr-droll enough; they cut off a----a----a lock of her hair and tied it +up with one of his." + +"A good wig spoiled!" croaked Haggerstone. + +"They then brought a b-b-b----" + +"A baby, sir?" + +"No, not a b-baby, a b-basin--a silver basin--and they poured water over +both their hands." + +"A ceremony by no means in accordance with Russian prejudices," chimed +in Haggerstone. "They know far more of train-oil and bears' fat than of +brown Windsor!" + +"Not the higher nobility, Colonel,--not the people of rank," objected +Mrs. Ricketts. + +"There are none such, madam. I have lived in intimacy with them all, +from Alexander downwards. You may dress them how you please, but +the Cossack is in the blood. Raw beef and red breeches are more than +instincts with them; and, except the Poles, they are the dirtiest nation +of Europe." + +"What you say of Polen?" asked Petrolaffsky. + +"That if oil could smooth down the acrimony of politics, you ought to be +a happy people yet, sir." + +"And we are a great people dis minet. Haven't we Urednfrskioctsch, +de best general in de world; and Krakouventkay, de greatest poet; and +Vladoritski, de most distinguish pianist?" + +"Keep them, sir, with all their consonants; and Heaven give you luck +with them," said Haggerstone, turning away. + +"On Tuesday--no, We-Wednesday next, they are to set out for St. +P-P-Petersburg. And when the Emperor's leave is gr-granted, then +Midchekoff is to follow; but not before." + +"An de tyrant no grant de leave," said the Pole, gnashing his teeth and +grasping an imaginary dagger in his wrath. "More like he send her to +work in shains, wid my beautiful sisters and my faders." + +"He'll have more important matters to think of soon, sir," said +Haggerstone, authoritatively. "Europe is on the eve of a great +convulsion. Some kings and kaisers will accept the Chiltern Hundreds +before the year's out." + +"Shall we be safe, Colonel, here? Ought Martha and I--" + +"Have no fears, madam; age commands respect, even from Huns and Croats. +And were it otherwise, madam, where would you fly to? France will have +her own troubles, England has the income-tax, and Germany will rake up +some old grievance of the Hohenstaufen, or the Emperor Conrad, and make +it a charge against Prince Metternich and the Diet! It's a very rascally +world altogether, and out of Tattersall's yard I never expect to hear of +honesty or good principles; and, _a propos_ to nothing, let us have some +piquet, Count." + +The table was soon got ready, and the players had just seated +themselves, when the sound of carriage-wheels in the court attracted +their attention. + +"What can it mean, Scroope? Are you quite certain that you said I +wouldn't receive to-night?" + +"Yes; I told them what you b-bade me; that if the Archduke called----" + +"There, you need n't repeat it," broke in Mrs. Ricketts, for certain +indications around Haggerstone's mouth showed the sense of ridicule that +was working within him. + +"I suppose, madam, you feel somewhat like poor Pauline, when she said +that she was so beset with kings and kaisers she had never a moment left +for good society?" + +"You must say positively, Scroope, that I admit no one this evening." + +"The Signor Morlache wishes to see you, madam," said a servant. And +close behind him, as he spoke, followed that bland personage, bowing +gracefully to each as he entered. + +"Sorry--most sorry--madam, to intrude upon your presence; but the Prince +Midchekoff desires to have a glance at the pictures and decorations +before he goes away from Florence." + +"Will you mention to him that to-morrow, in the afternoon, about five +or----" + +"He leaves this to-morrow morning, madam; and if you could--" + +[Illustration: 056] + +But before the Jew could finish his request the door was flung wide, and +the great Midchekoff entered, with his hands in his coat-pockets, and +his glass in one eye. He sauntered into the room with a most profound +unconsciousness that there were people in it. Not a glance did he even +bestow on the living figures of the scene, nor did a trait of his manner +evince any knowledge of their presence. Ranging his eyes over the +walls and the ceilings, he neither noticed the martial attitude of +Haggerstone, nor the graceful undulations by which Mrs. Ricketts was, as +it were, rehearsing a courtesy before him. + +"Originals, but all poor things, Morlache," said the Prince. And really +the observation seemed as though uttered of the company rather than the +pictures. + +"Mrs. Ricketts has been good enough, your Highness--" began the Jew. + +"Give her a Napoleon," said he, listlessly, and turned away. + +"My sister, Mrs. Ricketts--Mrs. M-M-Montague Ricketts," began Scroope, +whose habitual timidity gave way under the extremity of provocation. +And the Prince turned slowly round, and surveyed the speaker and the +imposing form that loomed behind him. + +"Tell them that I don't mean to keep any establishment here, Morlache." +And with this he strolled on, and passed into another room, while, like +as in a tableau, the others stood speechless with rage and indignation. + +"He took you for the housekeeper, ma'am," said Haggerstone, standing up +with his back to the fire----"and a housekeeper out of place!" + +"Martha, where's the General? Where is he, I say?" cried Mrs. Ricketts, +furious with passion. + +"He went to bed at nine," whispered Martha. "He thought, by rising early +to-morrow, to finish the attack on Utrecht before night." + +"You are as great a fool as himself. Scroope, come here. You must follow +that Russian. You must tell him the gross rudeness--" + +"I'll be ha-ha-hanged if I do. I 've had enough of rows, for one winter +at least. I 'll not get into another sc-scrape, if I can help it." + +"I 'm sorry, madam, that I cannot offer you my services," said +Haggerstone, "but I never meddle in a quarrel which can be made a +subject of ridicule. Mr. Foglass, I 'm certain, has no such scruple." + +"The Prince appears a very agreeable man," said the ex-Consul, who, not +having the slightest notion of what was passing, merely followed his +instincts of praising the person of high rank. + +"De shains of my enslaved country is on my hands. I 'm tied like one +galerien!" said Petrolaffsky, in a voice guttural with emotion. + +"Your pardon once more, madam," said Morlache, slipping into the +chamber, and noiselessly approaching Mrs. Ricketts's chair. "The Prince +will take everything,----pictures, plate, china, and books. I hope +to-morrow, at noon, will not inconvenience you to leave this--" + +"To-morrow! Impossible, sir. Perfectly impossible." + +"In that case, madam, we must make some arrangement as to rent. His +Highness leaves all to me, and I will endeavor to meet your wishes +in every respect. Shall we say two thousand francs a month for the +present?" Without waiting for any reply, he turned to the Pole, and +whispered, "He 'll take you back again. He wants a chasseur, to send to +St. Petersburg. Come over to me in the morning, about ten. Mr. Foglass," +cried he, in a loud voice, "when you write to London, will you mention +that the varnish on the Prince's drosky doesn't stand the cold of +Russia, and that they must try some other plan with the barouche? Your +brother is an ingenious fellow, and he 'll hit upon something. Colonel +Haggerstone, the Prince did n't return your call. He says you will +guess the reason when he says that he was in Palermo in a certain year +you know of. I wish the honorable company good-night," said he, bowing +with a deference almost submissive, and backing out of the room as he +spoke. + +And with him we also take our leave of them. They were like the chance +passengers we meet on the road of a journey, with whom we converse when +near, and forget when we separate from. Were we not more interested for +the actors than the scenes on which they "strut their hour," we might +yet linger a few moments on the spot so bound up with our memory of Kate +Dalton,----the terrace where she sat, the little orangery where she +loitered of a morning, the window where she read, and dreamed of that +bright future, so much nearer to her grasp than she knew of! There they +were all!--destined to feel new influences and know other footsteps, for +she had left them forever, and gone forth upon her "Path" in life. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. A PACKAGE OF LETTERS + +It was a bright clear morning in May. A somewhat late spring had +retarded vegetation, and the blossoming fruit-trees now added their +gorgeous beauty to the warmer tints of coming summer. We are once more +in Baden; but how different is it from what we saw it last. The frozen +fountains now plash, and hiss, and sparkle in the sun. The trim alleys +are flanked by the yellow crocus and the daffodil; the spray-like +foliage of the ash is flecking the sunlight on the merry river, along +whose banks the cheering sound of pleasant voices mingles with the +carol of a thousand birds. The windows are open, and gay balconies are +spreading, and orange-trees unfolding their sweetness to the breezy +air. All is life and motion and joy, for the winter is past, and nothing +remains of it save the snow-peaks on some distant mountains, and even +they are glowing in brilliant contrast with the deep blue sky beyond +them. + +Lovely as the valley is in summer or autumn, it is only in spring +its perfect beauty appears. The sudden burst of vegetation--the rapid +transition from the frost-bound durance of winter to the life and +lightness of the young season, have a most exciting and exhilarating +effect. This seemed conspicuous enough in the inhabitants as they +chatted merrily in the streets, or met each other with pleasant +greetings. It was the hour of the post arriving, and around the +little window of the office were gathered the chief celebrities of the +village,--the principal hotel-keepers, curious to learn what tidings +their correspondents gave of the prospects of the coming summer. +Everything appeared to smile on that happy moment, for as the various +letters were opened, each had some good news to tell his neighbors,--now +of some great English Lord, now of some Hungarian magnate or Russian +Prince that was to make Baden his residence for the summer. "The Cour de +Bade is all taken," said one; "There will not be a room free in all +the Adler;" "The Swan must refuse the Queen of Naples,"--such were the +rumors that fell from lip to lip as in hearty congratulation they talked +over their good fortune. + +One figure only of the assembled group seemed excepted from the general +Joy. He was a large elderly man, who, in a patched and threadbare +surtout, with a coarse scarlet muffler round his throat, appeared either +distrustful of the mild season or unprovided with any change of costume +to enjoy it. Seated on a stone bench in front of the window of the +post-office, with an arm on each knee, and his head bent heavily +forward, he never seemed to notice what went forward, nor hear one +syllable of the joyous recognitions about him. + +The crowd at last dispersed, the happy recipients of good news were +turning homewards, and only one or two still lingered around the spot, +when the old man arose and approached the window. There was something +almost of shame in the way he slouched his hat over his eyes as he drew +nigh and knocked timidly at the closed pane. + +His summons was unheard, and yet for some time he did not repeat +it,--perhaps he loved better to feed his hope even these short few +moments than again fall back into the dark gloom of his despair! At +last, and with a deep, hollow sigh, he tapped again. + +"Have you anything for the name of Dalton,--Peter Dalton?" asked he, +in a voice wherein scarcely an accent revealed the once high-hearted +nature. + +"Nothing," was the curt rejoinder. And the window was slammed to with +impatience. + +He grasped the iron railing with a convulsive grip, as though a sudden +pang had shot through him, and then, by a great effort, he drew himself +up to his full height; his pale and haggard face grew paler as he +turned it upwards, and his bloodless lips trembled as they muttered some +indistinct syllables; then turning about, he brushed abruptly past the +few who stood around, and walked away. + +He had not gone many paces when a boy overtook him, saying, "Come back, +sir; the postmaster has two letters for you." + +Dalton looked stealthily at either side, to be sure that the speech was +addressed to him, and, with a fierceness that startled the boy, said, +"You're certain they're for me?" + +"Yes, yes; all right,--here they are," cried the postmaster from the +window. "One, a soldier's letter from Munich, and free. The other is a +heavier packet, and costs four florins and twelve kreutzers." + +"I must be satisfied with this one, then," said Dalton, "till I go back +for money. I brought no change out with me." + +"No matter: you can send it," said the other. + +"Maybe it's not so easy as you think," muttered Dalton to himself; while +he added, aloud, "Very well, I'll do so, and thank you." And he clutched +the two letters, and pressed them to his bosom. + +With hurried steps he now paced homewards, but, stopping at every +instant, he drew forth the packets to gaze at them, and be certain that +no self-deception was over him, and that his possession was real and +tangible. His gait grew more firm, as he went, and his tread, as he +mounted the stairs, sounded assured and steady. + +"You have a letter, father dearest," cried Nelly, as she flung wide the +door. "I saw you crossing the Platz, and I know, from your walk, that +you've got one." + +"No, but better, Nelly--I 've two. That's from Frank; and here's Kate's, +and a bulky one--four florins twelve--devil a less." + +"Oh, give it to me! Let me hear of her----let me feel beside her once +again!" cried Nelly. And with bursting eagerness she tore open the +envelope, from which two or three sealed notes fell out. "This is from +Lady 'Hester," said she; "and this a hand I do not know, but addressed +to you; and here are bills or money-orders for a large sum. What can all +this mean?" + +"Can't you read what she says?" said Dalton, reddening, and suddenly +remembering that Nelly was not aware of his having written to Kate. +"Give it to me; I 'll read it myself." And he snatched the letter from +her fingers. "There's Frank's for you." + +"Oh, father, father!" cried Nelly, in a burst of grief, as she tore +open Lady Hester's letter; "it is as I feared. Kate is about to be +married--if she be not already married." + +"Without my leave--without asking my consent!" cried Dalton, +passionately. "Am I nobody at all? Am I the head of the family, or am +I not? Is this the way to treat her father? May I never see light, if +I won't have him 'out,' if he was a Prince of the Blood! Oh, the +ungrateful girl! Leave off crying there, and tell me all about it. Read +me her own letter, I say----if God will give me patience to listen to +it." + +With a bosom almost bursting, and a lip quivering with emotion, Ellen +began,-- + + "La Rocca, Lake of Como. + + Dearest Father and Sister,--Oh that I could throw myself at + your feet, and poor out all that my heart is full of---- + tell you what I feel and hope and fear, and ask your counsel + and your blessing. I know not if the last few days be real; + my poor head is turning amid the scenes I 've passed through + and the emotions I have felt. I had no friend but Lady + Hester--no adviser but she! She has been a mother to me--not + as you would have been, Nelly--not to warn and restrain, + when perhaps both were needed, but to encourage and feed my + hopes. I yielded to her counsels--" + +"I don't understand one word of this," cried Dalton, impatiently. "What +did she do?" + +Nelly's eyes ran rapidly over the lines without speaking; and then, in a +low but distinct voice, she said,--- + +"It is as I said; she is betrothed to this great Russian Prince." + +"That fellow, they say, owns half Moscow. Fogles told us about him." + +"Prince Midchekoff." + +"That's the name. Well, it's a fine match,--there's no denying it. +How did it come about? and why didn't he come here and ask my consent? +What's the meaning of doing it all in this hurry?" + +"The marriage can only take place in St. Petersburg, and in presence of +the Emperor; and she is merely betrothed, at present, to enable her to +accompany the lady, Madame de Heidendorf, to Russia, where the Prince +will follow in a few weeks." + +"That bangs Banagher! Why could n't they get a priest where they are? Be +gorra! they 've scruples about everything but _me!_ _I_ 'm the only one +that's not considered! What the devil is the Emperor to her,--sure _he_ +is n't her father? Well, well, go on." + +"She would seem to have yielded to persuasion," said Nelly, feelingly. +"The Prince, with all his greatness, appears not to have won her heart. +See how she dwells upon his immense wealth and the splendor of his +position." + +"Let us hear about that," cried Dalton, eagerly. + + "My heart is nigh to bursting when I think of you and + dearest Nelly living with me, in all the enjoyment that + riches can bestow, nothing denied you that you can fancy, + and free to indulge every taste and every wish. To know that + I can at last repay, in some sort, all your affection--that + poor worthless Kate can minister to your pleasure and your + comfort--would make me dare a rasher destiny than this. And + he is so generous, Nelly. The whole of yesterday is like a + page from the 'Arabian Nights,' as I sat surrounded with + gorgeous articles of gold and gems--diamonds such as a queen + might wear, and rubies larger than the glass-drops I used to + deck my hair with long ago! And yet they tell me I have seen + nothing as yet, and that the treasures of Vladovitch Palace + I hear of at every moment are greater than most royal + houses. Lady Hester is kinder than ever, and the Heidendorf + also; but she is cold and reserved--too stately for my + taste--and I cannot overcome my awe of her. Is not this like + a confession of my unfitness for the station I am to + occupy?--are not these signs of inferiority? How little Hans + would stare at the objects of taste and art by which I am + surrounded and of which I never tire in admiring! + + "There have been great changes in this family since I wrote, + and some mysterious circumstance is now hanging over them; + but Lady Hester has not told me anything, nor do I care to + repeat rumors which reach me through others. I only know + that Sir Stafford is about to proceed to England as soon as + Captain Onslow's health will permit; he, poor fellow, met + with an accident on the day we left Florence, and my maid, + who sat in the rumble, saw the mishap without knowing or + suspecting the victim! I have done everything to obtain + leave to visit you before I set out, or even to see you on + my way; but Madame de Heidendorf is absolute, and she has + so much important business in hand--such deep political + affairs to transact at Vienna and Dresden--that I find it is + impossible. + + "The Prince has promised to write at once about Frank. He + says it will be better to obtain his promotion in the + Austrian service before he enters the Russian, and that this + shall take place immediately. I could see that on this point + he was acutely alive to the fact of our humble position; + but he knows from Lady Hester all about our family, and that + the Daltons acknowledge nothing superior to them in birth. + This, however, is always a difficulty to a foreigner; they + have no idea of untitled nobility; and I saw his chagrin + the other day when I told him to address papa as plain + Monsieur. Since yesterday morning I am called Princess; and + I cannot conceal from you the throb of delight the sound + still gives me! I often stop to ask myself if this be all a + dream, and shall I wake beside the fire and see dearest + Nelly bending over some little group, and Hans with + wondering eyes staring over her shoulders. + + "The Prince only intends to spend one winter in Russia. + Madame de Heidendorf says that he will be named Ambassador + at Paris; but I hope and trust not: I feel too acutely my + inferiority for such a position. This she laughs at, and + merely says, 'Nous verrons.' Of course, wherever I am, you + will both be with me; meanwhile, what would you wish to do? + I told Monsieur Rubion, the Prince's secretary, that I + wanted money, and he gave me these bills, so he called them, + on Baden and Carlsruhe, as easily negotiable in that + neighborhood; pray, say if they be serviceable. The Prince + intends to visit you at Baden; and I suppose you will like + to see him. His manners are perfect, and except a degree of + constraint in first acquaintance, he is generally thought + very agreeable. Such preparations as they are making for my + journey, you 'd fancy I was a queen at the very least All my + _trousseau_ is to come from Paris direct; and up to this I + have merely what Madame de H. calls the strictly + 'indispensable;' which, shall I own? contrives to fill two + large fourgons and a heavy travelling-carriage. Nina is in a + perfect ecstasy at everything, and is eternally 'draping' me + in Brussels lace and Chantilly; so that, even while I + write, these flimsy tissues are floating around me; while + caskets of jewels and precious gems dazzle my eyes wherever + I turn them. + + "The whole is like a gorgeous vision; would that it might + remain ever thus, for I almost tremble to take a step + further. Are these unworthy fears? I hope they are." + +Nelly paused, and laid down the letter on her knee. "Well, may I never +see grace, if that letter isn't enough to confuse a bench of bishops!" +cried Dalton. "She's marrying the first man in Europe,--be the other who +he will,--and she has as many crotchets and misgivings about it as if it +was little Hans, there, below! And he a Prince! a real Prince!--devil a +doubt of it--that scatters the money about like chaff! Here's an order +at sight for nine hundred gulden; and here's a bill at ten days--a nice +date--for fourteen hundred and eighty-six Prussian dollars; and this +is nearly as much more. Kate, my beauty, I knew you 'd do it! I never +looked at you in your old clogs and the worsted cloak that I did n't +think of the day I 'd see you in satin and velvet! Faix, it's the best +bottle of claret in the Adler I 'll drink your health in this day! +Nelly, who will we ask in to dinner?" + +"Don't you think, papa, it were better we should not speak of this--" + +"Why, better? Are we ashamed of it?" + +"I mean, more prudent as regards ourselves, and more respectful to the +Prince." + +"Respectful--to my son-in-law!--that's 'more of it.' Upon my conscience, +I'll have to go to school again in my old days. I know nothing of life +at all, at all! Respect, indeed!" + +"I would but suggest, papa, that for Kate's sake--" + +"There--there----don't provoke me. I never set my heart on a thing +yet--big or little--that I was n't met with a caution about this, or +a warning about that, till at last I got so tutored and corrected and +trained that, as Billy Morris used to say at whist, 'I dread a good hand +more than a bad one.'" + +"Far be it from me, dearest father," said Nelly, smiling, "to throw a +shadow over a bright moment. If it will give you pleasure--" + +"Sure I said it would,--sure I told you 't is what I 'd like. A fine +dinner at the 'Schwan;' four gulden a head, without wine; a dozen of +champagne in ice, hock for them that can drink it, and port and Lafitte +for Peter Dalton and men of his own sentiments. There's the programme, +Nelly, and you'll see if I can't fill up the details." + +"Well, but we have yet much to do; here are several letters,--here is +Frank's. Let us learn how the dear fellow fares." + +Dalton sat down without speaking; there was, indeed, more of resignation +than curiosity in his features, as he crossed his arms and listened. + + "Dearest Nelly,----I only heard a few days ago that my last + two letters had been stopped; they were not, as they should + have been, submitted to my captain to read, and hence they + were arrested and suppressed. This goes by a private hand--a + friend of mine--a pedler from Donaueschingen--" + +"A what?--a pedler is it?" broke in Dalton, angrily. + +"Yes, papa; remember that poor Frank is still in the ranks." + +"Well, God give me patience with you all!" burst out the old man, in +a torrent of passion. "Does he know that he's a Dalton?--does he feel +blood in his veins? Why the blazes must he seek out a thieving blaguard +with a pack full of damaged cambric to make a friend of? Is this the way +the family's getting up in the world?" + + "Adolf Brawer, by name," read on Nelly, in a low and subdued + voice. "You will be surprised when I tell you that I owe all + his kindness and good-nature to you,--yes, to your own dear + self. On his way through the Tyrol he had bought two wooden + statuettes,--one a young soldier asleep beside a well; the + other a girl leaning from a window to hear the bugles of a + departing regiment Can you guess whose they were? And when + he came to know that I was the brother of the little N. D. + that was sculptured, half hid in a corner, and that I was + the original of the tired, wayworn recruit on the roadside, + I thought he would have cried with enthusiasm." + +"Didn't I often say it?" broke in Dalton, as, wringing his hands in +despair, he paced the room with hasty strides. "Did n't I warn you a +thousand times about them blasted images, and tell you that, sooner or +later, it would get about who made them? Didn't I caution you about the +disgrace you 'd bring on us? The fear of this was over me this many a +day. I had it like a dream on my mind, and I used to say to myself, 'It +will all come out yet.'" # + +Nelly covered her face with her apron as these bitter words were spoken; +but not a syllable, nor a sigh, did she reply to them; still, the frail +garment shook with an emotion that showed how intensely she suffered. + +"A Virgin sold here, an Angel Gabriel there; now it was Hamlet; another +time Gotz with the iron hand. All the balderdash that ever came into +your head scattered over the world to bring shame on us! And then to +think of Kate!" + +"Yes, dearest father, do think of her," cried Nelly, passionately. "She +is, indeed, an honor and a credit to you." + +"And so might you have been, too, Nelly," rejoined he, half sorry for +his burst of anger. "I 'm sure I never made any difference between you. +I treated you all alike, God knows." And truly, if an indiscriminating +selfishness could plead for him, the apology was admirable. + +"Yes, papa, but Nature was less generous," said Nelly, smiling through +her tears; and she again turned to the letter before her. As if fearful +to revive the unhappy discussion, she passed rapidly over Frank's +account of his friend's ecstasy; nor did she read aloud till she came to +the boy's narrative of his own fortunes. + + "You ask me about Count Stephen, and the answer is a short + one. I have seen him only once. Our battalion, which was + stationed at Laybach, only arrived in Vienna about three + weeks ago, but feeling it a duty to wait on our relative, I + obtained leave one evening to go and pay my respects. Adolf, + who knew of my connection with the Field-Marshal, had lent + me two hundred florins; and this, too, I was anxious to pay + off,--another reason for this visit. + + "Well, I dressed myself in my best cadet cloth, and silk + sword-knot, + + Nelly,--none of your 'commissaire' toggery, but all fine and + smart-looking, as a gentleman-cadet ought to be,--and then + calling a fiacre, I ordered the man to drive to the + 'Koertnor Thor,' to the Field-Marshal von Auersberg*s + quarters. I 'm not sure if I did n*t say to my uncle's. Away + we went gayly, and soon drew up in an old-fashioned + courtyard, from which a great stair led up four stories + high, at the top of which the 'Feld'--so they called him-- + resided. This was somewhat of a come-down to my high-flown + expectations, but nothing to what I felt as the door was + opened by an old Jager with one leg, instead of, as I looked + for, a lackey in a grand livery. + + "'What is 't cadet?' said he, in a tone of the coolest + familiarity. + + "'The Field-Marshal von Auersberg lives here?' said I. + + "He nodded. + + "'I wish to see him.' + + "He shook his head gravely, and scanning me from head to + foot, said, 'Not at this hour, cadet,----not at this hour.' + + "'Let him see this card,' said I, giving one with my name. + 'I 'm certain he 'll receive me.' + + "I believe if I had presented a pistol at him, the old + fellow would have been less startled, as he exclaimed, 'A + cadet with a visiting-card! This would serve you little with + the Feld, younker,' cried he, handing it back to me; 'he + likes to see a soldier a soldier.' + + "'Tell him my name, then,' said I, angrily; 'say that his + grand-nephew, Frank Dalton, has been standing at his door in + full parley with a servant for ten minutes.' + + "The announcement created little of the astonishment I + calculated on, and the old soldier merely replied, 'All + under field-officer's rank come before eight of a morning. + you cannot expect to have the privilege of an archduke.' He + was about to close the door in my face as he spoke, but I + placed my shoulder against it and forced it back, thus + securing an entrance within the forbidden precincts. + + "'Right about, quick march!' cried he, pointing to the + door, while his whole frame trembled with passion. + + "'Not till you have delivered my message,' said I, calmly. + + "'Then Bey'm Blitzen I will deliver it, and see how you 'll + like it,' cried he, as he stumped away down a passage and + entered a room at the end of it. I could soon hear the sound + of voices, and for the moment I was almost determined to + beat a retreat, when suddenly the old Jager came out and + beckoned me forward. There was a grin of most diabolical + delight on the old fellow's features as I passed into the + room and closed the door behind me. + + "As well as I could see in the imperfect light, for it was + after sunset, the apartment was large and low-ceilinged, + with bookshelves round the walls, and stands for weapons and + military equipments here and there through it. At the stove, + and busily engaged in watching a coffee-pot, sat the Feld + himself, a loose gray overcoat covering his figure, and + concealing all of him but two immense jackboots that peeped + out beneath. He wore a Muetze, a kind of Hungarian cap, and a + long pipe depended from his mouth, the bowl resting on the + carpet. The most conspicuous feature of all was, however, + his enormous moustache, which, white as snow, touched his + collar-bone at either side. + + "He never spoke a word as I entered, but stared at me + steadfastly and sternly for full three or four minutes. Half + abashed by this scrutiny, and indignant besides at the + reception, I was about to-- + +[Illustration: 071] + + "'Franz Carl Infantry, third battalion,' said I, instantly + saluting with my hand. + + "'Your name?' + + "'Frank Dalton.' + + "'Your business?' + + "'To visit my grand-uncle, the Field-Marshal von Auersberg.' + + "'And is it thus, younker,' cried he, rising, and drawing + himself up to his full height, 'that you dare to present + yourself before a + + Feldzeugmeister of the Imperial Army? Have they not + taught you even the commonest rules of discipline? Have + they left you in the native barbarism of your own savage + country, that you dare, against my orders, present yourself + before me?' "'I thought the claim of kindred--' began + I. + + "'What know I of kindred, sirrah? What have kith and kin + availed _me?_ I have stood alone in the world. It was not to + kindred I owed my life on the field of Rosbach; nor was it + a relative stanched my bleeding wounds at Wagram!' + + "'The name of Dalton--' + + "'I have won a prouder one, sir, and would not be reminded + by you from what I 've started. Where 's your character- + certificate?' + + "'I have not brought it with me, Herr General. I scarcely + thought it would be the first question my father's uncle would + put to me.' + + '"There was prudence in the omission, too, sir,' said he, + not heeding my remark. 'But I have it here.' And he drew + from a portfolio on the table a small slip of paper, and + read: '"Cadet Dalton, second company of the third + battalion, Franz Carl Regiment.----Smart on service, and + quick in discipline, but forward and petulant with those + above him in rank. Disposed to pride himself on birth and + fortune, and not sufficiently submissive to orders. Twice in + arrest, once, Kurzgeschlossen." A creditable character, sir! + Twice in arrest and once in irons! And with this you claim + kindred with a count of the empire, and an imperial field- + marshal! On the fifth of last month you entertained a party + at dinner at the Wilde Man,--most of them men of high rank + and large fortune. On the eighteenth you drove through Maria + Tell with a team of four horses, and passed the drawbridge + and the moat in full gallop. So late as Wednesday last you + hoisted a green flag on the steeple of the village church, + on pretence of honoring your father's birthday. I know each + incident of your career, sir, and have watched you with + shame and regret. Tell your father, when you write to him, + that all the favor of my august master would not endure the + test of two such proteges. And now, back to your + quarters.' + + "He motioned me to retire with a gesture, and I fell back, + almost glad at any cost to escape. I had just reached the + stair, when the Jager called me back to his presence. + + "'Art an only son?' asked the Count, for the first time + addressing me in the second person. + + "I bowed. + + "'And hast three sisters?' + + "'Two, Herr General.' + + "'Older or younger than thyself?' + + '"Both older, sir.' + + '"How have they been brought up? Have they learned thrift + and housecraft, or are they wasteful and reckless, as their + native country and their name would bespeak them?' + + "'Our humble fortune is the best answer to that question, + sir.' + + '"It is not, sirrah!' cried he, angrily. 'The spendthrift + habit survives every remnant of the state that gave it + birth, and the beggar can be as improvident as the prince. + Go; thou hast as much to learn of the world as of thy duty. + Head erect, sir; shoulders back; the right thumb more + forwards. If the rest of the battalion be like thee, I'll + give them some work on the Prater ere long.' + + "A haughty wave of his hand now finished our interview, and, + once outside the door, I descended the stairs, a whole + flight at every bound, in terror lest anything should induce + him to recall me. + + "And this is Uncle Stephen, Nelly,--this the great protector + we used to build our hopes upon, and flatter ourselves would + be a second father to us! + + "When I came out into the street, I knew not which way to + turn. I dreaded the very sight of a comrade, lest he should + ask me about our meeting, what pocket-money he had given me, + and how soon I should be an officer. It was only when I saw + Adolf coming towards me that I remembered all about my debt + to him, of which I had not spoken one word to my uncle. I + ought to have told him so, frankly. Yes, Nelly, I can hear + the murmured displeasure with which you read my confession, + 'that I could n't do it.' I was unequal to the effort, and + could not bring myself to destroy that whole fabric of + fictitious interest in which I had wrapped myself. What + would Adolf have thought of me when I said, I have neither + wealth nor station nor prospect,--as humble a soldier as the + sentry you see yonder? What would become of that romance of + life in which we have so often spent hours revelling in a + brilliant future, every incident of which grew up in our + united fancies, and seemed to assume reality as we discussed + it? Where----oh, Nelly! to you I must reveal all----every + weakness, every littleness of my nature--where would be the + homage of respect the poor Bursche was wont to show the + nephew of a field-marshal? No, it was above my strength; + and so I took his arm, and talked away heedlessly about our + meeting, avoiding, where I could, all mention of my uncle, + and but jocularly affecting to think him an original, whose + strange, old-fashioned manners almost concealed the strong + traits of family affection. + + "'What of thy promotion, Frank?' asked Adolf. + + "'It will come in its own good time/ said I, carelessly. + 'Nothing causes more dissatisfaction than the rapid + advancement of cadets of noble family.' + + "'But they could make thee a corporal, at least?' + + "I laughed scornfully at the remark, and merely said, 'They + may skip over the whole sous-officier grade, and only + remember me when I'm to be made a lieutenant/ + + "'Thou hast grown haughtier, Frank,' said he, half + reproachfully, 'since thy meeting with the "Feld." Mayhap in + a day or two thou wilt not like to be seen in company with a + "Wander-Bursche"?' + + "I was bursting to throw my arms round his neck, and say, + 'Never, whatever fortune have in store for me; thy + friendship is like a brother's, and can never be forgotten; + 'but Pride--yes, Nelly, the cursed pride against which you + used to warn me--sealed my lips; and when I spoke, it was + something so cold, so meaningless, and so unworthy that he + left me. I know not how! No sooner was I alone, Nelly, than + I burst into tears. I cried for very shame; and if agony + could expiate my fault, mine should have done so. What + humiliation before my friend could equal that I now felt + before my own heart! I thought of all your teachings, + dearest Nelly; of the lessons you gave me over and over + against this besetting sin of my nature! I thought of our + home, where poor Hanserl was treated by us as a friend! I + thought of our last parting, and the words you spoke to me + in warning against this very pride, ignoble and mean as it + is; and, oh! what would I have given to have thrown myself + into Adolfs arms, and told him everything! I have never seen + him since; he wrote to me a few lines, saying that he + should pass through Baden on his way to Frankfort, and + offering to carry a letter for me; but not once did he + allude to my debt, nor was there the slightest hint of its + existence. On this I wrote an acknowledgment of the loan, + and a pressing entreaty that he would come and see me; but + he pretended one thing and another, affected engagements at + the only hours I was free, and at last abruptly sent for my + letter just when I was writing it. I had much more to tell + you, Nelly, of myself, of the service, and of my daily life + here; but my thoughts are now disturbed and scattered; and + I feel, too, how your shame for my short-coming will take + away interest from what I say. You, Nelly, will have courage + to be just: tell him all that I have been weak enough to + conceal; let him know what suffering my unworthy shame has + cost me; and, above all, that I am not ungrateful. + + "It seems like a dream all that you tell me of Kate. Is she + still in Italy, and where? Would she write to me? I am + ashamed to ask the question of herself. They spoke of our + brigade being sent to Lombardy; but even there I might be + far away from her; and if near, in the very same city, our + stations would separate us still more widely. Oh, Nelly! is + it worth all the success ever ambition the most successful + won, thus to tear up the ties of family, and make brothers + and sisters strangers? Would that I were back again with + you, and dearest Kate, too! I see no future here; the dull + round of daily discipline, teaching nothing but obedience, + shuts out speculation and hope! Where are the glorious + enterprises, the splendid chances I often dreamed of? My + happiest moments now are recalling the past; the long winter + evenings beside the hearth, while Hans was reading out to + us. There are rumors of great changes in the world of Europe; + but to us they are only the thunderings of a distant + storm, to break out in what quarter we know not. Oh, Nelly! + if it should lead to war! if some glorious struggle were to + break in upon this sluggish apathy! + + "Adolf has sent again for this letter, so I must close it He + will not, he says, pass through Baden, but will post this in + Munich--so good-bye, dearest sister. Tell poor papa all that + you dare to tell of me, and farewell. + + "Frank Dalton. + + +"When you write it must be under cover to the 'Herr Hauptman von Gauss, +2ten Compagnie, 3 Linien Bataillon, Franz Carl Infanterie.' Don't forget +this long address, nor to add a line to the captain himself, who is a +good-looking fellow, but somewhat conceited. + +"I have just heard old Auersberg is to have a command again. I 'm +heartily sorry for it. So much for family influence!" + +If the reader's patience has lasted through this long letter of Frank's, +it was more than Peter Dalton's did. For what between his ecstasy at +Kate's good fortune, his own rambling speculations on all that should +follow from it, and, above all, what from the slurring monotonous tone +in which Nelly passed over such portions as she did not wish him to +hear, he grew gradually more abstracted and dreamy, and at last fell off +into a deep and most happy slumber. Not a syllable did he hear of the +old Feld's reception of Frank; nor did he even awake as little Hans +stumped into the room, with a staff in either hand,--aids that, since +his accident, he could never dispense with. + +"I heard that you had letters, Fraeulein," said he. "Do they bring good +tidings?" + +"Some would call them so, Hanserl," said she, with a sigh. "Kate is +about to be married." + +Hanserl made no reply, but sat slowly down, and crossed his arms before +him. + +"The great Russian Prince Midchekoff, of whom you may have heard." + +"I have seen him, Fraeulein; he was here in Baden, three years ago." + +"Oh, then, tell me, Hanserl, what is he like? Is he young and +frank-looking? Seems he one that should have won a maiden's heart so +suddenly, that----that--" + +"No, not that she could n't have written to her sister and asked for +counsel, Fraeulein," said Hans, continuing her sentence. "The Prince is +a cold, austere man, proud to his equals, I believe, but familiar enough +to such as me. I remember how he asked me of my life, where I came from, +and how I lived. He seemed curious to hear about the train of thoughts +suggested by living amid objects of such childish interest, and asked +me, 'If I did not often fancy that this mock world around me was the +real one?' 'You are right, Herr Prints,' said I; 'but, after all, here, +at least, we are equals.' 'How so?' said he. 'That _your_ real world +is as great a mockery as mine.' 'Thou are right, dwarf,' said he, +thoughtfully, and fell a-musing. He should not have called me dwarf, for +men know me as Hans Roeckle,--and this is your sister's husband!" + +"Is he mild and gentle-mannered?" asked Nelly, eagerly. + +"The great are always so, so far as I have seen; none but base +metal rings loudly, maiden. It is part of their pride to counterfeit +humility." + +"And his features, Hans?" + +"Like one of those portraits in the gallery at Wurtzburg. One who had +passions and a temper for a feudal age, and was condemned to the slavery +of our civilization." + +"He is much older than Kate?" asked she again. + +"I have seen too few like him even to guess at his age; besides, men +of his stamp begin life with old temperaments, and time wears them but +little." + +"Oh, Hanserl, this seems not to promise well. Kate's own nature is +frank, generous, and impulsive; how will it consort with the cold traits +of his?" + +"She marries not for happiness, but for ambition, maiden. They who +ascend the mountain-top to look down upon the scene below them, must not +expect the sheltering softness of the valley at their feet. The Fraeulein +Kate is beautiful, and she would have the homage that is paid to beauty. +She has chosen her road in life; let us at least hope she knows how to +tread it!" + +There was a tone of almost sternness in Hanserl's manner that Nelly well +knew boded deep and intense feeling, and she forebore to question him +further for some time. + +"You will leave this, then, Fraeulein?" said he at last "You will quit +the humble valley for the great world?" + +"I know not, Hanserl, what my father may decide. Kate speaks of our +joining her in Russia; but the long Journey in his infirm state, not +to speak of other reasons, may prevent this. Shall I tell you of Frank? +Here is a long letter from him." And, almost without waiting for his +reply, she read out the greater portion of the epistle. + +"I like the old Feld!" cried Hans, enthusiastically. "He would teach the +boy submission, and self-reliance, too,--lessons that, however wide +apart they seem, go ever hand in hand; an old warrior that has trained +his bold nature to habits of obedience in many a year of trial and +injustice, unfriended and alone, with nothing but his stout heart and +good sword to sustain him. I like that Feld, and would gladly pledge him +in a glass of Steinberger!" + +"And you shall, my little man," said Dalton, waking up, and catching the +last words of Hanserl's speech. "The old Count was kind to Frank, and +I 'll drink his health this night, with all the honors. Read him the +letter, Nelly. Show him how old Stephen received the boy. That's blood +for you!--a true Dalton!" + +Hanserl stared from father to daughter, and back again, without +speaking; while Nelly, blushing deeply, held down her head, without a +word. + +"His letter to us was dry enough. But what matter for that? He never +wrote a line,--maybe, did n't speak a word of English for upwards of +forty years. You can't expect a man to have the 'elegant correspondent' +at his fingers' ends after that space of time. But the heart!--that's +the main point, Hans. The heart is in the right place. Read that bit +over again, Nelly; I forget the words he said." + +"Oh, no, papa. Hans has Just beard it all, from beginning to end; and +you know we have so much to do. Here's Lady Hester's note, and here's +one from the Prince, still unopened." + +"Ay, to be sure. I 'm certain you 'll excuse me, Hans," said Dalton, +putting on his spectacles, while he assumed a manner of condescending +urbanity very puzzling to the poor dwarf. "Why, Nelly dear, this is +French. Give me that note of Lady Hester's, and do you take this. Oh, +by my conscience, I 'm no better off now! The devil such writing as this +ever I seen! It's all 'm's' and 'w's' every bit of it You'll keep them +both for the evening, my dear. Hans will dine with us, and I 'll go out +to look for a bit of fish, and see if I can find another pleasant fellow +to round off the table with us. God be with old Kilmurray M'Mahon, where +I could have had twenty as easy as two, and each of them a good warrant +for four bottles, besides! Is n't it a droll world?" muttered he, as he +took down his hat and descended the stairs. "A good dinner, and only a +cripple for company! Faix! I 'm like the chap in the Bible, that had +to ask the beggars and the blaguards when he could n't get better." And +with this very wise reflection, Peter Dalton hummed a Jig to himself as +he took his way to the fish-market. + + + + +CHAPTER V. A HAPPY DAY FOR PETER DALTON + +A youthful heir never experienced a more glorious burst of delight on +the morning of his twenty-first birthday, than did Peter Dalton feel +as he sauntered down the principal street of Baden. It was with a +step almost elastic, and his head high, that he went along; not humbly +returning the "Good-day" of the bowing shopkeeper, but condescendingly +calling his worthy creditors--for such nearly all of them were--by their +Christian names, he gave them to believe that he was still, as ever, +their kind and generous patron. + +There was scarcely a shop or a stall he did not linger beside for a +minute or two. Everywhere there was something not only which he liked, +but actually needed. Never did wants accumulate so rapidly! With +a comprehensive grasp they extended to every branch of trade and +merchandise,--ranging from jewelry to gin, and taking in all, from fur +slippers to sausages. + +His first visit was to Abel Kraus, the banker and moneylender,--a little +den, which often before he had entered with a craven heart and a sinking +spirit; for Abel was a shrewd old Israelite, and seemed to read the very +schedule of a man's debts, in the wrinkles around his mouth. Dalton now +unbarred the half door and stalked in, as if he would carry the place by +storm. + +The man of money was munching his breakfast of hard eggs and black +bread,--the regulation full diet of misers in all Germany,--when Peter +cavalierly touched his hat and sat down. Not a word did Abel speak. +No courtesies about the season or the weather, the funds or the +money-market, were worth bestowing on so poor a client; and so he ate +on, scarcely deigning even a glance towards him. + +"When you 've done with the garlic, old boy, I 've some work for you," +said Dalton, crossing his arms pretentiously. + +"But what if I do not accept your work? What if I tell you that we shall +have no more dealings together? The two last bills--" + +"They'll be paid, Abel,--they'll be paid. Don't put yourself in a +passion. Times is improving,--Ireland 's looking up, man." + +"I think she is," muttered the Jew, insolently; "she is looking up like +the beggar that asks for alms yonder." + +"Tear and ages!" cried Dalton, with a stroke of his fist upon the +table that made every wooden bowl of gold and silver coin jump and ring +again,--"tear and ages! take care what you say! By the soul in my body, +if you say a syllable against the old country, I 'll smash every stick +in the place, and your own bones, besides! Ye miserable ould heathen! +that has n't a thought above sweating a guinea,--how dare you do it?" + +"Why do you come into my counting-house to insult me, saar? Why you come +where no one ask you?" + +"Is it waiting for an invitation I'd be, Abel? Is it expecting a card +with ould Kraus's compliments?" said Dalton, laughing. "Sure, isn't the +place open like the fish-market, or the ball-room, or the chapel, or any +place of diversion? There, now; keep your temper, old boy. I tell ye, +there's luck before ye! What d'ye think of that?" And, as he spoke, he +drew forth one of the bills, and handed it across the counter; and then, +after gloating, as it were, over the changed expression of the Jew's +features, he handed a second, and a third. + +"These are good papers, Herr von Dalton; no better! The exchange, too, +is in your favor; we are giving--let me see--ten and three-eighths +'Convenzions-Gelt'." + +"To the devil I fling your three-eighths!" cried Dalton. "I never forgot +the old song at school that says, 'Fractions drives me mad.'" + +"Ah, always droll,----always merry!" cackled out Abel. "How will you +have these moneys?" + +"In a bag,----a good strong canvas-bag!" + +"Yes, to be sure, in a bag; but I was asking how you 'd have them. I +mean, in what coin,--in what for 'Gelt.'" + +"Oh, that's it!" cried Dalton. "Well, give me a little of everything. +Let me have 'Louis' to spend, and 'Gros-chen' to give the beggars. +Bank-notes, too, I like; one feels no regretting parting with the dirty +paper that neither jingles nor shines: and a few crown pieces, Abel; the +ring of them on a table is like a brass band!" + +"So you shall,--so you shall, Herr von Dalton. Ha, ha, ha! you are the +only man ever make me laugh!" + +"By my conscience, then, it's more than you deserve, Abel; for you've +very often nearly made _me_ cry," said Dalton, with a little sigh over +the past, as he recalled it to his memory. + +The Jew did not either heed or hear the remark; for, having put away the +remnant of his frugal breakfast, he now began a very intricate series of +calculations respecting interest and exchange and commission, at which +poor Dalton gazed in a most complete mystification. + +"Fourteen hundred and sixty-three, at ten three-eighths,--less cost of +commission; I will not charge you the one per cent--" + +"Charge all that's fair, and no favor, old boy." + +"I mean that I will not treat the Herr von Dalton like a stranger----" + +"I was going to say, treat me like a Christian," said Dalton, laughing; +"but maybe that's the most expensive thing going." + +"Always droll,--always have his jest," cackled Abel. "Now there's an +agio on gold, you pay five kreutzers for every Louis." + +"By George! I 'll take a ship-load of them at the same price." + +"Ha! U mean you pay that over the value," said the Jew. + +"Faix! I often promised to pay more," said Dalton, sighing; "and what's +worse, on stamped paper too!" + +As the Jew grew deeper in his figures, Dalton rambled on about Ireland +and her prospects, for he wished it to be supposed that his present +affluence was the long-expected remittance from his estates. "We 'll +get right yet," muttered he, "if they 'll only give us time; but ye see, +this is the way it is: we're like an overloaded beast that can't pull +his cart through the mud, and then the English comes up, and thrashes +us. By course, we get weaker and weaker--licking and abusing never made +any one strong yet. At last down we come on our knees with a smash. +Well, ye 'd think, then, that anybody with a grain of sense would say, +'Take some of the load off the poor devil's back--ease him a bit tell he +gets strength.' Nothing of the kind. All they do is to tell us that we +ought to be ashamed of ourselves for falling--that every other people +was doing well but ourselves--that it's a way we have of lying down, +just to get somebody to pick us up, and such like. And the blaguard +newspapers raises the cry against us, and devil a thief or a +housebreaker or a highway robber they take, that they don't put him +down in the police reports as a 'hulking Irishman,' or a 'native of the +Emerald Isle.' 'Paddy Fitzsimons, or Peter O'Shea, was brought up this +mornin' for cutting off his wife's head with a trowel.' 'Molly Maguire +was indicted for scraping her baby to death with an oyster-shell.' +That's the best word they have for us! 'Ain't ye the plague of our +lives?' they're always saying. 'Do ye ever give us a moment's peace?' +And why the blazes don't ye send us adrift, then? Why don't ye let us +take our own road? We don't want your company--faix! we never found +it too agreeable. It's come to that now, that it would better be a +Hottentot or a Chinese than an Irishman! Oh dear, oh dear, but we 're +hardly treated!" + +"Will you run your eye over that paper, Herr von Dalton, and see if it +be all correct?" said Abel, handing him a very complex-looking array of +figures. + +"'T is little the wiser I 'll be when I do," muttered Dalton to himself, +as he put on his spectacles and affected to consider the statement. +"Fourteen hundred and sixty-three----I wish they were pounds, but they +'re only florins--and two thousand eight hundred and twenty-one--five +and two is seven and nine is fifteen. No, seven and nine is--I wish +Nelly was here. Bad luck to the multiplication-table. I used to be +licked for it every day when I was a boy, and it's been a curse to me +since I was a man. Seven and nine is fourteen, or thereabouts--a figure +would n't signify much, one way or f other. Interest at three-quarters +for twenty-one days--there I 'm done complete! Out of the four first +rules in Gough I'm a child, and indeed, to tell the truth, I 'm no great +things after subtraction." + +"You will perceive that I make the charges for postage, commission, +and other expenses in one sum. This little claim of fifty-eight florins +covers all." + +"Well, and reasonable it is, that I must say," cried Dalton, who, +looking at the whole as a lucky windfall, was by no means indisposed to +see others share in the good fortune. "How much is coming to me, Abel?" + +"Your total balance is four thousand two hundred and twenty-seven +florins eight kreutzers, Muentze," said Abel, giving the sum a resonance +of voice highly imposing and impressive. + +"How many pounds is that now?" asked Peter. + +"Something over three hundred and fifty pounds sterling, sir." + +"Is it? Faith! a neat little sum. Not but I often got rid of as much of +an evening at blind-hookey, with old Carters, of the 'Queen's Bays.' Ye +don't know Carters? Faix! and ye 'd be the very man he would know, if +ye were in the same neighborhood. I wish he was here to-day; and that +reminds me that I must go over to the market and see what's to be had. +Ye don't happen to know if there's any fish to-day?" + +Abel could not answer this important question, but offered to send his +servant to inquire; but Dalton, declining the attention, strolled out +into the street, jingling his Napoleons in his pocket as he went, and +feeling all the importance and self-respect that a well-filled purse +confers on him who has long known the penniless straits of poverty. +He owed something on every side of him; but he could bear to face his +creditors now; he was neither obliged to be occupied with a letter, nor +sunk in a fit of abstraction as he passed them; nay, he was even jocular +and familiar, and ventured to criticise the wares for which, once, he +was almost grateful. + +"Send your boy down to the house for some money--ye need n't mind the +bill; but I 'll give you fifty florins. There's a trifle on account. Put +them ten Naps, to my credit; that will wipe off some of our scores; it's +good for forty crowns." Such were the brief sentences that he addressed +to the amazed shopkeepers as he passed along; for Peter, like Louis +Philippe, couldn't bear the sight of an account, and always paid +something in liquidation. It was with great reluctance that he abstained +from inviting each of them to dinner; nothing but his fear of +displeasing Nelly could have restrained him. He would have asked the +whole village if he dared, ay, and made them drunk, too, if they 'd have +let him. "She's so high in her notions," he kept muttering to himself: +"that confounded pride about family, and the like! Well, thank God! I +never had that failing. If I knew we were better than other people, it +never made me unneighborly; I was always free and affable; my worst +enemy could n't say other of me. I 'd like to have these poor devils to +dinner, and give them a skinful for once in their lives, just to drink +Kate's health, and Frank's; they 'd think of the Daltons for many a long +year to come--the good old Dalton blood, that never mixed with the +puddle! What a heavenly day it is! and an elegant fine market. There's a +bit of roasting beef would feed a dozen; and maybe that isn't a +fine trout! Well, well, but them's cauliflowers!. Chickens and +ducks--chickens and ducks--a whole street of them! And there's a wild +turkey--mighty good eating, too! and venison!--ah! but it has n't the +flavor, nor the fat! Faix! and not bad either, a neck of mutton with +onions, if one had a tumbler of whiskey-punch afterwards." + +Thus communing with himself, he passed along, totally inattentive to +the solicitations of those who usually supplied the humble wants of his +household, and who now sought to tempt him by morsels whose merits lay +rather in frugality than good cheer. + +As Dalton drew near his own door, he heard the sounds of a stranger's +voice from within. Many a time a similar warning had apprised him that +some troublesome dun had gained admittance, and was torturing poor Nelly +with his importunities; and on these occasions Peter was wont, with more +cunning than kindness, to steal noiselessly downstairs again, and wait +till the enemy had evacuated the fortress. Now, however, a change had +come over his fortunes, and with his hat set jauntily on one side, and +his hands stuck carelessly in his pockets, he kicked open the door with +his foot, and entered. + +Nelly was seated near the stove, in conversation with a man who, in +evident respect, had taken his place near the door, and from which +he rose to salute Dalton as he came in. The traveller--for such his +"blouse" or travelling-frock showed him to be, as well as the knapsack +and stick at his feet----was a hale, fresh-looking man of about thirty; +his appearance denoting an humble walk in life, but with nothing that +bordered on poverty. + +"Herr Brawer, papa,--Adolf Brawer," said Nelly, whispering the last +words, to remind him more quickly of the name. + +"Servant, sir," said Dalton, condescendingly; for the profound deference +of the stranger's manner at once suggested to him their relative +conditions. + +"I kiss your hand," said Adolf, with the respectful salutation of a +thorough Austrian, while he bowed again with even deeper humility. + +"The worthy man who was so kind to Frank, papa," said Nelly, in deep +confusion, as she saw the scrutinizing and almost depreciating look with +which Dalton regarded him. + +"Oh, the pedler!" said Dalton, at last, as the remembrance flashed on +him. "This is the pedler, then?" + +"Yes, papa. He came out of his way, from Durlach, Just to tell us about +Frank; to say how tall he had grown--taller than himself, he says--and +so good-looking, too. It was so kind in him." + +"Oh, very kind, no doubt of it,----very kind indeed!" said Dalton, with +a laugh of most dubious expression. "Did he say nothing of Frank's debt +to him? Has n't that 'I O U' You were talking to me about anything to say +to this visit?" + +"He never spoke of it, never alluded to it," cried she, eagerly. + +"Maybe he won't be so delicate with me," said Dalton. "Sit down, Mr. +Brawer; make no ceremony here. We 're stopping in this little place till +our house is got ready for us. So you saw Frank, and he's looking well?" + +"The finest youth in the regiment. They know him through all Vienna as +the 'Handsome Cadet.'" + +"And so gentle-mannered and unaffected," cried Nelly. + +"Kind and civil to his inferiors?" said Dalton; "I hope he's that?" + +"He condescended to know _me_," said Brawer, "and call me his friend." + +"Well, and maybe ye were," said Peter, with a majestic wave of the hand. +"A real born gentleman, as Frank is, may take a beggar off the streets +and be intimate with him. Them's my sentiments. Mark what I say, Mr. +Brawer, and you 'll find, as you go through life, if it is n't true; +good blood may mix with the puddle every day of the year, and not be the +worse of it!" + +"Frank is so grateful to you," broke in Nelly, eagerly; "and we are so +grateful for all your kindness to him!" + +"What an honor to _me!_ that he should so speak of me!" said the pedler, +feelingly,--"I, who had no claim upon his memory." + +"There was a trifle of money between you, I think," said Dalton, +ostentatiously; "have you any notion of what it is?" + +"I came not here to collect a debt, Herr von Dalton," said Adolf, +rising, and assuming a look of almost fierceness in his pride. + +"Very well, very well; just as you please," said Dalton, carelessly; "it +will come with his other accounts in the half-year; for, no matter how +liberal a man is to his boys, he'll be pestered with bills after +all! There's blaguards will be lending them money, and teachin' them +extravagance, just out of devilment, I believe. I know well how it used +to be with myself when I was in old 'Trinity,' long ago. There was a +little chap of the name of Foley, and, by the same token, a pedler, +too----" + +"Oh, papa, he's going away, and you have n't thanked him yet!" cried +Nelly, feelingly. + +"What a hurry he's in!" said Dalton, as he watched the eager haste with +which the pedler was now arranging the straps of his knapsack. + +"Would you not ask him to stay--to dine with us?" faltered Nelly, in a +low, faint whisper. + +"The pedler--to dine?" asked Dalton, with a look of astonishment + +"Frank's only friend!" sighed she, mournfully. + +"By my conscience, sometimes I don't know if I 'm standing on my head +or my heels," cried Dalton, as he wiped his brows, with a look of utter +bewilderment. "A pedler to dinner! There now--that's it--more haste +worse speed: he's broke that strap in his hurry!" + +"Shall I sew it for you?" said Nelly, stooping down and taking out her +needle as she spoke. + +"Oh, Fraeulein, how good of you!" cried Adolf; and his whole face beamed +with an expression of delight. "How dearly shall I value this old pack +hereafter!" + +These last words, scarcely muttered above his breath, were overheard by +Nelly, and a deep blush covered her cheeks as she bent over the work. + +"Where's your own maid? Couldn't one of the women do it as well?" cried +Dalton, impatiently. "Ye'd not believe, Mr. Brawer, that we have +the house full of servants this minute; a set of devils feasting and +fattening at one's expense." + +"Thanks, Fraeulein," said the pedler, as she finished; "You little know +how I shall treasure this hereafter." + +"Ask him to stay, papa," whispered Nelly once more. + +"Sure he's a pedler!" muttered Dalton, indignantly. + +"At least thank him. Tell him you are grateful to him." + +"He 'd rather I 'd buy ten yards of damaged calico,--that's the flattery +_he_ 'd understand best," said Dalton, with a grin. + +"Farewell, Herr von Dalton. Farewell, Fraeulein!" said Adolf. And with a +bow of deep respect he slowly retired from the room, while Nelly turned +to the window to conceal her shame and sorrow together. + +"It was this very morning," muttered Dalton, angrily, "when I spoke of +giving a little dinner-party, you did nothing but turn up your nose at +this, that, and t' other. There was nobody good enough, forsooth! There +was Monsieur Ratteau, the 'croupier' of the tables there, a very nice +man, with elegant manners and the finest shirt-studs ever I seen, and +you would n't hear of him."' + +Nelly heard little of this reproachful speech, for, sunk in the recess +of the window, she was following with her eyes the retiring figure of +Adolf Brawer. He had just crossed the "Plate," and ere he turned into +a side street he stopped, wheeled round, and made a gesture of farewell +towards the spot where, unseen by him, Nelly was still standing. + +"He is gone!" muttered she, half aloud. + +"Well, God speed him!" rejoined Dalton, testily. "I never could abide a +pedler." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. MADAME DE HEIDENDORF + +Kate Dalton's was a heavy heart as, seated beside her new friend, she +whirled along the road to Vienna. The scenery possessed every attraction +of historic interest and beauty. The season was the glorious one of an +Italian spring. There were ancient cities, whose very names were +like spells to memory. There were the spots of earth that Genius has +consecrated to immortality. There were the scenes where Poetry caught +its inspiration, and around which, even yet, the mind-created images of +fancy seem to linger, all to interest, charm, and amuse her, and yet she +passed them without pleasure, almost without notice. + +The splendid equipage in which she travelled, the hundred appliances of +ease and luxury around her, the obsequious, almost servile devotion of +her attendants, recalled but one stern fact,--that she had sold +herself for all these things; that for them she had bartered her warm +affections,--her love of father and sister and brother,--the ties of +home and of kindred, even to the Faith at whose altar she had bent her +knees in infancy. She had given all for greatness. + +In all her castle-buildings of a future, her own family bad formed +figures in the picture. To render her poor father happy; to surround his +old age with the comforts he pined after; to open to dear Nelly sources +of enjoyment in the pursuit she loved; to afford Frank the means of +associating with his comrades of rank, to mix in that society for which +he longed,--these were her objects, and for them she was willing to pay +dearly. But now she was not to witness the happiness of those she +loved. Already the hard conditions of her contract were to be imposed. +Banishment first, then Isolation; who could say what after? + +Her travelling-companion was scarcely well calculated to smooth down the +difficulties of this conflict in her mind. Madame de Heidendorf was the +very reverse of Lady Hester. Without the slightest pretension to good +looks herself, she assumed to despise everything like beauty in +others, constantly associating its possession with the vanity of weak +intellects; she threw a kind of ridicule over these "poor, pretty +things," as she loved to call them, which actually seemed to make beauty +and folly convertible terms. Political intrigue, or, to speak more +fairly, mischief-making in state affairs, was her great and only +passion. By dint of time, patience, considerable cunning, and a very +keen insight into character, she had succeeded in obtaining the intimacy +of many of the first statesmen of Europe. Many had trusted her with the +conduct of little matters which the dignity of diplomacy could not stoop +to. She had negotiated several little transactions, opened the way to +reconciliations, smoothed the road to briberies, and allayed the petty +qualms of struggling morality, where any other than a feminine influence +would have been coarse and indelicate. + +As a good monarchist, she was always well received at the Austrian +Court, and in St. Petersburg was accustomed to be treated with peculiar +honor. + +By what amount of compensation, or in what shape administered, +Midchekoff had secured her present services, this true history is unable +to record; but that Kate was eminently fortunate, drawing such a prize +in the lottery of life as to enter the world under _her_ auspices, were +facts that she dwelt upon without ceasing. + +Frankness and candor are very charming things. They are the very soul of +true friendship, and the spirit of all affectionate interest; but they +can be made very disagreeable elements of mere acquaintanceship. Such +was Madame de Heidendorf s. She freely told Kate, that of all the great +Midchekoff's unaccountable freaks, his intended marriage with herself +was the very strangest; and that to unite his vast fortune and high +position with mere beauty was something almost incredible. There was a +landgravine of Hohenhockingen, an Archduchess, a _main gauche_ of +the Austrian house itself; there was a granddaughter of the Empress +Catherine, with any of whom she could easily have opened negotiations +for him,--all of them alliances rich in political influences. Indeed, +there was another party,--she was not at liberty to mention the name; +and though, to be sure, she was "blind and almost idiotic," a union with +her would eventually have made him a "Serene Highness." "So you see, +my dear," said she, in winding up, "what you have cost him! Not," added +she, after a few seconds' pause,--"not but I have known such marriages +turn out remarkably well. There was that Prince Adalbert of Bohemia, who +married the singing woman,--what's her name?----that young creature that +made such a sensation at the 'Scala,'--' La Biondina' they called her. +Well, it is true, he only lived with her during the Carnival; but there +she is now, with her handsome house in the Bastey, and the prettiest +equipage in the Prater. I know several similar cases. The Archduke Max +and Prince Ravitzkay,--though, perhaps, not him; for I believe he sent +that poor thing away to the mines." + +"His wife----to the mines!" gasped Kate, in terror. + +"Don't be frightened, my dear child," said Madame, smiling; "be a good +girl, and you shall have everything you like. Meanwhile, try and unlearn +all those _gaucheries_ you picked up with that strange Lady Hester. It +was a shocking school of manners,--all those eccentric, out-of-the-way +people, who lounged in and lounged out, talking of nothing but each +other, utterly ignorant of the great interests that are at stake in +Europe at this moment Try, therefore, and forget that silly coterie +altogether. When we arrive at Vienna, you will be presented to the +Archduchess Louisa." + +"And I shall see dear--dear Frank!" burst out Kate, with an +irrepressible delight. + +"And who is Frank, Madame?" said the other, proudly drawing herself up. + +"My brother,--my only brother,--who is in the Austrian service." + +"Is he on the Emperor's staff?" + +"I know nothing of his position, only that he is a cadet." + +"A cadet, child! Why, do you know that that means a common soldier,--a +creature that mounts with a musket, or carries a bread-bag over its +shoulder through the streets in a fatigue-jacket?" + +"I care nothing for all that. He may be all you say, and twice as +humble, but he is my brother Frank still,--the playfellow with whom I +passed the day when--when I was happy--as I shall never be again!--the +fond, kind brother, whom we were all so proud of." + +An expression of scornful compassion on Madame de Heidendorf 's features +at once stopped Kate, and she covered her face with her hands to hide +her shame. + +"Madame la Princesse," began the Countess,--for whenever she peculiarly +desired to impress Kate with her duties, she always prefaced the lesson +by her new title,----"the past must be forgotten, or you will find +yourself totally unable to compete with the difficulties of your +station. There is but one way to make the Prince's _mesalliance_ +pardonable, which is by as seldom as possible parading its details. If, +then, you insist upon seeing your brother during our stay at Vienna, +it must be in secret you said something, I think, of an old +field-marshal,--a connection?" + +"My father's uncle, Madame." + +"Very true. Well, your brother can come with some letter or message from +him; or if Nina, your maid, has no objection, he might pass for a lover +of hers." + +"Madame!" cried Kate, indignantly. + +"I said, if Nina made no objection," said Madame de Heidendorf, as +though answering the indignant exclamation. "But these are matters of +_my_ consideration, Madame,--at least, if I understand the spirit of the +Prince's instructions." + +Some such scene as this, usually closing with a similar peroration, +formed the conversation of the road; and hour by hour Kate's courage +fell lower, as she contemplated all that her elevation had cost her. And +what a mockery was it, after all! It was true that she journeyed in a +carriage with all the emblazonry of royalty; that a group of uncovered +lackeys attended her as she descended; that she was ever addressed by a +proud title; a respectful, submissive devotion surrounding her at +every instant But, amid all this, there was not one look, one word of +kindness; nothing of interest or sympathy with her solitary grandeur. It +mattered little that the bars of her cell were of gold; it was a prison +still. + +With what eagerness did she turn from the present, with all its +splendor, to think of her former life, when, wandering among the hills +of Baden she had listened to little Hans, or watched dear Nelly, as +the first gleams of her intentions began to manifest themselves on a +sculptured group. With what rapture had she heard passages that seemed +akin to something she had felt but could not express! How had she loved +the changeful effects of light and shade on a landscape where every +tree or rock or cliff was familiar to her! Oh, if she could but be back +again, hopeful, ardent, and trusting, as she once was! Oh, if the brief +past could be but a dream, and she were once more beside her father and +Nelly, knowing nothing of that world which, in so short a space, had +revealed so much before her! Even to those who so lately had supplied +the place of family to her, all were gone, and she was utterly alone. + +She did not dare to think of George Onslow. It seemed to her like a +treason to recall his memory; and if his image did rise at times before +her fancy, a burning blush would cover her cheek, and a sense of shame +would send a throb like agony through her heart. The plans and projects +for her future life she heard of without interest; a vague and confused +impression of a long journey, halting here and there to be presented to +certain great and distinguished persons, and finally of her arrival at +St. Petersburg, were all that she knew. That the Prince was to join her +there, and then, with the Emperor's permission, return with her to +the south of Europe,--such were the outlines of a career over which a +sinking heart threw a gloomy shadow. + +Madame de Heidendorf was too occupied with her own thoughts to notice +this despondency; besides that, she was incessantly teaching Kate some +one requisite or other of that rigid etiquette which prevailed in the +society she was about to enter; the precise titles by which she was to +address this or that personage; how many courtesies to give here, how +many reverences there,--little educational exercises that were always +accompanied by some warning admonition of their importance to one who, +like herself, had never seen anything like good society, and whose +breaches of good breeding would be certain of being severely commented +on. + +"Think of the Prince, Madame," she would say; "think of what he will +suffer when they repeat any of your transgressions. I am afraid there +are many humiliations in store for him. And what a step to take at +such a moment, with these horrible Socialist doctrines abroad,--these +levelling theories of equality, and so forth. I hope his Majesty the +Emperor will pardon him; I hope he will forgive you." + +This was a favorite speech of hers, and so often repeated that Kate at +last began to look on herself as a great criminal, and even speculated +on what destiny should befall her if the Emperor proved unmerciful. + +These were sorry resources to shorten the weariness on a Journey, and +Kate felt a throb of pleasure--the first she had experienced--when the +towers of St. Stephen, in the far distance, announced the approach to +Vienna. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. AT VIENNA. + +The gossiping world of Vienna had a new subject for speculation and +interest, as a guard of honor was seen standing at a large palace near +the "Hoff;" and the only information to explain the mystery was that +some great diplomatist had arrived the evening before, and Heaven +knew what wonderful events were in his charge and keeping. A gigantic +"Chasseur," in green and gold, who lounged about the portal, followed by +a great dog,--a "fanghund," whose silver collar was embossed with many +a quartering,--had engaged the attention of a very considerable crowd, +which opened from time to time to permit the passage of some royal +or princely equipage. As they thus fell back, a chance look would +be directed upwards to the windows of the first floor, and there, +passingly, they caught glimpses of one whose beauty soon formed the +theme of every tongue. This was Kate Dalton, who, now rested from the +fatigue of her journey, and dressed in the most becoming fashion, walked +up and down a splendid saloon, watching to catch every sound, or gazing +earnestly from the window to catch any sight that might betoken her +brother's coming. At Madame de Heidendorf's suggestion she had written +a few lines that morning early to the Field-Marshal von Dalton, +entreating, as a great favor, that he would procure leave for Frank to +come to her, and pass as much of his time as possible with her during +her stay in Vienna. The note, brief as it was, cost her some trouble; +she felt that much explanation might be necessary to state her present +position,--even who she was,--and yet this was a subject she had no +heart to enter into. Some expressions of affectionate interest towards +himself would also have been fitting, but she could not find time +for them. Frank, and Frank alone, was in her thoughts, and she left +everything to the old General's ingenuity, as she concluded her note by +subscribing herself, "Your affectionate niece, Kate Dal ton, Affianced +Princesse de Midchekoff." + +It was the first time that she had written the words,----the first time +that she had ever impressed that massive seal of many quarterings, so +royal-looking as it seemed. It was, also, the first time she had ever +given an order to one of her servants; and the obsequious bows of the +groom of the chamber, as he withdrew, were all separate and distinct +sensations,--low, but clear knockings of vanity at her heart, to which +every object around contributed its aid. The apartment was splendid; +not in that gorgeous taste of modern decoration of which she had seen so +much already, but in a more stately fashion, recalling the grandeur of +a past age, and exhibiting traces of a long line of princely occupants. +The very portraits along the walls had a proud and haughty bearing, and +the massive chairs glittered in all the blaze of heraldry. If she +looked out, it was the towers of the "Hoff Bourg"--the Home of the +Hapsburgs--met her eye. If she listened, it was the clank of a soldier's +salute broke the stillness; while the dull roll of wheels beneath +the arched gateway told of the tide of visitors who came to pay their +homage. + +If Kate's heart had been less bound up with anxiety to see her brother, +the scene beneath her window would have afforded her some interest, as +equipage after equipage succeeded,--now the quiet splendor of a court +chariot, now the more glaring magnificence of a cardinal's carriage. +Here came the lumbering old vehicle of an archhishop, the reverential +salute of the crowd indicating the rank of its occupant Then the quick +"present arms" of the sentry told of some general officer; while, at +intervals, the "turn out" of the whole guard denoted the arrival of a +royal prince. Ambassadors and ministers, chamberlains and chancellors, +the dignitaries of the realm, the "Hautes Charges" of the Court,--all +came in crowds to present their respects to the Graefin, for by this +brief designation was she known from one end of Europe to the other. + +Madame de Heidendorf held a levee, and none would absent themselves from +so interesting an occasion. + +It was the eve of a wonderful moment in Europe--it was the little lull +that preceded the most terrific storm that ever overturned thrones and +scattered dynasties--as these illustrious personages were met together, +to interchange compliments, to lisp soft phrases of flattery, and +discuss the high claims of some aspirant for a ribbon or a cross, a "Red +Eagle," or a "Black" one. A few, more far-sighted than the rest, saw the +cloud, not bigger than a man's hand, in the distance. A few could hear +the low rumblings that denoted the brooding hurricane; but even they +thought "the thing would last their time." And thus, with many a +pleasant jest, they chatted over the events of the hour, praised the +wisdom of kings, and laughed to scorn those vulgar teachers whose +democratic theories were just beginning to be whispered about. Some +were young, buoyant, and hopeful, ready to shed the last drop for +the principles they professed; others were old gray-headed men, tried +servants of Monarchy for half a century. But all were like-minded, and +self-gratulation and compliment was the order of the day. Leaving them +thus to such pleasant converse, where the clank of jewelled swords or +the tap of a diamond snuff-box formed the meet accompaniments of the +themes, we turn once more to her in whose fate we are more deeply +interested. + +Twice had she rung the bell to ask if the messenger had not returned. +At last he came; but there was "no answer to her note." Her impatience +became extreme. She ordered the servant who carried the note to appear +before her; questioned him closely as to whether he had taken it, and +the reply he had received. A soldier had said, "Gut!" and shut the door. +Poor Kate! It was her first lesson in "soldier laconics," and to say +truly, she did not take it well. The "Princesse de Midchekoff" might +have been treated with more deference. She was passing a mirror as the +thought struck her, and her mien and air gave support to the belief; nor +could she restrain the sense of admiration, half tinged with shame, her +own beauty evoked. + +"There is a soldier here, Madame," said a servant, "who has a letter he +will not deliver except into your own hands." + +"Admit him--at once," said she, impatiently; and as she spoke the +soldier stepped forward, and drawing himself up, carried his hand to the +salute, while, presenting a letter, he said, "From the Field-Marshal von +Auersberg." + +Kate scarcely looked at the bearer, but hastily tore open the +square-shaped epistle. + +"You need not wait," said she to the servant; and then turning to the +letter, read,---- + + "'Madame la Princesse and beloved Niece,--It was with--to me + of late years----a rare satisfaction that I read the not the + less affectionate that they were polite lines you vouchsafed + to inscribe to me, an old and useless but not forgotten + servant of an Imperial master. Immediately on perusing the + aforesaid so-called note, I despatched my adjutant to the + head-quarters of the Franz Carl, to obtain----no service + rules to the contrary forbidding, nor any default's punition + in any wise preventing----a day's furlough for the Cadet von + Dalton--" + +"What regiment is yours?" said Kate, hastily, to the soldier. + +"Franz Carl Infanterie, Highness," said the youth, respectfully, using +the title he had heard assumed by the servant. + +"Do you know many of your comrades,----among the cadets, I mean?" + +"There are but seven in the battalion, Highness, and I know them all." + +"Is Von Dalton an acquaintance of yours?" + +"I am Von Dalton, Highness," said the youth, while a flush of surprise +and pleasure lighted up his handsome features. + +"Frank! Frank!" cried she, springing towards him with open arms; and ere +he could recognize her, clasping him round the neck. + +"Is this real? Is this a dream? Are you my own sister Kate?" cried the +boy, almost choked with emotion. "And how are you here? and how thus?" +and he touched the robe of costly velvet as he spoke. + +"You shall know all, dear, dear Frank. You shall hear everything when +the joy of this meeting will let me speak." + +[Illustration: 099] + +"They call you Highness; and how handsome you've grown!" + +"Have I, Frank?" said she, pressing him down to a seat beside her, +while, with hands interclasped, they sat gazing on each other. + +"I am only beginning to remember you," said he, slowly. "You never used +to wear your hair in long ringlets thus. Even your figure is changed; +you are taller, Kate." + +"It is the mere difference of dress, Frank," said she, blushing with +conscious pride. + +"No, no; you are quite changed. Even as I sit here beside you, I feel I +know not what of shame at my daring to be so near----" + +"So great a lady, you would say, dear Frank," said she, laughing. "Poor +boy, if you knew--" She stopped, and then, throwing her arms around his +neck, went on rapidly: "But, my own dear brother, tell me of yourself: +are you happy; do you like the service; are they kind to you; is Uncle +Stephen as we hoped he should be?" + +"My story is soon told, Kate," said he; "I am where I was the day I +entered the army. I should have been made a corporal--" + +"A corporal!" cried Kate, laughing. + +"A good thing it is, too," said the youth. "No guards to mount, no +fatigue duty, neither night patrol nor watch, and four kreutzers extra +pay." + +"Poor dear boy!" cried she, kissing his forehead, while she gazed on him +with a compassionate affection that spoke a whole world of emotion. + +"But tell me of yourself, Kate. Why do they call you the Princess?" + +"Because I am married, Frank,----that is, I am betrothed, and will soon +be married." + +"And when did this occur? Tell me everything," cried he, impatiently. + +"You shall know all, dearest Frank. Yoo have heard how Lady Hester +Onslow carried me away with her to Italy. Nelly has told you how we +were living in Florence,--in what splendor and festivity; our palace +frequented by all the great and distinguished of every country,--French +and German, and Spanish and Russian." + +"I hate the Russians; but go on," said the boy, hastily. + +"But why hate the Russians, Frank?" asked she, reddening as she spoke. + +"They are false-hearted and treacherous. See how they have driven the +Circassians into a war, to massacre them; look how they are goading on +the Poles to insurrection. Ay, they say that they have emissaries at +this moment in Hungary on the same errand. I detest them." + +"This may be their state policy, Frank; but individually----" + +"They are no better; Walstein knows them well." + +"And who is Walstein, Frank?" + +"The finest fellow in the service; the one I would have wished you +married to, Kate, above all the world. Think of a colonel of hussars at +eight-and-twenty, so handsome, so brave, and such a rider. You shall see +him, Kate!" + +"But it's too late, Frank," said she, laughing; "You forget it's too +late!" + +"Ah! so it is," sighed the boy, seriously. "I often feared this," +muttered he, after a pause. "Nelly's letters told me as much, and I said +to myself, 'It will be too late.'" + +"Then Nelly has told you all, perhaps?" said she. + +"Not everything, nor, indeed, anything at all very distinctly. I could +only make out what seemed to be her own impressions, for they appeared +mere surmises." + +"And of what sort were they?" asked Kate, curiously. + +"Just what you would suspect from her. Everlasting fears about +temptations and trials, and so forth, continually praying that your +heart might resist all the flatteries about you. The old story about +humility. I thought to myself, 'If the lesson be not more needful to +Kate than to me, she runs no great risk, after all!' for I was also +warned about the seductions of the world! a poor cadet, with a few +kreutzers a day, told not to be a Sybarite! Returning wet through from +a five hours' patrol, to burnish accoutrements in a cold, damp barrack, +and then exhorted against the contamination of low society, when all +around me were cursing the hardships they lived in, and execrating the +slavery of the service!" + +"Our dearest Nelly knows so little of the world," said Kate, as she +threw a passing glance at herself in the mirror, and arranged the fall +of a deep fringe of gold lace which was fastened in her hair. + +"She knows nothing of it," said the boy, adjusting his sword-knot. "She +thought our hussars wore white dolmans, and carried straight swords like +the cuirassiers." + +"And the dear, simple creature asked me, in one of her letters, if I +ever wore wild-flowers in my hair now, as I used to do long ago," said +Kate, stealing another glance at the glass. "Flowers are pretty things +in the head when rubies make the pinks, and the dewdrops are all +diamonds." + +Frank looked at her as she said this, and for the first time saw the +proud elation her features assumed when excited by a theme of vanity. + +"You are greatly changed, dearest Kate," said he, thoughtfully. + +"Is it for the worse, Frank?" said she, half coquettishly. + +"Oh! as to beauty, you are a thousand times handsomer," cried the boy, +with enthusiasm. "I know not how, but every expression seems heightened, +every feature more elevated; your air and gesture, your very voice, that +once I thought was music itself, is far sweeter and softer." + +"What a flatterer!" said she, patting his cheek. + +"But then, Kate," said he, more gravely, "have these fascinations cost +nothing? Is your heart as simple? Are your affections as pure? Ah! you +sigh--and what a heavy sigh, too! Poor, poor Kate!" + +And she laid her head upon his shoulder, while the heaving swell of her +bosom told what sorrow the moment was costing her. + +"Nelly, then, told you of my betrothal?" whispered she, in a weak, faint +voice. + +"No; I knew nothing of that. She told me all about the life you were +leading; the great people with whom you were intimate; and bit by bit, +a hint, some little allusion, would creep out as to the state of your +heart. Perhaps she never meant it, or did not know it; but I remarked, +in reading her letters over and over,--they were the solace of many a +weary hour,--that one name recurred so often in connection with yours, +you must have frequently referred to him yourself, for in each extract +from your letters I saw the name." + +"This was strange. It must have been through inadvertence," said she, +musingly. "I thought I had scarcely spoken of him." + +"See how your hand told truth, even against your consciousness," said +he, smiling. + +Kate made no reply, but sat deep in thought. + +"And is he here? When shall I see him?" asked Frank, impatiently. + +"No, Frank. He is in Italy; he was detained there by business of +importance. Besides, it is not etiquette that we should travel together. +When the Emperor's permission has been obtained--" + +"What Emperor?" asked Frank, in astonishment. + +"Our Emperor----the Czar." + +"What have you, an English girl born, to do with the Czar?" + +"The Prince, my future husband, is his subject." + +"Why, there is no end to this mystification," cried the boy, +impatiently. "How can an English soldier be a Russian Prince?" + +"I don't understand you, Frank. Prince Midchekoff is a Russian by +birth." + +"So that you are married to a Russian," said he, in a voice of deep +emotion, "and all this time I have been fancying my brother-in-law an +Englishman. I thought it was this same George----George Onslow." + +A heavy, dull sound startled him as he said this. It was Kate, who had +fallen back, fainting, on the sofa. It was long before, with all Frank's +efforts at restoration, she came to herself; and even when consciousness +returned, tears flowed from her eyes and coursed down her cheeks +copiously, as she lay speechless and motionless. + +"My own poor Kate, my poor, dear sister!" were all that Frank could say, +as he held her cold, clammy hand within his own; and, with an almost +breaking heart, gazed on her pale features. It was so like death! "And +might not death be better?" thought he, as he travelled over in his mind +the story, of whose secret he was now possessed. How differently did he +judge all Nelly's counsels _now!_ In what a changed spirit did he think +of that wisdom which, but a few minutes back, he had sneered at! "And +so it is," muttered he. "If we who are born to humble fortunes would +cherish ambition, we must pay for it with our hearts' blood. Nelly was +right; she often said so. Over and over again did she tell me, 'goodness +is the only safe road to greatness.' Oh that one so beautiful as this +should have missed the path!" And, sobbing violently, he kissed her +hand, and watered it with his tears. + +"Frank, you are with me,----you 'll not leave me," said she, faintly, as +she opened her eyes and stared in bewilderment around her. "I remember +everything now--everything," said she, with an emphasis on the last +word. "This is Vienna: I recollect all. Ring that bell, Frank: let Nina +come to me, but don't go away; be sure not to go." + +Nina soon made her appearance, and with a look of half surprise, half +admiration at the handsome soldier, assisted Kate to arise. + +"I'll be back presently, Frank," said she, with a faint smile, and left +the room. And the youth, overcome by emotion, sat down and buried his +face in his hands. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. PRIESTLY COUNSELS + +Frank was so full of his own reflections that he almost forgot his +sister's absence; nor did he notice how the time went oyer, when he +heard the sound of voices and the noise of a door closing; and, on +looking up, perceived a handsome man, something short of middle-aged, +who, dressed in the deep black of a priest, wore a species of blue +silk collar, the mark of a religious order. His features were perfectly +regular, and their expression the most bland and courteous it was +possible to imagine. There was a serene dignity, too, in his gait, as +he came forward, that showed how thoroughly at home he felt on the soft +carpet, and in the perfumed atmosphere of a drawing-room. + +Bowing twice to Frank, he saluted him with a smile, so gentle and +so winning, that the boy almost felt as if they had been already +acquainted. + +"I have come," said the priest, "to pay my respects to the Princesse +de Midchekoff, and, if my eyesight is not playing me false, I have the +honor to recognize her brother." + +Frank blushed with pleasure as he bowed an assent. + +"May I anticipate the kindness--which your sister would not refuse me," +continued he, "and introduce myself. You may, perhaps, have heard of the +Abbe D'Esmonde?" + +"Repeatedly," cried Frank, taking the proffered hand in his own. "Nelly +spoke of you in almost every letter. You were always so kind to Kate in +Italy." + +"How amply am I recompensed, were not the pleasure of knowing +Miss Dalton a sufficient reward in itself. It is rare to find that +combination of excellence which can command all the homage of fashion, +and yet win the approbation of a poor priest." + +There was a humility, deep enough to be almost painful, in the tone in +which these words were uttered; but Frank had little time to dwell on +them, for already the Abbe had taken a seat on the sofa beside him, and +was deep in the discussion of all Kate's attractions and merits. + +There was a sincerity, an ardor of admiration, chastened only by the +temper of his sacred character, that delighted the boy. If allusion were +made to her beauty, it was only to heighten the praise he bestowed on +her for other gifts, and display the regulated action of a mind proof +against every access of vanity. Her correct judgment, her intuitive +refinement, the extreme delicacy of her sensibilities,--these were +the themes he dwelt upon, and Frank felt that they must be rare gifts +indeed, when the very description of them could be so pleasurable. + +From what the Abbe said, so far from her marriage with the great Russian +being a piece of fortune, she had but to choose her position amid the +first houses of Europe. + +"It was true," he added, "that the 'Midchekoff's' wealth was like +royalty, and as he united to immense fortune great claims of personal +merit, the alliance had everything to recommend it." + +"And this is so?" cried Frank, eagerly. "The Prince is a fine fellow?" + +"Generous and munificent to an extent almost fabulous," said D'Esmonde, +who seemed rather to resume his own train of thought than reply to +Frank's question. "The splendor of his life has already canonized a +proverb." + +"But his temper--his manner--his disposition?" + +"Like all his countrymen, he is reserved, almost cold to strangers; his +intimates, however, talk of him as frankness and candor itself. Even on +political themes, where Russians are usually most guarded, he gives his +opinions freely and manfully, and, strange enough too, with a liberality +which, though common enough in our country, must be very rare indeed in +his." + +"That is strange!" said Frank, thoughtfully. + +"Yes," said D' Esmonde, dropping into the tone of one who insensibly +poured out his inmost thoughts in soliloquizing,----"Yes, he feels, +what we all do, that this state of things cannot last,--disparity of +condition may become too palpable and too striking. The contrast between +affluence and misery may display itself too offensively! Men may one +day or other refuse to sign a renewal of the bond of servitude, and +then--and then----" + +"A civil war, I suppose," cried Frank, quietly; "but the troops will +always give them a lesson." + +"Do you think so, my dear young friend?" said the Abbe, affectionately; +"do you not rather think that soldiers will begin to learn that they are +citizens, and that, when forging fetters for others, the metal can be +fashioned into chains for themselves?" + +"But they have an oath," said the boy; "they 've sworn to their +allegiance." + +"Very true, so they have; but what is the oath?--the one half of the +compact which cannot be supposed binding when the other half be broken. +Let the social policy of a government fail in its great object,----the +happiness of a people; let a whole nation gradually cease to enjoy the +advantages for the sake of which they assumed the responsibilities +and ties of family; let them day-by-day fall lower in the scale of +civilization and comfort, and after surrendering this privilege to-day, +and that to-morrow, at last take their stand on the very verge of the +precipice, with nothing but abject slavery beneath,--what would you say +of the order to charge them with the bayonet, even though the formality +of a recruiting oath should seem to warrant the obedience?" + +"I 'd do it; if I was ordered," said Frank, sternly. + +"I don't think you would," said D'Esmonde, smiling. "I read your nature +differently. I can trace, even in the flashing of your eye this instant, +the ambition of a bold and energetic spirit, and that when the moment +came you would embrace the losing cause, with all its perils, rather +than stand by tyranny, in all its strength. Besides, remember, this is +not the compact under which you entered the service, although it might, +under certain peculiar circumstances, appeal to your sense of duty. An +army is not--at least it ought not to be--a 'gendarmerie.' Go forth +to battle against the enemies of your country, carry the flag of your +Vaterland into the plains of France, plant the double eagle once more +in the Place da Carrousel,--even aggressive war has its glorious +compensations in deeds of chivalry and heroism----But here is the +Princesse," said the Abbe, rising, and advancing courteously towards +her. + +"The Abbe D'Esmonde!" cried Kate, with an expression of delight, as she +held ont her hand, which the priest pressed to his lips with all the +gallantry of a courtier. "How pleasant to see the face of a friend in +this strange land!" said she. "Abbe, this is my brother Frank, of whom +you have heard me talk so often." + +"We are acquaintances already," said D'Esmonde, passing his arm within +the soldier's; "and albeit our coats are not of the same color, I think +many of our principles are." + +A few moments saw him seated between the brother and sister on the sofa, +recounting the circumstances of his journey, and detailing, for Kate's +amusement, the latest news of Florence. + +"Lady Hester is much better in health and spirits, too," said the Abbe; +"the disastrous circumstances of fortune would seem to have taken a +better turn; at least, it is probable that Sir Stafford's losses will +be comparatively slight. I believe her satisfaction on this head arises +entirely from feeling that no imputation of altered position can now be +alleged as the reason for her change of religion." + +"And has she done this?" asked Kate, with a degree of anxiety; for she +well knew on what feeble grounds Lady Hester's convictions were usually +built.. + +"Not publicly; she waits for her arrival at Rome, to make her confession +at the shrine of St. John of Lateran. Her doubts, however, have all been +solved,--her reconciliation is perfect." + +"Is she happy? Has she found peace of mind at last?" asked Kate, +timidly. + +"On this point I can speak with confidence," said D'Esmonde, warmly; +and at once entered into a description of the pleasurable impulse a new +train of thoughts and impressions had given to the exhausted energies +of a "fine lady's" life. It was so far true, indeed, that for some +days back she had never known a moment of _ennui_. Surrounded by sacred +emblems and a hundred devices of religious association, she appeared to +herself as if acting a little poem of life, wherein a mass of amiable +qualities, of which she knew nothing before, were all developing +themselves before her. And what between meritorious charities, saintly +intercessions, visits to shrines, and decorations of altars, she had +not an instant unoccupied; it was one unceasing round of employment; and +with prayers, bouquets, lamps, confessions, candles, and penances, the +day was even too short for its duties. + +The little villa of La Rocca was now a holy edifice. The drawing-room +had become an oratory; a hollow-cheeked "Seminariste," from Como, had +taken the place of the Maestro di Casa. The pages wore a robe like +acolytes, and even Albert Jekyl began to fear that a costume was in +preparation for himself, from certain measurements that he had observed +taken with regard to his figure. + +"My time is up," said Frank, hastily, as he arose to go away. + +"You are not about to leave me, Frank?" said Kate. + +"Yes, I must; my leave was only till four o'clock, as the +Field-Marshal's note might have shown you; but I believe you threw it +into the fire before you finished it." + +"Did I, really? I remember nothing of that. But, stay, and I will write +to him. I 'll say that I have detained you." + +"But the service, Kate dearest! My sergeant--my over-lieutenant--my +captain--what will they say? I may have to pass three days in irons for +the disobedience." + +"Modern chivalry has a dash of the treadmill through it," said +D'Esmonde, sarcastically; and the boy's cheek flushed as he heard it. +The priest, however, had already turned away, and, walking into the +recess of a window, left the brother and sister free to talk unmolested. + +"I scarcely like him, Kate," whispered Frank. + +"You scarcely know him yet," she said, with a smile. "But when can you +come again to me,--to-morrow^ early?" + +"I fear not We have a parade and a field-inspection, and then 'rapport' +at noon." + +"Leave it to me, then, dear Frank," said she, kissing him; "I must try +if I cannot succeed with the 'Field' better than you have done." + +"There's the recall-bugle," cried the boy, in terror; and, snatching up +his cap, he bounded from the room at once. + +"A severe service,--at least, one of rigid discipline," said D'Esmonde, +with a compassionating expression of voice. "It is hard to say whether +it works for good or evil, repressing the development of every generous +impulse, as certainly as it restrains the impetuous passions of youth." + +"True," said Kate, pointedly; "there would seem something of priestcraft +in their _regime_. The individual is nothing, the service everything." + +"Your simile lacks the great element,--force of resemblance, Madame," +said D'Esmonde, with a half smile. "The soldier has not, like the +priest, a grand sustaining hope, a glorious object before him. He +knows little or nothing of the cause in which his sword is drawn; his +sympathies may even be against his duty. The very boy who has just left +us,--noble-hearted fellow that he is,--what strange wild notions of +liberty has he imbibed! how opposite are all his speculations to the +stern calls of the duty he has sworn to discharge!" + +"And does he dare--" + +"Nay, Madame, there was no indiscretion on his part; my humble walk in +life has taught me that if I am excluded from all participation in the +emotions which sway my fellow-men, I may at least study them as they +arise, watch them in their infancy, and trace them to their fruit of +good or evil. Do not fancy, dear lady, that it is behind the grating of +the confessional only that we read men's secrets. As the physician gains +his knowledge of anatomy from the lifeless body, so do we learn the +complex structure of the human heart in the deathlike stillness of the +cell, with the penitent before us. But yet all the knowledge thus gained +is but a step to something further. It is while reading the tangled +story of the heart,--its struggles, its efforts, the striving after good +here, the inevitable fall back to evil there, the poor, weak attempt at +virtue, the vigorous energy of vice,--it is hearing this sad tale from +day to day, learning, in what are called the purest natures, how deep +the well of corruption lies, and that not one generous thought, one +noble aspiration, or one holy desire rises unalloyed by some base +admixture of worldly motive. It is thus armed we go forth into the +world, to fight against the wiles and seductions of life. How can we be +deceived by the blandishments that seduce others? What avail to us those +pretentious displays of self-devotion, those sacrifices of wealth, those +proud acts of munificence which astonish the world, but of whose secret +springs we are conversant? What wonder, then, if I have read the artless +nature of a boy like that, or see in him the springs of an ambition he +knows not of himself? Nay, it would be no rash boast to say that I have +deciphered more complicated inscriptions than those upon his heart I +have traced some upon his sister's!" The last three words he uttered +with a slow and deep enunciation, leaving a pause between each, and +bending on her a look of intense meaning. + +Kate's cheek became scarlet, then pale, and a second time she flushed, +till neck and shoulders grew crimson together. + +"You have no confidences to make me, my dear, dear child," said +D'Esmonde, as, taking her hand, he pressed her down on a sofa +beside him. "Your faltering lips have nothing to articulate,----no +self-repinings, no sorrows to utter; for I know them all!" He paused for +a few seconds, and then resumed: "Nor have you to fear me as a stern or +a merciless judge. Where there is a sacrifice, there is a blessing!" + +Kate held down her head, but her bosom heaved, and her frame trembled +with emotion. + +"Your motives," resumed he, "would dignify even a rasher course. I know +the price at which you have bartered happiness,--not your own only, but +another's with it!" + +She sobbed violently, and pressed her hands over her face. + +"Poor, poor fellow!" cried he, as if borne away by an impulse of candor +that would brook no concealment, "how I grieved to see him, separated, +as we were, by the wide and yawning gulf between us, giving himself +up to the very recklessness of despair, now cursing the heartless +dissipation in which his life was lost, now accusing himself of +golden opportunities neglected, bright moments squandered, petty +misunderstandings exaggerated into dislikes, the passing coldness of the +moment exalted into a studied disdain! We were almost strangers to each +other before,--nay, I half fancied that he kept aloof from me. +Probably,"--here D'Esmonde smiled with a bland dignity,--"probably he +called me a 'Jesuit,'--that name so full of terror to good Protestant +ears; but, on his sick-bed, as he lay suffering and in solitude, his +faculties threw off the deceptive influences of prejudice; he read me +then more justly; he saw that I was his friend. Hours upon hours have we +passed talking of you; the theme seemed to give a spring to an existence +from which, till then, all zest of life had been withdrawn. I never +before saw as much of passion, with a temper so just and so forgiving. +He needed no aid of mine to read your motives truly. 'It is not for +herself that she has done this,' were words that he never ceased to +utter. He knew well the claims that family would make on you, the +heartrending appeals from those you could not but listen to! 'Oh! if I +could but think that she will not forget me; that some memory of me will +still linger in her mind!'--this was his burning prayer, syllabled by +lips parched by the heat of fever; and when I told him to write to +you--" + +"To write to me!" cried she, catching his arm, while her cheeks trembled +with intense agony; "You did not give such counsel?" + +"Not alone that," said D'Esmonde, calmly, "but promised that I would +myself deliver the letter into your hands. Is martyrdom less glorious +that a cry of agony escapes the victim, or that his limbs writhe as the +flame wraps round them? Is self-sacrifice to be denied the sorrowful +satisfaction to tell its woes? I bade him write because it would be good +for him and for you alike." + +She stared eagerly, as if to ask his meaning. + +"Good for both," repeated he, slowly. "Love will be, to him, a +guide-star through life, leading him by paths of high and honorable +ambition; to you it will be the consolation of hours that even splendor +will not enliven. Believe me,"----here he raised his voice to a tone +of command and authority,--"believe me that negation is the lot of +all. Happiest they who only suffer in their affections! And what is the +purest of all love? Is it not that the devotee feels for his protecting +saint,--that sense of ever-present care, that consciousness of a +watching, unceasing affection, that neither slumbers nor wearies, +following us in our joy, beside us in our afflictions? Some humble +effigy, some frail representation, is enough to embody this conception; +but its essence lies in the heart of hearts! Such a love as this--pure, +truthful, and enduring--may elevate the humblest life into heroism, and +throw a sun-gleam over the dreariest path of destiny. The holy bond that +unites the grovelling nature below with glory above, has its humble type +on earth in those who, separated by fate, are together in affection. I +bade him write to you a few lines; he was too weak for more; indeed, his +emotion almost made the last impossible. I pressed him, however, to do +it, and pledged myself to place them in your hands; my journey hither +had no other object." As he spoke, he took forth a small sealed packet, +and gave it to Kate, whose hands trembled as she took it. + +"I shall spend some days in Vienna," said he, rising to take leave; +"pray let me have a part of each of them with you. I have much to say +to you, and of other matters than those we have now spoken." And kissing +her hand with a respectful devotion, the Abbe withdrew, without ever +once raising his eyes towards her. + +Sick with sorrow and humiliation,--for such she acutely felt,----Kate +Dalton rose and retired to her room. "Tell Madame de Heidendorf, Nina," +said she, "that I feel tired to-day, and beg she will excuse my not +appearing at dinner." + +Nina courtesied her obedience, but it was easy to see that the +explanation by no means satisfied her, and that she was determined to +know something more of the origin of her young mistress's indisposition. + +"Madame knows that the Archduke is to dine here." + +"I know it," said Kate, peevishly, and as if desirous of being left in +quiet. + +Nina again courtesied, but in the brilliant flashing of her dark eyes it +was plain to mark the consciousness that some secret was withheld from +her. The _soubrette_ class are instinctive readers of motives; "their +only books are '_ladies_' looks," but they con them to perfection. It +was, then, with a studied pertinacity that Nina proceeded to arrange +drawers and fold dresses, and fifty other similar duties, the discharge +of which she saw was torturing her mistress. + +"I should wish to be alone, Nina, and undisturbed," said Kate, at last, +her patience being entirely exhausted. + +Nina made her very deepest reverence, and withdrew. + +Kate waited for a few seconds, till all sound of her retiring steps had +died away, then arose, and locked the door. + +She was alone; the packet which the Abbe had delivered lay on the table +before her; she bent down over it, and wept. The utter misery of sorrow +is only felt where self-reproach mingles with our regrets. All the pangs +of other misfortunes are light in comparison with this. The irrevocable +past was her own work; she knew it, and cried till her very heart seemed +bursting. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. SECRETS OF HEAD AND HEART + +I must ask of my reader to leave this chamber, where, overwhelmed by +her sorrows, poor Kate poured out her grief in tears, and follow me to a +small but brilliantly lighted apartment, in which a little party of four +persons was seated, discussing their wine, and enjoying the luxury of +their cigars. Be not surprised when we say that one of the number was a +lady. Madame de Heidendorf, however, puffed her weed with all the zest +of a smoker; the others were the Archduke Ernest, a plain, easy-tempered +looking man, in the gray undress of an Austrian General, the Foreign +Minister, Count Norinberg, and our old acquaintance, the Abbe D'Esmonde. + +The table, besides the usual ornaments of a handsome dessert, was +covered with letters, journals, and pamphlets, with here and there a +colored print in caricature of some well-known political personage. +Nothing could be more easy and unconstrained than the air and bearing +of the guests. The Archduke sat with his uniform coat unbuttoned, and +resting one leg upon a chair before him. The Minister tossed over +the books, and brushed off the ashes of his cigar against the richly +damasked table-cloth; while even the Abbe seemed to have relaxed the +smooth urbanity of his face into a look of easy enjoyment Up to this +moment the conversation had been general, the principal topics being +the incidents of the world of fashion, the flaws and frivolities, the +mishaps and misadventures of those whose names were familiar to his +Imperial Highness, and in whose vicissitudes he took the most lively +interest. These, and a stray anecdote of the turf in England, were the +only subjects he cared for, hating politics and State affairs with a +most cordial detestation. His presence, however, was a compliment that +the Court always paid "the Countess," and he submitted to his torn of +duty manfully. + +Deeply involved in the clouds of his cigar-smoke, and even more +enveloped in the misty regions of his own reveries, he sipped his +wine in silence, and heard nothing of the conversation about him. The +Minister was then perfectly free to discuss the themes most interesting +to him, and learn whatever he could of the state of public opinion in +Italy. + +"You are quite right, Abbe," said he, with a sage shake of the head. +"Small concessions, petty glimpses of liberty, only give a zest for +more enlarged privileges. There is nothing like a good flood of popular +anarchy for creating a wholesome disgust to freedom. There must be +excesses!" + +"Precisely so, sir," said the Abbe. "There can be no question of an +antidote if there has been no poisoning." + +"Ay; but may not this system be pushed too far? Is not his Holiness +already doing so?" + +"Some are disposed to think so, but I am not of the number," said +D'Esmonde. "It is necessary that he should himself be convinced that the +system is a bad one; and there is no mode of conviction so palpable as +by a personal experience. Now, this he will soon have. As yet, he does +not see that every step in political freedom is an advance towards the +fatal heresy that never ceases its persecutions of the Church. Not that +our Revolutionists care for Protestantism or the Bible either; but, by +making common cause with those who do, see what a large party in England +becomes interested for their success. The right of judgment conceded in +religious matters, how can you withhold it in political ones? The men +who brave the Church will not tremble before a cabinet. Now the Pope +sees nothing of this; he even mistakes the flatteries offered to himself +for testimonies of attachment to the Faith, and all those kneeling +hypocrites who implore his blessing he fancies are faithful children of +Rome. He must be awakened from this delusion; but yet none save himself +can dispel it He is obstinate and honest." + +"If the penalty were to be his own alone, it were not so much matter," +said the Minister; "but it will cost a revolution." + +"Of course it will; but there is time enough to prepare for it." + +"The state of the Milanais is far from satisfactory," said the Minister, +gravely. + +"I know that; but a revolt of a prison always excuses double irons," +said D'Esmonde, sarcastically. + +"Tell him of Sardinia, Abbe," said Madame de Heidendorf. + +"Your real danger is from that quarter," said D'Esmonde. "There is +a growing spirit of independence there,--a serious desire for free +institutions, wide apart from the wild democracy of the rest of Italy. +This is a spirit you cannot crush; but you can do better,--you can +corrupt it Genoa is a hotbed of Socialist doctrine; the wildest +fanaticism of the 'Reds' is there triumphant, and our priests are +manfully aiding the spread of such opinions. They have received orders +to further these notions; and it is thus, and by the excesses consequent +on this, you will succeed in trampling down that moderated liberty which +is the curse that England is destined to disseminate amongst us. It is +easy enough to make an excited people commit an act of indiscretion, and +then, with public opinion on your side--" + +"How I detest that phrase!" said Madame de Heidendorf; "it is the lowest +cant of the day." + +"The thing it represents is not to be despised, Madame," said the Abbe. + +"These are English notions," said she, sneeringly. + +"They will be Russian ones yet, depend upon it, Madame." + +"I 'd rather know what a few men of vast fortune, like Midchekoff, for +instance, think, than have the suffrages of half the greasy mobs of +Europe." + +"By the way," said the Minister, "what is he doing? Is it true that he +is coquetting with Liberals and Fourierists, and all that?" + +"For the moment he is," said Madame de Heidendorf; "and two or three of +the popularity-seeking sovereigns have sent him their decorations, and +if he does not behave better he will be ordered home." + +"He is of great use in Italy," said the Minister. + +"True; but he must not abuse his position." + +"He is just vain enough to lend himself to a movement," said D'Esmonde; +"but he shall be watched." + +These last words were very significantly uttered. + +"You know the Princess, Abbe?" asked the Minister, with a smile; and +another smile, as full of meaning, replied to the question. + +"She's pretty, ain't she?" asked the Archduke. + +"Beautiful is the word, sir; but if your Imperial Highness would like +to pass judgment personally, I 'll beg of her to come down to the +drawing-room." + +"Of all things, most kind of you to make the offer," said he, rising +and arranging his coat and sword-knot into some semblance of propriety, +while Madame de Heidendorf rang the bell, and despatched a messenger to +Kate with the request. + +Nina was overjoyed at the commission intrusted to her. Since Kate's +peremptory order, she had not ventured to intrude herself upon her; +but now, armed with a message, she never hesitated about invading the +precincts of that silent chamber, at whose door she often stood in doubt +and speculation. + +She tapped gently at the door; there was no answer. A second summons was +alike unreplied to, and Nina bent down her head to listen. There were +long-drawn breathings, like sleep; but a heavy sigh told that the +moments were those of waking sorrow. Cautiously turning the handle +of the door, without noise, she opened it and passed in. The room was +shrouded in a dim half-light, and it was not till after the lapse of +some seconds that Nina could distinguish the form of her young mistress, +as, with her head buried in her hands, she sat before a table on which +lay an open letter. + +So absorbed was Kate in grief that she heard nothing, and Nina +approached her, slowly, till at last she stood directly behind her, +fixedly regarding the heaving figure, the dishevelled hair, and the +trembling hands that seemed to clutch with eagerness some object within +their grasp. Kate suddenly started, and pushing back her hair from +her eyes, seemed as if trying to collect her wandering thoughts. Then, +unclasping a case, she placed a miniature before her, and contemplated +it attentively. Nina bent over her till she almost touched her in her +eagerness. Had any one been there to have seen her features at the +moment, they would have perceived the traits of intense and varied +passion, surprise, rage, and jealousy, all struggling for the mastery. +Her dark skin grew almost livid, and her black eyes glowed with anger; +while, with a force like convulsion, she pressed her hands to her heart, +as if to calm its beatings. A sea of stormy passions was warring within +her, and in her changeful expression might be seen the conflict of her +resolves. At last, she appeared to have decided; for with noiseless +steps she gradually retreated toward the door, her eyes all the while +steadily fixed on her mistress. + +It seemed to require no slight effort to repress the torrent of rage +within her; for even at the door she stood irresolute for a moment, and +then, softly opening it, withdrew. Once outside, her pent-up passions +found vent, and she sobbed violently. Her mood was, however, more of +anger than of sorrow, and there was an air of almost insolent pride in +the way she now knocked, and then, without waiting for reply, entered +the room. + +"Madame de Heidendorf requests that the Princess will appear in the +drawing-room," said she, abruptly, and confronting Kate's look of +confusion with a steadfast stare. + +"Say that I am indisposed, Nina,----that I feel tired and unwell," said +Kate, timidly. + +"There is an Archduke, Madame." + +"What care I for an Archduke, Nina?" said Kate, trying to smile away the +awkwardness of her own disturbed manner. + +"I have always believed that great folk liked each other," said Nina, +sarcastically. + +"Then I must lack one element of that condition, Nina," said Kate, +good-humoredly; "but pray make my excuses,--say anything you like so +that I may be left in quiet." + +"How delightful Madame's reveries must be, when she attaches such value +to them!" + +"Can you doubt it, Nina?" replied Kate, with a forced gayety. "A +betrothed bride ought to be happy; you are always telling me so. I hear +of nothing from morn till night but of rich caskets of gems and jewels; +you seem to think that diamonds would throw a lustre over any gloom." + +[Illustration: 120] + +"And would they not?" cried Nina, passionately "Has not the brow nobler +and higher thoughts when encircled by a coronet like this? Does not +the heart beat with greater transport beneath gems like these?" And she +opened case after case of sparkling jewels as she spoke, and spread them +before Kate, on the table. + +"And yet I have learned to look on them calmly," said Kate, with an +expression of proud indifference. + +"Does not that dazzle you?" said Nina, holding up a cross of rose +diamonds. + +"No!" said Kate, shaking her head. + +"Nor that?" cried Nina, displaying a gorgeous necklace. + +"Nor even that, Nina." + +"Is Madame's heart so steeled against womanly vanities," said Nina, +quickly, while she threw masses of costly articles before her, "that not +one throb, not one flush of pleasure, is called up at sight of these?" + +"You see, Nina, that I can look on them calmly." + +"Then this, perchance, may move you!" cried Nina; and with a bound +she sprang to the table at which Kate was seated, and, dashing the +handkerchief away, seized the miniature, and held it up. + +Kate uttered a shrill cry and fell back fainting. Nina gazed at her for +a second or so with a look of haughty disdain, and sprinkling the pale +features with a few drops of water, she turned away. With calm composure +she replaced each precious gem within its case, laid the miniature once +more beneath the handkerchief, and then left the room. + +"Your Princess will not honor us, it seems, with her company," said the +Archduke, half in pique, as the messenger returned with Kate's excuses; +"and yet I looked for her coming to get rid of all the farrago of +politics that you wise folk will insist upon talking." + +The Countess and the Minister exchanged most significant glances at +this speech, while D'Esmonde politely assented to the remark, by adding +something about the relaxation necessary to overwrought minds, and the +need that princes should enjoy some repose as well as those of lower +degree. "I can, however, assure your Imperial Highness," said he, "that +this is no caprice of the young Princess. She is really far from well, +and was even unable to receive her own relative this afternoon, the +Count von Dalton." + +"What, is old Auersberg a relative of hers?" + +"An uncle, or a grand-uncle,--I forget which, sir." + +"Then that wild youth in the Franz Carl must be a connection too?" + +"The cadet is her brother, sir." + +"Indeed! What an extravagant fellow it is! They say that, counting on +being Auersberg's heir, he spends money in every possible fashion; and +as the tradespeople take the succession on trust, his debts are already +considerable. It was only yesterday his colonel spoke to me of sending +him to the Banat, or some such place. His family must be rich, I +suppose?" + +"I believe quite the reverse, sir. Poor to indigence. Their entire hope +is on the Count von Auersberg." + +"He held a frontier command for many years, and must have saved money. +But will he like to see it in hands like these?" + +"I believe--at least so the story goes," said D'Esmonde, dropping his +voice to a whisper, "that the boy's arguments have scarcely assisted his +object in that respect. They say that he told the Count that in times +like these no man's fortune was worth a year's purchase; that when +monarchs were tottering and thrones rocking, it were better to spend +one's means freely than to tempt pillage by hoarding it." + +"Are these his notions?" cried the Archduke, in amazement + +"Yes; the wildest doctrines of Socialism are his creed,--opinions, +I grieve to say, more widely spread than any one supposes." + +"How is this, then? I see the private regimental reports of every corps, +I read the conduct-rolls of almost every company, and yet no hint of +this disaffection has reached me. + +"A priest could reveal more than an adjutant, sir," said the Abbe, +smiling. "These youths who fancy themselves neglected,--who think their +claims disregarded,--who, in a word, imagine that some small pretension, +on the score of family, should be the spring of their promotion, are +easily seduced into extravagant ideas about freedom and so forth." + +"Austria is scarce the land for such fruit to ripen in," said the +Archduke, laughing. "Let him try France, or the United States." + +"Very true, your Highness," chimed in the Abbe; "but such boys ought to +be watched,--their conduct inquired strictly into." + +"Or better still, Monsieur l'Abbe," said the Archduke, sternly, +"dismissed the service. I see no profit in retaining amongst us the +seeds of this French malady." + +"I believe your Highness takes the true view of the difficulty," said +D'Esmonde, as though reflecting over it. "And yet you will be asked to +make an officer of him in a day or two." + +"An officer of this boy, and why, or by whom?" + +"The Princess, his sister, will make the request; probably through Von +Auersberg." + +"But when I tell the Feld--" + +"Ah, your Imperial Highness could not betray a confidence!" said +D'Esmonde. "I have ventured to disclose to you what has come to my +knowledge by means only accessible to myself; I therefore rely on your +Highness not to divulge, however you may use it." + +"He shall not continue to wear our cloth; that you may certainly rely +on, Monsieur l'Abbe," said the Archduke, sternly. + +"In any case, wait for his sister's departure, sir," said D'Esmonde, +anxiously; "a few days or hours. As soon as this silly old lady has made +up that budget of gossip and scandal she fancies to be political news, +we 'll see her leave this, and then he can be dealt with as you think +proper." + +The Archduke made no reply,--not seeming either to assent to or reject +the counsel. "It would break the old Marshal's heart," said he, at last; +"that gallant old soldier would never survive it." + +"A treason might, indeed, kill him," said D'Esmonde. "But your Highness +will anticipate exposure by dismissal--dismissal, peremptory and +unexplained." + +Again the Archduke was silent, but his lowering brow and dark expression +told that the subject was giving him deep and serious thought. "I paid +no attention to your conversation this evening, Abbe," said be, at last; +"but it struck me, from a chance word here and there, that you suspect +these same 'Liberal' notions are gaining ground." + +"Heresies against the Faith, sir, have begotten their natural offspring, +heresies against the State; and Governments do not yet awaken to the +fact that they who scorn the altar will not respect the throne. The +whole force of what are called Liberal institutions has been to weaken +the influence of the clergy; and yet it is precisely on that same +influence you will have to fall back. It is beneath the solemn shadow of +the Church you'll seek your refuge yet!" + +"No, no, father," said the Archduke, with a laugh; "we have another +remedy." + +"The mitre is stronger than the _mitraille_, after all," said +D'Esmonde, boldly. "Believe me, sir, that the solemn knell that tolls +an excommunication will strike more terror through Christendom than all +your artillery." + +Either the remark or the tone in which it was uttered was unpleasing +to the Prince; indeed, all the Abbe's courtesy at times gave way to an +almost impetuous boldness, which royalty never brooks, for he turned +away haughtily, and joined the others at a distant part of the room. + +There was something of scorn in the proud look which D'Esmonde gave +after him, and then slipped from the chamber with noiseless step and +disappeared. Inquiring the way to the Princess's apartment, the Abbe +slowly ascended the stairs, pondering deeply as he went. Nina was +passing the corridor at the moment, and, supposing that he had mistaken +the direction, politely asked if she could offer him any guidance. +Scarcely noticing the questioner, he replied,---- + +"I was looking for the Princesse de Midchekoff's apartments." + +"It is here, sir; but she is indisposed." + +"If you would say that the Abbe D'Esmonde--" + +He had got thus far when, lifting his eyes, his glance fell upon her +features; and then, as if spell-bound, he stood silently gazing at her. +Nina's cheek grew crimson under the stare; but her eyes met his with +unshaken firmness. + +"If I were to disbelieve all probabilities," said he, slowly, "I should +say that I see an old friend before me. Are you not the daughter of +Huertos, the Toridor of Seville?" + +"Fra Eustace!" said Nina, stepping back and staring steadily at him. + +"No longer so, Lola; I am the Abbe D'Esmonde now," said he, while a +faint flush tinged his pale features. + +"And I am Nina, the 'Cameriera,'" replied she, scornfully. "See how +unequally fortune has dealt with us!" + +D'Esmonde made a sign towards the door, which she at once understood and +answered,---- + +"Yes, in the service of the Princess." + +"This is indeed a strange meeting, Lola." + +"Call me Nina," said the girl, flushing, "or I shall remember old times, +and my Spanish blood will little bear such memories." + +"Where can we talk together, Nina?" + +"Come this way, holy father," said she, with a half-sneering smile. "I +suppose a poor girl may receive her confessor in her chamber." + +D'Esmonde walked after her without speaking. While crossing a gallery, +she unlocked a door, and admitted him into a small but neatly furnished +room. + +"Dear Lola," said the priest, as, taking her hand, he looked +affectionately at her,--"I must needs call you by the old name,--what +turn of fortune has brought you here?" + +"It is a question well becomes you," said the girl, releasing her +hand from his grasp, and drawing herself proudly up. "You cut the bark +adrift, and you wonder that it has become a wreck!" + +"How this old warmth of temper recalls the past, and how I love you for +it, as I grieve over it, Lola; but be calm, and tell me everything, just +as you used to tell me years ago." + +"Oh, if I had the same pure heart as then!" cried the girl, +passionately. "Oh, if I could but shed tears, as once I did, over each +slight transgression, and not have my spirit seared and hardened, as the +world has made it!" + +"We cannot carry the genial freshness of youth into the ripe years of +judgment, Lola. Gifts decay, and others succeed them." + +"No more of this casuistry. _You_ are, I see, the same, whatever changes +time may have made in _me_; but I have outlived these trickeries. Tell +me, frankly, what do you want with me?" + +"Must there needs be some motive of self-interest in renewing an old +but interrupted friendship, Lola? You remember what we once were to +each other?" + +"Oh that I could forget it!----oh that I could wash out the thought, or +even think it but a dream! But how can you recall these memories? If the +sorrow be mine, is not the shame all yours?" + +"The shame and the sorrow are alike mine," said D'Es-monde, in a voice +of deep dejection, "_You_ alone, of all the world, were ever able to +shake within me the great resolves that in prayer and devotion I +had formed. For you, Lola, I was, for a space, willing to resign the +greatest cause that ever man engaged in. Ay, for love of _you_, I was +ready to peril everything--even to my soul! Is not this enough for shame +and sorrow too? Is not this humiliation for one who wears the robe that +I do?" + +"You were a student in those days," said Nina, with a sneering smile; +"and I never heard you speak of all those dreadful sacrifices. You used +to talk of leaving the college with a light heart. You spoke of the +world as if you were impatient to mingle with it. You planned I know +not how many roads to fortune and advancement. Among other careers, +I remember"--and here she burst into a scornful laugh, that made the +priest's cheek grow crimson with passion----"I remember how you hit upon +one which speaks rather for your ardor than your prudence. Do you forget +that you would be a Toridor,--you whose cheek grew pale and whose +heart sickened as my father's horse lay embowelled in the ring, and who +fainted outright when the bull's horns were driven into the barricade +near you. You a Toridor! A Toridor should have courage!" And as she +spoke, her eyes flashed with the fire of passion. + +"Courage!" said the priest, in a voice almost guttural from emotion; +"and is there no other courage than the vulgar defiance of personal +danger,--the quality of the veriest savage and the merest brute in +creation? Is there nothing more exalted in courage than to face bodily +peril? Are all its instincts selfishness? What think you of the courage +of him who, in all the conscious strength of intellect, with powers to +win an upward way amongst the greatest and the highest, can stoop to a +life of poverty and neglect, can give up all that men strive for,--home, +affection, family, citizenship,----content to toil apart and alone, +----to watch, to fast, and pray, and think,----ay, think till the very +brain reels with labor,--and all this for a cause in which he is but a +unit! Courage! Tell me not of courage beside that of him who dares to +shake the strongest thrones, and convulses empires with his word, whose +counsels brave the might of armies, and dare even kings to controvert; +and, greatest of all, the courage that for a cause can risk salvation! +Yes, Lola, he who to save others hazards his own eternity! Have I not +done it?" cried he, carried away by an impetuous rush of feeling. "Have +I not overborne the truth and sustained the falsehood? Have I not +warped the judgments, and clouded the faculties, and misdirected the +aspirations of many who came to me for counsel, knowing that if there +might be evil now there would be good hereafter, and that for present +and passing sorrow there would be a glorious day of rejoicing? To this +end have I spoke Peace to the guilty man and Hope to the hardened! Not +for him, nor for me, but for the countless millions of the Church,--for +the mighty hosts who look to her for succor and consolation! This I call +courage!" + +And he drew himself proudly up, and folded his arms on his breast with +an air of haughty composure; while the girl, awed by his manner, and +subdued by the impetuosity of his speech, gazed at him in half fear and +wonderment. + +"Tell me of your father, Lola," said D'Esmonde, in a low, soft voice, as +he drew her low seat to his side. + +"_He_ was killed at Madrid; he died before the Queen!" said she, +proudly. + +"The death of a Toridor!" muttered the priest, mournfully. + +"Yes, and Pueblos too,--he is dead!" + +"Not the little child that I remember--" + +"The same. He grew up to be a fine man; some thought him handsomer than +my father. My mother's family would have made a priest of him, but he +chose the prouder destiny." + +"I cannot think of him but as the child,--the little fellow who played +about my knees; dressed like a matador, his long silky hair in a net." + +"Oh, do not----do not speak of him," cried the girl, burying her face +between her hands; "my heart will not bear those memories." + +The priest's face was lighted up with a malevolent delight as he bent +over her, as if revelling in the thought the emotions could call up. + +"Poor little fellow!" said he, as if to himself. "How I remember his +bolero that he danced for me." He stopped, and she sobbed bitterly. "He +said that Lola taught him." + +She looked up; the tears were fast coursing along her cheeks, which were +pale as death. + +"Eustace," said she, tremulously, "these thoughts will drive me mad; my +brain is reeling even now." + +"Let us talk of something else, then," said he. "When did you leave the +'Opera'--and why?" + +"How can you ask? you were at Seville at the time. Have you forgotten +that famous, marriage, to which, by your persuasion, I consented; was +this scheme only one of those unhappy events which are to be the seed of +future good?" + +The sneer made no impression on the priest, who calmly answered, "Even +so, Lola." + +"What do you mean, sir?" cried she, angrily; "to what end am I thus? +Was I so base born and so low? Was my lot in life so ignominious that +I should not have raised my ambition above a fortune like this,--the +waiting-woman of one whose birth is not better than my own?" + +"You are right, Lola,----perfectly right; and with patience and prudence +you will be her equal yet. Acton is an English noble--" + +"What care I for that?" said she, passionately; "the marriage was a +counterfeit." + +"The marriage was a true and valid one." + +"And yet you yourself told me it was not binding." + +"I had my reasons for the deceit, Lola," said he, persuasively. "You +were deserted and desolate; such widowhood would have brought you to +the grave with sorrow. It were better that you should strive against +misery." + +"Even in shame?" asked she, scornfully. + +"Even in shame, for the shame would be short-lived; but Lord Norwood is +alive, and you are his wife." + +"Lord Norwood! I have heard that name so often," said she, musingly. + +"At Florence, of course, he was every night at the Mazzarini Palace; the +same Gerald Acton you remember long ago." + +"And he is a lord,--an English noble?" + +"And you are an English peeress, Lola. There is not a coronet more safe +upon a titled head than I can make yours,--can and will make," added +he, slowly. "But you must be patient; I must now speak to you, Lola, of +themes in which you can take no interest, and subjects of which you know +nothing. But listen to me attentively, and hear me; for fortune has not +thus thrown us together without a meaning. + +"The hour is come, Lola, when heretics and infidels have determined on +an attack of our faith; not as they have hitherto attempted, and with +such signal failure, by the weapons of controversy and discussion, but +by brute force; by the might of millions driven to madness from want +and misgovernment To avert this terrible calamity is now the unceasing +thought of the Church. Some have counselled one thing, some another; +some would go forth to the fight, trusting that, as of old, God +would not forget his people; there are others who deem this course +presumptuous and unwise. The hearts of kings are not as they once +were,--in their confessors' keeping. Our age and manners would send +forth no crusade. The battle must be otherwise contested. You could +not follow me, Lola, were I to tell you either of the perils or their +antidotes. Enough that I say we must have trusty and faithful agents in +every land of Europe, and in every rank in every people. From the secret +whisperings of the Czar to the muttered discontent of the Irish peasant, +we must know them all. To this end have we labored anxiously and eagerly +for some time back, and already have we made great progress. From every +Court of Europe we now receive tidings, and there is not a royal palace +where our interests are unguarded. Some serve us for the glorious cause +itself, some have their own price, some again are in our own hands +from motives of self-interest or terror, but all are alike true. This +Princess--this Dalton--I destined for a duty of the same nature. Married +to a man of Midchekoff's wealth and influence, she might have done +good service, but I scarcely dare to trust her; even at the sacrifice +of herself she might fail me, and, although in my power, I cannot count +upon her. Think, then, of my joy at finding you, one on whose fidelity I +may hazard life itself. You can be all to me, and a thousand times more +than ever she could." + +"Your spy," said the girl, steadily, but without the slightest semblance +of anger. + +"My friend, my counsellor, my correspondent, Lola." + +"And the price?" + +"You may name it. If your heart be set on mere worldly distinction, I +will prove your marriage, and although Norwood is not rich, his country +never neglects the class he belongs to. Would you break the tie, the +bond is in my keeping." + +"I never loved him," cried she, passionately, "and you knew it. The +marriage was one of those snares on which your mind never ceases to +dwell--" + +"If you loved another, Lola--?" said he, interrupting, and then waiting +for her to finish her speech. + +"And if I had," burst she forth, "am I credulous enough to fancy that +your word can reconcile every difference of rank and fortune,--that you +can control destiny, and even coerce affection? No, no, Eustace; I have +outlived all that!" + +"Then were you wiser when you believed it," said he, gravely. "Now for +his name." + +There was a tone of almost commanding influence in which these last few +words were uttered, and his dark full eyes were steadily fixed on her as +he spoke them. + +She hesitated to answer, and seemed to reflect. + +"I ask no forced confession, Lola," said he, proudly, and rising at the +same time from his seat "In all the unreserve of our old affection, I +told you _my_ secret; _yours_ is with yourself." + +"But can you--" She stopped. + +"I can, and I will aid you," said he, finishing her sentence. + +"There is the name, then!" cried she, as, with a passionate gesture, she +drew a sealed letter from her bosom, and showed him the superscription. + +D'Esmonde almost started; but, recovering himself in an instant, he +said,---- + +"The address is not correct, Lola. It should be thus--" And taking a +pen, he drew it across the last line on the cover, and wrote, instead, +"Dewanpore Barracks, Calcutta." "We must talk together this evening," +said he, restoring the letter, and, without more, withdrew. + + + + +CHAPTER X. D'ESMONDE'S LETTER + +It will spare the reader a somewhat lengthy digression if we give him +a peep at an extract from a letter written at this period by the Abbe +D'Esmonde to a friend and fellow priest in Ireland. It was written on +the very evening whose events we have just mentioned, and when fresh +from the scenes of which he speaks. + +The name or circumstances of the Abbe's confidant have no interest for +us; nor need we allude to him more particularly than by stating that he +was one who took a prominent part in his country's politics, and was +a well-known agitator, both in print and on the platform. The present +moment might not be inopportune to show the injustice of that sneer so +often passed upon men of this stamp, and which assumes that their whole +lives are spent in the agitation of small and irritating questions of +mere local interest,--the petty intrigues of a village or a hamlet,--and +without knowledge or interest for those greater themes which stir the +heart of all Europe. We must not, however, be led away from our purpose, +but, leaving these inferences to our reader's appreciation, keep to the +sober business of our task. + +We have only to premise that D'Esmonde and his friend had been +schoolfellows and college companions, and that the revelations made were +in all the confidence of unbounded trust and security. Neither was the +hazard of a post-office incurred, for the document was forwarded, with +several letters from Rome, by a private hand,--a priest, who twice each +year performed the journey on a similar errand, and--shall we startle +our reader if we add, in a spirit apart from all the caprices of +fiction----still travels on the same mission. + +After some apology for the time the epistle would be on the road, seeing +that it should first return to Rome ere it began its journey northward, +D'Esmonde next alludes to some private and personal matters, and some +individuals of their acquaintance, and then proceeds:---- + + "It is not without much inconvenience that I am here at this + moment, but my presence was necessary to neutralize the + influence of this troublesome old Countess, and who would + fain stop, if she could, all these liberal movements ere + they have developed their true meaning. You can have no idea + how difficult is this task, nor with what persistent folly + people go on repeating each other's 'platitudes' about + 'timely checks,' 'scotching the snake,' and so forth. It is + now upwards of half a century since Europe has seen a real + political convulsion. + + A new lesson is wanting. I often used to hope that you of + the West might be able to give it. I had great expectations + of Chartism at one time. It possessed the due elements of + mischief in abundance; it was infidel and hungry; but it + wanted the great requisites,--determination and courage. The + example must come from the Continent, and, in one respect, + it is so much the better. Your home disturbers would be + necessarily the enemies of the Anglican Church, whereas + _our_ anarchists here are inseparably associated with + Protestantism. This _coup_ required some cleverness, but we + at last accomplished it. Ronge's movement of secession gave + the first opportunity; the Swiss troubles offered the + second; a little more, and the _Bonnet rouge_ will be the + symbol of the Protestant faith. Mark the advantage of this; + see the distrust with which every nation of the Continent + will regard England and her constitution mongering; look how + they will be induced to associate her printed cottons with + her Church, and connect the spread of her trade with the + treacherous dissemination of her doctrines. So far, so good. + And then, remember, that to all this anarchy and ruin the + Church of the true faith alone offers any effectual + opposition,--the 'Platoon' for the hour of conflict; but to + the priest must they come to consolidate the shattered + edifice,--to rebuild the tottering fabric of society. Men do + not see this yet; and there is but one way to teach it,--a + tremendous lesson of blood and anarchy. This is in store for + them, believe me. + + "My great difficulty is to persuade these people to + patience. They will not wait, as Napoleon did for the + Prussians, till they were _'en flagrant delit;_' and yet, if + they do not, the whole experiment goes for nothing. With all + their hordes of horse, foot, and dragoons, their grape and + canister, their grenades and rocket-batteries, they have not + the courage of a poor priest His Holiness is, however, + doing better. He has taken the whole _au serieux_; he has + brought himself to believe that moderate reforms--what are + they?--will satisfy the wishes of demagogue ambition, and + that when he has lashed popular fury into full speed, he can + check it at will. Of course you guess what will follow, and + you already see what a busy time is before us. Oh, my dear + Michel, I can stop here, and, closing my eyes, revel in the + glorious future that must succeed! I see the struggle before + me; and know that some good men, mayhap some great ones, + will fall in it; but in the distance I see the dome of St. + Peter's rising majestically above the clouds of battle, and + the countless millions kneeling once more before its altars! + + "I do not clearly understand you about Ireland, although I + agree in the policy of putting the Protestant rebel in the + foreground. A conflict ever so brief with the Government + would be most useful. I have thought a good deal on the + subject, and am convinced that nothing would awe England + more than the impression of any foreign assistance being + given to Irish insurrection, while it would lend to _your_ + loyalty the grand trait of nationality. This is a highly + important feature. Remark how they are taunting us with + being ultramontane just now, and think what an answer this + will be to the sarcasm! I am sure--that is, if you concurred + with me--I could easily persuade some young fellows in this + service to join the movement. As officers, and well + acquainted with military details, they would have a + formidable effect in English eyes. I have two or three in my + mind already; one, a brother of my young Princess, that fair + damsel of whom I spoke in my last letter as my destined + _charge d'affaires_ at St. Petersburg,--a very difficult + post to fill, and one for which I am by no means sure she + will be adequate. When I reflect on the difficulties + experienced by us in arriving at truth, we, who have the + hearts of men so open before us, I am astounded at any + success that attends a mere secular government. More than + two thirds of those with whom I live are, so to say, in my + power,--that is, their reputation and their fortunes; and + yet I must make them feel this ten times a day to turn them + to my account. Believe me the Holy Office was right: there + is an inseparable bond of union between truth and a thumb- + screw! + + "Tell me if you wish for military aid; substantially, I am + well aware, it would be worth nothing, but it might assist + in pushing your patriots, who, I must own, are a cautious + race, a step further. This Dalton boy is a thorough Austrian + up to this,--a regular 'God and the Emperor' soldier; but I + have thrown more stubborn metal into the crucible, and seen + it come out malleable. + + "You ask about the 'converts;' and I must own that their + defection is a greater slur on Protestantism than any matter + of glorification to us. They are unceasing in their + exactions, and all fancy that no price is too high for the + honor of their alliance; not a shovel-hat amongst them who + does not expect to be a 'monsignore' at least! + + "Some, however, like my friend Lady Hester, are wealthy, and + in this way reward the trouble they give us. On her security + I have obtained a loan, not of the sum you wished for, but + of a smaller amount, the particulars of which I enclose. I + know not if you will agree with me, but my opinion is, that + nothing should be expended on the Irish press. Its influence + is slight, and purely local; reserve all your seductions for + the heavier metal on the other side of the Channel, and who, + however ignorantly they talk, are always heard with respect + and attention. + + "I cannot go over as you propose, nor, if I could, should I + be of any use to you. You all understand your people, their + habits and modes of thought, far better than we do, who have + been fencing with cardinals, and sparring with the sacred + college, for the last ten or a dozen years. Above all + things, no precipitation; remember that your grand policy is + the maintenance of that feverish condition that paralyses + every effort of English policy. Parade all your grievances; + but rather to display the submission with which you bear + them than to pray for their relief. Be touchy only for + trifles; keep all your martyrdom for great occasions; never + forget that this time it is your loyalty! is to be rewarded. + Adieu, my dear Michel. Tell his Grace whatever you think fit + of these my opinions, and say, also, that he may rely on us + here for withdrawing or confirming, as he pleases, any + concessions he may deem proper to grant the English + Government. We know his difficulties, and will take care not + to augment them. As to the cardinal's hat, let him have no + doubts; only beg him to be circumspect, and that this is not + the time to assume it! If men would but see what a great + cause we have, and how it is to be won by waiting,--nothing + more, Michel,----nothing more, believe me, than mere + waiting! + + "All that you tell me, therefore, about titles and + dignities, and so forth, is premature. With patience you + will be enabled to assume all, from which a momentary + precipitation would infallibly see you repulsed. A few of + your leading men still cling to the ruinous notion of + elevating Ireland; for Heaven's sake cease not to combat + this. It is the Church--the Church alone--for which we + combat. Her difficulties are enough, without linking her + fortune to such a sinking destiny! you have many able men + amongst you, and they ought to see this proposition in its + true light. + + "You are right--though you only threw it out in jest--about + the interest I feel for my little Princess and her brother. + It was the charity of a relative of theirs--a certain Mr. + Godfrey--that first gave me the entrance into my career. + He sent me to Louvain as a boy, and thence to Salamanca, and + afterwards to Borne. He paid liberally for my education, and + I believe intended, had he lived, to have provided + handsomely for me. The story has an ugly ending; at least + the rumors are gloomy ones; and I would rather not revive + their memory. Here have I fallen into a sad track of + thought, dear Michel; and now it is past midnight, and all + is silent about me, and I feel half as if I ought to tell + you everything, and yet that everything resolves itself into + nothing; for of my actual knowledge, I possess not one + single fact + + "Can you conceive the position of a man with a great, a + glorious future before him,--rewards the very highest his + wildest ambition ever fancied,--a sphere to exercise powers + that he feels within, and but needing a field for their + display? Picture to yourself such a man, and then fancy him + tortured by one terrible suspicion, one damning doubt,--that + there is a flaw in his just title to all this; that some day + or other there may rise up against him--he knows not how or + whence or why--from the very earth as it were, a voice to + say, 'you are disowned, disgraced,--you are infamous before + men!' Such a terrible hell have I carried for years within + me! Yes, Michel, this ulcer is eating at my very heart, and + yet it is only like a vision of evil,--some mind-drawn + picture, carried up from infancy through boyhood, and + stealing on, year by year, into the prime of life, + strengthening its ties on me like a malady. + + "You will say this is a diseased imagination,--the fruits of + an overworked brain, or, not improbably, the result of an + overwrought vanity, that would seek consolation for failures + in the dim regions of superstition. It may be so; and yet I + have found this terror beset me more in the seasons of my + strength and activity than in those of sickness and + depression. Could I have given a shape and color to my + thoughts, I might have whispered them in the confessional, + and sought some remedy against their pain; but I could not. + They flash on my waking faculties like the memories of a + recent dream. I half doubt that they are not real, and look + around me for the evidences of some change in my condition. + I tremble at the first footstep that draws near my door, + lest the new-comer should bring the tidings of my downfall! + + "I was at Borne--a student of the Irish college--when this + cloud first broke over me. Some letter came from Ireland,-- + some document containing a confession, I believe. I was + summoned before the superiors, and questioned as to my + family, of which I knew nothing; and as to my means, of + which I could tell as little. My attainments at the college + were inquired into, and a strict scrutiny aa to my conduct; + but though both were above reproach, not a word of + commendation escaped them; on the contrary, I overheard, + amid their whisperings, the terrible word 'degradato!' You + can fancy how my heart sank within me at a phrase so + significant of shame and debasement! + + "I was told the next morning that my patron was dead, and + that, having no longer the means to support the charges of a + student, I should become a 'laico;' in other words, a + species of servant in the college. These were dreadful + tidings; but they were short of what I feared. There was + nothing said of 'degradation.' I struggled, however, against + the hardship of the sentence,--I appealed to my proficiency + in study, the prizes I had won, the character I bore, and so + on; but although a few months more would have seen me + qualified for the priesthood, my prayer was rejected, and I + was made a 'laico.' Two months afterwards I was sent to the + convent of 'Espiazione,' at Ancona. Many of my early letters + have told you the sufferings of that life!--the awful + punishments of that gloomy prison, where all are + 'degradati,' and where none are to be found save men stained + with the foulest crimes. I was seventeen months there,----a + 'laico,'--a servant of the meanest class,--no consolation of + study, no momentary solace in tracing others' thoughts to + relieve the horrible solitude of my own. Labor--incessant + debasing labor--my lot from day till dawn. + + "I have no clew to the nature of my guilt I declare solemnly + before Heaven, as I write these lines, that I am not + conscious of a crime, save such as the confessional has + expiated; and yet the ritual of my daily life implied such. + The offices and litanies I had to repeat, the penances I + suffered, were those of the 'Espiazione!' I dare not trust + myself to recall this terrible period,----the only + rebellious sentiment my heart has ever known sprang from + that tortured existence. As an humble priest in the wildest + regions of Alpine snow, as a missionary among the most + barbarous tribes, I could have braved hardships, want, death + itself; but as the 'de-gradato,' dragging out life in + failing strength, with faculties each day weaker, watching + the ebb of intellect, and wondering how near I was to that + moping idiocy about me, and whether in that state suffering + and sorrow slept! Oh, Michel! my hands tremble, and the + tears blot the paper as I write. Can this ordeal ever work + for good? The mass sink into incurable insanity,--a few, + like myself, escape; and how do they come back into the + world? I speak not of other changes; but what hardness of + the heart is engendered by extreme suffering, what + indifference to the miseries of others I How compassionless + do we become to griefs that are nothing to those we have + ourselves endured! you know well that mine has not been a + life of indolence, that I have toiled hard and long in the + cause of our faith, and yet I have never been able to throw + off the dreary influence of that conventual existence. In + the excitement of political intrigue I remember it least; in + the whirlwind of passions by which men are moved, I can for + a time forget the cell, the penance, and the chain. I have + strong resentments, too, Michel. I would make them feel that + to him they sentenced once to 'degradation' must they now + come for advice and guidance,--that the poor 'laico' can now + sit at their councils and direct their acts. There is + something so glorious in the tyranny of Rome, so high above + the petty sovereignty of mere kings, soaring beyond the + bounds of realms and states, crossing Alps and oceans, + proclaiming its proud edicts in the great cities of Europe, + declaring its truths in the silent forests of the Far West, + stirring the heart of the monarch on his throne, thrilling + the rugged breast of the Indian in his wigwam, that even to + bear a banner in its ranks is a noble privilege. And now I + come back to these children, with whose fortunes I feel + myself--I know not how--bound up. They were related to this + Mr. Godfrey, and that, perchance, may be the secret link + which binds us. The girl might have won a grand destiny,-- + she had beauty, grace, fascination, all that men prize in + these days of ours; but there was no high ambition,--nothing + beyond the thirst for personal admiration. I watched her + anxiously and long. There was a weak goodness about her + heart, too, that gave no promise of self-sacrifice. Such, + however, as she is, she is mine. As for the boy, I saw him + yesterday for the first time; but he cannot be a difficult + conquest. Again I hear you ask me, why can I turn from great + events and stirring themes to think of these? and again I + own that I cannot tell you. Power over every one, the + humblest as the highest, the weakest in purpose and the + strongest of heart,--power to send forth or to restrain, to + crush or to exalt,--this is the prize of those who, like you + and me, walk humbly, that we may reign proudly. + + "And now, dear Michel, good-bye. I have made you a + confession, and if I have told little, the fault is not + mine. You know all my sentiments on great events,--my hopes + and my anticipations. I must leave this to-morrow, or the + day after, for there is much to do beyond the Alps. If kings + and kaisers but knew as much as we poor priests, the coming + would scarce be a merry Christmas with them. + + "Yours, in all truth and brotherhood, + + "Mathew D'Esmonde. + + "Feast of St Pancratras, Hof Thor, Vienna." + +It was already daybreak when D'Esmonde finished his letter; but, instead +of retiring to bed, he opened his window, and sat enjoying the fresh air +of the morning. Partly from habit, he opened his book of "offices;" but +his eyes wandered, even from the oft-repeated lines, to the scene before +him,----the spreading glacis,----where already the troops were mustering +for parade. "What a strange thing is courage!" thought he. "I, who feel +my spirit quail at the very rumbling sound of a gun-carriage, haye a +soul to see all Europe convulsed, and every nation in arms, undismayed!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE CADET VON DALTON + +As Madame de Heidendorf's mornings were always passed in receiving the +visits or answering the letters of her political acquaintances, Kate was +free to spend her hours with Frank, exchanging confidences, and +talking of that dear home from which they were more separated even by +circumstance than by space. + +The cadet had obtained leave for the entire day,--an inconceivable favor +in his eyes,--and Kate was seated at her breakfast when he appeared. +When they met the day before, Frank's undivided attention had been drawn +to Kate herself,--the change in her whole air and manner, that graceful +dignity of mien which elevated his regard for her to a species of +worship. Now, however, he had time to be struck with the accessories of +her position,--the gorgeous chamber, the splendid silver of the service, +the rich liveries, everything which bespoke her proud and affluent +condition. + +"I almost start back with shame, Kate," said he, "if, in passing these +great mirrors, I catch a glimpse of my humble figure, so unsuited does +it seem to magnificence like this; nor can I help thinking that your +household agrees with me. With all their respectful courtesy, they must +wonder when they look on the brother of their Princess." + +"You know well, dearest Frank, that in your service the highest in the +land must pass the ordeal of cadetship." + +"Which means half an hour for an archduke, and a forenoon for a serene +highness. Even Walstein took but a week to spring from the ranks to +a lieutenancy; a month later saw him a rittmeister; and already he +commands a regiment." + +"What a young soldier to have caught up the complaining cant about slow +promotion!" said Kate, laughing. + +"Ten months a cadet, and not even made corporal yet!" sighed Frank. "To +be sure, I might have been, had it not been for the 'stockhaus.'" + +"And what may that be, dear Frank?" + +"The prison; neither more nor less. When I came here, Kate, the nephew +or grand-nephew of the Feld-Marschall von Auersberg, I thought it became +me to assume something like style in my mode of life. My comrades told +me as much, too; and as I had no difficulty in obtaining credit, I ran +in debt everywhere. I lent to all who asked me, and gave away to many +more. Every one said the Feld would pay one day or other, and I never +confessed how poor we were at home. I know I was wrong there, dearest +Kate; I feel that acutely now; but somehow the deception I began with +others gained even more rapidly on myself. From continually talking of +our Dalton blood, and our high position in our own country, I grew to +believe it all, and fancied that some, at least, of these imaginings +must be real. But, above all, I cherished the hope that promotion would +come at last, and that I should live to be an honored soldier of the +Kaiser. + +"In the very midst of all this self-deception, the Feld returns to +Vienna from a tour of inspection, and, instead of sending to see me, +orders my Colonel to his presence. I know not, of course, what passed, +but report alleges that for an hour the old General harangued him in +terms the most bitter and insulting. Now, my dear sister, the wrath +poured out upon a commanding officer does not become diminished as it +descends through the successive grades of rank, and falls at last on the +private. For _my_ misdemeanor the regiment was ordered away from Vienna, +and sent to Laybach, in the very depth of winter too. This could not +help my popularity much among my comrades; and as I was now as destitute +of credit as of means, you may fancy the alteration of my position,--the +black bread of the commissary instead of the refined cookery of the +'Schwan;' the midnight patrol, in rain or snow-drift, in place of +the Joyous carouse of the supper-table; the rude tyranny of a vulgar +sergeant, in lieu of the friendly counsels of an equal; all that is +menial and servile,--and there is enough of both in the service,--heaped +upon me day after day; till, at last, my only hope was in the chance +that I might ultimately imbibe the rude feelings of the peasant-soldier, +and drag out my existence without a wish or a care for better. + +"As if to make life less endurable to me, the officers were forbidden +to hold intercourse with me; even such of the cadets as were above the +humbler class were ordered not to associate with me; my turns of duty +were doubled; my punishments for each trifling offence increased; and +there I was, a soldier in dress, a convict in duty, left to think over +all the flattering illusions I had once conceived of the service, its +chivalry, and its fame. + +"I wrote to Walstein, telling him that if I could not obtain my freedom +otherwise, I would desert. A copy of my letter, I know not how obtained, +was sent to my Colonel, and I was sentenced to a month's arrest, a week +of which I was to pass in irons. They now made me a rebel in earnest, +and I came out of the 'stockbaus' more insubordinate than I went in. It +would weary, and it would fret you, dearest sister, were I to tell all +the petty schemes I formed of resistance, and all the petty tyrannies +they brought down upon my head; the taunt of my 'gentle blood,' my +'noble origin,' my 'high descent,' being added to every cruelty they +practised, till I was ready to curse the very name that associated me +with this bitterness. They told me that a second desertion was always +punished with death, and that even the attempt was accounted as the act. +I resolved, then, to finish with this dreary existence, and I wrote a +farewell letter to poor Nelly, telling her that, as I was certain of +being taken, these were the last lines I should ever write. In this I +repeated all I have now told you, and a vast deal more, of the hardships +and indignities I had endured; and this, like my former letter, was sent +back to me. Then came three months more of durance, after which I came +out what they deemed a good soldier." + +"Subdued at last!" sighed Kate. + +"Not a bit of it. Like a Banat charger I had a kick in me, after all +their teaching and training. I found out the lance-corporal of our +company was the man who had discovered my letters. I sent him a +challenge, fought, and wounded him. Here was another offence; and now +the Minister of War was to deal with me himself; and I half fancied they +would be glad to get rid of me. Far from it The 'stockhaus' again, and +short fetters, my wrist to my ankle, were the sovereign remedies for all +misdeeds. In this plight I made my entrance into Vienna." + +"Did you never think of Uncle Stephen all this while, Frank,----never +appeal to him?" + +"Ay, Kate, and what was worse, _he_ thought of _me_, for he had my +punishment-rolls brought to him; and although from some good-natured +interference they did not forward more than a fourth of my misdeeds, +there was enough to condemn me in his eyes, and he wrote, 'No favor to +this cadet,' on the back of my certificate." + +"Poor boy! so friendless and deserted." + +"Persecuted by creditors, too," continued Frank, as, excited by the +recital of his sorrows, he paced the room in a transport of anger; +"fellows that never rested till they got me in their books, and now gave +me no peace for payment. Out of three kreutzers a day, Kate,--a penny +English,--I was to discharge all the debts of my extravagance, and live +in style! A Dalton, well born and nurtured, in a position of ignominious +poverty!" + +"Not one to aid you?" + +"Walstein was away in Bohemia with his regiment; and, perhaps, it +were better so, for I had told him such narratives of our family, such +high-flown stories of our princely possessions, that I could not have +had the courage to face him with an avowal of the opposite. At last I +did make a friend, Kate; at least one poor fellow took an interest in +me, talked to me of home, of you and Nelly; mostly of her, and of her +curious carvings, which he prized almost as much as little Hans used. He +sat with me many an hour under the trees of the Prater, or we strolled +along in the shady alleys of the 'Augarten;' and his companionship +somehow always soothed and comforted me, for he was so stored with book +learning that he could ever bring out something from Uhland or Richter +or Wieland that suited the moment, just as if the poet had one in his +mind when he wrote it. How often have I wished that I was like him, +Kate, and had a mind like his, teeming with its own resources against +sorrow." + +"Tell me more of him, Frank dearest; I feel an interest in him already." + +"And yet you would scarcely have liked him, if you saw him," said the +boy, with a bashful and hesitating manner. + +"Why not, Frank? His appearance might have been little promising, his +face and figure commonplace--" + +"No, no; not that,--not that Adolf was good-looking, with a fine, clear +brow, and a manly, honest face; nor was his manner vulgar,--at least, +for his station. He was a pedler." + +"A pedler, Frank," cried Kate, growing scarlet as she spoke. + +"Ay, I knew well how you would hear the word," said the boy; "I often +used to fancy my high-bred sister's scorn if she could but have seen the +companion whose arm lay around my neck, and who spoke to me as 'thou.'" + +Kate made no answer, but her cheek was crimson, and her lip trembled. + +"You and Walstein were never out of my thoughts," continued Frank; "for +I could fancy how each of you would look down upon him." + +"Not that, Frank," said she, in confusion; "if he were indeed kind to +you,--if he were a true friend in that time of dreariness and gloom." + +"So was he,----with hand and heart and purse. And yet,--confound that +sense of pride, which poisons every generous movement of the heart and +will not let it throb in unison with one of humble fortune!--I never +could get the Dalton out of my head. There it was, with that lumbering +old fabric of an Irish house, our wasteful habits, and our idle +dependants, all going down to ruin together; and instead of despising +myself for this, I only was ashamed--at what, think you?--of my +friendship for a pedler! Many a holiday have I kept my barrack-room +rather than be seen with Adolf in the Volks Garten or the Graben. I +liked to be along with him in the solitude of the Prater, or in our +country walks; but when he asked me to accompany him to the _cafe_ or +the theatre, Kate, to some ordinary in the Leopoldstadt, or some +wine-cellar on the Danube, I used to feign duty, or actually take a +comrade's guard, to avoid it How meanly you think of me for all this, +Kate! I see, by the flush upon your cheek, what shame the confession has +given you." + +Kate's confusion grew almost intolerable; she twice tried to speak, but +the effort was above her strength, and Frank, who mistook her silence +for rebuke, at last went on,---- + +"You may guess, Kate, from what I have now told you, how much soldiering +has realized all my early hopes and ambitions. I suppose times were +different long ago." + +"Of course they were, or Uncle Stephen would not now be a +field-marshal." + +As if in echo to her words, at this moment a servant, throwing wide the +door, announced "The Feld" himself. Frank fell back as the old General +advanced into the room, bowing with a courtesy that would have done +honor to a courtier. He was dressed in the uniform of his rank, and wore +all his decorations,--a goodly mass, that covered one entire side of his +coat. + +Approaching Kate with a manner of admirably blended affection and +respect, he kissed her hand, and then saluted her on either cheek. +"Forgive me, my dear niece," said be, "if I have not been earlier to pay +my respects, and say welcome to Vienna; but my note will have told you +that I was on duty yesterday with the Emperor." + +Kate blushed and bowed, for unhappily she had not read the note through. +Frank's presence had made her forget all but himself. With all the +gallantry of his bygone school, the old Feld proceeded to compliment +Kate on her beauty and grace, expressing in proper phrase his pride at +the possession of such a relative. + +"The Empress was the first to tell me of your arrival," said he; "and +nothing could be more gracious than the terms in which she spoke of +you." + +With a thrill of pleasure Kate heard these words, and greedily drank in +every syllable he uttered. Not alone her betrothal to the Prince, but +all the circumstances of her future destiny, seemed to be matters of +deep interest to the Court, and poor Kate listened with wonder to the +Feld as he recounted the various speculations her marriage had given +rise to. She little knew within what a narrow circle the sympathies +of royalty are forced to revolve, and how glad they are of anything to +relieve the tedious monotony of existence. One most important question +had already arisen, since the Empress had expressed a wish that the +young Princess should be presented to her; but Madame de Heidendorf +refused her permission, on the ground that she had not yet been +presented at the Court of the Czar. All the difficulties of the two +cases, the arguments for either course, the old General deployed with an +earnestness that if it at first amused, at last deeply interested Kate; +the flattering sense of self-importance giving a consequence to trifles +which, if told of another, she would have smiled at. + +"I was desirous of gratifying the Empress before I saw you, my dear +niece," said he, taking her hand; "but you may guess how much greater is +my anxiety now that I have learned to know you. It will be, indeed, a +proud day for the old Field-Marshal when he shall present one of his own +name and family, so gifted and so beautiful. A thorough Dalton!" added +he, gazing on her with rapture. + +"How glad am I, sir, to see that all the distinctions your great career +has won have not effaced the memory of our old name and house." + +"I have but added to it another as noble as itself," replied he, +haughtily. "Others have given their energies to degrade our ancient +lineage. It is to be your task and mine, Madame la Princesse, to replace +us in our rightful station." + +Kate instinctively sought out Frank with her eyes, but could barely +catch a glimpse of his figure within a recess of a window. More than +once the poor cadet had meditated an escape; but as the door was on the +opposite side of the room, he saw discovery would be inevitable. With a +graceful courtesy the old Feld asked after Father and Nelly, expressing +his wish to see and know them, in terms which plainly conveyed to Kate +his utter ignorance of their station and habits. + +"As a younger son myself, without the ties of fortune, I may be +permitted to doubt how far the head of a distinguished house has a +right, from any considerations of personal gratification, to reside away +from his country, Madame. I must own that my nephew's conduct in this +respect has not met my approval. I have not felt free to tell him so, +our intercourse being for so many years interrupted; but you will say as +much for me. Let him know that the great names of a nation ought not to +die out in people's memories." + +"You are aware, sir," said Kate, timidly, "that papa's means are not +as they once were; circumstances of economy first suggested his coming +abroad." + +"A reason that always has appeared to me insufficient," said the +other, sternly. "He could have reduced his establishment at home--fewer +hunters--less splendid banquets." + +"Hunters and banquets!" sighed Kate; "how little he knows of us!" + +"Here I see nothing but the best fruits of his system," said he, kissing +her hand with gallantry; "no cost could be accounted too much that +aided the attainment of such perfection. I am too old a courtier not +to distinguish between mere native gracefulness and that more polished +elegance which comes of refined intercourse. My niece is worthy to be a +princess! But your brother--" + +"Oh! what of dear Frank?" cried she, eagerly. + +"Simply this, Madame: habits of wasteful expenditure have unsuited him +to the stern realities of a soldier's life. With his fortune and his +tastes, he should have sought service among those popinjays that English +tailors make lancers or hussars of. He might have won the laurels +that are gathered on Honnslow or St. James's Park; he might have been +distinguished in that barbaric warfare you call an Indian campaign; but +here, in this empire, where soldiering means discipline, self-denial, +hardship, endurance!--I was eight years a cadet, Madame, twelve a +sous-lieutenant. I saw the decoration I should have received given to +another. The Dienst Kreutz I had won was refused me, because I had not +served twenty years; and yet, by accepting these and hundreds like them +as the inevitable necessities of the service, I am what now you see me." + +"And if Frank will be but patient--" + +"He may be a corporal within a year, Madame," said the Feld, gravely, +and with the air of a man who had advanced a somewhat bold pledge. + +"But he must be an officer within a week, sir," said Kate, taking the +General's hand within her own. "I seldom ask favors, and as seldom are +they refused me. The chivalry of Austria will surely suffer no attaint +from one whose distinction it is to be _your_ relative, and a Dalton. +Nay, dear uncle, this is the first, the very first request I have ever +made of you. It would not be meet for me to say, in _your_ presence, +what a guerdon is his name for his good conduct." + +"You are too sanguine, Madame. You do not know this boy." + +"Every thought of his heart I know,--every hope that sustains him. He +himself has told me all his shortcomings." + +"His insubordination?" + +"Yes." + +"Extravagance?" + +"Yes." + +"His days of imprisonment?" + +"Yes." + +"His arrests in irons?" + +"All--everything; and what are they, save the boyish excesses of one +who, carried away by high spirits, and buoyed up by the flattering sense +of relationship to a great and distinguished name, has been led on to +follies by the mere native warmth of temperament? It is easy to see how +little he thought of himself, and how much of his uncle!" + +The old General shook his head dubiously. + +"There, dear uncle," said she, pressing him into a seat before a table +with writing-materials, "take that pen and write." + +"Write what, dear child?" said he, with a softness very different from +his usual manner. + +"I know nothing of the forms, nor the fitting phrases. All I want is +that Frank should have his sword-knot." + +"You have learned the proper word, I see," said he, smiling, while he +balanced the pen doubtingly in his fingers "The Colonel of his regiment +is an imperial prince." + +"So much the better, uncle. A Hapsburg will know how to reward a +Dalton." + +"So, then, we begin thus," said the old General, whose half-suppressed +smile showed that he was merely jesting with her eagerness: "'Imperial +Highness,--the Cadet von Dalton, whose distinction it is to be the +grand-nephew of a very old soldier, and the brother of a very young +princess--'" + +"Nay, surely, this will not do," said Kate. + +"'A very young princess," resumed the Feld, as he continued to +write, "'who, confiding in her own captivations and your Highnesses +gallantry--'" + +"This is but jesting with me, uncle, and I am serious," said she, +poutingly. + +"And am not I serious, too, Madame?" cried he, laying down the pen. "If +I ask promotion for a boy whose whole career has been one infraction of +discipline, whose services are all inscribed in the Provost-Marshal's +return, is it not better that I should press his claims on the merits +of others than dwell upon his own misconduct? My dear child," said +he, affectionately, "there are natures that cannot bear a too sudden +prosperity, as there are individuals who cannot endure too sudden +changes of climate. Our Dalton blood has a little of this same +infirmity. Shall I tell you how I won my first step in the service? I +was at Hohenkirchen when Morea began his celebrated retreat through the +defiles of the Schwartzwald. The company in which I served as a simple +corporal occupied a large farm-house, on an elevated plateau, above the +road to Schweinfurt. We could see for miles along the valley, and +our position was taken up to observe the movement of the enemy, and +immediately report when his advanced guard came in sight. Our orders +also were to hold the place as long as we were able, and delay as much +as possible the enemy's advance; in other words, if we could retard him +by half a day, at the sacrifice of our party, our duty would be well +done. These unpleasant situations arise now and then in war; but one +comfort is, they seldom occur twice to the same man!" + +[Illustration: 150] + +"The captain who commanded us was an old officer, who had borne his slow +promotion with many a heart-burning, and now resolved, come what might, +to win his grade. + +"Without waiting for the enemy, he took a patrol party, and set out to +meet them. We never saw them again! Our lieutenant, alike impatient, +determined on a _reconnaissance_, He had scarcely been gone half an +hour, when a quick rattling of fire-arms told us that he was engaged +with the enemy. One man alone returned to tell us that the rest had +fallen, and that the enemy was approaching in force. The command now +devolved on me. I had been four times passed over in promotion, distinct +acts of service left unnoticed, and my claims as much ignored as if +I was the veriest dolt. I will not pretend to say that I bore these +disappointments without pain; but they taught me one lesson at least, +'that duty is above all consideration of self.' I well knew what was +expected of us, and resolved, if possible, to fulfil it. I prepared at +once for a stout resistance,--a hopeless, of course, but an obstinate +one. Well, I will not imitate the tardiness of the duty by a similar +prolixity. We held the farm for two hours, during which the roof was +twice on fire from the enemy's shells; and when, at length, they stormed +the place, our defence was reduced to eight men, commanded by a corporal +with two shot-wounds in his chest. We were made prisoners, and carried +away to Strasburg, from whence I was exchanged under a cartel, and came +back to my regiment as a lieutenant. Had I merely sought promotion, +Madame, and followed the dictates of ambition and not of duty, I had +perhaps fallen like the others. It was in the very forgetfulness of +myself lay my prosperity and my reward." + +Kate's eyes sought out Frank, resolved on one effort more for her +object, but the boy was gone. He had contrived to slip away unseen +during the conversation, and was now waiting at the corner of the +street, impatient for the General's departure, to return to his sister. + +"I am to have the honor of dining in your company to-day," said the +Feld, rising to take leave. "Let me hope that my obduracy will not +weaken your regard for one so proud of being your uncle." + +"No, uncle," said she, "and chiefly since I do not believe in the +obduracy, and have full faith in the affection." + +With every testimony of regard, they now took leave of each other, and +the General retired as Kate betook herself to her own room. + +She had scarcely left the apartment when the Archduke entered it. Madame +de Heidendorf had told him that the Princess was there with her uncle, +and he came expressly to see her. "Gone again!" exclaimed he; "am I +never to see this mysterious beauty?" while he threw his eyes around +the room. "What's this addressed to myself here?" added he, as he caught +sight of the paper which the Feld had half written. "To his Imperial +Highness the Archduke Franz Albrecht, commanding the Eleventh Regiment +of Infantry." Rapidly glancing over the few lines, he at once caught +their meaning, and detected the playful spirit in which they were +conceived. "The fair Princess must not be disappointed in her opinion," +said he, laughingly, as he took up the pen and wrote: "Too happy to +anticipate the unexpressed wish, the Archduke appoints Cadet von Dalton +to a lieutenancy in the Hussars of the Wurtemberg Regiment," and signing +his well-known initials at the foot, he sealed and addressed the paper +to the Princesse de Midchekoff. This done, he left the house, passing +as he went a young cadet, whose military salute he scarcely noticed, nor +knew the anxious heart for whose happiness he had just provided. + +Young Frank stood respectfully at the salute as the Prince passed, and +then bounded away to rejoin his sister. The drawing-room, however, was +empty, and it was by mere chance that he saw the letter, on which the +address was scarcely dry. Taking this with him, he hastened to her room. +"A letter for you, Kate," cried he, "and with a royal seal too!" + +"Poor Frank!" said she, coming out to meet him. "That I should have such +tidings for you! The Feld is obdurate and unyielding. He fancies that +there is no road to honor save the old track he has trod himself." + +"I knew as much, Kate. Had I stayed longer in the room, I could not have +refrained from bursting out to say, 'Hold, sister dearest; not the best +grade in all the service is worth so much solicitation. I 'll carry the +musket while I must, and the day they make me an officer I 'll smash the +sword across my knee and leave them!'" + +Kate broke the seal of the packet without answering this passionate +speech, and then, with a cry of joy, exclaimed, "Here it is, Frank! The +Prince himself has given you the rank, and in the hussars too!" + +"Let me see it," cried the boy,--"let me see it." And tearing the paper +from her hand, he read it again and again. "I scarce know--I can scarce +believe this real; but a Prince's word--a royal promise, Kate, is surely +sacred." + +"Of that there can be no doubt, Frank." + +"And I am a hussar and an officer," said he, with a burst of delight +"I'd not change with the kaiser this minute, Kate." + +"My dear, dear Frank!" said she, passing her arm around his neck. + +"And to owe it all to you, my sweet Kate! If anything could enhance the +pleasure of this piece of fortune, it is this fact. And such a regiment, +Kate,--the Prince Paul's. The turappe all one mass of gold, and the +chako splendid, and their horses the true Hungarian breed,--the native +horse crossed with the Arab! I feel already as if I were in the saddle, +and careering wildly about. Oh, Kate, what glorious news!" + +Again and again he embraced her in his ecstasy, and she, hiding her head +upon his shoulder, tried to suppress the burst of emotions which filled +her heart, for she thought at what a price she purchased the power she +wielded. + +They sat long with hands close locked beside each other,--neither +speaking,----each travelling his own road of thought; and how wide apart +they lay! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. VIENNA. + +We cannot afford to linger in Vienna, nor speak of the week--the most +brilliant of all her life--Kate passed there. It was the first burst +of that ambition which had so long taken possession of her, and she saw +herself, at length, in all the pride of her station, and her beauty the +object of a hundred flatteries. + +Feted at the Court, distinguished by the special attentions of the +Princes, most courteously received in all the society of the most +exclusive capital of Europe, the whirl of pleasure and excitement as +effectually precluded thought as it defied reflection. Hitherto she +had seen the world only as a dependant, or at least as something +appertaining to Lady Hester, in whose caprices she was bound to share, +making partnery, as it were, in all her likings and dislikings; but now +she was become the centre around which all these attentions revolved, +and her own will was the directing impulse of every action. + +Of all the cities of the Continent, Vienna was most remarkable for +almost instinctively adopting the tone of its Court in respect to a +distinguished visitor. There was something like intuition in the way in +which they guessed the feeling of royalty, and as quickly made it their +own. + +The restricted limits of the first society, of course, made this +practicable, as well as the fact that all belonging to it were more or +less engaged in the service of the Emperor. Kate Dalton was now to enjoy +this flattery, and find herself, wherever she went, the special object +of attention. + +At the Hof Theatre, where they played her favorite operas; at the great +reviews in the Prater, at the balls of the palace, or the _dejeuners_ of +Schonbrunn, she seemed the occasion of the fete, and to do _her_ honor +all appeared assembled. Carried away by the triumphant delight of +pleasure so associated with power, she either forgot at times the price +at which her greatness had been purchased, or was disposed to still the +beatings of her heart by the thought, "My destiny is chosen; it is too +late to look back." To have grieved over her lot, besides, would have +seemed an utter selfishness, seeing that she was the means of dispensing +such happiness to all her family. Her poor father placed once more +in comfort; Nelly free to follow the dictates of her charming fancy, +without the alloying sense of toil; and dear Frank, in all the +exuberant joy of his promotion, eternally reminding her that she was his +patroness. The quick clatter of his charger's hoofs in the courtyard, +the clank of his sabre as he ran up the stairs, were but the glad +prelude to his daily outpouring of gratitude. Ay, "to be sorry now, +would be but selfish." + +Such was the philosophy in which she wrapped herself; and day after day +the feeling gained strength within her. It was true there were moments +when all the sophistry gave way, and her affections flowed full and +strong in the deep channels of her heart. Then, indeed, she saw the +emptiness of all this gorgeous parade,--how little it gave of real +happiness,--how seldom it ever called forth one generous feeling, or one +high desire, and she wished the fates had dealt otherwise with her. At +times she almost longed for the humble home, in all its poverty, with +nothing but Nelly's bright smile and gentle voice to cheer its solitude! +It may have been this conflict----for conflict it was--that gave to her +demeanor a certain calm dignity, which, in the critical estimation +of society, elevated her high above any charge of frivolity or +capriciousness. She was a thought graver, perhaps, than her years; but +the feeling imparted an indescribable grace to one whose beauty was the +very type of brilliancy. After all, these were but passing clouds; nor +did she ever suffer herself to recur to the past, save when wayward +memories would obtrude uncalled for. + +At last a letter came from Lady Hester; and although not a long one, +it called up thoughts that all her endeavors could not efface from +recollection. There were, once again, all the old familiar names with +which she used to be so conversant. + +Lady Hester, however, was much changed: all the capricious irritability +of the fine lady had given place to a kind of importunate piety. She had +grown "devote," and her life a string of religious observances. After +dwelling complacently on the self-imposed round of her mortifications +and penances, she went on:---- + + "D'Esmonde has just returned, and delights me by saying that + you are quite free from any contagion as to the errors of + the Greek Church. Of course, outwardly, you must conform; + even if Midchekoff did not insist, his countrymen would; but + he says that St. Ursula is the sure resource in such cases, + and mentions the instance of a nun who took lessons in + Spanish from the Devil, and, by the aid of the blessed + Ursula, was nothing the worse. + + "I told Jekyl, who left this on Friday, to send me an image + of St. Ursula, that I might forward it to you; but the + careless wretch has sent me a statuette of Fanny Elssler by + mistake. He discovered his error, however, and has written + me a most humble letter, mentioning, by the way, that he was + doing a 'Novena' for penance, and danced the polka all the + preceding night with a sharp peg in the sole of his foot. + With all his oddity, there is a great deal to like in him. + + "I have only once heard from the Onslows; their conduct has + been too shocking; they are not ruined at all, but got up + the story, I verily believe, just to destroy my nerves. Sir + S. is living in Ireland, at that place with the horrid name + your father used to talk of, with Sydney; and George has + gone to India, a major, I think, in some cavalry regiment. + At Grounsell's kind suggestion, I have been cut off with a + miserable allowance of fifteen hundred a year; but even with + this I am content. St. Brigitta, of Cleves, lived on hard + peas, and never wore anything but an old sack for the last + seventeen years of her life; and Celestine has got a + charming pattern of a capote, _a la_ Cistercine, which, when + made of white cashmere, will be perfectly simple and very + becoming. I wear my hair now always in bands, and very low + on the face. D'Esmonde says I 'm the image of the Madonna of + Domenichino, which you may remember, I always preferred to + Raphael's. + + "Cardinal Bruschetti has been spending a few days here, and + I cannot tell you the charm I have felt in his society, + contrasted with the frivolous dissipation I have been used + to. He is so suave, and so gentle, so persuasive, without + importunity, and so conciliating withal. Not the least + austerity about him; but at times actually gay! He quite + approves of my having kept Fripponi as my cook. 'A change of + cuisine,' said he, 'involves a change of digestion, a change + of temperament, and a moral change;' alterations far too + important to be incurred at once. This is so far pleasant as + certainly the man is an admirable artist. His Eminence said + yesterday that the salmi of ortolans was a dish fit for the + Pope. We drive out, or row, every day, on the lake, and I + shall be quite lonely when he leaves this. I am curious to + know if you remember a bust of him in the Vatican. He was, + and indeed is, a remarkably handsome man; and his leg has + been modelled I can't say how often. He asks me to whom I am + writing, and begs you will remember him in your prayers, how + touchingly simple, is it not? + + "I ventured last night on a bit of importunity, and asked + his Eminence a favor. That poor dear Jekyl, you know, is + miserably off. His family, all so wealthy, he says, only + allow him a few hundreds a year; and with his generous + habits and wastefulness this must be actual want. Well, I + asked the Cardinal if there might not be some way of sending + him out as a missionary--like St. Vincent de Paul. I 'm + certain he 'd not like the dress nor the bare feet, but he + 'd be so happy with those charming Tonga islanders, who, + such is their zeal, that they actually give four and five + scalps for a wax image of the Virgin. His Eminence hinted + that there might be difficulties, and he'd think of it I + + "Your Prince passed through here on Tuesday, on his way to + Naples; he wants to see 'La Giovina' dance in that new + ballet of 'Paradiso.' They say she is perfectly lovely. The + Prince asked after you, and said something about its not + being etiquette for him to write to you, or that you should + write first, or, I really forget what; you know the slurring + way he has of talking, and how he walks away before he has + finished. He's worse than ever, I think, or probably it is + _I_ that have less patience with him now since you are gone! + + "Jekyl told me--in strict confidence, remember--that M. did + not stand well with his Court, and that there would be + nothing wonderful in the Czar's refusing his leave for the + marriage. What you ought to do in that case I cannot + conceive; a convent, I suppose, would be the only thing. + After all, it might probably have been as well if you had + taken poor George. The estate is still a good one, and he + has some amiable points in his character, and he certainly + loved you. I never told you the thousand confessions he made + me, nor his entreaties for my intercession, but there is no + harm now in letting you hear them. It is, however, + impossible to say with whom one could live happily! + George begged of me to send him every letter you wrote to + me, and of course you can use the knowledge of the fact at + your discretion. + + "Now, for two little commissions, my dear Kate, and I have + done. I want you to get me a case of Tokay from the Teleki + estate--mind, not Pain's, which, his Eminence says, wants + the oily flavor. Some of the archdukes will manage this for + you. I 'm certain your long eyelashes have got further than + this already. The second is to send me a haunch of Bohemian + venison,--Schwartenschild's, if possible. The Cardinal says + that fat is become as scarce as true piety, and that a well- + fed buck is as rare as a good Christian! + + "Are they wearing their corsages pointed at the back?----not + that I care, dearest, for I am above such vanities, but + Celestine wishes to know. When you receive the St. Ursula, + keep her in your own room, and with her face to the west; + and so good-by, and, with many prayers, believe me, + + "Affectionately yours, + + "THEODOSIA, + + "Late Hester Onslow. + + "Could you, by any chance, send me a good miniature of + yourself?----perhaps you guess for what purpose. + Haselquist's oil picture is too large for what I want; and, + besides, is really not like you. Even with all its + imperfections his Eminence sits looking at it for hours of + an evening, and says he can scarcely fancy anything + lovelier. I do not ask after Madame de H., for I hate the + woman. His Eminence has told me such things of her! But of + course you can only make the best of it for the present, and + get on as well as you can. + + "D'Esmonde tells me that Frank is a fine boy, and very good- + looking, but fearfully dissipated, but I suppose the service + is like the Life Guards with us--and what can one expect? _A + propos_ to this, Norwood has written to me twice some + inexplicable nonsense about you, which I have not replied + to. What does he mean by 'treating a flirt like a flounce' + Jekyl says that the police have stopped his passport, or he + should have been after you to Vienna. This is quite + unintelligible to me, and I don't know why I repeat it." + + +Never did a frivolous letter give more serious thought, nor bring +gloomier reflections, than did this epistle to Kate Dalton. Her mind +dwelt far less on the paragraph which concerned her own future than +on that which spoke of George,--his devoted affection and his enduring +sorrow! And so it was true that he loved her! He had even confided +the avowal to another, and asked for aid and counsel. Why had he then +concealed it from herself? Was the fault hers? Had her own conduct been +the reason? Had her encouragement of any other estranged him, or was the +teaching of the society in which she moved the reason? Poor fellow! how +unfairly had she treated him,----even to that very last incident of +their last meeting!--and now they were to meet no more! No, death itself +could not more effectually separate them than did space and destiny. +Even this she felt to be better, far better, than the chances of renewed +intimacy in the world. Lady Hester had not told her why she had never +divulged her secret; still less to what end she revealed it now, when +the knowledge must be only misery. The mention of Norwood, and the vague +half-threat connected with his name, gave her but little uneasiness, +since her mind had but space for one absorbing thought,--George loved +her! There was the sum of every reflection; and all the world around +her, in its splendor or its brilliancy, the tortuous paths of political +intrigue, the quiet byways of home-affection, the present and the +future, were all as nothing when weighed against this one thought. + +If her first impression had been to blame Lady Hester for revealing the +secret, her second was to thank her with her whole heart. She remembered +D'Esmonde, too, and the reasonings by which he accompanied the delivery +of the letter; and she felt that this consciousness was a blessing +of which no vicissitude could rob her,--that come what might of +disappointment or sorrow in life, here, at least, in her heart of +hearts, was one hoarded treasure to compensate for all. If there were +but one to whom she could confide her secret, with whom she could talk +over her sorrow, she thought that she would be contented. To Nelly she +dared not; to Frank she could not speak of it; what, then, of Nina? +Alas! it was no longer a secret to _her!_ Nina had seen the picture, +and although nothing in her manner betrayed the slightest consciousness, +Kate knew her too well not to feel herself in her power. + +Nina's demeanor, however, exhibited nothing of insolent triumph; on the +contrary, her manner was gentle, even to submissiveness, and something +almost affectionate seemed to mingle with the feeling in which she +fulfilled her duties. Kate remarked this, and only needed the courage to +take advantage of it At first the very idea of Nina's consciousness +was torture; but day by day this terror grew weaker, till at last she +actually wished that the moment of explanation was over, and that she +could pour out all her griefs before her. "She may have loved unhappily, +herself; and if so, will pity me. In any case, a frank avowal on my part +will show that I knew nothing of his heart, and but little of my own, +till 'too late.' We are never to meet again," and so-and-so; in fact, +with many a casuistry, she satisfied herself that mere memory could +never be a sin,--that there could be nothing very wrong in looking back +as often as the future seemed lowering and gloomy. It is hard to say if +there might not have been some leaven of "pique" in these reasonings. +The Prince, according to Lady Hester, if he had not entirely forgotten, +was already indifferent about her. Some uncertainty of ceremonial +prevented his writing or hearing from her; and at this very moment he +was following out the ordinary life of dissipation which he led before. +Why care for him,----why even endeavor to nourish an affection that +must be blighted in the end? Besides, her marriage was never one of +inclination; Lady Hester had been most frank in explaining the Prince's +appreciation of it As to her own reasons for the step, she knew them too +well. + +All that Kate had seen of life in her Florence experiences told her +that such cases were the ordinary events of the world. Few were happily +married,--disparity of age, inequality of condition, incompatible +tempers, and a hundred other causes were ever at work. Lady Hester used +to tell her that nobody was ever satisfied with their "married lot: +the good and right-minded only pined under it; the less scrupulous +proclaimed their dissatisfaction to the world, and asked for sympathy." +These were the two categories that comprehended all her theory. Now Kate +was quite resolved to be one of the former class; but she saw no reason +why she ought not to have one "confidante" of her cares. + +With all the force of these persuasions she could not get over the +awkwardness of the confession, and would have given worlds that Nina +herself would take the first step. That simple-minded creature, however, +appeared dead to every hint or suggestion,--she could never see the +drift of any remark, save in its most obvious sense, and actually pushed +Kate's temper to the last entrenchment of patience by pure stupidity. +"Is it possible--can it be that I am deceived--that she has not +recognized the miniature?" thought Kate. "Is my secret still in my own +keeping?" + +As this thought struck her, everything appeared to confirm it,--the +girl's manner, devoid of every trait of imperiousness, and actually +humble to servility. "Oh, if I could but be sure of this,--if I could +know that I could bury both my shame and my sorrow together!" In this +vacillating state of suspense--one day all hope and confidence, the +next, terror and dread--she lived on, till the period drew nigh for +their departure from Vienna. + +Madame de Heidendorf had delayed beyond her intention, in the hope of +receiving some French news; and Kate eagerly watched the post for some +tidings from home,--for home it still was, in every feeling of her heart + +"No letters again, Nina?" said she, despondingly, as the maid entered +the room. + +"None, Madame." + +"Have your friends forgotten you, Nina, as well as mine appear to have +done?" + +"Nina has but few friends, Madame; and still fewer would think of +writing to her!" + +"Poor Nina!" said Kate, affectionately; and the blood rushed to the +girl's face at the words, and her eyes flashed with an expression of +sudden passion. + +"No pity, Madame,----no pity!" cried she, with a voice full of emotion, +"or I may forget myself,--forget myself and you also!" And with these +words she hurried from the room, without waiting for more. Kate sat +shocked and abashed by the girl's violence, and yet neither daring to +reprove her nor even remonstrate with her. What abject slavery was this +to feel! How mean did she seem to her own heart! What rottenness was +within that gilded splendor by which she was surrounded! Where was the +ambitious envy with which she once looked up to the rich and powerful +now? Where that intense desire to be among the great and the titled? and +with whom would she not have changed conditions, even to Nina herself? + +It is not weak of heart and low of courage that one should face +the great journey of life. Its trials and crosses, even to the most +fortunate, demand all that we can summon of hope and of energy. And +yet so was it that she was about to begin the road--the long and dreary +road--before her! As she sat thus musing, a great noise was heard from +the street without. She arose and opened the window. The whole Platz +was crammed with people, eagerly talking and gesticulating. A surging, +waving motion, too, seemed to sway them, and at length she could detect +that they were slowly proceeding onward towards the gate of the city. +The deep roll of a drum then turned her attention, and, in the far +distance, she saw the glancing bayonets of an infantry column as they +advanced. + +Military spectacles are of too frequent recurrence in Vienna to create +much surprise or excitement; and yet, evidently, from the looks and +gestures of the people, they were both present here. The band of a +regiment struck up the national hymn of Austria; and as the proud notes +swelled into the air, a dark body of Tyrolese Jagers poured into the +Platz. Still there was no enthusiasm of the people. They listened to +the loyal sounds in cold apathy. To the Tyrolese succeeded a Grenadier +battalion, after which came a long dense column of infantry of the line, +their knapsacks on their backs, and their bread rations strapped above +them. Behind these was the artillery, the long-tailed black horses +giving a solemn look to the procession, as its clanking sounds fell +mournfully on the ear. From the wide Platz they now moved on, and +passing out of the Koertner gate, defiled into the "Glacis." But a moment +before and that immense space was empty; and now, from every avenue +of the city, troops came pouring in like rivers to the sea. The +black-plumed hunters from Tyrol, the gigantic Croat Grenadiers, +the swarthy Bohemian Cuirassiers, and the white-cloaked dragoons of +Austria,--all were seen advancing and forming as if in battle array. +While Kate's eye ranged eagerly over the field in search of the blue +uniform of the Hungarians, Madame de Heidendorf entered the room with an +open letter in her hand. + +"What can this mean?" asked Kate, anxiously. "It is surely not a mere +review?" + +"Far from it, Madame," said the Countess, imposingly. "The great drama +is about to begin. News has come that Italy is in open revolt, and fresh +troops are to be despatched thither with all speed. Twelve thousand are +to march today, eight more to-morrow." + +"And Frank--" + +She stopped, abashed by the disdainful expression of Madame de +Heidendorf s face. + +"Your brother's regiment, Madame, will form part of the force, and he +will, of course, contribute the importance of his presence. How happily +constituted must be the mind that can turn from the grand theme of +a whole nation's destiny to the petty fortunes of a corporal or a +sous-lieutenant!" + +"And yet so it is," replied Kate, boldly; "dear Frank is nearer to my +heart than all that I see yonder. Oh, yes, Madame," cried she, replying +to the glance of scorn the Countess bestowed, "it is quite true. Mine +is an ignoble spirit. My affections are linked with lowly objects; would +that my ambitions had never risen above them!" + +What reply Madame de Heidendorf might have given to this speech, so much +more daring than she had uttered before, there is no knowing, when Frank +burst into the room, and clasped his sister in his arms. + +"I have but a moment, Kate, and we are off--off to Italy;" and then, +seeing the Countess, the boy bowed courteously, and apologized for his +abrupt entrance. "Count Stephen has got the command, and placed me on +his staff." + +"I hope you may merit this proof of his confidence, sir," said Madame de +Heidendorf, haughtily. + +"Frank will be a brave soldier, Madame," broke in Kate. "He is a +Dalton." + +"He must be true as well as brave. Fidelity is needed now as much as +valor." + +"And who will dare to question mine?" cried Frank; and then, as if +impatient that he should have been led away from a dearer theme, he +placed his arm within Kate's, and drew her towards the window. "I had so +much to say to you, my dearest sister. I have been thinking of nothing +but you--and--and--what you told me. I would break off this match----it +is not too late--you are only betrothed." + +"Oh, no, no, Frank; do not give me such counsels. I am pledged in word +and bound in honor. I have taken a solemn vow." + +"But you have been deceived,--I know you have; enough that I see such a +woman as that your companion. I tell you again, you must break it off." + +"I cannot,--I cannot!" + +"Then, by Heaven! I will do it myself. It surely is not for all the +glitter of this state and pomp that you would sell your affections? +These gauds have not corrupted you already? No, no, I read you better +than that Listen to my plan, then,--do not leave this till you hear from +me. If this lady--I do not know her name--insists on your departure, be +as peremptory, and say that you wish to see your family first. You are +not a slave, and cannot be coerced." + +"I will hear no more of this, Frank; the very thought is maddening. No, +no, Frank; if you would be my friend, teach me how to fulfil my duty, +my sworn, pledged allegiance; do not seek to shake my faith, nor make me +less resolute in honor." + +"It is, then, as I feared," cried he, passionately; "these cursed bribes +_have_ bought you. Oh, it is not thus Nelly would have been won!" + +"I know it,--I know it well!" cried she, bursting into tears; "but I +never was like _her_." + +"But you were, and you are, dearest," said he, kissing her forehead, +"our own sweet Kate, that we were all so proud of. Oh, forgive me if I +said what could hurt you, for I would pour out my heart's blood to serve +or to save you." + +There was a mournful emphasis on the last two words, which bespoke their +deep meaning; and now, locked in each other's arms, they wept bitterly. + +"As the Field-Marshal von Auersberg has just ridden into the palace, +his aide-de-camp ought probably to dry his tears and receive him," said +Madame de Heidendorf, as she sailed proudly out of the room. + +"You heard that, Kate?----you heard what she said _to me?_ Think, then, +what kindness and sympathy she will feel for _you!_" said the boy, as he +dashed his hand indignantly against his forehead. "Was I not right about +these Russians?" + +"Come, Frank, let us go to Uncle Stephen," said Kate, trying to smile +and seem at ease; and hand-in-hand they descended the stairs together. + +The drawing-room into which they now entered was filled with officers +of different arms of the service, among whom Count Dalton stood +conspicuous, both from his size and the soldierlike character of a +figure that not even old age seemed able to impair. + +"How provoking, my sweet niece," said he, taking Kate's hand between +both his, "now to part, just as I was learning the happiness of knowing +you. Here are all these gentlemen grumbling and complaining about +leaving their homes and families, and yet I 'll wager there is not one +amongst them carries away a heavier heart than I do. Come into this +room, my dear; let us have five minutes together." And Kate took his +arm, while he led her forward. Madame de Heidendorf, meanwhile, seated +herself on a sofa, and summoned the most distinguished officers of the +party to inform her as to all that was going forward. + +It was one of her favorite affectations to be deeply versed in military +tactics; not that she acknowledged herself deficient in any art or +science, but soldiering was her strong point. She therefore questioned +and cross-questioned these unhappy gentlemen at great length. + +"You have no mortars? Do I hear you aright. Colonel Rabowsky? No +mortars?" + +"None, Madame." + +"And how, may I ask, do you mean to reduce Milan to ashes?" + +This was a very puzzling question; and she repeated it in a still more +commanding tone. + +"Perhaps that may not be deemed desirable, Madame," modestly insinuated +another officer. + +"Not desirable, sir? you said not desirable. Why, really I shall begin +to fancy I ought to go to school again in military matters. Are you +aware, sir, it's the very centre of these wretches; that it is fed +from Switzerland and Piedmont with all that is infamous in political +doctrine? Milan must be bombarded, sir!" + +[Illustration: 166] + +The Colonel bowed courteously to an opinion expressed with so much +authority. + +"You 'll find, at least, that the Field-Marshal will be of my opinion," +continued she. "As a military position, it is worth nothing." + +"But as a capital city, Madame?" mildly interposed the Colonel. + +"The old story," said she, contemptuously. "Women and children!" + +"Most legitimate objects of protection, I trust, Madame." + +But she turned contemptuously away, as if controversy with such an +adversary was beneath her. + +"We have three rocket-batteries, Madame," interposed a staff officer, +desirous of offering himself to her notice. + +"I hope you will use them with effect, sir. I envy you the pleasure of +seeing them plunging amidst that vile mob it is the fashion to call the +people nowadays." + +"I hope we shall do our duty, Madame," said an old, stern-looking major, +who felt little flattered at this interference. + +"I should like to see more chivalry,----more ardent devotion in the +defenders of a monarchy," said the Countess. "I can understand coldness +in the lower classes, but that the well-born and the noble should be +apathetic and slow to move is beyond my comprehension." + +"Bey'm Blitzen," retorted the Major, "that is not bad I Here we are +going to shed our blood for the Kaiser, and we are told that it is not +enough, without we are born counts and barons." + +"What is it, Heckenstein?" said Count Dalton, as he entered the room and +laid his hand familiarly on the other's shoulder. "I have seldom seen +you look so angry." + +But the old soldier turned away without a reply. + +"Madame de Heidendorf," said the old General, "I know not what you have +said to offend an old and tried servant of the Emperor,--a soldier of +Wagram and Auster-litz,--a faithful follower, when the fortunes of this +great Empire were at the lowest But, believe me, these are not times to +flout loyalty and despise fidelity." + +"The times are worse than I thought them," said the Countess, "when +these principles have infected such men as Count Dalton. I had certainly +hoped that his young relative would have received a very different +lesson at his outset in life, nor can I wonder if such teachings end in +evil. Here is the Archduke. How I wish his Highness had come a little +earlier!" + +As she spoke, the Prince entered, with all the careless ease of his +ordinary manner. It was impossible to detect from his countenance +whether he regarded the event as a serious one, or simply one of those +popular commotions which are ever occurring in a large empire. + +"I know you are discussing politics, or something akin to them," said +he, laughingly. "Madame de Heidendorf has her 'cabinet countenance' on, +and Auersberg is looking as fierce as a field-marshal ought to do when +contradicted. Come, General, present me to the Princess. It is an honor +I have been long desiring. How tired you must be of all this, Madame!" +said he to Kate. "Such wise people as will not talk gossip,--such +high-minded souls as never will condescend to say a good thing, or hear +one, are insupportable." And, seating himself beside her, he rattled +on about Vienna, its society, and its pleasures, with all the ease and +flippancy of a young fashionable of the day, while, in an attitude of +deep respect, not unmixed with a dash of impatience, stood the old Count +before him. + +"What does Auersberg want to tell us?" said the Prince, at last, looking +up at the old General's face. + +"To say adieu, your Royal Highness." + +"You don't go with the troops, surely?" said the Duke, laughing. + +"At the head of my own regiment, your Royal Highness." + +"Ah, by the bye, the Auersbergs are in your brigade. Very proper that. +And is this my _protege?_" said he, taking Frank's arm, and drawing him +forward. "There's your best example, sir. Be only as good a soldier, +and the name of Dalton will be a title of nobility amongst us. Good-bye, +Lieutenant General, farewell. Give that _canaille_ a lesson quickly, and +come back to us as soon as you can." + +Kate rose and followed Frank out of the room. For a few seconds they +were closely locked in each other's arms, without speaking. "Oh, Frank +dearest! when are we to meet again,--and how?" cried she, passionately. + +"In pride and happiness, too, Kate," said the boy, joyfully. "I have no +fears for the future. But what is this, sister dearest,--gold?" + +"Do not refuse me, Frank. It is the only happiness left me." + +"But this is the Russian's, Kate." + +"No, believe me, it is not Count Stephen has made me his heir; he has +given me all his fortune. Even good luck can come too late!" said she, +with a sigh. + +"Do not leave this till I write to you, Kate. I will do so very +soon,--that is, if I can; but these are anxious times. You know, +Kate,"--here the boy whispered, in a voice low and tremulous from +agitation,--"You know, Kate, that I only left the ranks a couple of days +ago. I can tell then, better than all these great folk, what soldiers +think and say; they are not as they used to be. Lead them against the +Frenchman, and they will fight as they have ever fought; but if it be +to fire on their own townsfolk,--to charge through streets where they +lounged along, hand-in-hand with the people, like brothers,--they will +not do it." + +"This is very alarming, Frank. Have you told the Count?" + +"No; nor would I for worlds. What! betray my comrades, and be called +on before a court-martial to say who said this, and what man said t' +other?" + +"But could you not, at least, give him some warning?" + +"And be ordered from his presence for the presumption, or told that I +was a rebel at heart, or such tidings had never been uttered by me. The +old Feld would as soon believe that this earth was cut adrift to wander +at hazard through all space, as that treason should lurk behind an +Austrian uniform. It would be an evil hour for him who should dare to +tell him so." + +"Oh, Frank, how terrible is all this!" + +"And yet do I not despair; nay, Kate, but I am even more hopeful for +it; and, as Walstein says, if the Empire halt so long behind the rest of +Europe, she must one day or other take a race to come up with it." + +"And is Walstein a----a----" She stopped. + +"No; he's very far from a Democrat or a Republican. He 's too well born +and too rich and too good-looking to be anything but a Monarchist. Oh, +if you but saw him! But, hark! there are the trumpets! Here come the +'Wurtem-burgs;' and there's my charger, Kate. Is he not splendid? A +Banat horse, all bone and sinew." + +"How I should like to have been a man and a soldier!" said she, blushing +deeply. + +"There, that's Walstein,----that's he with the scarlet dolman!" cried +Frank. "But he 's coming over,----he sees us. No, he's passing on. Did +you see him, Kate?--did you remark him?" + +"No, Frank dearest; I see nothing but you, my own fond brother." And she +fell upon his neck, weeping. + +"Herr Lieutenant!" said a hussar, with his hand to his cap. + +"Yes, I 'm ready,--I 'm coming," cried Frank. And with one long, last +embrace he tore himself away, springing down the stairs in mad haste. + +"Madame de Heidendorf is good enough to say she will come and see the +troops defile from the Glacis," said the Archduke to Kate, as, still +overwhelmed with sorrow, she stood where Frank had left her. "Perhaps +you would do us the honor to come also?" + +Kate accepted the invitation at once, and hurried to her room for a +bonnet. + +"Not that one, Madame la Princesse," said Nina, eagerly; "the yellow +with black lace, rather. The national colors will be a flattery to his +Royal Highness." + +"What a coquette you are, Nina!" + +"And how irresistible would Madame be were she to condescend to be even +a little of one!" said Nina, smiling. + +"Perhaps I may yet," said Kate, half sighing as she spoke; and Nina's +dark eyes sparkled as she heard her. "But what do you mean by coquetry, +Nina?" asked she, after a pause. + +"It may mean much, Madame, or very little. With such as I am it may be +a rose-colored ribbon; with Madame la Princesse it may be the smile that +wins royalty. Coquetry, after all, is a mere recognition of admiration. +An old Spanish dramatist says, 'That a glance from bright eyes is like +the hoisting of an ensign to acknowledge a salute.'" + +"How you run on, Nina, and how ashamed I feel when I catch myself +afterwards thinking over your words!" + +Nina laughed merrily at this confession, while she opened the door +for Kate to pass out. In a moment after, Kate was seated beside the +Archduke, and Madame de Heidendorf followed in another carriage. + +The Archduke was neither very good-looking nor agreeable. His manners +were not remarkable for any peculiar elegance, nor was there in his +air and bearing any of that special charm which very often seems the +prerogative of royal personages; and yet it would have been excessively +difficult to persuade Kate of all this as she drove along the streets +crowded with uncovered heads. The clank of the escort that rode at +either side, the quick roll of the drum and the rush out of the guard +to salute as he passed, created a sensation of pleasure in her mind +like the enjoyment of a delighted child. Oh, if Nelly could but see +her now!--if dear old papa were but there to look at her; and +Hanserl--little Hans----that loved the Hapsburg House as he loved the +Patron Saint of his own village! + +It was, indeed, worth something to taste of splendor like this! And now +she issued forth into the spacious Glacis, glittering with thousands +of bayonets, and trembling under the tramp of the moving squadrons. The +whole line saluted as he drove slowly past, band after band taking up +the sounds, till the proud hymn of Austria filled the whole air. The +soldiers cheered, too, loud and long, for his Imperial Highness was +beloved by the army, and, like all his house, was a thorough soldier. + +"You have never seen our troops under arms before!" said he, with a +proud elation in his look. "They are fine fellows, and faithful as they +are brave." He was about to say more, when the dull roll of a drum +was heard along the line, and the deep-voiced command from regiment to +regiment ran, "Alle nieder zum Gebet," and, at the word, every weapon +was lowered, and every head drooped forward in prayer. Not a sound--not +a whisper--was heard in that mighty host, till, after the expiration of +some minutes, the command once more summoned them to arms. Then came +the word "March!" and with a cheer that made the very air vibrate, the +troops set out for "Italy." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE MARCH. + +Is there any enthusiasm like that of a young soldier setting forth on +his first campaign? High in heart and hope, what can equal the glorious +picture his fancy draws of fame and honor? Where will his imagination +stop in creating scenes of heroic daring or deeds of noble chivalry? In +such a mood Frank Dalton rode along amongst his comrades, with whom at +once he became the greatest favorite. Explain it how one will, or give +up the problem in despair, but there is no denying the fact, the Irish +character has more of high spirits, more buoyancy, than that of any +continental people. Deriving pleasure or amusement from incidents that +others accept as commonplace, making even the rubs and collisions of +life subservient to his playful humor, the Irishman has resources of +ready wit and brilliant fancy you may seek for in vain amongst Germans, +or Italians, or even Frenchmen. + +The contrarieties of nature, the contradictions of character, that +puzzle politicians and drive political economists half crazy, are +delightful elements of social intercourse; and what makes the "nation" +ungovernable very frequently renders the "individual" the most +easy-tempered and manageable man of his set. What a boon was it, then, +to the gloomy, thoughtful Bohemian, to the dreary German, or the fitful, +passionate nature of the wild Hungarian, to chance upon one who had +moods of mind to suit them all, and stories of amusing thought that none +of them possessed! Frank was the delight of the regiment; and whether he +rode in the front or in the rear a group was sure to be gathered round +him, listening with eagerness to his stories, or enjoying the quaint +drollery which every passing object or event was sure to elicit. + +Emerging at a bound from the petty annoyances and vexatious cares of his +humble position, with all its harassing of debt and poverty, the boy was +almost wild with delight at his newly won freedom. A thorough Dalton, +he forgot every strait and difficulty he had passed through, and thought +only of the present, or so much of the future as his hopes embellished. +Kate's generosity, too, made him feel rich, and he was not unwilling to +be thought so. That passion for ascendancy, that over-eagerness to make +a fair figure before the world, no matter at what material sacrifice +or at what heavy cost, was bred "in his very bone;" but so inveterately +Irish is it that if the nation should ever be visited by the income-tax, +there is not a man in the land who will not over-estimate his means for +the sake of the boast to the collector! + +A wealthy comrade, if he be but free-handed, is sure to be popular on +a march. The fastidiousness that would stand aloof from more formal +attentions gives way here to the chances of the road; and civilities +that would elsewhere imply obligation are now the mere accidents of the +way. + +To the honor of the Austrian service be it said, "Tuft-hunting" is not +to be found there. The officers of a regiment embrace representatives of +every class of the Empire, from the haughtiest names of Europe down to +the sons of the humblest peasant; and yet the _camaraderie_ is perfect. +Very probably there is nothing more contributes to this than the absence +of all secrecy as to each man's resources. The prince is known to be +rich; the son of the little burgher, or Amtmann, is equally known to +be poor. Nothing is expected from any above his means, and no disgrace +attaches to narrow fortune. If, therefore, Frank was not surrounded by +shrewd-witted adventurers, eager to make the most of his extravagance, +he was not the less exposed to the flattering acknowledgments his +generous habits evoked, and the vanity that comes of being distinguished +amongst one's fellows. To be sure, this was his father's failing, and +his grandfather's before him! Frank, then, entertained all the officers +of his squadron on the march, practising a hundred little devices and +surprises for them. Now, it was a cold luncheon, laid out in a wood +at noonday; now, it was a smoking supper in a village, where even the +generals were fain to munch "commissary rations." Even the soldiers of +his "Zug" participated in this liberality, and many a flask of wine +was pledged to the health of the young lieutenant. As if to make him +perfectly happy, the old Count, his uncle, was obliged to hurry forward, +and thus Frank was relieved from the constraint of the only one whose +presence could have imposed reserve. + +It was in the boundless freedom of this liberty, unchecked by prudence, +unrestrained by fear of consequences, Frank's lavish nature knew +no bounds. He wrote to Vienna for horses of high price; he ordered +carriages and liveries to be sent after him. The very surprise his +extravagance excited was an incense that he gloried in. How many a +generous nature has been wrecked by stupid admiration! how many a true +heart been corrupted by the vulgarity of notoriety! + +"What will the Dalton do next?----what has the fellow in his head now?" +were surmises that he never heard without delight, and stimulated him +to new efforts to create astonishment. Ireland, too, so remote from +all their knowledge,--that far-away island,--furnished many a theme for +wonder, and he repeated, with ecstasy, several of his father's stories +of their former greatness and the barbaric splendor in which they lived. +How easy is self-deception, and what a strange cheat is that a man can +practise on himself! But so was it; he actually forgot the long years of +their obscure poverty, all their hard trials and distresses, the penury +of their daily life,--everything!--and could only think of Kate in all +her splendor, and himself in every indulgence of his fancy. And yet he +loved his father and Nelly too,--loved them both dearly. He would have +given worlds that the old man could have seen him as he rode at the head +of his men. He often felt his eyes grow dim as he fancied the burst of +delight it would have caused him. And poor Nelly! how he pictured her +features glowing with admiration, and yet trembling from agitation, for +he thought of all her warnings. + +It is a singular fact, that in the short interval before the tremendous +events of the last great European convulsion, the aristocratic influence +seemed at its very highest point. Never in each State of the Continent +were the claims of family more regarded, nor the sway of proud names +more submissively recognized. Like the fever-flush before death, it +deceived many who beheld it! In the eyes of his astonished comrades, +young Dalton perfectly represented this character. Rich, well born, +brave, and eccentric, his seemed indeed an enviable lot in life. +Happy for him if the deception had stopped short with them! Unluckily, +however, it extended to himself, and he at last believed every fiction +that his own brain suggested. + +In this wild delirium of the day-dream he rode along through the deep +glens and valleys of the Tyrol, along the banks of the rapid Inn, +through the glorious vale of Meran, and at last gained the great road +which, through Trent and Rovoredo, debouches on the Lago di Guarda. Here +a despatch from Vienna overtook them, with orders that a small party +should be sent off under some officer of intelligence to examine the +condition of the Stelvio Pass, the highest of all the Alpine roads of +Europe, and which, crossing from the South Tyrol, descends directly into +Italy by the Lake of Como. + +Although it was still early, fresh snows were said to have fallen on +that elevated road, and it was an important question whether it were +longer practicable for the transit of artillery. Frank was delighted to +be selected for this duty,--a separate command, no matter bow small or +insignificant, had something adventurous and independent about it that +pleased him. There was a dash of peril, too, in the enterprise; for +already the Valteline and the Brianza were said to be overrun by bands +of patriot troops, raising contributions for the war, and compelling +others to take up arms. + +Frank's instructions were, however, to examine and report upon the road, +and, avoiding all possible collision with the enemy, either to unite +with any Austrian brigade he could reach, or, if compelled, to retire +upon the Tyrol. Some of his comrades pitied him for being selected for +this lonely duty, others envied; but all regretted his departure, +and with many a warm wish for a speedy meeting, and many a pledge of +affection, they saw him depart on his enterprise. + +In the small "Zug" of twenty men under his command, there was a young +Hungarian cadet, who, although of good family and birth, Frank remarked +never to have seen by any chance in society with the officers. Ravitzky +was a handsome, daring-looking fellow, with that expression of mingled +sadness and intrepidity in his face so peculiarly Hungarian. He was the +best horseman in the regiment, and a thorough soldier in his look and +carriage. It had often puzzled Frank why a youth with such advantages +had not been promoted. On the one or two occasions, however, on which he +asked the question, he had received evasive or awkward replies, and +saw that the inquiry was at the least an unpleasant theme among his +comrades. + +Frank Dalton was well pleased at the opportunity now offered to know +something more of this young soldier, almost the only one under his +command who could speak any other language than Hungarian. Ravitzky, +however, although perfectly respectful in his manner, was cold and +reserved, showing no desire for an intimacy at which he might be +supposed to have felt proud. Without actually repelling, he seemed +determined to avoid nearer acquaintanceship, and appeared always happier +when he "fell back," to exchange a few guttural words with his comrades, +than when called to "the front," to converse with his officer. + +Frank was piqued at all this; he saw that neither his rank, his supposed +wealth, nor his assumed position imposed upon the cadet; and yet these +were the very claims all his brother-officers had acknowledged. Amazed +at this wound to his self-love, he affected to forget him altogether, +or only remember him as one of the soldiers in his command. So far from +seeming displeased, Ravitzky appeared more at his ease than before, and +as if relieved from the worry of attentions that were distasteful to +him. This conduct completed the measure of Frank's indignation, and +he now began actually to hate the youth, on whom he practised all the +possible tyrannies of military discipline. These Ravitzky bore without +seeming to be aware of them, discharging every duty with an exactitude +that made punishment or even reproof impossible. + +It is likely that if Frank had not been corrupted by all the adulation +he had so lately received,--if his self-esteem had not been stimulated +into an absurd and overweening vanity, he would have read this youth's +character aright, and have seen in him that very spirit of independence +which once he himself sought to display, albeit by a very different +road! Now, however, he received everything in a false light,--the +reserve was insolence, the coldness was disrespect, the punctuality in +duty a kind of defiance to him. How often he wished he had never taken +him! The very sight of him was now odious to his eyes. + +Austrian troops enjoy so much of freedom on a march, that it is +difficult often for the most exacting martinet to seize opportunities +for the small tyrannies of discipline. Frank's ingenuity was now to be +tried in this way, and, it is but fair to confess, not unsuccessfully. +He compelled the men to appear each morning as smart as if on +parade,--their carbines in the bandoleers, and not slung at the +saddle,--he inspected every belt and strap and buckle, and visited even +the slightest infraction with a punishment Ravitzky accepted all this as +the ordinary routine of discipline, and never, even by a look, appeared +to resent it. Tyranny would seem to be one of the most insidious of +all passions, and, if indulged in little things, invariably goes on +extending its influences to greater ones. + +At Maltz a new occasion arose for the tormenting influence of this +power, as the military post brought several letters from Vienna, one of +which was addressed to the cadet Ravitzky. It was about a week before +Frank was indignantly complaining to his sister of the shameless +violation of all feeling exhibited in opening and reading every +soldier's letter. He was eloquently warm in defending such humble +rights, and declaimed on the subject with all the impassioned fervor +of an injured man, and yet so corrupting is power, so subtle are the +arguments by which one establishes differences and distinctions, that +now he himself saw nothing strange nor severe in exercising this harsh +rule towards another. + +He was out of temper, too, that morning. The trim and orderly appearance +of the men gave no opportunity of a grumble, and he strutted along on +foot in front of his party, only anxious for something to catch at. On +turning suddenly around, he saw Ravitzky with his open letter before +him, reading. This was a slight breach of discipline on a march where +infractions far greater are every day permitted; but it offered another +means of persecution, and he called the cadet imperiously to the front, + +"Are you aware, cadet," said he, "of the general order regarding the +letters of all who serve in the ranks?" + +"I am, Herr Lieutenant," said the other, flushing deeply, as he saluted +him. + +"Then you knew that you were committing a breach of discipline in +opening that letter?" + +"As the letter is written in Hungarian, Herr Lieutenant, I felt that to +show it to you could be but a ceremony." + +"This explanation may satisfy you, sir; it does not suffice for me. Hand +me your letter." + +Ravitzky grew scarlet at the command, and for an instant he seemed as +though about to dispute it; but duty overcame every personal impulse, +and he gave it. + +"I see my own name here," cried Frank, as the one word legible to his +eyes caught him. "How is this?" + +Ravitzky grew red and pale in a second, and then stood like one +balancing a difficulty in his own mind. + +"I ask again, how comes a mention of me in this document?" cried Frank, +angrily. + +"The letter, Herr Lieutenant, is from my cousin, who, aware that I was +serving in the same troop with you, offered to make me known to you." + +"And who is this cousin with whom I am so intimate?" said Frank, +proudly. + +"Count Ernest Walstein," said the other, calmly. + +"What, he is your cousin? Are you really related to Walstein?" + +The other bowed slightly in assent + +"Then how is it, with such family influence, that you remain a cadet? +you have been two years in the service?" + +"Nearly four years, Heir Lieutenant," was the quiet reply. + +"Well, four years, and still unpromoted; how is that?" + +Ravitzky looked as if unable to answer the question, and seemed confused +and uneasy. + +"You have always been a good soldier. I see it in your 'character roll;' +there is not one punishment recorded against you." + +"Not one!" said the cadet, haughtily. + +"There must, then, be some graver reason for passing you over?" + +"There may be," said the other, with a careless pride in his manner. + +"Which you know?" said Frank, interrogatively. + +"Which I guess at," said Ravitzky. + +"Here is your letter, cadet," said Frank, banding it back to him. "I see +you will not make a confidant of me, and I will not force a confession." + +Ravitzky took the letter, and, saluting with respect, was about to fall +back, when Frank said,---- + +"I wish you would be frank with me, and explain this mystery." + +"You call it mystery, sir?" said the other, in astonishment "You are an +Irishman born, and call this a mystery?" + +"And why not? What has my birth to do with it?" + +"Simply that it might have taught the explanation. Is it truth, or am +I deceived in believing that your nation is neither well received nor +kindly met by the prouder country with which you are united; and +that, save when you stoop to blush at your nationality, you are never +recognized as claimant for either office or advancement?" + +"This may have been the case once to some extent," said Frank, +doubtingly, "but I scarcely think such differences exist now." + +"Then you are more fortunate than we," said Ravitzky. + +"But I see men of your nation the very highest in military rank,--the +very nearest to the Sovereign?" + +"Their's be the shame, then," said Ravitzky. "There are false hearts in +every land." + +"This is a puzzle to me I cannot comprehend." + +"I 'll tell you how to understand it all, and easily, too, Herr +Lieutenant. Take this letter and forward it to the Council of War; +declare that Cadet Ravitzky acknowledged to yourself that he was a +Hungarian, heart and soul, and, save the eagle on his chako, had nothing +of Austria about him. Add, that a hundred thousand of his countrymen +are ready to assert the same; and see if they will not make _you_ an +Ober-lieutenant, and send me to Moncacs for life." He held out the +letter, as he spoke, for Frank to take, and looked as proudly defiant as +if daring him to the act. + +"You cannot suppose I would do this?" + +"And yet it is exactly your duty, and what you took a solemn oath to +perform not a week back." + +"And if there be such disaffection in the troops, how will they behave +before an enemy?" asked Frank, eagerly. + +"As they have always done; ay, even in this very campaign that now +threatens us, where men are about to strike a blow for liberty, you 'll +see our fellows as foremost in the charge as though the cause at stake +was not their own." + +"Ravitzky, I wish you had told me nothing of all this." + +"And yet you forced the confession from me. I told Walstein, over and +over, that you were not suited for our plans. You rich men have too +much to lose to venture on so bold a game; he thought otherwise, and all +because you were an Irishman!" + +"But I have scarcely ever seen Ireland. I know nothing of its grievances +or wrongs." + +"I believe they are like our own," said Ravitzky. "They tell me that +your people, like ours, are warm, passionate, and impatient; generous +in their attachments, and terrible in their hatred. If it be so, and if +England be like Austria, there will be the same game to play out there +as here." + +Frank grew thoughtful at these words. He recalled all that the Abbe +D'Esmonde had said to him about the rights of a free people and the +duties of citizenship, and canvassed within his own mind the devoirs of +his position; meanwhile Ravitzky had fallen back to the men and taken +his place in the ranks. + +"They'll not compromise me before an enemy," thought Frank; "that I may +rely on." And with this trustful assurance he mounted and rode slowly +forward, deeply sunk in thought, and far less pleasantly than was +his wont to be. From all the excitement of his late life, with its +flatteries and fascinations, he now fell into a thoughtful mood, the +deeper that it was so strongly in contrast to what preceded it The +greater interests that now flashed across his mind made him feel the +frivolity of the part he had hitherto played. "Ravitzky is not older +than I am, and yet how differently does _he_ speculate on the future! +_His_ ambitions are above the narrow limits of selfish advancement, and +the glory _he_ aims at is not a mere personal distinction." + +This was a dangerous theme, and the longer he dwelt upon it the more +perilous did it become. + +The snow lay in deep drifts in many parts of the mountain, and the +progress of the little party became daily slower as they ascended. +Frequently they were obliged to dismount and lead their horses for +miles, and at these times Frank and Ravitzky were always together. It +was intimacy without any feeling of attachment on either side, and yet +they were drawn towards each other by some strange mysterious sympathy. +Their conversation ranged over every topic, from the great events which +menaced Europe to the smallest circumstances of personal history; and in +all Frank found the cadet his superior. It was not alone that his views +were higher, more disinterested, and less selfish, but his judgments +were calmer and better weighed. + +"_You_ want to be a count of the Empire, and a grand cross of every +order of Europe," said Ravitzky one day to Frank, at the close of a +rather warm discussion. "_I_ want to see my country free, and live an +humble soldier in the ranks." This bold avowal seemed to separate them +still more widely, and it was plain that each regarded the other with +distrust and reserve. It was after some days of this distance that Frank +endeavored to restore their intimacy by leading Ravitzky to speak of +himself, and at last ventured to ask him how it came that he still +remained a cadet, while others, in every way inferior to him, were made +officers. + +"I have refused promotion some half-dozen times over," said the other. +"As a kaiser-cadet, my time of service will expire in a few months +hence; then I shall be free to leave the service. Were I to accept my +grade as an officer, I should have to take an oath of fidelity to the +Emperor, which I would not, and pledge myself to a course that I could +not do." + +"Then they probably know the reasons for which you have declined +promotion?" + +"Assuredly they can guess them," was the curt reply. + +"You are a strange fellow, Ravitzky, and I scarcely understand you." + +"And yet there is nothing less a mystery than my conduct or my motives," +rejoined he, proudly. "My father is a noble, high in the service and +confidence of the Emperor, and although a Magyar by birth, is Austrian +by choice and predilection. My sympathies are with my countrymen. In +obedience to his wishes I have entered this service; in justice to +myself, I mean to quit it when I can with honor." + +"And for what, or where?" asked Frank. + +"Who knows?" said he, sorrowfully. "Many of our nation have gone over +the seas in search of a new land. Already we are almost as destitute of +a home as the Poles. But why talk of these things, Herr Lieutenant? I +may be led to say that which it would be your duty to report; you ought, +perhaps, as it is, to denounce me. Have no fears; my life would always +be spared; my family's fidelity would save _me_. This is one of the +glorious privileges of birth," cried he, scornfully. "The 'fusillade' +will be the sentence for one of those poor fellows yonder; but you and I +are too well born for justice to reach." + +"Assuredly, I 'll not quarrel with the privilege!" said Frank, laughing. + +"And yet, if I were as rich and as great as you are," said Ravitzky, "it +is exactly what I should do! With your fortune and your rank you want +nothing from king or kaiser. Who, then, would not strive for the higher +rewards that only a whole nation can confer?" + +Frank blushed deeply at the allusion to his supposed wealth, but had not +the courage to refute it. He, however, sought an opportunity to turn the +conversation to other channels, and avoided, for the future, all mention +of every theme of politics or party. The mischief, however, was done. He +brooded forever in secret over all the Hungarian had told him; while +old memories of fresh wrongs, as narrated by his father long ago, kept +recurring and mingling with them, till not only the themes excluded +other thoughts, but that he felt the character of his own ambition +changing, and new and very different hopes succeeding to his former +ones. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE SKIRMISH. + +At last they reached the summit of the Stelvio, and began the descent of +the mountain; and what a glorious contrast does the southern aspect of +an Alpine range present to the cold barrenness of the north! From the +dreary regions of snow, they came at length to small patches of verdure, +with here and there a stunted pine-tree. Then the larches appeared, +their graceful feathery foliage checkering the sunlight into ten +thousand fanciful shapes; while streams and rivulets bubbled and rippled +on every side,--not icebound as before, but careering along in glad +liberty, and with the pleasant music of falling water. Lower down, the +grass was waving as the wind moved on, and cattle were seen in herds +revelling in the generous pasture, or seeking shelter beneath the deep +chestnut-trees; for, already, even here, the Italian sun was hot. Lower +again came dark groves of olives and trellised vines; long aisles of +leafy shade traversing the mountain in every direction, now curving in +graceful bends, now in bold zigzags, scaling the steep precipices, and +sometimes hanging over cliffs and crags, where not even the boldest hand +would dare to pluck the ruddy bunches. + +Beneath them, as they went, the great plain of Lombardy opened to their +view,--that glorious expanse of wood and waving corn, with towns and +villages dotting the surface; while directly below, at their very feet, +as it were, stretched the Lake of Como, its wooded banks reflected in +the waveless water. What a scene of beauty was that fair lake, with its +leafy promontories, its palaces, and its Alpine background, all basking +under the deep blue of an Italian sky; while perfumes of orange groves, +of acacias and magnolias, rose like an incense in the air, and floated +upwards! + +Even the hard nature of the wild Hungarian--the rude dweller beside +the dark-rolling Danube or the rapid Theiss--could not survey the +scene unmoved; and, dismounting from their saddles, the hussars moved +stealthily along, as if invading the precincts of some charmed region. +Frank was in no haste to leave so picturesque a spot, and resolved to +halt for the night beneath the shade of some tall chestnut-trees, where +they had sought shelter from the noonday sun. Como was at his feet, +straight down beneath him was the wooded promontory of Bellagio, and +in the distance rose the Swiss Alps, now tinged with the violet hue of +sunset Never was there a scene less likely to suggest thoughts of war +or conflict If the eye turned from the dark woods of the Brianza to the +calm surface of the lake, everything wore the same aspect of peaceful +security. Figures could be seen seated or walking on the terraces of +the villas; gorgeously decked gondolas stole over the bay, their +gold-embroidered ensigns trailing lazily in the water. Equipages and +troops of horsemen wound their way along the leafy lanes; not a sight +nor sound that did not portend ease and enjoyment. + +With all Frank's ardor for adventure, he was not sorry at all this. His +orders to fall back, in case he saw signs of a formidable movement, were +too peremptory to be disobeyed, and he would have turned away with great +reluctance from a picture so temptingly inviting. Now there was no need +to think of this. The great dome of the Milan Cathedral showed on the +horizon that he was not thirty miles from the Austrian headquarters, +while all around and about him vouched for perfect quiet and +tranquillity. + +Tempted by a bright moonlight and the delicious freshness of the night, +he determined to push on as far as Lecco, where he could halt for the +day, and by another night-march reach Milan. Descending slowly, they +gained the plain before midnight, and now found themselves on that +narrow strip of road which, escarped from the rock, tracks the margin +of the lake for miles. Here Frank learned from a peasant that Lecco was +much too distant to reach before daybreak, and determined to halt at +Varenna, only a few miles off. + +This man was the only one they had come up with for several hours, and +both Frank and Ravitzky remarked the alarm and terror he exhibited as he +suddenly found himself in the midst of them. + +"Our cloth here," said the cadet, bitterly, "is so allied to thoughts +of tyranny and cruelty, one is not to wonder at the terror of that poor +peasant." + +"He said Varenna was about five miles off," said Frank, who did not like +the spirit of the last remark, and wished to change the topic. + +"Scarcely so much; but that as the road was newly mended, we should be +obliged to walk our cattle." + +"Did you remark the fellow while we were talking,--how his eye wandered +over our party? I could almost swear that I saw him counting our +numbers." + +"I did not notice that," said the cadet, with an almost sneering tone. +"I saw that the poor fellow looked stealthily about from side to side, +and seemed most impatient to be off." + +"And when he did go," cried Frank, "I could not see what way he took. +His 'Felice notte, Signori,' was scarce uttered when he disappeared." + +"He took us for a patrol," remarked the other, carelessly; and whether +it was this tone, or that Frank was piqued at the assumed coolness of +the cadet, he made no further remark, but rode on to the front of +the party. Shortly after this the moon disappeared; and as the road +occasionally passed through long tunnellings in the rock, the way became +totally obscured, so that in places they were obliged to leave the +horses entirely to their own guidance. + +"There 's Varenna at last!" said Frank, pointing out some lights, which, +glittering afar off, were reflected in long columns in the water. + +"That may still be a couple of miles off," said Ravitzky, "for the +shores of the lake wind greatly hereabouts. But, there! did you not see +a light yonder?--_that_ may be the village." But as he spoke the light +was gone; and although they continued to look towards the spot for +several minutes, it never reappeared. + +"They fish by torchlight here," said Ravitzky, "and that may have been +the light; and, by the way, there goes a skiff over the water at a +furious rate!--hear how the fellows ply their oars." + +The dark object which now skimmed the waters must have been close under +the rocks while they were speaking; for she suddenly shot out, and in a +few minutes was lost to view. + +"Apparently the clink of our sabres has frightened those fellows, too," +said Frank, laughing, "for they pull like men in haste." + +"It's well if it be no worse," said the cadet. + +"Partly what I was thinking, myself," said Frank. "We may as well be +cautious here." And he ordered Ravitzky, with two men, to ride forty +paces in advance, while four others, with carbines cocked, were to drop +a similar distance to the rear. + +The consciousness that he was assuming a responsibility made Frank +feel anxious and excited, and at the same time he was not without the +irritating sense that attaches to preparations of needless precaution. +From this, however, he was rallied by remarking that Ravitzky seemed +more grave and watchful than usual, carefully examining the road as he +went along, and halting his party at the slightest noise. + +"Did you hear or see anything in front?" asked Frank, as he rode up +beside them. + +"I have just perceived," said the cadet, "that the boat which half +an hour ago shot ahead and left us, has now returned, and persists in +keeping a little in advance of us. There! you can see her yonder. They +make no noise with their oars, but are evidently bent on watching our +movements." + +"We 'll soon see if that be their 'tactic,'" said Frank, and gave the +word to his men "To trot." + +For about half a mile the little party rode sharply forwards, the very +pace and the merry clink of the accoutrements seeming to shake off that +suspectful anxiety a slower advance suggests. The men were now ordered +to walk their horses; and just as they obeyed the word, Ravitzky called +out, "See! there she is again. The winding of the bay has given them the +advantage of us, and there they are still in front!" + +"After all," rejoined Frank, "it may be mere curiosity. Cavalry, I +suppose, are seldom seen in these parts." + +"So much the better," said Ravitzky, "for there is no ground for them to +manouvre, with a mountain on one hand, and a lake on the other. There! +did you see that light? It was a signal of some kind. It was shown +twice; and mark, now! it is acknowledged yonder." + +"And where is the boat?" + +"Gone." + +"Let us push on to Varenna; there must be some open ground near the +village!" cried Frank. "Trot!" + +An older soldier than Frank might have felt some anxiety at the position +of a party so utterly defenceless if attacked; perhaps, indeed, his +inexperience was not his worst ally at this moment, and he rode on +boldly, only eager to know what and where was the peril he was called +on to confront Suddenly Ravitzky halted, and called out, "There's a tree +across the road." + +Frank rode up, and perceived that a young larch-tree had been placed +across the way, half carelessly, as it seemed, and without any object of +determined opposition. + +Two men dismounted by his orders to remove it, and in doing so, +discovered that a number of poles and branches were concealed beside the +rocks, where they lay evidently ready for use. + +"They've had a Tyroler at work here," cried an old Corporal of the +Hussars; "they mean to stop us higher up the road, and if we fall back +we 'll find a barricade here in our rear." + +"Over with them into the lake," said Frank, "and then forward at once." + +Both orders were speedily obeyed, and the party now advanced at a rapid +trot. + +They were close to Varenna, and at a spot where the road is closely +hemmed in by rocks on either side, when the sharp bang of a rifle was +heard, and a shrill cry shouted something from the hillside, and +was answered from the lake. Ravitzky had but time to give the word +"Forwards!" when a tremendous fire opened from the vineyards, the +roadside, and the boat. The red flashes showed a numerous enemy; but, +except these, nothing was to be seen. "Forwards, and reserve your fire, +men!" he cried. And they dashed on; but a few paces more found them +breasted against a strong barricade of timber and country carts, +piled up across the way; a little distance behind which rose another +barricade; and here the enemy was thickly posted, as the shattering +volley soon proved. + +As Frank stood irresolute what course to take, the Corporal, who +commanded the rear, galloped up to say that all retreat was cut off +in that direction, two heavy wagons being thrown across the road, and +crowds of people occupying every spot to fire from. + +"Dismount, and storm the barricade!" cried Frank; and, setting the +example, he sprang from his saddle, and rushed forwards. + +There is no peril a Hungarian will not dare if his officer but lead +the way; and now, in face of a tremendous fire at pistol-range, they +clambered up the steep sides, while the balls were rattling like hail +around them. + +The Italians, evidently unprepared for this attack, poured in a +volley and fled to the cliffs above the road. Advancing to the second +barricade, Frank quickly gained the top, and sprang down into the road. +Ravitzky, who was ever close behind him, had scarcely gained the height, +when, struck in the shoulder by a ball, he dropped heavily down upon the +ground. The attack had now begun from front, flanks, and rear together, +and a deadly fire poured down upon the hussars without ceasing, while +all attempt at defence was hopeless. + +"Open a pass through the barricade," shouted Frank, "and bring up the +horses!" And while some hastened to obey the order, a few others grouped +themselves around Ravitzky, and tried to shelter him as he lay. + +"Don't leave me to these fellows, Dalton," cried he, passionately; +"heave me over into the lake rather." + +Frank now saw that the poor fellow's cheek was torn with a shot, and +that his left hand was also shattered. + +"The fire is too heavy, Herr Lieutenant; the men cannot open a way for +the cattle," whispered the old Corporal. + +"What's to be done then?" asked Frank; but the poor Corporal fell dead +at his side as he spoke. The brunt of the conflict was, however, at the +barricades; for, despairing of any prospect of removing the obstacles, +many of the hussars had ridden recklessly at them, and there, entangled +or falling, were shot down remorselessly by the enemy. One alone forced +his way, and with his uniform bloody and in rags dashed up to Frank. + +[Illustration: 190] + +"Get the cadet up in front of you," whispered Frank; and Ravitzky, +who was now unconscious, was lifted into the saddle; while the hussar, +grasping him with his strong arms, held him against his chest. + +"Forward, now," said Frank; on, to the first village, "and see him cared +for." + +"But you, Herr Lieutenant,--what's to become of you?" + +"I 'll not leave my poor wounded comrades." + +"There 's not a living man amongst them," cried the hussar. "Come along +with us, Herr Lieutenant; we may want your help too." + +The firing ceased at this moment; and to the wild shouts and din of +conflict there succeeded a dead silence. + +"Keep quiet--keep quiet--stand close beneath the rock," whispered Frank; +"here comes the boat." And, with slow and measured stroke, the skiff +neared the shore, about twenty paces from where they stood. + +"Pull in boldly," cried a gruff voice, in Italian; "there's nothing to +fear now: neither man nor horse could survive that fire." + +"Would that the great struggle could be accomplished so easily!" said a +softer tone, which Frank almost fancied he had heard before. + +Lanterns were now seen moving in the space between the barricades; and +crowds pressed down to examine and pillage the dead. + +"Have you found the officer's body?" asked he of the soft voice. + +"I suspect the party was under a sergeant's command," said another. + +"No, no," rejoined the other; "Giuseppe was positive that he saw an +officer." + +"See that he has not escaped, then," said the other, eagerly. "The tale +of this night's adventure might be told in two ways at Milan." + +"The cadet is dying, sir; his head has fallen back," whispered the +hussar to Frank. + +"The lake, Dalton, the lake!" muttered the dying man, as he threw his +arms around Frank's neck. Frank caught him while he was falling, but, +overborne by the weight, reeled back against the rock. + +"How many are in the boat?" whispered Frank. + +"I see but one man, sir," said the hussar. + +"Now for it, then," said Frank; "place him between us on a carbine, and +make for the boat." + +With the energy of a newly inspired hope, the men obeyed in an instant; +and, carrying their wounded comrade, moved stealthily along beneath the +shadow of the rock. It was only as they emerged from this, and gained +the little gravelly beach, that their figures could be seen. + +"Be quiet now, men, and leave that fellow to me," said Frank, as he +cocked his pistol. The clank of the sabres, however, seemed warning +enough for the crafty Italian, who jumped at once into the lake. With a +rush, the Hungarians sprang into the skiff, while Frank, seizing it by +the prow, pushed boldly out. The plunge and the splash had, meanwhile, +attracted notice, and several hurried down to the beach. Frank had but +time to order his men to lie down, when a crashing volley flew over +them. "Now, to your oars, boys, before they can load again." The +light skiff almost rose out of the water to their vigorous stroke: and +although the balls tore incessantly amongst them, they continued to row +on. Sheets of bright flame flashed across the water, as volley after +volley followed; but the Hungarians were soon out of the reach of the +fire, with no other loss than some slight wounds. + +At first it seemed as if some pursuit were intended; but this was soon +abandoned, and the noise of horses and wheels on the road showed that +the multitude were departing land-wise. Frank now bethought him what +was best to be done. If the country were really in open revolt, the only +chance of safety lay in surrendering to something like authority; if +this were a mere partial outbreak, in all likelihood the opposite shores +of the lake would offer a refuge. A single light, like a star, shone in +the far distance, and thither Frank now steered the boat. Ravitsky +lay against his knees, his head on Frank's lap, breathing heavily, and +occasionally muttering to himself, while the men kept time to the oars +with a low, mournful chant, which sounded at least like a death-wail +over their comrade. + +The lake opposite Varenna is nearly at its widest part; and it was full +three hours after the occurrence of the skirmish that they drew near +to the light, which they now saw proceeded from a little boat-house +belonging to a villa a short distance from shore. A small harbor, with +several boats at anchor in it, opened on the water's edge, and a +great flight of marble steps led up to a terraced garden, adorned with +fountains and groups of statuary. + +Frank saw at once that he had invaded the precincts of one of those +princely villas which the Milanese nobility possess on the lake, and +was uncertain which course to take. His Austrian uniform, he well knew, +would prove a sorry recommendation to their kind offices. For some +time back the breech between the Austrians and the Lombards had gone on +widening, till at length every intercourse had ceased between them; and +even the public places resorted to by the one were sure to be avoided +on that account by the other. Scarcely a day passed without Milan +witnessing some passages of hostility or insolence, and more than one +fatal duel showed how far political dislike had descended into personal +hatred. + +To ask for aid and assistance under circumstances such as these, would +have been, as Frank felt, a meanness; to demand it as a right would have +been as insolent a pretension; and yet what was to be done? Ravitzky's +life was in peril; should he, from any scruple whatever, hazard the +chances of saving his poor comrade? "Come what may," thought he, "I'll +claim their succor--theirs be the shame if they refuse it!" + +The approach was longer than he suspected, and, as he went along, Frank +had occasion to remark the tasteful elegance of the grounds, and the +costly character of all the embellishments. He saw that he was about +to present himself before one of the "magnates" of the land, and half +prepared himself for a haughty reception. Crossing a little bridge, he +found himself on a grassy plateau, on which a number of windows looked +out; and these now all lay open, while seated within were several +persons enjoying the Italian luxury of a "bel fresco," as the air of the +lake gently stirred the leaves, and carried some faint traces of Alpine +freshness into the plains beneath. A large lamp, covered with a deep +shade, threw a dubious light through the chamber, and gave to the group +all the effect and coloring of a picture. + +On an ottoman, supported by pillows, and in an attitude of almost +theatrical elegance, lay a lady, dressed in white, a black veil fastened +in her hair behind, being half drawn across her face. At her feet sat +a young man, with an air of respectful attention; and a little further +off, in an easy-chair, reclined the massive proportions of a priest, +fanning himself with his skull-cap, and seemingly gasping for air. +Behind all, again, was another figure,--a tall man, who, with a cigar in +his mouth, slowly paced the chamber up and down, stopping occasionally +to hear the conversation, but rarely mingling in it. + +There was that air of indolent enjoyment and lassitude, that mingled +aspect of splendor and neglect, so characteristically Italian in the +scene, that Frank forgot himself, as he stood still and gazed on the +group, and even listened to the words. + +"After all," said the young man, in Italian, "it is better to let them +do the thing in their own way! Catting off a patrol here, shooting +a sentry there, stabbing a general to-day, poisoning a field-marshal +to-morrow, seems to our notions a very petty war, but it makes a country +very untenable in the end!" + +"Fuori i barbari! over the Alps with them at any cost!" growled the +priest. + +"I agree with you," said the tall man, stopping to brush the cinder from +his cigar, "if you can drive them away in a stand-up fight; and I don't +see why you could not! Numerically, you are about five hundred to one; +physically, you look their equals. You have arms in abundance; you know +the country; you have the wishes of the people--" + +"The prayers of the Church," interposed the lady. + +"Beati sunt illi qui moriuntur pro patria," muttered the padre. + +"You and I, father," said the young man, "would like a little of that +beatitude in this world too." + +Frank had now heard more than he had desired to hear; and, unhooking +his sabre, he suffered it to clink at his heels as he boldly advanced +towards the windows. + +"Who have we there?" cried the tall man, advancing to the terrace, and +challenging the stranger. + +Frank replied, in French, that he was an Austrian officer, whose party +had been waylaid near Varenna, and who had made his escape with a +wounded comrade and a few others. + +"So the shots we heard came from that quarter?" whispered the youth to +the lady. + +She signed to him to be cautious, and the tall man resumed,---- + +"This is a private villa, sir; and as yet, at least, neither an Austrian +barrack nor an hospital." + +"When I tell you, sir," said Frank, with difficulty restraining his +passion, "that my comrade is dying, it may, perhaps, excite other +feelings than those of national animosity." + +"You are a Hungarian?" asked the youth. + +"What of that?" broke in the padre. "Tutti barbari! tutti barbari!" + +Meanwhile the tall man leaned over where the lady sat, and conversed +eagerly with her. + +"You have to think how it will look, and how it will tell abroad," said +he, in English. "How shall we persuade the people that we are in their +cause if you make this villa an Austrian refuge?" + +She whispered something low in reply, and he rejoined impatiently,---- + +"These are small considerations; and if we are to be always thinking of +humanity, let us give up the game at once." + +"You 'll not refuse my comrade the consolations of his Church, at +least?" said Frank. "I see a reverend father here--" + +"And you 'll never see him follow you one step out of this chamber," +broke in the priest "Ego autem tanquam Burdus, non audiebam," muttered +he, with a wave of his hand. + +"But if he be a good Catholic," interposed the youth, half slyly. + +"Let them be confounded who seek to do me evil!" said the priest, with a +solemnity that said how deeply he felt for his own safety. + +"This discussion is lasting too long," said Frank, impatiently. "I +cannot coerce your humanity, but I can demand as a right that a soldier +of your Emperor shall receive shelter and succor." + +"I told you so," said the tall man, still addressing the lady in +English; "first the entreaty,----then the menace." + +"And what are we to do?" asked she, anxiously. + +"Let them occupy the boat-house; there are beds in the lofts. Jekyl will +see that they have whatever is necessary; and perhaps by to-morrow we +shall get rid of them." Turning towards the youth, he spoke to him for a +few minutes rapidly, and the other replied, "You are right I 'll look +to it." He arose as he spoke, and bowing politely to Frank, pronounced +himself ready to accompany him. + +With a few words of apology for his intrusion, as awkwardly uttered as +they were ungraciously received, Frank retired from the chamber, to +retrace his steps to the harbor. + +Little as he was disposed to be communicative, Albert Jekyl--for it +was our old acquaintance--contrived to learn, as they went along, every +circumstance of the late encounter. + +The pliant Jekyl fully concurred in the indignant epithets of cowards +and assassins bestowed by Frank upon his late assailants, deplored with +him the miserable and mistaken policy of revolt among the people, and +regretted that, as foreigners themselves, they could not offer the +hospitality of the villa to the wounded man without exposing their lives +and fortunes to an Infuriated peasantry. + +"What nation do you then belong to?" asked Frank, shrewdly concealing +his knowledge of English. + +"We are, so to say, of different countries," said Jekyl, smiling, and +evading the question. "The padre is a Florentine--" + +"And the lady?" + +"She is a very charming person, and if it were not that she is a little +over-devout, a shade too good, would be the most delightful creature in +existence." + +"The tall man is her husband, I conclude." + +"No,----not her husband," smiled Jekyl again; "a person you 'll like +much when you see more of him. Short and abrupt, perhaps, at first, but +so kind-hearted and so generous." + +"And has the villa got a name?" asked Frank, in a voice of some +impatience at finding how little his companion repaid his frankness. + +"It is called La Rocca," said Jekyl. "Had you not been a stranger in +Italy, you would scarcely have asked. It is the most celebrated on the +whole lake." + +Frank thought he had heard the name before; but when, where, or how, he +could not remember. Other cares were, besides, too pressing upon him to +make him dwell on the subject, and he willingly addressed himself to the +more urgent duties of the moment. + +The boat-house stood in no need of all Jekyl's apologies. Frank had +lodged in many inferior quarters since he had begun soldiering; there +were several excellent bedrooms, and a delightful little _salon_ +which looked directly out upon the lake. Ravitzky, too, had rallied +considerably, and his wounds, although formidable from the loss of +blood, showed nothing likely to prove fatal. Jekyl pledged himself to +send a surgeon at once to him; and, adding all kinds of civil speeches +and offers of personal services, at last left the friends together to +exchange confidences. + +"What are our hosts like, Dalton?" said the cadet + +"_You_ would call them most patriotic, Ravitzky, for they would scarcely +give us shelter. Their only regret seemed that our friends yonder had +not done the work better, and finished off the rest of us." + +"It is not pleasant to accept of an ungracious hospitality; but +I suppose that I, at least, shall not trouble them long. There 's +something hot goes on ebbing here that tells of internal bleeding; and +if so, a few hours ought to suffice." + +Frank did his best to rally his poor comrade; but the task is a +difficult one with those whose fear of death is small. + +"You'll have to write to Milan, Dalton," said he, suddenly. + +"I should rather say, to hasten thither at once," said Frank. "I ought +to report myself as soon as possible." + +"But you mustn't leave me, Dalton; I cannot part with you. A few hours +is not much to you; to me it is a life long. I want you also to write to +Walstein for me; he 'll take care to tell my mother." + +Frank knew well the breach of discipline this compliance would entail, +and that he could scarcely be guilty of a graver offence against duty; +but Ravitzky clung to his wish with such pertinacity, throwing into the +entreaty all the eagerness of a last request, that Frank was obliged to +promise he would remain, and let the result take what shape it might. +While he, therefore, gave orders to his only unwounded comrade to hold +himself in readiness to set out for Milan by daybreak, he proceeded to +write the brief despatch which was to record his disaster. There are few +sadder passages in the life of a young soldier than that in which he has +to convey tidings of his own defeat. Want of success is so linked +and bound up with want of merit, that every line, every word, seems a +self-accusation. + +However inevitable a mishap might appear to any witnessing it, a mere +reader of the account might suggest fifty expedients to escape it. He +knew, besides, the soldierlike contempt entertained in the service for +all attacks of undisciplined forces, and how no party, however small, of +"regulars" was esteemed insufficient to cope with a mob of peasants +or villagers. Any contradiction to so acknowledged a theory would be +received with loud reprobation, and, whatever came of it, the most +inevitable result would be the professional ruin of him unlucky enough +to incur such a failure. + +"There's an end of the career of the Lieutenant von Dalton," said Frank, +as he concluded the paper. "Neither his uncle, the Field-Marshal, nor +his sister, the Princess, will have favor enough to cover delinquency +like this." It did, indeed, seem a most humiliating avowal, and probably +his own depressed state gave even a sadder coloring to the narrative. He +accompanied this despatch by a few lines to the Count, his grand-uncle, +which, if apologetic, were manly and straightforward; and, while bearing +a high testimony to Ravitzky's conduct, took all the blame of failure to +himself alone. + +He would gladly have lain down to rest when this last was completed, but +the cadet pressed eagerly for his services, and the letter to Walstein +must be written at once. + +"The surgeon tells me that there is internal bleeding," said he, "and +that, should it return with any degree of violence, all chance of +recovery is hopeless. Let us look the danger boldly in the face, then, +Dalton; and, while I have the time, let me tell Walstein all that I have +learned since we parted. The letter I will confide to your safe keeping +till such time as it can be forwarded without risk of discovery." + +"Is there necessity for such precaution?" asked Frank. + +"Can you ask me the question?" + +"Then how am I to write it?" said he. + +"Simply from my dictation," replied the other, calmly. "The sentiments +will not be yours, but mine. The mere act of the pen, for which these +fingers are too weak, can never wound the susceptibility of even _your_ +loyalty. You are not satisfied with this?" + +Frank shook his head dubiously. + +"Then leave me where I am. I ask no companionship, nor friendship +either,--or, if you prefer it, hasten to Milan and denounce me as a +traitor. My character is well enough known not to need corroboration to +your charge; the allegation will never hurt me, and it may serve _you_, +Ay, Herr Lieutenant, it will prove an opportune escape for the +disgrace of this unlucky night. They will forgive you much for such a +disclosure." + +Frank's temper would have been insufficient to bear such an insult +as this, had not the words been spoken by one already excited to the +madness of fever, and whose eye now flashed with the wild glare of +mania. + +It was long before Frank could calm down the passionate excitement of +the sick man, and fit him for the task he wished to execute; and even +then Ravitzky undertook it in a sullen, resentful spirit that seemed to +say that nothing short of the necessity would have reduced him to such +a confidence. Nor was this all. Pain and nervous irritability together +made him difficult, and occasionally impossible, to understand. The +names of people and places of Hungarian origin Frank in vain endeavored +to spell; the very utmost he could do being to follow the rapid +utterance with which the other at times spoke, and impart something like +consistency to his wild, unconnected story. + +That Ravitzky had been employed in secret communications with some of +the Hungarian leaders was plain enough, and that he had held intercourse +with many not yet decided how to act was also apparent. The tangled web +of intrigue was, however, too intricate for faculties laboring as his +were; and what between his own wanderings and Frank's misconceptions, +the document became as mysterious as an oracle. Perhaps Frank was +not sorry for this obscurity; or, perhaps, like the lady who consoled +herself for the indiscretion of keeping a lover's picture by the +assurance that "it was not like him," he felt an equal satisfaction in +thinking that the subject of his manuscript could never throw any light +upon any scheme that ever existed. Now it ran on about the feelings +of the Banat population, and their readiness to take up arms; now it +discussed the fordage #of rivers in Transylvania. Here was an account +of the arms in the arsenal of Arad; there a suggestion how to cut off +Nugent's corps on the Platen See. At times it seemed as if a great Sclav +revolt were in contemplation; at others the cause appeared that of the +Hungarian nobles alone, anxious to regain all the privileges of the old +feudalism. "At all events, it is rebellion," thought Frank; and heartily +glad was he when the task was completed, and everything save the address +appended. It was now sealed, and by Ravitzky's advice deposited within +the linings of Frank's pelisse, till such time as a safe opportunity +might offer of forwarding it to Walstein. + +The task occupied some hours; and when it was completed, so tired was +Frank by former exertion and excitement, that he lay down on the floor, +and with his head on the sick man's bed, fell fast asleep. Such had +been his eagerness to finish this lengthy document, that he had never +perceived that he was watched as he wrote, and that from the little +copse beside the window a man had keenly observed him for several hours +long. + +Ravitzky, too, fell into a heavy slumber; and now, as both slept, a +noiseless foot crossed the floor, and a man in the dark dress of a +priest drew nigh the bedside. Waiting for some seconds as if to assure +himself of the soundness of their sleep, he bent down and examined their +features. Of the cadet he took little notice; but when his eyes fell +upon Frank's face, pale and exhausted as he lay, he almost started back +with astonishment, and for several minutes he seemed as if trying to +disabuse himself of an illusion. Even the uniform appeared to surprise +him, for he examined its details with the greatest care. As he stood +thus, with the pelisse in his hand, he seemed suddenly to remember +the letter he had seen placed within the lining; and then, as suddenly +drawing out his penknife, he made a small aperture In the seam, and +withdrew the paper. He was about to replace the pelisse upon the bed, +when, by a second thought, as it were, he tore off the envelope of the +letter, and reinserted it within the lining. + +A single glance at it appeared to convey the whole tenor of its +contents, and his dark eyes ran over the words with eager haste; then, +turning away, he moved cautiously from the room. Once in the free air +again, he reopened the paper, his sallow features seeming to light up +with a kind of passionate lustre as he traced the lines. "It is not--it +cannot be without a meaning that we are thus forever meeting in life!" +cried he; "these are the secrets by which destiny works its purpose, and +we blindly call them accident! Even the savage knows better, and deems +him an enemy who crosses his path too frequently. Ay, and it will come +to this one day," muttered he, slowly; "he or I,----he or I." Repeating +this over and over, he slowly returned to the villa. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. A VILLA AND ITS COMPANY + +Having told our readers that the villa was called La Rocca, it is +perhaps needless that we should say that the lady was our old friend +Lady Hester, who, under the spiritual guidance of the Canon of the +Duomo, was now completing her religious education, while Lord Norwood +was fain to escape the importunity of duns and the impertinence of +creditors by a few weeks' retirement in this secluded region. Not that +this was his only inducement. For some time back he had pressed his +claim on various members of his Government for place or employment. He +had in vain represented the indignity of a peer reduced to beggary, +or the scarcely better alternative of play for support He had +tried--unsuccessfully, however--every sort of cajolery, menace, and +flattery, to obtain something; and after successively offering his +services for or against Carlism in Spain, with Russia or against her in +the Caucasus, with twenty minor schemes in Mexico, Sicily, Greece, and +Cuba, he at last determined on making Northern Italy the sphere of his +abilities, wisely calculating that before the game was played out he +should see enough to know what would be the winning side. + +An accidental meeting with D'Esmonde, which renewed this old intimacy, +had decided him on taking this step. The Abbe had told him that the +English Government of the day was secretly favorable to the movement; +and although, from the necessities of State policy and the requirements +of treaties, unable to afford any open or avowed assistance, would still +gladly recognize his participation in the struggle, and, in the event of +success, liberally reward him. + +"A new kingdom of Upper Italy, with Milan for the capital, and Viscount +Norwood the resident minister plenipotentiary," there was the whole +episode, in three volumes, with its "plot," "catastrophe," and "virtue +rewarded," in appropriate fashion; and as times were bad, neither racing +nor cards profitable, patriotism was the only unexplored resource he +could think of. + +Not that my Lord had much faith in the Abbe. Far from it. He thought all +priests were knaves; but he also thought "that he 'll not cheat _me_. +No, no; too wide awake for that He 'll not try that dodge. Knows where +I 've graduated. Remembers too well what school I come of." He was +perfectly candid, too, in this mode of reasoning, calmly telling +D'Esmonde his opinions of himself, and frankly showing that any attempt +at a "jockey" of him must inevitably fail. The Abbe, to do him justice, +took all this candor well,--affected to deem it the mere ebullition of +honest John Bullism; and so they were well met. At times, indeed, +the priest's enthusiasm carried him a little away, and he ventured to +speculate on the glorious career that conversion would open to the noble +Viscount, and the splendid fruits such a change would be certain to +produce. Norwood was, however, too practical for such remote benefits; +and if the Abbe couldn't "make the thing safe," as he styled it, would +not listen to this suggestion. A rich Italian princess,--there were two +or three such prizes in the wheel,--or an infanta of Spain, might solace +many a theological doubt; but Norwood said there was no use in quoting +the "fathers" when he was thinking only of the "daughters." + +And the priest wisely seemed to take him at his word. As for Lady +Hester, political intrigue was quite new to her, and, consequently, very +delightful. Since the Cardinal's departure for Rome, she had begun to +weary somehow of the ordinances of her new faith. The canonico but ill +replaced his Eminence. He had none of that velvety smoothness of manner, +that soft and gentle persuasiveness of the dignitary He could neither +smile away a doubt nor resolve a difficulty by a "bon mot" It is +but fair to say that he was no ascetic, that he loved good cheer +and pleasant converse, and was free to let others participate in the +enjoyment. Lady Hester, was, however, too much habituated to such +indulgences to reckon them other than necessaries. D'Esmonde, if he had +had time, might have compensated for all these deficiencies, but he +was far too deeply engaged with other cares, and his air of grave +preoccupation was more suited to awe her Ladyship than suggest ease in +his presence. And now we come to Albert Jekyl,--the last member of this +incongruous family. Nothing was less to his taste than any fanaticism, +whether it took the form of religion or politics. All such extravagances +were sure to interfere with society, impede intercourse, and disturb +that delightful calm of existence wherein vices ripen, and where men of +his stamp gather the harvest. + +To overthrow a Government, to disturb the settled foundations of a +State, were, to his thinking, a species of _inconvenance_ that savored +of intense vulgarity; and he classified such anarchists with men who +would like to smash the lamps, tear down the hangings, and destroy the +decorations of a _salon_ in which they were asked to pass the evening, +preferring to sit down amid ruin and wreck rather than eat their supper +at a well-ordered and well-furnished board. + +To Jekyl's eyes it was a very nice world as it was, if people would +only let it alone. "A world of bright eyes and soft tresses and white +shoulders, with Donizetti's music and Moet's champagne, was not to +be despised, after all." He had no sympathies, therefore, with these +disturbers; but he was too well bred ever to oppose himself to the +wishes of the company, and so he seemed to concur with what he could not +prevent. He could have wished that the Italians would take a lesson from +the Swiss, who only revolt when there is nothing else to do, and never +take to cutting each other's throats during the season when there are +travellers to be cheated; "but, perhaps," said he, "they will soon +get enough of it, and learn that their genius lies more in ballets and +bonbons than in bombs and rockets." + +Of such various hopes and feelings were the party made up who now +awaited D'Esmonde's presence at the supper-table. It was past midnight, +and they had been expecting him with impatience for above an hour back. +Twice had the canonico fallen asleep, and started up with terror at what +he called a "fantasma di fame." Jekyl had eaten sardines and oysters +till he was actually starving. Lady Hester was fidgety and fretful, +as waiting always made her; while Norwood walked from the room to the +terrace, and out upon the grass to listen, uneasy lest any mischance +should have befallen one who was so deeply involved in their +confidences. + +"It is but three or four and twenty miles to Milan," muttered Norwood; +"he might easily have been here by this." + +"The road is infested with banditti," growled out the padre. + +"Banditti!" said Norwood, contemptuously. But whether the sneer was +intended for the cut-throats' courage, or the folly of men who would +expect any booty from a priest, is hard to say; clearly the padre took +it in the latter sense, for he rejoined,---- + +"Even so, Milordo. When I was cure of Bergamo, they stopped me one night +on the Lecco road. A bishop was on a visit with me, and I had gone up to +Milan to procure some fish for our Friday's dinner. Oime! what a turbot +it was, and how deliciously it looked at the bottom of the calessino, +with the lobsters keeping guard at either side of it, and a small basket +of Genoa oysters,--those rock beauties that melt in the mouth like +a ripe strawberry! There they were, and I had fallen asleep, and was +dreaming pleasantly. I thought I saw St Cecilia dressing 'filets de sole +aux fines herbes,' and that she was asking me for sweet marjoram, when +suddenly I felt a sharp stick, as it were, in my side; and starting up, +I felt the point--the very point--of a thin stiletto between my ribs. + +"'Scusi, padre mio,' said a whining voice, and a great black-bearded +rascal touched his cap to me with one hand, while with the other he held +the dagger close to my side, a comrade all the time covering me with a +blunderbuss on the opposite side of the cart,--'scusi, padre mio, +but we want your pursel' 'Maladetto sia--' 'Don't curse,' said he, +beggingly,--'don't curse, padre, we shall only have to spend more money +in masses; but be quick, out with the "quattrini."' + +"'I have nothing but the Church fund for the poor.' said I, angrily. + +"'We are the poor, holy father,' whined the rogue. + +"'I mean the poor who hate to do evil,' said I. + +"'It grieves us to the soul when we are driven to it!' sighed the +scoundrel; and he gave me a gentle touch with the point of the stiletto. +Dark as it was, I could see the wretch grin as I screamed out. + +"'Be quick,' growled out the other, roughly, as he brought the wide +mouth of the trombone close to my face. There was no help for it I had +to give up my little leathern pouch with all my quarter's gatherings. +Many a warning did I give the villains of the ill-luck that followed +sacrilege,--how palsies and blindness and lameness came upon the limbs +of those who robbed the Church. They went on counting the coins without +so much as minding me. At last, when they had fairly divided the booty, +the first fellow said, 'One favor more, holy father, before we part.' + +"'Would you take my coat or my cassock?' said I, indignantly. + +"'Heaven forbid it!' said he, piously; 'we want only your blessing, +padre mio.' + +"'My blessing on thieves and robbers!' + +"'Who need it more, holy father?' said he, with another stick of the +point,----'who need it more?' + +"I screamed aloud, and the wretches this time laughed outright at my +misery. Meanwhile they both uncovered and knelt down in the road before +me. Oime! oime! There was no help for it I had to descend from the +calessino!" + +[Illustration: 208] + +"And did you bless them, father?" asked Jekyl. + +"That did I! for when I tried in the middle of the benediction to slip +in a muttering of 'Confundite ipsos qui quaerunt animam meam,' the +whining rogue popped out his accursed weapon, and cried, 'Take care, +holy father! We only bargain for the blessing.'" + +"They left you the fish, however?" said Norwood. + +"Not an oyster!" sighed the priest. + +"'You would not have us eat flesh on the fast, padre mio!' said the +hypocritical knave. 'Poor fellows like us have no dispensation, nor the +money to buy it' And so they packed up everything, and then, helping me +to my seat, wished me a pleasant journey, and departed." + +"I am curious to know if you really forgave them, padre?" said Jekyl, +with an air of serious inquiry. + +"Have I not said so!" rejoined the priest, testily. + +"Why, you tried to insinuate something that surely was not a blessing, +father." + +"And if I did, the fellow detected it. Ah, that rogue must have served +Mass once on a time, or his ears had never been so sharp!" + +"Are yours quick enough to say if that be the tramp of a horse?" asked +Norwood, as he listened to the sounds. + +"Yes, that is a horse," cried Jekyl. + +"Now, then, for the soup," exclaimed the canon. "Ah, yes!" added +he, with a sigh, as he turned to Lady Hester, "these are the +crosses,----these are the trials of life; but they are good for +us,--they are good for us! Poor mortals that we are! Non est sanitas +in carne mea. Oime! oime!" And so moralizing, he gave her his arm as he +reentered the house. In less than a minute later, D'Esmonde galloped up +to the door, and dismounted. + +"Has anything occurred?--you are late to-night," asked Norwood, hastily. + +"Nothing. The city, however, was in great alarm, and the tocsin was +twice sounded in the churches when I left at ten o'clock; the guards +were doubled at the gates, and mounted patrols making the rounds in +every quarter." + +"What was this for?" asked Norwood. + +"A mere false alarm,----nothing more. The Austrians are harassed beyond +measure by these frequent calls to arms; and men grumble that they are +mustered twice or thrice during the night without any cause. A petard +exploded in the street, or a church bell rung, is sure to call out the +whole garrison." + +"I begin to suspect that our Italian friends will be satisfied with +this, and never go further," said Norwood, contemptuously. + +"You are wrong there. It is by the frequency and impunity of these +demonstrations, that they are working up courage for an overt movement +By the time that the Austrians have grown indifferent to such nightly +disturbances, the others will have gained hardihood for a real +outbreak." + +"If they only be persuaded that war is assassination on a grand scale, +they might make excellent soldiers," simpered Jekyl; but the others +seemed to take no heed of his pleasantry. + +"Have they not fixed a time?" asked Norwood, eagerly; "or is it all left +vague and uncertain as ever?" + +"The Swiss are quite ready; we only wait now for the Piedmontese. Genoa +is with us at a word; so are Leghorn and the towns of the Romagna. The +signal once given, there will be such a rising as Italy has not seen for +centuries. England will supply arms, ammunition--" + +"All but men," sighed Norwood; "and it is exactly what are wanting." + +"And France--" + +"Will give her sympathies," broke in Jekyl. "That dear France! that +always says God speed to disturbance and trouble wherever it be." + +"What of that Austrian soldier?" said D'Esmonde, who did not quite like +the tone of either of his companions,--"is he better?" + +"The surgeon says that he cannot recover," replied Jekyl; "and for that +reason I suspect that he 's in no danger." + +"Have you seen the officer to-day?" asked the priest again. + +"No," replied Norwood. "Jekyl and I twice endeavored to speak with +him; but he slept half the forenoon, and since that he has been writing +innumerable despatches to headquarters." + +"They say at Milan that he 'll be shot for this misadventure," said +D'Esmonde; "that he acted in contravention to his orders, or did +something, I know not what, which will be treated as a grave military +offence." + +"The canonico is furious with us for this delay," said Jekyl, laughing, +as he returned from a peep into the _salon_. + +The Abbe was, meanwhile, deep in a whispered conversation with Norwood. +"Ay," said the latter, doubtingly, "but it's a serious thing to tamper +with a soldier's fidelity. The Austrians are not the people to suffer +this with impunity." + +"How are they to know it?" + +"If it fail,--if this young fellow reject our offers, which, as a +Hungarian, it is just as likely that he will do?" + +"But he is not a Hungarian. I know him, and all about him." + +"And can you answer for his readiness to join us?" + +"I cannot go that far; but seeing the position he stands in, what can be +more probable? And, take the worst case: suppose that he refuses, I have +him still!" + +"How do you mean?" + +"Simply that I have in my hands the means to destroy all his credit, and +peril his very life!" The sudden energy of passion in which he delivered +these words appeared to have escaped him unawares; for, as quickly +recovering his wonted smoothness of tone, he said, "Not that anything +short of the last necessity would drive me to such an alternative." + +"May I never have to trust to your tender mercies, Abbe!" said Norwood, +with a laugh, in which there was far more of earnest than of jesting; +"but let us talk of these things after supper." And with the careless +ease of a mere idler, he lounged into the house, followed by the others. + +Once seated at supper, the conversation took a general turn, requiring +all the Abbe's skill and Jekyl's tact at times to cover from the +servants who waited the secret meaning of many of those allusions to +politics and party which Lady Hester uttered, in the perfect conviction +that she was talking in riddles. Her indiscretion rendered her, indeed, +a most perilous associate; and in spite of hints, warnings, and signs, +she would rattle on upon the dangerous theme of revolt and insurrection; +the poor devices of deception she employed being but sorry blinds to the +native quickness of Italian shrewdness. + +This little fire of cross-purposes sadly perplexed the canonico, who +looked up now and then from his plate with a face of stupid astonishment +at all that went forward. + +"You have heard, I suppose, canon," said the Abbe, adroitly addressing +him, "that the city authorities have only granted twelve thousand crowns +for the festival of San Giovanni?" + +"Twelve thousand crowns! It will not pay for the throne of the Virgin," +growled out the canon, "not to speak of the twenty-six angels in +sprigged muslin!" + +"There are to be no angels this time. The priests of the Santa Croce are +to walk behind the canopy." + +"It will ruin the procession," muttered the canon. + +"They certainly look as little like angels as need be," interposed +Jekyl, slyly. + +"Sixty lamps and two hundred tapers are a scant allowance," continued +D'Esmonde. + +"Darkness,--positive darkness!" ejaculated the canon; "ubi evasit pietas +nostra?--what has become of our ancient faith?" + +"The soldier, your reverence, wishes to see you immediately," said a +servant, entering in haste; "he fears that he is sinking fast." + +"The heavy dews of the morning are falling--can he not wait till the sun +rises, Giuseppe?" + +"You had better see him at once, canon," whispered the Abbe. + +"Oime! oime!" sighed the priest, "mine is a weary road--'potum meum cum +fletu miscebam,'" added he, finishing off his champagne, "is it far from +this?" + +"Only to the boat-house, father," said Lady Hester. + +"Per mares et ignos! it's a good half-hour's walk," growled he. + +"You can have the pony carriage, father," interposed she. + +"He starts at everything by night--don't trust the pony," said Jekyl. + +"Well, then, be carried in my chair, father." + +"Be it so,--be it so," muttered he. "I yield myself to anything,--'sicut +passer sub tecto,'--I have no will of my own." + +"Go along with him, my Lord," whispered D'Esmonde: "the opportunity will +be a good one to see the young officer. While the father talks with the +sick man, you can converse with the friend. See in what frame of mind he +is." + +"Does he speak French? for I am but an indifferent German," said +Norwood. + +"Yes, French will do," said D'Esmonde, who, after a moment's hesitation +as to whether he should reveal the secret of Frank's country, seemed to +decide on still reserving the knowledge. + +"But this could be better done to-morrow," said Norwood. + +"To-morrow will be too late," whispered D'Esmonde. "Go now; you shall +know my reasons at your return." + +Norwood took little heed of the canonico's attempts at conversation as +they went along. His mind was occupied with other thoughts. The moment +of open revolt was drawing nigh, and now came doubts of D'Esmonde's +sincerity and good faith. It was true that many of the priests were +disposed to the wildest theories of democracy,--they were men of more +than ordinary capacity, with far less than the ordinary share of worldly +advantages. D'Esmonde, however, was not one of these; there was no limit +to which his ambition might not reasonably aspire,--no dignity in his +Church above his legitimate hopes. What benefit could accrue to him from +a great political convulsion? "He'll not be nearer to the Popedom +when the cannon are shaking the Vatican!" Such were the puzzling +considerations that worked within him as he drew near the boat-house. + +A figure was seated on the door-sill, with the head buried beneath his +hands, but on hearing the approach of the others be quickly arose and +drew himself up. "You are too late, sir," said he, addressing the priest +sternly; "my poor comrade is no more!" + +"Ah me! and they would drag me out in the chill night air," groaned the +canonico. + +The cruelty of that must have weighed heavily on his heart. + +Frank turned away, and re-entered the house without speaking, while +Norwood followed him in silence. On a low truckle-bed lay the dead +soldier, his manly face calm and tranquil as the cold heart within his +breast. A weather-beaten, bronzed soldier sat at the foot of the bed, +the tears slowly flowing along his cheeks, as his bloodshot eyes were +fixed upon his comrade. It was the first blood that had been shed in the +cause of Italian independence, and Norwood stood thoughtfully staring at +the victim. + +"Poor fellow!" said he; "they who gave his death-wound little knew what +sympathy for liberty that jacket covered, nor how truly the Hun is the +brother of the Italian." + +"They were assassins and murderers," cried Frank, passionately; "fellows +who attacked us from behind walls and barricades." + +"Your reproach only means that they were not soldiers." + +"That they were cowards, rather,----rank cowards. The liberty that such +fellows strive for will be well worthy of them! But no more of this," +cried be, impatiently; "is there a church near, where I can lay his +body,--he was a Catholic?" + +"There is a chapel attached to the villa; I will ask permission for what +you require." + +"You will confer a favor on me," said Frank, "for I am desirous of +hastening on to Milan at once." + +"You will scarcely find your comrades there," said Norwood. + +Frank started with surprise, and the other went on,---- + +"There are rumors of a serious revolt in the city, and some say that the +Imperial troops have retired on the Mantua road." + +"They know nothing of Austrian soldiers who say these things," said +Frank, haughtily; "but there is the more need that I should lose no time +here." + +"Come, then, I will show you the way to the chapel," said Norwood, who +could not divest himself of a feeling of interest for the young soldier. + +Frank spoke a few words in Hungarian to his men, and hastily wrapping +the dead man in his cloak, they placed him on a door, his chako and his +sword at either side of him. + +"You will see that he is buried as becomes a brave and a true soldier," +said Frank, with a faltering accent, as they went along. "This will +defray the cost." + +"No, no; there is no need of that," said Norwood, pushing away the +proffered purse. "We'll look to it ourselves." + +"Let there be some record of him preserved, too, for his friends' sake. +His name was 'Stanislas Ravitsky.'" + +"And may I ask yours?" said Norwood. + +"You'll hear of it in the first court-martial return for Milan," said +Frank, bitterly. + +"Then why go there?--why hasten to certain ruin?" + +"You would say, why not desert?----why not forfeit my honor and my +oath? Because I am a gentleman, sir; and if the explanation be not +intelligible, so much the worse for you." + +"I have left him in the chapel," said Norwood to D'Esmonde, a few +minutes after this conversation; "he is kneeling beside the corpse, and +praying. There is nothing to be done with him. It is but time lost to +attempt it." + +"So much the worse for _him,_" said D'Esmonde, significantly repeating +the words that Norwood related, while he hastily left the spot and +walked towards the high-road, where now an Austrian picket was standing +beside the horses. + +"This is your warrant, sir," said D'Esmonde to the officer, handing him +a paper; "You 'll find the person you seek for in the chapel yonder." + +The officer saluted in reply, and ordered his men to mount; while +D'Esmonde, passing into a thick part of the copse, was out of sight in a +moment. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. PETER DALTON ON POLITICS, LAW, AND SOCIALITIES. + +We have seen Baden in the dark winter of its discontent--in the +spring-time of its promise--and now we come back to it once more, in the +fall blaze of its noonday splendor. It was the height of the season! +And what a world of dissipation does that phrase embody! What reckless +extravagance, what thoughtless profusion, what systematic vice glossed +over by the lacquer of polished breeding, what beauty which lacks but +innocence to be almost divine! All the attractions of a lovely country, +all the blandishments of wealth, the aids of music and painting, the +odor of flowers, the songs of birds,--all pressed into the service of +voluptuous dissipation, and made to throw a false lustre over a scene +where vice alone predominates. + +It was the camp of pleasure, to which all rallied who loved to fight +beneath that banner. And there they were, a mingled host of princes, +ministers, and generals. The spoiled children of fashion, the reckless +adventurer, the bankrupt speculator, the nattered beauty in all the +pride of her loveliness, the tarnished virtue in all the effrontery of +conquest! Strange and incongruous elements of good and evil,--of +all that is honored in heroism, and all that men shrink from with +shame,--there they were met as equals. + +As if by some conventional relaxation of all the habits which rule +society, men admitted to their intimacy here those they would have +strenuously avoided elsewhere. Vice, like poverty, seemed to have +annihilated all the distinctions of rank, and the "decorated" noble and +the branded felon sat down to the same board like brethren. + +Amid all the gay company of the Cursaal none appeared to have a greater +relish for the glittering pleasures of the scene than a large elderly +man, who, in a coat of jockey cut and a showy waistcoat, sat at the +end of one of the tables,--a post which the obsequious attention of +the waiters proclaimed to be his own distinctively. Within a kind of +ring-fence of bottles and decanters of every shape and size, he looked +the genius of hospitality and dissipation; and it was only necessary +to mark how many a smile was turned on him, how many a soft glance was +directed towards him, to see that he was the centre of all designing +flattery. There was a reckless, unsuspecting jollity in his look that +could not be mistaken; and his loud, hearty laugh bespoke the easy +self-satisfaction of his nature. Like "special envoys," _his_ champagne +bottles were sent hither and thither down the table, and at each instant +a friendly nod or a courteous bow acknowledged his hospitable attention. +At either side of him were seated a knot of his peculiar parasites, +and neither was wit nor beauty wanting to make their society agreeable. +There is a species of mock affection, a false air of attachment in +the homage rendered to such a man as this, that makes the flattery +infinitely more seductive than all the respectful devotion that ever +surrounded a monarch. And so our old friend Peter Dalton--need we to +name him?--felt it. "Barring the glorious burst of a fox-hunting chorus, +or the wild 'hip, hip' of a favorite toast, it was almost as good as +Ireland." Indeed, in some respects, it had rather the advantage over the +dear island. + +Peter was intensely Irish, and had all the native relish for high +company, and it was no mean enjoyment that he felt in seeing royal and +serene highnesses at every side of him, and knowing that some of the +great names of Europe were waiting for the very dish that was served +first in honor to himself. There was a glittering splendor, too, in the +gorgeously decorated "Saal," with its frescos, its mirrors, its lustres, +and its bouquets, that captivated him. The very associations which a +more refined critic would have cavilled at had their attractions for +_him_, and he gloried in the noise and uproar. The clink of glasses and +the crash of plates were to his ears the pleasant harmony of a convivial +meeting. + +He was in the very height of enjoyment. A few days back he had received +a large remittance from Kate. It came in a letter to Nelly, which he had +not read, nor cared to read. He only knew that she was at St. Petersburg +waiting for Midchekoffs arrival. The money had driven all other thoughts +out of his head, and before Nelly had glanced her eye over half the +first page, he was already away to negotiate the bills with Abel Kraus, +the moneychanger. As for Frank, they had not heard of him for several +months back. Nelly, indeed, had received a few lines from Count Stephen, +but they did not appear to contain anything very interesting, for she +went to her room soon after reading them, and Dalton forgot to ask more +on the subject. His was not a mind to conjure up possible misfortunes. +Always too ready to believe the best, he took the world ever on its +sunniest side, and never would acknowledge a calamity while there was a +loophole of escape from it. + +"Why wouldn't she be happy?--What the devil could ail her?----Why +oughtn't he to be well?----Wasn't he as strong as a bull, and not +twenty yet!" Such were the consolations of his philosophy, and he needed +no better. + +His flatterers, too, used to insinuate little fragments of news about +the "Princess" and the "Young Count," as they styled Frank, which he +eagerly devoured, and as well as his memory served him, tried to repeat +to Nelly when he returned home of a night. These were enough for him; +and the little sigh with which he tossed off his champagne to their +health was the extent of sorrow the separation cost him. + +Now and then, it is true, he wished they were with him; he'd have liked +to show the foreigners "what an Irish girl was;" he would have been +pleased, too, that his handsome boy should have been seen amongst "them +grinning baboons, with hair all over them." He desired this the more, +that Nelly would never venture into public with him, or, if she did, +it was with such evident shame and repugnance that even his selfishness +could not exact the sacrifice. "'T is, maybe, the sight of the dancing +grieves her, and-she lame," was the explanation he gave himself of this +strange turn of mind; and whenever honest Peter had hit upon what he +thought was a reason for anything, he dismissed all further thought +about the matter forever. It was a debt paid, and he felt as if he had +the receipt on his file. + +On the day we now speak of he was supremely happy. An Irish peer had +come into the Saal leaning on his arm, and twice called him "Dalton" +across the table. The waiter had apologized to a royal highness for not +having better Johannisberg, as the "Schloss" wine had all been reserved +for the "Count," as Peter was styled. He had won four hundred Napoleons +at roulette before dinner; and a bracelet, that cost a hundred and +twenty, was glittering on a fair wrist beside him, while a murmur of his +name in tones of unquestionable adulation, from all parts of the table, +seemed to fill up the measure of his delight. + +"What's them places vacant there?" called he out to the waiter, and +pointing to five chairs turned back to the table in token of being +reserved. + +"It was an English family had arrived that morning who bespoke them." + +"Faix! then, they 're likely to lose soup and fish," said Peter; "the +'coorses' here wait for no man." And as he spoke the party made their +appearance. + +A large elderly lady of imposing mien and stately presence led the way, +followed by a younger and slighter figure; after whom walked a very +feeble old man, of a spare and stooping form; the end being brought up +by a little rosy man, with a twinkling eye and a short jerking limp, +that made him seem rather to dance than walk forward. + +"They've ca-ca-carried off the soup already," cried the last-mentioned +personage, as he arranged his napkin before him, "and--and--and, I +fa-fancy, the fish, too." + +"Be quiet, Scroope," called out the fat lady; "do be quiet." + +"Yes, but we shall have to p-p-pay all the same," cried Scroope. + +"There 's good sense in that, anyway," broke in Dalton; "will you take +a glass of champagne with me, sir? you 'll find it cool, and not bad of +its kind." + +Mr. Purvis acknowledged the courtesy gracefully, and bowed as he drank. + +"Take the ortolans to that lady, Fritz," said Dalton to the waiter; and +Mrs. Ricketts smiled her sweetest gratitude. + +"We are dreadfully late," sighed she; "but the dear Princess of +Stauffenschwillingen passed all the morning with us, and we could n't +get away." + +"I thought it was the woman about the ro-rope dancing detained you." + +"Hush, Scroope--will you be quiet? Martha, dearest, don't venture on +those truffles. My poor child, they would be the death of you." And, +so saying, she drew her companion's plate before herself. "A most +agreeable, gentlemanlike person," muttered she, in a whisper, evidently +intended for Peter's ears. "We must find out who he is. I suppose +you know the Princess, sir? Don't you love her?" said she, addressing +Dalton. + +"Faix! if you mean the old lady covered with snuff that comes here to +have her dogs washed at the well, without intending any offence to +you, I do not. To tell you the truth, ma'am, when I was in the habit of +fallin' in love, it was a very different kind of creature that did it! +Ay, ay, 'the days is gone when beauty bright my heart's ease spoilt.'" + +"My heart's chain wove,'" smiled and whispered Mrs. Ricketts. + +"Just so. It comes to the same thing. Give me the wine, Fritz. Will you +drink a glass of wine with me, sir?" + +The invitation was addressed to General Ricketts, who, by dint of +several shoves, pokings, and admonitions, was at last made aware of the +proposition. + +"Your father's getting a little the worse for wear, miss," said Dalton +to Martha, who blushed at even the small flattery of the observation. + +"The General's services have impaired his constitution," remarked Mrs. +Ricketts, proudly. + +"Ay, and to all appearance it was nothing to boast of in the beginning," +replied Peter, as he surveyed with self-satisfaction his own portly +form. + +"Fourteen years in the Hima-Hima-Hima--" + +"Himalaya, Scroope,----the Himalaya." + +"The highest mountains in the world!" continued Purvis. + +"For wet under foot, and a spongy soil that never dries, I'll back the +Galtees against them any day. See, now, you can walk from morning to +night, and be over your head at every step you go." + +"Where are they?" inquired Scroope. + +"Why, where would they be? In Ireland, to be sure; and here's prosperity +to her, and bad luck to Process-servers, 'Polis,' and Poor-Law +Commissioners!" Dalton drained his glass with solemn energy to his +toast, and looked as though his heart was relieved of a weight by this +outburst of indignation. + +"You Irish are so patriotic!" exclaimed Mrs. Ricketts, enthusiastically. + +"I believe we are," replied Dalton. "'T is only we 've an odd way of +showing it." + +"I remark that they ne-never live in Ireland when they can li-live out +of it," cackled Purvis. + +"Well, and why not? Is it by staying at home in the one place people +learns improvements? you might drink whiskey-punch for forty years +and never know the taste of champagne. Potatoes wouldn't teach you the +flavor of truffles. There's nothing like travellin'!" + +"Very true," sighed Mrs. Ricketts; "but, as the poet says, 'Where'er I +go, whatever realms I see--"' + +"The devil a one you 'll meet as poor as Ireland," broke in Dalton, who +now had thrown himself headlong into a favorite theme. "Other countries +get better, but she gets worse." + +"They say it's the po-po----" screamed Scroope. + +"The Pope, is it?" + +"No; the po-potatoes is the cause of everything." + +"They might as well hould their prate, then," broke in Peter, whose +dialect always grew broader when he was excited. "Why don't they tell me +that if I was too poor to buy broadcloth, it would be better for me to +go naked than wear corduroy breeches? Not that I'd mind them, +miss!" said be, turning to Martha, who already was blushing at his +illustration. + +"I fear that the evil lies deeper," sighed Mrs. Ricketts. + +"You mean the bogs?" asked Dal ton. + +"Not exactly, sir; but I allude to those drearier swamps of superstition +and ignorance that overlay the land." + +Peter was puzzled, and scratched his ear like a man at a nonplus. + +"My sister means the pr-pr-pr--" + +"The process-servers?" + +"No; the pr-priests--the priests," screamed Purvis. + +"Bother!" exclaimed Dalton, with an accent of ineffable disdain. "'T is +much you know about Ireland!" + +"You don't agree with me then?" sighed Mrs. Ricketts. + +"Indeed I do not. Would you take away the little bit of education out of +a country where there's nothing but ignorance? Would you extinguish the +hopes of heaven amongst them that has nothing but starvation and misery +here? Try it,--just try it. I put humanity out of the question; but just +try it, for the safety's sake! Pat is n't very orderly now, but, faix! +you 'd make a raal devil of him then, entirely!" + +"But popery, my dear sir--the confessional--" + +"Bother!" said Dalton, with a wave of his hand. "How much you know about +it! 'T is just as they used to talk long ago about drunkenness. Sure, +I remember well when there was all that hue and cry about Irish +gentlemen's habits of dissipation, and the whole time nobody took +anything to hurt his constitution. Well, it's just the same with +confession,--everybody uses his discretion about it. _You_ have your +peccadilloes, and _I_ have my peccadilloes, and that young lady there +has her--Well, I did n't mean to make you blush, miss, but 'tis what I'm +saying, that nobody, barrin' a fool, would be too hard upon himself!" + +"So that it ain't con-confession at all," exclaimed Purvis. + +"Who told you that?" said Peter, sternly. "Is it nothing to pay +two-and-sixpence in the pound if you were bankrupt to-morrow? Does n't +it show an honest intention, any way?" said he, with a wink. + +"Then what are the evils of Ireland?" asked Mrs. Ricketts, with an air +of inquiring interest. + +"I 'll tell you, then," said Dalton, slowly, as he filled a capacious +glass with champagne. "It is n't the priests, nor it isn't the potatoes, +nor it isn't the Protestants either, though many respectable people +think so; for you see we had always priests and potatoes, and a +sprinkling of Protestants besides; but the real evil of Ireland--and +there's no man living knows it better than I do--is quite another thing, +and here's what it is." And he stooped down and dropped his voice to a +whisper. "'Tis this: 'tis paying money when you have n't it!" The +grave solemnity of this enunciation did not seem to make it a whit more +intelligible to Mrs. Ricketts, who certainly looked the very type of +amazement. "That's what it is," reiterated Dalton, "paying money when +you have n't it! There's the ruin of Ireland; and, as I said before, who +ought to know better? For you see, when you owe money, and you have n't +it, you must get it how you can. You know what that means; and if you +don't, I 'll tell you. It means mortgages and bond debts; rack-renting +and renewals; breaking up an elegant establishment; selling your horses +at Dycer's; going to the devil entirely; and not only yourself, but all +belonging to you. The tradesmen you dealt with, the country shop where +you bought everything, the tithes, the priests' dues,--not a farthing +left for them." + +"But you don't mean to say that people shouldn't p-p-pay their debts?" +screamed Purvis. + +"There's a time for everything," replied Dalton. "Shaving oneself is a +mighty useful process, but you wouldn't have a man get up out of his bed +at night to do it? I never was for keeping money,--the worst enemy would +n't say that of me. Spend it freely when you have it; but sure it's not +spending to be paying debts due thirty or forty years back, made by your +great-grandfather?" + +"One should be just before being ge-gen-gene-gene----" + +"Faix! I'd be both," said Dalton, who with native casuistry only +maintained a discussion for the sake of baffling or mystifying an +adversary. "I'd be just to myself and generous to my friends, them's my +sentiments; and it 's Peter Dalton that says it!" + +"Dalton!" repeated Mrs. Ricketts, in a low voice,----"did n't he say +Dalton, Martha?" + +"Yea, sister; it was Dalton." + +"Did n't you say your name was Da-Da-a-a----" + +"No, I didn't!" cried Peter, laughing. "I said Peter Dalton as plain as +a man could speak; and if ever you were in Ireland, you may have heard +the name before now." + +"We knew a young lady of that name at Florence." + +"Is it Kate,--my daughter Kate?" cried the old man, in ecstasy. + +"Yes, she was called Kate," replied Mrs. Ricketts, whose strategic sight +foresaw a world of consequences from the recognition. "What a lovely +creature she was!" + +"And you knew Kate?" cried Dalton again, gazing on the group with +intense interest. "But was it my Kate? Perhaps it was n't mine!" + +"She was living in the Mazzarini Palace with Lady Hester Onslow." + +"That's her,--that's her! Oh, tell me everything you know,--tell me all +you can think of her. She was the light of my eyes for many a year! Is +the old lady sick?" cried he, suddenly; for Mrs. Ricketts had leaned +back in her chair, and covered her face with her handkerchief. + +"She 's only overcome," said Martha, as she threw back her own shawl +and prepared for active service; while Scroope, in a burst of generous +anxiety, seized the first decanter near him and filled out a bumper. + +"She and yonr da-daughter were like sisters," whispered Scroope to +Dalton. + +"The devil they were!" exclaimed Peter, who thought their looks must +have belied the relationship. "Isn't she getting worse?--she's trembling +all over her." + +Mrs. Ricketts's state now warranted the most acute sympathy; for she +threw her eyes wildly about, and seemed like one gasping for life. + +"Is she here, Martha? Is she near me----can I see her--can I touch +her?" cried she, in accents almost heartrending. + +"Yes, yes; you shall see her; she 'll not leave you," said Martha, as if +caressing a child. "We must remove her; we must get her out of this." + +"To be sure; yes, of course!" cried Dalton. "There's a room here empty. +It's a tender heart she has, any way;" and, so saying, he arose, and +with the aid of some half-dozen waiters transported the now unconscious +Zoe, chair and all, into a small chamber adjoining the Saal. + +"This is her father's hand," murmured Mrs. Ricketts, as she pressed +Dalton's in her own,----"her father's hand." + +"Yes, my dear!" said Dalton, returning the pressure, and feeling a +strong desire to blubber, just for sociality's sake. + +"If you knew how they loved each other," whispered Martha, while she +busied herself pinning cap-ribbons out of the way of cold applications, +and covering up lace from the damaging influence of restoratives. + +"It 's wonderful,--it's wonderful!" exclaimed Peter, whose faculties +were actually confounded by such a rush of sensations and emotions. + +"Make him go back to his dinner, Martha; make him go back," sighed the +sick lady, in a half-dreamy voice. + +"I couldn't eat a bit; a morsel would choke me this minute," said +Dalton, who could n't bear to be outdone in the refinements of excited +sensibility. + +"She must never be contradicted while in this state," said Martha, +confidingly. "All depends on indulgence." + +"It's wonderful!" exclaimed Dalton, again,----"downright wonderful!" + +"Then, pray go back; she'll be quite well presently," rejoined Martha, +who already, from the contents of a reticule like a carpet-bag, had +metamorphosed the fair Zoe's appearance into all the semblance of a +patient. + +"It's wonderful; it beats Banagher!" muttered Peter, as he returned to +the Saal, and resumed his place at the table. The company had already +taken their departure, and except Purvis and the General, only a few +stragglers remained behind. + +"Does she often get them?" asked Peter of Purvis. + +"Only when her fee-fee-feelings are worked upon; she's so se-sensitive!" + +"Too tender a heart," sighed Peter, as he filled his glass, and sighed +over an infirmity that he thought he well knew all the miseries of. "And +her name, if I might make bould?" + +"Ricketts,----Mrs. Montague Ricketts. This is Ge-Ge-General Ricketts." +At these words the old man looked op, smiled blandly, and lifted his +glass to his lips. + +[Illustration: 228] + +"Your good health, and many happy returns to yoo," said Peter, in reply +to the courtesy. "Ricketts,----Ricketts. Well, I 'm sure I heard the +name before." + +"In the D-D-Duke's despatches you may have seen it." "No, no, no. I +never read one of them. I heard it here in Baden. Wait, now, and I'll +remember how." Neither the effort at recollection nor the aid of a +bumper seemed satisfactory, for Dalton sat musingly for several minutes +together. "Well, I thought I knew the name," exclaimed he, at last, with +a deep sigh of discomfiture; "'t is runnin' in my head yet; something +about chilblains,----chilblains." + +"But the name is R-R-Ricketts," screamed Purvis. + +"And so it is," sighed Peter. "My brain is woolgathering. By my +conscience, I have it now, though!" cried he, in wild delight. "I knew I +'d scent it out. It was one Fogles that was here,----a chap with a red +wig, and deaf as a door-nail." + +"Foglass, you mean,--Fo-Foglass,----don't you?" + +"I always called him Fogies; and I 'm sure it's as good a name as the +other, any day." + +"He's so pl-pleasant," chimed in Scroope, who, under the influence of +Dalton's champagne, was now growing convivial,----"he's so agreeable; +always in the highest cir-circles, and dining with no-no-no----" + +"With nobs," suggested Peter. "He might do better, and he might do +worse. I 've seen lords that was as great rapscallions as you 'd meet +from this to Kilrush." + +"But Foglass was always so excl-exclusive, and held himself so high." + +"The higher the better," rejoined Dalton, "even if it was out of one's +reach altogether; for a more tiresome ould crayture I never forgathered +with; and such a bag of stories he had, without a bit of drollery or +fun in one of them. You may think that kind of fellow good company in +England; but, in my poor country, a red herring and a pint of beer would +get you one he could n't howld a candle to. See now, Mister--" + +"P-P-Purvis," screamed the other. + +"Mister Purvis,--if that's the name,--see, now, 't is n't boasting I am, +for the condition we 're in would n't let any man boast,--but it's what +I 'm saying, the English is a mighty stupid people. They have their +London jokes, and, like London porter, mighty heavy they are, and +bitter, besides; and they have two or three play-actors that makes them +die laughing at the same comicalities every day of the year. They get +used to them as they do the smoke and the noise and the Thames water; +and nothing would persuade them that, because they 're rich, they 're +not agreeable and social and witty. And may I never leave this, but you +'d find cuter notions of life, droller stories, and more fun, under a +dry arch of the Aqueduct of Stoney Batter than if you had the run of +Westminster Hall. Look at the shouts of laughter in the Law Coorts; look +at the loud laughter in the House of Commons! Oh dear! oh dear! it makes +me quite melancholy just to think of it I won't talk of the Parliament, +because it's gone; but take an Irish Coort in Dublin or on the Assizes, +at any trial,--murder, if you like,----and see the fun that goes on: +the judge quizzing the jury, and the counsel quizzing the judge, and +the prisoner quizzing all three. There was poor ould Nor-bury,--rest +his soul!--I remember well how he could n't put on the black cap for +laughing." + +"And is ju-justice better administered for all that?" cried Purvis. + +"To be sure it is. Isn't the laws made to expose villany, and not let +people be imposed upon? Sure it's not to hang Paddy Blake you want, +but to keep others from following his example. And many 's the time +in Ireland when, what between the blunderin' of the Crown lawyers, the +flaws of the indictment, the conscientious scruples of the jury,--you +know what that means,--and the hurry of the judge to be away to +Harrogate or Tunbridge, a villain gets off. But, instead of going out +with an elegant bran-new character, a bit of a joke--a droll word spoken +during the trial--sticks to him all his life after, till it would +be just as well for him to be hanged at once as be laughed at, from +Pill-Lane to the Lakes of Killarney. Don't I remember well when one of +the Regans--Tim, I think it was--was tried for murder at Tralee; +there was a something or other they could n't convict upon. 'T was his +grandfather's age was put down wrong, or the color of his stepmother's +hair, or the nails in his shoes wasn't described right,----whatever it +was, it was a flaw, as they called it; and a flaw in a brief, like one +in a boiler, leaves everybody in hot water. "Not Guilty," says the jury, +'for we can't agree.' + +"''Tis a droll verdict,' says O'Grady, for he was the judge. 'What d' ye +mean?' + +"'Most of us is for hanging, my Lord; but more of us would let him off.' + +"'What will you do, Mr. Attorney?' says the judge. 'Have you any other +evidence to bring forward?' And the Attorney-General stooped down and +began whispering with the bench. 'Very well,' says the judge, at last, +'we 'll discharge him by proclamation.' + +"'Wait a minute, my Lord,' says ould Blethers, who got five guineas for +the defence, and had n't yet opened his mouth. 'Before my respected but +injured client leaves that dock, I call to your Lordship, in the name +and on behalf of British justice,--I appeal to you, by the eternal +principles of our glorious Constitution, that he may go forth into the +world with a reputation unstained and a character unblemished.' + +"'Not so fast, Mister Blethers,' says old Grady,----'not so fast I 'm +going over Thieve-na-muck Mountain tonight, and, with the blessing of +God, I 'll keep your unblemished friend where he is till morning.' Now +you see the meaning of what I was telling you. 'T is like tying a kettle +to a dog's tail." + +It is not quite clear to us whether Purvis comprehended the story or +appreciated the illustration; but he smiled, and smirked, and looked +satisfied, for Peter's wine was admirable, and iced to perfection. +Indeed, the worthy Scroope, like his sister, was already calculating how +to "improve the occasion," and further cultivate the esteem of one whose +hospitable dispositions were so excellent. It was just at this moment +that Martha glided behind Purvis's chair, and whispered a word in his +ear. Whatever the announcement, it required some repetition before it +became quite palpable to his faculties, and it was only after about five +minutes that his mind seemed to take in all the bearings of the case. + +"Oh, I ha-have it!" cried he. "That's it, eh?" And he winked with a +degree of cunning that showed the most timely appreciation of the news. + +"Would n't the young lady sit down and take something?" said Dalton, +offering a seat "A glass of sweet wine? They 've elegant Tokay here." + +"Thanks, thanks," said Scroope, apologizing for the bashful Martha; "but +she's in a bit of a quandary just now. My sister wishes to return home, +and we cannot remember the name of the hotel." + +Dalton took a hearty fit of laughing at the absurdity of the dilemma. + +"'T is well," said he, "You were n't Irish. By my conscience! they'd +call that a bull;" and he shook his sides with merriment. "How did you +get here?" + +"We walked," said Martha. + +"And which way did you come?" + +"Can you remember, Scroope?" + +"Yes, I can re-re-member that we crossed a little Plate, with a +fountain, and came oyer a wooden bridge, and then down an alley of +li-li-linden-trees." + +"To be sure ye did," broke in Dalton; "and the devil a walk of five +minutes ye could take in any direction here without seeing a fountain, a +wooden bridge, and a green lane. 'T is the same whichever way you turn, +whether you were going to church or the gambling-house. Would you know +the name, if you hear it? Was it the Schwan?" Purvis shook his head. +"Nor the Black Eagle?--nor the Cour de Londres?--nor the Russie?--nor +the Zaringer? Nor, in fact, any of the cognate hotels of Baden. Was n't +there a great hall when you entered, with orange-trees all round it, +and little couriers, in goold-lace jackets, smoking and drinking beer?" +Scroope thought he had seen something of that sort "Of course ye did," +said Dalton, with another burst of laughter. "'Tis the same in every +hotel of the town. There 's a clock that never goes, too, and a +weather-glass always at 'set fair,' and pictures round the walls of all +the wonderful inns in Germany and Switzerland, with coaches-and-four +driving in at full gallop, and ladies on the balconies, and +saddle-horses waiting, and every diversion in life going on, while, +maybe, all the time, the place is dead as Darmstadt." + +Scroope recognized the description perfectly, but could give no clew to +its whereabouts. + +"Maybe 't is Kaufmayer's. Was it painted yellow outside?" + +Scroope thought not. "It hadn't a garden in front?" He couldn't say +positively; but, if so, it was a small garden. "He did n't remark two +dogs in stone beside the door?" No, he had not seen them. + +"Then, by the powers!" exclaimed Peter, "I give it up. Nelly's the only +body can make anything out of it." + +"And who's Ne-Ne-Nelly?" screamed Purvis. + +"My daughter, Miss Dalton," said Peter, haughtily, And as if rebuking +the liberty of the question. + +Scroope hastened to apologize, and suddenly remembered how frequently he +had heard of the young lady from her sister, and how eager Mrs. Ricketts +would be to make her Acquaintance. + +"There's nothing easier than that same," said Dalton. "Just come with +me to my little place, and take tea with us. Nelly will be right glad +to see them that was kind to her sister, and then we'll try if we can't +find out your inn." + +"Can we do this, Martha?" cried Scroope, in seeming Agitation. + +"I 'll speak to my sister," mildly replied she. + +"Do, then, Miss," said Dalton. "Say 'tis just alone, and in the family +way, and that we have n't more than ten minutes' walk from this; or, we +'ll get a coach if she likes." + +The very thought of practising hospitality was ecstasy to honest Peter, +who, while Martha retired to consult her sister, ordered in a relay of +bottles to beguile the time. + +"I like that little ould man," said he, confidingly, to Purvis, while he +bent a kindly glance on the General. "He doesn't say much, and, maybe, +he hears less; but he takes his glass pleasantly, and he lays it down +when it's empty, with a little sigh. I never knew a bad fellow had that +habit." + +Scroope hinted that the General was one of the bright stars of the +British army. + +"I did n't care that he took Tippoo Saib, or Bergen-op-Zoom, and that's +a big word,--for a wickeder pair of devils, by all accounts, never +lived,--if he's all right here." And Peter touched the left region +of his brawny chest "If he's good and generous, kind to the poor, and +steady to his friends, I'd be prouder to know him than if he was 'Bony' +or Brian Maguire!" + +Scroope assured him that the General's greatness took nothing from the +kindly qualities of his heart; and, indeed, the mild looks of the old +man well corroborated the eulogy; and he and Dalton nodded and drank to +each other with all the signs of a most amicable understanding. + +Martha was not long absent. She returned with all manner of +acknowledgments on the part of her sister; but gratitude was so +counterbalanced by delicacy, fears of intrusion were so coupled with +enthusiastic delight, that poor Dalton was quite unable to unravel the +web, and satisfy himself what were her real intentions. + +"Is it that she won't come?" said he, in a state of bewilderment. + +"Oh, no," said Martha; "she did not mean that." + +"Well, then, she is coming," said he, more contentedly. + +"She only fears the inconvenience,----the trouble she may give Miss +Dalton,--not to speak of the abruptness of such a visit." + +"She does n't know Nelly,--tell her that. She doesn't know Nelly +Dalton," said Peter. "'T is the same girl does n't care for trouble or +inconvenience; just talk to her about Kate and you 'll pay her well for +all she could do for you." + +"My sister thinks a carriage would be better, she is so very weak," +mildly observed Martha. + +"Well, we 'll get one in a jiffy. Fritz, my man, send down to the Platz +for a shandradan,--a wagon, I mean. 'T is a droll name for a coach." And +he laughed heartily at the conceit "And now, Mr. Purvis, let us finish +them before we go. The Gen'ral is doing his part like a man. It's +wonderful the nourishment would n't put flesh on him; you could shave +him with his shin bone!" and Dalton stared at the frail figure before +him with all the astonishment a great natural curiosity would create. + +"What a kind creature! what a really Irish heart!" sighed Mrs. Ricketts, +as she slowly sailed into the room, and sank into a chair beside Dalton. +"It is like a dream, a delicious dream,--all this is. To be here in +Baden, with my dear Miss Kate Dalton's father,--actually going to drink +tea.----What a thought, Martha! to drink tea with dearest Nelly!" + +Peter began to fear that the prospect of such happiness was about to +overwhelm her sensibilities once more; but fortunately, this time, she +became more composed, and discussed the visit with wonderful calm and +self-possession. + +The carriage now drove up; and although Dalton would greatly have +preferred a little longer dalliance over the bottle, he politely gave +one arm to Mrs. Ricketts and the other to Martha, issuing forth from the +Cursaal in all the pride of a conqueror. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. NELLY'S TRIALS + +While Mr. Dalton is accompanying his guests along the Lichtenthal Alley, +and describing the various objects of interest on either hand, we will +take the opportunity of explaining to our reader why it happened that +honest Peter no longer inhabited the little quiet quarters above the +toyshop. + +By Kate's liberality, for some time back he had been most freely +supplied with money. Scarcely a week passed over without a line from +Abel Kraus to say that such or such a sum was placed to his credit; and +Dalton once more revelled in those spendthrift habits that he loved. +At moments, little flashes of prudential resolve would break upon him. +Thoughts of Ireland and of the "old place" would arise, and he would +half determine on some course of economy which might again restore +him to his home and country. But the slightest prospect of immediate +pleasure was sufficient to rout these wise resolves, and Baden was +precisely the spot to suggest such "distractions." There was nothing +Peter so much liked in the life of this watering-place as the facility +with which acquaintance was formed. The stately reserve of English +people was his antipathy, and here he saw that all this was laid aside, +and that people conversed freely with the neighbor that chance had +given, and that even intimacies grew up between those who scarcely knew +each other's names. + +Whatever might be thought of these practices by more fastidious critics, +to Peter Dalton they appeared admirable. In his estimation the world was +a great Donnybrook Fair, where everybody came to amuse and be amused. +Grave faces and careworn looks, he thought, should stay at home, and not +disturb the harmony of what he deemed a great convivial gathering. + +It may easily be guessed from this what class of persons found access +to his intimacy, and how every smooth-tongued adventurer, every +well-dressed and plausible-looking pretender to fashion, became his +companion. Nothing but honest Peter's ignorance of foreign languages set +any limit to his acquaintance; and, even with this, he had a shake-hands +intimacy with every Chevalier d'Industrie of France and Germany, and a +cigar-lending-and-lighting treaty with every long-haired Pole in Baden. + +As he dined every day at the Cursaal, he seldom returned home of +an evening without some three or four chance acquaintances, whom he +presented to Nelly without knowing their names. But they were sure to be +"tip-top chaps," and "up to everything." Not that the latter eulogy was +much of an exaggeration; the majority of them, indeed, well deserving +such a panegyric. If Dalton's long stories about Ireland and its joys or +grievances were very uninteresting to these gentlemen, they found +some compensation in the goodness of his wine and the abundance of his +cigars; and hock and tobacco digested many a story which, without +such adjuncts, would never have found a listener. Play is, however, so +paramount to all else at Baden, that, as the season advanced, even a hot +supper from the "Russie" and an ice-pail full of champagne-flasks could +not attract the company from the fascinations of the gaming-table, and +Peter saw that his choice spirits were deserting him. + +"You live so far away," cried one. "Your house is full a mile from the +Cursaal." + +"There is such a climb-up to that crib of yours, Dalton," cried another. +"One can't manage it in this hot weather. Why won't you pitch your +tent in the plain? It's like going up the Righi to try and reach your +quarters." + +Such and such like were the polite admonitions administered by those who +wanted a convenient lounge for their spare half-hours, and who, while +affecting to think of their friend, were simply consulting what suited +themselves. And is this philosophy confined only to Baden? Is not the +world full of friendships that, like cab-fares, are regulated by +the mile? The man who is half a brother to you while you live on the +Boulevard de Gand, becomes estranged from your bosom when you remove to +the Champs Elysees; and in these days of rapid transport, ten minutes' +walk would separate the most devoted attachments. + +Dalton's pride was at first wounded by these remonstrances; but his +second thoughts led him to think them more reasonable, and even elevated +the grumblers in his esteem. "Sure, ain't they the height of the +fashion? Sure, is n't everybody trying to get them? Is it any wonder +they would n't scale a mountain for the sake of a glass of wine?" The +quiet home, so dear to him by many an association; the little window +that looked out upon the Alten Schloss, and beside which Nelly sat with +him each evening; the small garden underneath, where Hans cultivated +his beautiful carnations, and where many a little figure by Nelly's +hand graced some bed or alley,--all became now distasteful. "The stairs +creaked dreadfully; he did n't think they were quite safe. The ceilings +were so low, there was no breathing in the rooms. The hill would be +the death of him; he had pains in his knees for half the night after +he climbed it." Even the bracing air of the mountain, that was his once +boast and pride, was now a "searching, cutting wind, that went through +you like a knife." It was a mean-looking little place, too, over a +toy-shop, "and Hans himself was n't what he used to be." + +Alas! there was some truth in this last complaint He was more silent and +more absent in manner than ever; sometimes would pass whole days without +a word, or remain seated in his little garden absorbed in deep thought. +The frequenters of his shop would seek in vain for him; and were it not +for Nelly, who in her father's absence would steal down the stairs +and speak to them, the place would have seemed deserted. On one or +two occasions she had gone so far as to be his deputy, and sold little +articles for him; but her dread of her father's knowing it had made her +ill for half the day after. + +It was, then, a dreadful blow to Nelly when her father decided on +leaving the place. Not alone that it was dear by so many memories, but +that its seclusion enabled her to saunter out at will under the shade of +the forest-trees, and roam for hours along the little lanes of the deep +wood. In Hans, too, she took the liveliest interest He had been their +friend when the world went worst with them; his kindness had lightened +many a weary burden, and his wise counsels relieved many a gloomy hour. +It was true that of late he was greatly altered. His books, his favorite +volumes of Uhland and Tieck, were never opened. He never sat, as of +yore, in the garden, burnishing up his quaint old fragments of armor, +or gazing with rapture on his strange amulets against evil. Even to the +little ballads that she sang he seemed inattentive and indifferent, and +would not stop to listen beneath the window as he once did. + +His worldly circumstances, too, were declining. He neglected his shop +altogether; he made no excursions, as of old, to Worms or Nuremberg for +new toys. The young generation of purchasers found little they cared for +in his antiquated stores, and, after laughing at the quaint old devices +by which a past age were amused, they left him. It was in vain that +Nelly tried to infuse some interest into the pursuit which once had been +his passion. All the little histories he used to weave around his toys, +the delusions of fancy in which he revelled, were dissipated and gone, +and he seemed like one suddenly awakened from a delicious dream to +the consciousness of some afflicting fact He strenuously avoided the +Daltons, too, and even watched eagerly for moments of their absence +to steal out and walk in the garden. When by chance they did meet, his +manner, instead of its old cordiality, was cold and respectful; and +he, whose eyes once sparkled with delight when spoken to, now stood +uncovered, and with downcast looks, till they went by him. + +No wonder, then, if Dalton thought him changed. + +"'T is nothing but envy 's killing him, Nelly," said he. "As long as we +were poor like himself, he was happy. It gratified the creature's pride +that we were behind with the rent; and while he was buying them images, +he was a kind of a patron to you; but he can't bear to see us well +off,----that's the secret of it all. 'Tis our prosperity is poison to +him." + +To no end did Nelly try to undeceive her father on this head. It was a +corollary to his old theory about "the 'bad dhrop' that was always in +low people." In vain did she remind him of poor Hanserl's well-tried +friendship, and the delicacy of a kindness that in no rank of life could +have been surpassed. Dalton was rooted in his opinion, and opposition +only rendered him more unforgiving. + +Quite forgetting the relations which once subsisted between them, he saw +nothing in Hanserl's conduct but black ingratitude. "The little chap," +he would say, "was never out of the house; we treated him like one of +the family, and look at him now! + +"You saw him yourself, Nelly,----you saw him shed tears the other day +when you spoke of the Princess. Was that spite, or not,--tell me that? +He could n't speak for anger when you told him Frank was an officer." + +"Oh, how you mistake these signs of emotion, dearest father." + +"Of course I do. I know nothing,--I 'm too old; I 'm in my dotage. 'Tis +my daughter Nelly understands the world, and is able to teach me." + +"Would that I knew even less of it! Would that I could fall back to the +ignorance of those days when all our world was within these walls!" + +"And be cutting the images, I hope, again!" said he, scornfully; "why +don't you wish for that? It was an elegant trade for a young lady of +your name and family! Well, if there's anything drives me mad, it's to +think that all them blasted figures is scattered about the world, and +one does n't know at what minute they 'll turn up against you!" + +"Nay, father," said she, smiling sadly; "You once took an interest in +them great as my own." + +"It only shows, then, how poverty can break a man's spirit." + +Discussions like these, once or twice a week, only confirmed Dalton in +his dislike to his old abode, and Nelly at last saw that all resistance +to his will was hopeless. At last he peremptorily ordered her to give +Hans notice of their intended removal; for he had fixed upon a house in +the Lichtenthal Alley to suit them exactly. It was a villa which had a +few months before been purchased and fitted up by a young French count, +whose gains at the gaming table had been enormous. Scarcely, however, +had he taken possession of his sumptuous abode, than "luck" turned; he +lost everything in the world, and finished his career by suicide. In +a colony of gamblers, where superstition has an overweening influence, +none could be found rash enough to succeed to so ill-omened a +possession; and thus, for nigh half the season, the house continued shut +up and unoccupied. Dalton, whose mind was strongly tinctured with fears +of this kind, yet felt a species of heroism in showing that he was not +to be deterred by the dangers that others avoided; and as Abel Kraus, to +whom the property now belonged, continually assured him "it was just the +house for him," Peter overcame his scruples, and went to see it. + +Although of small extent, it was princely in its arrangements. Nothing +that French taste and elegance could supply was wanting, and it was a +perfect specimen of that costly splendor which in our own day rivals +all the gorgeous magnificence of "the Regency." Indeed, it must be +owned that honest Peter thought it far too fine to live in; he trod the +carpets with a nervous fear of crushing the embroidery, and he sat down +on the brocaded sofa with as much terror as though it were glass. How he +was ever to go asleep in a bed where Cupid and angels were sculptured in +such endless profusion, he couldn't imagine; and he actually shrank back +with shame from his own face, as he surveyed it within the silver frame +of a costly toilet-glass. + +Such were his impressions as he walked through the rooms with Abel, and +saw, as the covers were removed from lustres and mirrors, some new and +more dazzling object at each moment reveal itself. He listened with +astonishment to the account of the enormous sums lavished on these +sumptuous articles, and heard how twenty, or thirty, or forty thousand +francs had been given for this or that piece of luxury. + +What was forty Napoleons a month for such splendor! Kraus was actually +lending him the villa at such a price; and what a surprise for Nelly, +when he should show her the little drawing-room in rose-damask he meant +for herself; and then there was a delightful arbor in the garden to +smoke in; and the whole distance from the Cursaal was not above ten +minutes' walk. Peter's fancy ran over rapidly all the jollifications +such a possession would entail; and if he wished, for his own sake, that +there were less magnificence, he consoled himself by thinking of the +effect it would have upon others. As he remarked to himself, "There 's +many thinks more of the gilding than the gingerbread!" + +If Nelly's sorrow at leaving Hanserl's house was deep and sincere, it +became downright misery when she learned to what they were about to +remove. She foresaw the impulse his extravagance would receive from +such a residence, and how all the costliness of decoration would +suggest wasteful outlay. Her father had not of late confided to her +the circumstances of his income. He who once could not change a crown +without consulting her, and calling in her aid to count the pieces and +test their genuineness, would now negotiate the most important dealings +without her knowledge. From his former distrust of Kraus he grew to +believe him the perfection of honesty. There is something so captivating +to a wasteful man in being freely supplied with money,--with receiving +his advances in a spirit of apparent frankness,----that he would find it +impossible to connect such liberality with a mean or interested motive. +Kraus's little back room was then a kind of California, where he could +dig at discretion; and if in an unusual access of prudence honest Peter +would ask, "How do we stand, Abel?" Kraus was sure to be too busy to +look at the books, and would simply reply, "What does it matter? How +much do you want?" From such a dialogue as this Dalton would issue forth +the happiest of men, muttering to himself, how differently the world +would have gone with him if he "had known that little chap thirty or +forty years ago." + +Without one gleam of comfort,--with terror on every side,--poor Nelly +took possession of her splendor to pass days of unbroken sorrow. Gloomy +as the unknown future seemed, the tidings she received of Kate and Frank +were still sadder. + +From her sister she never heard directly. A few lines from Madame de +Heidendorf, from a country house near St. Petersburg, told her that the +Prince had not succeeded in obtaining the Imperial permission, and that +the marriage was deferred indefinitely. Meanwhile the betrothed Princess +lived a life of strict seclusion as the etiquette required, seeing +none but such members of the royal family as deigned to visit her. +Poor Nelly's heart was nigh to bursting as she thought over her dear +Kate,--the gay and brilliant child, the happy, joyous girl, now pining +away in dreary imprisonment. This image was never out of her mind, and +she would sit hour after hour in tears for her poor sister. What future +happiness, however great it might be, could repay a youth passed in +misery like this? What splendor could efface the impression of this +dreary solitude, away from all who loved and cared for her? + +Of Frank, the tidings were worse again. A short and scarcely +intelligible note from Count Stephen informed her that, "although the +court-martial had pronounced a sentence of death, the Emperor, rather +than stain a name distinguished by so many traits of devotion to his +house, had commuted the punishment to imprisonment for life at Moncacs. +There was," he added, "a slight hope that, after some years, even +this might be relaxed, and banishment from the Imperial dominions +substituted. Meanwhile," said the old soldier, "I have retired forever +from a career where, up to this hour, no stain of dishonor attached to +me. The name which I bore so long with distinction is now branded with +shame, and I leave the service to pass the few remaining days of my life +wherever obscurity can best hide my sorrow and my ignominy." + +Although Nelly at once answered this afflicting letter, and wrote again +and again to Vienna, to Milan, and to Prague, she never received any +reply, nor could obtain the slightest clew to what the sentence on Frank +referred. To conceal these terrible events from her father was her first +impulse; and although she often accused herself of duplicity for so +doing, she invariably came round to her early determination. To what +end embitter the few moments of ease he had enjoyed for years past? Why +trouble him about what is irremediable, and make him miserable about +those from whom his careless indifference asks nothing and requires +nothing? Time enough when the future looks brighter to speak of the +sorrows of the past! + +This task of secrecy was not a difficult one. Dalton's was not a nature +to speculate on possible mischances so much as to hope for impossible +good turns of fortune; and when he knew that Kate had sent him money, +and Frank did not ask for any, the measure of his contentment was +filled. Kate was a Princess, and Frank an officer of hussars; and that +they were as happy as the day was long he would have taken an oath +before any "justice of the quorum," simply because he saw no reason why +they ought not to be so; and when he drank their healths every day after +dinner, and finished a bumper of champagne to their memory, he perfectly +satisfied his conscience that he had discharged every parental duty in +their behalf. His "God bless you, my darling child!" was the extent of +his piety as of his affection; and so he lived in the firm belief that +he had a heart overflowing with good and kind and generous sentiments. +The only unpleasant feelings he had arose for Nelly. Her eyes, that +in spite of all her efforts showed recent tears; her pale face; her +anxious, nervous manner worried and amazed him. "There 's something +strange about that girl," he would say to himself; "she would sing the +whole day long when we hadn't a shilling beyond the price of our dinner; +she was as merry as a lark, cutting out them images till two or three +o'clock of a morning; and now that we have lashings and leavings of +everything, with all manner of diversions about us, there she sits +moping and fretting the whole day." His ingenuity could detect no +explanation for this. "To be sure, she was lame, and it might grieve +her to look at dancing, in which she could take no part But when did she +ever show signs of an envious nature? She was growing old, too,----at +least, she was six or seven-and-twenty,--and no prospect of being +married; but was Nelly the girl to grieve over this? Were not all her +affections and all her hopes home-bound? 'T was n't fretting to be back +in Ireland that she could be!--she knew little of it before she left it." +And thus he was at the end of all his surmises without being nearer the +solution. + +We have said enough to show that Nelly's sorrow was not causeless, +and that she had good reason to regret the days of even their hardest +fortune. + +"Had we been but contented as we were!" cried she; "had we resisted +ambitions for which we were unfitted, and turned away from 'paths in +life' too steep and too arduous for our strength, we might have been +happy now! Who can say, too, what development of mind and intelligence +should not have come of this life of daily effort and exertion? Frank +would have grown manly, patient, and self-relying; Kate would have been, +as she ever was, the light of our home, making us sharers in all those +gifts of her own bright and happy nature; while even I might have risen +to worthier efforts of skill than those poor failures I have now to +blush for." + +Such were the regrets which filled her heart, as she sat many an hour in +solitude, grieving over the past, and yet afraid to face the future. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. AN ACT OF SETTLEMENT. + +Were we disposed to heroics, we might compare Mrs. Ricketts's +sensations, on entering the grounds of the villa, to the feelings +experienced by the ancient Gauls when, from the heights of the Alps, +they gazed down on the fertile plains of Italy. If less colored by the +glorious hues of conquering ambition, they were not the less practical. +She saw that, with her habitual good fortune, she had piloted the +Rickettses' barque into a safe and pleasant anchorage, where she might +at her leisure refit and lay in stores for future voyaging. Already she +knew poor Dalton, as she herself said, from "cover to cover,"--she had +sounded all the shallows and shoals of his nature, and read his vanity, +his vainglorious importance, and his selfish pride, as though they were +printed on his forehead. Were Nelly to be like Kate, the victory, she +thought, could not be very difficult. "Let her have but one predominant +passion, and be it love of admiration, avarice, a taste for dress, for +scandal, or for grand society, it matters not, I'll soon make her my +own." + +"This will do, Martha!" whispered she, in Miss Ricketts's ear, as they +drove up the approach. + +"I think so," was the low-uttered reply. + +"Tell Scroope to be cautious,--very cautious," whispered she once more; +and then turned to Dalton, to expatiate on the beauty of the grounds, +and the exquisite taste displayed in their arrangement. + +"It has cost me a mint of money," said Dalton, giving way irresistibly +to his instinct of boastfulness. "Many of those trees you see there came +from Spain and Portugal; and not only the trees, but the earth that's +round them." + +"Did you hear that, Martha?" interposed Mrs. Rick-etts. "Mr. Dalton very +wisely remarks that man is of all lands, while the inferior productions +of nature require their native soils as a condition of existence." + +"Yes, indeed," said Dalton, fathering the sentiment at once; "'tis only +the blacks that can't bear the cowld. But, after all, maybe they 're not +the same as ourselves." + +"I own I never could think them so," smiled Mrs. Rick-etts, as though +the very appearance of Peter Dalton had confirmed the prejudice. + +"Faix! I'm glad to hear you say that," said he, delightedly. "Tis many's +the battle Nelly and me has about that very thing. There's the villa, +now--what d' ye think of it?" + +"Charming--beautiful--a paradise!" + +"Quite a paradise!" echoed Martha. + +"'T is a mighty expensive paradise, let me tell you," broke in Peter. +"I've a gardener, and four chaps under him, and sorrow a thing I ever +see them do but cut nosegays and stick little bits of wood in the +ground, with hard names writ on them; that's what they call gardening +here. As for a spade or a hoe, there's not one in the country; they do +everything with a case-knife and watering-pot." + +"You amaze me," said Mrs. Ricketts, who was determined on being +instructed in horticulture. + +"There's a fellow now, with a bundle of moss-roses for Nelly, and +there's another putting out the parrot's cage under a tree,----that's +the day's work for both of them." + +"Are you not happy to think how your ample means diffuse ease and +enjoyment on all round you? Don't tell me that the pleasure you feel is +not perfect ecstasy." + +"That's one way of considering it," said Dalton, dubiously, for he was +not quite sure whether he could or could not yield his concurrence. + +"But if people did n't la-la-la--" + +"Lay abed, you mean," cried Dalton; "that's just what they do; a German +wouldn't ask to awake at all, if it wasn't to light his pipe." + +"I meant la-la-labor; if they did n't la-labor the ground, we should all +be starved." + +"No political economy, Scroope," cried Mrs. Ricketts; "I will not permit +it. That dreadful science is a passion with him, Mr. Dal ton." + +"Is it?" said Peter, confusedly, to whose ears the word "economy" only +suggested notions of saving and sparing. "I can only say," added he, +after a pause, "tastes differ, and I never could abide it at all." + +"I was certain of it," resumed Mrs. Ricketts; "but here comes a young +lady towards us,--Miss Dalton, I feel it must be." + +The surmise was quite correct. It was Nelly, who, in expectation of +meeting her father, had walked down from the house, and now, seeing a +carriage, stood half irresolute what to do. + +"Yes, that's Nelly," cried Dalton, springing down to the ground; "she'll +be off now, for she thinks it's visitors come to see the place." + +While Dalton hastened to overtake his daughter, Mrs. Ricketts had time +to descend and shake out all her plumage,--a proceeding of manual +dexterity to which Martha mainly contributed; indeed, it was almost +artistic in its way, for while feathers were disposed to droop here, and +lace taught to fall gracefully there, the fair Zoe assumed the peculiar +mood in which she determined on conquest. + +"How do I look, Martha?" said she, bridling up, and then smiling. + +"Very sweetly,--quite charming," replied Martha. + +"I know that," said the other, pettishly; "but am I maternal,--am I +affectionate?" + +"Very maternal,----most affectionate," was the answer. + +"You're a fool!" said Mrs. Ricketts, contemptuously; but had barely time +to restore her features to their original blandness, when Nelly came up. +The few words in which her father had announced Mrs. Ricketts spoke +of her as one who had known and been kind to Kate, and Nelly wanted no +stronger recommendation to her esteem. + +The quiet, gentle manner of the young girl, the almost humble simplicity +of her dress, at once suggested to Mrs. Ricketts the tone proper for the +occasion, and she decided on being natural; which, to say truth, was +the most remote thing from nature it is well possible to conceive. Poor +Nelly was not, however, a very shrewd critic, and she felt quite happy +to be so much at her ease as they walked along to the house together. + +Mrs. Ricketts saw that Kate was the key-note to all her sister's +affection, and therefore talked away of her unceasingly. To have heard +her, one would have thought they had been inseparable, and that Kate had +confided to the dear old lady the most secret thoughts of her heart. The +amiable Zoe did, indeed, contrive to effect this rather by the aid of +an occasional sigh, a tone of lamentation and sorrow, than by direct +assertion; all conveying the impression that she was cut to the heart +about something, but would rather be "brayed in a mortar" than tell +it. Martha's mild and submissive manner won rapidly on Nelly, and she +wondered whether Kate had liked her. In fact, the visitors were all +so very unlike the usual company her father presented to her, she felt +disposed to think the best of them; and even Scroope came in for a share +of her good opinion. + +The interior of the villa changed the current of conversation, and now +Mrs. Ricketts felt herself at home examining the rich brocade of the +hangings, the bronzes, and the inlaid tables. + +"Lyons silk,----twenty-four francs a metre!" whispered she to Scroope. + +"I thought they had n't a s-s-sixpence," observed the other. + +"And these things are new, Scroope!--all new!" + +"I--I--I was observing that, sister." + +"What a creature he is, Scroope!--what a creature!" + +"And the daughter, I suspect, is only ha-ha-half-witted." + +"Humph!" ejaculated Zoe, as though she did not quite coincide with that +opinion. + +The confidential dialogue was broken in upon by Dalton, who, having +dragged the poor General over the terrace and the flower-garden, was now +showing him the inside of the dwelling. + +"If I could but see dear Kate here!" sighed Mrs. Ricketts, as she slowly +sank into a downy chair, "I'd fancy this was home. It's all so like +herself,--such graceful elegance, such tasteful splendor." + +"It's neat,----I think it's neat," said Dalton, almost bursting with the +effort to repress his delight. + +[Illustration: 250] + +"Oh, sir, it's princely! It's worthy the great name of its possessor. +Dear Kate often told me of her beautiful home." + +"I thought you li-li-lived over a toy-shop? Foglass said you li-lived--" + +"So we did while the place was getting ready," said Dalton, flushing. + +"Just let me sit here, and watch the rippling of that shining river!" +sighed Mrs. Ricketts, laying her hand on Dalton's, and, by a melting +look, withdrawing him from Scroope's unlucky reminiscence. "If I could +but pass the night here, I feel it would be ecstasy." + +"What easier, if it's in earnest you are?" cried Dalton. "We never make +use of this little drawing-room. Nelly will get you a bed put up in five +minutes." + +"Is n't that Irish, Scroope?--is n't that what I often told you of +Ireland?" cried Zoe, as her eyes glistened. + +"Well, but I'm not joking," resumed Dalton; "small as the place is, we +can make room for you all. We 'll put Miss Martha in Nelly's room, and +the General can have mine; and there's a mighty snug tittle place for +you in the garden." + +"Oh, dear, dear, dear Ireland, how I love you!" said Mrs. Ricketts, +closing her eyes, and affecting to talk in her sleep. + +"There's worse places," murmured Dalton, who drank in national flattery +as the pleasantest "tipple" after personal. "But say the word, now, and +see if we won't make you comfortable." + +"Comfortable!----you mean happy, supremely happy," ejaculated Zoe. + +"And there's no inconvenience in it, none whatever," continued Dalton, +who now was breast-high in his plot. "That's a fine thing in this little +town of Baden; you can have everything at a moment's warning, from a +sirloin of beef to a strait-waistcoat." + +Now Mrs. Ricketts laughed till her eyes overflowed with tears, at +Dalton's drollery; and Scroope, too, cackled his own peculiar cry; and +the old General chimed in with a faint wheezing sound,--a cross between +the wail of an infant and a death-rattle; in the midst of which Dalton +hurried away to seek Nelly, who was showing the garden to Martha. + +"Now, mind me, Scroope," cried Mrs. Ricketts, as soon as they were +alone; "no selfishness, no eternal trouble about your own comfort. We +may probably pass the summer here, and--" + +"But I--I----I won't sleep under the stairs, I--I----I promise you," +cried he, angrily. + +"You had a dear little room, with a lovely view, at Noeringen. You are +most ungrateful." + +"It was a d-d ear little room, six feet sqnare, and looked ont on a +tannery. My skin would have been leather if I had st-st-stayed another +week in it." + +"Martha slept in a wardrobe, and never complained." + +"For that matter, I passed two months in a sh-shower-bath," cried +Scroope; "but I--I won't do it a-any more." + +To what excesses his rebellious spirit might have carried him it is hard +to say, for Dalton now came up with Nelly, who was no less eager than +her father to offer the hospitalities of the villa. At the hazard of +detracting in the reader's esteem from all this generous liberality, we +feel bound to add that neither Dalton nor his daughter ever speculated +on the lengthened sojourn which Mrs. Ricketts's more prophetic spirit +foreshadowed. + +The accidental mistake about the hotel first suggested the offer, which +of course the next day was sure to obviate. And now, as it has so often +been an unpleasant task to record little flaws and frailties of the +Rickettses' nature, let us take the opportunity of mentioning some +traits of an opposite kind, which, even as a "set-off," are not +valueless. Nothing could be more truly amiable than the conduct of the +whole family when the question of their stay had been resolved upon. Had +Scroope been bred a cabinet-maker, he could n't have been handier with +bed-screws, laths, and curtain-rods. Martha, divested of shawl and +bonnet, arranged toilet-tables and looking-glasses like the most +accomplished housemaid; while, reclining in her easy-chair, the fair Zoe +vouchsafed praises on all the efforts around her, and nodded, as Jove +might, on mortal endeavors to conciliate him. + +Poor Nelly was in ecstasy at all this goodness; such a united family was +a perfect picture. Nothing seemed to inconvenience them,--nothing went +wrong. There was a delightfully playful spirit in the way they met and +conquered little difficulties, and whenever hard pushed by fate there +was a wonderful reticule of Mrs. Ricketts's which was sure to contain +something to extricate them at once. Since Aladdin's lamp, there never +was such a magical contrivance as that bag; and the Wizard of the North, +who makes pancakes in a gentleman's hat and restores it unstained, and +who, from the narrow limits of a snuff-box, takes out feathers enough +to stuff a pillow-case, would have paled before the less surprising but +more practical resources of the "Rickettses' sack." + +Various articles of toilet necessity, from objects peculiar to the +lady's own, down to the General's razors, made their appearance. An +impertinent curiosity might have asked why a lady going to dine at a +public ordinary should have carried about with her such an array +of flannel jackets, cordials, lotions, slippers, hair-brashes, and +nightcaps; but it is more than likely that Mrs. Ricketts would have +smiled at the short-sighted simplicity of the questioner, as she +certainly did at poor Nelly's face of quiet astonishment. + +It was a downright pleasure to make sacrifices for people so ready to +accommodate themselves to circumstances, and who seemed to possess a +physical pliancy not inferior to the mental one. The General wanted +no window to shave at. Martha could bestow herself within limits that +seemed impossible to humanity. As for Scroope, he was what French +dramatists call a "grand utility,"--now climbing up ladders to arrange +curtain-rods, now descending to the cellars in search of unknown and +nameless requisites. A shrewd observer might have wondered that such +extensive changes in the economy of a household were effected for the +sake of one night's accommodation; but this thought neither occurred to +Dalton nor his daughter, who were, indeed, too full of admiration for +their guests' ingenuity and readiness, to think of anything else. + +As for honest Peter, a house full of company was his delight. As he took +his place that evening at the supper-table, he was supremely happy. Nor +was it wonderful, considering the pleased looks and bland faces that +he saw on each side of him. All his stories were new to his present +audience. Mount Dalton and its doings were an anecdotic mine, of which +they had never explored a single "shaft." The grandeur of his family +was a theme all listened to with interest and respect; and as Mrs. +Ricketts's flattery was well-timed and cleverly administered, and +Scroope's blunders fewer and less impertinent than usual, the evening +was altogether a very pleasant one, and, as the cant is, went off +admirably. + +If Nelly had now and then little misgivings about the over-anxiety +to please displayed by Mrs. Ricketts, and a certain exaggerated +appreciation she occasionally bestowed upon her father's "Irishism," she +was far too distrustful of her own judgment not to set down her fears +to ignorance of life and its conventionalities. "It would ill +become _her_," she thought, "to criticise people so well-bred and +so well-mannered." And this modest depreciation of herself saved the +others. + +It was thus that the hosts felt towards their guests as they wished them +good-night, and cordially shook hands at parting. + +"As agreeable an old lady as ever I met," said Dalton to his daughter; +"and not wanting in good sense either." + +"I like Miss Martha greatly," said Nelly. "She is so gently mannered and +so mild, I'm sure Kate was fond of her." + +"I like them all but the little chap with the stutter. He seems so +curious about everything." + +"They are all so pleased--so satisfied with everything," said Nelly, +enthusiastically. + +"And why wouldn't they? There's worse quarters, let me tell you, than +this! It is n't under Peter Dalton's roof that people go to bed hungry. +I wouldn't wonder if they'd pass a day or two with us." + +"Do you think so?" said Nelly, scarcely knowing whether to be pleased or +the reverse. + +"Well see to-morrow," said Dalton, as he took his candle and began to +climb up the stairs to the room which he was now to occupy instead of +his own chamber, singing, as he went, an old ballad,---- + + "The whole Balrothery hunt was there, + And welcome were they all! + With two in a bed, and four on the stairs, + And twelve in the Bachelor's hall!" + +Leaving Dalton to con over the stray verses of his once favorite ballad +as he dropped off to sleep, we turn for a moment to the chamber which, +by right of conquest, was held by the fair Zoe, and where, before a +large mirror, she was now seated; while Martha was engaged upon that +wonderful head, whose external machinery was almost as complex as +its internal. Mrs. Ricketts had resolved upon adopting a kind of +materno-protective tone towards Nelly; and the difficulty now was to +hit off a coiffure to sustain that new character. It should combine the +bland with the dignified, and be simple without being severe. There +was something Memnonic in that large old head, from which the gray hair +descended in massive falls, that seemed worthy of better things than a +life of petty schemes and small intrigues; and the patient Martha looked +like one whose submissive nature should have been bent to less ignoble +burdens than the capricious fretfulness of a tiresome old woman. But so +is it every day in life; qualities are but what circumstances make them, +and even great gifts become but sorry aids when put to base uses! + +There was another figure in the group, and for him no regrets arise as +to talents misapplied and tastes perverted. Nature had created Scroope +Purvis for one line of character, and he never ventured to walk out of +it. In a large and showy dressing-gown belonging to his host, and a pair +of most capacious slippers from the same wardrobe, Scroope had come +down to assist at a Cabinet Council. He had just performed a voyage of +discovery round the house, having visited every available nook, from +the garret to the cellars, and not omitting the narrow chamber to which +Nelly herself had retired, with whom he kept up an amicable conversation +for several minutes, under pretence of having mistaken his room. Thence +he had paid a visit to old Andy's den; and, after a close scrutiny of +the larder and a peep between the bars at the dairy, came back with the +honest conviction that he had done his duty. + +"It's sm-small, sister----it's very small," said he, entering her +chamber. + +"It's not smaller than Mrs. Balfour's cottage at the Lakes, and you know +we spent a summer there," said the lady, rebukingly. + +"But we had it all to--to ourselves, sister." + +"So much the worse. A cook and a cellar are admirable fixtures.--The +curls lower down on the sides, Martha. I don't want to look like Grisi." +There was something comforting in the last assurance, for it would have +sorely tested poor Martha's skill had the wish been the reverse. + +"They don't seem to ha-have been long here, sister. The knif eboard in +the scullery has n't been used above a--a few times. I should n't wonder +if old Da-Da-Dalton won the villa at play." + +"Fudge!--Fuller on the brow, Martha--more expansive there." + +"Is n't the girl vulgar, sister?" asked Scroope. + +"Decidedly vulgar, and dressed like a fright!--I thought it was only +you, Martha, that rolled up the back hair like a snail's shell." Martha +blushed, but never spoke. "I suppose she's the same that used to cut the +pipe-heads and the umbrella tops. I remarked that her fingers were all +knotted and hard." + +"Her smile is very pleasing," submitted Martha, diffidently. + +"It's like her father's laugh,--far too natural for my taste! There's +no refinement, no elegance, in one of your sweet, unmeaning smiles. I +thought I had told you that at least twenty times, Martha. But you have +grown self-willed and self-opinionated of late, and I must say, you +couldn't have a graver fault! Correct it in time, I beseech you." + +"I 'll try," said Martha, in a very faint voice. + +"If you try, you 'll succeed. Look at your brother. See what he has +become. There's an example might stimulate you." + +Another and a far deeper sigh was all Martha's acknowledgment of this +speech. + +"He was the same violent, impetuous creature that you are. There, you +need n't tear my hair out by the roots to prove it! He wouldn't brook +the very mildest remonstrance; he was passionate and irrestrainable, and +what I have made him. Oh, you spiteful creature, how you hurt me!" + +This cry of pain was not quite causeless, for Martha was trembling +from head to foot, and actually only saved herself from falling by a +mechanical clutch at something like a horse's tail. With many excuses, +and in a voice broken by regrets, she resumed her task with a vigorous +effort for success, while Mrs. Ricketts and Purvis exchanged glances of +supreme contempt. + +"I speak to you, Martha," resumed she, "for your own sake. You +cannot see what all the world sees,--the sinful selfishness of your +nature,----a vice, I must say, the less pardonable that you live beneath +the shadow of my counsels!--Scroope, don't creak that chair,--sit upon +that stool there.--Now that we shall probably spend two months here--" + +"Here! Do--do you m-mean here?" cried Purvis. + +"Of course I mean here, sir. There's nothing in the shape of a lodging +to be had under three or four hundred francs a month. This is a very +sweet place; and when the old gentleman can be induced to take a room in +the town for himself, and that his daughter learns, as she will,--though +certainly not from Martha,--what is due to _me,_ it will be comfortable +and convenient. We'll ask the Princess, too, to spend a week with us; +for who knows, in the present state of politics, to what corner of +Germany we may yet be reduced to fly!" + +"How will you m-m-manage with Haggerstone and the rest, when they +arrive, sister?" + +"Easily enough. I 'll show them that it's for their advantage that we +are here. It is true that we agreed to take a house together; but every +plan is modified by the events of the campaign. Petrolaffsky will be +content if Mr. Dalton plays piquet; the Colonel will like his claret and +Burgundy; and Foglass will be pleased with the retirement that permits +him to prosecute his attentions to Martha." + +Poor Martha blushed crimson at the tone rather, even than the words of +the speech; for, when nothing else offered, it was the practice of Mrs. +Ricketts to insinuate coquetry as among her sister's defects. + +"You needn't look so much confused, my dear," resumed the torturer; "I +'m certain it's not the first affair of the kind you've known." + +"Oh, sister!" cried Martha, in a voice of almost entreaty. + +"Not that I think there would be anything unsuitable in the match; he is +probably fifty-eight or nine,--sixty at most,----and, excepting deafness +and the prosy tendency natural to his time of life, pretty much like +everybody else." + +"You know, sister, that _he_ never thought of _me_, nor _I _of _him_." + +"I know that I am not in the confidence of either party," said Mrs. +Ricketts, bridling; "and I also know I am sincerely happy that my head +is not crammed with such fiddle-faddle. Before the great event comes +off, however, you will have time to attend to something else, and +therefore I beg you will keep in mind what I am about to say to you. +We are here, Martha," resumed she, with all the solemnity of a +judicial charge,--"we are here by no claims of relationship or previous +friendship. No secret ties of congenial tastes bind us up together. No +common attachment to some other dear creature forms a link between us. +We are here as much by chance as one can venture to call anything in +this unhappy world. Let us, then, show Fortune that we are not unworthy +of her goodness, by neglecting nothing which may strengthen our position +and secure our permanence. In a word, Martha, throw over all your +selfishness'----forget the miserable egotism that besets you, and study +that young girl's character and wishes. She has never been courted in +life--flatter her; she has never been even thought of----show her every +consideration; she is evidently of a thoughtful turn, and nobody can +mope better than yourself. Insinuate yourself day by day into little +household affairs, mingling counsels here and warnings there,--always +on the side of economy,--so that while affecting only to play with the +reins, you'll end by driving the coach." + +"I 'm afraid I 've no head for all this, sister." + +"Of course you have n't, nor for anything else without _me_ to guide +you. I 'm perfectly aware of that. But you can learn. You can at least +obey!" + +"My sister means that you can st-st-struggle against the natural +w-w-wilfulness of your d-disposition," cackled in Purvis. + +"I'll do my best," murmured Martha, in a voice of humility. + +"Women are so fond of sa-saving," cried Scroope, "You'll always be safe +when you c-c-cut down the estimates." + +"Attend to that, Martha," remarked Mrs. Ricketts. + +"Find out the price of ch-chickens, and always buy them a kreutzer +cheaper than she has done." + +"There is nothing gives such an ascendency in a house as showing that +you can maintain the establishment for fourpence less per quarter," said +Zoe, gravely. "I have known connubial happiness, that has stood the test +of temper and illness for years, wrecked on the small rock of a cook's +bill. Like all wasteful men, you may be sure that this Dalton has many +miserly habits. Learn these, and indulge them. There was that poor +Marquis of Binchley, that never dined without a hundred wax candles in +the room, left all his fortune to a nephew he once found collecting the +sealing-wax from old letters and making it up for fresh use. Reflect +upon this, Martha; and always bear in mind that the vices of mankind +are comparatively uninstructive. It is their foibles, their small +weaknesses, that teach everything." + +"When Ha-Ha-Haggerstone comes, and finds no room for him, you 'll +ha-ha-have the devil to pay." + +"He shall take it out in dinners, Scroope; and what between drinking +Dalton's wine with him, and abusing him behind his back, you 'll see he +'ll be perfectly happy." + +"How long do you purpose to st-stay here, sister?" asked Scroope. + +"Ask the butterfly how long the rose and the hyacinth will bloom," said +Mrs. Ricketts, pensively; for, by dint of smiling at herself in the +looking-glass, she had come round to that mock poetical vein which ran +through her strange incongruous nature. "And now good-night, dears," +sighed she. "These are sweet moments, but they are paid for at a price. +Exhausted energies will have repose." She held out her hand to Martha, +who kissed it respectfully, and then waived a graceful adieu to Purvis, +as he retired. + +"Sister Zoe has a head for everything," muttered Purvis to Martha. +"There's nothing she's not up to." + +"She's very clever indeed!" sighed Martha. + +"And this is n't the worst h-hit she has ever made. It was d-deucedly +well done to get in here." + +Either Martha did n't concur in the sentiment, or Scroope's satisfaction +did not need any backing, for she made no reply. + +"They 've given me a capital room; I fa-fancy Dalton's own, for I found +a heap of old bills and letters in a table-drawer, and something like +a--like a----like a writ"--here he laughed till the tears came at the +drollery of the thought,--"in the pocket of his dressing-gown." + +"Good-night," said Martha, softly, as she glided into the little chamber +allotted to her. Poor Martha! Save Nelly's, hers was the saddest heart +beneath that roof. For the first time in all her long years of trial, +a ray of doubt, a flash of infidelity had broken upon her mind, and +the thought of her sister-in-law's infallibility became for a moment +suspected. It was not that abused and outraged submission was goaded +into rebellion; it was dormant reason that was suddenly startled into +a passing wakefulness. It was like one of those fitful gleams of +intelligence which now and then dart across the vacuity of dulled +intellects, and, like such, it was only a meteor-flash, and left no +trace of light behind it. Even in all its briefness the anguish it gave +was intense; it was the delusion of a whole life rent asunder at once, +and the same shock which should convulse the moral world of her thoughts +would rob her of all the pleasantest fancies of her existence. If Zoe +were not all goodness and all genius, what was to become of all the +household gods of the Villino? Titians would moulder away into stained +and smoked panels; "Sevres" and "Saxe" would fall down to pasteboard and +starch; carved oak and ebony would resolve themselves into leather; and +even the friendship of princes and the devotion of philosophers be only +a mockery, a sham, and a snare! + +Poor Martha! Deprived of these illusions, life was but one unceasing +round of toil; while, aided by imagination, she could labor on +unwearied. Without a thought of deception, she gloried in the harmless +frauds to which she contributed, but could n't resist the contagion of +credulity around her. How easily could such a spirit have been moulded +to every good gift, and qualities like these have been made to minister +to comfort and happiness, and the faith that was given to gilt paper, +and glue, and varnish, elevated to all that is highest in the moral and +material world! + +And now they were all in slumber beneath that roof,--all save one. Poor +Nelly sat at her window, tearful and sad. In the momentary excitement of +receiving her guests she had forgotten her cares; but now they came back +upon her, coupled with all the fears their wasteful habits could suggest +At times she blamed herself for the tame cowardice which beset her, and +restrained her from every effort to avert the coming evil; and at times +she resigned herself to the gloomy future, with the stern patience +of the Indian who saw his canoe swept along into the rapids above the +cataract. There was not one to turn to for advice or counsel, and the +strength that would have sustained her in any other trial was here +sapped by the dread of giving pain to her father. "It would ill become +_me_ to give him cause for sorrow,--I, that of all his children have +ministered nothing to his pride nor his happiness!" Such was the +estimate she held of herself, and such the reasoning that flowed from +it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. THE CURSAAL. + +The attempt to accommodate a company to which the house was unsuited +would have been a source of painful annoyance to most men. To Peter +Dalton it was unqualified pleasure. The subversion of all previous +arrangements, the total change in the whole order of domesticity, were +his delight The changing of rooms, the being sent to sleep in strange +and inconvenient corners, the hurry-scurry endeavors to find a +substitute for this or a representative for that, the ingenious devices +to conceal a want or to supply a deficiency, afforded him the most +lively amusement; and he went about rubbing his hands, and muttering +that it did his heart good. It was "so like Mount Dalton when he was a +boy." + +All Mrs. Ricketts's softest blandishments were so many charms clean +thrown away. His thoughts were centred on himself and his own amiable +qualities, and he revelled in the notion that the world did not contain +another as truly generous and hospitable as Peter Dalton. In accordance +with the singular contradictions of which his character was made up, he +was willing to incur every sacrifice of personal inconvenience, if it +only served to astonish some one, or excite a sensation of surprise +at his good-nature; and while all Nelly's efforts were to conceal the +inconveniences these hospitalities inflicted, Peter was never satisfied +except when the display could reflect honor on himself, and exact +a tribute of flattery from his guests. Nor was he all this time in +ignorance of Mrs. Ricketts's character. With native shrewdness be had at +once detected her as an "old soldier." He saw the practised readiness +of her compliance with everything; he saw the spirit of accommodation +in which she met every plan or project. He knew the precise value of her +softest look or her sweetest smile; and yet he was quite content with +possessing the knowledge, without any desire to profit by it. Like one +who sits down to play with sharpers, and resolves that either the stake +shall be a trifle or the roguery be very limited, he surrendered himself +to the fair Zoe's seductions with this sort of a reservation to guide +him. + +If Mrs. Ricketts did not cheat him by her goodness, she took her revenge +by the claims of her grandeur. Her intimacy with great people--the very +greatest--exalted her to the highest place in Dalton's esteem. Honest +Peter knew nothing of the years of toil and pain, the subtle arts, the +deep devices, the slights, the affronts, the stern rebuffs here, the +insolent denials there, by which these acquisitions, precarious as +they were, had been won. He did not know how much of the royalty was +left-handed, nor how much of the nobility was factitious. All he could +see was the gracious salutes wafted to her from coroneted carriages, the +soft smiles wafted from high places, the recognitions bestowed on her in +the promenade, and the gracious nods that met her in the Cursaal. + +Mrs. Ricketts was perfect in all the skill of this peculiar game, and +knew how, by the most ostentatious display of respect in public, not +only to exalt the illustrious person--age who deigned to acknowledge +her, but also to attach notice to herself as the individual so highly +favored. What reverential courtesies would she drop before the presence +of some small German "Hochheit," with a gambling-house for a palace, and +a roulette-table for an exchequer! What devotional observances would +she perform in front of the chair of some snuffy old Dowager "Herzogin," +of an unknown or forgotten principality! How pertinaciously would she +remain standing till some "Durchlaut" was "out of the horizon;" or +how studiously would she retire before the advancing step of some puny +potentate,--a monarch of three huesars and thirty chamberlains! Poor +Peter was but a sorry pupil in this "School of Design." He found it +difficult to associate rank with unwashed faces and unbrushed clothes; +and although he _did_ bow, and flourish his hat, and perform all +the other semblances of respect, he always gave one the idea of +an irreverential Acolyte at the back of a profoundly impressed and +dignified high-priest. + +Dalton was far more at his ease when he paraded the rooms with Mrs. +Ricketts on one arm, and Martha on the other, enjoying heartily all the +notice they elicited, and accepting, as honest admiration, the staring +wonderment and surprise their appearance was sure to excite. Mrs. +Ricketts, who had always something geographical about her taste in +dress, had this year leaned towards the Oriental, and accordingly +presented herself before the admiring world of Baden in a richly +spangled muslin turban, and the very shortest of petticoats, beneath +which appeared a pair of ample trousers, whose deep lace frills covered +the feet, and even swept the floor. A paper-knife of silver gilt, made +to resemble a yataghan, and a smelling-bottle, in the counterfeit of +a pistol, glittered at her girdle, which, with the aid of a very well +arched pair of painted eyebrows, made up as presentable a Sultana as one +usually sees in a second-rate theatre. If Dalton's blue coat and tight +nankeen pantaloons----his favorite full-dress costume--did somewhat +destroy the "Bosphorean illusion," as Zoe herself called it, still +more did Martha's plain black silk and straw bonnet,--both types of the +strictly useful, without the slightest taint of extraneous ornament. + +Purvis and the General, as they brought up the rear, came also in for +their meed of surprise,--the one lost under a mass of cloaks, shawls, +scarfs, and carpets, and the other moving listlessly along through the +crowded rooms, heedless of the mob and the music, and seeming to follow +his leader with a kind of fatuous instinct utterly destitute of volition +or even of thought A group so singularly costumed, seen every day dining +at the most costly table, ordering whatever was most expensive; the +patrons of the band, and the numerous flower-girls, whose bouquets were +actually strewed beneath their feet, were sure to attract the notice of +the company,--a tribute, it must be owned, which invariably contains a +strong alloy of all that is ill-natured, sarcastic, and depreciating. +Zoe was a European celebrity, known and recognized by every one. The +only difficulty was to learn who the new "victim" was, whence he came, +and what means he possessed. There are few places where inventive genius +more predominates than at Baden, and Dalton was alternately a successful +speculator in railroads, a South American adventurer, a slaver, and a +Carlist agent,----characters for which honest Peter had about as many +requisites as he possessed for Hamlet or Cardinal Wolsey. He seemed to +have abundance of money, however, and played high,--two qualities of no +small request in this favored region. Dalton's gambling tastes were all +originally associated with the turf and its followers. A race in his +eyes was the legitimate subject of a bet; and if anything else could +rival it in interest, it was some piece of personal prowess or skill, +some manly game of strength or activity. To men of this stamp the +wager is merely a pledge to record the sentiments they entertain upon a +particular event. It is not, as gamesters understand it, the whole +sum and substance of the interest. Personal pride, the vainglory of' +success, is the triumph in one case; in the other there is no question +of anything save gain. To this difference may be traced the wide +disparity of feeling exhibited by both in moments of failing fortune. +To one loss comes with all the harassing sensations of defeat; wounded +self-esteem and baffled hope giving poignancy to the failure. To the +other it is a pure question of a moneyed forfeiture, unaccompanied with +a single thought that can hurt the pride of the player. Hence the +wild transports of passion in the one case, and the calm, cold +self-possession in the other. + +We need scarcely say to which class Dalton belonged; indeed, so far +as the public play at Baden was concerned, it was the notoriety that +pleased him most. The invariable falling back to make way for him as he +came up; the murmur of his name as he passed on; the comments on what +he would probably do; and, not least of all, the buzz of admiring +astonishment that was sure to arise as he plumped down before him the +great canvas bag full of gold, which the banker's porter had just handed +him! + +All the little courtesies of the croupiers, those little official +flatteries which mean so much and so little, were especially reserved +for _him_; and the unlucky player who watched his solitary Napoleon +"raked in" by a yawning, listless croupier, became suddenly aware, by +the increased alacrity of look around him, that a higher interest was +awakened as Peter drew nigh. + +The "Count's" chair was ostentatiously placed next the banker's; a store +of cards to mark the chances laid before him. The grave croupier----he +looked like an archdeacon--passed his gold snuff-box across the table; +the smartly wigged and waistcoated one at his side presented the cards +to cut, with some whispered remark that was sure to make Dalton laugh +heartily. The sensation of this _entree_ was certain to last some +minutes; and even the impatience of the players to resume the game was +a tribute that Dalton accepted as complimentary to the bustle of his +approach. + +In accordance with the popular superstition of the play-table, Dalton's +luck was an overmatch for all the skill of more accomplished gamblers; +knowing nothing whatever of the game, only aware when he had won or +lost, by seeing that his stake had doubled or disappeared, he was an +immense winner. Night after night the same fortune attended him, and so +unerringly seemed all his calculations made, that the very caprices of +his play looked like well-studied and deep combinations. If many of +the bystanders were disposed to this opinion, the "bankers" thought +otherwise; they knew that,-in the end, the hour of retribution must +come, and, through all their losses, not only observed every mark of +courteous deference towards him, but by many a bland smile and many a +polite gesture seemed to intimate the pleasure they felt in his good +fortune. This was all that was wanting to fill up the measure of +Dalton's delight. + +"There isn't a bit of envy or bad feeling about them chaps," he would +often say; "whether I carry away forty Naps, or four hundred of a night, +they 're just as civil. Faix! he knew many a born gentleman might take a +lesson from them." + +So long as he continued to win, Dalton felt comparatively little +interest in play, beyond the notice his presence and his large stakes +were sure to excite. As a game it possessed no hold upon him; and when +he had changed his heaps of glittering gold for notes, he arose to leave +the table, and to forget all that had occurred there as matters of no +possible interest to remember. + +Such was no longer the case when fortune turned. Then, and for the first +time, the gambler's passion awoke in his heart, and the sting of +defeat sent its pangs through him. The prying, searching looks of the +by-standers, too, were a dreadful ordeal; for all were curious to see +how he bore his losses, and Dalton was no accomplished gamester who +could lose with all the impassive gravity of seeming indifference. Still +less was he gifted with that philosophy of the play-table that teaches +a timely retreat before adverse fortune. He knew nothing of those sage +maxims by which the regular gambler controls his temper and regulates +his conduct; nor had he learned the art by which good and sterling +qualities, the gifts of noble natures, can be brought into the service +of a low and degrading vice! Dalton, it must be owned, was what is +called "a bad loser,"--that is, he lost his temper with his money; and +the more steadily luck seemed against him the more determinedly did +he "back his fortune." Now doubling, now trebling his stake, he lost +considerable sums; till at last, as the hand of the clock stood within +a few minutes of the closing hour, he emptied the remainder of his bag +upon the table, and, without counting, set it all upon a card. + +"Rouge perd et couleur!" cried the banker, and raked in the glittering +heap; and, amid a murmur of half-compassionate astonishment, Peter arose +from the table. Mrs. Ricketts and her suite were all in the ball-room, +but Dalton only remembered them when he had gained the open air. The +terrible shock of his reverse had overwhelmed all his faculties, and +almost stunned him to unconsciousness. At last he bethought him of his +guests; but it was some time before he could summon sufficient composure +of look to go in search of them. He had been so accustomed--to use his +own phrase--"to ride the winner," that he did n't know how to face the +company as a beaten man. He thought of all the glances of impertinent +pity his presence would call forth, and imagined the buzz of remark +and comment every line of his features would give rise to. Poor +Peter!--little knew he that such signs of sympathy are never given to +the very saddest of misfortunes, and that, in such a society, no one +wastes a thought upon his neighbor's reverses, except when they serve as +a guide to himself. + +He did, indeed, overhear from time to time little broken sentences +like these: "The old fellow with the white moustache has had a squeeze +'to-night.'" "He caught it heavy and thick." "Must have lost close on a +thousand Naps." "Bank walked into him;" and so on,----comments as free +from any tone of sympathy as the proudest heart could possibly have +asked for. But even these were easier to bear than the little playful +cajoleries of Mrs. Ricketts on his supposed successes. + +Knowing him to be a frequent winner, and hearing from Scroope the large +sums he occasionally carried away, she invariably accosted him with +some little jesting rebuke on his "dreadful luck"--that "wicked good +fortune"--that would follow him in everything and everywhere. + +Purvis had been a close spectator of all that went on this unlucky +evening, and was actually occupied with his pencil in calculating the +losses when Peter entered the room. + +"He had above eighteen or twenty bank-notes of a th-thousand francs," +cried he, "when he be-be-began the evening. They are all gone now. He +played at least a dozen 'rouleaux' of fifty Naps.; and as to the bag, I +can m-make no guess how m-m-much it held." + +"I 'll tell you then, sir," said Peter, good-humoredly, as he just +overheard the last remark. "The bag held three hundred and eighty +Napoleons; and as you 're pretty correct in the other items, you 'll +not be far from the mark by adding about fifty or sixty Naps, for little +bets here and there." + +"What coolness, what stoical indifference!" whispered Mrs. Ricketts to +Martha, but loud enough for Dalton to hear. "That is so perfectly +Irish; they can be as impetuous as the Italian, and possess all the +self-restraint and impassive bearing of the Indian warrior." + +"But w-w-why did you go on, when luck was a-a-gainst you?" + +"Who told me it was against me till I lost all my money?" cried Dalton. +"If the first reverse was to make a man feel beat, it would be a very +cowardly world, Mr. Purvis." + +"Intensely Irish!" sighed Mrs. Ricketts. + +"Well, maybe it is," broke in Peter, who was not in a mood to accept +anything in a complimentary sense. "Irish it may be; and as you remarked +a minute ago, we're little better than savages--" + +"Oh, Mr. Dalton,----dear Mr. Dalton!" + +"No matter; I'm not angry, ma'am. The newspapers says as bad,--ay, +worse, every day of the week. But what I 'm observing is, that the man +that could teach me how to keep my money could never have taught me how +to win it You know the old proverb about the 'faint heart, 'Mr. Purvis?" + +"Yes; but I----I----I don't want a f-f-fair lady!" + +"Faix! I believe you're right there, my little chap," said Peter, +laughing heartily, and at once recovering all his wonted good-humor at +the sound of his own mellow-toned mirth; and in this pleasant mood +he gave an arm to each of his fair companions, and led them into the +supper-room. There was an ostentatious desire for display in the order +Dalton gave that evening to the waiter. It seemed as if he wished to +appear perfectly indifferent about his losses. The table was covered +with a costly profusion that attracted general notice. Wines of the +rarest and most precious vintages stood on the sideboard. Dalton did the +honors with even more than his accustomed gayety. There was a stimulant +in that place at the head of the table; there was some magical influence +in the duty of host that never failed with him. The sense of sway and +power that ambitious minds feel in high and pre-eminent stations were +all his, as he sat at the top of his board; and it must be owned that +with many faults of manner, and many shortcomings on the score of taste, +yet Peter did the honors of his table well and gracefully. + +Certain is it Mrs. Ricketts and her friends thought so. Zoe was in +perfect ecstasies at the readiness of his repartees and the endless +variety of his anecdotes. He reminded her at once of Sheridan and "poor +dear Mirabeau," and various other "beaux esprits" she used to live with. +Martha listened to him with sincere pleasure. Purvis grew very tipsy +in the process of his admiration, and the old General, suddenly brought +back to life and memory under the influence of champagne, thought him so +like Jack Trevor, of the Engineers, that he blubbered out, "I think I 'm +listening to Jack. It's poor Trevor over again." + +Was it any wonder if in such intoxications Peter forgot all his late +reverses, nor ever remembered them till he had wished his company +good-night, and found himself alone in his own chamber? Pecuniary +difficulties were no new thing to Dalton, and it would not have +interfered with his pleasant dreams that night had the question been one +of those ordinary demands which he well knew how to resist or evade by +many a legal sleight and many an illegal artifice; but here was a debt +of honor. He had given his name, three or four times during the evening, +for large sums, lost on the very instant they were borrowed. These must +be repaid on the next day; but how, he knew not. How he "stood" in Abel +Kraus's books he had not the remotest idea. It might be with a balance, +or it might be with a deficit All he really knew was that he had +latterly drawn largely, and spent freely; and as Abel always smiled and +seemed satisfied, Peter concluded that his affairs needed no surer or +safer evidences of prosperity. To have examined ledgers and day-books +with such palpable proofs of solvency would have been, in his eyes, an +act of as great absurdity as that of a man who would not believe in the +sunshine till he had first consulted the thermometer. + +"I must see Abel early to-morrow. Abel will set it all right," were +the conclusions to which he always came back; and if not very clearly +evident how, why, or by what means, still he was quite satisfied that +honest Kraus would extricate him from every difficulty. "The devil go +with it for black and red," said he, as he lay down in his bed. "I 'd +have plenty of cash in my pocket for everything this night, if it was +n't for that same table; and an ugly game it is as ever a man played. +Shuffle and cut; faites your 'jeu'; thirty-four--thirty-three; red +wins--black loses; there's the whole of it; sorrow more on 't except +the sad heart that comes afterwards!" These last words he uttered with a +deep sigh, and then turned his face to the pillow. + +He passed a restless, feverish night; the sleep being more harassing +than even his waking moments, disturbed, as it was, by thoughts of +all he had lately gone through. All the tremendous excitement of the +play-table, heightened by the effect of wine, made up a wild chaotic +confusion in his brain, that was almost madness. He awoke repeatedly, +too, eager for daylight, and the time to call upon honest Abel. At these +times he would pace his room up and down, framing the speeches by +which he meant to open the interview. Kraus was familiar with his usual +"pleas." With Ireland and her stereotyped distresses he was thoroughly +conversant. Famine, fever, potato-rot, poor-rates, emigration, and +eviction were themes he could have almost discussed himself; but all he +recognized in them was an urgent demand for money, and an occasion for +driving the very hardest of bargains. The Russian remittances had been +less regular of late; so at least Abel averred, for Dalton neither knew +nor tried to know any details. The dates were frequently inconvenient, +and the places of payment oftentimes remote. Still, Abel was +civil,--nay, almost cordial; and what can any man ask for more than a +smile from his banker! + +Dalton was quite at ease upon one point,--Kraus was sure to know nothing +of his late losses at play; in fact, out of his little den wherein he +sat he seemed to be aware of nothing in the whole wide world. A small +"slip," which arrived each morning from Frankfort, told him the current +exchanges of the day. The faces of his clients revealed all the rest But +Dalton was greatly deceived on this point There was not the slightest +incident of Baden with which he was not familiar, nor any occurrence in +its life of dissipation on which he was uninformed. His knowledge was +not the offspring of any taste for scandal, or any liking for the secret +gossiping of society. No; his was a purely practical and professional +information. The archduke who had lost so heavily at "roulette" would +need a loan on the morrow; the count who was about to elope with the +marchioness must have bills on Paris; the colonel who had shot the baron +in a duel could n't escape over the frontier without money. In a word, +every vice and iniquity seemed the tributaries of his trade; and whether +to consummate their wickedness or escape its penalty, men must first +come to Abel Kraus. + +To see him crouching behind his little desk, poring over the scattered +fragments of dirty papers, which were his only books, you would never +have suspected that he had a thought above the mystic calculations +before him. Watch him more narrowly, however, and you will perceive that +not a figure can cross the street and approach his door without meeting +a shrewd, quick glance from those dark eyes; while a faint muttering +sound betrays his detection of the visitor's object. + +Long, then, before Dalton swaggered up to the moneychanger's den, Abel +knew every circumstance of the previous night, and had actually before +him, on his desk, a correct account of all the sums he had lost at play. +Abel was not unprepared for such tidings. Dalton was precisely the man +to rush headlong into play the moment fortune turned with him, and the +pang of defeat was added to the bitterness of a loss; Abel only wondered +that the reverse had not come earlier. And so he mumbled below his +breath, as with his hat set jauntily on one side, and his hands stuck +carelessly beneath his coat-tails, Dalton came forward. + +Peter had so far "got up" his air of easy indifference as to whistle +a tune; but, somehow, as he drew nearer to the door, the sounds waxed +fainter and fainter, and, before he had crossed the threshold, bad sunk +away into the cadence of a heavy sigh. Abel never looked up as the other +entered, but, affecting the deepest preoccupation, went on with his +figures. + +"Morrow, Abel," said Dalton, as he threw himself into a chair, and, +removing his hat, began to wipe his forehead with his handkerchief. +"This is a murdering hot day. It's not ten yet, and the sun's roasting!" + +"Fine weather for de harvest, Herr von Dalton, but a leetle rain do no +harm." + +"Faix! I think not; neither to man nor beast." + +Abel grinned at the brawny throat and massive proportions that seemed so +unequal to sustain the heat, but said nothing. + +"How's the exchange, Abel?" said Peter; "how's the exchange?" + +Now, in justice to our worthy friend Dalton, we must own that he put +this question without having the very remotest idea of its meaning. An +inscription from the tomb of the Pharaohs would have been to the full as +intelligible to him as an abstract from the "City Article." He asked +it as certain "charming women" inquire about the compass on board +ship,--something, in fact, suitable to the time and place, and proper to +be done on like occasions. + +"De exchange is very uncertain; de market is up and down," said Abel, +dryly. + +"That's bad," said Dalton, gravely,----"that's very bad!" + +"De Mongolian loan is de reason," rejoined Abel. + +Dalton gave a grunt, that might mean assent or displeasure with that +view of the case, but did not trust himself with more. + +"Dey will not take de scrip at eighty-two, and I tink dey are right." + +"Faix! I don't doubt but that they are!" chimed in Peter. + +"Dey are right, if all be true we hear of de security. It is de mines +of de State dat are hypotheked,--how you call it,--what you say, +'hypotheked'?" + +Dalton was completely puzzled now, and could only scratch his ear,--his +invariable symptom of utter discomfiture. + +"Tis no matter," cried Abel, with a grating, harsh laugh. "Dey promise, +and no pay; and dat is very bad--ha! ha! ha!" + +Now Dalton joined in the laugh, but with as ill a grace as needs be. + +"Dey promise, and dey no pay, Herr von Dalton!" repeated the Jew, +with another laugh, as though he could not tear himself away from so +excellent a jest. "Dey borrow, dat dey may make explorations--how you +call dem--wit oder men's money. If dey de win, well! if dey lose--bah! +dey are bankrupt!" + +Now, all these allusions were of the most provoking character to poor +Dalton, who could not help feeling a very different sympathy for +the Mongolians from that expressed by Abel Kraus. "Who knows what +difficulties they are in?--maybe they'd pay it if they could," muttered +he, as he slapped his boot with his cane, and fell into a musing fit. + +"Dey shall not have one kreutzer of my moneys; I can tell dem dat!" said +Kraus, as he buttoned up the keys of his strong-box, as though suiting +the action to his words. + +"Don't put up the keys so soon, Abel!" said Dalton, with an effort at a +laugh. "I want to see the inside of that little iron trunk there." + +"You no want money, Herr von Dalton!" exclaimed the other, in amazement. +"You no want money! you draw eight hundred florin on Tuesday; you have +four hundred on Wednesday evening, and seven rouleaux of Napoleons; on +Saturday again I send you twenty thousand franc!" + +"All true,--every word of it," said Dalton; "but there's no use telling +a hungry man about the elegant dinner he ate last week! The short of the +matter is, I want cash now." + +Kraus appeared to reflect for a few minutes, and then said, "If a leetle +sum will do--" + +"Faix! it will not. I want five hundred Naps., at the very least." + +Kraus threw down his pen, and stared at him without speaking. + +"One would think from your face, Abel, that I was asking for a loan of +the National Debt. I said five hundred Naps.!" + +Abel shook his head mournfully, and merely muttered "Ja! ja!" to +himself. "We will look over de account, Herr von Dalton," said he, at +last; "perhaps I am wrong, I no say, I am sure; but I tink--dat is, I +believe--you overdraw very much your credit." + +"Well, supposing I did; is it the first time?" said Dalton, angrily. +"Ain't I as good a man now as I was before?" + +"You are a very goot man, I know well; a very goot and a very pleasant +man; but you know de old German proverb, 'Das Gut ist nicht Gelt.'" + +"I never heard it till now," muttered Peter, sulkily; "but if a robber +in this country put a pistol to your head, he 'd be sure to have a +proverb to justify him! But to come to the point,----can I have the +money?" + +"I fear very mush--No!" was the dry response. + +"No,--is it?" cried Dalton, starting up from his seat; "did you say no?" + +Kraus nodded twice, slowly and deliberately. + +"Then bad luck to the rap ever you'll see more of _my_ money," cried +Peter, passionately. "You old Jewish thief, I ought to have known you +long ago; fifty, sixty, seventy per cent I was paying for the use of +my own cash, and every bill I gave as good as the bank paper! Ain't +you ashamed of yourself, tell me that,--ain't you downright ashamed of +yourself?" + +"I tink not; I have no occasions for shame," said the other, calmly. + +"Faix! I believe you there," retorted Dalton. "Your line of life doesn't +offer many opportunities of blushing. But if I can't bring you to know +shame, maybe I can teach you to feel sorrow. Our dealing is ended from +this day out. Peter Dalton does n't know you more! He never saw you! he +never heard of your name! D'ye mind me now? None of your boasting among +the English here that you have Mr. Dalton's business. If I hear of +your saying it, it's not a contradiction will satisfy me. Understand +me well--it's not to leave a mark of friendship that I 'll come in here +again!" + +The fierce tone in which Dalton said these words, and the gesture he +made with a tremendous walking-stick, were certainly well calculated to +excite Abel's terrors, who, opening a little movable pane of the window, +looked out into the street, to assure himself of succor in case of need. + +"What's the use of family, rank, or fortune," cried Dalton, indignantly, +as he paced up and down the little shop, in a perfect frenzy of passion, +"if a little dirty Jew, with a face like a rat-terrier, can insult +you? My uncle is one of the first men in Austria, and my daughter's a +Princess; and there's a creature you would't touch with the tongs has +the impudence to--to--to--" Evidently the precise offence did not at +once occur to Dalton's memory, for after several efforts to round +off his phrase--"to outrage me----to outrage me!" he cried, with the +satisfaction of one who had found a missing object. + +Meanwhile Abel, who had gradually resumed his courage, was busily +engaged in some deep and intricate calculations, frequently referring +to a number of ill-scrawled scraps of paper on a file before him, not +heeding, if he heard, the storm around him. + +"Dere, saar," said he at length, as he pushed a slip of paper towards +Dalton,--"dere, saar; our affairs is closed, as you say. Dere is your +debit,--eighteen hundred and seventy-three florins, 'convenzion money.' +Dere may be leetle charges to be added for commissions and oder tings; +but dat is de chief sum, which you pay now." + +There was a sharp emphasis on the last monosyllable that made Dalton +start. + +"I'll look over it; I'll compare it with my books at home," said he, +haughtily, as he stuffed the slip of paper into his waistcoat-pocket. + +"Den you no pay to-day?" asked Abel. + +"Nor to-morrow, nor the day after, nor, maybe, awhile longer," said +Dalton, with a composure he well knew how to feel in like circumstances. + +"Very well, den; I will have securities. I will have bail for my moneys +before tree o'clock this day. Dere is de sommation before de Tribunal, +Herr von Dalton." Aud he handed a printed document, stamped with the +official seal of a law court, across the table. "You will see," added +the Jew, with a malicious grin, "dat I was not unprepared for all dis. +Abel Kraus is only an old Jew, but he no let de Gentile cheat him!" + +Dalton was stunned by the suddenness of this attack. The coolly planned +game of the other so overmatched all the passionate outbreak of his own +temper that he felt himself mastered at once by his wily antagonist. + +"To the devil I fling your summons!" cried he, savagely. "I can't even +read it." + +"Your avocat will explain it all. He will tell you dat if you no pay +de moneys herein charged, nor give a goot and sufficient surety dereof +before de Civil Grericht, dis day, dat you will be consign to de prison +of de State at Carlsruhe, dere to remain your 'leben lang,' if so be you +never pay." + +"Arrest me for debt the day it's demanded!" cried Dalton, whose +notions of the law's delay were not a little shocked by such peremptory +proceedings. + +"It is in criminal as well as in civil Grericht to draw on a banker +beyond your moneys, and no pay, on demand." + +"There's justice for you!" cried Dalton, passionately. "Highway robbery, +housebreaking, is decenter. There's some courage, at least, in _them!_ +But I wouldn't believe you if you were on your oath. There is n't such a +law in Europe, nor in the East'Ingies'!" + +Abel grinned, but never uttered a word. + +"So any ould thief, then, can trump up a charge against a man----can +send him off to jail--before he can look around him!" + +"If he do make false charge, he can be condem to de galleys," was the +calm reply. + +"And what's the use of that?" cried Dalton, in a transport of rage. "Is +n't the galleys as good a life as sitting there? Is n't it as manly a +thing to strain at an oar as to sweat a guinea?" + +"I am a burgher of the Grand Duchy," said Abel, boldly; "and if you +defame me, it shall be before witnesses!" And as he spoke he threw wide +the window, so that the passers-by might hear what took place. + +Dalton's face became purple; the veins in his forehead swelled like a +thick cordage, and he seemed almost bursting with suppressed passion. +For an instant it was even doubtful if he could master his struggling +wrath. At last he grasped the heavy chair he had been sitting on, and +dashing it down on the ground, broke it into atoms; and then, with +an execration in Irish, the very sound of which rang like a curse, he +strode out of the shop, and hastened down the street. + +[Illustration: 278] + +Many a group of merry children, many a morning excursionist returning +from his donkey-ride, remarked the large old man, who, muttering and +gesticulating, as he went, strode along the causeway, not heeding nor +noticing those around him. Others made way for him as for one it were +not safe to obstruct, and none ventured a word as he passed by. On he +went, careless of the burning heat and the hot rays of the sun,--against +which already many a jalousie was closed, and many an awning spread,--up +the main street of the town, across the "Plate," and then took his way +up one of the steep and narrow lanes which led towards the upper town. +To see him, nothing could look more purpose-like than his pace and the +manner of his going; and yet he knew nothing of where he walked nor +whither the path led him. A kind of instinct directed his steps into an +old and oft-followed track, but his thoughts were bent on other objects. +He neither saw the half-terrified glances that were turned on him, nor +marked how they who were washing at the fountain ceased their work, as +he passed, to stare at him. + +At last he reached the upper town; emerging from which by a steep flight +of narrow stone steps, he gained a little terraced spot of ground, +crossed by two rows of linden-trees, under whose shade he had often sat +of an evening to watch the sunset over the plain. He did not halt here, +but passing across the grassy sward, made for a small low house which +stood at the angle of the terrace. The shutters of the shop-window were +closed, but a low half-door permitted a view of the interior; leaning +over which Dalton remained for several minutes, as if lost in deep +revery. + +The silent loneliness of the little shop at first appeared to engross +all his attention, but after a while other thoughts came slowly +flittering through his muddy faculties, and with a deep-drawn sigh he +said,---- + +"Dear me! but I thought we were living here still! It's droll enough how +one can forget himself! Hans, Hans Roeckle, my man!" cried he, beating +with his stick against the doors as he called out. "Hanserl! Hans, I +say! Well, it's a fine way to keep a shop! How does the creature know +but I'm a lady that would buy half the gimcracks in the place, and he's +not to be found! That's what makes these devils so poor,--they never +mind their business. 'Tis nothing but fun and diversion they think of +the whole day long. There's no teaching them that there's nothing like +indhustry! What makes us the finest people under the sun? Work--nothing +but work! I 'm sure I 'm tired of telling him so! Hans, are you asleep, +Hans Roeckle?" No answer followed this summons, and now Dalton, after +some vain efforts to unbolt the door, strode over it into the shop. +"Faix! I don't wonder that you had n't a lively business," said he, +as he looked around at the half-stocked shelves, over which dust and +cobwebs were spread like a veil. "Sorrow a thing I don't know as well +as I do my gaiters! There's the same soldiers, and that's the woodcutter +with the matches on his back, and there's the little cart Frank mended +for him! Poor Frank, where is he now, I wonder?" Dalton sighed heavily +as he continued to run his eye over the various articles all familiar to +him long ago. "What's become of Hans?" cried he at last, aloud; "if it +was n't an honest place, he would n't have a stick left! To go away and +leave everything at sixes and sevens--well, well, it's wonderful!" + +Dalton ascended the stairs--every step of which was well known to +him--to the upper story where he used to live. The door was unfastened, +and the rooms were just as he had left them--even to the little table +at which Nelly used to sit beside the window. Nothing was changed; a +bouquet of faded flowers--the last, perhaps, she had ever plucked in +that garden--stood in a glass in the window-sill; and so like was all +to the well-remembered past, that Dalton almost thought he heard her +footstep on the floor. + +"Well, it was a nice little quiet spot, any way!" said he, as he sank +into a chair, and a heavy tear stole slowly along his cheek. "Maybe it +would have been well for me if I never left it! With all our poverty we +spent many a pleasant night beside that hearth, and many's the happy day +we passed in that wood there. To be sure, we were all together, then! +that makes a difference! instead of one here, another there, God knows +when to meet, if ever! + +"I used to fret many a time about our being so poor, but I was wrong, +after all, for we divided our troubles amongst us, and that left a small +share for each; but there's Nelly now, pining away--I don't know for +what, but I see it plain enough; and here am I myself with a heavy heart +this day; and sure, who can tell if Kate, great as she is, has n't her +sorrows; and poor Frank, 't is many a hard thing, perhaps, he has to +bear. I believe in reality we were better then!" + +He arose, and walked about the room, now stopping before each +well-remembered object, now shaking his head in mournful acquiescence +with some unspoken regret; he went in turn through each chamber, and +then, passing from the room that had been Nelly's, he descended a little +zigzag, rickety stair, by which Hans had contrived to avoid injuring +the gnarled branches of a fig-tree that grew beneath. Dalton now +found himself in the garden; but how unlike what it had been! Once the +perfection of blooming richness and taste,--the beds without a weed, the +gravel trimly raked and shining, bright channels of limpid water running +amid the flowers, and beautiful birds of gay plumage caged beneath the +shady shrubs,--now all was overrun with rank grass and tall weeds; the +fountains were dried up, the flowers trodden down,--even the stately yew +hedge, the massive growth of a century, was broken by the depredations +of the mountain cattle. All was waste, neglect, and desolation. + +"I 'd not know the place,--it is not like itself," muttered Dalton, +sorrowfully. "I never saw the like of this before. There's the elegant +fine plants dying for want of care! and the rose-trees rotting just for +want of a little water! To think of how he labored late and early here, +and to see it now! He used to call them carnations his children: there +was one Agnes, and there was another Undine--indeed, I believe that was +a lily; and I think there was a Nelly, too; droll enough to make out +they were Christians! but sure, they did as well; and he watched after +them as close! and ay, and stranger than all, he'd sit and talk to them +for hours. It's a quare world altogether; but maybe it's our own fault +that it's not better; and perhaps we ought to give in more to each +other's notions, and not sneer at whims and fancies when they don't +please ourselves." + +It was while thus ruminating, Dalton entered a little arbor, whose +trellised walls and roofs had been one of the triumphs of Hanserl's +skill. Ruin, however, had now fallen on it, and the drooping branches +and straggling tendrils hung mournfully down on all sides, covering the +stone table, and even the floor, with their vegetation. As Dalton stood, +sad and sorrow-struck at this desolation, he perceived the figure of +Hans himself, as, half-hidden by the leaves, he sat in his accustomed +seat. His head was uncovered, but his hair fell in great masses on +either side, and with his long beard, now neglected and untrimmed, gave +him an unusually wild and savage look. A book lay open on his knees, +but his hands were crossed over it, and his eyes were upturned as if in +revery. + +Dalton felt half ashamed at accosting him; there was something +ungracious in the way he had quitted the poor dwarfs dwelling; there +had been a degree of estrangement for weeks before between them, and +altogether he knew that he had ill-requited all the unselfish kindness +of the little toy-seller; so that he would gladly have retired without +being noticed, when Hans suddenly turned and saw him. + +It was almost with a cry of surprise Hans called out his name. + +"This is kind of you, Herr von Dalton. Is the Fraeulein--" He stopped +and looked eagerly around. + +"No, Hanserl," said Dalton, answering to the half-expressed question, +"Nelly is n't with me; I came up alone. Indeed, to tell the truth, I +found myself here without well knowing why or how. Old habit, I suppose, +led me, for I was thinking of something else." + +"They were kind thoughts that guided your steps," said the dwarf, in +accents of deep gratitude, "for I have been lonely of late." + +"Why don't you come down and see us, Hanserl? It's not so far off, and +you know Nelly is always glad to see you." + +"It is true," said the dwarf, mournfully. + +"You were always a good friend to us, Hanserl," said Dalton, taking the +other's hand and pressing it cordially; "and faix! as the world goes," +added he, sighing, "there 's many a thing easier found than a friend." + +"The rich can have all,--even friendship," muttered Hans, slowly. + +"I don't know that, Hans; I 'm not so sure you 're right there." + +"They buy it," said the dwarf, with a fierce energy, "as they can buy +everything,--the pearl for which the diver hazards life, the gem that +the polisher has grown blind over, the fur for which the hunter has +shed his heart's blood. And yet when they 've got them they have not got +content." + +"Ay, that's true," sighed Dalton. "I suppose nobody is satisfied in this +world." + +"But they can be if they will but look upward," cried Hans, +enthusiastically; "if they will learn to think humbly of themselves, and +on how slight a claim they possess all the blessings of their lot; +if they will but bethink them that the sun and the flowers, the +ever-rolling sea, and the leafy forest are all their inheritance,--that +for them, as for all, the organ peals through the dim-vaulted aisle +with promises of eternal happiness,--and lastly, that, with all the wild +contentions of men's passions, there is ever gushing up in the human +heart a well of kind and affectionate thoughts; like those springs we +read of, of pure water amid the salt ocean, and which, taken at the +source, are sweet and good to drink from. Men are not so bad by nature; +it is the prizes for which they struggle, the goals they strive for, +corrupt them! Make of this fair earth a gaming-table, and you will have +all the base passions of the gamester around it." + +"Bad luck to it for gambling," said Dalton, whose intelligence was just +able to grasp at the illustration; "I wish I 'd never seen a card; and +that reminds me, Hans, that maybe you 'd give me a bit of advice. There +was a run against me last night in that thieving place. The 'red' came +up fourteen times, and I, backing against it every time, sometimes ten, +sometimes twenty,----ay, faix! as high as fifty 'Naps.' you may think +what a squeeze I got! And when I went to old Kraus this morning, this +is what he sticks in my hand instead of a roll of banknotes." With these +words Dalton presented to Hans the printed summons of the "Tribunal." + +"A Gerichts-Ruf!" said Hans, with a voice of deep reverence; for he +entertained a most German terror for the law and its authority. "This is +a serious affair." + +"I suppose it is," sighed Dalton; "but I hope we 're in a Christian +country, where the law is open?" + +Hans nodded, and Peter went on:---- + +"What I mean is, that nothing can be done in a hurry; that when we have +a man on our side, he can oppose and obstruct, and give delays, picking +a hole here and finding a flaw there; asking for vouchers for this and +proofs for that, and then waiting for witnesses that never come, and +looking for papers that never existed; making Chancery of it, Hans, my +boy,--making Chancery of it." + +"Not here,--not with us!" said Hans, gravely. "You must answer to this +charge to-day, and before four o'clock too, or to-morrow there will be +writ of 'contumacy' against you. You have n't got the money?" + +"Of course I haven't, nor a ten-pound note towards it." + +"Then you must provide security." + +"'T is easy said, my little man, but it is not so easy dealing with +human beings as with the little wooden figures in your shop beyond." + +"There must be 'good and substantial bail,' as the summons declares; +such as will satisfy the Court," said Hans, who seemed at once to +have become a man of acute worldly perception at sight of this printed +document. + +"Security--bail!" exclaimed Dalton. "You might as well ask Robinson +Crusoe who 'd be godfather to his child on the desert island. There's +not a man, woman, or child in the place would give me a meal's meat +There's not a house I could shelter my head in for one night; and see +now," cried he, carried away by an impulse of passionate excitement, "it +is n't by way of disparagement I say it to this little town,--for the +world all over is the same,--the more you give the less you get! Treat +them with champagne and venison; send money to this one, make presents +to that, and the day luck turns with you, the best word they 'll have +for you is, 'He was a wasteful, careless devil; could n't keep it when +he had it; lived always above his means; all hand and mouth.' It's a +kind friend that will vouchsafe as much as 'Poor fellow! I 'm sorry for +him.'" + +"And to what end is wealth," cried Hans, boldly, "if it but conduce +to this? Are the friends well chosen who can behave thus? Are the +hospitalities well bestowed that meet such return? or is it not rather +selfishness is paid back in the same base coin that it uttered?" + +"For the matter of that," said Dalton, angrily, "I never found that +vulgar people was a bit more grateful than their betters, nor low +manners any warranty for high principles; and when one is to be +shipwrecked it's better to go down in a 'seventy-four' than be drowned +out of a punt in a mill-pond." + +"It's past noon already," said Hans, pointing to the son-dial on his +house. "There 's little time to be lost." + +"And as little to be gained," muttered Dalton, moodily, as he strolled +out into the garden. + +"Let me have this paper," said Hans; "I will see the Herr Kraus myself, +and try if something cannot be done. With time, I suppose, you could +meet this claim?" + +"To be sure I could, when my remittances arrive,----when my instalments +are paid up, when my rents come in, when--" He was about to add, "when +luck changes," but he stopped himself just in time. + +"There need be no difficulty if you can be certain," said Hans, slowly. + +"Certain!--and of what is a man certain in this life?" said Dalton, in +his tone of moralizing. "Was n't I certain of the Corrig-O'Neal estate? +Wasn't I certain of Miles Dalton's property in the funds? Wasn't I +certain that if the Parliament was n't taken away from us that I 'd have +my own price for the boroagh of Knocknascanelera?--and sorrow one of the +three ever came to me. Ay, no later than last night, was n't I certain +that black would come up--" + +"When I said certain," broke in Hans, "I meant so far as human +foresight could pledge itself; but I did not speak of the chances of the +play-table. If your expectations of payment rest on these, do not talk +of them as certainties." + +"What's my estates for? Where's my landed property?" cried Dalton, +indignantly. "To hear you talk, one would think I was a chevalier of +indhustry, as they call them." + +"I ask your pardon, Herr," said Hans, humbly. "It is in no spirit of +idle curiosity that I speak; less still, with any wish to offend you. I +will now see what is best to do. You may leave all in my hands, and by +four o'clock, or five at furthest, you shall hear from me." + +"That's sensible,----that's friendly," cried Dalton, shaking the +other's hand warmly, and really feeling the most sincere gratitude for +the kindness. + +If there was any act of friendship he particularly prized, it was the +intervention that should relieve him of the anxiety and trouble of +a difficult negotiation, and leave him, thoughtless and careless, to +stroll about, neither thinking of the present nor uneasy for the +future. The moment such an office had devolved upon another, Dalton felt +relieved of all sense of responsibility before his own conscience; and +although the question at issue were his own welfare or ruin, he ceased +to think of it as a personal matter. Like his countryman, who consoled +himself when the house was in flames by thinking "he was only a lodger," +he actually forgot his own share of peril by reflecting on the other +interests that were at stake. And the same theory that taught him to +leave his soul to his priest's care, and his health to his doctor's, +made him quite satisfied when a friend had charge of his honor or his +fortune. + +It was as comfortable a kind of fatalism as need be; and, assuredly, to +have seen Peter's face as he now descended the steps to the lower town, +it would be rash to deny that he was not a sincere believer in his +philosophy. No longer absent in air and clouded in look, he had a smile +and a pleasant word for all who passed him; and now, with a jest for +this one, and a kreutzer for that, he held on his way, with a tail of +beggars and children after him, all attracted by that singular +mesmerism which draws around certain men everything that is vagrant +and idle,--from the cripple at the crossing to the half-starved cur-dog +without an owner. + +This gift was, indeed, his; and whatever was penniless and friendless +and houseless seemed to feel they had a claim on Peter Dalton. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. THE LAST STAKE OF ALL. + +Dalton found his little household on the alert at his return home; for +Mrs. Ricketts had just received an express to inform her that her "two +dearest friends on earth" were to arrive that evening in Baden, and she +was busily engaged in arranging a little fete for their reception. +All that poor Nelly knew of the expected guests was that one was a +distinguished soldier, and the other a no less illustrious diplomatist; +claims which, for the reader's illumination, we beg to remark were +embodied in the persons of Colonel Haggerstone and Mr. Foglass. Most +persons in Mrs. Ricketts's position would have entertained some scruples +about introducing a reinforcement to the already strong garrison of the +villa, and would have been disposed to the more humble but safe policy +enshrined in the adage of "letting well alone." But she had a spirit far +above such small ambitions, and saw that the Dalton hospitalities were +capable of what, in parliamentary phrase, is called a "most extended +application." + +By the awestruck air of Nelly, and the overweening delight manifested by +her father, Zoe perceived the imposing effect of great names upon both, +and so successfully did she mystify the description of her two coming +friends, that an uninterested listener might readily have set them down +for the Duke and Prince Metternich, unless, indeed, that the praises she +lavished on them would have seemed even excessive for such greatness. +A triumphal arch was erected half-way up the avenue, over which, in +flowery initials, were to be seen the letters "B." and "P.," symbols to +represent "Bayard" and "Puffendorf;" under which guise Haggerstone and +the Consul were to be represented. Strings of colored lamps were to +be festooned along the approach, over which an Irish harp was to be +exhibited in a transparency, with the very original inscription of "Caed +Mille failtha," in Celtic letters beneath. + +The banquet--the word "dinner" was strictly proscribed for that day--was +to be arrayed in the hall, where Dalton was to preside, if possible, +with an Irish crown upon his head, supported by Nelly as the genius of +Irish music; and Zoe herself in a composite character,--half empress, +half prophetess,--a something between Sappho and the Queen of Sheba; +Martha, for the convenience of her various household cares, was to be +costumed as a Tyrolese hostess; and Purvis, in a dress of flesh-colored +web, was to represent Mercury, sent on purpose from above to deliver a +message of welcome to the arriving guests. As for the General, there was +a great doubt whether he ought to be Belisarius or Suwarrow; for, being +nearly as blind as the one and as deaf as the other, his qualifications +were about evenly balanced. + +If not insensible to some of the absurdities of this notable project, +Dalton forgot the ridicule in the pleasanter occupation of the bustle, +the movement, and the tumult it occasioned. It did his heart good to see +the lavish waste and profusion that went forward. The kitchen-table, as +it lay spread with fruit, fish, and game, might have made a study for +Schneiders; and honest Peter's face glowed with delight as he surveyed a +scene so suggestive of convivial thoughts and dissipation. + +"No doubt of it, Nelly," said he; "but Mother Ricketts has grand +notions! She does the thing like a princess!" The praise was so far +well bestowed that there was something royal in dispensing hospitality +without regarding the cost; while, at the same time, she never +entertained the slightest sentiment of esteem for those in whose favor +it was to be exercised. Among the very few things she feared in this +world was Haggerstone's "tongue," which she herself averred was best +conciliated by giving "occupation to his teeth." The banquet was "got +up" with that object, while it also gave a favorable opportunity of +assuming that unbounded sway in Dalton's household which should set the +question of her supremacy at rest forever. + +To this end was poor Martha engaged with puff-paste and jellies and +whip-cream, with wreaths of roses and pyramids of fruit, from dawn +till dusk. To this end was Purvis nearly driven out of his mind by +endeavoring to get off by heart an address in rhyme, the very first +line of which almost carried him off in a fit of coughing,--the word +"Puffendorf" being found nearly as unmanageable to voice as it was +unsuited to verse. While poor Belisarius, stripped of rule and compass, +denied access to water-colors, Indian-ink, or charcoal, spent a most +woful day of weary expectancy. + +It was, indeed, an awful scene of trouble, fatigue, and exertion +on every side, adding one more to those million instances where the +preparation for the guest has no possible relation to the degree of +esteem he is held in. For so is it in the world: our best receptions +are decreed to those we care least for; our "friend" is condemned to +the family dinner, while we lavish our fortune on mere acquaintances. In +these days the fatted calf would not have been killed to commemorate the +return of the prodigal, but have been melted down into mock-turtle, to +feast "my Lord" or "Your Grace." + +The day wore on, and as the arrangements drew nearer to completion, the +anxieties were turned towards the guests themselves, who were to have +arrived at five o'clock. It was now six, and yet no sign of their +coming! Fully a dozen times had Mrs. Ricketts called Martha from some +household cares by the adjuration, "Sister Anne, sister Anne, seest thou +nobody coming?" Mercury had twice ventured out on the high-road, from +which he was driven back by a posse of hooting and laughing children; +and Dalton himself paced up and down the terrace in a state of nervous +impatience, not a little stimulated by hunger and certain flying visits +he paid to the iced punch, to see if it was keeping cool. + +There is, assuredly, little mesmeric relation between the expecting host +and the lingering guest, or we should not witness all that we do of our +friends' unpunctuality in this life. What a want of sympathy between the +feverish impatience of the one and the careless dalliance of the other! +Not that we intend this censure to apply to the case before us, for +Haggerstone had not the very remotest conception of the honors that +awaited him, and jogged along his dusty road with no greater desire +to be at the end of the journey than was fairly justifiable in one who +travelled with German post-horses and Foglass for a companion. + +Six o'clock came, and, after another hour of fretful anxiety, it +struck seven. By this time beef had become carbon, and fowls were like +specimens of lava; the fish was reduced to the state of a "puree," +while everything meant to assume the flinty resistance of ice was calmly +settling down into a fluid existence. Many an architectural device of +poor Martha's genius was doomed to the fate of her other "castles," and +towers and minarets of skilful shape dropped off one by one, like the +hopes of her childhood. All the telegraphic announcements from the +kitchen were of disasters, but Mrs. Ricketts received the tidings with +a Napoleonic calmness; and it was only when warned by the gathering +darkness over Dalton* s brow that she thought it wiser to "give in." + +Dalton's ill-humor had, however, a different source from that which she +suspected. It proceeded from the quiet but steady importunity with which +little Hans paced up and down before the door, now appearing before +one window, now before another, totally insensible to the cold +discouragement of Dalton's looks, and evidently bent on paying no +attention to all the signs and signals intended for his guidance. + +"Doesn't he see we've company in the house? Has n't the little creature +the sense to know that this is no time to be bothering and teasing about +money? Has he no decency? Has he no respect for his superiors?" Such +were the deep mutterings with which Dalton tried to "blow off the steam" +of his indignation, while with many a gesture and motion he intimated +his anger and impatience. "Faix! he 's like a bailiff out there," cried +he at last, as he issued forth to meet him. Whatever might have been +the first angry impulses of his heart, his second thoughts were far more +gentle and well disposed as he drew near to Hanserl, who stood cap in +hand, in an attitude of deep and respectful attention. + +"They have accepted the bail, Herr von Dalton, and this bond needs but +your signature," said Hans, mildly, as he held forth a paper towards +him. + +"Who's the bail? Give me the bond," said Dalton, rapidly; and not +waiting for the answer to his question, "Where's the name to be, +Hanserl?" + +"Here, in the space," said the dwarf, dryly. + +"That 's soon done, if there's no more wanting," rejoined Peter, with a +laugh. "'T is seldom that writing the same two words cost me so little. +Won't you step in a minute, into the house? I 'd ask you to stop and eat +your dinner, but I know you don't like strangers, and we have company +to-day. Well, well, no offence; another time, maybe, when we 're alone. +He 's as proud as the devil, that little chap," muttered he, as he +turned back within the house; "I never saw one of his kind that was n't +'T is only creatures with humpbacks and bent shins that never believes +they can be wrong in this world; they have a conceit in themselves +that's wonderful! Not that there isn't good in him, too; he's a friendly +soul as ever I seen! There it is, now. Peter Dalton's hand and deed;" +and he surveyed the superscription with considerable satisfaction. +"There it is, Hans, and much good may it do you!" said he, as he +delivered the document with an air of a prince conferring a favor on a +subject. + +"You will bear in mind that Abel Kraus is a hard creditor!" said Hans, +who could not help feeling shocked at the easy indifference Dalton +exhibited. + +"Well, but haven't we settled with him?" cried Peter, half impatiently. + +"So far as surety for his claim goes--" + +"Yes, that's what I mean,----he's sure of his money; that's all he +wants. I 'd be the well-off man to-day if _I_ was sure of getting back +all ever I lent! But nobody does, and, what's more, nobody expects it." + +"This bond expires in twelve days," added Hans, more than commonly +anxious to suggest some prudential thoughts. + +"Twelve days!" exclaimed Peter, who, instead of feeling alarmed at the +shortness of the period, regarded it as so many centuries. "Many's +the change one sees in the world in twelve days. Would n't you take +something,--a glass of Marcobrunner, or a little plain Nantz?" + +Hans made no reply, for, with bent-down head and hands crossed on his +bosom, he was deep in thought. + +"I 'm saying, that maybe you'd drink a glass of wine, Hans?" repeated +Dalton; but still no answer came. "What dreamy creatures them Germans +are!" muttered Peter. + +"And then," exclaimed Hanserl, as if speaking to himself, "it is but +beginning life anew. Good-bye--farewell." And so saying, he touched his +cap courteously, and moved hastily away, while Dalton continued to +look after him with compassionate sorrow, for one so little capable of +directing his path in life. As he re-entered the house, he found Mrs. +Ricketts, abandoning all hopes of her distinguished guests, had just +ordered the dinner; and honest Peter consoled himself for their absence +by observing that they should be twice as jolly by themselves! Had it +depended on himself alone, the sentiment might have had some foundation, +for there was something of almost wild gayety in his manner. All the +vicissitudes of the morning, the painful alternations of hope and +fear,--hope so faint as to be a torture, and fear so dark as to be +almost despair,--had worked him up to a state of extreme excitement. + +To add to this, he drank deeply, quaffing off whole goblets of wine, and +seeming to exult in the mad whirlwind of his own reckless jollity. If +the jests he uttered on Scroope's costume, or the other allegorical +fancies of Zoe's brain, were not of the most refined taste, they were at +least heartily applauded by the indulgent public around his board. Mrs. +Ricketts was in perfect ecstasies at the flashes of his "Irish wit;" +and even Martha, fain to take on credit what was so worthily endorsed, +laughed her own meek laugh of approval. As for Purvis, champagne +completed what nature had but begun, and he became perfectly +unintelligible ere dinner was over. + +All this while poor Nelly's sufferings were extreme; she saw the +unblushing, shameless adulation of the parasites, and she saw, too, the +more than commonly excited glare in her father's eyes,----the wildness +of fever rather than the passing excitation of wine. In vain, her +imploring, beseeching glances were turned towards him; in vain she +sought, by all her little devices, to withdraw him from the scene of +riotous debauch, or recall him from the excesses of a revel which was an +orgie. In his wild and boastful vein he raved about "home," as he still +called it, and of his family possessions,----at times vaunting of his +wealth and greatness, and then, as suddenly breaking into mad invectives +against the Jews and money-lenders, to whom his necessities had reduced +him. + +"A good run of luck over there!" cried he, frantically, and pointing +to the blaze of lamps which now sparkled through the trees before the +Cursaal. "One good night yonder, and Peter Dalton would defy the world. +If you 're a lucky hand, Miss Martha, come over and bet for me. I 'll +make the bank jump for it before I go to bed! I know the secret of it +now. It's changing from color to color ruins everybody. You must be +steady to one,--black or red, whichever it is; stick fast to it. You +lose two, three, maybe six or seven times running; never mind, go on +still. 'T is the same with play as with women, as the old song +says,---- + + If they're coy, and won't hear when you say you adore, + Just squeeze them the tighter and press them the more." + +"Isn't that it, Mrs. Ricketts? Ah, baithershin! you never knew that +song. Miss Martha's blushing; and just for that I 'll back 'red' all the +evening; and there's the music beginning already. Here's success to us +all! and, faix! it's a pleasant way to deserve it." + +Nelly drew near him as they were leaving the room, and, passing her arm +fondly about him, whispered a few words in his ear. + +"And why not this evening?" said he, aloud, and in a rude voice. "Is +it Friday, that it ought to bring bad luck? Why should n't I go this +evening? I can't hear you; speak louder. Ha! ha! ha! Listen to that, +Miss Martha. There's the sensible Nelly for you! She says she had a +dhrame about me last night." + +"No, dearest papa; but that it was like a dream to me. All the narrative +seemed so natural,--all the events followed so regularly, and yet I was +awake just as I am now." + +[Illustration: 294] + +"More shame for you, then. We can't help ourselves what nonsense we +think in our sleep." + +"But you'll not go, dearest papa. You'll indulge me for this once, and I +'ll promise never to tease you by such follies again." + +"Faix! I'll go, sure enough; and, what's more, I'll win five thousand +pounds this night, as sure as my name's Peter. I saw a black cat shaving +himself before a new tin saucepan; and if that isn't luck, I'd like to +know what is. A black cat won the Curragh Stakes for Tom Molly; and it +was an egg saucepan made Dr. Groves gain the twenty thousand pounds in +the lottery. And so, now, may I never leave this room if I'd take two +thousand pounds down for my chances to-night!" + +And in all the force of this confidence in fortune, Dalton sallied forth +to the Cursaal. The rooms were more than usually crowded, and it was +with difficulty that, with Mrs. Ricketts on one arm and Martha on the +other, he could force his way to the tables. Once there, however, a +courteous reception awaited him, and the urbane croupier moved his own +august chair to make room for the honored guest. Although the company +was very numerous, the play was as yet but trifling; a stray gold piece +here or there glittered on the board, and in the careless languor of the +bankers, and the unexcited looks of the bystanders, might be read the +fact that none of the well-known frequenters of the place were betting. +Dalton's appearance immediately created a sensation of curiosity. +Several of those present had witnessed his losses on the preceding +night, and were eager to see what course he would now pursue. It was +remarked that he was not accompanied, as heretofore, by that formidable +money-bag which, with ostentatious noise, he used to fling down on +the table before him. Nor did he now produce that worn old leather +pocket-book, whose bursting clasp could scarce contain the roll of +bank-notes within it. He sat with his hands crossed before him, staring +at the table, but to all seeming not noticing the game. At length, +suddenly rousing himself, he leant over and said a few words, in a +whisper, to the croupier, who, in an equally low tone, communicated with +his colleague across the table. A nod and a smile gave the quiet reply; +and Dalton, taking a piece of paper, scrawled a few figures on it with +a pencil, and with a motion so rapid as to be unseen by many of the +bystanders, the banker pushed several "rouleaux" of gold before Dalton, +and went on with the game. + +Dalton broke one of the envelopes, and as the glittering pieces fell +out, he moved his fingers through them, as though their very touch was +pleasure. At last, with a kind of nervous impatience, he gathered up a +handful, and without counting, threw them on the table. + +"How much?" said the croupier. + +"The whole of it!" cried Dalton; and scarcely had he spoken, when he +won. + +A murmur of astonishment ran through the room as he suffered the double +stake to remain on the board; which speedily grew into a loader ham +of voices, as the banker proceeded to count out the gains of a second +victory. Affecting an insight into the game and its chances which he did +not possess, Dalton now hesitated and pondered over his bets, increasing +his stake at one moment, diminishing it at another, and assuming all +the practised airs of old and tried gamblers. As though in obedience to +every caprice, the fortune of the game followed him unerringly. If he +lost, it was some mere trifle; when he won, the stake was sure to be +a large one. At length even this affected prudence--this mock +skill--became too slow for him, and he launched out into all his +accustomed recklessness. Not waiting to take in his winnings, he threw +fresh handfuls of gold amongst them, till the bank, trembling for its +safety, more than once had to reduce the stakes he wished to venture. + +"They'd give him five hundred Naps, this moment if he 'd cease to play," +said some one behind Dalton's chair. "There 's nothing the bank dreads +so much as a man with courage to back his luck." + +"I 'd wish them a good-night," said another, "if I 'd have made so good +a-thing of it as that old fellow; he has won some thousand Napoleons, I +'m certain." + +"_He_ knows better than that," said the former. "This is a 'run' with +him, and he feels it is. He 'll 'break' them before the night's over." + +Dalton heard every word of this colloquy, and drank in the surmise as +greedily as did Macbeth the Witches' prophecy. + +"He deserves to win, too," resumed the last speaker, "for I never saw a +man play more boldly." + +"So much for boldness," cried the other; "he has just risked a fifth +time on the red and lost. See if it be not two hundred 'Naps.'" + +The defeat did not dishearten him, for again Dalton covered the board +with gold. As if that moment had been the turning-point of his destiny, +his losses now began, and with all the rapidity of his previous gains. +At first he bore the reverse calmly and patiently; after a while a +slight gesture of impatience, a half-muttered exclamation would escape +him; but when loss followed loss unceasingly, and one immense stake +disappeared after another, Dalton's fingers trembled, and his cheeks +shook like one in ague. His straining bloodshot eyes were fixed on the +play with the intensity of passion, and a convulsive shudder would shake +his massive frame at each new tidings of loss. "Am I never to have luck +again? Is it only to lead me on that I won? Can this go on forever?" +were the low-muttered words which now he syllabled with difficulty, for +already his utterance was thick, and his swollen tongue and flattened +cheeks seemed threatened with paralysis. + +His last stake was swept away before him, and Dalton, unable to speak, +stretched forth his arms across the table to arrest the banker's hand. +"A hundred 'Naps,' on the red," cried he, wildly; "no--two hundred--neck +or nothing, I 'll go five--d' ye hear me?--five hundred on the red!" + +A short conversation in whispers ensued between the croupiers, after +which one of them spoke a few words to Dalton in a low voice. + +"You never said so when I was losing," cried Peter, savagely. "I heard +nothing about the rules of the tables _then_." + +"The stake is above our limit, sir; above the limit laid down by law," +said the chief banker, mildly. + +"I don't care for your laws. I lost my money, and I 'll have my +revenge." + +"You can make half de stakes in my name, saar," said a long-moustached +and not over-clean-looking personage beside Dalton's chair. + +"That will do----thank you," cried Dalton. "Bet two hundred and fifty +for me and I'll stake the rest." + +A moment more, and the low voice of the croupier proclaimed that red had +lost! + +"What does he say--why won't he speak plainly?" cried Dalton, in a voice +of passionate energy. + +"You lose de stake," muttered the man behind him. + +"Of course I do; what other luck could I have? Lose--lose--lose!" +said he to himself, in a low, moaning voice. "There they go--the +fools!----betting away as fresh as ever. Why won't they take warning by +_me?_ beggared, rained as it has left me. May I never! if the red isn't +winning every time now!" And, as he spoke, his eyes followed a great +heap of gold which some fortunate gambler just drew in before him. "How +much did he win, then?" cried Dalton; but none replied to a question so +contrary to every etiquette of the table. + +"He never counts it," muttered Peter, as he continued to gaze on the +lucky player with a kind of envious admiration. "They say it's best not +to count one's winnings. I don't know what's best; I believe 't is only +the devil knows--for it was _he_ invented the game.--Red, again, the +winner!" + +"Why you no back de red?" whispered the man behind his chair. + +Dalton started, and was about to give an angry reply, but corrected +himself, and merely stared stupidly at him. + +"You win eleven hundred Napoleons if you do go on," said the other, +showing in proof of his assertion the card on which he had marked all +the chances. + +"And where 's the money?" cried Dalton, as, with a hissing utterance, he +spoke, and he pointed to the table before him. "Have I Coutts's bank at +my back, or is all Lombard Street in my pocket? 'T is easy to say, go +on! Red again, by Jingo!" + +"I tell you dat!" said the other, gravely. + +Dalton turned round in his chair, and stared steadfastly at the speaker. +His mind was in that state of wild confusion when every conception, +however vague and fanciful, assumes a certain degree of reality, and +superstitions take on them all the force of warnings. What if his +prompter were the devil himself! was it not exactly what he had often +heard of? He never saw him there before, and certainly appearances were +not much against the hypothesis. He was tall and spare, with a high, +narrow forehead, and a pair of most treacherous-looking black eyes, +that seemed to let nothing escape their vigilance. Unabashed by or +indifferent to Dalton's scrutiny, he went on with his chronicle of +the game, noting down the chances, and only muttering a few words to +himself. + +"Nine times red," said he, as he counted the scores. + +"Will it go ten?" asked Dalton, with a purposelike energy that showed +his faith in the oracle; but the other never heeded the question. + +"Back de red, I say; back de red dis time," whispered he in Dalton's +ear. + +"Don't you see that I have no money?" said Dalton, angrily. + +"Dey will lend on your name; ask for a hundred Naps. Be quick, be +quick." + +Dalton stooped across the table, and whispered the croupier, who +returned a look of doubt and uncertainty. Peter grew more pressing, and +the other bent over, and spoke to his colleague. This time the request +was not met with a smile and a bland bow, and Dalton watched with angry +impatience all the signs of hesitation and deliberation between them. + +"Say your banker is closed,--that you must have de moneys," whispered +the dark man. + +"Must I wait till the bank is open to-morrow morning," said Dalton, "or +do you mean to give me this trifle?" + +"Our rules are strictly opposed to the practice of lending, Count," +whispered the croupier at his side; "we have already transgressed them +in your favor, and--" + +"Oh, don't inconvenience the Count," interposed his colleague. "How much +is it?" + +"Say two hundred,--two!" muttered the unknown. + +"Two hundred Naps.," cried Dalton, resolutely. + +"This will make five hundred and forty to-night, Count." + +"And if it was five thousand," said Peter, running his fingers through +the gold with ecstasy, "what matter? There goes fifty on the red." + +"Ah, you play too rash," whispered the dark man. + +"What business is it of yours? am I your ward?" cried Dalton, +passionately, for the stake was lost in the instant. "Bed, again fifty. +May I never! if I don't believe 'tis _you_ brings me the bad luck," said +Dalton, darting a savage glance at the other, whose impassive face never +betrayed the slightest emotion. + +"I no wish to disturb your game, saar," was the meek reply of the dark +man; and with a bow of meek humility he backed through the crowd and +disappeared. + +In a moment Dalton felt shocked at his own rudeness, and would have +given worlds to have recalled his words, or even apologized for them; +but other thoughts soon supplanted these, and again his whole heart was +in the game. + +"You did n't bet last time," remarked some one near him, "and your +favorite color won." + +"No, I was looking about me. I was thinking of something else," replied +he; and he sat fingering the gold pieces as though unwilling to part +with them. + +The game went on; luck came and went; the gold glittered and clinked; +the same endless "refrain"----"Faites votre jeu, Messieurs," followed +by the same sing-song phrases, continued to roll on, and Dalton sat, now +counting his money, and piling up the pieces into tens or twenties; or, +with his head resting on his hand, deep in serious thought. Twice he +placed a heavy stake upon the table, and recalled it at the very moment +of the game's beginning. Every gesture and action showed the terrible +struggle between hope and fear that went on within him. A red spot +glowed on one cheek, while the other was pale as death, and his lips +from time to time were moved with a short spasmodic jerk, as if some +sudden pain shot through him. At last, with a great effort, he pushed +all the gold into the centre of the table, and cried out, but in a voice +so strange and inarticulate that the words could not be distinguished. + +"You said 'rouge,' Count, I think?" asked the croupier. + +"I fancy the gentleman said 'noir,'" remarked a bystander. + +"Let him declare for himself," observed another. + +"But the game has already begun," said the banker. + +"So much the worse for the bank," remarked another, laughing, "for it's +easy to see what will win." + +"Pray declare your color, sir," said an impatient gambler at Dalton's +side; "the whole table is waiting for you." + +Dalton started, and, darting an angry look at the speaker, made an +effort to rise from the table. He failed at first, but grasping the +shoulder of the croupier, he arose to his full height, and stared +around him. All was hushed and still, not a sound was heard, as in that +assembly, torn with so many passions, every eye was turned towards the +gigantic old man, who, with red eyeballs and outstretched hands, seemed +to hurl defiance at them. Backwards and forwards he swayed for a second +or two, and then, with a low, faint cry,--the last wail of a broken +heart,--he fell with a crash upon the table. There he lay, his white +hairs streaming over the gold and silver pieces, and his bony fingers +flattened upon the cards. "A fit!----he's in a fit!" cried some, as they +endeavored to raise him.--"Worse still!" remarked another, and he passed +his hand from the pulse to the heart, "he is dead!" + +The hero of a hundred fights, he who has seen death in every shape and +on every field, must yield the palm of indifference to its terrors to +the gambler. All the glorious insanity of a battle, all the reckless +enthusiasm of a storm, even the headlong impetuosity of a charge, cannot +supply the cold apathy of the gambler's heart; and so was it that they +saw in that lifeless form nothing beyond a disagreeable interruption to +their game, and muttered their impatience at the delay in its removal. + +"Well," said Mrs. Ricketts, as she sat in an adjoining apartment, "have +you any tidings of our dear 'Amphytrion?'----is he winning to-night?" +The question was addressed to the tall, dark man, who so lately had +been standing behind Dalton's chair, and was our old acquaintance, Count +Petrolaffsky. + +"He no win no more, Madame," replied he, solemnly. + +"Has he gone away, then?--has he gone home without us?" + +"He has gone home, indeed----into the other world," said he, shaking his +head. + +"What do you mean, Count? For Heaven's sake, speak intelligibly." + +"I mean as I do say, Madame. He play a game as would ruin Rothschild; +always change, and always at de wrong time, and never know when to make +his 'paroli.' Ah, dat is de gran' secret of all play; when you know when +to make your 'paroli' you win de whole world! Well, he is gone now; poor +man, he cannot play no more!" + +"Martha--Scroope, do go--learn something--see what has happened." + +"Oh, here's the Colonel. Colonel Haggerstone, what is this dreadful news +I hear?" + +"Your accomplished friend has taken French leave of you, Madame, and +was in such a hurry to go that he wouldn't wait for another turn of the +cards." + +"He ain't d-d-dead?" screamed Purvis. + +"I'm very much afraid they insist on burying him tomorrow or next day, +under that impression, sir," said Haggerstone. + +"What a terrible event!--how dreadful!" said Martha, feelingly; "and his +poor daughter, who loved him so ardently!" + +"That must be thought of," interrupted Mrs. Ricketts, at once roused to +activity by thoughts of self-interest. "Scroope, order the carriage at +once. I must break it to her myself. Have you any particulars for me, +Colonel?" + +"None, Madame! If coroners were the fashion here, thay 'd bring in a +verdict of died from backing the wrong color, with a deodand against the +rake!'" + +"Yes, it is ver' true, he always play bad," muttered the Pole. + +And now the room began to fill with people discussing the late incident +in every possible mood and with every imaginable shade of sentiment. A +few--a very few--dropped some expressions of pity and compassion. +Many preferred to make a display of their own courage by a bantering, +scornful tone, and some only saw in the event how unsuited certain +natures were to contend with the changeful fortunes of high play. These +were, for the most part, Dalton's acquaintances, and who had often told +him--at least, so they now took credit for--that "he had no head +for play." Interspersed with these were little discussions as to the +immediate cause of death, as full of ignorance and as ingenious as +such explanations usually are, all being contemptuously wound up by +Haggerstone's remark, "That death was like matrimony,--very difficult +when wanted, but impossible to escape when you sought to avoid it!" As +this remark had the benefit of causing a blush to poor Martha, he gave +his arm to the ladies, with a sense of gratification that came as near +happiness as anything he could imagine. + +"Is Miss Dalton in the drawing-room?" said Mrs. Rick-etts, as with an +air of deep importance she swept through the hall of the villa. + +"She's in her room, Madame," said the maid. + +"Ask if she will receive me,--if I may speak to her." + +The maid went out, and returned with the answer that Miss Dalton was +sleeping. + +"Oh, let her sleep!" cried Martha. "Who knows when she will taste such +rest again?" + +Mrs. Ricketts bestowed a glance of withering scorn on her sister, and +pushed roughly past her, towards Nelly's chamber. A few minutes after a +wild, shrill shriek was heard through the house, and then all was still. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. NELLY'S SORROWS + +Stunned, but not overcome, by the terrible shock, Nelly Dalton sat +beside the bed where the dead man lay in all that stern mockery of calm +so dreadful to look upon. Some candles burned on either side, and threw +a yellowish glare over the bold strong features on which her tears had +fallen, as, with a cold hand clasped in his, she sat and watched him. + +With all its frequency, Death never loses its terrors for us! Let a man +be callous as a hard world and a gloomy road in it can make him; let him +drug his mind with every anodyne of infidelity; let him be bereft of all +affection, and walk alone on his life road; there is yet that which can +thrill his heart in the aspect of the lips that are never to move more, +and the eyes that are fixed forever. But what agony of suffering is it +when the lost one has been the link that tied us to life,--the daily +object of our care, the motive of every thought and every action! Such +had been her father to poor Nelly. His wayward, capricious humors, all +his infirmities of temper and body, had called forth those exertions +which made the business of her life, and gave a purpose and direction to +her existence; now repaid by some passing expression of thankfulness or +affection, or, better still, by some transient gleam of hope that he was +stronger in health or better in spirits than his wont; now rallied by +that sense of duty which can ennoble the humblest as it can the greatest +of human efforts, she watched over him as might a mother over an ailing +child. Catching at his allusions to "home," as he still called it, she +used to feed her hopes with thinking that at some distant day they were +to return to their own land again, and pass their last years in tranquil +retirement together; and now hope and duty were alike extinguished. +"The fount that fed the river of her thoughts" was dry, and she was +alone--utterly alone--in the world! + +Old Andy, recalled by some curious instinct to a momentary activity, +shuffled about the room, snuffing the candles, or muttering a faint +prayer at the bedside; but she did not notice him any more than the +figure who, in an attitude of deep devotion, knelt at the foot of the +bed. This was Hanserl, who, book in hand, recited the offices with all +the fervent rapidity of a true Catholic. Twice he started and looked up +from his task, disturbed by some noise without; but when it occurred a +third time, he laid his book gently down and stole noiselessly from the +room. Passing rapidly through the little chamber which used to be called +Nelly's drawing-room, he entered the larger dining-room, in which now +three or four ill-dressed men were standing, in the midst of whom was +Abel Kraus in active colloquy with Mr. Purvis. Hanserl made a gesture to +enforce silence, and pointed to the room from whence he had just come. + +"Ah!" cried Scroope, eagerly, "You 're a kind of co-co-connection, or +friend, at least, of these people, ain't you? Well, then, speak to this +wo-worthy man, and tell him that he mustn't detain our things here; we +were merely on a visit." + +"I will suffer nothing to leave the house till I am paid to the last +kreutzer," said Kraus, sternly; "the law is with me, and I know it." + +"Be patient; but, above all, respect the dead," said Hans, solemnly. "It +is not here nor at this time these things should be discussed." + +"But we wa-want to go; we have ta-ta-taken our apartments at the +'Russie.' The sight of a funeral and a--a--a hearse, and all that, would +kill my sister." + +"Let her pay these moneys, then, and go in peace," said Kraus, holding +forth a handful of papers. + +"Not a gr-groschen, not a kreutzer will we pay. It's an infamy, it's a +sh-sh-shameful attempt at robbery. It's as bad as st-stopping a man on +the highway." + +"Go on, sir,--go on. You never made a speech which cost you dearer," +said Kraus, as he took down the words in his pocket-book. + +"I--I--I did n't mean that; I did n't say you were a housebreaker." + +"Speak lower," said Hans, sternly. "And you, sir; what is this demand?" + +"Two thousand francs,----rent of this house; which, with damage to the +furniture and other charges, will make two thousand eight hundred." + +"I will pay it," said Hans, stopping him. + +"Your credit would be somewhat better, Master Hans, had you not given a +certain bail bond that you know of," said Kraus, sneeringly. + +"I have wherewith to meet my debts," said Hans, calmly. + +"I will claim my bond within a week; I give you notice of it," said +Kraus. + +"You shall be paid to-morrow. Let us be in peace to-night; bethink you +what that room contains." + +"He ain't black, is he? I--I would n't look at him for a thousand +pounds," said Purvis, with a shudder. + +"If she remain here after noon, to-morrow," said Kraus, in a low voice, +"a new month will have begun." + +"To-morrow afternoon; Lord! how close he r-ran it," exclaimed Purvis. + +"Once more, I say, be patient," said Hans. "Let these good people go, +you shall lose nothing; I pledge the word of a man who never told +a falsehood. I will pay all. Have some pity, however, for this +orphan,--one who has now neither a home nor a country." + +"Yes, yes, he 'll have p-pity; he 's an excellent man is Mr. Kraus. +I shouldn't wonder if we'd come to terms about this vi-villa for +ourselves." + +Hans turned a look of anger towards him, and then said: "Go, sir, and +take those that belong to you away also. This place no longer can suit +you nor them. He who lies yonder can be flattered and fawned on no more; +and, as for her, she is above your compassion, if it even lay in your +heart to offer it." + +"He ain't quite right here," whispered Purvis to Kraus, as he tapped +his forehead significantly. "They told me that in the town." Kraus moved +away without reply, and Purvis followed him. "He's rich, too, they say," +added he, in a whisper. + +"They'll scarcely say as much this day week," said Kraus, sneeringly; +while, beckoning his people to follow him, he left the house. + +No sooner did Mrs. Ricketts learn that her worldly possessions were +safe, and that the harpy clutches of the law could make no seizure among +those curious turbans and wonderful tunics which composed her wardrobe, +than she immediately addressed herself to the active duties of the hour +with a mind at ease, and, while packing her trunks, inadvertently stowed +away such little stray articles as might not be immediately missed, and +might serve hereafter to recall thoughts of "poor dear Miss Dalton," for +so she now preferred to name her. + +"Those little box figures, Martha, don't forget them. They of course +don't belong to the house; and Scroope suspects that the bracket for the +hall lamp must have been her carving also." + +"I 've p-put away two pencil drawings marked 'N. D.,' and a little +sketch in oil of the Alten Schloss; and I 've my pockets stuffed with +the tulip roots." + +"Well thought of, Scroope; and there's a beautiful paper-knife,--poor +thing, she's not likely to want it now. What a sad bereavement! And are +his affairs really so bad?" + +"Ov-over head and ears in debt There ain't enough to bury him if the +dwarf does not shell out,--but he will. They say he's in love with +Nelly,--he, he, he!" + +"Shocking, quite shocking. Yes, Martha, that telescope is a very good +one. What improvidence, what culpable improvidence!" + +"And is she quite friendless?" asked Martha, feelingly. + +"Not while she has _our_ protection," said Mrs. Rickett", grandly. "I +'ve determined 'to take her up.'" + +Martha reddened slightly at the phrase, for she knew of some others who +had been so "taken up," and with what small profit to their prosperity. + +"Her talents, when aided by _our_ patronage, will always support her," +said Mrs. Ricketts; "and I mean, when the shock of this calamity +is past, to employ her on a little group for a centrepiece for our +dinner-table. She will, of course, be charmed to have her genius +displayed to such advantage. It will afford us a suitable opportunity of +introducing her name." + +"And we shall have the piece of carving for nothing," said Martha, who +innocently believed that she was supplying another argument of equal +delicacy and force. + +"You 're an idiot!" said Mrs. Ricketts, angrily; "and I begin to fear +you will never be anything else." + +"I 'm quite sure I shall not," muttered the other, with a faint +submissiveness, and continued the task of packing the trunks. + +"Take care that you find out her sister's address, Martha. I 'm sadly +in want of some furs; that tippet, I suppose, is only fit for _you_ now, +and my sable muff is like a dog in the mange. The opportunity is a most +favorable one; for when the Princess, as they persist in calling her, +knows that her sister is our dependant, we may make our own terms. It +would be the very ruin of her in St Petersburg to publish such a fact." + +"But Miss Dalton will surely write to her herself." + +"She can be persuaded, I trust, to the contrary," said Mrs. Ricketts, +knowingly. "She can be shown that such an appeal would, in all +likelihood, wreck her sister's fortunes, that the confession of such a +relationship would utterly destroy her position in that proud capital; +and if she prove obstinate, the letter need not go; you understand that, +at least," added she, with a contemptuous glance that made poor Martha +tremble. + +Mrs. Ricketts was now silent, and sat revelling in the various thoughts +that her active mind suggested. Upon the whole, although Dalton's dying +was an inconvenience, there were some compensating circumstances. She +had gained a most useful _protegee_ in Nelly,----one whose talents +might be made of excellent use, and whose humble, unpretending nature +would exact no requital. Again, the season at Baden was nearly over; a +week or two more, at most, was all that remained. The "Villino," which +she had left for the summer to some confiding family, who believed +that Florence was a paradise in July and August, would again be at her +disposal; and, in fact, as she phrased it, "the conjunctures were all +felicitous," and her campaign had not been unfruitful. This latter +fact attested itself in the aspect of her travelling-carriage, with its +"spolia" on the roof, and its various acquired objects under the body. +Pictures, china, plate, coins, brocades, old lace, books, prints, +manuscripts, armor, stained glass, trinkets, and relics of all kinds, +showed that travel with her was no unprofitable occupation, and that +she had realized the grand desideratum of combining pleasure with solid +advantage. + +Meanwhile, so ingenious is thorough selfishness, she fancied herself +a benefactor of the whole human race. All the cajoleries she used to +practise, she thought were the amiable overflowings of a kindly nature; +her coarse flatteries she deemed irresistible fascinations; her +duperies even seemed only the triumphs of a mind transcendently rich in +resources, and never for a moment suspected that the false coin she was +uttering could be called in question, though the metal was too base for +imposition. There is no supply without demand, and if the world did not +like such characters there would be none of them. The Rickettses +are, however, a large and an increasing class of society, and, to our +national shame be it said, they are distinctively English in origin. And +now we leave her, little regretting if it be forever; and if we turn +to a darker page in our story, it is, at least, to one wherein our +sympathies are more fairly enlisted. + +That long night passed over like a dreary dream, and morning was now +mingling its beams with the glare of the tapers, as Nelly sat beside the +death-bed. + +"Come with me, Fraeulein! come away from this," said Hanserl, as with a +tearful eye and quivering lip he stood before her. + +Nelly shook her head slowly, and for answer turned her gaze on the dead +man. + +"You shall come back again; I promise you, you shall come back again," +said he, softly. + +She arose without a word and followed him. They passed through an outer +room, and entered the garden, where Hans, taking her hand, led her to a +seat. + +"You will be better here, Fraeulein," said he, respectfully; "the air is +fresh and balmy." + +"He sat beside me on this bench three nights ago," said she, as if +talking to herself, "and said how he wished I could be with Kate, but +that he could not part with me; and see,--we are parted, and for a +longer separation! Oh, Hanserl! what we would give to recall some of the +past, when death has closed it forever against us!" + +"Remember Wieland, Fraeulein; he tells us that 'the Impossible is a tree +without fruit or flowers.'" + +"And yet my mind will dwell on nothing else. The little thwartings of +his will, the cold compliance which should have been yielded in a better +spirit, the counsels that often only irritated,--how they rise up now, +like stern accusers, before me, and tell me that I failed in my duty." + +"Not so, Fraeulein, not so," said Hans, reverently. + +"But there is worse than that, Hanserl, far worse," said she, trembling. +"To smooth the rough path of life, I descended to deception. I told him +the best when my heart felt the worst. Had he known of Kate's real life, +and had he sorrowed over _her_ fortunes, might not such grief have been +hallowed to him! To have wept over Frank--the poor boy in prison--might +have raised his thoughts to other themes than the dissipation that +surrounded him. All this was _my_ fault I would have his love, and see +the price it has cost me!" She hid her face between her hands, and never +spoke for a long time. And at length she lifted up her eyes, red as they +were with weeping, and with a heavy sigh said, "How far is it to Vienna, +Hanserl?" + +"To Vienna, Fraeulein! It is a long journey,----more than four hundred +miles. But why do you ask?" + +"I was thinking that if I saw Count Stephen--if I could but tell him our +sad story myself--he might intercede for poor Frank, and perhaps obtain +his freedom. His crime can scarcely be beyond the reach of mercy, and +his youth will plead for him. And is it so far away, Hanserl?" + +"At the very least; and a costly journey, too." + +"But I would go on foot, Hans. Lame as I am, I can walk for miles +without fatigue, and I feel as if the exertion would be a solace to me, +and that my mind, bent upon a good object, could the more easily turn +away from my own desolation. Oh, Hans, think me not selfish that I speak +thus; but thoughts of my own loneliness are so linked with all I have +lost, I cannot separate them. Even the humble duty that I filled gave a +value to my life, without which my worthlessness would have crushed +me; for what could poor lame Nelly be,--I, that had no buoyancy for the +young, no ripe judgment for the old? And yet, in caring for him that is +gone, I found a taste of love and happiness." + +"I will go with you, Fraeulein; you shall not take this weary road alone. +Heaven knows that, without you, this place would be too dreary for me." + +"But your house, Hanserl,--all that you possess,--the fruits of all your +hard industry--" + +"Speak not of them," said Hans, reddening. "They who deem me rich are +mistaken. I have speculated ill, I have made bad ventures, and what I +have will but pay my debts, and I will be glad to quit this spot." + +"And I," said Nelly, with a voice of deep emotion,--"I cannot say that I +can help you. I know nothing of what may remain to me in this world; my +father never spoke to me latterly of his means, and I may be, for aught +I know, a beggar. Will you see his banker and speak with him?" + +"I have done so," said Hans, slowly. "He claims some small sum as due to +him." + +"And how am I to pay it?" said Nelly, growing pale. "It is true, I can +labor--" + +"Have no care for this, Fraeulein. It shall be looked to, and you shall +repay it hereafter." + +"Oh, Hanserl, beware!" said she, solemnly; "we are an unfortunate +race to those who help us; my poor father often said so, and even his +superstitions are hallowed to me now." + +A gesture from some one within the house called Hans away, and Nelly was +left alone. She sat with her eyes closed and her arms firmly clasped, +deep in her own sad thoughts, when she heard a footstep close by. It was +only Andy, who, with a piece of ragged crape fastened round his arm, was +slowly tottering towards her. His face was flushed, and his eyes wild +and excited, as he continued to mutter and reply to himself,---- + +"A Dalton; one of the ould stock, and maybe the last of them, too." + +"And what is it, Andy?----tell me, what is it?" said she, kindly. + +"There's no wake,--there is n't as much as a tenant's child would have!" + +"We are almost friendless here, Andy. It is not our own country." + +"Ain't they Christians, though? Could n't they keep the corpse company? +Is it four candles and a deal coffin ought to be at a Dalton's burial?" + +"And we are poor also," said she, meekly. + +"And has n't the poorest respect for the dead?" said he, sternly. +"Wouldn't they sell the cow, or the last pig, out of honor to him +that's gone to glory? I 'll not stay longer in the place; I 'll have my +discharge; I 'll go back to Ireland." + +"Poor fellow," said Nelly, taking his hand kindly, and seating him +beside her. "You loved him so! and he loved you, Andy. He loved to +hear you sing your old songs, and tell over the names of his favorite +hounds." + +"Bessy and Countess were the sweetest among them," said the old man, +wandering away to old memories of the past, "but Nora was truer than +either." And so he fell into a low mumbling to himself, endeavoring, +as it seemed, to recall the forgotten line of some hunting chant, while +Nelly returned to the house to take her last farewell ere the coffin lid +was closed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. A LAST ADIEU + +The pleasure-seekers of Baden were not likely to be diverted from their +pursuits by such humble calamities as Nelly Dalton's, and the gay world +went on its gay road as merrily as though death or ruin could have no +concern for them. Already the happy groups were gathering before the +Cur-saal. The sounds of music filled the air. Wealth was displaying its +gorgeous attractions, beauty her fascinations, and wit its brilliancy; +and none had a thought for that sad episode which a few hours had half +obliterated from every mind. Under a spreading chestnut-tree, and around +a table sumptuously spread for breakfast, a large party was assembled, +discussing the news of the morning and the plans of pleasure for the +day. Some had but thoughts for the play-table, and could attune their +ears to no other sounds than the clink of the gold and the rake of the +croupier; others chatted of the world of politics and fashion; and a +few, with that love of the picturesque the taste for painting engenders, +were admiring the changeful effects of passing clouds on the landscape, +and pointing out spots of peculiar beauty and sublimity. + +"How well the Alten Schloss looks, with that mass of shadow on it," +remarked a young man to a fair and delicate-looking girl beside him; +"and see how the weeping ash waves over the old walls, like a banner." + +"And look!" cried she, "mark that little procession that is slowly +winding up the pathway,--what effect a few figures give to the scene, as +they appear and disappear with each turning of the road. Some pilgrimage +to a holy shrine, I fancy." + +"No; it is a funeral. I can mark what Shelley calls the step of the +bearers 'heavy and slow;' and if you listen, you'll catch the sound of +the death-bell." + +"It's quite a picture, I declare," said she. "I wish I had brought my +sketch-book." + +And so it is ever! The sorrows that are rending some hearts in twain are +but as objects of picturesque effect to others. And even the young and +the tender-minded learn to look on the calamities that touch them not, +as things of mere artistic meaning. + +Up that steep road, over rock and rugged stone, brushing between the +tangled briers, or with difficulty being turned around some sharp angle, +was now borne the corpse of him who had so often wended the same path on +his homeward way. Four peasants carried the coffin, which was followed +by Nelly and old Andy; Hans, from a sense of respect, walking behind +them. It was a long and arduous ascent, and they were often obliged to +halt and take breath; and at such times Nelly would kneel down beside +the coffin and pray. The sufferings of the last two days had left deep +traces on her features, which had lost every tinge of color. Her eyes, +too, were deep-set and heavy; but in the elevated expression of her brow +at moments, and the compression of her lips, might be seen the energy of +one who had a firm purpose, and was resolved to carry it through. + +"Sit down and rest yourself, Fraeulein," said Hans, as he saw that she +faltered in her step. "We are yet far from the top." + +"I will rest at the fountain," said she, faintly. "It was a favorite +spot of his." And they moved slowly on once more. + +The fountain was a little well, carved in the native rock, around which +some rude seats were also fashioned, the whole sheltered by a thick +roof of foliage, which, even in noonday, cast a deep shadow around, and +effectually screened it from the path that wound along beside it. + +Scarcely had the bearers deposited the coffin beside the well, when the +sound of voices was heard as a considerable number of persons descended +the path. Words in French, German, and English showed that the party +consisted of representatives of these nations; but one voice, if once +heard not readily forgotten, towered high above all the rest. + +"I cannot offer my arm, madam," cried a sharp, ringing accent, "as the +infernal road will not admit of two abreast; but I can go before and +pilot you." + +"Oh, thanks, sir," replied a mild, meek tone; "I can get on very well +indeed. I am only uneasy about my sister." + +"I don't suspect that she incurs either much risk or fatigue, madam," +rejoined the other, "seeing that she is seated in an armchair, and +carried by two of the stoutest fellows in Baden." + +"But the exertion, in her weak state--" + +"She might make the ascent of Mont Blanc, madam, with the same +appliances; and if you only told her that there were bargains to be had +at the top, I verily believe she would do so." + +"You don't think the things were cheap here, Colonel?" said Miss Martha, +who thought by a diversion to draw Haggerstone away from so dangerous a +discussion. + +"I am no connoisseur in Dutch dolls, nor Noah's arks, madam, although +modern society presents us with something very like both; but I +concluded that the prices were not exorbitant. I went there myself from +a sense of equity. I once put a bullet into the little rascal's skin, +and I have bought a salad-fork and a nut-crackers in requital." + +"It was kindly thought of," sighed Martha, gently. + +"They only cost me nine kreutzers, madam," rejoined Haggerstone, who was +more afraid of being thought a dupe than ill-natured, "so that my +sense of generosity did not make a fool of me, as it did with the dwarf +himself." + +"How so?" + +"Why, in going security for that old Irishman, Dalton. It is to pay this +debt that he has been sold out to-day, and I fancy that Swiss cottages +and barking poodles will realize a very small dividend." + +"Oh, Hanserl!" said Nelly, "what do I hear?" + +"Hush, Fraeulein!" said he, with a gesture to enforce silence. "I will +tell you of these things hereafter." + +And now the others passed, and were soon out of hearing. + +"Oh, Hanserl!" cried Nelly, bitterly, "how misfortunes crowd upon me! +It was but a moment back I was feeding my mind with the sad consolation +that my griefs were all my own,--that the gloom of my dreary fortune +cast no shadow on another; and now I see that I was wrong. _You_ must +pay the dear penalty of having befriended us!--the fruits of all your +hard years of industry!" + +"And you would rob me of their best reward,--the glorious sense of +a generous action?" broke in Hans. "They _were_ years of toil and +privation, and they might have been years of pleasure if avarice and +greed had grown upon me; but I could not become a miser." + +"The home you had made your own, lost to you forever!" sighed Nelly. + +"It was no longer a home when you left it." + +"The well-won provision for old age, Hanserl." + +"And has not this event made me young again, and able to brave the +world, were it twice as adverse as ever I found it? Oh, Fraeulein, you +know not the heart-bounding ecstasy of him who, from the depths of an +humble station, can rise to do a service to those he looks up to! And +yet it is that thought which now warms my blood, and gives an energy to +my nature that, even in youth, I never felt." + +Nelly was silent; and now neither spoke a word, but sat with bent-down +heads, deep sunk in their own reveries. At last she arose, and once more +the sad procession resumed its way. They toiled slowly along till they +reached the little level table-land, where the church stood,--a little +chapel, scarcely larger than a shrine, but long venerated as a holy +spot. Poor Dalton had often spent hours here, gazing on the wide expanse +of plain and mountain and forest that stretched away beneath; and it was +in one of his evening rambles that he had fixed upon the spot where they +should lay him, if he could not "rest his bones with his forefathers." + +"Sixty-eight!" muttered the old priest, as he read the inscription on +the coffin-lid; "in the pride and vigor of manhood! Was he noble, that I +see these quarterings painted here?" + +"Hush! that is his daughter," whispered Hanserl. + +"If he were of noble blood, he should have lain in the chapel and on a +catafalque," muttered the priest. + +"The family is noble, but poor," said Hans, in a low whisper. + +"A low Mass, without the choir, would not ruin the poorest," said the +priest, who sprinkled the coffin with half impatience, and, mumbling a +few prayers, retired. And now the body was committed to the earth, and +the grave was filled. The last sod was patted down with the shovel; and +Nelly, unable to bear her grief any longer in silence, threw herself on +the spot, and wept bitterly. Hans withdrew, and motioned to the others +to follow him; and none remained but old Andy, who, on his knees and +with clasped hands, seemed to think that he was praying, although all +his attention was directed to a little group of children who stood near, +and whom he awed into reverence by many a threatening gesture. + +And thus the long day stole over; and it was only as evening drew nigh +that Nelly could be induced to take her last farewell, and breathe her +last prayer over the grave of her father. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. THE TYROL JOURNEY. + +If our task as story-teller had not other claims on us, we would gladly +linger with Nelly Dalton, as, in company with Hanserl and old Andy, she +wended her slow way through the deep valleys of the Schwartz wald. The +little party might have created astonishment in even more frequented +districts than the primitive tract in which they journeyed, and have +suggested many a puzzling doubt as to what rank or condition they +belonged to. For Andy's convenience Hans had purchased an ass and a +small cart, such as are sometimes used by the travelling beggars of +every land. Seated in this, and in his old hunting-cap and scarlet +coat, the old man fancied it was some pleasure excursion, or that he was +"trundling along" to "cover," as he used to do sixty years ago. Nelly +walked at his side, now roused from her deep musings to reply to some +meaningless question of the old man, or now feeding her sad memories +as she listened to the little snatches of song which occasionally broke +from him. Hanserl formed the rear-guard, making with his redoubted +battle-axe and a most formidable old Turkish pistol, not the least +singular figure in the procession. Their very baggage too had something +strange and incomprehensible to common eyes; for, amidst stray scraps of +old armor, the little remnants of Hanserl's collection, were to be seen +an unfinished figure by Nelly's hand, or the rude beginning of some new +group. Along with these were books and tools, and an infinity of queer +costumes, of the dwarfs own designing, for various seasons of the year. + +Still, there was no impertinence in the curiosity that met them. If +Andy's strange equipage and stranger dress might have raised a smile, +Nelly's gentle look and modest air as rapidly checked it, and they who +would have laughed outright at Hanserl's mock-chieftainship were subdued +to a respectful deference by the placid dignity of her who walked before +him. It was in that memorable year whose doings are recorded in our +memory with all the solemn force of History, and all the distinct and +vivid effect of events passing before our own eyes; that era, when +Thrones rocked and tottered, and kings, who seemed destined to transmit +their crowns to unborn generations, became exiles, and cast away, their +state a mockery, and their princely homes given up to pillage; when +the brightest day-dreams of good men became bound up with the wildest +imaginings of the bold and the bad, and the word Freedom comprehended +all that was most glorious in self-devotion, and all that was most +relentless in hate,----in that troubled time, Hanserl wisely sought +out the districts of mountain and crag--the homes of the hunter--in +preference to the more travelled roads, and prudently preferred even +the devious windings of the solitary glens to the thronged and peopled +highways that connected great cities. + +His plan was to direct their steps through the Vorarlberg into the +Tyrol, where, in a small village near Meran, his mother still lived. +There, in case of need, Nelly would find a refuge, and, at all events, +could halt while he explored the way to Vienna, and examined how far it +might be safe for her to proceed thither. Even in all her affliction, +out of the depths of a sorrow so devoid of hope, Nelly felt the glorious +influence of the grand scenery through which they travelled. The giant +mountains, snow-capped in early autumn; the boundless forests that +stretched along their sides; the foaming cataracts as they fell in +sheets of hissing water; the tranquil lakes that reflected tower and +cliff and spire; the picturesque village, where life seemed to ripple on +as peacefully as the clear stream before the peasant's door; the song of +the birds, the tolling of the bells, the laugh of the children; the Alp +horn answered from cliff to cliff, and dying away in distant echo,--all +these were realizations of many a girlish hope, when she wished her +father to seek out some secluded village, and pass a life of obscure but +united labor. There was no Quixotism in the fancy. She knew well what +it was to toil and work; to rise early, and go late to rest; to feed on +coarse fare, and be clad in mean attire. All that poverty can inflict +of privation she had tasted, but fearlessly and with a bold heart; +self-reliance elevating her thoughts above every little adverse +incident, and giving to her struggle that character of a task, a holy +and a righteous task, which made at once her life's purpose and reward. + +Scarcely a village at which they halted that did not strike her as like +what her mind had often pictured for "their own," and many a quaint old +house, with its carved galleries and latticed porch, she stood to gaze +on, fancying it their home and peopling every spot with the forms of +those she loved. Oh! why had they not chosen this humble road?--why had +their "Paths in Life" separated?--were the bitter reflections which now +filled her eyes with tears and made her bosom heave almost to bursting. +She did not foolishly suppose that the peasant can claim exemption from +the trials and crosses of life, and that sorrow finds no entrance into +remote and unfrequented tracts, but she knew that such burdens would +not be too heavy for their strength, and that, while living a life of +unpretending poverty, they should be free from the slavery of an assumed +position, and able to combat the world fairly and honestly. + +Of all lands the Tyrol is best suited to foster such feelings as +these. There is a harmony and a keeping about it that is rarely found +elsewhere. The dwellings of the people, so according with the character +of the scenery; the costumes, the greetings, the songs of the +peasantry; their simple and touching piety; their manners, so happily +blending independence with courtesy, are felt at once as a charm, and +give a color to the enjoyment of every one who sojourns amongst +them. These were the sights and sounds which, better than all the +blandishments of wealth, could soothe poor Nelly's sorrow, and make her +thankful in the midst of her afflictions even to have witnessed them. As +for Hanserl, his excitement grew daily higher as he passed the Arlberg +and drew near the spots he had seen in childhood. Now preparing some +little surprise for Nelly, as they turned the angle of a cliff and gazed +down upon a terrible gorge beneath; now apprising her of some little +shrine where pious wayfarers were wont to halt and pray; now speculating +if the old host of the village inn would be alive, or still remember +him, he went along merrily, occasionally singing some "Alp Lied," or +calling to mind some ancient legend of the scene through which they +journeyed. Above all, however, was his delight at the thought of seeing +his old mother again. No sense of disappointment dashed this pleasure +because he was returning poor and penniless. Home and the "Frau Mutter," +as he reverently called her, had their hold upon his heart quite +distinct from every accident of fortune. To tell her of all he had seen +in far-away lands,--for Hanserl thought himself a great traveller; to +describe the great Cathedral of Worms, its vaulted aisles and painted +windows, its saintly effigies and deep-toned organ, and the thousands +who could kneel before the high altar! Then, what marvellous relics were +there to describe!--not to speak of the memorable valley at Eschgau, +where "Siegfried slew the Dragon." Poor Hans! the scenes of his youth +had made him young again, and it was the very triumph of his joy when he +could interest Nelly in some story, or make her listen with attention to +the rude verses of some "Tyroler" poem. + +Gladly would we linger with them as they went slowly along through the +deep valley of Landech, and, halting a day at the Pontlatzer Bruecke, +that Hans might describe the heroic defence of his countrymen against +the French and Bavarian forces, and then, skirting along the Engadine, +came in sight of the great Orteler Spitze,--the highest of the Tyrol +Alps. And now they reached Nauders, and traversing a wild and dreary +mountain tract, where even in autumn the snow is seen in clefts and +crevices of the rock, they gradually gain the crest of the ridge, and +look down at length on glorious Meran with the devotion of the pilgrim +in sight of the Holy City. Hans knelt down and prayed fervently as his +eyes beheld that garden valley with its vine-clad slopes and waving +woods; its silvery river gliding along beneath bright villages and +feudal castles. But soon he saw them no longer, for his eyes swam over +with tears, and he sobbed like a child. + +"There, Fraeulein, yonder, where you see the river winding to the +southward, you see an old tower,--'the Passayer Turm,' it is called; the +'Fraeu Mutter' lives there. I see some one in the garden." And, overcome +by emotion, he hid his face and wept. + +Near as they seemed to the end of their journey, it was night ere they +gained the valley at the foot of the mountain. The cottages were closed, +and, except in the town--still about a mile distant--not a light was to +be seen. The Tyrolers are an early race, and retire to rest soon after +dusk. Hanserl, however, wanted no guidance to the way, and trudged along +in front of the cart, following each winding of the track as though he +had gone it but the day before. Except a chance caution about the road, +he never spoke,--his heart was full of "home." The fatigue of a long +day's journey, and the cold of the night air, had made Andy querulous +and discontented, and it was all Nelly could do to answer the fretful +questions and soothe down the irritation of the old man; but Hans heard +nothing of either. At last they reached a little open space formed by a +bend in the river, and came in sight of the old tower, at the foot of +which, and abutting against it, stood a small cottage. A light gleamed +from a little window, and no sooner had Hans seen it than he +exclaimed,---- + +"Gott sey dank! Fraeulein, she is well. That is the Fraeu Mutter." + +Poor Nelly's lip quivered as she tried to speak, for, humble as it +was, what would she have given to have had even such a "home"? And now, +passing through a little garden, Hans halted, and assisted Andy from the +cart. + +"Where are we, at all? Sure this is n't a place to stop the night in!" +cried the old man, querulously. + +"Hush, Andy, hush!" whispered Nelly. + +"'Tis thieves and vagabonds, maybe, lives here, Miss Nelly," said he, in +a low voice. + +"No, Andy, no; it is a kind welcome that awaits us." + +"Ayeh!" exclaimed he, "I know betther than that!" + +Hans by this time had approached the door and raised the latch,--for in +the Tyrol the night rarely calls for other fastening. Nelly heard +the sharp, clear sound of an old woman's voice above the hum of a +spinning-wheel, and then the glad burst of joy as the mother recognized +her son. Unwilling to interrupt their happiness, Nelly moved away out of +hearing, when Hanserl came running out, followed by the old woman. + +"This is the Fraeulein, mother," cried he, with a burst of delight; and +the old woman, taking Nelly's hand, kissed it with deep respect. + +With native courtesy she welcomed Nelly, and, as she entered her house, +pointed with pride to a Madonna of Nelly's own carving, which stood on a +bracket against the wall. + +"You see, Fraeulein," said she, "how I have known you for many a day +back; and there is your Saint Christopher, and there the 'Blessed Agnes +at the Well.'" And so was it. The groups and figures which she believed +to have been sold by Hanserl, were all stored up here and treasured +like household gods. "Many a traveller has come here just to see these," +continued the old peasant-woman, "and many a tempting sum have they +offered if I would sell them, but in all my poverty I did not stoop to +this." + +"Frau Mutter, Fraeu Mutter," said Hans, rebukingly, and trying to cut +short what he feared might offend Nelly. + +"Nay, Hanserl, it is but the truth," said she, firmly; "I will not say +that I did not do more wisely too, for they who came left me always some +little present. Even the poor gave me their blessing, and said that they +were happier when they had prayed before the blessed Agnes." While thus +running on in all the garrulity of old age, she never neglected the +care of receiving her guests with suitable hospitality. Old Andy was +accommodated with a deep straw chair near the stove. The little chamber, +which, for its view upon the Passayer Thai, had been specially devoted +to receive travellers, was got ready for Nelly; and Hans, once more at +home, busied himself in arranging the household and preparing supper. + +"You are wondering at all the comforts you find here, Hanserl," said +the old woman, "but see here, this will tell you whence they came;" and, +opening an old ebony cabinet, she took out a large square letter with a +heavy seal. "That reached me on a Christmas-day, Hanserl; the paper was +from the Imperial Chancellerie of Vienna, setting forth that, as the +widow of Hans Roeckle, of Meran, born of Tyrol parents, and married to a +Tyroler, had attained the age of eighty years, and never asked alms, nor +sought for other aid than her own industry, she was now entitled to the +Maria Teresa pension of twelve kreutzers a day for the rest of her life. +I told them," said the old woman, proudly, "that my son had always taken +care to provide for me, and that there were others that might want it +more than I, but the kreis-hauptman said that my refusal would be +an offence to the Kaiser, who had heard of my name from one of the +archduchesses who travelled this way, and who had seen these blessed +images and wished to buy them; so that I was fain to yield, and take, in +thankfulness, what was offered in generosity. You see, Hanserl, how true +is it, the Fraeulein has been our good angel; we have never had bad luck +since the Madonna came here!" + +Nelly slept soundly that night, and, for the first time since her +calamities, her dreams were happy ones. Lulled by the ripple of the +river beside her window, and the ceaseless murmuring of the old woman's +voice as she sat up talking with her son the whole night long, she +tasted at length the sweets of deep and refreshing sleep. And what a +gorgeous scene burst upon her waking eyes! Around, on every side of +the little plain, rose the great mountains of the Tyrol; some green +and tree-clad to their summits, others snow-capped or hid in the +azure-colored clouds above them. Ancient castles crowned the crags, and +foaming cataracts leaped from each fissured gorge; while below, in the +valley, there lay a garden of rich profusion,--the vine, the olive, +and the waving corn,--with villages and peasant-houses half hid in +the luxuriant verdure. From the lowing cattle beside the river to the +re-echoing horn upon the mountains, there seemed to come greeting and +answer. All was grandeur and sublimity in the scene; but, more striking +than these, was the perfect repose, the deep tranquillity of the +picture. The sounds were all those of peasant labor, the song of the +vine-dresser, the rustling noise of the loaded wagon as it moved through +some narrow and leafy road, the hissing of the sickle through the ripe +corn. + +"And yet," said Hanserl, as Nelly stood in silent enjoyment at the +little porch,--"and yet, Fraeulein, beyond those great mountains yonder, +there is strife and carnage. Here all is peaceful and happy; but the +whole world of Europe is tempest-torn. Italy is up,--all her people are +in wild revolt; Hungary is in open insurrection. I speak not of other +lands, whose fortunes affect us not, but the great empire of our Kaiser +is convulsed to its very centre. I have just been at Meran, troops are +marching in every hour, and every hour come new messengers to bid them +hasten southward. Over the Stelvio, where you see that dark line yonder, +near the summit of the mountains, on they pour! They say, too, that +Upper Austria is in rebellion, and that the roads from Innspruck are +unsafe to travel. We are safe here, Fraeulein, but you must not venture +further. We will try, from some of the officers who pass through, to +glean tidings of the Count, your grand-uncle, and where a letter may +reach him; but bear with this humble shelter for a while, and think it a +home." + +If Nelly was disappointed and baffled by this impediment to her journey, +she was not one to pass her time in vague regrets, but at once addressed +herself to the call of new duties with a willing mind and a cheerful +spirit. + +Resuming her long-neglected tools, she set to work once more, stimulated +by the new scenes and subjects around her. To the little children who +often formed her "studies," she became the schoolmistress. To the old +who were stricken with sickness or the helplessness of age she used to +read for hours together. Every little pathway led her to some office of +charity or kindness, till the "good Fraeulein" became a village byword, +and her name was treasured and her footstep welcomed in every cottage +around. + +Her humble dress, her more humble manner, took nothing from the +deference they yielded her. They felt too intensely the inborn +superiority of her nature to think of any equality between them, and +they venerated her with something like devotion. A physician to the +sick, a nurse to the bedridden, a teacher to the ignorant, a blessing +and an example to all, Nelly's hours were but too short for the calls +of her duties, and, in her care for others, she had no time to bestow on +her own sorrows. + +As for Hanserl, he worked from daylight to dusk. Already the little +garden, weed-grown and uncared-for before, was as blooming as his former +one at the Alten Schloss. Under Nelly's guidance many a device was +executed that seemed almost miraculous to the simple neighbors; and the +lichen-clad rocks, the waving water-lilies or trellised creepers, which, +in the wild wantonness of nature they had never noticed, now struck +them as the very creations of genius. Even old Andy was not forgotten in +their schemes of happiness; and the old huntsman used to spend hours in +the effort to tame a young fox a peasant had brought him,--a labor not +the less interesting that its progress suffered many a check, and that +many a laugh arose at the backslidings of the pupil. + +And now we leave them for a brief season, all occupied and all happy; +nor do we like the fate that calls us away to other and very different +associates. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. FLORENCE. + +It was of a calm but starless night in winter that Florence was +illuminated in honor of a victory over the Austrian troops at Goito. +Never was patriotic ardor higher,--never were stronger the hopes of +Italian independence. From the hour of their retreat from Milan, the +imperial forces had met with little but reverses, and, as day by day +they fell back towards the Tyrol Alps, the hosts of their enemies +swelled and increased around them; and from Genoa to the Adriatic all +Italy was in march to battle. It is not to speculate on the passable +current of events, nor yet to dwell on the causes of that memorable +failure, by which dissentient councils and false faith--the weakness +of good men and the ambition of bad ones--brought rain when there might +have been victory, still less is it to gaze upon the brilliant spectacle +of the rejoicing city, that we are now wending our way along the Arno, +scarcely stopping to notice the thousand stars that glitter on the +Duomo, nor the flickering lines of light which trace out the gigantic +tower of the Palazzo Vecchio. Our theme is more humble than the former, +and far too serious for such dalliance as the latter. + +Leaving the crowded streets, resounding with the wild acclamations and +wilder songs of the people, we pass over the Ponte Vecchio, and enter +once again the dark abode of Racca Morlache. Whether from any suspicion +of his unpopularity with the people, or from some secret necessity for +precaution, the door is fastened by many an extra bolt, and more than +one massive chain retains the iron shutters of the window. Perhaps there +is something in this conscious security that has made him so sparing in +his display of external joy, for two dim, discolored lamps were all that +appeared above the door, and these were soon hurled down in contemptuous +anger by the populace, leaving the little building in total darkness. + +In easy indifference to such harmless insult, and not heeding the loud +knock which, from stick or stone, the iron shutters resounded under, the +Jew sat at his table in that little chamber beside the Arno, of which +the reader already knows the secret. Several decanters of wine are +before him, and as he sips his glass and smashes his filbert, his air is +that of the very easiest unconcern. + +Attempting, but with inferior success, an equal degree of calm, sits the +Abbe D'Esmonde on the opposite side of the table. With all his training, +his calm features betray at moments certain signs of anxiety, and, while +he speaks, you can see that he is listening to the noises in the street +without. + +"How I detest that song!" said Morlache, as the full swell of a +deep-voiced chorus filled the air. "I verily believe the Revolution has +not inflicted us with anything more outraging to good taste than the air +of 'Viva Pio Nono.'" + +"Always excepting Pio Nono himself," said D'Esmonde, "who is far more +the child than the father of this movement." + +"Not bad for a priest to renounce allegiance to his holy master!" said +Racca, laughing. + +"You mistake me, Signor Morlache," said D'Esmonde, eagerly. "I spoke +of Pio Nono, the politician,--the rash innovator of time-honored +institutions, the foolish donor of concessions that must be won back at +the price of blood, the man who has been weak enough to head a movement +which he ought to have controlled in secret. How the people shout! I +hear many a voice in accents of no Italian origin." + +"Yes, the city is full of Poles and Hungarians." + +"It will soon be time to drop the curtain on this act of the drama, +Morlache; enough has been done to show the world the dangerous doctrines +of these fanatics. They who cry 'No property in France,' shout 'No King +in Germany,' 'No Pope in Rome.' The peaceful or well-ordered must be +taught to see in us their safeguard against these men. They must +learn to think the Church the sanctuary it was of old. From all these +convulsions which shatter empires, we are the refuge!" + +"But you yourself gave the first impulse to this very movement, Abbe?" + +"And wisely and well we did it! Should we have stood passive to watch +the gradual growth of that cursed spirit they miscall independent +judgment,--that rankest heresy that ever corrupted the human heart? +Should we have waited till Protestantism with its Bible had sowed the +seeds of that right of judgment which they proclaim is inherent in all +men? Would it have been safe policy to admit of discussing what was +obligatory to obey, and look on while this enlightenment--as they +blasphemously term it--was arraigning the dogma of the Church as +unblushingly as they questioned the decree of a minister?" + +"I perceive," said the Jew, laughing, "You great politicians are not +above taking a lesson from the 'Bourse,' and know the trick of puffing +up a bad scheme to a high premium, prepared to sell out the day before +'the fall.'" + +"We had higher and nobler views," said D'Esmonde, proudly. "The men who +will not come to the altars of the Church must be taught her doctrines +before the portals. Our task is to proclaim Rome----eternal Rome--to +Europe!" + +"Up to this your success has not been signal," said Morlache, with a +sneer. "This victory at Goito has given fresh vigor to the Republicans. +The Austrians once driven beyond the Alps, Monarchy wilt be short-lived +in Italy." + +"And who says that they will be so driven? Who ever dreams of such a +result, save some wild fanatic of Genoa, or some half-informed minister +at London? The King of Naples only waits for the excuse of a Calabrian +disturbance to recall his contingent. The Pope has already issued an +order to Durando not to pass the Po. The Piedmontese themselves are on +the verge of an irreparable quarrel,--the men of Savoy and the north for +Monarchy; the Genoese, wild with their own ancient ideas of a Ligurian +Republic. Is it the Lombards, think you, will conquer Lombardy? or +do you fancy that Florence and Pisa are the nurseries of heroes? No, +Morlache, the game of revolt is played out in Italy; the last trump is +Goito." + +"But if, flushed with conquest, the Piedmontese press on to greater +successes?" + +"They cannot,--they would not, even if they could," broke in D'Esmonde. +"Is it the Republicans will shed their blood to conquer a kingdom of +Upper Italy for Carlo Alberto? Is it the interest of Rome or Naples to +see such a power in the Peninsula? Will the troops of the Monarchy, on +the other hand, fight for a cause that is to obliterate the throne? No; +believe me, their mutual grudges have been well weighed and estimated. +We never dared this bold policy without seeing clearly that their +interests could never be reconciled.--I think I hear the sound of oars; +yes, he must be coming at last!" D'Esmonde opened the window as he +spoke, and looked out upon the river, which, reflecting along the sides +the gorgeous pageantry of the illumination, was dark as ink in the +middle of the stream. "Not a word of this, Morlache, when he joins us," +added D'Esmonde. + +"_He_ is not in your confidence, then?" asked the other. + +"_He?_ Of course he is not! If for no weightier reasons than that he is +English and a Protestant,--two things which, however weak they may prove +either in patriotism or religion, never fail in their hatred of the +Church and her cause. Like one of the Condottieri of old, he has joined +the quarrel because hard knocks are usually associated with booty. +Whenever he finds that he has no stake on the table, he 'll throw down +his cards." + +"And the other,--the Russian?" + +"He is more difficult to understand; but I hope to know him yet Hush, +the boat is close in; be cautious!" And, so saying, he filled his glass, +and reseated himself in all the seeming ease of careless dalliance. In a +few minutes after, the prow of a light skiff touched the terrace, and a +man stepped out and knocked at the shutter. + +"Welcome at last," said D'Esmonde, shaking hands with him. "We had +almost despaired of seeing you to-night you appear to have been favored +with a long audience!" + +"Yes, confound it!" cried the other, who, throwing off his +travelling-cloak, showed the figure of Lord Norwood. "We were kept +dangling in an antechamber for nigh an hour. Midchekoff's fault, for +he would not give his name, nor say anything more than that we were two +officers with secret despatches from the camp. The people in waiting +appeared to think the claim a poor one, and came and went, and looked at +us, splashed and dirty as we were; but not, even out of curiosity, did +one ask us what tidings we brought. We might have stayed till now, I +believe, if I had not taken the resolution to follow an old priest--a +bishop, I fancy--who seemed to have the _entree_ everywhere; and pushing +vigorously after him, I passed through half a dozen ill-lighted rooms, +and at last entered a small drawing-room, where the great man was +seated at piquet with old Cassandroni, the minister. I must say that, +considering the unauthorized style of my approach, nothing could be more +well-bred and urbane than his reception of me. I was blundering out +some kind of apology for my appearance, when he pointed to a chair, and +begged me to be seated. Then, recognizing Midchekoff, who had just come +in, he held out his hand to him. I gave him the despatches, which +he pushed across the table to Cassandroni, as if it were more _his_ +'affair;' and then turning to Midchekoff, conversed with him for some +time in a low voice. As it would not have been etiquette to observe him +too closely, I kept my eyes on the minister; and, faith, I must say that +he could scarcely have looked more blank and out of sorts had the news +reported a defeat. I suppose these fellows have a kind of official +reserve which represses every show of feeling; but I own that he folded +up the paper with a degree of composure that quite piqued me. + +"'Well, Cassandroni,' said his master, 'what's your news?' + +"'Very good news, sir,' said the other, calmly. 'His Majesty has +obtained a signal victory near Goito against a considerable force of the +Imperial army, under the command of Radetzky. The action was long and +fiercely contested; but a successful advance of artillery to the side of +a river, and a most intrepid series of cavalry charges turned the flank +of the enemy, and gained the day. The results do not, however, appear +equal to the moral effect upon the army, for there were few prisoners, +and no guns taken.' + +"'That may perhaps be explained,' said I, interrupting; 'for when the +Austrians commenced their movement in retreat--' Just as I got thus far, +I stopped; for I found that the distinguished personage I was addressing +had once more turned to Midchekoff, and was in deep conversation with +him, totally regardless of me and my explanation. + +"'You have been wounded, my Lord?' said he, after a moment. + +"'A mere scratch, sir,--a poke of a lance,' said I, smarting under the +cool indifference of his manner. + +"'I hope you 're not too much fatigued to stop to supper,' said he; but +I arose at the instant, and pleading the excuse of exhaustion and want +of rest, begged to be permitted to retire; and here I am, not having +tasted anything since I left Padua, and not in the very blandest of +tempers, either, at the graciousness of my reception. As for Midchekoff, +he kept his seat as coolly as if he meant to pass his life there. I +hesitated for a second or two, expecting that he would join me; but +not a bit of it He smiled his little quiet smile, as much as to say, +'Good-night,' and so I left him." + +"He is probably detained to give some particulars of the engagement," +said D'Esmonde. + +"How can he?--he was never in it; he was writing letters all day at +headquarters, and never came up till seven in the evening, when he rode +down with a smart groom after him, and gave the Duke of Savoy a sandwich +out of a silver case. That will be the only memorable fact he can retail +of the day's fortune." + +"The cause looks well, however," said D'Esmonde, endeavoring to divert +his thoughts into a more agreeable direction. + +"Tell me what is the cause, and I will answer you," said Norwood, +sternly. "So far as _I_ see, we are dividing the spoils before we have +hunted down the game." + +"You surely have no doubt of the result, my Lord?" replied the other, +eagerly. "The Austrians must relinquish Italy." + +"Then who is to take it,--that's the question? Is Lorn-bardy to become +Piedmont, or a Red Republic? or are your brethren of the slouched hat to +step in and portion out the land into snug nurseries for Franciscans +and Ursulines? Egad, I 'd as soon give it up to old Morlache yonder, +and make it a New Jerusalem to educate a young race of moneylenders and +usurers!" + +"I wish we had even as much security for our loans," said Morlache, +smiling. + +"I hear of nothing but money,----great loans here, immense sums raised +there," cried Norwood; "and yet what becomes of it? The army certainly +has seen none of it. Large arrears of pay are due; and as for us +who serve on the staff, we are actually supporting the very force we +command." + +"We are told that large sums have found their way into Austria in shape +of secret service," said D'Esmonde, "and with good result too." + +"The very worst of bad policy," broke in Norwood. "Pay your friends +and thrash your enemies. Deserters are bad allies at the best, but are +utterly worthless if they must be paid for desertion. Let them go over +like those Hungarian fellows,--a whole regiment at a time, and bring +both courage and discipline to our ranks! but your rabble of student +sympathizers are good for nothing." + +"Success has not made you sanguine, my Lord," said Morlache, smiling. + +"I have little to be sanguine about," replied he, roughly. "They have +not spoiled me with good fortune; and even on this very mission that I +have come now, you 'll see it is that Russian fellow will receive all +the reward; and if there be a decoration conferred, it is he, not I, +will obtain it." + +"And do you care for such baubles, my Lord?" asked D'Esmonde, in +affected surprise. + +"We soldiers like these vanities as women do a new shawl, or your +priests admire a smart new vestment, in which I have seen a fellow +strut as proudly as any coxcomb in the ballet when he had completed his +pirouette. As for myself," continued he, proudly, "I hold these stars +and crosses cheaply enough. I 'd mortgage my 'San Giuseppe' to-morrow if +Morlache would give me twenty Naps, on it." + +"The day of richer rewards is not distant, my Lord," said D'Esmonde. +"Lombardy will be our own ere the autumn closes, and then--and then--" + +"And then we 'll cut each other's throats for the booty, you were going +to say," burst in Norwood; "but I 'm not one of those who think so, +Abbe. My notion is that Austria is making a waiting race, and quietly +leaving dissension to do amongst _us_ what the snow did for the French +at Moscow." + +D'Esmonde's cheek grew pale at this shrewd surmise; but he quickly said, +---- + +"You mistake them, my Lord. The interests at stake are too heavy for +such a critical policy; Austria dare not risk so hazardous a game." + +"The wiseheads are beginning to suspect as much," said Norwood; "and +certainly amongst the prisoners we have taken there is not a trait +of despondency nor even a doubt as to the result of the campaign. The +invariable reply to every question is, the Kaiser will have his own +again,--ay, and this even from the Hungarians. We captured a young +fellow on the afternoon of Goito, who had escaped from prison, and +actually broke his arrest to take his share in the battle. He was in +what Austrians call Stockhaus arrest, and under sentence either of death +or imprisonment for life, for treason. Well, he got out somehow, and +followed his regiment on foot till such time as one of his comrades was +knocked over; then he mounted, and I promise you he knew his work in +the saddle. Twice he charged a half-battery of twelves, and sabred our +gunners where they stood; and when at last we pushed the Austrian column +across the bridge, instead of retreating, as he might, he trusted to +saving himself by the river. It was then his horse was shot under him, +as he descended the bank, and over they both rolled into the stream. I +assure you it was no easy matter to capture him even then, and we took +him under a shower of balls from his comrades, that showed how little +his life was deemed, in comparison with the opportunity of damaging us. +When he was brought in, he was a pitiable object; his forehead was laid +open from a sabre cut, his collar-bone and left arm broken by the fall, +and a gunshot wound in the thigh, which the surgeon affirmed had every +appearance of being received early in the action. He would n't tell us +his name, or anything about his friends, for he wished to have written +to them; the only words he ever uttered were a faint attempt at 'Hurrah +for the Emperor!'" + +"And this a Hungarian?" said D'Esmonde, in surprise. + +"He might have been a Pole, or a Wallach, for anything I know; but he +was a hussar, and as gallant a fellow as ever I saw." + +"What was the uniform, my Lord?" asked the Abbe. + +"Light blue, with a green chako,--they call them the regiment of Prince +Paul of Wurtemberg." + +"Tell me his probable age, my Lord; and something of his appearance +generally," said D'Esmonde, with increasing earnestness. + +"His age I should guess to be two or three and twenty,--not more, +certainly, and possibly even less than that In height he is taller than +I, but slighter. As to face, even with all his scars and bruises, he +looked a handsome fellow, and had a clear blue eye that might have +become an Englishman." + +"You did not hear him speak?" asked the priest, with heightening +curiosity. + +"Except the few words I have mentioned, he never uttered a syllable. We +learned that he had broken his arrest from one of his comrades; but the +fellow, seeing our anxiety to hear more, immediately grew reserved, and +would tell us nothing. I merely allude to the circumstance to show that +the disaffection we trust to amongst the Hungarians is not universal; +and even when they falter in their allegiance to the State, by some +strange contradiction they preserve their loyalty to the 'Kaiser.'" + +"I wish I could learn more about your prisoner, my Lord," said the Abbe, +thoughtfully. "The story has interested me deeply." + +"Midchekoff can, perhaps, tell you something, then, for he saw him later +than I did. He accompanied the Duke of Genoa in an inspection of the +prisoners just before we left the camp." + +"And you said that he had a fair and Saxon-looking face?" said the Abbe. + +"Faith, I 've told you all that I know of him," said Norwood, +impatiently. "He was a brave soldier, and with ten thousand like him on +our side I 'd feel far more at my ease for the result of this campaign +than with the aid of those splendid squadrons they call the 'Speranza d' +Italia'." + +"And the Crociati, my Lord, what are _they_ like?" said Morlache, +smiling. + +"A horde of robbers; a set of cowardly rascals who have only courage +for cruelty; the outpourings of jails and offcasts of convents; degraded +friars and escaped galley-slaves." + +"My Lord, my Lord!" interrupted Morlache, suppressing his laughter with +difficulty, and enjoying to the full this torrent of indignant anger. +"You are surely not describing faithfully the soldiers of the Pope,--the +warriors whose banners have been blessed by the Holy Father?" + +"Ask their General, Ferrari, whom they have three times attempted to +murder. Ask _him_ their character," said Norwood, passionately, "if +D'Esmonde himself will not tell you." + +"Has it not been the same in every land that ever struck a blow for +liberty?" said the Abbe. "Is it the statesman or the philosopher who +have racked their brains and wasted their faculties in thought for the +good of their fellow-men that have gone forth to battle? or is it not +rather the host of unquiet spirits who infest every country, and who +seek in change the prosperity that others pursue in patient industry? +Some are enthusiastic for freedom, some seek a field of personal +distinction, some are mere freebooters; but whatever they be, the cause +remains the same." + +"You may be right,----for all I know you _are_ right," said Norwood, +doggedly; "but, for my own part, I have no fancy to fight shoulder to +shoulder with cut-throats and housebreakers, even though the Church +should have hallowed them with its blessing." Norwood arose as he said +this, And walked impatiently up and down the chamber. + +"When do you propose to return to the army, my Lord?" said D'Esmonde, +after a pause. + +"I'm not sure; I don't even know if I shall return at all!" said +Norwood, hastily. "I see little profit and less glory in the service! +What say you, Morlache? Have they the kind of credit you would like to +accept for a loan?" + +"No, my Lord," said the Jew, laughing; "Lombardy scrip would stand low +in our market. I 'd rather advance my moneys on the faith of your good +friend the Lady Hester Onslow." + +Norwood bit his lip and colored, but made no reply. + +"She has crossed into Switzerland, has she not?" asked D'Esmonde, +carelessly. + +"Gone to England!" said the Viscount, briefly. + +"When----how? I never heard of that," said the Abbe. "I have put off +writing to her from day to day, never suspecting that she was about to +quit the Continent." + +"Nor did she herself till about a week ago, when Sir Stafford took an +equally unexpected departure for the other world--" + +"Sir Stafford dead! Lady Hester a widow!" + +"Such is, I believe, the natural course of things for a woman to be when +her husband dies." + +"A rich widow, too, I presume, my Lord?" said the Abbe, with a quiet but +subtle glance at Norwood. + +"That is more than she knows herself at this moment, I fancy; for +they say that Sir Stafford has involved his bequests with so many +difficulties, and hampered them with such a mass of conditions, that +whether she will be a millionnaire or be actually poor must depend +upon the future. I can answer for one point, however, Abbe," said he, +sarcastically; "neither the Sacred College nor the blessed brethren of +the 'Pace' are like to profit by the banker's economies." + +"Indeed, my Lord," said the Abbe, slowly, while a sickly pallor came +over his countenance. + +"He has left a certain Dr. Grounsell his executor," continued Norwood; +"and, from all that I can learn, no-man has less taste for painted +windows, stoles, or saints' shin-bones." + +"Probably there may be other questions upon which he will prove equally +obdurate," said the Abbe, in a voice only audible to the Viscount "Is +her Ladyship at liberty to marry again?" + +"I cannot, I grieve to say, give you any information on that point," +said Norwood, growing deep red as he spoke. + +"As your Lordship is going to England--" + +"I didn't say so. I don't remember that I told you that!" cried he, +hastily. + +"Pardon me if I made such a palpable mistake; but it ran in my head that +you said something to that purport." + +"It won't do, Abbe! it won't do," said Norwood, in a low whisper. "We, +who have graduated at the 'Red House' are just as wide awake as you of +Louvain and St. Omer." + +D'Esmonde looked at him with an expression of blank astonishment, and +seemed as if he had not the most vague suspicion as to what the sarcasm +referred. + +"When can I have half an hour with you, Morlache?" said the Viscount + +"Whenever it suits you, my Lord. What say you to to-morrow morning at +eleven?" + +"No, no! let it be later; I must have a ten hours' sleep after all this +fatigue, and the sooner I begin the better." + +"Where do you put up, my Lord,--at the Hotel de l'Arno?" asked the Abbe. + +"No; I wish we were there with all my heart; but, to do us honor, they +have given us quarters at the 'Crocetto,' that dreary asylum for stray +archdukes and vagabond grand-duchesses, in the farthest end of the city. +We are surrounded with chamberlains, aides-de-camp, and guards of honor. +The only thing they have forgotten is a cook. So I 'll come and dine +here to-morrow." + +"You do me great honor, my Lord. I 'm sure the Abbe D'Esmonde will favor +us with his company also." + +"If it be possible, I will," said the Abbe. "Nothing but necessity would +make me relinquish so agreeable a prospect." + +"Well, till our next meeting," said the Viscount, yawning, as he put +on his hat "It's too late to expect Midchekoff here to-night, and so +good-bye. The streets are clear by this time, I trust." + +"A shrewd fellow, too," said Morlache, looking after him. + +"No, Morlache, not a bit of it!" said D'Esmonde. "Such intellects bear +about the same proportion to really clever men as a good swordsman does +to a first-rate operator in surgery. They handle a coarse weapon, and +they deal with coarse antagonists. Employ them in a subtle negotiation +or a knotty problem, and you might as well ask a sergeant of the Blues +to take up the femoral artery. Did you not remark awhile ago that, for +the sake of a sneer, he actually betrayed a secret about Sir Stafford +Onslow's will?" + +"And you believe all that to be true?" + +"Of course I do. The only question is whether the Irish property, which, +if I remember aright, was settled on Lady Hester at her marriage, can +be fettered by any of these conditions? That alone amounts to some +thousands a year, and would be a most grateful accession to those +much-despised brethren his Lordship alluded to." + +"You can learn something about that point to-morrow, when he dines +here." + +"He'll not be our guest to-morrow, Morlache. I must continue to +occupy him for a day or two. He shall be invited to dine at court +to-morrow,--the request is a command,--so that you will not see him. +Receive Midchekoff if he calls, for I want to hear what he is about +here; his money requirements will soon give us the clew. And I, too," +said he, stretching and speaking languidly,--"I, too, would be the +better of some repose; it is now thirty-six hours, Morlache, since I +closed my eyes in sleep. During that space I have written and dictated +and talked and argued, urging on the lukewarm, restraining the rash, +giving confidence to this one, preaching caution to that; and here I am, +at the end of all, with my task as far as ever from completion. Events +march faster than we, do what we will; and as the child never comes +up with the hoop he has set in motion till it has fallen, so we rarely +overtake the circumstances we have created till they have ceased to +be of any value to us. Now, at this precise moment I want to be in +the Vatican, at the camp of Goito, in the council-chamber at +Schoenbrunn,--not to speak of a certain humble homestead in a far-away +Irish county; and yet I have nothing for it but to go quietly off to +bed, leaving to fortune--I believe that is as good a name for it as any +other--the course of events which, were I present, I could direct at +will. Napoleon left a great example behind him; he beat his enemies +always by rapidity. Believe me, Morlache, men think very much upon a par +in this same world of ours; the great difference being that some take +five minutes where others take five weeks: the man of minutes is sure to +win." + +Just as the Abbe had spoken, Norwood returned, saying,---- + +"By the way, can either of you tell me if Jekyl is here now?" + +"I have not seen him," said Morlache, "which is almost proof that he is +not His first visit is usually to me." + +The streets were silent. A few stray lamps yet flickered over the +spacious cupola of the Duomo, and a broken line of light faintly tracked +one angle of the tower of the Piazza Vecchia; but except these last +lingering signs of the late rejoicings, all Florence lay in darkness. + +"How quiet is everything!" said Morlache, as he took leave of his guests +at his door.' "The streets are empty already." + +"Ay," muttered the Abbe, "the rejoicing, like the victory, was but +short-lived. Do our roads lie the same way, my Lord?" asked he of +Norwood. + +"Very seldom, I suspect," replied the Viscount, with a laugh. "_Mine_ is +in this direction." + +"And _mine_ lies this way," said D'Esmonde, bowing coldly, but +courteously, as he passed on, and entered the narrow street beyond the +bridge. "You are quite right, my Lord," muttered he to himself; "our +paths in life are very different. _Yours_ may be wider and pleasanter, +but mine, with all its turnings, goes straighter." He paused and +listened for some seconds, till Norwood's steps had died away in the +distance, and then turning back, he followed in the direction the other +had taken. + +Norwood walked rapidly along till he came to that small house on the +Arno where Jekyl lived, and stopping in front of it, he threw a handful +of sand against the window. To this signal, twice repeated, no reply was +given to the Viscount He waited a few seconds, and then moved on. The +Abbe stood under the shadow of the tall palaces till the other was out +of sight, and then, approaching the door, gave a long, low whistle. +Within a few seconds the sash was opened, and Jekyl's voice heard,---- + +"It's you, Abbe. There 's the key. Will you excuse ceremony, and let +yourself in?" + +D'Esmonde opened the door at once, and, mounting the stairs, entered +the little chamber in which now Jekyl stood in his dressing-gown and +slippers; and although suddenly roused from sleep, with a smile of +courteous welcome on his diminutive features,---- + +"I paid no attention to your first signal, Abbe," said he, "scarcely +thinking it could be you." + +"Nor was it," said D'Esmonde, seating himself. "It was Lord Norwood, who +doubtless must have had some important reason for disturbing you at this +hour. I waited till he went off before I whistled. When did you arrive?" + +"About three hours ago. I came from Lucerne, and was obliged to take +such a zig-zag course, the roads being all blocked up by marching +soldiers, guns, and wagons, that I have been eight days making the +journey of three." + +"So, Lady Hester is a widow! Strange, I only heard it an hour ago." + +"The post has been interrupted, or you would have known it a week back. +I wrote to you from Zurich. I accompanied her so far on her way to +England, and was to have gone the whole way, too, but she determined to +send me back here." + +"Not to settle her affairs in Florence," said D'Esmonde, with a quiet +slyness. + +"Rather to look after Lord Norwood's," said Jekyl. "I never could +exactly get to the bottom of the affair; but I suppose there must be +some pledge or promise which, in a rash moment, she has made him, and +that already she repents of." + +"How has she been left in the will?" asked D'Esmonde, abruptly. + +"Her own words are, 'Infamously treated.' Except a bequest of ten +thousand pounds, nothing beyond the Irish estate settled at the time of +her marriage." + +"She will easily get rid of Norwood, then," rejoined the Abbe, with a +smile. "His price is higher." + +"I'm not so sure of that," broke in Jekyl; "the noble Viscount's late +speculations have all proved unfortunate, even to his book on Carlo +Alberto. He thinks he has gone wrong in not hedging on Radetzky." + +"What does he know of the changes of politics?" said D'Esmonde, +contemptuously. "Let him stick to his stablemen and the crafty youths +of Newmarket, but leave state affairs for other and very different +capacities. Does she care for him, Jekyl? Does she love him?" + +"She does, and she does not," said Jekyl, with a languishing air, +which he sometimes assumed when asked for an opinion. "She likes his +fashionable exterior, his easy kind of drawing-room assurance, and, +perhaps not least of all, the tone of impertinent superiority he +displays towards all other men; but she is afraid of him,----afraid +of his temper and his tyrannical humor, and terribly afraid of his +extravagance." + +"How amusing it is!" said D'Esmonde, with a yawn. "A minister quits +the cabinet in disgust, and retires into private life forever, when his +first step is to plot his return to power. So your widow is invariably +found weighing the thoughts of her mourning with speculations on a +second husband. Why need she marry again; tell me that?" + +"Because she is a widow, perhaps. I know no other reason," lisped out +Jekyl. + +"I cannot conceive a greater folly than that of these women, with ample +fortune, sacrificing their independence by marriage. The whole world is +their own, if they but knew it. They command every source of enjoyment +while young, and have all the stereotyped solaces of old age when it +comes upon them; and with poodles, parrots, and parasites, mornings of +scandal and evenings of whist, eke out a very pretty existence." + +"Dash the whole with a little religion, Abbe," cried Jekyl, laughing, +"and the picture will be tolerably correct." + +"She shall not marry Lord Norwood; that, at least, I can answer for," +said D'Esmonde, not heeding the other. + +"It will be difficult to prevent it, Abbe," said the other, dryly. + +"Easier than you think for. Come, Master Jekyl, assume a serious mood +for once, and pay attention to what I am about to say. This line of life +you lead cannot go on forever. Even were your own great gifts to resist +time and its influences, a new generation will spring up with other +wants and requirements, and another race will come who knew not Joseph. +With all your versatility it will be late to study new models, and +acquire a new tongue. Have you speculated, then, I ask you, on this +contingency?" + +"I 've some thoughts of a 'monkery,'" lisped out Jekyl; "if the good +folk could only be persuaded to adopt a little cleanliness." + +"Would not marriage suit you better; a rich widow, titled, +well-connected, and good-looking, of fashionable habits, and tastes that +resemble your own?" + +"There are difficulties in the case," said Jekyl, calmly. + +"State them," rejoined the Abbe. + +"To begin. There is Lady Hester herself,--for, of course, you mean +_her._" + +"I engage to solve all on that head." + +"Then there is the Viscount." + +"For him, too, I hold myself responsible." + +"Lastly, there is Albert Jekyl, who, however admirably he understands +garcon life, might discover that the husband was not among the range of +his characters. As it is, my dear Abbe, I lead a very pretty existence. +I am neither bored nor tormented, I never quarrel with anybody, nor is +the rudest man ever discourteous to me. I possess nothing that any one +envies, except that heaven-born disposition to be pleased, of which +nothing can rob me. I dine well, drive in rich equipages, and, if I +liked, might ride the best horses; have at least a dozen Opera-boxes +ready to receive me, and sweeter smiles to welcome me than would become +me to boast of." + +"Well, then, my proposal is to give you all these on a life interest +instead of being a tenant-at-will," broke in D'Esmonde. + +"And all this out of pure regard for me?" asked Jekyl, with a sly look. + +"As a pure matter of bargain," replied D'Esmonde. "Lady Hester has +advanced large sams to the cause in which I am interested. It would be +difficult, perhaps impossible, to repay them. We still want means, and +that ten thousand pounds' legacy would render us immense service at this +moment. Her income can well spare the sacrifice." + +"Yes, yes," said Jekyl, musingly; and then looking fondly at his own +image in the glass, he said, "I shall be a dead bargain, after all." + +D'Esmonde bit his lip to repress some movement of impatience, and after +a pause said,---- + +"This matter does not admit of delay. Circumstances will soon require my +presence in England, and with a strong sum at my command; besides--" + +"If I understand you aright," said Jekyl, "You are to conduct the whole +negotiations to a successful end, and that I shall have neither a bill +to endorse, nor a duel to fight, throughout the affair." + +"You shall be scathless." + +"There is another point," said Jekyl, quickly. "How shall I figure in +the newspapers,--Albert Jekyl, Esquire, of where? Have you thought of +that? I wish I had even an uncle a baronet." + +"Pooh, pooh!" said D'Esmonde, impatiently. "You marry into the peerage; +that's quite enough." + +"Perhaps you 're right," said Jekyl. "All that enumeration of +family connection----'niece to the Chief Justice of Rembouk,' or +'cousin-german to the Vice-Consul at Gumdalloo'--smacks terribly of +'Moses and Son.'" + +"We are agreed, then," said the Abbe, rising. + +"I swear," said Jekyl, rising, and throwing out his hand in the attitude +of the well-known picture of the "Marshals." "The step that I am about +to take will throw its gloom over many a dinner-party, and bring sadness +into many a _salon_; but I 'll retire at least with dignity, and, like +Napoleon, I'll write my memoirs." + +"So far, then, so good," said D'Esmonde; "now, with your leave, I +throw myself on this sofa and snatch an hour's sleep." And ere Jekyl +had arranged the folds of what he called his "sable pelisse" as a +covering, the Abbe was in deep slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. PRIESTCRAFT. + +With less than two hours of sleep, D'Esmonde arose refreshed and ready +for the day. Jekyl was not awake as the priest quitted his quarters, +and, repairing to his own lodgings, dressed himself with more than +usual care. Without any of the foppery of the Abbe, there was a studied +elegance in every detail of his costume, and as he stepped into the +carriage which awaited him, many turned their looks of admiration at the +handsome priest. + +"To the Crocetto," said he, and away they went. + +It was already so early that few persons were about as they drove into +the court of the palace, and drew up at a private door. Here D'Esmonde +got out and ascended the stairs. + +"Ah, Monsignore!" said a young man, somewhat smartly Attired in a +dressing-gown and velvet cap. "He did not return here last night." + +"Indeed!" said the Abbe, pondering. + +"He dismissed the carriage at the Pitti, so that in all likelihood he +passed the night at the palace." + +"Most probably," said D'Esmonde, with a bland smile; And then, with a +courteous "Good-morning," he returned to his carriage. + +"Where to, Signore?" asked the driver. + +"Towards the Duomo," said he. But scarcely had the man turned the second +corner, than he said, "To the 'Moskova,' Prince Midchekoffs villa." + +"We 're turning our back to it, Signore. It's on the hill of Fiesole." + +D'Esmonde nodded, but said no more. Although scarcely a league from +the city, the way occupied a considerable time, being one continued and +steep ascent. The Abbe was, however, too deeply engaged with his own +thoughts to bestow attention on the pace they journeyed, or the scene +around. He was far from being insensible to the influence of the +picturesque or the beautiful; but now other and weightier considerations +completely engrossed his mind, nor was he aware how the moments passed +till the carriage came to a stop. + +"The Prince is absent, sir, in Lombardy," said a gruff-looking porter +from within the gate. + +D'Esmonde descended, and whispered some words between the bars. + +"But my orders----my orders!" said the man, in a tone of deference. + +"They would be peremptory against any other than _me_," said D'Esmonde, +calmly; and, after a few seconds' pause, the man unlocked the gate, and +the carriage passed in. + +"To the back entrance," called out D'Esmonde. And they drove into +a spacious courtyard, where a number of men were engaged in washing +carriages, cleaning horses, and all the other duties of the stable. One +large and cumbrous vehicle, loaded with all the varied "accessories" of +the road, and fortified by many a precaution against the accidents of +the way, stood prominent. It was covered with stains and splashes, +and bore unmistakable evidence of a long Journey. A courier, with +a red-brown beard descending to his breast, was busy in locking and +unlocking the boxes, as if in search of some missing article. + +"How heavy the roads are in the north!" said D'Esmonde, addressing him +in German. + +The man touched his cap in a half-sullen civility, and muttered an +assent. + +"I once made the same journey myself, in winter," resumed the Abbe, +"and I remembered thinking that no man undergoes such real hardship as +a courier. Sixteen, seventeen, ay, twenty days and nights of continued +exposure to cold and snows, and yet obliged to have all his faculties +on full stretch the whole time, to remember every post station, every +bridge and ferry,--the steep mountain passes, where oxen must be +hired,--the frontiers of provinces, where passports are vised." + +"Ay, and when the lazy officials will keep you standing in the deep snow +a full hoar at midnight, while they ring every copeck to see it be good +money." + +"That's the true and only metal for a coinage," said D'Esmonde, as he +drew forth a gold Napoleon, and placed it in the other's hand. "Take it, +my worthy fellow," said he; "it's part of a debt I owe to every man who +wears the courier's jacket. Had it not been for one of _your_ cloth, I +'d have been drowned at the ford of Ostrovitsch." + +"It's the worst ferry in the Empire," said the courier. "The Emperor +himself had a narrow escape there. The raft is one half too small." + +"How many days have you taken on the way?" asked D'Esmonde, carelessly + +"Twenty-eight--yesterday would have made the twenty-ninth--but we +arrived before noon." + +"Twenty-eight days!" repeated D'Esmonde, pondering. + +"Ay, and nights too! But remember that Vradskoi Noteki is three hundred +and eighty versts below St. Petersburg." + +"I know it well," said D'Esmonde, "and with a heavily loaded carriage +it's a weary road. How did she bear the journey?" said he, in a low, +scarcely uttered whisper. + +"Bear it I----better than I did; and, except when scolding the +postilions for not going twelve versts an hour, in deep snow, she +enjoyed herself the entire way." + +D'Esmonde gave a knowing look and a smile, as though to say that he +recognized her thoroughly in the description. + +"You know her, then?" asked the courier. + +"This many a year," replied the Abbe, with a faint sigh. + +"She's a rare one," said the man, who grew at each instant more +confidential, "and thinks no more of a gold rouble than many another +would of a copeck. Is it true, as they say, she was once an actress?" + +"There are stranger stories than that about her," said D'Esmonde. "But +why has she come alone? How happens it that she is here?" + +"That is the secret that none of us can fathom," said the courier. "We +thought there was to have been another, and I believe there is another +in the passport, but it was no affair of mine. I had my orders from the +Prince's own 'intendant,' who bespoke all the relays for the road, and +here we are." + +"I will explain all the mystery to you at another time, courier," said +D'Esmonde; "meanwhile, let nothing of what we have been saying escape +you. By the way," added he, half carelessly, "what name did she travel +under?" + +"The passport was made out 'Die Graefin von Dalton;' but she has a +Spanish name, for I heard it once from the intendant." + +"Was it Lola de Seviglia?" + +"That was it. I remember it well." + +"We are very old friends indeed!" said the Abbe; "and now be cautious; +let none know that we have spoken together, and I can serve your fortune +hereafter." + +The German scarcely looked quite satisfied with himself for the +confidence he had been unwittingly led into; "but, after all," thought +he, "the priest knew more than I could tell him;" and so he resumed his +search without further thought of the matter. + +As for D'Esmonde, his first care was to inquire for Monsieur de Grasse, +the Prince's chief secretary, with whom he remained closeted for nigh +an hour. It will not be necessary to inflict all the detail of that +interview on the reader; enough that we state its substance to have +been a pressing entreaty on the part of D'Esmonde to be admitted to +an audience of the Prince, as firmly resisted by the secretary, whose +orders were not to admit any one, nor, indeed, acknowledge that his +Highness was then there. + +"You must wait upon him at the Crocetto, Monsignore," said De Grasse. +"Your presence here will simply cause the dismissal of those who have +admitted you, and yet never advance your own wishes in the least." + +"My business is too urgent, sir, to be combated by reasons so weak as +these," replied D'Esmonde; "nor am I much accustomed to the air of an +antechamber." + +"You must yet be aware, Monsignore, that the orders of Prince Midchekoff +are absolute in his own house." The secretary dropped his voice almost +to a whisper as he finished this sentence, for he had just overheard +the Prince speaking to some one without, and could detect his step as he +came along the corridor. + +With a look of most meaning entreaty he besought the Abbe to keep +silence, while he crept noiselessly over and turned the key. D'Esmonde +uttered an exclamation of anger, and, sweeping past a window, within +which stood a magnificent vase of malachite, he caught the costly object +in the wide folds of his gown, and dashed it to the ground in a thousand +pieces. De Grasse gave a sudden cry of horror, and at the same instant +Midchekoff knocked at the door, and demanded admittance. With faltering +hand the secretary turned the key, and the Prince entered the room, +casting his eyes from D'Esmonde to the floor, where the fragments lay, +and back again to the priest, with a significance that showed how he +interpreted the whole incident. As for the Abbe, he looked as coldly +indifferent to the accident as though it were the veriest trifle he had +destroyed. + +"I came to have a few moments' interview with you, Prince," said he, +calmly; "can you so far oblige me?" + +"I am entirely at your orders, Monsignore," said the Russian, with a +faint smile. "Allow me to conduct you to a chamber in less disorder than +this one." + +The Abbe bowed, and followed him, not seeming to hear the allusion. And +now, passing through a number of rooms, whose gorgeous furniture +was carefully covered, they reached a small chamber opening upon a +conservatory, where a breakfast-table was already spread. + +"I will waste neither your time nor my own, Prince, by an apology for +the hour of this visit, nor the place; my business did not admit of +delay--that will excuse me in your eyes." + +The Prince gave a cold bow, but never spoke. + +D'Esmonde resumed. "I have heard the news from the camp: Lord Norwood +tells me that the Austrians have fallen back, and with a heavy loss +too." + +"Not heavy!" said the Russian, with a smile. + +"Enough, however, to raise the hopes and strengthen the courage of the +others. Goito was, at least, a victory." A faint shrug of the shoulders +was the only reply the Prince made, and the Abbe went on: "Things are +too critical, Prince, to treat the event slightingly. We cannot answer +either for France or England; still less can we rely on the politicians +of Vienna. A second or a third reverse, and who can say that they will +not treat for a peace, at the cost of half the States of Lombardy. Nay, +sir, I am not speaking without book," added he, more warmly; "I know--I +repeat it----I know that such a negotiation has been entertained, +and that at this moment the Cabinet of England has the matter in its +consideration." + +"It may be so," said the Prince, carelessly, as he poured out his +coffee. + +"Then there is not a moment to be lost," cried the Abbe, impetuously. "A +cession of the Milanais means a Republic of Upper Italy,--the downfall +of the Popedom,--the rule of infidelity over the Peninsula. Are +_we_--are _you_ prepared for this? Enough has been done to show that +Italian 'unity' is a fiction. Let us complete the lesson by proving that +they cannot meet the Austrian in arms. The present generation, at least, +will not forget the chastisement, if it be but heavy enough." + +"We may leave that task to the Imperialists," said the Prince, with a +cold smile. + +"I do not think so. I know too much of German sluggishness and apathy. +The reinforcements, that should pour in like a flood, creep lazily +along. The dread of France--the old terror of those wars that once +crushed them--is still uppermost. They know not how far Europe will +permit them to punish a rebellious province; and while they hesitate, +they give time for the growth of that public opinion that will condemn +them." + +"Perhaps you are right," said the Russian, as he sipped his coffee +carelessly. + +"And if I be," cried D'Esmonde, passionately, "are we to sit tranquilly +here till the ruin overtake us? Will Russia wait till the flame of a +red republic throws its lurid glare over Europe, and even gleam over +the cold waters of the Neva? Is it her wish, or to her benefit, that the +flag of the democrat and the infidel is to float over the Continent?" + +"You conjured up the monster yourself, Monsignore. It is for you to +order him back to the depths he came from." + +"And we are ready for the task," said the priest. "We fostered this +revolt, because we saw it was better to lop off a diseased limb than to +suffer the gangrene to spread over the entire body; better to cast down +into utter perdition the wild democrats, who but half believed us, than +peril the countless millions of true Catholics. Nay, more, we acted with +your counsel and concurrence. That revolt has already borne its fruits. +Men see no issue to the struggle they are engaged in. The men of +moderation are overborne by the wild clamor of the factionist. Anarchy +is amongst them, and now is our moment to bid the contest cease, and +earn from mankind the glorious epithet of 'peacemaker.' The tide of +victory once turned, see how the mind of Europe will turn with it. Good +wishes are prone to go with the battalions that advance!" + +"Good wishes are not too costly a sympathy," said the Russian, coolly. + +"It is to that point I am coming, Prince," said the Abbe; "nor have +I intruded myself on your privacy to-day merely to discuss the public +opinion of Europe. The whole of this question lies in a narrow compass. +It is time that this struggle should cease,--it is, at least, time that +the tide of conquest should turn. Were Austria free to use her strength, +we might trust the issue to herself; but she is not, and we must help +her. I hold here the means," said he, placing on the table a heavy +pocket-book crammed with letters. "This," said he, taking up one large +sealed packet, "is an autograph from his Holiness, commanding Durando to +halt at the Po, and under no circumstances to cross the frontier. +This," continued he, showing another, "is to Ghirardi, to grant leave of +absence to all officers who desire to return to their homes. This is to +Krasaletzki, to provide for the disbandment of his legion. The King +of Naples waits but for the signal to recall General Pepe and his +contingent, fifteen thousand strong. And now, Prince, there is but one +other voice in Europe we wait for--the Czar's!" + +"His Imperial Majesty has ever wished well to the cause of order," said +the Russian, with a studied calm of manner. + +"Away with such trifling as this!" said D'Esmonde, passionately; "nor +do not try to impose on me by those courteous generalities that amuse +cabinets. Russia speaks to Western Europe best by her gold. The 'rouble' +can come where the 'Cossack' cannot! There are men with those armies +that comprehend no other argument----whose swords have their price. Our +treasures are exhausted; the sacred vessels of our altars--the golden +ornaments of our shrines--are gone. You alone can aid us at this moment. +It is no barren generosity, Prince! you are combating your Poles more +cheaply beside the Po and the Adige than on the banks of the Vistula! +you are doing more! you are breaking up those ancient alliances of +Europe whose existence excluded you from continental power! you are +buying your freedom to sit down among the rulers of the Old World, and +accustoming the nations of the West to the voice of the Boyard in their +councils! And, greatest of all, you are crushing into annihilation that +spirit of revolt that now rages like a pestilence. But why do I speak +of these things to one like you? you know full well the terms of the +compact Your own handwriting has confessed it." + +Midchekoff gave a slight--a very slight--movement of surprise, but never +spoke. + +"Yes," continued D'Esmonde, "I have within that pocket-book at this +moment the receipt of Count Gruenenburg, the Austrian Secretary-at-War, +for the second instalment of a loan advanced by Prince Midchekoff to the +Imperial Government. I have a copy of the order in council acknowledging +in terms of gratitude the aid, and recommending that the cross of +St. Stephen should be conferred on the illustrious lender. And, less +gracious than these," added he, with sarcastic bitterness, "I have the +record of the Emperor's scruples about according the first-class order +of the Empire to one whose nobility was but left-handed. Were these to +appear to-morrow in the _Razionale_, is it only your pride as a prince +that would be humbled? Or think you that a single stone would rest upon +another in this gorgeous edifice where we are standing? Who or what +could restrain an infuriated populace from wreaking their vengeance on +the traitor? Who would lift a hand against the pillage of this splendor, +and the desecration of this magnificence? It is not willingly that I +tell you these things, nor had I ever spoken of them if you had but +heard me with fitting attention. I know, too, the price at which they +are uttered. We never can be friends; but that is of small moment Our +cause--ours, I say, for it is yours no less than mine--is above such +consideration." + +"How much do you require?" said Midchekoff, as he leaned his arm on the +chimney-piece, and stared calmly at the Abbe. + +"Ghirardi and his staff demand two hundred thousand francs; Albizi will +be a cheaper bargain. Marionetti and his force will be surrounded, and +retire from Lombardy on parole of not serving during the campaign,----he +only asks enough to emigrate with. Then, there is the Commissary of +the Crociati,--he is quite ready to become his own paymaster. There +are others of inferior rank and pretensions, with whom I shall treat +personally. The press, particularly of England, will be the difficulty; +but its importance is above all price. The public mind must be brought +back, from its sympathy for a people, to regard the rulers more +favorably. Anarchy and misrule must be displayed in their most glaring +colors. The Crociati will do us good service here; their crimes would +sully a holier crusade than this! But I weary you, sir," said the Abbe, +stopping suddenly, and observing that Midchekoff, instead of seeming to +listen, was busily occupied in writing. + +"Morlache holds bills of mine to this amount," said the Prince, showing +a list of several large sums; "he will place them at your disposal +on your giving a receipt for them. This is an order, also, regarding +certain emeralds I have commissioned him to have mounted in gold. He +need not do so, but will dispose of the gems, as I shall not want them." +A very slight flush here colored his cheek, and he paused as if some +bitter thought had crossed his mind. + +D'Esmonde's quick eye read the meaning of the expression, and he said, +"Am I to congratulate your Highness on the approach of a certain happy +event?" + +"His Majesty has not deigned to accord me the necessary permission," was +the reply. + +"Then I will be bold enough to say I congratulate you," cried D'Esmonde. +"Your alliance should be with a royal house, Prince. _Your_ position in +Europe is exceptional; such should be _your_ marriage. Besides, the day +is not very distant when there must come another dissection of the map +of Europe. There will be new principalities, but wanting heads to rule +them. The world is tired of Coburgs, and would gladly see another name +amongst its royalties." + +"I am at the disposal of my Emperor," said Midchekoff, coldly; for +whatever effect the flatteries might produce within, neither his words +nor his looks would betray it, and now by his manner he showed that he +wished the interview over. + +"Mademoiselle, then, returns to her family?" asked D'Esmonde. + +"To the care of the Count von Auersberg." + +"The reputation of having attracted your Highness will be a fortune to +her." + +"She has refused a settlement of eighty thousand roubles a year." + +"A most princely offer!" cried D'Esmonde. + +"His Majesty fixed the sum," said Midchekoff, as coolly as though +talking of an indifferent matter. + +D'Esmonde now rose to take his leave, but there was a reluctance in his +manner that showed he was unwilling to go. At last he said, "Does your +Highness intend to return to the camp?" + +"The day after to-morrow." + +"I ask," said the Abbe, "inasmuch as I am hourly in expectation of +hearing from Cardinal Maraffa with reference to a certain decoration +which you should long since have received----" + +"Indeed! has his Holiness been pleased to consider me amongst his most +ardent well-wishers?" cried the Prince, interrupting. + +"I may be in a position to assure your Highness on that score before +another day elapses. May I hope that you will receive me, even at some +inconvenience, for my time is much occupied just now?" + +"Whenever you call, Monsieur l'Abbe," was the prompt reply. "If you will +deign to accept this ring as a souvenir of me, it will also serve to +admit you at all hours and in all places to me." + +"Your costly gift, Prince," said D'Esmonde, flushing, "has a greater +value in my eyes than all its lustre can express." And with a most +affectionate leave-taking they parted. + +"At what hour is the Prince's carriage ordered?" said the Abbe, as he +passed through the hall. + +"For two o'clock precisely, Monsignore. He is to have an audience at the +Pitti." + +"To Florence----and with speed!" said D'Esmonde to his coachman; and +away they drove. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. THE "MOSKOVA." + +The Abbe D'Esmonde passed a busy morning. Twice was he closeted with +the President of the Ministry, and once was he received in a lengthy +audience at the "Pitti;" after which he repaired to the house of +Morlache, where he remained till after two o'clock. + +"There goes Midchekoff to the Palace," said the Jew, as a handsome +equipage drove past. + +"Then it is time for me to be away," said D'Esmonde, rising. "I have +received orders to meet him there. Remember, Morlache, I must have this +sum in gold, ready by the evening; the bills on London can reach me by +post." + +"All shall be attended to," said Morlache; and the Abbe entered his +carriage once more, giving orders for the Pitti. + +When the carriage had passed the first turning, however, D'Esmonde +appeared to have remembered something that till then had escaped him, +and he desired the man to drive round to the San Gallo gate; thence he +directed his way to the narrow road which traverses the valley of the +Mugello, and winds along for miles at the foot of the hill of Fiesole. +Once outside the city, D'Esmonde urged the man to speed, and they drove +for nigh an hour at a rapid pace. + +"There is a footpath somewhere hereabouts leads to Fiesole," said +D'Esmonde, springing out, and casting his eyes around. "I have it Remain +here till I come down. I may be absent for an hour or more; but be sure +to wait for me." And so saying, he passed into a vineyard beside the +road, and was soon lost to view. + +The pathway was steep and rugged; but D'Esmonde traversed it with an +active step, scarcely seeming to bestow a thought upon its difficulties, +in the deeper preoccupation of his mind. As little did he notice the +peasant greetings that met him, or hear the kindly accents that bade him +"good-day" as he went. If at intervals he stopped in his career, it was +rather to take breath and to recruit vigor for new efforts, than to look +down upon the gorgeous scene that now lay beneath him. For an instant, +however, his thoughts did stray to the objects in view; and as he beheld +the dark towers of a gloomy castellated building, half hid amongst tall +yew-trees, he muttered,---- + +"Deeper and darker schemes than mine were once enacted there!--and what +fruits have they borne after all? They who convulsed the age they lived +in have never left an impress to ruffle the future, and, for aught that +we know or feel, the Medici might never have lived. And this," cried he, +aloud, "because theirs was a selfish ambition. There is but one cause +whose interests are eternal,--the Church; that glorious creation which +combines power here with triumph hereafter!" His face, as he uttered +the words, was no bad emblem of the nature within,----a high and noble +brow, lit up by the impress of a great ambition, and, beneath, eyes +of changeful and treacherous meaning; while, lower down again, in +the compressed lips and projecting chin might be read the signs of an +unrelenting spirit. Passing along through many a tortuous path, he at +last reached a small private gate which led into the grounds of the +"Moskova." He had to bethink him for a moment of the way which conducted +to the gardens, but he soon remembered the direction, and walked on. +It was the hour when in Italy the whole face of a country, the busiest +streets of a thronged city, are deserted, and a stillness far more +unbroken than that of midnight prevails. The glowing hours of noonday +had brought the "siesta," and not a laborer was to be seen in the +fields. + +D'Esmonde found the garden unlocked, and entered. He knew that by +passing directly onward to the "orangery" he could enter the villa by +a small door, which led into the private apartments of the Prince. This +was, however, locked; but the window lay open, and with a spring he +gained the sill and entered the chamber. He knew it well; it was the +little room appropriated by Midchekoff as his private library, simply +furnished, and connected with a still smaller chamber, where, in an +alcove, a species of divan stood, on which it was the rich man's caprice +at times to pass the night Although certain traces showed that the +Prince had been recently there, no letters nor papers lay about; +there was no sign of haste or negligence, nor was anything left to the +accidents of prying eyes or meddling fingers. D'Esmonde opened the door +which conducted into the corridor, and listened; but all was silent He +then sat down to think. The palace--for such, under the name of villa, +it was--was of immense extent, and he could not expect to ramble many +minutes without chancing upon some of the household. His color came +and went, as, in deep agitation, he conceived in turn every possible +project, for he was one whose mind worked with all the violent throes +of some mighty engine; and even when taking counsel with himself, the +alternate impulses of his reason became painful efforts. At last he made +up his resolve, and, entering the inner chamber, he closed the shutters +and drew the curtains; and then, throwing around his shoulders a richly +lined cloak of sable, he rang the bell loudly and violently. This done, +he lay down upon the divan, which, in the darkness of the recess, was in +complete obscurity. He had barely time to draw the folds of the mantle +about him, when a servant entered, with noiseless step, and stood at +a respectful distance, awaiting what he believed to be his master's +orders. + +"Send the Signora," muttered D'Esmonde, with the cloak folded across his +mouth, and then turned on his side. The servant bowed and retired. + +D'Esmonde started up, and listened to the retiring footfalls, till they +were lost in distance, and then the strong pulsations of his own heart +seemed to mock their measured pace. "Would the stratagem succeed?" +"Would she come, and come alone?" were the questions which he asked +himself, as his clasped hands were clinched, and his lips quivered in +strong emotion. An unbroken stillness succeeded, so long that, to his +aching senses, it seemed like hours of time. At last a heavy door +was heard to bang; another, too,--now voices might be detected in the +distance; then came footsteps, it seemed, as of several people; and, +lastly, these died away, and he could mark the sweeping sounds of a +female dress coming rapidly along the corridor. The door opened and +closed; she was in the library, and appeared to be waiting. D'Esmonde +gave a low, faint cough; and now, hastily passing on, she entered the +inner chamber, and, with cautious steps traversing the darkened space, +she knelt down beside the couch. D'Esmonde's hand lay half uncovered, +and on this now another hand was gently laid. Not a word was uttered by +either; indeed, their very breathings seemed hushed into stillness. + +If the secrets of hearts were open to us, what a history, what a +life-long experience lay in those brief moments! and what a conflict +of passion might be read in those two natures! A slight shudder shook +D'Esmonde's frame at the touch of that hand which so often had been +clasped within his own, long, long ago, and he raised it tenderly, and +pressed it to his lips. Then, passing his other arm around her, so as +to prevent escape, he said, but in a voice barely audible, the one word, +"Lola!" + +With a violent effort she tried to disengage herself from his grasp; +and although her struggles were great, not a cry, not a syllable escaped +her. "Hear me, Lola," said D'Esmonde; "hear me with patience and with +calm, if not for my sake, for your own." + +"Unhand me, then," said she, in a voice which, though low, was uttered +with all the vehemence of strong emotion. "I am not a prisoner beneath +this roof." + +"Not a prisoner, say you?" said D'Esmonde, as he locked the door, and +advanced towards her. "Can there be any bondage compared to this? Does +the world know of any slavery so debasing?" + +"Dare to utter such words again, and I will call to my aid those who +will hurl you from that window," said she, in the same subdued accents. +"That priestly robe will be but a poor defence here." + +"You'd scarcely benefit by the call, Lola," said D'Esmonde, as he stole +one hand within the folds of his robe. + +"Would you kill me?" cried she, growing deathly pale. + +"Be calm, and hear me," said the priest, as he pressed her down upon +a seat, and took one directly opposite to her. "It never could be my +purpose, Lola, to have come here either to injure or revile you. I may, +indeed, sorrow over the fall of one whose honorable ambitions might have +soared so high; I may grieve for a ruin that was so causeless; but, save +when anguish may wring from me a word of bitterness, I will not hurt +your ears, Lola. I know everything,--all that has happened; yet have I +to learn who counselled you to this flight." + +"Here was my adviser,----here!" said she, pressing her hand firmly +against her side. "My heart, bursting and indignant,----my slighted +affection,----my rejected love! you ask me this,----you, who knew how I +loved him." + +For some seconds her emotion overcame her, and, as she covered her face +with her hands, she swayed and rocked from side to side, like one in +acute bodily pain. + +"I stooped to tell him all,--how I had thought and dreamed of him; how +followed his footsteps; sought out the haunts that he frequented, and +loved to linger in the places where he had been. I told him, too, of one +night when I had even ventured to seek him in his own chamber, and was +nearly detected by another who chanced to be there; my very dress was +torn in my flight. There was no confession too humiliating for my lips +to utter, nor my pen to trace; and what has been the return? But why do +I speak of these things to one whose heart is sealed against affection, +and whose nature rejects the very name of love? you will be a merciless +judge, Eustace!" + +[Illustration: 362] + +"Go on; let me hear you out, Lola," said the priest, gently. + +"The tale is soon told," rejoined she, hurriedly. "My letter reached him +on the eve of a great battle. The army, it appears, had been marching +for weeks, and suddenly came upon the enemy without expecting it. He +told me so much in about as many words, and said that he was passing +what might, perhaps, prove his last hours of life in replying to me. +'Outnumbered and outmanoeuvred, nothing remains but to sell our lives +dearly, and even in our defeat make the name of Englishmen one of terror +to our enemies.' So he wrote, and so I could have read, with a swelling +but not a breaking heart, had he not added that, for my warm affection, +my whole soul's devotion, he had nothing but his friendship to give in +return; that his heart had long since been another's, and that, although +she never could be his, never in all likelihood know of his affection, +he would die with her name upon his lips, her image in his heart. 'It +matters little,' added he, 'in what channel flow the feelings of one, +where to-morrow, in all likelihood, the course will be dried up forever. +Let me, however, with what may be the last lines I shall ever write, +thank you--nay, bless you--for one passage of your letter, and the +thought of which will nerve my heart in the conflict now so near, and +make me meet my last hour with an unbroken spirit.' The mystery of these +words I never could penetrate, nor have I the slightest clew to their +meaning. But why should I care for them? Enough that I am slighted, +despised, and rejected! This letter came to my hands six weeks ago. I at +once wrote to the Prince Midchekoff, telling him that the woman he was +about to marry loved, and was loved, by another; that she entertained no +feeling towards himself but of dread and terror. I told him, too, that +her very beauty would not withstand the inroads of a sorrow that was +corroding her heart He replied to me, and I wrote again. I was now his +confidante, and he told me all,----how that he had addressed a formal +demand to the Emperor for leave to marry, and how he had taken safe +measures to have his prayer rejected. Then came the tidings of the +Czar's refusal to Madame de Heidendorf, and _my_ triumph; for I told +her, and to her face, that once more we were equals. It was then, stung +by this taunt, that she refused to travel with me, refused to accept the +splendid dowry to which her betrothal entitled her, and demanded to be +restored to her family and friends, poor as she had left them. It was +then that I resolved on this bold step. I had long been learning the +falsehood of what are called friends, and how he who would achieve +fortune must trust to himself alone. Midchekoff might not love me, but +there was much in my power to secure his esteem. My head could be as +fertile in schemes as his own. I had seen much and heard more. The +petty plottings of the Heidendorf and the darker counsels of the Abbe +D'Esmonde were all known to me--" + +"You did not dare to write my name?" asked the priest, in a slow, +deliberate voice. + +"And why should I not?" cried she, haughtily. "Is it fear, or is it +gratitude should hold my hand?" + +"You forget the past, Lola, or you had never said these words." + +"I remember it but as a troubled dream, which I will not suffer to +darken my waking hours. At last I begin to live, and never till now have +I known the sensation of being above fear." + +"You told the Prince, then, of our relations together? You showed him my +letters and your own replies?" said D'Esmonde, as he fixed his dark eyes +upon her. + +"All,--all!" said she, with a haughty smile. + +"You, perhaps, told him that I had engaged you to write to me of all you +heard or saw at St Petersburg?" + +"I said so, in a most unpolished phrase: I called myself a spy." + +"You were probably not less candid when designating your friends, Lola," +said D'Esmonde, with a faint smile. "How, pray, did you name _me_?" + +"It was a better word,----one of cutting reproach, believe me," said +she. "I called you a 'priest,' sir; do you think there is another +epithet that can contain as much?" + +"In the overflowing of those frank impulses, Lola, of course you spoke +of Norwood,--of Gerald Acton, I mean, as you may remember him better by +that name. You told the Prince of your marriage to this Englishman,--a +marriage solemnized by myself, and of which I retain the written +evidence." + +"With the falsehood that for a brief moment imposed upon myself, I would +not stoop to cheat another! No, Eustace, this may be priestcraft. To +outlive a deception, and then employ it; to tremble at a fallacy first, +and to terrorize by means of it after, is excellent Popery, but most +sorry womanhood!" + +"Unhappy, wretched creature!" cried D'Esmonde; "where have you learned +these lessons?--who could have taught you this?" + +"You,--and you alone, Eustace. In reading _your_ nature I unread my own +faith. In seeing your falsehood, I learned to believe there was no truth +anywhere. I asked myself, what must be the religion if this man be its +interpreter?" + +"Hold,----hold!" cried D'Esmonde, passionately. "It is not to such as +you I can render account of my actions, nor lay bare the secret workings +of my heart. Know this much, however, woman, and ponder over it well; +that if a man like me can make shipwreck of his whole nature, crush +his hopes, and blast his budding affections, the cause that exacts +the sacrifice must needs be holy. Bethink you that my goal is not like +_yours_. I have not plotted for a life of inglorious ease. I have not +schemed to win a pampered and voluptuous existence. It is not in a +whirlwind of passionate enjoyment I have placed the haven of my hopes. +you see me--as I have ever been--poor, meanly housed, and meanly fed; +not repining at my lot either, not deeming my condition a hard one. Why +am I thus, then? Are the prizes that worldly men contend for above +_my_ reach? Am I the inferior of those who are carrying away the great +rewards of life? Where is the stain of falsehood in all this?" + +"Were I to copy the picture and paint myself in the same colors," +said Lola,----"were I to show what I have stooped to,--a scoff and +a shame!--how I neither faltered at a crime nor trembled before +exposure----all that I might be--what I now am--" + +"The mistress of a Prince!" said D'Esmonde, with a contemptuous smile. + +"Was it a prouder fortune when my lover was the serge-clad seminarist of +Salamanca?" said she, laughing scornfully. + +"I linked you with a higher destiny, Lola," said D'Esmonde, +deliberately. + +"Again you refer to this pretended marriage. But I put no faith in your +words; nor, were they even true, should they turn me from my path." + +"At least you should confirm your claim to his name and title," said +D'Esmonde. "The rank you will thus attain will but strengthen your +position in the world; and they who would treat contemptuously the +Toridor's daughter will show every courtesy and deference to the English +peeress." + +"I will hazard nothing on your advice, priest!" said she, proudly. +"I know you as one who never counselled without a scheme of personal +advantage. This Acton has injured you. You desire his ruin; or, perhaps, +some deep intrigue awaits myself. It matters not; I will not aid you." + +"How you misjudge me, Lola!" said he, sorrowfully. "I meant by this act +to have repaired many an unconscious wrong, and to have vindicated +an affection which the troubled years of life have never been able to +efface. Amidst all the cares of great events, when moments are precious +as days of ordinary existence, I have come to offer you this last +reparation. Think well ere you reject it." + +"Not for an instant!" cried she, passionately. "Make weaker minds the +tools of your subtle artifices, and leave _me_ to follow my own career." + +"I will obey you," said D'Esmonde, with an air of deep humility. "I ask +but one favor. As this meeting is unknown to all, never speak of it to +Midchekoff. My name need never pass your lips, nor shall my presence +again offend you. Adieu forever!" + +Whether some passing pang of remorse shot through her heart, or that a +sudden sense of dread came across her, Lola stood unable to reply; and +it was only as he moved away towards the door that she found strength to +say, "Goodbye." + +"Let me touch that hand for the last time, Lola," said he, advancing +towards her. + +"No, no,--leave me!" cried she, with a sick shudder, and as though his +very approach suggested peril. + +D'Esmonde bowed submissively, and passed out. With slow and measured +steps he traversed the alleys of the garden; but once outside the walls, +he hastened his pace. Descending the mountain with rapid strides, he +gained the road where the carriage waited in less than half an hour. + +"To the city!" said he; and, throwing himself back in his seat, drew +down the blinds, while, with folded arms and closed eyes, he tasted of +what habit enabled him at any moment to command,--a refreshing sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. VALEGGIO. + +The little village of Valeggio, near the Lago di Guarda, was fixed upon +as the spot where the commissaries of both armies should meet to arrange +on the exchange of prisoners. It stood at about an equal distance from +their headquarters, and, although a poor and insignificant hamlet, was +conveniently situated for the purpose in hand. Soon after daybreak, +the stirring sounds of marching troops awoke the inhabitants, and a +half-squadron of Piedmontese lancers were seen to ride up the narrow +street, and, dismounting, to picket their horses in the little Piazza +of the market. Shortly after these came an equal number of Hungarian +hussars, "Radetzky's Own," who drew up in the square before the church; +each party seeming carefully to avoid even a momentary contact with the +other. Several country carts and wagons lined the street, for a number +of prisoners had arrived the preceding evening, and taken up their +quarters in the village, who might now be seen projecting their pale +faces and bandaged heads from many a casement, and watching with eager +curiosity all that was going forward. About an hour later, an Austrian +General, with his staff, rode in from the Peschiera road, while, almost +at the very instant, a caleche with four horses dashed up from the +opposite direction, conveying the Piedmontese "Commissary." + +So accurately timed was the arrival, that they both drew up at the +door of the little inn together, and as the one dismounted, the other +alighted from his carriage. + +The etiquette of precedence, so easily settled in the ordinary course of +events, becomes a matter of some difficulty at certain moments, and +so the two Generals seemed to feel it, as, while desirous of showing +courtesy, each scrupled at what might seem a compromise of his country's +dignity. + +The Austrian officer was a very old man, whose soldierlike air and +dignified deportment recalled the warriors of a past century. The other, +who was slighter and younger, exhibited an air of easy unconcern, rather +smacking of courts than camps, and vouching for a greater familiarity +with _salons_ than with soldier life. + +They uncovered and bowed respectfully to each other, and then stood, +each waiting, as it were, for the initiative of the other. + +"After you, General," said the younger, at length, and with a manner +which most courteously expressed the deference he felt for age. + +"I must beg _you_ to go first, sir," replied the Austrian. "I stand here +on the territory of my master, and I see in you all that demands the +deference due to a guest." + +The other smiled slightly, but obeyed without a word; and, ascending the +stairs, was followed by the old General into the little chamber destined +for their conference. Slight and trivial as this incident was, it is +worth mention, as indicating the whole tone of the interview,--one +characterized by a proud insistence on one side, and a certain plastic +deference on the other. The Austrian spoke like one who felt authorized +to dictate his terms; while the Piedmontese seemed ready to acquiesce in +and accept whatever was proffered. The letters which accredited them to +each other lay open on the table; but as this preliminary conversation +had not assumed the formal tone of business, neither seemed to know +the name or title of the other. In fact, it appeared like a part of +the necessary etiquette that they were simply to regard each other as +representatives of two powers, neither caring to know or recognize any +personal claims. + +Lists of names were produced on both sides. Master-rolls of regiments, +showing the precise ranks of individuals, and their standing in the +service, all arranged with such care and accuracy as to show that +the conference itself was little more than a formality. A case of +brevet-rank, or the accident of a staff appointment, might now and then +call for a remark or an explanation, but, except at these times, the +matter went on in a mere routine fashion; a mark of a pencil sufficing +to break a captivity, and change the whole fate of a fellow-man! + +"Our task is soon ended, sir," said the Austrian, rising at last. "It +would seem that officers on both sides prefer death to captivity in this +war." + +"The loss has been very great indeed," said the other. "The peculiar +uniform of your officers, so distinct from their men, has much exposed +them." + +"They met their fate honorably, at least, sir; they wore the colors of +their Emperor." + +"Very true, General," replied the other, "and I will own to you our +surprise at the fact that there have been no desertions, except from +the ranks. The popular impression was, that many of the Hungarians would +have joined the Italian cause. It was even said whole regiments would +have gone over." + +"It was a base calumny upon a faithful people and a brave soldiery," +said the other. "I will not say that such a falsehood may not have +blinded their eyes against their truth in their national struggle,--the +love of country might easily have been used to a base and treacherous +purpose,--but here, in this conflict, not a man will desert the cause of +the Emperor!" The emotion in which he spoke these words was such that he +was obliged to turn away his face to conceal it. + +"Your words have found an illustration amongst the number of our wounded +prisoners, General," said the other--"a young fellow who, it was said, +broke his arrest to join the struggle at Goito, but whose name or rank +we never could find out, for, before being taken, he had torn every mark +of his grade from cuff and collar!" + +"You know his regiment, perhaps?" + +"It is said to be Prince Paul of Wuertemberg's." + +"What is he like,--what may be his age?" asked the General, hastily. + +"To pronounce from appearance, he is a mere boy,--brown-haired and +blue-eyed, and wears no moustache." + +"Where is he, sir?" asked the old man, with a suppressed emotion. + +"In this very village. He was forwarded here last night by a special +order of the Duke of Savoy, who has taken a deep interest in his fate, +and requested that I should take measures, while restoring him, without +exchange, to mention the signal bravery of his conduct." + +"The Duke's conduct is worthy of a soldier Prince!" said the General, +with feeling, "and, in my master's name, I beg to thank him." + +"The youth is at the temporary hospital, but knows nothing of these +arrangements for his release. Perhaps the tidings will come more +gratefully to his ears from his own countryman." + +"It is kindly spoken, sir. May I have the honor of knowing the name of +one who has made this interview so agreeable by his courtesy?" + +"My name at this side of the Alps, General, is Count de Valetta; but I +have another and better known designation, before I pronounce which, I +would gladly enlist in my favor whatever I might of yonr good opinion." + +"All this sounds like a riddle to me, Signor Conte," said the General, +"and I am but a plain man, little skilled at unravelling a difficulty." + +"I am addressing the General Count von Auersberg," said the other. +"Well, sir, it was hearing that you were the officer selected for this +duty that induced me to ask I might be appointed also. I have been most +anxious to meet you, and, in the accidents of a state of war, knew not +how to compass my object." + +The old General bowed politely, and waited, with all patience, for +further enlightenment. + +"My desire for this meeting. General, proceeds from my wish to exculpate +myself from what may seem to have been an unqualified wrong done to a +member of your family. I am Prince Alexis Midchekoff." + +Auersberg started from his chair at the words, and bent a look of angry +indignation at the speaker,--an expression which the Russian bore with +the very calmest unconcern. + +"If I am to resume this explanation," said he, coldly, "it must be when +you have reseated yourself, and will condescend to hear me suitably." + +"And who is to be my guarantee, sir, that I am not to listen to an +insult?" cried the old General, passionately. "I see before me the man +who has outraged the honor of my house. You know well, sir, the customs +of your nation, and that you had no right to accept a lady's hand in +betrothal without the permission of your Emperor." + +"I was certain to obtain it," was the calm answer. + +"So certain that it has been refused,----peremptorily, flatly refused." + +"Very true, General. The refusal came at my own especial request. Nay, +sir, I need not tell you these words convey no insulting meaning,--but +hear me patiently, before you pronounce. The facts are briefly these. It +came to my knowledge that this young lady's acceptance of me proceeded +entirely from considerations of fortune,--that she had been greatly +influenced by others, and strongly urged to do that which might, at the +sacrifice of herself, benefit her family. These considerations were not +very flattering to me personally; but I should have overlooked them, +trusting to time and fortune for the result, had I not also learnt that +her affections were bestowed upon another,----a young Englishman, +with whom she had been for some time domesticated, whose picture she +possessed, and from whom she had received letters." + +"Am I to take this assertion on trust?" cried the General. + +"By no means, sir. This is the picture, and here is one of the letters. +I know not if there have been many others, nor can I say whether she has +replied to them. It was enough for me that I discovered I had no claim +on her affection, and that our marriage would bring only misery on both +sides. To have disclosed these facts before the world would of course +have exculpated me, but have injured _her_. I therefore took what +I deemed a more delicate course, and, by providing for the Imperial +refusal, I solved a difficulty that must otherwise have involved her +in deep reproach." The Prince waited some seconds for the General to +speak; but the old man stood like one stunned and stupefied, unable +to utter a word. At last Midchekoff resumed: "My master fixed a sum of +eighty thousand roubles to which I at once assented, as a settlement on +Mademoiselle de Dalton; but this, I grieve to say, she has peremptorily +rejected." + +"Has she----has she done this?" cried the old Count. "Then, by St. +Stephen! she is my own dear child forever; come what may, there is no +disgrace can attach to her." + +"I had hoped, sir," said Midchekoff, "that you might have seen this +matter as I did, and that I might have counted on your advocating what +is simply a measure of justice." + +"I know little of the extent to which money reparations can atone for +injured feelings or wounded honor. My life has never supplied even a +single lesson on that score. All I see here is, an injury on either +side. _Your_ fault, I think, has been properly expiated; and as for +_hers_, I want no other justification than what you have told me. Now, +where is she? When may I see her?" + +"I had given orders for her return to Vienna, with the intention of +placing her under your charge; but some mistake has occurred, and +her departure has been delayed. A second courier has, however, been +despatched, and ere this she will have left St. Petersburg." + +"You have acted well throughout, Prince," said the old General, "and +I shall owe you my gratitude for the remainder of my life; not for the +delicacy of your reserve, still less for the generous character of +your intentions, but because you have shown me that this girl has a +highhearted sense of honor, and is a thorough Dalton." The old man's +eyes filled up with tears, and he had to turn away to hide his emotion. + +Midchekoff rose to withdraw, affecting to busy himself with the papers +on the table, while Auersberg was recovering his self-possession. This +did not, however, seem an easy task; for the old General, forgetting +everything save Kate, leaned his head on his hands, and was lost in +thought. + +The Prince respected his emotion, and withdrew in silence. + +So much was the old General von Auersberg absorbed in his interest for +Kate, that he had not a thought to bestow upon the immediate affairs +before him. It was scarcely a few weeks since he had received a few +lines from herself, telling of the Emperor's refusal, and asking for his +advice. It needed all his long-pledged devotion to monarchy to enable +him to read the lines without an outbreak of passion; and his first +impulse was to seek out the man who had so grossly insulted his house, +and challenge him to single combat. Later reflection showed him that +this would be to arraign the conduct of the Emperor, and to call +in question the judgment of a crowned head. While agitated by these +opposite considerations, there came another and scarcely less sad +epistle to his hand; and if the writer was wanting in those claims to +station and rank which had such hold upon his heart, her touching words +and simple style moved him to emotions that for many a year seemed to +have slept within him. + +It was Nelly's account of her father's death, told in her own +unpretending words, and addressed to one whom she recognized as the head +of her house. She dwelt with gratitude on the old Count's kindness, and +said how often her father had recurred to the thought of his protection +and guidance to Frank, when the time should come that would leave him +fatherless. It seemed as if up to this point she had written calmly and +collectedly, expressing herself in respectful distance to one so much +above her. No sooner, however, had she penned Frank's name, than all +this reserve gave way before the gushing torrent of her feelings, and +she proceeded:---- + + "And oh! sir, is not the hour come when that protection is + needed? Is not my poor brother a prisoner, charged with a + terrible offence--no less than treason to his Emperor? You, + who are yourself a great soldier, can say if such is like to + be the crime of one well born, generous, and noble as Frank, + whose heart ever overflowed to all who served him, and who, + in all the reckless buoyancy of youth, never forgot his + honor. Crafty and designing men--if such there may have been + around him--might possibly have thrown their snares over + him; but no persuasion nor seductions could have made him a + traitor. 'See what the Kaiser has made Count Stephen!' were + some of the last lines he ever wrote to me, 'and, perhaps, + one day, another Dalton will stand as high in the favor of + his master.' His whole heart and soul were in his soldier + life. You, sir, were his guide-star, and, thinking of you, + how could he have dreamed of disloyalty? They tell me that + in troubled times like these, when many have faltered in + their allegiance, such accusations are rarely well inquired + into, and that courts-martial deal peremptorily with the + prisoners; but you will not suffer mv brother to be thus + tried and judged. You will remember that he is a stranger + in that land, an orphan, a mere boy, too; friendless,--no, + no, not friendless, forgive me the ungracious word; he who + bears your name, and carries in his veins your blood, cannot + be called friendless.. you will say, perhaps, how defend + him?--how reply to charges which will be made with all the + force of witness and circumstance? I answer, hear his own + story of himself; he never told a lie--remember that, Count- + -from his infancy upwards! we, who lived with and about him, + know that he never told a lie! If the accusation be just-- + and oh! may God avert this calamity--Frank will say so. He + will tell how and when and why this poison of disaffection + entered his heart; he will trace out his days of temptation + and struggle and fall, without a shadow of concealment; and + if this sad time is to come, even then do not desert him. + Bethink you of his boyhood, his warm, ardent nature, burning + for some field of glorious enterprise, and dazzled by + visions of personal distinction. How could he judge the + knotted questions which agitate the deepest minds of great + thinkers? A mere pretence, a well-painted scene of + oppression or sufferance, might easily enlist the sympathies + of a boy whose impulses have more than once made him bestow + on the passing beggar the little hoardings of weeks. And + yet, with all these, he is not guilty,--I never can believe + that he could be! Oh, sir, you know not, as I know, how + treason in him would be like a living falsehood; how the act + of disloyalty would be the utter denial of all those dreams + of future greatness which, over our humble fireside, were + his world! To serve the Kaiser,--the same gracious master + who had rewarded and ennobled our great kinsman,--to win + honors and distinctions that should rival his; to make our + ancient name hold a high place in the catalogue of + chivalrous soldiers,--these were Frank's ambitions. If you + but knew how we, his sisters, weak and timid girls, seeking + the quiet paths of life, where our insignificance might + easiest be shrouded,--if you knew how we grew to feel the + ardor that glowed in his heart, and actually caught up the + enthusiasm that swelled the young soldier's bosom! you have + seen the world well and long; and, I ask, is this the clay + of which traitors are fashioned? Be a father to him, then, + who has none; and may God let you feel all the happiness a + child's affection can bestow in return! "We are a sad + heritage, Sir Count! for I now must plead for another, not + less a prisoner than my poor brother. Kate is in a durance + which, if more splendid, is sad as his. The ceremony of + betrothal--which, if I am rightly told, is a mere + ceremonial--has consigned her to a distant land and a life + of dreary seclusion. There is no longer a reason for this. + The sacrifice that she was willing to make can now confer no + benefit on him who sleeps in the churchyard. The Prince has + shown towards her a degree of indifference which will well + warrant this breach. There was no affection on either + side, and it would be but to ratify a falsehood to pledge + fidelity. You alone have influence to effect this. She will + hear your counsels, and follow them with respect, and the + Prince will scarcely oppose what his conduct seems to favor. + This done, Sir Count, let Kate be your daughter; and oh! in + all the glory of your great successes, what have you gained + to compare with this? She loves you already--she has told me + of the affectionate gentleness of your manner, the charm of + your chivalrous sentiments, and a nobility marked by every + word and every gesture. Think, then, of the untaught + devotion of such a child--your own by blood and adoption-- + loving, tending, and ministering to you. Think of the proud + beating of your heart as she leans upon your arm, and think + of the happiness, as she throws around your solitary + fireside all the charm of a home! How seldom is it that + generosity doubles itself in its reward, but here it will be + so. You will be loved, and you will be happy. With two such + children, guided by your influence and elevated by your + example, what would be your happiness, and what their + fortune?" + +In all these pleadings for those she loved so dearly, no allusion ever +was made by her to her own condition. A few lines at the very end of the +letter were all that referred to herself. They were couched in words of +much humility, excusing herself for the boldness of the appeal she had +made, and apologizing for the hardihood with which it might be said she +had urged her request. + + "But you will forgive--you have already forgiven me, Sir + Count," wrote she; "my unlettered style and my trembling + fingers have shown you that this task must have lain near to + my heart, or I had not dared to undertake it. My life has + been spent in a sphere of humble duties and humble + companionship. How easily, then, may I have transgressed the + limits of the deference that should separate us! I can but + answer for my own heart, within which there exists towards + you but the one feeling of devotion--deep and hopeful. + + "If in your kindness you should ever bestow a thought upon + me, you will like to know that I am well and happy. Too + lowly in condition, too rude in manners, to share the + fortune of those I love so dearly, I would yet delight to + hear of and from them, to know that they still bear me in + their affection, and think with fondness on poor lame Nelly. + Even the blessing of their presence would not repay me for + the wrong I should do them by my companionship, for I am a + peasant girl as much from choice as nature. Still, the + sister's heart throbs strongly within the coarse bodice, + and, as I sit at my work, Frank and Kate will bear me + company and cheer my solitary hours. + + "My humble skill is amply sufficient to supply all my wants, + were they far greater than habit has made them. I live in a + land dear to me by associations of thought and feeling, + surrounded by those of a condition like my own, and who love + and regard me. I am not without my share of duties, too,---- + your kindness would not wish more for me. Farewell, then, + Sir Count. Your high-hearted nature has taught you to tread + a lofty path in life, and strive--and with great success-- + for the great rewards of merit. It will be a pleasure to you + yet to know that in this country of your adoption there are + humble prizes for humble aspirants, and that one of these + has fallen to the lot of + + "Nelly Dalton. + + "Any letter addressed 'To the care of Andreas Brennen, Juden + Gasse, Innspruck,' will reach me safely. I need not say with + what gratitude I should receive it." + + +Such were the lines which reached the old Count's hand on the very day +he set out with his detachment for Vienna. Overcome by shame and sorrow +at what he believed to be Frank Dalton's treason, he had demanded of the +Minister of War his own act of retirement from the army, and for some +months had passed a life of privacy in a little village on the Styrian +frontier. The wide-spread disaffection of the Austrian provinces, the +open revolt of Prague, the more than threatening aspect of Hungary, and +the formidable struggle then going on in Lombardy, had called back into +active life almost all the retired servants of the monarchy. To give way +to private grief at such a moment seemed like an act of disloyalty, and, +throwing off every mere personal consideration, the old soldier repaired +to the capital, and presented himself at the levee of the Archduke +Joseph. He was received with enthusiasm. Covered with years as he was, +no man enjoyed more of the confidence and respect of the soldiery, who +regarded him as one tried and proved by the great wars of the Empire,--a +Colonel of Wagram was both a patriarch and a hero. It was of great +consequence, too, at that precise conjuncture, to rally round the throne +all that were distinguished for fealty and devotion. He was immediately +appointed to the command of a division of the army, and ordered to set +out for Italy. + +The complicated nature of the politics of the period, the mixture of +just demand and armed menace, the blending up of fair and reasonable +expectations with impracticable or impossible concessions, had so +disturbed the minds of men that few were able, by their own unaided +judgment, to distinguish on which side lay right and justice; nor was +it easy, from the changeful councils of the monarch, to know whether the +loyalty of to-day might not be pronounced treason to-morrow. Many of +the minor movements of the time--even the great struggle of the +Hungarians--originated in a spontaneous burst of devotion to the +Emperor,--to be afterwards converted by the dark and wily policy of an +unscrupulous leader into open rebellion. No wonder, then, if in such +difficult and embarrassing circumstances, many strayed unconsciously +from the paths of duty,--some misled by specious dreams of nationality, +others from sympathy with what they thought the weaker party; and +others, again, by the force of mere companionship or contact. In this +way few families were to be found where one or more had not joined the +patriotic party, and all the ties of affection were weak in comparison +with the headlong force of popular enthusiasm. The old General von +Auersberg knew nothing of these great changes; no news of them had +reached his retirement; so that when he rejoined the army he was shocked +to see how many had fallen away and deserted from the ancient standard +of the Kaiser. Many a high name and many an ancient title were more than +suspected amongst the Hungarian nobility; while in Italy they who most +largely enjoyed the confidence of the Government were to be found in the +ranks of the insurgents. + +It might be supposed that these things would have in some degree +reconciled the old Count to the imputed treason of his nephew, and that +he would have found some consolation at least in the generality of the +misfortune. Not so, however. His mind viewed the matter in a different +light. He was willing to concede much to mistaken feelings of +nationality, and to associations with a time of former independence; but +these motives could have no relation to one who came into the service +as he himself and Frank did,--soldiers by the grace and favor of the +Emperor. + +The blot this treason left upon his name was then a sore affliction to +one whose whole aim in life had been to transmit an honorable reputation +and an unshaken fidelity behind him. His reasoning was thus: "_We_ +have no claims of ancient services to the monarchy to adduce,----_our_ +ancestors never proved their devotion to the House of Hapsburg in times +past,--we must be taken for what our own deeds stamp us." With this +decisive judgment he was ready to see Frank delivered before a court, +tried and sentenced, without offering one word in his behalf. "This +done," thought he, "it remains but for me to show that I have made the +only expiation in my power, and paid with my heart's blood for another's +fault." + +Such was the resolve with which he crossed the Alps,--a resolve defeated +for the moment by discovering that Frank was no longer a prisoner, but +had made his escape in some unexplained manner on the eventful day of +Goito. + +This disappointment, and the still sadder tidings of the Emperor's +withheld permission to Kate's marriage, came to his ears the same +day,--the most sorrowful, perhaps, of his whole life. His honorable fame +as a soldier tarnished, his high ambition for a great alliance dashed by +disappointment, he fell back for consolation upon poor Nelly's letter. +The weak point of his character had ever been a dread of what he called +his Irish cousins; the notion that his successes and supposed wealth +would draw upon him a host of hungry and importunate relatives, eager to +profit by the hard-won honors of his unaided career. And although year +after year rolled on, and no sign was made, nor any token given, that +he was remembered in the land of his forefathers, the terror was still +fresh in his mind; and when at last Peter Dalton's letter reached him, +he read the lines in a torrent of anger,--the accumulation of long years +of anticipation. Nelly's epistle was a complete enigma to him. She was +evidently unprotected, and yet not selfish; she was in the very humblest +circumstances, and never asked for assistance; she was feelingly alive +to every sorrow of her brother and sister, and had not one thought for +her own calamities. What could all this mean?--was it any new phase or +form of supplication, or was it really that there did exist one in the +world whose poverty was above wealth, and whose simple nature was more +exalted than rank or station? + +With all these conflicting thoughts, and all the emotions which +succeeded to the various tidings he had heard, the old Count sat +overwhelmed by the cares that pressed upon him; nor was it for some +hours after Midchekoff's departure that he could rally his faculties to +be "up and doing." + +The buzz and murmur of voices in an outer room first recalled him +to active thought, and he learned that several officers, recently +exchanged, had come to offer their thanks for his kind intervention. The +duty, which was a mere ceremony, passed over rapidly, and he was once +more alone, when he heard the slow and heavy tread of a foot ascending +the stairs, one by one, stopping at intervals, too, as though the effort +was one of great labor. Like the loud ticking of a clock to the watchful +ears of sickness, there was something in the measured monotony of the +sounds that grated and jarred his irritated nerves, and he called out +harshly: + +"Who comes there?" + +No answer was returned; and, after a pause of a few seconds, the same +sound recurred. + +"Who's there?" cried the old man, louder; and a faint, inaudible attempt +at reply followed. + +And now, provoked by the interruption, he arose to see the cause; when +the door slowly opened, and Frank stood before him, pale and bloodless, +with one arm in a sling, and supporting himself on a stick with the +other. His wasted limbs but half filled his clothes; while in his +lustreless eye and quivering lip there seemed the signs of coming death. + +With an instinct of kindness, the old General drew out a chair and +pressed the poor boy down upon it. The youth kissed the hand as it +touched him, and then heaved a heavy sigh. + +"This exertion was unfit for you, my poor boy," said the Count, kindly. +"They should not have permitted you to leave your bed." + +"It was my fault, not theirs, General. I heard that you were about to +leave the village without coming to the hospital, and I thought, as +perhaps----," here his voice faltered, and a gulping fulness of the +throat seemed almost to choke him--"that as, perhaps, we might never +meet again in this world, I ought to make one effort to see you, and +tell you that I am not, nor ever was, a traitor!" + +[Illustration: 380] + +As though the effort had exhausted all "his strength, his arms dropped +as he said the words; his head fell forward, and he would have fallen to +the ground had not the old General caught him in his arms. + +"You are too weak, too ill for all this, my poor fellow." said the +Count, as he held the boy's hand in his own, and gazed affectionately at +him. + +"True, ever true," muttered the youth, with half-closed lids. + +"I will hear all this when you are better, Frank; when you are strong, +and able to declare it manfully and openly. I will bless you, with my +heart's warmest blessing, for the words that restore us both to fair +fame and honor; but you must not speak more now." + +The boy bent his head in token of submission, but never spoke. + +"It will be the proudest hour of my life, Frank, when you can throw off +this reproach, and stand forth a thorough Dalton, unshaken in truth and +honor. But, to do this, you must be calm and quiet now,--not speak, nor +even think of these things. You shall remain with me." + +Here the boy's tears fell upon the old man's hand. For a second or two +not a word was spoken. At last he went on,---- + +"Yes; you shall not leave me from this hour. Our fortunes are the same. +With you it remains to show that we are worthy soldiers of our Kaiser." + +Frank pressed the old Count's hand upon his heart, as though to call its +very pulses to bear witness to his fealty. This simple action seemed to +have exhausted his last energy, for he now sank back in his chair and +fainted. + +The excitement he had gone through appeared to have utterly prostrated +him, for he now lay for hours motionless and unconscious. Except a +heavy sigh at long intervals, he gave no sign of life; and the surgeons, +having exhausted all their resources to stimulate him, gave but faint +hope of his recovery. They who only knew the old Count as the stern +soldier, bold, abrupt, and peremptory, could not conceive by what magic +he had been changed into a mould of almost womanly tenderness. There was +no care he did not bestow on the sick youth. The first surgeons of the +Staff were sent for, and all that skill and affection could suggest were +enlisted in his service. The case, however, was of gloomy presage. It +was the relapse fever after a wound, aggravated by mental causes of deep +influence. + +The greatest sympathy was felt for the old Count's position. His +comrades came or sent frequently to him. Kind messages reached him from +quarters wherein once lay all his pride and glory; and a young archduke +came himself to offer his new litter to convey Frank to Verona, where +the Imperial headquarters were stationed. These were the very flatteries +which once Von Auersberg would have prized above all that wealth could +give; these were the kind of recognitions by which he measured his own +career in life, making him to feel where he stood; but now one grief had +so absorbed him he scarcely noticed them. He could not divest his mind, +either, of the thought that the boy's fate was intended as a judgment +on himself for his own cold and ungenerous treatment of him. "I forgot," +would he say to himself,----"I forgot that he was not a castaway like +myself. I forgot that the youth had been trained up amidst the flow +of affectionate intercourse, loving and beloved, and I compared his +position with my own." + +And such was in reality the very error he committed. He believed that by +subjecting Frank to all the hard rubs which once had been his own fate +he was securing the boy's future success; forgetting the while how +widely different were their two natures, and that the affections +which are moulded by habits of family association are very unlike the +temperament of one unfriended and unaided, seeking his fortune with no +other guidance than a bold heart and strong will. The old Count was not +the only one, nor will he be the last, to fall into this mistake; and +it may be as well to take a warning from his error, and learn that for +success in the remote and less trodden paths of life the warm affections +that attach to home and family are sad obstacles. + +It was ten days before Frank could be removed, and then he was carried +in a litter, arriving in Verona on the fourth day. From his watchful +cares beside the sick-bed, the old General was now summoned to take part +in the eventful councils of the period. A great and momentous crisis +had arrived, and the whole fate, not only of Austria, but of Europe, +depended on the issue. The successes of the Italian arms had been, up to +this point, if not decisive, at least sufficiently important to make the +result a question of doubt. If the levies contributed by the States of +the Church and Tuscany were insignificant in a warlike point of view, +they were most expressive signs of popular feeling at least. Austria, +besides, was assailed on every flank, with open treason in her capital; +and the troops which might have conquered Lombardy were marching +northward on Prague, or turning eastward towards Hungary. It then became +a grave question whether, even at the cost of the whole Milanais, a +peace should not be at once concluded, and Austria merely stipulate for +certain commercial advantages, and the undisturbed possession of the +Venetian States. If the more dispassionate heads that rule cabinets saw +wisdom in this plan, the warmer and less calculating hearts of soldiers +deemed it a base humiliation. Long accustomed to treat the Italians with +a haughty contempt, they could not endure the thought of recognizing +them as equals, not to say superiors. There were thus two parties in the +Council,----the one eager for a speedy termination of the war, and the +other burning to erase the memory of late defeats, and win back the +fair provinces of their Emperor. To such an extent had this spirit of +discordance at last gone, that the cabinet orders of Vienna were +more than once overruled at headquarters, and the very decrees of +the Government slighted by the commander-in-chief. It was a time of +independent will and personal responsibility; and probably to this +accident is owing the salvation of the Imperial House. + +At last, when the sympathies of France and England with the cause of +Italy became more than a mere suspicion, when troops marched southward +towards the Alps, and diplomatic messages traversed Europe, counselling, +in all the ambiguous courtesy of red tape, "wise and reasonable +concessions to the fair demands of a people," the cabinet of Vienna +hastily despatched an envoy to Lombardy, with orders to concert with the +generals, and treat for a peace. + +Had a squadron of the enemy dashed through the streets of Verona, they +could not have created one half the dismay that did the arrival of the +caleche which conveyed the Imperial Commissioner. The old Field-Marshal +had just returned from a review of the troops, who, as usual when +he appeared, were wild with enthusiasm, when an officer of his staff +announced the presence of the envoy, and in a low whisper added the +object of his mission. A council was speedily called, and Von Auersberg +specially invited to be present and assist in its deliberations. + +The discussion lasted several hours; and, however unshaken in hope and +resolute in will the old Marshals of the Empire, they found themselves +no match in argument for the wily civilian, who, displaying before +them the financial embarrassments of the State, showed that war implied +bankruptcy, and that even victory might mean ruin. The great questions +of Imperial policy, which in their zeal they had overlooked, were +strongly pressed upon them; and that public opinion of Europe, which +they had only fancied a bugbear and a mockery, was represented as the +formidable expression of the great family of mankind, on the conduct of +one of its own members. With all this it was no easy task to reconcile a +bold soldier, at the head of a splendid army, to retire from the field, +to confess himself beaten, and to acknowledge defeat, with an assured +sense of victory in his heart The evening closed in, and still they sat +in debate. Some had exchanged opposition for a dogged and cold silence; +others had modified their views to a kind of half-concession; while a +few rallied round their old chief, with a mistaken determination to +have one more dash at the enemy should the peace be ratified on the day +after. It would seem as if the Commissioner had been fully prepared for +every phase of this opposition. He combated every argument in turn, and +addressed himself with readiness to every objection that was offered. At +last, when in a burst of mortification and anger the old Field-Marshal +arose from the table, and declared that, come what might, it should +never be said that _he_ had lost the provinces of his master, the other +stole close beside him, and whispered a few words in his ear. The old +man started; his rugged, weather-beaten face twitched with a short, +convulsive movement, and he threw himself down into a chair, with a +muttered oath on his lips. + +There was now a dead silence in the chamber. Every eye was turned +stealthily towards the old General, by whose counsels they were wont to +be guided; but he never spoke a word, and sat with his hands resting on +his sword-hilt, the rattle of the scabbard against the belt, as it shook +beneath his hand, being the only sound heard. + +They are dreadful moments in life when men of high and daring courage +see the trust they have long reposed in bold and vigorous measures +rejected, and in its stead wily and crafty counsels adopted and +followed. This was such a moment; and the old warriors, tried in many a +battle-field, scarcely dared to meet each other's eyes, from very shame +and sorrow. It was just then that the sharp, quick trot of horses +was heard from without, and the jingling sound of bells announced a +post-carriage. Scarcely had it stopped, when an aide-de-camp entered, +and whispered a few words to the Field-Marshal. + +"No, no," said the old man, peevishly; "we are marching on to dishonor +fast enough. We want no priestly aid to hasten our steps." + +The young officer appeared to hesitate, and still lingered in the +chamber. + +"It is your friend, the Abbe, has arrived," said the General, addressing +the Commissioner; "and I have said we can dispense with his arguments. +He can add little to what you have so ably spoken; and if we are to +depose our arms, let it be at the bidding of our Emperor, and not at the +beck of a priest." + +"But D'Esmonde must have come from the south," interposed the civilian; +"he may have some tidings worth hearing." + +"Let him come in, then," said the Field-Marshal, abruptly; and the +officer retired. + +D'Esmonde had scarcely passed the threshold when his quick, keen glance +around the room revealed to him the nature of their gloomy counsels. A +dogged look of submission sat on every face, and the wily priest read in +their fallen countenances all the bitterness of defeat. + +The stern coldness of the reception that met him never abashed the Abbe +in the least; and he made his compliments to the principal personages +of the council with a _suave_ dignity the very opposite to their +uncourteous manner. Even when he had completed the little circle of his +attentions, and stood in expectation of a request to be seated, his air +was calm and unembarrassed, although not a word, or even a gesture, gave +the invitation. All felt that this should come from the Field-Marshal +himself, and none dared to usurp the prerogative of his rank. Too deeply +lost in his own brooding thoughts to attend to anything else, the old +General sat still, with his head bent down over the hilt of his sabre. + +"His Holiness commissions me to greet you, Herr Feld-Marshal," said the +Abbe, in a low, soft voice, "and to say that those ancient medals you +once spoke of shall be speedily transmitted to your palace at Milan." + +"My palace at Milan, sir!" exclaimed the old man, fiercely. "When shall +I see that city again? Ask that gentleman yonder, who has just arrived +from Vienna, what the cabinet counsels are; he will tell you the +glorious tidings that the army will read to-morrow in a general order!" + +"I have later news than even _his_!" said the Abbe, coolly seating +himself at the table, and placing a roll of papers before him. "Baron +Brockhausen," said he, addressing the Commissioner, "if I mistake not, +left Vienna on the ninth, reached Innspruck the eleventh, stayed there +till the evening of the thirteenth, and only reached here some hours +ago. The Prime Minister, consequently, was unaware that, on the tenth, +General Durando was recalled by the Pope; that on the evening of the +same day Pepe received a similar order from the King of Naples; that +the Tuscan levies and the Polish legion have been remanded; and that +Piedmont stands alone in the contest, with a disorganized army and +divided counsels. These," said he, pointing to the letters before +him,--"these are copies of the documents I refer to, you will see +from these that the right flank of the Piedmontese army is open and +unprotected; that, except the banditti of Rome and Tuscany, there are no +troops between this and Ferrara; and if the reinforcements that are now +halted in the Tyrol be but hurried down, a great and decisive blow may +be dealt at once." + +"Bey'm Blitzen! you ought to have been a general of brigade, priest!" +cried the old Field-Marshal, as he clasped his hand in both his own, +and pressed it with delight. "These are the noblest words I have heard +to-day. Gentlemen," said he, rising, "there is little more for a council +to do. You will return at once to your several brigades. Schrann's eight +battalions of infantry, with two of Feld-Jagers, to hold themselves in +readiness to march to-morrow; the Reuse Hussars to form escort to the +light artillery on the Vicenza road; all the other cavalry to take up +position to the right, towards Peschiera." + +"This means a renewal of hostilities, then?" said the Commissioner. + +"It means that I will win back the provinces of my Emperor. Let him +dispose of them after as he pleases." And so saying, he left the room, +followed by the other officers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. PLOTS, POLITICS, AND PRIESTCRAFT. + +It would conduce but little to the business of our story were we to +follow the changeful fortunes of the war, and trace the current of +events which marked that important campaign. The struggle itself is +already well known; the secret history of the contest has yet to be +written. We have hinted at some of the machinations which provoked the +conflict; we have shown the deep game by which Democracy was urged on +to its own destruction; and, by the triumph of Absolutism, the return +of the Church to her ancient rule provided and secured; we have +vaguely shadowed out the dark wiles by which freedom and anarchy were +inseparably confounded, and the cause of liberty was made to seem the +denial of all religion. It would take us too far away from the humble +track of our tale were we to dwell on this theme, or stop to adduce the +various evidences of the truth of our assumption. We pass on, therefore, +and leave D'Esmonde the task of chronicling some of the results of that +memorable period. + +The letter, from which we propose to make some extracts was addressed, +like his former one, to his Irish correspondent, and opened with a kind +of thanksgiving over the glorious events of the preceding few weeks, +wherein victory succeeded victory, and the Austrians once again became +the masters of haughty Milan. We pass over the exulting description +the Abbe gave of the discord and dissension in the Patriotic ranks; the +reckless charges of treachery made against Carlo Alberto himself, for +not undertaking the defence of a city destitute of everything; and the +violent insubordination of the Lombards as the terrible hour of their +retribution drew nigh. We have not space for his graphic narrative of +the King's escape from Milan, protected by an Austrian escort, against +the murderous assaults of fellow-patriots. These facts are all before +the world; nor would it contribute to their better understanding were we +to adduce the partisan zeal with which the priest detailed them. + + + "The struggle, you will thus see," wrote he, "is over. The + blasphemer and the democrat have fallen together, and it + will take full a century to rally from the humiliation of + such a defeat. Bethink you, my dear Michel, what that same + century may make the Church, and how, if we be but vigorous + and watchful, every breach in the glorious fortress may be + repaired, every outwork strengthened, every bastion newly + mounted, and her whole garrison refreshed and invigorated. + Without a great convulsion like this we were lost! The + torpor of peace brought with it those habits of thought and + reflection--the sworn enemies of all faith! As governments + grew more popular they learned to rely less on _our_ aid. + The glorious sway of Belief was superseded by direct appeals + to what they called common sense, and imperceptibly, but + irrevocably, the world was being Protestantized. Do not + fancy that my fears have exaggerated this evil. I speak of + what I know thoroughly and well. Above all, do not mistake + me, as though I confounded this wide-spread heresy with what + you see around you in Ireland, those backslidings which you + so aptly called 'soup conversions.' + + "By Protestantism, I mean something more dangerous than + Anglicanism, which, by the way, has latterly shown itself + the very reverse of an enemy. The peril I dread is that + spirit of examination and inquiry which, emboldened by the + detection of some trumpery trick, goes on to question the + great dogma of our religion. And here I must say, that these + miracles--as they will call them----have been most ill- + judged and ill-timed. Well adapted as they are to stimulate + faith and warm zeal in remote and unvisited villages, they + are serious errors when they aspire to publicity and + challenge detection. I have done all I could to + discountenance them; but even in the Vatican, my dear + Michel, there are men who fancy we are living in the + sixteenth century. What are you to do with a deafness that + cannot be aroused by the blast of a steam-engine, and which + can sleep undisturbed by the thunder of railroads? Well, let + us be thankful for a little breathing time; the danger from + these heretics is over for the present. And here I would ask + of you to mark how the very same result has taken place + wherever the battle was fought. The Church has been + triumphant everywhere. Is this accident, my dear friend? + Was it mere chance that confounded counsels here, and dealt + out ruin to Ireland also? Why did our policy come to a + successful issue, here, by a dangerous conflict; and, with + you, by abstaining from one? Why, because it was truth-- + eternal, immutable truth--for which we struggled. I must say + that if _our_ game called for more active exertions, and + perhaps more personal hazards, _yours_ in Ireland was + admirably devised. There never was a more complete + catastrophe than that into which you betrayed your Mitchells + and Meaghers; and does not the blind credulity of such men + strike you as a special and Divine infliction? I own I think + so. They were, with all their hot blood, and all the glow of + their youth, serious thinkers and calm reasoners. They could + detect the finger of _England_ in every tangled scheme, and + yet they never saw the shadow of _your_ hand as it shook in + derision over them. Yes, Michel, the game was most skilfully + played, and I anticipate largely from it. The curtain thus + falls upon the first act of the drama; let us set about to + prepare for its rising. I am far from saying that many + errors--some of the gravest kind--have not been committed in + the conduct of this affair. More than one grand opportunity + has gone by without profit; and even my suggestion about the + restoration of the States of the Church to their ancient + limits within the Venetian provinces--a demand which Rome + has formerly renewed every year since the treaty of Campo + Formio, and which might now have been pressed with success-- + even this was neglected! But what could be done with a + runaway Pope and a scattered Consistory? Your letter, my + dear Michel, is a perfect catechism--all questions! I must + try a reply to some, at least, of its inquiries. You are + anxious about the endowment of the Ursulines, and so am I; + but unfortunately I can tell you little of my progress in + that direction. Lady Hester Onslow would appear to have + fallen into an entanglement of some sort with Lord Norwood; + and although I have in my possession the means of preventing + a marriage with him, or annulling it, if it should take + place, yet the very exercise of this power, on my part, + would as inevitably destroy all my influence over her, and + be thus a mere piece of profitless malice. This, therefore, + is a matter of some difficulty, increased, too, by his hasty + departure from Florence--they say for England; but I have no + clew to his destination, for he left this on the very day I + last wrote to you--the day of my visit to the Moskova--in + which you seem to be so much interested. Strangely enough, + Michel, both this man and the Russian seemed to feel that + they were in the toils, and broke away, rather than hazard + an encounter with me. And they were right, too! For the deep + game of life, there is no teaching like that of the + cloister; and if we be not omnipotent, it is owing to our + weakness of purpose. Hildebrand knew this--Boniface knew it + also; but we have fallen upon poor successors of these great + men! What might not a great Pope be in the age we live + in!--one whose ambition was commensurate with his mission, + and who had energy and courage for the task before him! Oh! + how I felt this, some nights ago, as I sat closeted with our + present ruler--would you believe it, Michel, he has no + higher guide or example than the weak and kind-hearted Pius + the Seventh? To imitate _him_ is the whole rule of his + faith, and to resemble him, even in his misfortunes, has + become an ambition. How he strung for me the commonplaces of + that good man, as though they had been the distilled + essences of wisdom! Alas! alas! the great heritage of the + Church has not been won by Quaker Popes. + + "You ask about myself. All goes well. The die is cast; and + so far, at least, a great point gained. The Austrians saw + the matter in its true light, and with justice perceived + that diplomacy is a war of reprisals. How I glory in the + anticipation of this vengeance upon England, the encourager + and abettor of all the treason against our Faith! How little + do they suspect the storm that is gathering around them; how + tranquilly are they walking over the ground that is to be + earthquaken! The letters and diplomas are all prepared. The + Bull itself is ready; to-morrow, if it were opportune, I + might be proclaimed a prince of the Church and an Archhishop + of an English see! As in every great event of life the + moment is everything, the question is now one of time. + Guardoni--and I look upon him as the shrewdest of the + cardinals--says, 'Wait! our cause is advancing every day in + England; every post brings us tidings of desertions to our + army,--men distinguished in rank, station, or intellect. In + our controversies we have suffered no defeats, while our + moderation has gained us many well-wishers; we have a tone + of general liberality to work upon that is eminently + favorable to a policy meek, lowly, and unpretending. + Therefore, I say, Wait; and do not forfeit such advantages + for the glory of a pageant' Against this it might be urged, + that the hour is come to proclaim our victory; and that it + would be a craven policy not to unfurl our banner above the + walls we have won! I repose less trust in the force of this + reasoning than in another view of the subject; and it is to + the ricochet of our shot, Michel, that I look for the damage + of our enemy. My calculation is this: the bold pretensions + we advance will arouse the passions of the whole island; + meetings and addresses and petitions will abound. All the + rampant insolence of outraged bigotry, all the blatant + denunciations of insulted protestantism, will burst forth + like a torrent. We shall be assailed in pamphlets and + papers; caricatured, hooted, burned in effigy. A wily and + well-conducted opposition on our part will fan and feed this + flame. Some amongst us will assume the moderate tone: invoke + the equality that pertains to every born Briton, and ask for + the mere undisturbed exercise of our faith. Others, with + greater boldness, will adventure sorties against the enemy, + and thus provoke reply and discussion. To each will be + assigned his suited task. A laboring for the one great + object,--to maintain the national fever at a white heat, to + suffer no interval of calm reflection to come, and to force + upon the Parliament, by the pressure of outward opinion, + some severe or at least some galling act of legislation. + This once accomplished, our game is won, and the great + schism we have so long worked for effected! It will then be + the Government on one side and the Church on the other. + Could you wish for anything better? For myself, I care + little how the campaign be then conducted; the victory must + be our own. I have told you again and again there is no such + policy against England as that of hampering the course of + her justice. It was O'Connell's secret; he had no other; and + he never failed till he attempted something higher. First, + provoke a rash legislation, and then wait for the + discomfiture that will follow it! With all the boasted + working of the great constitution, what a mere trifle + disturbs and disjoints it! Ay, Michel, a rusty nail in the + cylinder will spoil the play of the piston, although the + engine be rated at a thousand horse-power. Such a conflict + with Protestantism is exactly like the effect of a highly + disciplined army taking the field against a mob. With _us_ + all is preconcerted, prearranged, and planned; with _them_ + everything is impulsive, rash, and ill-advised. This + glorious prerogative of private judgment becomes a capital + snare, when measures should be combined and united. Fancy, I + ask of you,--fancy all the splendid errors of their hot + enthusiasm; think of the blunders they will commit on + platform or pulpit; reflect upon the folly and absurdity + that will fill the columns of the public journals, and all + the bigoted balderdash the press will groan under! What + coarse irony, what Billingsgate shall we hear of our Holy + Church,----her saints, her miracles, and her dogmas,--what + foul invectives against her pious women and their lives of + sanctity! And then think of the glorious harvest that will + follow, as we reply to insult by calm reasonings, to bigotry + by words of charity and enlightenment, appealing to the + nation at large for their judgment on which side truth + should lie,--with intolerance, or with Christian meekness + and submission? + + "Prepare, then, I say, for the coming day; the great + campaign is about to open, and neither you nor I, Michel, + will live to see the end of the battle. On this side the + Alps, all has happened as we wished. Italian Liberalism is + crushed and defeated. The Piedmontese are driven back within + their frontier, their army beaten, and their finances all + but exhausted, and Austria is again at the head of Northern + Italy. Rome will now be grander and more glorious than ever. + No more truckling to Liberalism, no more faith in the false + prophets of Freedom. Our gorgeous 'Despotism' will arise + reinvigorated by its trials, and the Church will proclaim + herself the Queen of Europe! + + "It is an inestimable advantage to have convinced these meek + and good men here that there is but one road to victory, and + that all alliance with what are called politicians is but a + snare and a delusion. + + "The Pope sees this at last, but nothing short of wounded + pride could have taught him the lesson. + + "Now to your last query, my dear Michel, and I feel all + gratitude for the warm interest with which you make it. + What is to be done I know not. I am utterly ignorant of my + parentage, even of my birthplace. In the admission-book of + Salamanca I stand thus: + + 'Samuel Eustace, native of Ireland, aged thirteen years and + seven months; stipendiary of the second class.' There lies + my whole history. A certain Mr. Godfrey had paid all the + expenses of my journey from Louvain, and, up to the period + of his death, continued to maintain me. From Louvain I can + learn nothing. I was a 'Laic' they believed,----perhaps + No. 134 or 137--they do not know which; and these are but + sorry facts from which to derive the baptismal registry of a + future cardinal. And yet something must be done, and + speedily too. On the question of birth the Sacred College is + peremptory. You will say that there ought to be no + difficulty in devising a genealogy where there are no + adverse claims to conflict; and if I could go over to + Ireland, perhaps the matter might be easy enough. At this + moment, however, my presence here is all-essential, while I + am not without a hope that accident may afford me a clew to + what I seek. A few days ago I was sent for from Malgherra to + attend the dying bed of a young officer, whose illness had + so completely disordered his brain that he forgot every word + of the foreign language he was accustomed to speak, and + could only understand or reply in his native English. + Although I had other and more pressing cases to attend to, + the order coming from an archduke made obedience imperative, + and so I hastened over to Verona, where the sick youth lay. + Conceive my surprise, Michel, to discover that he was the + same Dalton,--the boy whom I have so often adverted to, as + eternally crossing my path in life,--the relative of that + Godfrey who was my early patron. I have already confessed to + you, Michel, that I felt towards this youth in a way for + which my calmest reason could render no account. Gamblers + have often told me of certain antipathies they have + experienced, and that the mere presence of an individual-- + one totally unknown to them, perhaps--has been so ominous of + ill-luck that they dare not risk a bet while he remained in + the room. I know you will say that men who pass their lives + in the alternation of hope and fear become the slaves of + every shadow that crosses the imagination, and that they are + sorry pilots to trust to. So they are, Michel; they art + meanly minded, they are sordid, and they are low; their + thoughts never soar above the card or the hazard table; they + are dead to all emotions of family and affection; the very + events that are convulsing the world are less audible to + their ears than the ring of the dice-box; and yet, with all + this--would you believe it?--they are deep in the mysteries + of portents. Their intense study of what we call chance has + taught them to combine and arrange and discipline every atom + and accident that can influence an event. They have their + days of good and evil fortune, and they have their agencies + that sway them to this side or to that. Chemistry shows us + that substances that resemble metals are decomposed by the + influence of light alone,--do not, then, despise the working + of that gleam that darts from a human eye and penetrates + within the very recesses of your brain. + + "Be the theory true or false, the phenomena exercise a deep + influence over me, and I have never ceased to regard this + boy as one inextricably interwoven with myself and my own + fortunes; I felt a degree of dread at his contact, which all + my conscious superiority of mind and intellect could not + allay. In vain have I endeavored to reason myself out of + these delusions, but in the realm of imagination reason is + inoperative; as well might a painter try to commit to his + palette the fleeting colors of the rainbow. Shall I own to + you that in moments of illness or depression this terror + magnified itself to giant proportions, and a thousand wild + and incongruous fancies would fill my mind? I bethought me + of involving him in such difficulty that he would no longer + be at large; as a prisoner or an exile, I should never see + him more. Every snare I tried was a failure; the temptations + that were most adapted to his nature he resisted; the wiles + I threw around him he escaped from. Was there not a fate in + all this? Assuredly there was and is, Michel. I cannot tell + you the relief of mind I should feel if this boy had shared + the fate of your patriots, and that the great sea was to + roll between him and Europe forever. Twenty times a day I + think of Dirk Hatteraick's expression with respect to Brown: + 'That boy has been a rock ahead of me all through life;' and + be assured that the characters of fiction are often powerful + teachers. + + "And now to my narrative. The same note which requested my + visit at Verona begged of me, if I possibly could accomplish + it, to provide some English person who should sit up with + the sick youth and nurse him. I was not sorry to receive + this commission; I wished to learn more about this boy than + the confessional at such a time could teach; and could I + only find a suitable agent, this would not be difficult. + Chance favored me strangely enough. Amongst the prisoners + taken at Ancona I found an Irish fellow, who, it appears, + had taken service in the Piedmontese navy. He had been some + years in America and the West Indies, and from the scattered + remarks that he let fall, I perceived that he was a man of + shrewd and not over-scrupulous nature. He comprehended me in + an instant; and, although I was most guarded in giving my + instructions, the fellow read my intentions at once. This + shrewdness might, in other circumstances, have its + inconveniences, but here it gave me no alarm. I was the + means of his liberation, and were he troublesome, I could + consign him to the prison again,--to the galleys, if needed. + In company with this respectable ally, I set out for the + headquarters. On my arrival I waited on the Count von + Auersberg, in whose house the sick boy lay. This old man, + who is Irish by birth, is more Austrian in nature than the + members of the House of Hapsburg. + + I found him fully convinced that the white-coated legions + had reconquered Lombardy by their own unaided valor, and I + left him in the same pleasant delusion. It appeared that a + certain Count von Walstein was enabled to clear young + Dalton's character from all taint of treason, by exhibiting, + in his own correspondence, some letters and documents that + related to the events detailed in Frank's writing, and of + which he could have had no possible knowledge. This avowal + may be a serious thing for Walstein, but rescues the young + Dalton at once, and proves that he was merely the writer of + Ravitzky's sentiments; so that here, again, Michel, he + escapes. Is not this more than strange? + + "It was not without anxiety that I passed the threshold of + the sick-chamber; but happily it was darkened, and I soon + saw that the sick youth could never recognize me, were his + senses even unclouded. He lay motionless, and I thought + insensible; but after I spoke to him he rallied a little, + and asked after his father and his sisters. He had not yet + heard that his father was dead; and it was affecting to hear + the attempt he made to vindicate his honor, and show that he + had never been disloyal. By degrees I brought him to talk of + himself. He saw that he was dying, and had no fears of + death; but there seemed as if his conscience was burdened by + some heavy weight, less like guilt than the clew to some + strange and dark affair. The revelation--if it deserved the + name, for it was made in broken sentences--now uttered with + rapid vehemence, now scarcely audible----was of the vaguest + kind. You may imagine, however, the interest I felt in the + narrative as the name Godfrey passed his lips. To know my + anxiety to trace some tie of family to these Godfreys. They + were gentry of ancient blood and good name, and would amply + satisfy the demands of the Sacred College; so that when the + boy spoke of Godfrey, I listened with intense curiosity; + but--shall I own it?--all my practised skill, all my science + of the sick-bed, was unable to tell me what were the + utterings of an unclouded intellect, and what the wild + fitful fancies of fever. I know, for I have repeatedly heard + it from his sister's lips, that this youth has never been in + Ireland, and yet he spoke of the peculiar scenery of a + certain spot just as if he had traversed it yesterday. Mind, + that I am carefully distinguishing between what might be the + impression left by often hearing of a scene from others, and + that which results from personal observation. His was + altogether of the latter kind. As, for instance, when + describing a garden, he mentioned how the wind wafted the + branches of a weeping ash across a window, so as to confuse + the scene that went on within; and then he shuddered + terribly, and, with a low sigh, exclaimed, 'The light went + out _after_ that.' These are not ravings, Michel. This boy + knows something of that dark mystery I have more than once + alluded to in my letters. Could it be that his own father + was in some way implicated in the affair? Bear in mind how + he came to live abroad, and never returned to Ireland. From + all I can learn, the old Dalton was a bold and reckless + character, that would scarcely have stopped at anything. + Assuredly, the son's conscience is heavily burdened! Now, + there is an easy way to test the truth or fallacy of all + this; and herein you must aid me, Michel. I have carefully + noted every word the boy spoke; I have treasured every + syllable that fell from him. If his description of the scene + be correct, the mystery may be unravelled. This you can + speedily ascertain by visiting the spot. It is not more than + twenty miles from you, and about three or four, I believe, + from the little village of Inistioge; it is called Corrig- + O'Neal,--a place of some importance once, but now, as I + hear, a ruin. Go thither, Michel, and tell me correctly all + these several points. First, does the character of the river + scenery suddenly change at this spot, and, from an aspect of + rich and leafy beauty, exhibit only dark and barren + mountains without a tree or a shrub? Is the old manor-house + itself only a short distance from the stream, and backed by + these same gloomy mountains? The house itself, if unaltered, + should be high-peaked in roof, with tall, narrow windows, + and a long terrace in front; an imitation, in fact, of an + old French chateau. These, as you will see, are such facts + as might have been heard from another; but now I come to + some less likely to have been so learned. + + "From this boy's wanderings, I collect that there is a + woodland path through these grounds, skirting the river in + some places, and carried along the mountain-side by a track + escarped in the rock itself. If this ever existed, its + traces will still be visible. I am most curious to know this + fact. I can see the profound impression it has made on the + youth's mind, by the various ways in which he recurs to it, + and the deep emotion it always evokes. At times, indeed, his + revelations grow into something like actual descriptions of + an event he had witnessed; as, for instance, last night he + started from his sleep, his brow all covered with + perspiration, and his eyes glaring wildly. 'Hush!' he cried; + 'hush! He is crossing the garden, now; there he is at the + door; lie still--lie still.' I tried to induce him to talk + on, but he shuddered timidly, and merely said, 'It's all + over, he has strewn leaves over the spot, let us go away.' + you will perhaps say that I attach undue importance to what + may be the mere outpourings of a fevered intellect, but + there is an intensity in the feeling which accompanies them, + and, moreover, there is a persistence in the way he always + comes back to them, that are not like the transient terrors + that haunt distracted minds. No, Michel, there is a mystery, + and a dreadful one, connected with this vision. Remember! + that the secret of Godfrey's death has never been cleared + up; the breach which separated him from these Daltons was + then at its widest. Dalton's character you are familiar + with; and, although abroad at that time, who can say what + agencies may not have worked for him? Give your serious + consideration to these facts, and tell me what you think. + You know me too well and too long to suppose that I am + actuated by motives of mere curiosity, or simply the desire + to trace the history of a crime. I own to you, that with all + my horror of blood, I scarcely grieve as I witness the + fruitless attempts of English justice to search out the + story of a murder. I feel a sort of satisfaction at the + combat between Saxon dulness and Celtic craft--between the + brute force of the conqueror and the subtle intelligence of + the conquered--that tells me of a time to come when these + relations shall be reversed. Acquit me, therefore, of any + undue zeal for the observance of laws that only remind me of + our slavery. However clear and limpid the stream may look, I + never forget that its source was in foulness! I am impelled + here by a force that my reason cannot account for. My + boyhood was, in some manner, bound up with this Godfrey's + fate. I was fatherless when he died! could he have been my + father? This thought continually recurs to me! Such a + discovery would be of great value to me just now; the + question of legitimacy would be easily got over, as I seek + for none of the benefits of succession. I only want what + will satisfy the Sacred College. My dear Michel, I commit + all this to your care and industry; give me your aid and + your advice. Should it happen that Dalton was involved in + the affair, the secret might have its value. This old field- + marshal's pride of name and family could be turned to good + account. + + "I must tell you that since I have overheard this boy's + ravings, I have studiously avoided introducing my Irish + _protege_ into the sickroom. My friend, Paul Meekins, might + be a most inconvenient confidant, and so I shall keep him + under my own eye till some opportunity occurs to dispose of + him. He tells me that his present tastes are all + ecclesiastical. Do you want a sacristan? if so, he would + be your man. There is no such trusty subordinate as the + fellow with what the French call 'a dark antecedent;' and + this I suspect to be his case. + + "I have well wearied you, my dear friend, and yet have I not + told you half of what I feel on this strange matter. I am + little given to tremble at shadows, and still there are + terrors over me that I cannot shake off. Write to me, then, + at once; tell me all that you see, all that you can hear. + Observe well the localities; it will be curious if the boy + be correct. Mark particularly if there be a spot of rising + ground from which the garden is visible, and the windows + that look into it, and see if there be a door out of the + garden at this point. I could almost map out the scene + from his description. + + "I have done, and now, I scarcely know whether I should feel + more relief of heart to know that all this youth has said + were fever wanderings, or words of solemn meaning. It is + strange how tranquilly I can move through the great events + of life, and yet how much a thing like this can shake my + nerve; but I suppose it is ever so, and that we are great or + little as the occasion makes us. + + "I have just heard that Lady Hester Onslow has gone over to + Ireland. She will probably be at Corrig-O'Neal. If so, you + can present yourself to her as my old and intimate friend, + and this will afford you an opportunity of examining the + scene at leisure. I enclose you a few lines to serve as an + introduction. Adieu, my dear friend. + + "You have often sighed over the obscurity of your position, + and the unambitious life of a parish priest. Believe me, and + from my heart I say it, I would willingly exchange all the + rewards I have won, all that I could ever hope to win, for + one week--one short week--of such calm quiet as breathes + under the thatched roof of your little cottage. + + "I leave this for Vienna to-morrow, to thank the minister; + and with good reason, too, since without his assistance the + Pope would have shrunk from the bold policy. Thence I go to + Rome; but within a fortnight I shall be back in Florence, + where I hope to hear from you. If all goes well, we shall + meet soon.--Yours, in much affection, + + Mathew D'Esmonde." + + +As the Abbe finished this letter, he turned to look at a short note, +which, having opened and scanned over, he had thrown on the table beside +him. It was from Albert Jekyl, who wrote to inform him that Lord Norwood +had just arrived in Florence from Ireland, where he had left Lady +Hester; that so far as he, Jekyl, could make out, the Viscount had made +an offer of marriage, and been accepted. + + "It will be for you, my dear Abbe," added he, "to ascertain + this fact positively, as, independently of the long journey + at this inclement season, it would be a very serious injury + to me were it known that I advanced pretensions that were + not responded to. He who has never failed must not risk a + defeat. Pray lose no time in investigating this affair, for + Florence is filling fast, and my future plans will depend on + your reply." + + +The priest bestowed little attention on the small gossipry that filled +up the page. His eye, however, caught the name of Midchekoff, and he +read,---- + + "The Prince returned last Tuesday to the Moskova, but no one + has seen him, nor has any one been admitted within the + gates. Of course there are a hundred rumors as to the why + and the wherefore,----some alleging that he has received + orders of 'reclusion,' as they call it, from home, the + Emperor not being quite satisfied with his political + campaign; some, that he has taken up a grudge against the + court here, and shows his spleen in this fashion. But what + shallow reason would this be for a hermit life? and what + legitimate ground of complaint have not we, who, so to say, + possess a vested interest in his truffles and ortolans and + dry champagne? I assure you that such conduct rouses all the + democracy of my nature, and I write these lines with a red + silk cap on my head. After all, the real good he effected + was a kind of reflected light. He crushed little people, and + ground down all their puny efforts at balls, dinners, and + _dejeuners_. He shamed into modest insignificance such a + world of snobbery, and threw an air of ridicule over 'small + early partyism' and 'family dinners.' What a world of + dyspepsia has he thus averted,----what heartburns and + heartburnings! Oh, little people! little people! ye are a + very dreadful generation, for ye muddy the waters of + society, so that no man can drink thereof. + + "Politically, we are calm and reactionary; and whether it be + thrashing has done it, I know not, but some of the Tuscans + are 'Black and Yellow' already. Not that the dear Austrians + promise to make Florence better or pleasanter. They mix + badly with our population. It is as if you threw a spoonful + of 'sauerkraut' into your 'potage a la reine!' Besides, the + Italians are like the Chinese,----unchanged and + unchangeable,--and they detest the advent of all strangers + who would interfere with their own little, soft, sleepy, and + enervating code of wickedness. + + "Pray send me three lines, just to say----Is it to be or + not to be? Rose, the tailor, is persecuting me about a + mocha-brown, for a wedding garment, which certainly would + harmonize well with the prevailing tints of my hair and + eyebrows, but I am too prudent a diplomatist to incur + 'extraordinaires' till I be sure of 'my mission.' Therefore + write at once, for such is my confidence in your skill and + ability that I only wait your mandate to launch into kid + gloves and lacquered leather, quite regardless of expense. + + "Yours, most devotedly, + + "Albert JEKYL. + + + "I open this to say that Morlache was seen going to the + Moskora last night with two caskets of jewels. Will this + fact throw any light on the mysterious seclusion?" + +These last two lines D'Esmonde read over several times; and then, +crashing the note in his hand, he threw it into the fire. Within an hour +after he was on his way to Florence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. A SECRET AND A SNARE. + +As we draw near to the end of our voyage, we feel all the difficulty of +collecting the scattered vessels of our convoy; and while signalizing +the "clippers" to shorten sail, we are calling on the heavy sailers to +crowd "all their canvas." + +The main interest of our story would keep us beside Frank Dalton, +whose fate seemed daily to vacillate,----now threatening gloomily, now +rallying into all the brightness of hope. By slow and cautious journeys +the old Count proceeded to remove him to Vienna, where he expected soon +to-be joined by Kate. Leaving them, then, to pursue their road by steps +far too slow for our impatience, we hasten along with D'Esmonde, as, +with all the speed he could accomplish, he made for Florence. + +Occasionally he tried to amuse himself and divert his thoughts by +conversing with Meekins, who accompanied him; but although the man's +shrewdness was above the common, and his knowledge of the world very +considerable, D'Esmonde quickly saw that a thick cloak of reserve +covered the real man on all occasions, and that his true nature lay many +a fathom deep below that smooth surface. The devout respect which he +felt for the Abbe might, perhaps, have increased this reserve; for +Meekins was an Irish peasant, and never forgot the deference due to a +priest. + +Accustomed to read men at sight, D'Esmonde would give himself no trouble +in deciphering a page which promised little to reward the labor; and +so, after a while, he left his companion to occupy the "box," while he +himself followed his own thoughts alone and undisturbed. Now and then +he would be aroused from his deep reveries by remarking the reverential +piety of the peasants as they passed some holy shrine or some +consecrated altar. Then, indeed, Meekins displayed a fervor so unlike +the careless indifference of the native, that D'Esmonde was led to +reflect upon the difference of their natures, and speculate on how far +this devotion of character was innate in the Irishman, or merely the +result of circumstances. + +There was an expression of eager, almost painful meaning, too, in the +man's face as he muttered his prayers, that struck the keen eyes of the +Abbe; and he could not avoid saying to himself, "That fellow has a load +upon his heart. Fear, and not hope, is the mainspring of his devotions." +At another moment D'Esmonde might have studied the case as a +philosopher studies a problem,--merely for the exercise it may give his +faculties,--but his own cares were too pressing and too numerous for +more than a passing notice. + +The night was falling as they gained the crest of the mountain +over Florence; D'Esmonde stopped the carriage on the hill above the +"Moskova," and gazed steadily for some moments on the spot. The villa, +partly shrouded in trees, was brilliantly illuminated; the lights +gleamed and sparkled through the foliage, and, as he listened, the sound +of rich music came floating on the air. + +"This looks little like seclusion," thought he. "These are signs of some +great festivity." As he drew up to the gate, however, he found it closed +and locked. Not a carriage was to be seen. Even the usual lamps were +unlighted, and all appeared deserted and unoccupied. D'Esmonde stood +for a few seconds buried in thought; his emotion was deep and heartfelt; +for, as he grasped the iron bars of the gate, his strong frame shook and +trembled. "True--true!" muttered he to himself in an accent of almost +bursting agony,--"I could not have given thee this, Lola, and for this +alone hadst thou any heart!" He leaned his face against the gate, +and sobbed heavily. "What poison," cried he, in a voice of +bitterness,--"what poison there must be in unholy passion, when it can +move a heart like mine, after years and years of time! To think that not +all the glory of a great cause, all the pride of successful ambition, +striving for rewards the very highest,--all that I possess of power and +influence,--all, all should give way to the grief for a half-forgotten, +unreturned love! How poor a thing the heart is, when we fancy its +desires to be noblest and highest!" + +This burst of passionate grief over, he slowly returned to the carriage +and pursued his way to Florence; and, entering the city, he drove for +the house of Racca Morlache. The Jew was not at home, but was to return +by eleven o'clock, at which hour he had ordered supper for a guest and +himself. D'Esmonde lay down on a sofa, and fell asleep. Wearied as he +was, his watchfulness soon detected the approach of footsteps; and, +as he listened, he heard the voice of a stranger in colloquy with the +servant. The door opened at the same time, and Lord Norwood entered. +D'Esmonde only waited for the servant to retire, when he sprang forward +to salute him. + +"Oh! I thought you were at the camp, or at Vienna, or somewhere to the +north'ard," said the Viscount, coolly. + +"I was so, my Lord; and there I should have remained, if a pressing duty +had not recalled me to Florence." + +"You have always so many irons in the fire, Abbe, that it requires some +skill to keep them all hot." + +"You are right, my Lord; some skill, and some practice too." + +"And do you never burn your fingers?" said the other, sarcastically. + +"Very rarely, my Lord; for when I meddle with fire, I generally make use +of my friends' hands." + +"By Jove, it's not a bad plan!" cried the Viscount, laughing; for, +as the priest well knew, he had a most lively appreciation for every +species of knavery, and entertained real respect for all who practised +it. "You _are_ a very downy cove, Master D'Esmonde," said he, gazing at +him; "and you 'd have made a very shining figure on the Turf, had your +fortune thrown you in that direction." + +"Perhaps so, my Lord," said the Abbe, carelessly. "My own notion is, +that fair natural gifts are equal to any exigencies ever demanded of us; +and that the man of average talent, if he have only energy and a strong +will, has no superior to dread." + +"That may do well enough," said Norwood, rising and pacing the +room,--"that may do well enough in the common occurrences of life, but +it won't do on the Turf, Abbe. The fellows are too artful for you there. +There are too many dodges and tricks and windings. No, no, believe +me; nothing has a chance in racing matters, without perfect and safe +'information;' you know what that means." + +"It is precisely the same thing in the world at large," said D'Esmonde. +"The very cleverest men rush into embarrassments and involve themselves +in difficulties for which there is no issue, simply for want of what you +call 'information.' Even yourself, my Lord," said he, dropping his voice +to a low and distinct whisper,--"even yourself may discover that you owe +safety to a Popish priest." + +"How do you mean? What do you allude to?" cried Norwood, eagerly. + +"Sit down here, my Lord. Give me a patient hearing for a few minutes. We +have fortunately a moment of unbroken confidence now; let us profit by +it." + +Norwood seated himself beside the priest, without speaking, and, folding +his arms, prepared to hear him calmly. + +"My Lord Norwood," said the Abbe, "I will not torture you by any +prolixity, nor will I waste your time by any appeal to your forgiveness. +If my own conduct in the affair I am about to relate should not meet +your approval, it is enough that I have satisfied my own conscience." + +"Go on--go on," said Norwood, in a tone of almost sarcasm; "I see that +you have injured me, let me hear how and where." + +"You shall hear both, my Lord, and briefly too. I have only to invoke +your memory, and the story is told. You remember being at Salamanca, +in the year 18----? you remember, too, a certain ballerina of the Grand +Opera? You had seen her first at Seville--" + +"Yes----; yes," broke in Norwood, reddening deeply; "I know what you +mean--the girl was my mistress." + +"Stay, my Lord. Do not dishonor yourself; she was your wife,--legally +and formally married to you,--the registry of the act is in existence, +and the priest who performed the ceremony now stands before you." + +"By Heaven!" said Norwood, springing to his feet, + +"You are a bold fellow to dare this game with _me!_ and to try it in +such a place as this!" + +"Ay, my Lord, the river rolls dark and silently beside us," said +D'Esmonde, calmly; "and the Arno has covered up many a more dreadful +deed; but I have no fears,--not one. I am unarmed, in strength I am +certainly not your equal, and yet, I repeat it, my heart assures me that +I stand in no peril." + +For an instant Norwood seemed to hesitate how to act. The great veins of +his face and forehead became swollen and knotted, and he breathed with +the rushing sound of severe, restrained passion. At last, as if to guard +himself against any sudden impulse of anger, he walked round and seated +himself at the opposite side of the table. + +D'Esmonde resumed as calmly as before: "Yes, my Lord, Lola took care +that everything should be regular and in form; and the names of +Gerald Acton and Lola de Seviglia are inscribed on the records of the +Collegiate Chapel. Two of the witnesses are still living; one of them, +then a poor boy carrying messages for the convent, is now captain in the +Pope's Guard." + +"Come, come,----enough of this," cried Norwood, impatiently. "I see +the drift of it all. When the Church interposes her kind offices, the +question resolves itself always into money. How much--how much?" + +"You mistake greatly, my Lord; but your error does not offend me. I know +too well how men of _your_ form of belief regard men of _mine!_ I am +not here either to combat a prejudice, or assert a right. I tell you, +therefore, calmly and dispassionately, that no demand is made upon you. +There is no siege laid against you, in person or in purse." + +"Then how does the matter concern me, if this girl be alive?--and even +of that I have my doubts--" + +"You need have none," said D'Esmonde, interruptingly. "Lady +Norwood-----" + +"Stop! By Heaven! if you dare to give her that name, I'll not answer for +myself." + +"I call her as she styles herself,----as she is called by all around +her. Yes, my Lord, the shame is as open as gossip and malevolence can +make it. The foreigner is but too glad when he can involve an English +name and title in a reproach that we are prone to cast upon him. A +peeress is a high mark for scandal! Who stoops to ask how or when or +where she became this? Who interposes a charitable word of explanation +or of incredulity? From what you know of life, on what side, think you, +will lie the ingenuity and craft? Whether will the evidence preponderate +to prove her your wife or to exonerate _you?_ At all events, how will +the matter read in England? I speak not of your ruined hopes of an +alliance befitting your high station. _This_ is beyond repairing! But +are you ready to meet the shame and ignominy of the story? Nothing is +too base, nothing too infamous, for an imputation. Will any one, I ask +of you--will any one assert that you are ignorant of all this? Would any +one believe who heard it? Will not the tale be rather circulated with +all its notes and comments? Will not men fill up every blank by the +devices of their own bad ingenuity? Will not some assert that you are a +partner in your own infamy, and that your fingers have touched the price +of your shame?" + +"Stop!" cried Norwood. "Another word--one syllable more like this--and, +by the Heaven above us, your lips will never move again!" + +"It would be a sorry recompense for my devotion to you, my Lord," said +the Abbe, with a profound sigh. + +"Devotion!" repeated Norwood, in a voice of insulting sarcasm; "as if +I were to be tricked by this! Keep these artifices for some trembling +devotee, some bedridden or palsied worshipper of saintly relics and holy +legerdemain; I 'm not the stuff for such deceptions!" + +"And yet, my Lord, what possible benefit can accrue to myself from this +ungracious task? With all your ingenuity, what personal gain can result +to me?" + +"What care I for your motives, sir?" responded Norwood, fiercely. "I +only know that you had never incurred so critical a hazard without an +object. You either seek to exert a menace over me, or to be revenged on +_her_." + +"Alas, my Lord, I see how little hope I should have of vindicating +myself before you. Your estimate of the Papists suggests nothing above +craft and dishonesty. You will not believe that human affections, love +of country, and all the other associations of a home, are strong in +hearts that beat beneath the serge frock of the priest. Still less do +you know the great working principle of our Faith,--the law which binds +us, for every unjust act we have done in life, to make an expiation in +this world. For many a year has my conscience been burdened with this +offence. But for my weak compliance with your request, I should never +have performed this ceremony. Had _I_ been firm, _you_ had been saved. +Nay, in my eagerness to serve you, I only worked your ruin; for, on +confessing to my Superior what I had done, he at once took measures to +ratify the act of marriage, and my rank as a deacon took date from the +day before the ceremony." D'Esmonde seemed not to notice the gesture of +indignation with which Norwood heard these words, but he went on: "It +is, then, to make some requital for this wrong, that I now risk all that +your anger may inflict upon me." + +"Where is this woman?" cried Norwood, savagely, and as if impatient at a +vindication for which he felt no interest. "Where is she?" + +"She is here, my Lord," said the other, meekly. + +"Here? How do you mean? Not in this house?" + +"I mean that she is now in Florence." + +"What, living openly here?--calling herself by my name?" + +"She lives in all the splendor of immense wealth, and as openly as the +protection of Prince Midchekoff----" + +"Midchekoff----Midchekoff, did you say?" cried Norwood, in a burst of +passion. + +"Yes, my Lord. The haughty Russian exults in the insult that this offers +to the proudest aristocracy of Europe. This is the vengeance he exacts +for the cold disdain he experienced in London, and all that reserve that +met his attempts in English society." + +"How came she here?--who sent for her?--who devised this scheme? Tell me +the whole truth, for, by Heaven, if I see you equivocate, you'll never +quit this chamber living!" + +"I' ll tell you everything, truthfully and fairly," said the Abbe, with +calm dignity; and now in a few words he traced Nina's life, from the +time of her residence under Lady Hester's roof, to the moment of her +return to Florence. He omitted nothing; neither her intimacy with Jekyl +nor her passion for George Onslow. Even to the incident of the torn +dress on the night of the flight, he told all. + +Norwood listened with the stern collectedness of one who had nerved +himself for a great effort. Although the blood spurted from his +compressed lips, and the nails of his fingers were buried in his hands, +he uttered never a word. At last, when D'Esmonde paused, he said,---- + +"And _you_ knew all this?" + +"Nothing whatever of it I never chanced to see her at Florence, nor had +I the slightest suspicion of her presence there." + +"Lady Hester knew it? Miss Dalton knew it?" + +"I suspect not at that time." + +"They know it _now_, then?" + +"Who does not? Is not Florence ringing with the story? When has scandal +fallen upon such material for its malevolence? Such _dramatis personae_ +as a prince, an English peer, and his peeress, are not of every day's +good fortune!" + +"Be cautious how you harp on this theme, priest. In your good zeal to +hammer the metal soft you may chance to crush your own finger." + +"I must be frank with you, my Lord, whatever the hazard. He would be a +sorry surgeon who, after giving his patient all the agony of the knife, +stopped short, and left the malady unextirpated." + +"Come now, D'Esmonde," said Norwood, as with a strong grasp he drew the +other down on the sofa beside him, "_You_ have your debt to acquit in +this matter as well as myself. I do not seek to know how or why or +upon whom. Your priestly craft need not be called into exercise. I +want nothing of your secrets; I only ask your counsel. That much in our +common cause you cannot refuse me. What shall I do in this affair? No +cant, no hypocritical affectation of Christian forgiveness, none of that +hackneyed advice that you dole out to your devotees; speak freely, and +like a man of the world. What is to be done here?" + +"If the marriage admitted of dispute or denial, I should say disavow +it," said the priest "It is too late for this." + +"Go on. What next?" + +"Then comes the difficulty. To assert your own honor, you must begin by +a recognition of her as your wife. This looks rash, but I see no other +course. You cannot call Midchekoff to a reckoning on any other grounds. +Then comes the question, is such a woman worth fighting for? or must the +only consideration be the fact that she bears your name, and that she is +the Viscountess Norwood in every society she can enter? How is this to +be borne? The stricter code of England rejects such claimants altogether +from its circle; but on the Continent they are everywhere. Will it be +possible for you to live under this open shame?" + +"Your advice is, then,----shoot him!" said Norwood; and he bent his eyes +fixedly on the priest as he spoke. "It is my own notion, also. If the +choice were open to me, D'Esmonde, I 'd rather have exacted the payment +of this debt from Onslow; I hated the fellow from my very heart. Not +that I owe this Russian any good will. We have more than once been on +the verge of a quarrel. It was not my fault if it went no further. +They say, too, that he has no taste for these things. If so, one must +stimulate his appetite, that's all!--eh, D'Esmonde? _Your_ countrymen +seldom need such provocations?" + +"We have our faults, my Lord; but this is scarcely amongst their +number." + +"You're right, D'Esmonde," said the other, pursuing his former line +of thought. "It's no petty penalty to exact from a fellow with fifty +thousand a year! I almost fancy I should have been a coward myself at +such a price!" + +"You 'll have some difficulty in obtaining access to him, my Lord," +remarked the Abbe. "He lives in strict privacy, and refuses admission to +every one." + +"But a letter will reach him?" + +"It may, or it may not; besides, it may come to hand, and yet never be +acknowledged." + +"What is to be done, then?" + +"I 'll think over it, before we separate. I 'll try and suggest +something. But here comes Morlache; and now be cautious. Not a word to +show that you are ill at ease." The warning was scarcely spoken, when +the Jew entered. + +Morlache knew D'Esmonde too well to be surprised at seeing him anywhere +or at any moment He saluted him, therefore, as though they had met the +very day before, and the party sat down to supper, in all the seeming +ease of unburdened minds. + +They chatted over the politics of Italy, and the change that had come +over Florence since the last time they had sat together in that chamber. + +"It was a noisy scene, that night," said Morlache; "but the streets are +quiet enough now." + +"Quiet as a corpse," said Norwood, sternly. "You had no other nostrum +for tranquillity but to extinguish life." + +"What you regard as death, my Lord," said the Abbe, "is only a trance. +Italy will rise grander and more powerful than ever. One element alone +has survived through all the convulsive throes, and all the changing +fortunes of this land,--the Papacy. The terrible wars of rival cities +and states, the more bloody conquests of ambitious houses, leave not a +trace behind them; but Rome holds on her proud way, and, like the great +river of the poet, 'Labitur et labetur in omne volubilis oevum. '" + +"To which I beg, in a less classical quotation, to rejoin, 'Confound +your politics,'" cried Norwood, laughing. "Come, Morlache, let us +turn to a humbler theme. Who have you got here; who are coming for the +winter?" + +"Say, rather, my Lord, who are going away; for there is a general flight +from Florence. All what hotel folk call good families are hastening off +to Rome and Naples." + +"What's the meaning of this, then?" + +"It is not very difficult, perhaps, to explain," said the Jew; "luxuries +are only the creations of mere circumstance. The rarity of one land +may be the very satiety of another; and the iced-punch that tastes so +exquisite at Calcutta would be but sorry tipple at Coppermine River. +Hence you will see, my Lord, that the English who come here for +wickedness find the place too bad for them. There is no zest to their +vice; they shock nobody, they outrage nothing,--in fact, they are only +as bad as their neighbors." + +"I suppose it's neither better nor worse than I remember it these dozen +years and more?" said Norwood. + +"Probably not, my Lord, in fact; but, in outward appearance, it has +assuredly degenerated. People behave badly everywhere, but this is the +only city in Europe where it is deemed right to do so." + +"Since when have you taken up the trade of moralist, Master Morlache?" +said Norwood, with a sneer. + +"I 'll answer that question," broke in D'Esmonde. "Since the exchange on +England has fallen to forty-three and a half, Morlache sees his clients +diminish, and is consequently as angry with vice as he had been with its +opposite, if the same result had come to pass." + +"I own," said the Jew, with a sneer, "the present order of things is far +more profitable to the confessional than to the _comptoir_." + +"That's the truth, I've no doubt of it," broke in Norwood, laughing. "A +low tariff has given a great impulse to the trade of wickedness." + +"Taking your own illustration, my Lord, we are 'Protectionists,'" said +D'Esmonde; "whereas you Protestants are the 'Free-traders' in vice." + +"A plague on both your houses, say I," cried Norwood, yawning. +"So, then, Morlache, neither you nor I would find this a desirable +residence?" + +"I fear it will not repay either of us, my Lord," said the Jew, with a +sly look. + +"The world is growing wonderfully wide awake," said Norwood. "When I +entered life, any fellow with a neat hand at billiards, a fair knowledge +of _ecarte_ or short whist, good whiskers, and a well-cut waistcoat, +might have eked out a pretty existence without any risk, and very little +exertion. But see what the march of intelligence has done! There 's +not an Eton boy, not an unfledged 'sub' in a marching regiment, not an +unpaid attache at a small court could n't compete with you now in any of +these high acquirements. I do not fret myself usually about what is to +come after _my_ time; but I really wonder how the next generation will +get on at all." + +"Civilization moves like the pendulum, my Lord," said D'Esmonde; "the +next swing will be retrograde. And, by the way, that reminds me of +Russia, and Russia of Prince Midchekoff. Is it true that he is recalled, +Morlache?" + +"Not that I know. That report is always circulated when there are no +dinners at the villa. Just as Marshal Soult is said to have won or lost +the battle of Toulouse according to the momentary estimation he is held +in." + +"You'll hear for certain, my Lord," said D'Esmonde, addressing Norwood; +"You are going up there to-night?" + +Norwood muttered an assent, and waited to see how this sally was to end. + +"Ah! you are going there to-night," repeated Morlache, in some surprise. +"Are _you_ one of the privileged, then?" + +"Of course he is," interposed D'Esmonde, authoritatively. + +"Will you do me a very great favor, then, my Lord?" said Morlache, +----"which is to take charge of this small casket. I promised to take +it myself; but it is so late now, and I am so wearied, that I shall feel +much bound to you for the service." + +"You can easily acquit the debt of obligation, Morlache," said +D'Esmonde; "for my Lord was just asking me, before you came in, if he +could take the liberty of begging the loan of your carriage to take him +up to the Moskova. You are aware that it would not be quite proper to +take a hired carriage, just now, up to the villa; that, as the Prince +affects to be absent----" + +"To be sure," broke in Morlache. "I am but too happy to accommodate your +Lordship. Your precaution was both delicate and well thought of. Indeed, +I greatly doubt that they would admit a fiacre at all." + +"I suppose I should have had to walk from the gate," said Norwood, who +now saw the gist of the Abbe's stratagem. + +"Morlache's old gray is a passport that requires no _visa_," said +D'Esmonde. "You 'll meet neither let nor hindrance with him in front of +you. You may parody the great statesman's peroration, and say, 'Where +the King cannot enter, he can.' Such is it to be a banker's horse!" + +Norwood heard little or nothing of this remark. Deeply sunk in his own +thoughts, he arose abruptly from the table. + +"You are not going away, my Lord? You are surely not deserting that +flask of Marcobrunner that we have only tasted?" + +But Norwood never heard the words, and continued to follow his own train +of reflection. Then, bending over D'Esmonde, he said, "In case we should +require to cross the frontier at Lavenza, must we have passports?" + +"Nothing of the kind. There is no police, no inquiry whatever." + +"Good-bye, then. If you should not hear _from_, you will hear _of_ me, +Abbe. There are a few things which, in the event of accident, I will +jot down in writing. You 'll look to them for me. Good-evening, or +good-morning,--I scarcely know which." And, with all the habitual +indolence of his lounging manner, he departed. + +D'Esmonde stood for a few seconds silent, and then said, "Is the noble +Viscount deep in your books?" + +"Deeper than I wish him to be," said the Jew. + +"Have no fears on that account. He 'll soon acquit all his debts," said +the other. "Good-night, Morlache." And with this abrupt leave-taking he +withdrew. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. A SAD EXIT. + +The French Secretary of Legation was just going to bed as his servant +handed him a card from Lord Norwood, with a few words scribbled in +pencil. + +"Yes, by all means. Tell my Lord to come in," said he; and Norwood +entered. + +"You remember an old pledge you once made me," said the Viscount, +smiling. "I have come to claim it." + +"_Diantre!_ the case must be pressing that would not wait till +daylight." + +"So it is; and so you will agree with me in thinking it when I tell you +all," said Norwood. "The first point is, may I reckon upon you?" + +"Of course; my word is sacred." + +"Secondly, have you pistols that you can depend upon? Mine have been +stopped at Milan by the police." + +"They are Jacquard's best," said the Frenchman; "and in _your_ hand +ought not to disgrace their maker." + +"Dress, then, and come along with me. This affair must be disposed of +quickly." + +"I'm at your orders," said the Frenchman, gayly. "I suppose you will be +kind enough to tell me something more as we go along." + +Norwood nodded an assent, and sat down before the fire and crossed his +arms on his breast. + +"Was it a quarrel at play?" asked the Frenchman, after an interval of +silence. + +"No!" was the abrupt reply. + +"All the better. It is the only affair of this kind I cannot endure. Is +there a woman in it?" + +"Yes." + +"Ah! I perceive," said the other, with a laugh. "A married woman?" + +"Yes." + +"And who is this happy husband, this time?" asked he, flippantly. + +"I am," replied Norwood, in a low and solemn voice. + +"_You! you!_ I never thought--never suspected _you_ of being married, +Norwood. Pray be a little more explicit. Let me hear the whole story." + +"Later on, not now. I want to think of something else at this moment Are +your pistols fine in the trigger?" + +"Excessively so; a fly would almost suffice to move them. Is he +English?" + +"No." + +"Not a countryman of my own, I hope?" + +"No. It is Midchekoff, the Russian." + +"_Diantre!_ what a mark to shoot at! But they tell me that he never does +go out,--that he refuses this kind of thing." + +"He shall not do so this time," said Norwood, with a vehement energy of +manner. + +"Well, I 'm ready now; but I must say that I should like to hear +something of what we are about." + +"There will be ample time for all as we go along. We shall drive to the +villa. It is necessary to obtain an interview with himself. This done, +I will give the provocation, showing that you are ready and in waiting; +there can be no delay." + +"But he will need a friend?" + +"He must take one of his secretaries,----his valet if he prefer it I 'll +give no time for evasive negotiation." + +"I cannot be a party to an affair like this, Norwood. Whatever the wrong +you seek to avenge, this is not the mode to do it." + +"Say so at once, then," said Norwood, rising. "Tell me that you gave a +rash promise, and are sorry for it Better the refusal now than when it +be too late to retract." + +"You mistake me; I have no wish to unsay one single word I ever spoke to +you. I only ask for such an explanation as I have a right to demand." + +"You shall know everything; pray spare me telling it twice over. There +is no use in opening one's wound till he comes to the surgeon. Enough +now, that I tell you this man owes me a full and fair reparation for a +great wrong; I am equally determined on exacting it. If this does not +satisfy you, step into the carriage and you shall hear the whole story. +I can tell it, perhaps, when we are rattling along over the stones in +the dark." And so saying, he sat down and leaned his head on the table, +as though he would not be disturbed. The Frenchman went on with +his dressing, rapidly; and at last, pronouncing himself ready, they +descended the stairs together in silence, and entered the carriage. + +As they drove on, Norwood never spoke; and his companion, respecting +perhaps the occasion of his silence, did not utter a word. At last they +arrived at the summit of the hill, and looked down upon the city, over +which the gray tints of coming day were breaking. The great Duomo and +the Palazzo Vecchio lay in massive shadow, and it was only at intervals +along the Arno that a flickering gleam of cold light fell. The scene, in +all its calm and stillness, was grand and solemn. + +"How unlike the Florence of sun and bright sky, how unlike the brilliant +city of dissipation and pleasure!" said Norwood; "and so it is with +individuals: we are just what light and shadow make us! Now listen to +me." He then related the whole story of his first meeting with Lola, +down to the moment of D'Esmonde's revelation. "I know well," said he, +"there may be a dozen ways to look on the affair besides that which I +have chosen. I might dispute the marriage; I might disavow the whole +proceeding; I might, naturally enough, leave such a woman to her +fate,--she never could be anything to _me_; but I cannot relinquish the +opportunity of a reckoning with this Russian. The insolence of his +wealth gives all the venom to this outrage, and I 'll shoot him! All the +splendor of his riches can avail him but little now. And, except some +more gold upon his coffin, and a richer pall to cover it, he has no +advantage over me, ruined and beggared as I am. As to my scores with the +world at large, I am about quits. _They_ cheated _me_ when I was a +young, unsuspecting boy, trusting and believing every one. _I_ repaid +_them_, as my own time came. Men understand this thoroughly, but women +never do. The moment you cease to be _their_ dupe, they hate you. As to +my debts, they gave me little trouble when living, they 're not likely +to disturb my rest in the churchyard; and as for friends, there is not +one alive to whom I could send a last word of affection; and yet--you'll +scarcely believe it--with all this I 'd like to live; although if you +ask me why, I couldn't tell it Perhaps it is this," cried he, after a +pause; "the yelping pack that cried me down in my absence will do so now +without fear or restraint The stories of me that once were whispered +will now be told aloud. Slander and calumny can go abroad without a +dread of consequences. But even that is a poor thing to live for!" + +The Frenchman's philosophy had taught him but few sympathies with +such gloomy ideas, and he tried in every way to rally his friend; but +Norwood's mind was full of very different sorrows from those he had +dwelt upon. It was the canker of a disappointed, abortive life was +eating into his heart A fair fortune squandered, a noble name tarnished, +a high position sacrificed, and now an ignominious quarrel to close his +career,--these were the reflections which, far more embittering than all +his words, now tortured and agonized him. + +"Come," said he, suddenly, "we had better move forward. It is getting +nigh daybreak, and our Prince will soon be retiring to his room." + +They now drove rapidly on for some time, and at last reached the gate, +where the porter, at once recognizing Mor-lache's carriage and livery, +admitted them without a word. + +"You 'll have to wait for me here, Count," said Norwood, when they +stopped at the door. "I 'll contrive not to keep you long; but this part +of the matter I must do alone." The bell had scarcely done ringing when +the door was opened. "The Prince is still at table?" said Norwood, half +in assertion, half in inquiry; and then, with a gesture to the servant +to show the way, he overawed all scruples about admitting him. "Is he +alone?" said the Viscount, as they went along. + +"No, sir. The Countess is with him." + +"Say that a person on most pressing business is here, and must speak +with him at once." + +"The Prince always requires the name, sir. I dare not address him +without it." + +"Say that I am come from Morlache's,----that I have something to +deliver into his own hands." + +Norwood placed the casket on the table as he spoke. The servant retired, +and speedily returned, requesting Norwood to follow him. As the door was +flung open, Norwood heard voices; he stopped and hesitated. Either an +impulse of passion or some change of purpose worked within him; for, +as he stood, he grasped the edge of the door, and swayed to and fro for +some seconds. + +"Let him come out,--let him come here," cried he, in a loud voice. + +A low murmur of persons speaking was heard within, and suddenly the +rustling sound of a female dress was followed by the bang of a door; and +then Norwood entered, and, closing the door, locked it behind him. + +The grating sound of the key made the Russian turn his head suddenly +around, and his eyes met Norwood's. + +"What! my Lord Norwood!" cried he, in amazement. "They never told me--" + +"If they had, in all likelihood I should not have been admitted," was +the stern reply. + +"I must own it is an honor for which I was scarcely prepared, my Lord," +said the other. + +"You never spoke more truly, sir," said Norwood. "Men like yourself +fancy that their solvency in matters of money implies as much in all the +various relations of life, and that, as they know not what a dun means, +they are to enjoy an equal immunity from every demand of honor." + +"As you are evidently speaking under some strange misapprehension, my +Lord, I hesitate about accepting your words in any offensive sense." + +"You said you were unprepared for my visit, sir, and I believe you, +as you will be, doubtless, unprepared for the object of it Prince +Midchekoff, I have come here to request your company across the +Tuscan frontier; the matter is of sufficient importance to warrant the +inconvenience. You will take any or as many of your household as you +please, but you shall accompany me from this spot Come, sir, your air of +easy indifference is for once mistimed. You see before you a man whose +utmost effort can scarcely repress the passion that stirs within him. +Neither your coolness nor your cowardice--for the quality goes by either +name--can avail you here. I must and I will have reparation." + +"Until I am aware of the injury,--until you tell me how or in what I +have wronged you--" + +"How shall I teach you a lesson of honor; sir," cried Norwood, boiling +over with rage, "so that you may comprehend, even for a moment, the +feeling of a gentleman? You cannot affect ignorance as to who and what +is the woman that sat there. You need not drive me to the indignity of +calling her my wife! You know it well, and you knew all the disgrace you +were heaping on a class who rejected your intimacy. None of this mock +surprise, sir! If you compel me to it, I 'll fling open that door, call +all your household around you, and before them I 'll insult you, so that +even your serf-blood will rebel against the outrage." + +"This is madness,----downright insanity, my Lord," said Midchekoff, +rising and moving towards the bell. + +"Not so, sir," said Norwood, interposing. "My passion is now mastered. +You shall not escape on that pretence. There are my pistols; only one of +them is loaded; take your choice, for I see that outside of this room I +shall seek in vain for satisfaction." + +"This would be a murder." + +"It shall be, by Heaven, if you delay!" cried Norwood. "I have the right +and the will to shoot you like a dog. If there be no honor, is there +not even some manhood in your heart? Take your weapon; you hesitate +still,--take that, then!" And he struck him with his open hand across +the face. + +[Illustration: 419] + +Midchekoff snatched the pistol convulsively, and, placing the muzzle on +Norwood's breast, fired. With a wild cry he staggered and fell dead upon +the floor. The Prince flung open the door, and rang the bell violently. +In a moment the room was filled with servants. "Send Jocasse here," +said Midchekoff; and his chief secretary entered in all haste and +trepidation. "This is an affair for the police, Jocasse," said the +Prince, coolly. "Send for the brigadier, and let him come to my room." + +"Suicide shows a great _manque de savoir vivre_," said Haggerstone, as +the news of the event was circulated through Florence. And the _mot_ +survived the memory of its victim. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. THE SUMMONS. + +They who only knew Vienna in its days of splendor and magnificence could +scarcely have recognized that city as it appeared on the conclusion of +the great revolt which had just convulsed the Empire. The great walls +were riddled with shot and shell; vast breaches in them opened out a +view of even more dreadful ruin within; streets choked up with fallen +houses, and wide squares encumbered with blocks of masonry and blackened +timbers. The terrible traces of barricade struggles still remained; but +more significant than all these was the downcast, sorrow-struck look of +a population once known as the gayest and most light-hearted of Europe. + +The air of suffering and poverty extended to everything. No signs of the +once luxury and wealth of that rich nobility. Not an equipage was to +be seen! The passing and repassing of troops gave the only movement +observable in the streets. Strong guards and patrols marched past, with +all the precaution and preparation of a state of war. The dragoons sat +in their saddles, carbine in hand, as if but waiting for a signal to +engage; while, in the half-defiant stare of the populace might be read +the spirit of men who had not yet resigned themselves to defeat. + +Most of the shops were closed, and, even of those still open, the +display of wares was scanty and miserable; rather seeming as if the +effort were made to conciliate the favor of the Government than with +any hope of gain. The cafes were deserted, except by the military; and +they--far from indulging the jocund mirth and laughter which was their +wont--were now serious and anxious-looking, regarding the passers-by +with a distrustful glance, and seeming as though they felt that the +interval was less peace than an armistice. + +Cannon were in position on the Stephan's Platz and the Graben, and the +gunners stood ready, as if on parade. Officers of the staff, too, and +orderlies rode hastily to and fro, showing that no rash reliance was +placed on the quietude of the capital, and that the hour of conflict, if +it were to come, should not find them unprepared. In vain the stranger +might have sought for that more than feudal splendor which once was the +type of this brilliant city! The gorgeous liveries of the Bohemian, +or the more tasteful grandeur of the Magyar noble were no longer to be +seen. The varied costumes of the Banat and the Wallach, which gave such +character to many a rude equipage, the barbaric finery, which recalled +the old struggles with the Crescent, which marked the rank of some +border chieftain, was gone. Vienna presented nothing but its troops of +soldiers, and its mournful, sad-looking population, moving listlessly +about, or standing in groups to gaze on the disastrous ruins of their +once proud city. + +The "Ambassador Street," where formerly the armorial shields of every +reigning house of Europe were wont to be displayed, was now almost +untenanted. + +With some the Imperial Government was at open war; with others +estrangement and coldness prevailed; while some, again, were represented +by officials of inferior rank,--all signs of troubled and precarious +times, when kings no longer knew what future awaited them! + +It was here, formerly, that the most brilliant society of the capital +was to be found; here, every night, the carriages were seen to throng, +and the whole street glow with the glare of light from brilliant +_salons_, or the red flame of the torches borne by the running footmen. +The proud aristocracy of every land here met; and names that recalled +the great achievements of generals and statesmen were heard in every +announcement that resounded along those corridors. But a few of these +palaces were now occupied; and for the most part were the quarters of +the generals of the army. In front of one of the largest, at whose +gate two sentinels stood, the street was littered with straw; while the +closed shutters and drawn curtains showed that sickness and suffering +were busy within. The frequent arrivals, and the passing and repassing +of messengers evinced the interest the sufferer's fate excited; and +amongst those who dismounted at the corner of the street, and with +cautious steps approached the door, more than one member of the Imperial +house was to be seen. He whose fortune inspired all these tokens of +regard was no great or illustrious general, no proud and distinguished +statesman; he was simply a young officer of hussars,--a gallant +soldier, whose fidelity had been proved under the most trying +circumstances,----our old acquaintance, Frank Dalton. Relapse after +relapse had reduced his strength to the very verge of debility, and each +day threatened to be his last Worn down by pain and suffering, the young +soldier bore a look of calm and even happy meaning. His character for +loyalty had been not only vindicated by his blood; but, through the +aid of Walstein, it was shown that he could have known nothing of the +conspiracy with which he was charged. Thus re-established in fair fame, +he saw himself the object of every care that affection could bestow. +The old Count seldom quitted him; Kate never left his bedside. Every +attention of kindness, every suggestion of love was bestowed upon him; +and a sick-bed was made the scene of more touching happiness than he had +ever known in the proudest hours of his health and vigor. Could he +have seen his dear Nelly beside him, he had no more to wish for! To die +without pressing her to his heart, without acknowledging all that +he owed to her good counsels, was now his only sorrow; and if in the +stillness of the sick-room tears would flow heavily along his cheek, and +drop, one by one, on his pillow, this was their secret source. + +The Count had himself written to Nelly. Kate, too, had despatched a +letter, telling of Frank's dangerous condition, and entreating her +presence; but no reply had been returned, and they already began to fear +that some mishap had occurred, and were obliged to frame all manner +of excuses for her absence. Meanwhile, as his strength declined, his +impatience increased; and his first question, as day broke, and his last +at night, were, "What tidings of Nelly?" All his faults and errors lay +like a load upon his heart, till he could pour out the confession to +his dear sister. The post-hour of each morning was a moment of intense +anxiety to him; and the blank look which met his eager glance was the +signal for a depression that weighed down his heart during the day. From +long dwelling on this source of sorrow, his mind grew painfully acute +as to all that bore upon it; and sometimes he fancied that his uncle and +Kate knew some dreadful fact of poor Nelly, and feared to communicate +it. More than once had it occurred to him that she was dead,--that she +had sunk, broken-hearted and deserted. He did not dare to whisper this +suspicion, but he tried to insinuate his fears about her in a hundred +ways. To his sickly fancy their frankness seemed dissimulation, and +the very grief they displayed he read as the misery of an unrevealed +calamity. + +Kate, with all a woman's quickness, saw what was passing in his mind, +and tried her utmost to combat it; but all in vain. To no purpose did +she open her whole heart before him, telling of her own sad history and +its disappointments. In vain did she point to a bright future, when, +strong and in spirits, Frank should accompany her in search of Nelly, +through every glen and valley of the Tyrol. The impression of some +concealment was more powerful than all these, and he but heard them as +tales invented to amuse a sick-bed. The morbid sensibility of illness +gave a significance to every trivial incident, and Kate dared not +whisper in his presence, nor even exchange a look with another, without +exciting a whole flood of doubt and suspicion in his mind. + +To allay, so far as might be, these disordered terrors, they assumed +the utmost frankness in all intercourse with him, and even took pains to +exhibit an undisguised freedom on every occasion. + +The letters which arrived by each morning's post were always opened in +his presence, and his prying, eager glances showed that the precaution +was not unneeded. + +"What is that?" cried he, suddenly, as Kate, after reading the address +of a letter, hastily threw it on the table, and covered it with others. +"Let me see that, Kate. Who is it for?" + +"It bears your name," said she, anxiously, "and has an Irish postmark; +but the hand is not known to me." + +The youth took the letter in his hand, and sat gazing on it for some +minutes together. + +"No," said he, at length, "I do not remember to have seen the writing +before. Read it, Kate." + +She broke the seal, and at once exclaimed, "It is from Dr. Grounsell, +Frank,--a very dear and kind friend." + +She ran her eyes rapidly over the lines as she spoke, and twice her +color came and went, and her hand trembled as it held the paper. + +"You have bad news for me?" said the boy, with a slow, but firm +utterance; "but so that it be not of Nelly, I can bear anything!" + +"It is not of Nelly," said Kate, in a tremulous voice. + +"Then let me hear it," said he, calmly. + +She tried to read, but the effort was beyond her strength; and although +her lips moved, no sound issued from them. At last she gained sufficient +strength to say, "It would agitate you too much, my dear brother, to +hear this now. Let us wait for a day or two, till you are stronger, and +better able to think about it." + +"I have told you already, that if it be not of Nelly, I can hear it with +indifference. Read on, then, Kate." + +"The meaning of it is this, Frank," cried she, hastily. "There was a +fearful crime committed some years back in Ireland,--a relative of ours, +named Godfrey, was murdered." + +"Yes--yes--I know it. Go on," said he, eagerly. + +"The circumstances have never come to light, and now, it would appear, +some efforts are being made to connect our name with this dreadful act; +and--and--in fact, Frank, Dr. Grounsell wishes to learn from you where +we were residing at the period in question; and if you be possessed of +any letters or papers which could show the relations existing between +our family and Mr. Godfrey." + +"You must let me read this for myself, Kate," said Frank, calmly, taking +the letter from her hands; "and now leave me for a while." + +With trembling steps and a sinking heart the young girl retired, to pass +hours of intense anxiety in her chamber. At last came a servant to say +that her brother desired to see her. + +"I must set out for Ireland, Kate," said the sick youth, as he arose +from his chair. + +"For Ireland!" cried she, gazing with terror at his wasted and worn +figure. + +"A long journey, dearest, but I shall have strength for it, if you 'll +be my companion!" + +"Never to leave you, Frank," cried she; and fell sobbing into his arms. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. INISTIOGE. + +Rich as Ireland is in picturesque river scenery, we know nothing +more beautiful than the valley through which the Nore flows between +Thomastown and New Ross. The gently sloping meadows, backed by deep +woods, and dotted with cheerful farm-houses, gradually give way to a +bolder landscape as you descend the stream and enter a dark gorge, whose +high beetling sides throw their solemn shade over the river, receding at +last to form a kind of amphitheatre wherein stands the little village of +Inistioge. + +More like a continental than an Irish hamlet, the cottages are built +around a wide open space planted with tall elms and traversed by many +a footpath; and here, of a summer night, are to be seen the villagers +seated or strolling about in pleasant converse,--a scene of rural peace +and happiness such as rarely is to be met with in our land of trial and +struggle. Did our time or space admit of it, we would gladly loiter in +that pleasant spot, gazing from that graceful bridge on the ivy-clad +towers, the tall and stately abbey, or the rich woods of that proud +demesne, which in every tint of foliage encircles the picture. + +That "vale and winding river" were scenes of some of our boyhood's +happiest hours, and even years--those stern teachers--have not +obliterated the memory! Our task is not, however, with these +recollections, and we would now ask our reader to stand with us beneath +the shadow of the tall elms, while the little village is locked in +slumber. + +It is past midnight,----all is still and tranquil; a faint moonlight +flickers through the leaves, and plays a fitful gleam upon the river. +One man alone is abroad, and he is seen to traverse the bridge with +uncertain steps, stopping at moments as if to listen, and then resuming +his solitary watch. A light, the only one in the village, twinkles +from a window of the little inn, and the door lies open, for in his +impatience he has quitted his chamber to walk abroad in the night air. +As the hours wear on, his anxiety seems to increase, and he starts and +pauses at every sound of the wind through the trees, and every cadence +of the rushing river. At last he hears the tramp of a horse,--he +bends down to listen,--it comes nearer and nearer, and in his feverish +impatience he hastens in the direction of the coming noise. + +"Is that you, Michel?" he cries, in an eager accent. + +"Yes, D'Esmonde, it is!" replies a voice; and the next moment the +horseman has dismounted at his side. + +"What have I not suffered since you left this, Michel!" said D'Esmonde, +as he rested his forehead on the other's shoulder. "There is not an +image of terror my mind has not conjured up. Shame, ignominy, ruin, were +all before me; and had you stayed much longer away, my brain could not +have borne it." + +"But, D'Esmonde, my friend--" + +"Nay, nay, do not reason with me; what I feel--what I suffer--has no +relation to the calm influences of reason. I alone can pilot myself +through the rocks and quicksands of this channel. Tell me of your +mission--how has it fared?" + +"Less well than I hoped for," said the other, slowly. + +"I thought as much," replied D'Esmonde, in a tone of deep dejection. +"You saw him?" + +"Yes, our interview lasted nigh an hour. He received me coldly, +but courteously, and entered into the question with a kind of calm +acquiescence that at first gave me good encouragement." + +"To end in disappointment!" cried D'Esmonde, bitterly; and the other +made no reply. "Go on, Michel," said the Abbe, after a pause; "tell me +all." + +"I began," resumed the other, "by a brief reference to Godfrey's murder, +and the impenetrable mystery in which, up to this hour, it would appear +to be veiled. I related all that you had told me of the relationship +between him and the Daltons, and the causes which had broken off their +friendship. With these he seemed conversant, though I am unable to say +whether he knew more or less than what I was communicating. I dwelt as +long and as forcibly as I deemed safe on the character and habits of old +Dalton, hinting at his reckless, unprincipled career, and the wild and +lawless notions he entertained on every subject. To my great surprise, +and I confess to my discomfiture, he stopped me short by saying,---- + +"'You would imply, then, that he was the guilty man.' + +"'You go too fast, Mr. Grounsell,' said I, calmly; 'I have come to +confer and take counsel with you, not to form rash or hasty notions on a +matter of such deep gravity. If the circumstances I shall lay before you +possess the same importance in your eyes that they do in mine, it may +be that your own conclusions will be even more than suspicious.' I +then entered upon the story of Meekins, and how a comrade of his, an +Irishman, called Noonan, confessed to him that he was the murderer of +Mr. Godfrey; that he had never known him, nor had any intercourse with +him; but was employed for the act by old Dalton, who was then residing +at Bruges. This Noonan, who was possessed of several letters of +Dalton's, had joined a Genoese vessel, fitted out for the slave-trade, +and was killed in action. Meekins had frequent conversations with him +on the subject of the murder, and, although a stranger from another +country, knew every detail of the scene and locality perfectly from +description. + +"'Meekins is still living?' asked Dr. Grounsell. + +"'Living, and now here,' replied I; at which he gave a start of +surprise, and, I think, of alarm. + +"'Is he ready to substantiate his statement on oath?' said he. + +"'That he could do so, I have no doubt,' replied I; 'that he will, or +that he ought, is perhaps a matter for calm reflection.' + +"'How do you mean?' said he, hastily. 'If what he alleges be true, can +there be any hesitation as to its publicity?' + +"'On that there may be grave doubts, sir,' said I. 'They whom the law +could have held responsible are already gone before another judgment +seat. Their guilt or innocence has been proven where deception or error +exist not! It is only their blameless descendants that could now pay +the penalty of their crime; and it may well be matter for consideration +whether they should be exposed to the world's shame, to expiate that +wherein they had no share----' + +"'Do you yourself believe this man's story?' asked he, abruptly. + +"'I see no reason to discredit it,' was my answer. 'There are moments +when doubt is more difficult than belief, and this is one of them. He +has never varied in his narrative,--he tells it to-day as he told it +yesterday,--he details family circumstances that defy invention, and +mentions events and incidents that all tally with facts.' + +"'Where was he himself at the time of the murder?' + +"'In South America,' he says. 'He had joined one of those patriot +expeditions which sailed from Ireland to join Bolivar.' + +"'This he can prove, of course?' observed he, shrewdly. + +"'I conclude he can,' replied I; 'it never occurred to me to question +it.' + +"There was an interval after this, in which neither of us spoke; at last +he said, 'May I ask how you became acquainted with this man--Meekins?' + +"'Through a brother clergyman, who was the means of saving his life +abroad.' + +"'And the intention is,' rejoined he, in a slow and deliberate voice, +'that we should, while believing this man's statement, keep it secret? +Would not that amount to a very grave offence,--the compromise of a +felony?' + +"I hesitated as he said this, not knowing well which way the discussion +might turn; at last I replied, 'Meekins might refuse his evidence,--he +might deny that he had ever made these revelations.' + +"'In other words,' said he, 'he prefers to sell his testimony for a +better price than a court of justice would pay for it.' + +"'You do not suppose that I could be a party to----' + +"'Nay, nay,' cried he, interrupting me, 'not on such grounds as these; +but I can well conceive your feeling strongly interested for the +blameless and unhappy children. The only question is, how far such +sympathies can be indulged against the direct claims of justice.' + +"There was a dispassionate calmness in the tone he spoke this, that +disarmed my suspicions, D'Esmonde; and it was only when I had left him +and was on my way back here, that I perceived what may, perhaps, have +been a very great error; for I at once proceeded to lay before him the +course I would counsel, and how, by the employment of a very moderate +sum, this fellow could be induced to emigrate to America, never to +return. After pushing this view with all the force I could, I at last +avowed, as if driven to the confession, that another motive had also its +weight with me, which was, that my friend and brother priest--the same +who rescued Meekins from his fate--was the natural son of Mr. Godfrey, +educated and brought up at his cost, and maintained till the period of +his death with every requisite of rank and station; that Meekins knew +this fact, and would publish it to the world, if provoked to it, and +that thus my friend's position at the court of Rome would be utterly +ruined. + +"'He is a Monsignore, then?" asked Grounsell. + +'"He is,' replied I, 'and may even yet be more than that.'" + +"This was rash, Michel,--this was all imprudence," said D'Esmonde, with +a heavy sigh. "Go on; what said he then?" + +"He waited while I told him that we sought for no advantages on the +score of this relationship; that we preferred no claims whatever against +the estate of Mr. Godfrey; that we only sought to bury in oblivion a +great crime, and to prevent the publicity of a great shame. + +"'It is your belief, then,' said he, staring me fully in the face, 'that +Dalton was guilty?' + +"'From what is before me,' replied I, 'it is hard to reject that +conclusion.' + +"'And that this was an act of pure revenge?' + +"'Less that, perhaps, than the hope of succeeding to the property +by some will of early date; at least, such is the version Meekins's +informant gave him.' + +"'Ay, ay,' said he, 'that would constitute a motive, of course. Your +advice is, then, that we should make terms with this fellow? Is this +also your friend's counsel?' + +"'I scarcely can tell you,' replied I 'My friend is not in any sense a +worldly man. His whole thoughts are centred in the cause he serves, +and he could only see good or evil in its working on the Church. If his +cousins--' + +"'His cousins!' + +"'Yes, the Daltons--for they are such----deem this the fitting course, +he is ready to adopt it. If they counsel differently, I can almost +answer for his compliance.' + +"'You can give me time to communicate with Dalton? He is at Vienna.' + +"'Yes, if you agree with me in this view of the case, and think that +such will be Dalton's opinion also; otherwise it will be difficult +to secure this fellow's secrecy much longer. He knows that he is in +possession of a deeply important fact; he feels the impunity of his +own position; and to-morrow or next day he may threaten this, that, or +other. In fact, he believes that Lady Hester Onslow herself has no title +to the estate, if he were disposed to reveal all he knows.' + +"'Can I see him?' asked Grounsell. + +"' Of course you can; but it would be useless. He would affect an utter +ignorance of everything, and deny all knowledge of what we have been +talking.' + +"'You will give me some hours to think over this?' asked he, after a +pause. + +"'I had rather that you could come to a quicker resolve,' said I; 'the +fellow's manner is menacing and obtrusive. I have perhaps too long +delayed this visit to you; and should he suspect that we are hesitating, +he may go before a magistrate, and make his deposition before we are +aware of it.' + +"'You shall hear from me this evening, sir. Where shall I address my +note?' + +"'The Rev. Michel Cahill--the Inn, at Inistioge,' replied I. And so we +parted." + +"We must leave this at once, Michel," said D'Esmonde, after a brief +interval of silence. "Grounsell may possibly come over here himself. He +must not see me; still less must he meet with Meekins. We have gone too +fast here,--much too fast." + +"But you told me that we had not a moment to lose." + +"Nor have we, Michel; but it is as great an error to overrun your game +as to lag behind the scent. I distrust this doctor." + +"So do I, D'Esmonde. But what can he do?" + +"We must quit this place," said the other, not heeding the question. +"There is a small wayside public, called the 'Rore,' about five miles +away. We can wait there for a day, at least I almost wish that we had +never embarked in this, Michel," said he, thoughtfully. "I am seldom +faint-hearted, but I feel I know not what of coming peril. You know well +that this fellow Meekins is not to be depended on. When he drinks, he +would reveal any and everything. I myself cannot determine whether to +credit or reject his testimony. His insolence at one moment, his +slavish, abject terror at another, puzzle and confound me." + +"You have been too long an absentee from Ireland, D'Esmonde, or they +would present no difficulties to your judgment. At every visit I make to +our county jail I meet with the self-same natures, torn, as it were, +by opposite influences,--the passions of this world, and the terrors of +that to come." + +"Without the confessional, who could read them!" exclaimed D'Esmonde. + +"How true that is!" cried the other. "What false interpretations, what +mistaken views, are taken of them! And so is it,--we, who alone know the +channel, are never to be the pilots!" + +"Say not so," broke in D'Esmonde, proudly. "We are, and we shall be! +Ours will be the guidance, not alone of them, but of those who rule +them. Distrust what you will, Michel, be faint-hearted how you may, but +never despair of the glorious Church. Her triumph is already assured. +Look at Austria, at Spain, at all Northern Italy. Look at Protestant +Prussia, trembling for the fate of her Rhine provinces. Look at England +herself, vacillating between the game of conciliation and the perils +of her unlimited bigotry. Where are we not victorious? Ours is the only +despotism that ever smote two-handed,--crushing a monarchy here, and +a people there,--proclaiming divine right, or asserting the human +inheritance of freedom! Whose banner but ours ever bore the double +insignia of rule and obedience?--ours, the great Faith, equal to every +condition of mankind and to every age and every people? Never, never +despair of it!" + +D'Esmonde sat down, and covered his face with his hands; and when he +arose, his pale features and bloodless lips showed the strong reaction +from a paroxysm of intense passion. + +"Let us leave this, Michel," said he, in a broken voice. "The little +inn I speak of is not too distant for a walk, and if we start at once we +shall reach it before daybreak. While you awake Meekins, and arrange +all within, I will stroll slowly on before." And, thus saying, D'Esmonde +moved away, leaving the others to follow. + +D'Esmonde was more than commonly thoughtful, even to depression. He had +been but a few days in Ireland, but every hour of that time had revealed +some new disappointment to him. There was all that he could wish of +religious zeal, there was devotion and faith without limit amongst the +people; but there was no unity of action, no combination of purpose, +amongst those who led them. Discursive and rash efforts of individuals +were suffered to disturb well-laid measures and reveal long-meditated +plans. Vain and frivolous controversies in newspapers, petty wars of +petty localities, wasted energies, and distracted counsels. There +was none of that organization, that stern discipline, which at Rome +regulated every step, and ordained every movement of their mighty host. +"This," muttered he to himself, "is an army without field-officers. +Their guerilla notions must be henceforth exchanged for habits of +military obedience. Little think they that their future General is now +the solitary pedestrian of a lonely road at midnight." The recurrence +to himself and his own fortunes was one of those spells which seemed to +possess an almost magical influence over him. From long dwelling on the +theme, he had grown to believe that he was destined by Heaven for +the advancement, if not the actual triumph, of the great cause of the +Church; and that he, whose origin was obscure and ignoble, could now sit +down at the council of the Princes of the Faith, and be heard, as one +whose words were commands, was always sufficient evidence that he +was reserved by fate for high achievements. Under the spell of this +conviction he soon rallied from his late dejection, and his uplifted +head and proud gait now showed the ambitious workings of his heart. +"Ay," cried he, aloud, "the first Prince of the Church who for above a +century has dared them to defiance! _That_ is a proud thought, and well +may nerve the spirit that conceives it to courageous action." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. THE MANOR-HOUSE OF CORRIG-O'NEAL. + +While we leave, for a brief space, the Abbe D'Esmonde to pursue his +road, we turn once more to the peaceful scene wherein we found him. +Mayhap there be in this dalliance something of that fond regret, that +sorrowful lingering with which a traveller halts to look down upon a +view he may never see again! Yes, dear reader, we already feel that +the hour of our separation draws nigh, when we shall no more be +fellow-journeyers, and we would fain loiter on this pleasant spot, to +tarry even a few moments longer in your company. + +Passing downwards beneath that graceful bridge, which with a rare +felicity seems to heighten, and not to impair, the effect of the scene, +the river glides along between the rich wooded hills of a handsome +demesne, and where, with the most consummate taste, every tint of +foliage and every character of verdure has been cultivated to heighten +the charm of the landscape. The spray-like larch, the wide-leaved +sycamore, the solemn pine, the silver-trunked birch, all blending +their various hues into one harmonious whole,--the very perfection of a +woodland picture. As if reluctant to leave so fair a scene, the stream +winds and turns in a hundred bendings--now forming little embayments +among the jutting rocks, and now, listlessly loitering, it dallies with +the gnarled trunks of some giant beech that bends into the flood. + +Emerging from these embowering woods, the river enters a new and totally +different tract of country,--the hills, bare of trees, are higher, +almost mountainous in character, with outlines fantastic and rugged. +These, it is said, were once wooded too; they present, however, little +remains of forest, save here and there a low oak scrub. The sudden +change from the leafy groves, ringing with many a "wood note wild," to +the dreary silence of the dark region, is complete as you approach the +foot of a tall mountain, at whose base the river seems arrested, and +is in reality obliged by a sudden bend to seek another channel. This +is Corrig-O'Neal; and here, in a little amphitheatre, surrounded by +mountains of lesser size, stood the ancient manor of which mention has +been more than once made in these pages. + +It is but a short time back and there stood there an ancient house, +whose character, half quaint, half noble, might have made it seem a +French chateau; the tall, high-pitched roof, pierced with many a window; +the richly ornamented chimneys, the long terrace, with its grotesque +statues, and the intricate traceries of the old gate itself, all +evidencing a taste not native to our land. The very stiff and formal +avenue of lime-trees that led direct to the door had reference to a +style of landscape-gardening more consonant with foreign notions, even +without the fountains, which, with various strange groups of allegorical +meaning, threw their tiny jets among the drooping flowers. At the back +of the house lay a large garden, or rather what constituted both garden +and orchard; for although near the windows trim flower-beds and neatly +gravelled walks were seen, with rare and blossoming plants, as you +advanced, the turf usurped the place of the cultivated ground, and the +apple, the pear, and the damson formed a dense, almost impenetrable +shade. + +Even on the brightest day in spring, when the light played and danced +upon the shining river, with blossoming cherry-trees, and yellow +crocuses in the grass, and fair soft daffodils along the water's edge, +smiling like timid beauties, when the gay May-fly skimmed the rippling +stream, and the strong trout splashed up to seize him,--even then, with +life and light and motion all around, there was an air of sadness on +this spot,--a dreary gloom, that fell upon the spirits less like sudden +grief than as the memory of some old and almost forgotten sorrow. The +frowning aspect of that stern mountain, which gave its name to the +place, and which, in its rugged front, showed little touch of time or +season, seemed to impress a mournful character on the scene. However it +was, few passed the spot without feeling its influence, nor is it likely +that now, when scarcely a trace of its once inhabited home remains, its +aspect is more cheering. + +In a dark wainscoted room of this gloomy abode, and on a raw and dreary +day, our old acquaintance, Lady Hester, sat, vainly endeavoring between +the fire and the screen to keep herself warm, while shawls, muffs, and +mantles were heaped in most picturesque confusion around her. A French +novel and a Blenheim spaniel lay at her feet, a scarce-begun piece of +embroidery stood at one side of her, and an untasted cup of coffee on a +small table at the other. Pale, and perhaps seeming still more so from +the effect of her deep mourning, she lay back in her chair, and, with +half-closed lids and folded arms, appeared as if courting sleep--or at +least unconsciousness. + +She had lain thus for above half an hour, when a slight rustling +noise--a sound so slight as to be scarcely audible----caught her +attention, and, without raising her head, she asked in a faint tone,---- + +"Is there any one there?" + +"Yes, my Lady. It is Lisa," replied her maid, coming stealthily forward, +till she stood close behind her chair. "Put some of that thing----peat, +turf, or whatever it is----on the fire, child. Has the post arrived?" + +"No, my Lady; they say that the floods have detained the mails, and that +they will be fully twelve hours late." + +"Of course they will," sighed she; "and if there should be anything for +_me_, they will be carried away." + +"I hope not, my Lady." + +"What's the use of your hoping about it, child? or, if you must hope, +let it be for something worth while. Hope that we may get away from this +miserable place,----that we may once more visit a land where there +are sunshine and flowers, and live where it repays one for the bore of +life." + +"I 'm sure I do hope it with all my heart, my Lady." + +"Of course you do, child. Even you must feel the barbarism of this +wretched country. Have those things arrived from Dublin yet?" + +"Yes, my Lady; but you never could wear them. The bonnet is a great +unwieldy thing, nearly as big and quite as heavy as a Life-Guardsman's +helmet; and the mantle is precisely like a hearth-rug with sleeves to +it. They are specially commended to your Ladyship's notice, as being all +of Irish manufacture." + +"What need to say so?" sighed Lady Hester. "Does not every lock on every +door, every scissors that will not cut, every tongs that will not hold, +every parasol that turns upside down, every carriage that jolts, and +every shoe that pinches you, proclaim its nationality?" + +"Dr. Grounsell says, my Lady, that all the fault lies in the wealthier +classes, who prefer everything to native industry." + +"Dr. Grounsell's a fool, Lisa. Nothing shall ever persuade me that +Valenciennes and Brussels are not preferable to that ornament for +fireplaces and fauteuils called Limerick lace, and Genoa velvet a +more becoming wear than the O'Connell frieze. But have done with this +discussion; you have already put me out of temper by the mention of that +odious man's name." + +"I at least saved your Ladyship from seeing him this morning." + +"How so? Has he been here?" + +"Twice already, my Lady; and threatens another visit He says that he has +something very important to communicate, and his pockets were stuffed +with papers." + +"Oh, dear me! how I dread him and his parchments! Those terrible details +by which people discover how little is bequeathed to them, and how +securely it is tied up against every possibility of enjoying it. I 'd +rather be a negro slave on a coffee plantation than a widow with what is +called a 'high-principled trustee' over my fortune." + +"There he comes again, my Lady; see how fast he is galloping up the +avenue." + +"Why will that pony never stumble? Amiable and worthy folk break their +necks every day of the week,--fathers of families and unbeneficed +clergymen. Assurance companies should certainly deal lightly with crusty +old bachelors and disagreeable people, for they bear charmed lives." + +"Am I to admit him, my Lady?" asked the maid, moving towards the door. + +"Yes--no--I really cannot--but perhaps I must. It is only putting off +the evil day. Yes, Lisa, let him come in; but mind that you tell him I +am very poorly--that I have had a wretched night, and am quite unfit +for any unpleasant news, or, indeed, for anything like what he calls +business. Oh dear! oh dear! the very thought of parchment will make me +hate sheep to the last hour of my life; and I have come to detest the +very sight of my own name, from signing 'Hester Onslow' so often." + +It must be said, there was at least no hypocrisy in her Ladyship's +lamentations; if the cause of them was not all-sufficient, the effects +were to the full what she averred, and she was, or believed herself to +be, the most miserable of women. Sir Stafford's will had bequeathed +to her his Irish property, on the condition of her residing upon it at +least six months every two years, a clause whose cruelty she--with +or without reason we know not--attributed to the suggestion of Dr. +Grounsell. To secure eighteen months of unlimited liberty, she was +undergoing her captivity in what, it must be acknowledged, was a spirit +the reverse of that the testator intended. So far from taking any +interest in the country, its people, or its prospects, she only saw +in it a dreary imprisonment, saddened by bad weather, bad spirits, and +solitude. Nor were her griefs all causeless. Her position was greatly +fallen from the possession of a fortune almost without bounds to the +changeful vicissitudes of an Irish property. Norwood's dreadful death, +wrapped in all the mystery which involved it, shocked her deeply, +although, in reality, the event relieved her from a bondage she had long +felt to be insupportable; and lastly, the Romanism in which she had, +so to say, invested all her "loose capital" of zeal and enthusiasm, +had become a terrible disappointment. The gorgeous splendor of Italian +Popery found a miserable representative in Irish Catholicism. The meanly +built Irish chapel, with its humble congregation, was a sorry exchange +for the architectural grandeur and costly assemblage gathered within the +Duomo of Florence, or beneath the fretted roof of "St. John of Lateran." + +In all the sublimity of pealing music, of full-toned choirs, of incense +floating up into realms of dim distance, there were but the nasal +sing-song of a parish priest, and the discordant twang of a dirty +acolyte! And what an interval separated their vulgar manners of the +village curate from the polished addresses of the Roman cardinal! How +unlike the blended pretension and cringing slavery of the one was to +the high-bred bearing and courtly urbanity of the other. A visit from +"Father John" was an actual infliction. To receive his Eminence was not +only an honor but a sincere pleasure. Who, like him, to discuss every +topic of the world and its fashionable inhabitants, touching every +incident with a suave mellowness of remark that, like the light through +a stained-glass window, warmed, while it softened, that which it fell +upon? Who could throw over the frailties of fashion such a graceful +cloak of meek forgiveness, that it seemed actually worth while to sin +to be pardoned with such affection? All the pomp and circumstance of +Romanism, as seen in its own capital, associated with rank, splendor, +high dignity, and names illustrious in story, form a strong contrast +to its vulgar pretensions in Ireland. It is so essentially allied to +ceremonial and display, that when these degenerate into poverty and +meanness, the effect produced is always bordering on the ludicrous. +Such, at least, became the feeling of Lady Hester as she witnessed those +travesties of grandeur, the originals of which had left her awe-stricken +and amazed. + +Shorn of fortune, deprived of all the illusions which her newly adopted +creed had thrown around her, uncheered by that crowd of flatterers which +used to form her circle, is it any wonder if her spirits and her temper +gave way, and that she fancied herself the very type of misery and +desertion? The last solace of such minds is in the pity they bestow upon +themselves; and here she certainly excelled, and upon no occasion more +forcibly than when receiving a visit from Dr. Grounsell. + +"Dr. Grounsell, my Lady," said a servant; and, at the words, that +gentleman entered. + +A heavy greatcoat, with numerous capes, a low-crowned glazed hat, and a +pair of old-fashioned "Hessians," into which his trousers were tucked, +showed that he had not stooped to any artifices of toilet to win favor +with her Ladyship. As she bowed slightly to him, she lifted her glass to +her eye, and then dropped it suddenly with a gentle simper, as though to +say that another glance would have perilled her gravity. + +"Winter has set in early, madam," said he, approaching the fire, "and +with unusual severity. The poor are great sufferers this year." + +"I 'm sure I agree with you," sighed Lady Hester. "I never endured such +cold before!" + +"I spoke of the 'poor,' madam," retorted he, abruptly. + +"Well, sir, has any one a better right to respond in their name than I +have? Look around you, see where I am living, and how, and then answer +me!" + +"Madam," said Grounsell, sternly, and fixing his eyes steadily on her as +he spoke, "I have ridden for two hours of this morning over part of that +tract which is your estate. I have visited more than a dozen--I will not +call them houses, but hovels. There was fever in some, ague in others, +and want, utter want, in all; and yet I never heard one of the sufferers +select himself as the special mark of misfortune, but rather allude to +his misery as part of that common calamity to which flesh is heir. 'God +help the poor!' was the prayer, and they would have felt ashamed to have +invoked the blessing on themselves alone." + +"I must say that if you have been to see people with typhus, and perhaps +small-pox, it shows very little consideration to come and visit _me_ +immediately after, sir." + +Grounsell's face grew purple, but with a great effort he repressed the +reply that was on his lips, and was silent. + +"Of course, then, these poor creatures can pay nothing, sir?" + +"Nothing, madam." + +"Che bella cosa! an Irish property!" cried she, with a scornful laugh; +"and if I mistake not, sir, it was to your kind intervention and +influence that I am indebted for this singular mark of my husband's +affection?" + +"Quite true, madam. I had supposed it to be possible----Just +possible--that, by connecting your personal interest with duties, you +might be reclaimed from a life of frivolity and idleness to an existence +of active and happy utility, and this without any flattering estimate of +your qualities, madam." + +"Oh, sir, this is a very needless protest," said she, bowing and +smiling. + +"I repeat, madam, that, without any flattering estimate of your +qualities, I saw quite enough to convince me that kindness and +benevolence were just as easy to you as their opposites." + +"Why, you have become a courtier, sir," said she, with a smile of sly +malice. + +"I 'm sorry for it, madam; I 'd as soon be mistaken for a hairdresser +or a dancing-master. But to return. Whether I was correct or not in my +theory would appear to be of little moment; another, and more pressing +view of the case, usurping all our interests, which is no less, madam, +than your actual right and title to this estate at all." + +Lady Hester leaned forward in her chair as he said this, and in a low +but unshaken voice replied, "Do I understand you aright, sir, that the +title to this property is contested?" + +"Not yet, madam; there is no claim set up as yet; but there is every +likelihood that there will be such. Rumors have gradually grown into +open discussions; threatening notices have been sent to me by post, and +stories which at first I had deemed vague and valueless have assumed a +degree of importance from the details by which they were accompanied. In +fact, madam, without any clew to the nature or direct drift of the plot, +I can yet see that a formidable scheme is being contrived, the great +agent of which is to be menace." + +"Oh dear, what a relief it would be to me were I quite certain of all +this!" exclaimed Lady Hester, with a deep sigh. + +"What a relief? Did you say what a relief, madam?" cried Grounsell, in +amazement. + +"Yes, sir, that was precisely the word I used." + +"Then I must have blundered most confoundedly, madam, in my effort to +explain myself. I was endeavoring to show you that your claim to the +estate might be disputed!" + +"Very well, sir, I perfectly understood you." + +"You did, eh? you perceive that you might possibly lose the property, +and you acquiesce calmly--" + +"Nay, more, sir; I rejoice sincerely at the very thought of it." + +"Well, then, upon my----eh? May the devil--I beg pardon, madam, but +this is really such a riddle to me that I must confess my inability to +unravel it." + +"Shall I aid you, sir?" said Lady Hester, with an easy smile on her +features. "When bequeathing this estate to me, Sir Stafford expressly +provided, that if from any political convulsion Ireland should be +separated from her union with Great Britain, or if by course of law a +substantial claim was established to the property by another, that I +should be recompensed for the loss by an income of equal amount derived +from the estate of his son, George Onslow, at whose discretion it lay +to allocate any portion of his inheritance he deemed suitable for the +purpose." + +"All true, madam, quite true," broke in Grounsell; "and the +Solicitor-General's opinion is that the provision is perfectly +nugatory,--not worth sixpence. It has not one single tie of obligation, +and, from its vagueness, is totally inoperative." + +"In law, sir, it may be all that you say," replied Lady Hester, calmly; +"but I have yet to learn that this is the appeal to which Captain Onslow +would submit it." + +Grounsell stared at her; and for the first time in all his life he +thought her handsome. That his own features revealed the admiration +he felt was also plain enough, and Lady Hester was very far from being +insensible to the tribute. + +"So that, madam," cried he, at length, "You prefer insecurity to +certainty." + +"Say rather, sir, that I have more confidence in the honorable +sentiments of an English gentleman than I have in the solvency of a poor +and wretched peasantry. Up to this very hour I have known nothing except +the claims upon myself. I don't like the climate; and I am certain the +neighbors do not like me,--in fact, I have neither the youth nor the +enterprise suited to a new country." + +"Why, good heavens, madam, it isn't New Zealand we're in!" cried +Grounsell, angrily. + +"Perhaps not," sighed she, languidly; "but it is just as strange to +_me_." + +"I see, madam," said Grounsell, rising, "my plan was a bad one. A wing +in the Borghese Palace, a spacious apartment of the Corsini, on the +Arno, or even the first floor of the Moncenigo, at Venice, would have +been a happier choice than a gloomy old mansion on the banks of an Irish +river." + +"Oh, do not speak of it, sir!" cried she, enthusiastically. "Do not +remind me of starry skies and the deep blue Adriatic in this land of +cloud and fog, where even the rain is 'dirty water.' Pray make the very +weakest defence of my claim to this inheritance. I only ask to march out +with my baggage, and do not even stipulate for the honors of war. Let me +have George's address." + +"You 'll not need it, madam; he will be here within a few days. He has +been promoted to a majority for his conduct in the field, and returns to +England covered with praise and honors." + +"What delightful news, Dr. Grounsell; you are actually charming this +morning!" The doctor bowed stiffly at the compliment, and she went +on: "I often thought that you could be amiable if you would only let +yourself; but, like the Cardinal Gualterino, you took up the character +of Bear, and 'Bear' you would be at all times and seasons; and then +those horrid coats, that you would persist in wearing,--how you ever got +them of that odious brown, I can't think; they must have dyed the wool +to order,--not but that I think your shoes were worst of all." + +Grounsell understood too well the wordy absurdity with which her +Ladyship, on the least excitement, was accustomed to launch forth, +quite forgetful of all the impertinence into which it betrayed her. He +therefore neither interposed a remark, nor seemed in any way conscious +of her observation; but coldly waiting till she had concluded, he said, +---- + +"Some other of your Ladyship's friends are also expected in this +neighborhood,--the Daltons!" + +"What--my dear Kate?" + +"Yes; Miss Kate Dalton, accompanied by her brother and uncle. I have +just been to order apartments for them in the hotel at Kilkenny." + +"But they must come here. I shall insist upon it, doctor. This is a +point on which I will accept no refusal." + +"The occasion which calls them to Ireland, madam, and of which you shall +hear all, hereafter, would totally preclude such an arrangement." + +"More mystery, sir?" exclaimed she. + +"Another side of the same one, madam," rejoined he, dryly. + +"What delightful news, to think I shall see my dearest Kate again! I +am dying to know all about Russia, and if the ladies do wear pearls +in morning toilette, and whether turquoises are only seen in fans and +parasol handles. What splendor she must have seen!" + +"Humph!" said Grounsell, with a short shrug of the shoulders. + +"Oh, I know you despise all these things, and you hate caviare. Then I +want to know about the Prince; why the match was broken off; and from +what cause she refused that great settlement,--some thousand roubles. +How much is a rouble, by the way, doctor?" + +"I really cannot tell you, madam," said he, bluntly, who saw that she +was once more "wide a-field." + +"She'll tell me all herself, and everything about Russia. I want to hear +about the knout, and the malachite, and that queer habit of gambling +before dinner is announced. I 'm sure I should like St Petersburg. And +the brother, what is he like?" + +"I only know, madam, that he is a great invalid, not yet recovered from +his wounds!" + +"How interesting! He was in the patriot army, was he not?" + +"He fought for the Emperor, madam; pray make no mistake in that sense." + +"Oh dear! how difficult it is to remember all these things; and yet I +knew it perfectly when I was at Florence,--all about the Kaiser-Jagers, +and the Crociati, and the Croats, and the rest of them. It was the +Crociati, or the Croats--I forget which--eat little children. It 's +perfectly true; Guardarelli, when he was a prisoner, saw an infant +roasting for Radetzky's own table." + +"I would beg of you, madam, not to mention this fact to the +Field-Marshal, Miss Kate Dalton's uncle." + +"Oh, of course not; and I trust he will not expect that we could provide +him with such delicacies here. Now, doctor, how shall we amuse these +people? what can we do?" + +"Remember, first of all, madam, that their visit to Ireland is not an +excursion of pleasure----" + +"Oh, I can perfectly conceive _that!_" interrupted she, with a look of +irony. + +"I was about to remark that an affair of deep importance was the cause +of their journey--" + +"More business!" broke she in again. "After all, then, I suppose I am +not much more miserable than the rest of the world. Everybody would seem +to have what you call 'affairs of importance.'" + +"Upon my word, madam, you have made me totally forget _mine_, then," +said Grounsell, jumping up from his seat, and looking at his watch. "I +came here prepared to make certain explanations, and ask your opinion +on certain points. It is now two o'clock, and I have not even opened the +matter in hand." + +Lady Hester laughed heartily at his distress, and continued to enjoy her +mirth as he packed up his scattered papers, buttoned his greatcoat, and +hurried away, without even the ceremony of a leave-taking. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. "THE RORE." + +D'Esmonde and his friend Michel sat beside the fire in a small parlor +of the wayside public-house called "The Rore." They were both thoughtful +and silent, and in their moody looks might be read the signs of brooding +care. As for the Abbe, anxiety seemed to have worn him like sickness; +for his jaws were sunk and hollow, while around his eyes deep circles of +a dusky purple were strongly marked. + +It was not without reason that they were thus moved; since Meekins, who +hitherto rarely or never ventured abroad, had, on that morning, gone +to the fair of Graigue, a village some few miles away, where he was +recognized by a farmer----an old man named Lenahan--as the steward of +the late Mr. Godfrey. It was to no purpose that he assumed all the airs +of a stranger to the country, and asked various questions about the +gentry and the people. The old farmer watched him long and closely, and +went home fully satisfied that he had seen Black Sam,--the popular name +by which he was known on the estate. In his capacity of bailiff, Black +Sam had been most unpopular in the country. Many hardships were traced +to his counsels; and it was currently believed that Mr. Godfrey would +never have proceeded harshly against a tenant except under his advice. +This character, together with his mysterious disappearance after the +murder, were quite sufficient, in peasant estimation, to connect him +with the crime; and no sooner had Lenahan communicated his discovery +to his friends, than they, one and all, counselled him to go up to the +doctor--as Grounsell was called on the property--and ask his advice. + +The moment Grounsell heard that the suspected man called himself +Meekins, he issued a warrant for his arrest; and so promptly was it +executed that he was taken on that very evening as he was returning to +"The Rore." The tidings only reached the little inn after nightfall, and +it was in gloomy confabulation over them that the two priests were now +seated. The countryman who had brought the news was present when the +police arrested Sam, and was twice called back into the parlor as +D'Esmonde questioned him on the circumstance. + +It was after a long interval of silence that the Abbe for the third time +summoned the peasant before him. + +"You have not told me under what name they arrested him. Was it +Meekins?" + +"The Sergeant said, 'you call yourself Meekins, my good man?' and the +other said, 'Why not?' 'Oh, no reason in life,' says the Sergeant; 'but +you must come with us,--that 's all.' 'Have you a warrant for what you +'re doing?' says he. 'Ay,' says the polis; 'you broke yer bail----'" + +"Yes, yes," broke in D'Esmonde, "You mentioned all that already. And +Meekins showed no fear on being taken?" + +"No more than your Reverence does this minute. Indeed, I never see a man +take it so easy. 'Mind what you 're doing,' says he; 'for, though I 'm a +poor man, I have strong friends that won't see me wronged.' And then he +said something about one 'Father Matthew;' but whether it was you, or +that other clergyman there, I don't know." + +"They took him to Thomastown?" + +"No, your Reverence,--to Kilkenny." + +"That will do, my good man," said D'Esmonde, with a nod of his head; +and then, as the door closed behind him, added, "You see, Michel, I was +right in my fears of this doctor. The evasive terms of his note, too, +confirmed my suspicions,--that 'desire for further time in a matter of +such great difficulty.' We have thrown him on the scent, and he is now +in full cry after the game. Shame upon us!--shame! that such as he can +foil us at our own weapons. I see his plan clearly enough. He is either +in possession of some secret fact of this man's early life, which can be +employed as a menace to extort a confession from him, or he is about to +work on him by bribery. Now, as to the former, I am perfectly at ease. +What I, with every agency of the Church, have failed to elicit, I can +safely defy the layman's craft to detect. As to the effect of a bribe, I +am far from being so certain." + +"And in either case the result concerns you but little," said Cahill. +"The fellow has nothing in his power against _you_." + +"Nothing," said D'Esmonde. "I never left myself in the hands of such +as he! It will, of course, be disagreeable to me that our intercourse +should be made public. The Orange press will know how to connect our +intimacy with a thousand schemes and subtleties that I never dreamed of; +and, more offensive still, the assumed relationship to Mr. Godfrey will +afford a fruitful theme for sneer and sarcasm. I foresee it all, my good +Michel; and, worst of all, I perceive how this publicity will mar higher +and nobler objects. The Sacred College will never make a prince of the +Church of one whose name has been sullied by the slang of journalism. +These are the dangers to be averted here. You must contrive to see this +man at once,--to assure him of our interest and protection, if he be +but discreet and careful. He may safely deny all knowledge of the +circumstances to which we alluded. We are the only persons to whom +he made these revelations. He has only to assume an ignorance of +everything. Impress this upon him, Michel; for if they can involve him +in a narrative, be it ever so slight or vague, these lawyers exercise a +kind of magic power in what is called cross-examination, and can detect +a secret fact by tests as fine as those by which the chemist discovers +a grain of poison. Would that I could see him myself! but this might be +imprudent." + +[Illustration: 452] + +"Trust all to me, D'Esmonde; and believe me, that with men like him +habit has taught me better how to deal than you, with all your higher +skill, could accomplish. I will contrive to see him to-night, or early +to-morrow. The under-turnkey was from my own parish, and I can make my +visit as if to _him._" + +"How humiliating is it," cried D'Esmonde, rising and pacing the +room,--"how humiliating to think that incidents like these are to sway +and influence us in our road through life; but so it is, the great +faults that men commit are less dangerous than are imprudent intimacies +and ill-judged associations. It is not on the high bluff or the bold +headland that the craft is shipwrecked, but on some small sunken +rock,--some miserable reef beneath the waves! Could we but be 'penny +wise' in morals, Michel, how rich we should be in knowledge of life! I +never needed this fellow,--never wanted his aid in any way! The unhappy +mention of Godfrey's name--the spell that in some shape or other has +worked on my heart through life--first gave him an interest in my eyes; +and so, bit by bit, I have come to be associated with him, till--would +you believe it?--I cannot separate myself from him. Has it ever occurred +to you, Michel, that the Evil One sometimes works his ends by infusing +into the nature of some chance intimate that species of temptation by +which courageous men are so easily seduced,--I mean that love of +hazard, that playing with fire, so intoxicating in its excitement? I am +convinced that to _me_ no bait could be so irresistible. Tell me that +the earth is mined, and you invest it with a charm that all the verdure +of 'Araby the Blest' could never give it! I love to handle steel when +the lightning is playing; not, mark me, from any contempt of life, far +less in any spirit of blasphemous defiance, but simply for the glorious +sentiment of peril. Be assured that when all other excitements pall upon +the mind, this one survives in all its plenitude, and, as the poet says +of avarice, becomes a good 'old gentlemanly vice.'" + +"You will come along with me, D'Esmonde?" said the other, whose thoughts +were concentrated on the business before him. + +"Yes, Michel, I am as yet unknown here; and it may be, too, that this +Meekins might wish to see me. We must take good care, while we avoid +any public notice, that this fellow should not think himself deserted by +us." + +"The very point on which I was reflecting, D'Esmonde. We can talk over +this as we go along." + +As the two priests affected to be engaged on a kind of mission to +collect subscriptions for some sacred purpose, their appearance or +departure excited no feeling of astonishment, and the landlord of "The +Bore" saw them prepare to set out without expressing the least surprise. +The little "low-backed car," the common conveyance of the people at +fair and market, was soon at the door; and, seated in this, and well +protected against the weather by rugs and blankets, they began their +journey. + +"This is but a sorry substitute for the scarlet-panelled coach of the +Cardinal, D'Esmonde," said his companion, smiling. + +A low, faint sigh was all the answer the other made, and so they went +their way in silence. + +The day broke drearily and sad-looking; a thin, cold rain was falling, +and, from the leaden sky above to the damp earth beneath, all was gloomy +and depressing. The peasantry they passed on the road were poor-looking +and meanly clad; the houses on the wayside were all miserable to +a degree; and while his companion slept, D'Esmonde was deep in his +contemplation of these signs of poverty. + +"No," said he, at last, as if summing up the passing reflections in +his own mind, "this country is not ripe for the great changes we are +preparing. The gorgeous splendor of the Church would but mock this +misery. The rich robe of the Cardinal would be but an insult to the +ragged coat of the peasant. England must be our field. Ireland must be +content with a missionary priesthood. Italy, indeed, has poverty, but +there is an intoxication in the life of that land which defies it. The +sun, the sky, the blue water, the vineyards, the groves of olive, and +the fig--the lightheadedness that comes of an existence where no fears +invade--no gloomy to-morrow has ever threatened. These are the elements +to baffle all the cares of narrow fortune, and hence the gifts which +make men true believers! In climates such as this men brood and think +and ponder. Uncheered from without, they turn within, and then come +doubts and hesitations,--the fatal craving to know that which they may +not! Of a truth these regions of the north are but ill suited to our +glorious faith, and Protestantism must shun the sun as she does the +light of reason itself." + +"What! are you preaching, D'Esmonde?" cried his friend, waking up at +the energetic tone of the Abbe's voice. "Do you fancy yourself in the +pulpit? But here we are, close to the town. We had better dismount now, +and proceed on foot." + +Having dismissed their humble equipage, the two friends walked briskly +along, and entered the city, which, even at this early hour, was filling +for its weekly market. + +D'Esmonde took up his quarters at once at a small inn close by the +castle gate, and the priest Cahill immediately proceeded to the jail. +He found no difficulty in obtaining access to his acquaintance the +under-turnkey, but, to his disappointment, all approach to Meekins was +strictly interdicted. "The magistrates were here," said the +turnkey, "till past midnight with him, and that English agent of the +Corrig-O'Neal estate was along with them. What took place, I cannot even +guess, for it was done in secret. I only overheard one of the gentlemen +remark, as he passed out, 'That fellow is too deep for us all; we 'll +make nothing of him.'" + +Cahill questioned the man closely as to what the arrest related, and +whether he had heard of any allegation against Meekins; but he knew +nothing whatever, save that he had broken his bail some years before. +The strictest watch was enjoined over the prisoner, and all intercourse +from without rigidly denied. To the priest's inquiries about Meekins +himself, the turnkey replied by saying that he had never seen any man +with fewer signs of fear or trepidation. "Whatever they have against +him," added he, "he's either innocent, or he defies them to prove him +guilty." + +Cahill's entreaties were all insufficient to make the turnkey disobey +his orders. Indeed, he showed that the matter was one of as much +difficulty as danger, the chief jailer being specially interested in the +case by some observation of one of the justices. + +"You can at least carry a message for me?" said the priest, at last. + +"It's just as much as I dare do," replied the other. + +"You incur no risk whatever so far," continued Cahill "The poor man is +my sacristan, and I am deeply interested for him. I only heard of his +being arrested last night, and you see I 've lost no time in coming to +see after him. Tell him this. Tell him that I was here at daybreak, and +that I 'll do my best to get leave to speak with him daring the day. +Tell him, moreover, that, if I shouldn't succeed in this, not to be +down-hearted, for that we--a friend of mine and myself----will not +desert him nor see him wronged. And, above all, tell him to say nothing +whatever to the magistrates. Mind me well,--not a syllable of any kind." + +"I mistake him greatly," said the turnkey, "or he 's the man to take a +hint quick enough, particularly if it's for his own benefit." + +"And so it is,--his own, and no other's," rejoined the priest. "If he +but follow this advice, I 'll answer for his being liberated before the +week ends. Say, also, that I 'd send him some money, but that it might +draw suspicion on him; and for the present it is better to be cautious." + +Before Cahill left the prison, he reiterated all his injunctions as to +caution, and the turnkey faithfully pledged himself to enforce them on +the prisoner. + +"I will come again this evening," said the priest, "and you can tell me +what he says; for, as he has no friend but myself, I must not forsake +him." + +As Cahill gained the street, a heavy travelling-carriage, whose +lumbering build bespoke a foreign origin, passed by with four posters, +and, sweeping across the market-place, drew up at the chief inn of the +town. The priest, in idle curiosity, mingled with the lounging crowd +that immediately gathered around the strange-looking equipage, where +appliances for strength and comfort seemed blended, in total disregard +to all facilities for motion. A bustling courier, with all the +officiousness of his craft, speedily opened the door and banged down +the steps, and a very tall old man, in what appeared to be an undress +military frock, descended, and then assisted a young lady to alight. +This done, they both gave their arm to a young man, whose wasted form +and uncertain step bespoke long and severe illness. Supporting him at +either side, they assisted him up the steps into the hall, while the +bystanders amused themselves in criticising the foreigners, for such +their look and dress declared them. + +"The ould fellow with a white beard over his lip is a Roosian or a +Proosian," cried one, who aspired to no small skill in continental +nationalities. + +"Faix! the daughter takes the shine out of them all," cried another. +"She's a fine crayture!" + +"The brother was a handsome man before he had that sickness," observed a +third. "'Tis no use of his legs he has!" + +[Illustration: 459] + +These frank commentaries on the new arrivals were suddenly interrupted +by the appearance of the old man on the steps of the hall door, where he +stood gazing down the street, and totally unconscious of the notice he +was attracting. + +"What's that building yonder?" cried he, to the waiter at his side, and +his accent, as he spoke, betrayed a foreign tongue. "The Town Hall!--ah, +to be sure, I remember it now; and, if I be not much mistaken, there +is----at least there was--an old rickety stair to a great loft overhead, +where a strange fellow lived, who made masks for the theatre--what's +this his name was?" The bystanders listened to these reminiscences in +silent astonishment, but unable to supply the missing clew to memory. +"Are none of you old enough to remember Jack Ruth, the huntsman?" cried +he, aloud. + +"I have heard my father talk of him," said a middle-aged man, "if it was +the same that galloped down the mountain of Corrig-O'Neal and swam the +river at the foot of it." + +"The very man," broke in the stranger. "Two of the dogs, but not a +man, dared to follow! I have seen some bold feats since that day, but I +scarcely think I have ever witnessed a more dashing exploit. If old Jack +has left any of his name and race behind him," said he, turning to the +waiter, "say that there's one here would like to see him;" and with this +he re-entered the inn. + +"Who is this gentleman that knows the country so well?" asked the +priest.. + +"Count Dalton von Auersberg, sir," replied the courier. "His whole +thoughts are about Ireland now, though I believe he has not been here +for upwards of sixty years." + +"Dalton!" muttered the priest to himself; "what can have brought them to +Ireland? D'Esmonde must be told of this at once!" And he pushed through +the crowd and hastened back to the little inn. + +The Abbe was engaged in writing as Cahill entered the room. + +"Have you seen him, Michel?" cried he, eagerly, as he raised his head' +from the table. + +"No. Admission is strictly denied--" + +"I thought it would be so--I suspected what the game would be. This +Grounsell means to turn the tables, and practise upon _us_ the menace +that was meant for _him_. I foresee all that he intends, but I'll foil +him! I have written here to Wallace, the Queen's Counsel, to come down +here at once. This charge against old Dalton, in hands like his, may +become a most formidable accusation." + +"I have not told you that these Daltons have arrived here--" + +"What! Of whom do you speak?" + +"The old Count von Dalton, with a niece and nephew." + +D'Esmonde sprang from his seat, stood for some seconds, stood still and +silent. + +"This is certain, Michel? you know this to be true?" + +"I saw the old General myself, and heard him talk with the waiter." + +"The combat will, then, be a close one," muttered D'Esmonde. "Grounsell +has done this, and it shall cost them dearly. Mark me, Michel--all that +the rack and the thumb-screw were to our ancestors, the system of +a modern trial realizes in our day. There never was a torture, the +invention of man's cruelty, as terrible as cross-examination! I care +not that this Dalton should have been as innocent as you are of this +crime,--it matters little if his guiltlessness appear from the very +outset. Give me but two days of searching inquiry into his life, his +habits, and his ways. Let me follow him to his fireside, in his poverty, +and lay bare all the little straits and contrivances by which he eked +out existence, and maintained a fair exterior. Let me show them to the +world, as I can show them, with penury within, and pretension without +These disclosures cannot be suppressed as irrelevant,--they are the +alleged motives of the crime. The family that sacrifices a child to a +hateful alliance----that sells to Austrian bondage the blood of an only +son--and consigns to menial labor a maimed and sickly girl, might well +have gone a step further in crime." + +"D'Esmonde! D'Esmonde!" cried the other, as he pressed him down into a +seat, and took his hand between his own, "these are not words of calm +reason, but the outpourings of passion." The Abbe made no answer, but +his chest heaved and fell, and his breath came with a rushing sound, +while his eyes glared like the orbs of a wild animal. + +"You are right, Michel," said he at last, with a faint sigh. "This was +a paroxysm of that hate which, stronger than all my reason, has actuated +me through life. Again and again have I told you that towards these +Daltons I bear a kind of instinctive aversion. These antipathies are +not to be combated,--there are brave men who will shudder if they see a +spider. I have seen a courageous spirit quail before a worm. These are +not caprices, to be laughed at,--they are indications full of pregnant +meaning, could we but read them aright. How my temples throb!--my head +seems splitting. Now leave me, Michel, for a while, and I will try to +take some rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. A TALK OVER BYGONES + +It was with a burst of joy that Lady Hester heard the Daltons had +arrived. In the wearisome monotony of her daily life, anything to do, +anywhere to go, any one to see, would have been esteemed boons of great +price; what delight, then, was it to meet those with whom she could +converse of "bygone times" and other lands!--"that dear Kate," whom she +really liked as well as it was in her nature to love anything, from whom +she now anticipated so much of that gossip, technically called "news," +and into whose confiding heart she longed to pour out her own private +woes! + +The meeting was indeed affectionate on both sides; and, as Lady Hester +was in her most gracious of moods, Frank thought her the very type of +amiability, and the old Count pronounced her manners fit for the high +ordeal of Vienna itself. Perhaps our reader will be grateful if we leave +to his imagination all the changeful moods of grief and joy, surprise, +regret, and ecstasy, with which her Ladyship questioned and listened +to Kate Dalton's stories; throwing out, from time to time, little +reflections of her own, as though incidentally, to show how much wiser +years had made her. There are people who ever regard the misfortunes of +others as mere key-notes to elicit their own sufferings; and thus, when +Kate spoke of Russia, Lady Hester quoted Ireland. Frank's sufferings +reminded her of her own "nerves;" and poor Nelly's unknown fate was +precisely "the condition of obscurity to which Sir Stafford's cruel will +had consigned herself." + +Kate's mind was very far from being at ease, and yet it was with no mean +pleasure she found herself seated beside Lady Hester, talking over the +past with all that varying emotion which themes of pleasure and sadness +call up. Who has not enjoyed the delight of such moments, when, living +again bygone days, we laugh or sigh over incidents wherein once as +actors we had moved and felt? If time has dimmed our perceptions of +pleasure, it has also softened down resentments and allayed asperities. +We can afford to forgive so much, and we feel, also, so confident of +others' forgiveness, and if regrets do steal over us that these things +have passed away forever, there yet lurks the flattering thought that we +have grown wiser than we then were. So is it the autobiographies of the +fireside are pleasant histories, whose vanities are all pardonable, and +whose trifling is never ungraceful! Memory throws such a softened light +on the picture, that even bores become sufferable, and we extract a +passing laugh from the most tiresome of our quondam "afflictives." + +Had her Ladyship been less occupied with herself and her own emotions, +she could not have failed to notice the agitation under which Kate +suffered at many of her chance remarks. The levity, too, with which she +discussed her betrothal to Midchekoff almost offended her. The truth +was, Kate had half forgotten the reckless, unthinking style of her +friend's conversation, and it required a little practice and training to +grow accustomed to it again. + +"Yes, my dear," she went on, "I have had such trouble to persuade people +that it was no marriage at all, but a kind of engagement; and when that +horrid Emperor would n't give his consent, of course there was an end +of it you may be sure, my sweet child, I never believed one syllable of +that vile creature's story about George's picture; but somehow it +has got abroad, and that odious Heidendorf goes about repeating it +everywhere. I knew well that you never cared for poor dear George! +Indeed, I told him as much when he was quite full of admiration for you. +It is so stupid in men! their vanity makes them always believe that, +if they persist--just persevere--in their attachment, the woman will +at last succumb. Now, _we_ have a better sense of these things, and +actually adore the man that shows indifference to us,--at least, I am +sure that I do. Such letters as the poor boy keeps writing about you! +And about five months ago, when he was so badly wounded, and did not +expect to recover, he actually made his will, and left you all he had +in the world. Oh dear!" said she, with a heavy sigh, "they have generous +moments, these men, but they never last; and, by the way, I must ask +your advice--though I already guess what it will be--about a +certain friend of ours, who has had what I really must call the +presumption--for, after all, Kate, I think you 'll agree with me it is a +very great presumption,----is it not, dear?" + +"Until you tell me a little more," replied Kate, with a sigh, "I can +scarcely answer." + +"Well, it's Mr. Jekyl--you remember, that little man that used to be so +useful at Florence; not but he has very pretty manners, and a great deal +of tact in society. His letters, too, are inimitably droll. I'll show +you some of them." + +"Oh! then you are in correspondence with him?" said Kate, slyly. + +"Yes; that is, he writes _to me_--and I--I sometimes send _him_ a short +note. In fact, it was the Abbe D'Esmonde induced me to think of it at +all; and I was bored here, and so unhappy, and so lonely." + +"I perceive," said Kate; "but I trust that there is nothing +positive,----nothing like an engagement?" + +"And why, dear?--whence these cautious scruples?" said Lady Hester, +almost peevishly. + +"Simply because he is very unworthy of you," said Kate, bluntly, and +blushing deep at her own hardihood. + +"Oh, I'm quite sure of that," said Lady Hester, casting down her eyes. +"I know--I feel that I am mistaken and misunderstood. The world has +always judged me unfairly! you alone, dearest, ever comprehended me; and +even you could not guess of what I am capable! If you were to read my +journal--if you were just to see what sufferings I have gone through! +And then that terrible shock! though, I must say, D'Esmonde's mode of +communicating it was delicacy itself. A very strange man that Abbe +is, Kate. He now and then talks in a way that makes one suspect his +affections are or have been engaged." + +"I always believed him too deeply immersed in other cares." + +"Oh, what a short-sighted judgment, child! These are the minds that +always feel most! I know this by myself--daring the last two years +especially! When I think what I have gone through! The fate, not +alone of Italy, but of Europe, of the world, I may say, discussed +and determined at our fireside! Yes, Kate, I assure you, so it was. +D'Esmonde referred many points to me, saying 'that the keener perception +of a female mind must be our pilot here.' Of course, I felt all the +responsibility, but never, never was I agitated. How often have I +held the destiny of the Imperial House in my hands! How little do they +suspect what they owe to my forbearance! But these are not themes to +interest you, dearest, and, of course, your prejudices are all Austrian. +I must say, Kate, 'the uncle' is charming! Just that kind of dear old +creature so graceful for a young woman to lean upon; and I love his +long white moustache! His French, too, is admirable,----that Madame +de Sevigne turn of expression, so unlike modern flippancy, and so +respectful to women!" + +"I hope you like Frank!" said Kate, with artless eagerness in her look. + +"He 's wonderfully good-looking without seeming to know it; but, of +course, one cannot expect that to last, Kate." + +"Oh! you cannot think how handsome he was before this illness; and then +he is so gentle and affectionate." + +"There--there, child, you must not make me fall in love with him, for +you know all my sympathies are Italian; and, having embroidered that +beautiful banner for the 'Legion of Hope'--pretty name, is it not?--I +never could tolerate the 'Barbari.'" + +"Pray do not call them such to my uncle," said Kate, smiling. + +"Never fear, dearest. I 'm in the habit of meeting all kinds of horrid +people without ever offending a prejudice; and, besides, I am bent on +making a conquest of 'Mon Oncle;' he is precisely the species of adorer +I like best. I hope he does not take snuff." + +Kate laughed, as she shook her head in sign of negative. + +From this Lady Hester diverged to all manner of reflections about the +future,--as to whether she ought or ought not to know Midchekoff when +she met him; if the villa of La Rocca were really Kate's, or hers, or +the property of somebody else; who was Jekyl's father, or if he ever had +such an appendage; in what part of the Tyrol Nelly was then sojourning; +was it possible she was married to the dwarf, and ashamed to confess +it?--and a vast variety of similar speculations, equally marked by +a bold indifference as to probability, and a total disregard to the +feelings of her companion. Kate was, then, far from displeased when a +messenger came to say that the General was alone in the drawing-room, +and would esteem it a favor if the ladies would join him. + +"How do you mean, alone?" asked Lady Hester. "Where is Mr. Dalton?" + +"Dr. Grounsell came for him, my Lady, and took him away in a carriage." + +"Poor Frank, he is quite unequal to such fatigue," exclaimed Kate. + +"It is like that horrid doctor. His cruelties to me have been something +incredible; at the same time, there's not a creature on my estate he +does not sympathize with! you 'll see how it will be, dearest; he'll +take your dear brother somewhere where there's a fever, or perhaps the +plague--for I believe they have it here; and in his delicate state +he's sure to catch it and die! Mark my words, dearest Kate, and see if +they'll not come true." And with this reassuring speech she slipped her +arm within her companion's and moved out of the room. + +It may be conjectured that it was not without weighty reasons Grounsell +induced Frank, weary and exhausted as he was, to leave his home and +accompany him on a cold and dreary night to the city jail. Although +declining to enter upon the question before a third party, no sooner +were they alone together than the doctor proceeded to an explanation. +Meekins, who it appeared showed the greatest indifference at first, had, +as the day wore on, grown restless and impatient. This irritability was +increased by the want of his accustomed stimulant of drink, in which, +latterly, he had indulged freely, and it was in such a mood he asked for +pen and paper, and wrote a few lines to request that young Mr. Dalton +would visit him. Grounsell, who made a point to watch the prisoner from +hour to hour, no sooner heard this, than he hastened off to the inn with +the intelligence. + +"There is not a moment to be lost," said he. "This fellow, from all that +I can learn, is but the tool of others, who are bent on bringing before +the world the whole story of this terrible crime. A priest, named +Cahill, and who for some time back has been loitering about the +neighborhood, was at the jail this morning before daybreak. Later on, he +posted a letter for Dublin, the address of which I was enabled to see. +It was to the eminent lawyer in criminal cases, Mr. Wallace. + +"That some great attack is in preparation, I have, then, no doubt; the +only question is, whether the object be to extort money by threats of +publicity, or is there some deep feeling of revenge against your name +and family? + +"The jailer, who is in my interest, gives me the most accurate detail +of the prisoner's conduct, and, although I am fully prepared to expect +every species of duplicity and deceit from a fellow of this stamp, yet +it is not impossible that, seeing himself to a certain extent in our +power, he may be disposed to desert to our ranks. + +"He asks you to come alone, and of course you must comply. Whatever be +the subject of his revelations, be most guarded in the way you receive +them. Avow utter ignorance of everything, and give him reasons to +suppose that your great object here is to prevent the exposure and +disgrace of a public trial. This may make him demand higher terms; but +at the same time he will be thrown upon fuller explanations to warrant +them. In fact, you must temper your manner between a conscious power +over the fellow, and an amicable desire to treat with him. + +"He has heard, within the last half-hour, that he has been recognized +here by a former acquaintance, whose account of him includes many +circumstances of deep suspicion. It may have been this fact has induced +him to write to you. This you will easily discover in his manner. But +here we are at the gates, and once more, I say, be cautions and guarded +in everything. + +"Well, Mr. Gray," said Grounsell to the jailer, "You see we have +not delayed very long. Ill as he is, Mr. Dalton has accepted this +invitation." + +"And he has done well, sir," replied the Jailer. "The man's bearing +is greatly changed since morning; some panic has evidently seized him. +There's no saying how long this temper may last; but you are quite right +to profit by it while there is yet time." + +"Is he low and depressed, then?" + +"Terribly so, sir. He asked a while ago if any one had called to see +him. Of course we guessed whom he meant, and said that a priest had been +at the jail that morning, but only to learn the charge under which he +was apprehended. He was much mortified on being told that the priest +neither expressed a wish to see nor speak with him." + +Grounsell gave a significant glance towards Frank, who now followed the +jailer to the prisoner's cell. + +"He's crying, sir; don't you hear him?" whispered the jailer to Frank, +as they stood outside the door. "You could n't have a more favorable +moment." And, thus saying, he rattled the heavy bunch of keys, in order +to give the prisoner token of his approach; and then, throwing open the +door, called out, "Here's the gentleman you asked for, Meekins; see that +you don't keep him long in this cold place, for he is not very well." + +Frank had but time to reach the little settle on which he sat down, when +the door was closed, and he was alone with the prisoner. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. THE JAIL. + +Frank Dalton was in no wise prepared for the quiet and easy +self-possession with which Meekins, after asking pardon for the liberty +of his note, took a seat in front of him. Smoothing down his short and +glossy black hair with his hand, he seemed to wait for Frank to open the +conversation; and while there was nothing of insolence in his manner, +there was an assured calmness, far more distressing to a young and +nervous invalid. + +"You wished to see me, Meekins," said Frank, at last. "What can I do for +you?" + +The man bent slightly forward on his chair, and, fixing his keen +and penetrating eyes, continued steadily to stare at him for several +seconds. + +"You 're too young and too generous to have a double in you," said +he, after a long pause, in which it seemed as if he were scanning the +other's nature; "and before we say any more, just tell me one thing. Did +any one advise you to come here to-night?" + +"Yes," said Frank, boldly. + +"It was that doctor; the man they call the agent,--wasn't it?" + +"Yes," replied the youth, in the same tone. + +"Now, what has he against _me?_--what charge does he lay to me?" + +"I know nothing about it," said Frank; "but if our interview is only to +consist in an examination of myself, the sooner it ends the better." + +"Don't you see what I'm at, sir?--don't you perceive that I only want to +know your honor's feeling towards me, and whether what I 'm to say is +to be laid up in your heart, or taken down in writing and made into an +indictment." + +"My feeling towards you is easily told. If you be an honest man, and +have any need of me, I 'll stand by you; if you be not an honest +man, but the dishonesty only affects myself and my interests, show me +anything that can warrant it, and I 'm ready to forgive you." + +The prisoner hung down his head, and for some minutes seemed deeply +immersed in reflection. + +"Mr. Dalton," said he, drawing his chair closer to the bed, "I 'll make +this business very short, and we need n't be wasting our time talking +over what is honesty and what is roguery,--things every man has his own +notions about, and that depend far more upon what he has in his pocket +than what he feels in his heart I can do _you_ a good turn; _you_ can do +_me_ another. The service I can render you will make you a rich man, and +put you at the head of your family, where you ought to be. All I ask +in return is a free discharge from this jail, and money enough to go +to America. There never was a better bargain for you! As for myself, I +could make more of my secret if I liked; more, both in money--and--and +in other ways." + +As he said these last few words, his cheek grew scarlet and his eyes +seemed to glisten. + +"I scarcely understand you," said Frank. "Do you mean--" + +"I 'll tell you what I mean, and so plainly that you can't mistake me. +I 'll make you what you have good right to be,----the 'Dalton of +Corrig-O'Neal,' the ould place, that was in your mother's family for +hundreds of years back. It is n't taking service in a foreign land you +need be, but an Irish gentleman, living on his own lawful estate." + +"And for this you ask--" + +"Just what I told you,--an open door and two hundred pounds down," said +the fellow, with a rough boldness that was close on insolence. "I've +told you already that if I only wanted a good bargain there 's others +would give more; but that's not what I 'm looking for. I 'm an old man," +added he, in a softened voice, "and who knows when I may be called away +to the long account!" Then suddenly, as it were correcting himself for a +weak admission, he went on, more firmly, "That's neither here nor +there; the matter is just this: Will you pay the trifle I ask, for three +thousand a year, if it is n't more?" + +"I must first of all consult with some friend--" + +"There! that's enough. You 've said it now! Mr. Dalton, I 've done with +you forever," said the fellow, rising and walking to the window. + +"You have not heard me out," said Frank, calmly. "It may be that I have +no right to make such a compact; it may be that by such a bargain I +should be compromising the just claims of the law, not to vindicate my +own rights alone, but to seek an expiation for a dreadful murder!" + +"I tell you again, sir," said the fellow, with the same sternness as +before,----"I tell you again, sir, that I've done with you forever. The +devil a day you 'll ever pass under that same roof of Corrig-O'Neal as +the master of it; and if you wish me to swear it, by the great----" + +"Stop!" cried Frank, authoritatively. "You have either told me too +much or too little, my good man; do not let your passion hurry you into +greater peril." + +"What do you mean by that?" cried the other, turning fiercely round, and +bending over the back of the chair, with a look of menace. "What do you +mean by too much or too little?" + +"This has lasted quite long enough," said Frank, rising slowly from +the bed. "I foresee little benefit to either of us from protracting it +further." + +"You think you have me now, Mr. Dalton," said Meekins, with a sardonic +grin, as he placed his back against the door of the cell. "You think you +know enough, now, as if I wasn't joking all the while. Sure what do I +know of your family or your estate except what another man told me? +Sure I've no power to get back your property for you. I 'm a poor man, +without a friend in the world,"--here his voice trembled and his cheek +grew paler; "it is n't thinking of this life I am at all, but what's +before me in the next!" + +"Let me pass out," said Frank, calmly. + +"Of course I will, sir; I won't hinder you," said the other, but still +not moving from the spot. "You said awhile ago that I told you too much +or too little. Just tell me what that means before you go." + +"Move aside, sir," said Frank, sternly. + +"Not till you answer my question. Don't think you're back with your +white-coated slaves again, where a man can be flogged to death for a +look! I 'm your equal here, though I am in prison. Maybe, if you provoke +me to it, I 'd show myself more than your equal!" There was a menace +in the tone of these last words that could not be mistaken, and Frank +quickly lifted his hand to his breast; but, quick as was the gesture, +the other was too speedy for him, and caught his arm before he could +seize the pistol. Just at this critical moment the key was heard to turn +in the lock, and the heavy door was slowly opened. "There, take my arm, +sir," said Meekins, slipping his hand beneath Frank's; "You 're far too +weak to walk alone." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. A FENCING-MATCH. + +"You came in time,--in the very nick, Mr. Gray," said Frank, with a +quiet smile. "My friend here and I had said all that we had to say to +each other." + +"Maybe you'd come again; maybe you'd give me five minutes another time?" +whispered Meekins, submissively, in Frank's ear. + +"I think not," said Frank, with an easy significance in his look; +"perhaps, on reflection, you'll find that I have come once too often!" +And with these words he left the cell, and, in silent meditation, +returned to his companion. + +"The fellow's voice was loud and menacing when I came to the door," said +Gray, as they walked along. + +"Yes, he grew excited just at that moment; he is evidently a passionate +man," was Frank's reply; and he relapsed into his former reserve. + +Grounsell, who at first waited with most exemplary patience for Frank +to narrate the substance of his interview, at last grew weary of his +reserve, and asked him what had occurred between them. + +Frank paid no attention to the question, but sat with his head resting +on his hand, and evidently deep in thought. At last he said slowly,---- + +"Can you tell me the exact date of Mr. Godfrey's murder?" + +"To the day,--almost to the hour," replied Grounsell. Taking out his +pocket-book, he read, "It was on a Friday, the 11th of November, in the +year 18----." + +"Great God!" cried Frank, grasping the other's arm, while his whole +frame shook with a strong convulsion. "Was it, then, on that night?" + +"Yes," said the other, "the murder took place at night. The body, when +discovered the next morning, was perfectly cold." + +"Then that was it!" cried Frank, wildly. "It was then----when the +light was put out----when he crossed the garden----when he opened the +wicket--" + +A burst of hysteric laughter broke from him, and muttering, "I saw it, +----I saw it all," he fell back fainting into Grounsell's arms. + +All the doctor's care and judicious treatment were insufficient to +recall the youth to himself. His nervous system, shattered and broken by +long illness, was evidently unequal to the burden of the emotions he was +suffering under, and before he reached the hotel his mind was wandering +away in all the incoherency of actual madness. + +Next to the unhappy youth himself, Grounsell's case was the most +pitiable. Unable to account for the terrible consequences of the scene +whose events were a secret to himself, he felt all the responsibility +of a calamity he had been instrumental in producing. From Frank it was +utterly hopeless to look for any explanation; already his brain was +filled with wild images of war and battle, mingled with broken memories +of a scene which none around his bed could recognize. In his distraction +Grounsell hurried to the jail to see and interrogate Meekins. Agitated +and distracted as he was, all his prudent reserve and calm forethought +were completely forgotten. He saw himself the cause of a dreadful +affliction, and already cured in his heart the wiles and snares in +which he was engaged. "If this boy's reason be lost forever, I, and I +only, am in fault," he went on repeating as he drove in mad haste back +to the prison. + +In a few and scarcely coherent words he explained to Gray his wish to +see the prisoner, and although apprised that he had already gone to +rest, he persisted strongly, and was at length admitted into his cell. + +Meekins started at the sound of the opening door, and called out +gruffly, "Who's there?" + +"It's your friend," said Grounsell, who had already determined on any +sacrifice of his policy which should give him the hope of aiding Frank. + +"My friend!" said Meekins, with a dry laugh. "Since when, sir?" + +"Since I have begun to believe I may have wronged you, Meekins," said +Grounsell, seating himself at the bedside. + +"I see, sir," rejoined the other, slowly; "I see it all. Mr. Dalton has +told you what passed between us, and you are wiser than he was." + +"He has not told me everything, Meekins,--at least, not so fully and +clearly as I wish. I want you, therefore, to go over it all again for +me, omitting nothing that was said on either side." + +"Ay," said the prisoner, dryly, "I see. Now, what did Mr. Dalton say to +you? I 'm curious to know; I 'd like to hear how he spoke of me." + +"As of one who was well disposed to serve him, Meekins," said Grounsell, +hesitatingly, and in some confusion. + +"Yes, to be sure," said the fellow, with a keen glance beneath his +gathering brows. "And he told you, too, that we parted good friends,--at +least, as much so as a poor man like myself could be to a born gentleman +like him." + +"That he did," cried Grounsell, eagerly; "and young Mr. Dalton is not +the man to think the worse of your friendship because you are not his +equal in rank." + +"I see,--I believe I see it all," said Meekins, with the same +sententious slowness as before. "Now look, doctor," added he, fixing +a cold and steady stare on the other's features, "it is late in the +night,--not far from twelve o'clock,--and I ask you, would n't it be +better for you to be asleep in your bed, and leave me to rest quietly in +mine, rather than be fencing--ay, fencing here--with one another, trying +who is the deepest? Just answer me that, sir." + +"You want to offend me," said Grounsell, rising. + +"No, sir; but it would be offending yourself to suppose that it was +worth your while to deceive the like of me,--a poor, helpless man, +without a friend in the world." + +"I own I don't understand you, Meekins," said Grounsell, reseating +himself. + +"There's nothing so easy, sir, if you want to do it If Mr. Dalton told +you what passed between us to-night, you know what advice you gave him; +and if he did not tell you, faix! neither will I--that's all. _He_ knows +what I have in my power. He was fool enough not to take me at my word. +Maybe I would n't be in the same mind again." + +"Come, come," said Grounsell, good-humoredly, "this is not spoken like +yourself. It can be no object with you to injure a young gentleman who +never harmed you; and if, in serving him, you can serve yourself, the +part will be both more sensible and more honorable." + +"Well, then," said Meekins, calmly, "I _can_ serve him; and now comes +the other question, 'What will he do for _me?_'" + +"What do you require from him?" + +"To leave this place at once,--before morning," said the other, +earnestly. "I don't want to see them that might make me change my mind; +to be on board of a ship at Waterford, and away out of Ireland forever, +with three hundred pounds,--I said two, but I 'll want three,--and for +that--for that "--here he hesitated some seconds,--"for that I 'll do +what I promised." + +"And this business will never be spoken of more." + +"Eh! what?" cried Meekins, starting. + +"I mean that when your terms are complied with, what security have we +that you 'll not disclose this secret hereafter?" + +Meekins slowly repeated the other's words twice over to himself, as if +to weigh every syllable of them, and then a sudden flashing of his dark +eyes showed that he had caught what he suspected was their meaning. + +"Exactly so; I was coming to that," cried he. "We 'll take an oath on +the Gospel,--Mr. Frank Dalton and myself,--that never, while there's +breath in our bodies, will we ever speak to man or mortal about this +matter. I know a born gentleman would n't perjure himself, and, as for +me, I 'll swear in any way, and before any one, that your two selves +appoint." + +"Then there's this priest," said Grounsell, doubtingly. "You have +already told him a great deal about this business." + +"If he has n't me to the fore to prove what I said, _he_ can do nothing; +and as to the will, he never heard of it." + +"The will!" exclaimed Grounsell, with an involuntary burst of surprise; +and, brief as it was, it yet revealed a whole world of dissimulation to +the acute mind of the prisoner. + +"So, doctor," said the fellow, slowly, "I was right after all. You +_were_ only fencing with me." + +"What do you mean?" cried Grounsell. + +"I mean just this: that young Dalton never told you one word that passed +between us; that you came here to pump me, and find out all I knew; +that, cute as you are, there 's them that's equal to you, and that you +'ll go back as wise as you came." + +"What's the meaning of this change, Meekins?" + +"It well becomes you, a gentleman, and a justice of the peace, to come +to the cell of a prisoner, in the dead of the night, and try to worm +out of him what you want for evidence. Won't it be a fine thing to tell +before a jury the offers you made me this night! Now, mind me, doctor, +and pay attention to my words. This is twice you tried to trick me, for +it was you sent that young man here. We 've done with each other now; +and may the flesh rot off my bones, like a bit of burned leather, if I +ever trust you again!" + +There was an insolent defiance in the way these words were uttered, that +told Grounsell all hope of negotiation was gone; and the unhappy doctor +sat overwhelmed by the weight of his own incapacity and unskilfulness. + +"There, now, sir, leave me alone. To-morrow I 'll find out if a man +is to be treated in this way. If I 'm not discharged out of this jail +before nine o'clock, _I_ 'll know why, and _you 'll_ never forget it, +the longest day you live." + +Crestfallen and dispirited, Grounsell retired from the cell and returned +to the inn. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. A STEP IN VAIN. + +Grounsell lost no time in summoning to his aid Mr. Hipsley, one of +the leading members of the Irish bar; but while he awaited his coming, +difficulties gathered around him from every side. Lenahan, the old +farmer, who was at first so positive about the identity of the prisoner, +began to express some doubts and hesitations on the subject "It was so +many years back since he had seen him, that it was possible he might +be mistaken;" and, in fact, he laid far more stress on the fashion of a +certain fustian jacket that the man used to wear than on any marks and +signs of personal resemblance. + +The bold defiance of Meekins, and his insolent threats to expose the +Daltons to the world, assailed the poor doctor in various ways; and +although far from feeling insensible to the shame of figuring on a +trial, as having terrorized over a prisoner, the greater ruin that +impended on his friends absorbed all his sorrows. + +Had he been the evil genius of the family, he could scarcely have +attained a greater degree of unpopularity. Frank's illness--for since +the night at the jail his mind had not ceased to wander--was, in Kate's +estimation, solely attributable to Grounsell's interference, all the +more unpardonable because inexplicable. Lady Hester regarded him as +the disturber of all social relations, who, for some private ends, was +involving everybody in lawsuits; and the old Count had most natural +misgivings about a man who, having assumed the sole direction of a +delicate affair, now confessed himself utterly unable to see the way +before him. + +To such an extent had mortification and defeat reduced the unhappy +doctor, that when Hipsley arrived he was quite unable to give anything +like a coherent statement of the case, or lay before the astute lawyer +the points whereon he desired guidance and direction. Meanwhile the +enemy were in a state of active and most menacing preparation. Meekins, +discharged from jail, was living at an inn in the town, surrounded by a +strong staff of barristers, whose rank and standing plainly showed that +abundant pecuniary resources supplied every agency of battle. + +Numerous witnesses were said to have been summoned to give their +evidence, and the rumor ran that the most ardent votary of private +scandal would be satiated with the tales and traits of domestic life the +investigation would expose to the world. + +Hipsley, who with practised tact soon saw the game about to be played, +in vain asked Grounsell for some explanation of its meaning. There was a +degree of malignity in all the proceedings which could only be accounted +for on the supposition of a long-nourished revenge. How was he to +understand this? Alas! poor Grounsell knew nothing, and remembered +nothing. Stray fragments of conversation and scattered passages of +bygone scenes were jumbled up incoherently in his brain, and it was easy +to perceive that a very little was wanting to reduce his mind to the +helpless condition of Frank Dalton's. + +The charge of a conspiracy to murder his relative, brought against a +gentleman of fortune and position, was an accusation well calculated to +excite the most painful feelings of public curiosity, and such was now +openly avowed to be the allegation about to be brought to issue; and, +however repugnant to credulity the bare assertion might appear at first, +the rumor was artfully associated with a strong array of threatening +circumstances. Every trivial coldness or misunderstanding between Dalton +and his brother-in-law, Godfrey, were now remembered and revived. +All the harsh phrases by which old Peter used to speak of the other's +character and conduct--Dalton's constant use of the expression, "What's +the use of his money; will he ever enjoy it?"--was now cited as but too +significant of a dreadful purpose; and, in a word, the public, with +a casuistry which we often see, was rather pleased to credit what it +flattered its own ingenuity to combine and arrange. Dalton was well +known to have been a passionate, headstrong man, violent in his +resentments, although ready to forgive and forget injuries the moment +after. This temper, and his departure for the Continent, from which +he never returned, were all the substantial facts on which the whole +superstructure was raised. + +If Hipsley saw that the array of evidence was far from bringing guilt +home to Dalton, he also perceived that the exposure alone would be a +terrible blow to the suffering family. The very nature of the attack +evinced a deep and hidden vengeance. To avert this dreadful infliction +seemed, then, his first duty, and he endeavored by every means in his +power to ascertain who was the great instigator of the proceeding, in +which it was easy to see Meekins was but a subordinate. The name of +Father Cahill had twice or thrice been mentioned by Grounsell, but with +a vagueness of which little advantage could be taken. Still, even with +so faint a clew, Hipsley was fain to be content, and after several days' +ineffectual search, he at last discovered that this priest, in company +with another, was residing at the little inn of "The Rore." + +Having communicated his plan to the old General, who but half assented +to the idea of negotiating with the enemy, Hipsley set out for +"The Rore," after a long day of fatiguing labor. "An inaccurate and +insufficient indictment," repeated the lawyer to himself; "the old and +hackneyed resource to balk the prurient curiosity of the public, and cut +off the scent when the gossiping pack are in full cry,--this is all +that we have now left to us. We must go into court; the only thing is to +leave it as soon as we are able." + +It was not till he was within half a mile of the little inn that Hipsley +saw all the difficulty of what he was engaged in; for in what way or on +what pretext was he to address Cahill in the matter, or by what right +connect him with the proceedings? The hardihood by which he had often +suggested to a witness what he wanted to elicit, stood his part now, and +he boldly passed the threshold, and asked for Father Cahill. Mistaking +him for the chief counsel on the other side, the landlord bowed +obsequiously, and, without further parley, introduced him into the room +where D'Esmonde and Cahill were then sitting. + +"I see, gentlemen," said Hipsley, bowing politely to each, "that I +am not the person you expected; but may I be permitted to enjoy an +advantage which good fortune has given me, and ask of you a few moments' +conversation? I am the counsel engaged by Mr. Dalton, in the case which +on Tuesday next is to be brought to trial; and having learned from Mr. +Grounsell that I might communicate with you in all freedom and candor, +I have come to see if something cannot be done to rescue the honor of +a family from the shame of publicity, and the obloquy that attends the +exposure of a criminal court." + +D'Esmonde took up a book as Hipsley began this address, and affected to +be too deeply engaged in his reading to pay the least attention to what +went forward; while Cahill remained standing, as if to intimate to the +stranger the propriety of a very brief interruption. + +"You must have mistaken the person you are addressing, sir," said the +priest, calmly. "My name is Cahill." + +"Precisely, sir; and to the Reverend Mr. Cahill I desire to speak. It is +about ten days or a fortnight since you called on Dr. Grounsell with +a proposition for the settlement of this affair. I am not sufficiently +conversant with the details of what passed to say on which side the +obstacle stood,--whether _he_ was indisposed to concede enough, or that +_you_ demanded too much. I only know that the negotiation was abortive, +and it is now with the hope of resuming the discussion--" + +"Too late, sir,--too late," said the priest, peremptorily, while a very +slight but decisive motion of D'Esmonde's brows gave him encouragement +to be bold. "I did, it is true, take the step you allude to; a variety +of considerations had their influence over me. I felt interested about +the poor man Meekins, and was naturally anxious to screen from +the consequences of shame a very old and honored family of the +country--" Here he hesitated, for a warning glance from the Abbe +recalled him to caution. + +"And you were about to allude to that more delicate part of the affair +which relates to Mr. Godfrey's son, sir?" interposed Hipsley, while +by an unmistakable gesture he showed his consciousness of D'Esmonde's +presence. + +"I find, sir," said Cahill, coldly, "that we are gradually involving +ourselves in the very discussion I have already declined to engage in. +It is not here, nor by us, this cause must be determined. It would be +hard to persuade me that you should even counsel an interference with +the course of public justice." + +"You are quite right, sir, in your estimate of me," said Hipsley, +bowing; "nor should I do so if I saw anything in this case but needless +exposure and great cruelty towards those who must necessarily be +guiltless, without one single good end obtained, except you could so +deem the gratification of public scandal by the harrowing tale of family +misfortune. Bear with me one moment more," said he, as a gesture of +impatience from Cahill showed that he wished an end of the interview. +"I will concede what I have no right to concede, and what I am in a +position to refute thoroughly,----the guilt of the party implicated; +upon whom will the punishment fall? on the aged uncle, a brave and +honored soldier, without the shadow of stain on his fair fame; on a +young and beautiful girl, whose life has already compassed more real +sorrow than old men like myself have ever known in all their career; and +on a youth, now stretched upon his sick-bed, and for whom humanity would +rather wish death itself than to come back into a world he must shrink +from with shame." + +"'_Filius peccatoris exardebit in crimine patris_,'----the son of the +sinful man shall burn out in his father's shame! "--said D'Esmonde, +reading aloud from the volume in his hand. + +Hipsley almost started at the solemnity with which these awful words +were uttered, and stood for a few seconds gazing on the pale and +thoughtful face which was still bent over the book. + +"My mission has then failed!" said the lawyer, regretfully. "I am sorry +it should be so." + +A cold bow was the only reply Cahill returned to this speech, and the +other slowly withdrew, and took his way back to Kilkenny, the solemn and +terrible denunciation still ringing in his ears as he went. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. THE COURT-HOUSE OF KILKENNY. + +The character of crime in Ireland has preserved for some years back a +most terrible consistency. The story of every murder is the same. +The same secret vengeance; the same imputed wrong; the same dreadful +sentence issued from a dark and bloody tribunal; the victim alone is +changed, but all the rest is unaltered; and we read, over and over +again, of the last agonies on the high-road and in the noonday, till, +sated and wearied, we grow into a terrible indifference as to guilt, and +talk of the "wild justice of the people" as though amongst the natural +causes which shorten human life. If this be so, and to its truth we +call to witness those who in every neighborhood have seen some fearful +event--happening, as it were, at their very doors--deplored today, +almost forgotten to-morrow; and while such is the case, the public mind +is painfully sensitive as to the details of any guilt attended with +new and unaccustomed agencies. In fact, with all the terrible catalogue +before us,' we should be far from inferring a great degree of guiltiness +to a people in whom we see infinitely more of misguided energies and +depraved passions than of that nature whose sordid incentives to +crime constitute the bad of other countries. We are not, in this, the +apologist for murder. God forbid that we should ever be supposed to +palliate, by even a word, those brutal assassinations which make every +man blush to call himself an Irishman! We would only be understood as +saying that these crimes, dark, fearful, and frequent as they are, do +not argue the same hopeless debasement of our population as the less +organized guilt of other countries; and inasmuch as the vengeance even +of the savage is a nobler instinct than the highwayman's passion for +gain, so we cherish a hope that the time is not distant when the peasant +shall tear out of his heart the damnable delusion of vindication by +blood, when he will learn a manly fortitude under calamity, a generous +trust in those above him, and, better again, a freeman's consciousness +that the law will vindicate him against injury, and that we live in +an age when the great are powerless to do wrong, unless when their +inhumanity be screened behind the darker shadow of the murder that +avenges it! Then, indeed, we have no sympathy for all the sufferings of +want, or all the miseries of fever; then, we forget the dreary hovel, +the famished children, the palsy of age, and the hopeless cry of +starving infancy,--we have neither eyes nor ears but for the sights and +sounds of murder! + +We have said that amidst all the frequency of crime there is no country +of Europe where any case of guilt accompanied by new agencies or +attended by any unusual circumstances is sure to excite so great and +widespread interest. The very fact of an accusation involving any one in +rank above the starving cottier is looked upon as almost incredible, +and far from feeling sensibility dulled by the ordinary recurrence of +bloodshed, the crime becomes associated in our minds with but one class, +and as originating in one theme. + +We have gradually been led away by these thoughts from the remark which +first suggested them, and now we turn again to the fact, that the city +of Kilkenny became a scene of the most intense anxiety as the morning +of that eventful trial dawned. Visitors poured in from the neighboring +counties, and even from Dublin. The case had been widely commented on +by the press; and although with every reserve as regarded the accused, a +most painful impression against old Mr. Dalton had spread on all sides. +Most of his own contemporaries had died; of the few who remained, +they were very old men, fast sinking into imbecility, and only vaguely +recollecting "Wild Peter" as one who would have stopped at nothing. The +new generation, then, received the impressions of the man thus unjustly; +nor were their opinions more lenient that they lived in an age which no +longer tolerated the excesses of the one that preceded it. Gossip, too, +had circulated its innumerable incidents on all the personages of this +strange drama; and from the venerable Count Stephen down to the informer +Meekins, every character was now before the world. + +That the Daltons had come hundreds of miles, and had offered immense +sums of money to suppress the exposure, was among the commonest rumors +of the time, and that the failure of this attempt was now the cause of +the young man's illness and probable death. Meekins's character received +many commentaries and explanations. Some alleged that he was animated by +an old grudge against the family, never to be forgiven. Others said that +it was to some incident of the war abroad that he owed his hatred to +young Dalton; and, lastly, it was rumored that, having some connection +with the conspiracy, he was anxious to wipe his conscience of the guilt +before he took on him the orders of some lay society, whose vows he +professed. All these mysterious and shadowy circumstances tended to +heighten the interest of the coming event, and the city was crowded +in every part by strangers, who not only filled the Court-house, but +thronged the street in front, and even occupied the windows and roofs of +the opposite houses. + +From daylight the seats were taken in the galleries of the Court; the +most distinguished of the neighboring gentry were all gathered there, +while in the seats behind the bench were ranged several members of the +peerage, who had travelled long distances to be present. To the left of +the presiding judge sat Count Stephen, calm, stern, and motionless, as +if on parade. If many of the ceremonials of the court and the general +aspect of the assemblage were new and strange to his eyes, nothing in +his bearing or manner bespoke surprise or astonishment. As little, too, +did he seem aware of the gaze of that crowded assembly, who, until the +interest of the trial called their attention away, never ceased to stare +steadfastly at him. + +At the corner of the gallery facing the jury-box D'Esmonde and Cahill +were seated. The Abbe, dressed with peculiar care, and wearing the blue +silk collar of an order over his white cravat, was recognized by the +crowd beneath as a personage of rank and consideration, which, indeed, +his exalted and handsome features appeared well to corroborate. He +sustained the strong stare of the assemblage with a calm but haughty +self-possession, like one well accustomed to the public eye, and who +felt no shrinking from the gaze of a multitude. Already the rumor ran +that he was an official high in the household of the Pope, and many +strange conjectures were hazarded on the meaning of his presence at the +trial. + +To all the buzz of voices, and the swaying, surging motion of a vast +crowd, there succeeded a dead silence and tranquillity, when the judges +took their seats on the bench. The ordinary details were all gone +through with accustomed formality, the jury sworn, and the indictment +read aloud by the clerk of the crown, whose rapid enunciation and +monotonous voice took nothing from the novelty of the statement that was +yet to be made by counsel. At length Mr. Wallace rose, and now curiosity +was excited to the utmost. In slow and measured phrase he began by +bespeaking the patient and careful attention of the jury to the case +before them. He told them that it was a rare event in the annals of +criminal law to arraign one who was already gone before the greatest of +all tribunals; but that such cases had occurred, and it was deemed of +great importance, not alone to the cause of truth and justice, that +these investigations should be made, but that a strong moral might be +read, in the remarkable train of incidents by which these discoveries +were elicited, and men were taught to see the hand of Providence in +events which, to unthinking minds, had seemed purely accidental and +fortuitous. After dwelling for some time on this theme, he went on to +state the great difficulty and embarrassment of his own position, called +upon as he was to arraign less the guilty man than his blameless and +innocent descendants, and to ask for the penalties of the law on those +who had not themselves transgressed it. + +"I do not merely speak here," said he, "of the open shame and disgrace +the course of this trial will proclaim--I do not simply allude to the +painful exposure you will be obliged to witness--I speak of the heavy +condemnation with which the law of public opinion visits the family of +a felon, making all contact with them a reproach, and denying them even +its sympathy. These would be weighty considerations if the course of +justice had not far higher and more important claims, not the least +among which is the assertion to the world at large that guilt is never +expiated without punishment, and that the law is inflexible in its +denunciation of crime." + +He then entered upon a narrative of the case, beginning with an account +of the Dalton family, and the marriage which connected them with the +Godfreys. He described most minutely the traits of character which +separated the two men and rendered them uncompanionable one to the +other. Of Godfrey he spoke calmly and without exaggeration; but when +his task concerned Peter Dalton, he drew the picture of a reckless, +passionate, and unprincipled man, in the strongest colors, reminding the +jury that it was all-important to carry with them through the case this +view of his character, as explaining and even justifying many of the +acts he was charged with. "You will," said he, "perceive much to blame +in him, but also much to pity, and even where you condemn deeply, you +will deplore the unhappy combination of events which perverted what may +have been a noble nature, and degraded by crime what was meant to have +adorned virtue! From the evidence I shall produce before you will be +seen the nature of the intimacy between these two men, so strikingly +unlike in every trait of character, and although this be but the +testimony of one who heard it himself from another, we shall find a +strong corroboration of all in the consistency of the narrative and the +occasional allusion to facts provable from other sources. We shall +then show you how the inordinate demands of Dalton, stimulated by the +necessity of his circumstances, led to a breach with his brother-in-law, +and subsequently to his departure for the Continent; and, lastly, +we mean to place before you the extraordinary revelation made to the +witness Meekins, by his comrade William Noonan, who, while incriminating +himself, exhibited Dalton as the contriver of the scheme by which the +murder was effected. + +"It would be manifestly impossible, in a case like this, when from the +very outset the greatest secrecy was observed and over whose mystery +years have accumulated clouds of difficulty, to afford that clear and +precise line of evidence which in a recent event might naturally be +looked for. But you will learn enough, and more than enough, to +satisfy your minds on every point Meekins shall be subjected to any +cross-examination my learned brother may desire, and I only ask for him +so much of your confidence as a plain unvarying statement warrants. He +is a stranger in this country; and although it has been rumored, +from his resemblance to a man formerly known here, that he has been +recognized, we shall show you that for upwards of thirty years he has +been in foreign countries, and while he understands that his parents +were originally from the south of Ireland, he believes himself to have +been born in America. These facts will at once disabuse your minds +of the suspicion that he can have been actuated by any malicious or +revengeful feelings towards the Daltons. We shall, also, show that the +most strenuous efforts have been made to suppress his testimony; and +while it may be painful to exhibit one charged with the administration +of justice as having plotted to subvert or distort it, we shall +produce on the witness-table the individual who himself made these very +overtures of corruption." + +A long and minute narrative followed--every step of the conspiracy was +detailed--from the first communication of Dalton with Noonan, to the +fatal moment of the murder. Noonan's own subsequent confession to +Meekins was then related, and lastly the singular accident by which +Meekins came in contact with the Abbe d'Esmonde, and was led to a +revelation of the whole occurrence. The lawyer at last sat down, and +as he did so, a low murmuring sound ran through the crowded assemblage, +whose mournful cadence bespoke the painful acquiescence in the statement +they had heard. More than one eager and sympathizing look was turned to +where the old Count sat; but his calm, stern features were passive +and immovable as ever; and although he listened with attention to the +address of the advocate, not a semblance of emotion could be detected in +his manner. + +Meekins was now called to the witness-box, and as he made his way +through the crowd, and ascended the table, the most intense curiosity +to see him was displayed. Well dressed, and with a manner of decent and +respectful quietude, he slowly mounted the stairs, and saluted the +bench and jury. Although an old man, he was hale and stout-looking, +his massive broad forehead and clear gray eye showing a character of +temperament well able to offer resistance to time. + +There was an apparent frankness and simplicity about him that favorably +impressed the court, and he gave his evidence with that blended +confidence and caution which never fails to have its effect on a jury. +He owned, too, that he once speculated on using the secret for his own +advantage, and extorting a considerable sum from old Dalton's fears, but +that on second thoughts he had decided on abandoning this notion, and +resolved to let the mystery die with him. The accidental circumstance of +meeting with the Abbe D'Esmonde, at Venice, changed this determination, +and it was while under the religious teachings of this good priest that +he came to the conviction of his sad duty. His evidence occupied several +hours, and it was late in the afternoon when the cross-examination +began. + +Nothing within the reach of a crafty lawyer was left undone. All that +practised skill and penetration could accomplish was exhibited, but the +testimony was unshaken in every important point; and save when pushing +the witness as to his own early life and habits, not a single admission +could be extorted to his discredit. But even here his careless easy +manner rescued him; and when he alleged that he never very well knew +where he was born, or who were his parents, nor had he any very great +misgivings about having served on board a slaver, and "even worse," the +jury only smiled at what seemed the frank indifference of an old sailor. +Noonan had given him a few scraps of Mr. Dalton's writing. He had lost +most of them, he said; but of those which remained, although unsigned, +the authenticity was easily established. Old Peter's handwriting was +familiar to many, and several witnesses swore to their being genuine. In +other respects, they were of little importance. One alone bore any real +significance, and it was the concluding passage of a letter, and ran +thus: "So that if I 'm driven to it at last, Godfrey himself is more to +blame than _me_." Vague as this menacing sentence was, it bore too home +upon the allegations of the witness not to produce a strong effect, +nor could any dexterity of the counsel succeed in obliterating its +impression. + +Seeing that the counsel for the prosecution had not elicited the +testimony he promised, respecting the attempted subornation of Meekins, +the defence rashly adventured upon that dangerous ground, and too late +discovered his error, for the witness detailed various conversations +between Grounsell and himself, and gave with terrible effect a scene +that he swore had occurred between young Dalton and him in the jail. +It was in vain to remind the jury that he who alone could refute this +evidence was stretched on a bed of sickness. The effect was already +made. + +When questioned as to the reasons Dalton might have had for conspiring +against his brother-in-law, he confessed that Noonan only knew that +Godfrey had refused him all assistance, and that he believed that after +his death he, Dalton, would inherit the property. His own impression +was, however, that it was more vengeance than anything else. The Daltons +were living in great poverty abroad; there was scarcely a privation +which they had not experienced; and the embittering stings of their +misery were adduced as the mainspring of old Peter's guilt. This +allusion to the private life of the Dalton family was eagerly seized on +by Mr. Wallace, who now "begged to ascertain certain facts on a subject +which, but for his learned brother's initiative, he would have shrunk +from exhibiting in open court." Meekins could, of course, but give such +details as he had learned from Noonan, but they all described a life +of suffering and meanness,--their contrivances and their straits; +their frequent change of place, as debt accumulated over them; their +borrowings and their bills; and, lastly, the boastful pretexts they +constantly brought forward on the rank of their uncle, Count Dalton, as +a guarantee of their solvency and respectability. So unexpected was the +transition to the mention of this name, that the whole assembly suddenly +turned their eyes to where the old General sat, mute and stern; but the +look he returned might well have abashed them, so haughty and daring was +its insolence. + +Apparently to show the knowledge possessed by the witness on matters of +private detail,--but, in reality, to afford an occasion for dilating on +a painful subject,--the whole history of the family was raked up, and +all the sad story of Nelly's toil and Kate's menial duties paraded +in open court, wound up, at last, with what was called young Frank's +enlistment "as a common soldier of the Austrian army." + +The greater interests of the trial were all forgotten in these materials +for gossip, and the curiosity of the listeners was excited to its +highest pitch when he came to tell of that mingled misery and ambition, +that pride of name, and shameless disregard of duty, which he described +as characterizing them; nor was the craving appetite for scandal half +appeased when the court interrupted the examination, and declared that +it was irrelevant and purposeless. + +Meekins at last descended from the table, and Michel Lenahan was called +up. The important fact he had so resolutely sworn to some weeks before +he had already shown a disinclination to confirm, and all that he could +now be brought to admit was, that he had believed Meekins was his old +acquaintance, Black Sam; but the years that had elapsed since he saw him +before, change of dress, and the effect of time on each of them, might +well shake a better memory than his own. + +"Jimmy Morris might know him again, my Lord," said he, "for he never +forgot anybody,----but _he_ is n't to the fore." + +"I have the happiness to say that he is," said Hipeley. "He has arrived +from Cove, here, this morning. Call James Morris, crier;" and soon +after, a very diminutive old man, with a contracted leg, mounted the +table. He was speedily sworn, and his examination commenced. After a +few questions as to his trade,--he was a tailor,--and where he had +lived latterly, he was asked whether he remembered, amongst his former +acquaintance, a certain bailiff on the Corrig-O'Neal estate, commonly +called Black Sam? + +"By coorse I do," said he; "he was always making mischief between Mr. +Godfrey and ould Peter." + +"You have not been asked that question, sir." interposed Wallace. + +"No, but he shall be by-and-by," cried Hipsley. "Tell me, now, what kind +of a man was this same Black Sam?" + +"As cruel a man as ever you seen." + +"That is not exactly what I am asking. I want to hear what he was like." + +"He was like the greatest villain--" + +"I mean, was he short or tall; was he a big man and a strong man, or was +he a little fellow like you or _me?_" + +"Devil a bit like either of us. He 'd bate us both with one hand,--ay, +and that fellow there with the wig that's laughing at us, into the +bargain." + +"So, then, he was large and powerful?" + +"Yes, that he was." + +"Had he anything remarkable about his appearance,----anything that might +easily distinguish him from other men?" + +"Tis, maybe, his eyes you mane?" + +"What about his eyes, then?" + +"They could be lookin' at ye when ye 'd aware they were only lookin' at +the ground; and he 'd a thrick of stopping himself when he was laughing +hearty by drawing the back of his hand over his mouth, this way." + +As the witness accompanied these words by a gesture, a low murmur +of astonishment ran through the court, for more than once during the +morning Meekins had been seen to perform the very act described. + +"You would probably be able to know him again if you saw him." + +"That I would." + +"Look around you, now, and tell me if you see him here. No, no, he's +not in the jury-box; still less likely it is that you 'd find him on the +bench." + +The witness, neither heeding the remark nor the laughter which followed +it, slowly rose and looked around him. + +"Move a little to one side, if ye plase," said he to a member of the +inner bar. "Yes, that's him." And he pointed to Meekins, who, with +crossed arms and lowering frown, stood still and immovable. + +The bystanders all fell back at the same instant, and now he remained +isolated in the midst of that crowded scene, every eye bent upon him. + +"You 're wearing well, Sam," said the witness, addressing him +familiarly. "Maybe it's the black wig you 'ye on; but you don't look a +day oulder than when I seen you last." + +This speech excited the most intense astonishment in the court, and many +now perceived, for the first time, that Meekins did not wear his own +hair. + +"Are you positive, then, that this man is Black Sam?" + +"I am." + +"Are you prepared to swear to it on your solemn oath, taking all the +consequences false evidence will bring down upon you?" + +"I am." + +"You are quite certain that it's no accidental resemblance, but that +this is the very identical man you knew long ago?" + +"I'm certain sure. I'd know him among a thousand; and, be the same +token, he has a mark of a cut on the crown of his head, three inches +long. See, now, if I 'm not right." + +Meekins was now ordered to mount the witness-table, and remove his wig. +He was about to say something, but Wallace stopped him and whispered a +few words in his ear. + +"I would beg to observe," said the lawyer, "that if an old cicatrix is +to be the essential token of recognition, few men who have lived the +adventurous life of Meekins will escape calumny." + +"'T is a mark like the letter V," said Jimmy; "for it was ould Peter +himself gave it him, one night, with a brass candlestick. There it is!" +cried he, triumphantly; "did n't I tell true?" + +The crowded galleries creaked under the pressure of the eager +spectators, who now bent forward and gazed on this strong proof of +identification. + +"Is there any other mark by which you could remember him?" + +"Sure, I know every fayture in his face,--what more d'ye want?" + +"Now, when did you see him last,--I mean before this day?" + +"The last time I seen him was the mornin' he was taken up." + +"How do you mean' taken up'?" + +"Taken up by the polis." + +"Taken by the police,----for what?" + +"About the murder, to be sure." + +A thrill of horror pervaded the court as these words were spoken, and +Meekins, whose impassive face had never changed before, became now pale +as death. + +"Tell the jury what you saw on the morning you speak of." + +"I was at home, work in', when the polis passed by. They asked me where +Black Sam lived; 'Up the road,' says I." + +"How far is your house from his?" + +"About fifty perches, your honor, in the same boreen, but higher up." + +"So that, in going from Mr. Godfrey's to his own home, Sam must have +passed your door?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"This he did every day,--two or three times,--did n't he?" + +"He did, sir." + +"Did you usually speak to each other as he went by?" + +"Yes, sir; we always would say, 'God save you,' or the like." + +"How was he dressed on these occasions?" + +"The way he was always dressed,----how would he be?" + +"That's exactly what I 'm asking you." + +"Faix! he had his coat and breeches, like any other man." + +"I see. He had his coat and breeches, like any other man; now, what +color was his coat?" + +"It was gray, sir,----blue-gray. I know it well." + +"How do you come to know it well?" + +"Bekase my own boy, Ned, sir, bought one off the same piece before he +'listed, and I couldn't forget it." + +"Where were you the day after the murder, when the policemen came to +take Sam Eustace?" + +"I was sitting at my own door, smoking a pipe, and I see the polis +comin', and so I went in and shut the door." + +"What was that for? You had no reason to fear them." + +"Ayeh!--who knows?--the polis is terrible!" + +"Well, after that?" + +"Well, when I heard them pass, I opened the door, and then I saw enough. +They were standing at Sam's house; one of them talking to Sam, and the +other two rummaging about, sticking poles into the thatch, and tumbling +oyer the turf in the stack. + +"'Isn't this a pretty business?' says Sam, calling out to me. 'The polis +is come to take me off to prison because some one murdered the master.' +'Well, his soul's in glory, anyhow,' says I, and I shut the doore." + +"And saw nothing more?" + +"Only the polis lading Sam down the boreen betune them." + +"He made no resistance, then?" + +"Not a bit; he went as quiet as a child. When he was going by the doore, +I remember he said to one of the polis, 'Would it be plazing to ye to +help me wid my coat; for I cut my finger yesterday?'" + +"Did n't I say it was with a reaping-hook?" cried Meekins, who, in +all the earnestness of anxiety, followed every word that fell from the +witness. + +His counsel sprang to his feet, and pulled him back by the arm; but not +before the unguarded syllables had been heard by every one around. Such +was the sensation now produced, that for several minutes the proceedings +were interrupted, while the counsel conferred in low whispers together, +and all seemed thunderstruck and amazed. Twice Meekins stood forward to +address the court, but on each occasion he was restrained by the counsel +beside him; and it was only by the use of menaces that Wallace succeeded +in enforcing silence on him. "When the moment of cross-examination +arrives," said he to the jury, "I hope to explain every portion of this +seeming difficulty. Have you any further questions to ask the witness?" + +"A great many more," said Hipsley. "Now, Morris, attend to me. Sam asked +the police to assist him, as he had cut his hand with a reaping-hook?" + +"He did, indeed, sir," said the witness; "and a dreadful cut it was. It +was hard for him to get his hand into the sleeve of the jacket." + +"I perceive; he had difficulty in putting on the jacket, but the +policemen helped him?" + +"They did, sir; and one of them was hurting him, and Sam called out, +'Take care, take care. It's better to cut the ould sleeve; it's not +worth much, now.'" + +"And did they cut it?" + +"They did, sir; they ripped it up all the way to the elbow." + +"That was a pity, was n't it, to rip up a fine frieze coat like that?" + +"Oh, it was n't his coat at all, sir. It was only a flannel jacket he +had for working in." + +"So, then, he did not wear the blue-gray frieze like your son's when he +went to jail?" + +"No, sir. He wore a jacket." + +"Now, why was that?" + +"Sorry one o' me knows; but I remember he didn't wear it." + +"Did n't I say that I left my coat at the bog, and that I was ashamed +to go in the ould jacket?" screamed out Meekins, whose earnestness was +above all control. + +"If this go on, it is impossible that I can continue to conduct this +case, my Lord," said Wallace. "While no attempt has been made to refute +one tittle of the great facts I have mentioned, a system of trick has +been resorted to, by which my client's credit is sought to be impugned. +What care I if he was known by a hundred nicknames? He has told the +court already that he has lived a life of reckless adventure; that he +has sailed under every flag and in every kind of enterprise. Mayhap, +amid his varied characters, he has played that of a land bailiff; nor is +it very strange that he should not wish to parade before the world the +fact of his being arrested, even under a false accusation; for he was +discharged, as he has just told you, two days after." + +A large bundle, carefully sealed, was now carried into the court, and +deposited before Mr. Hipsley, who, after a few seconds' consultation +with Grounsell, rose, and addressed the court,---- + +"My learned friend complains of being surprised; he will, perhaps, have +a better right to be so in a few moments hence. I now demand that this +man be consigned to the dock. These affidavits are all regular, my Lord, +and the evidence I purpose to lay before you will very soon confirm +them." + +The judge briefly scanned the papers before him; and, by a gesture, the +command was issued, and Meekins, who never uttered a word, was conducted +within the dock. + +"I will merely ask the witness two or three questions more," added +Hipsley, turning towards the jailer, who alone, of all the assembly, +looked on without any wonderment. + +"Now, witness, when did you see the prisoner wear the blue-gray coat? +After the death of Mr. Godfrey, I mean." + +"I never seen him wear it again," was the answer. + +"How could ye?" cried Meekins, in a hoarse voice. "How could ye? I +sailed for America the day after I was set at liberty." + +"Be silent, sir," said the prisoner's counsel, who, suffering greatly +from the injury of these interruptions, now assumed a look of angry +impatience; while, with the craft of his calling, he began already to +suspect that a mine was about to be sprung beneath him. + +"You have told us," said Hipsley,--and, as he spoke, his words came +with an impressive slowness that made them fall deep into every +heart around,--"You have told us that the coat worn habitually by the +prisoner, up to the day of Mr. Godfrey's murder, you never saw on him +after that day. Is that true?" + +"It is, sir." + +"You have also said that this coat----part of a piece from which your +son had a coat----was of a peculiar color?" + +"It was, sir; and more than that, they had both the same cut, only Sam's +had horn buttons, and my son's was metal." + +"Do you think, then, from the circumstances you have just mentioned, +that you could know that coat if you were to see it again?" + +A pause followed, and the witness, instead of answering, sat with his +eyes fixed upon the dock, where the prisoner, with both hands grasping +the iron spikes, stood, his glaring eyeballs riveted upon the old man's +face, with an expression of earnestness and terror actually horrible to +witness. + +"Look at me, Morris," said Hipsley, "and answer my question. Would you +know this coat again?" + +"That is, would you swear to it?" interposed the opposite counsel. + +"I believe I would, sir," was the answer. + +"You must be sure, my good man. Belief is too vague for us here," said +the prisoner's lawyer. + +[Illustration: 498] + +"Is this it?" said the solicitor, as, breaking the seals of the parcel +before him, he held up a coat, which, ragged and eaten by worms, seemed +of a far darker color than that described by witness. + +The old man took it in his hands and examined it over carefully, +inspecting with all the minute curiosity of age every portion of the +garment The suspense at this moment was terrible; not a syllable was +spoken; not a breath stirred; nothing but the long-drawn respirations +of the prisoner, who, still leaning on the iron railing of the dock, +watched the old man's motions with the most harrowing intensity. + +"Let me see it on him," said the witness, at last + +"Prisoner, put on that coat," said the judge. + +Meekins tried to smile as he proceeded to obey; but the effort was +too much, and the features became fixed into one rigid expression, +resembling the look of hysteric laughter. + +"Well, do you know me now?" cried he, in a voice whose every accent rang +with a tone of intimidation and defiance. + +"I do," said the witness, boldly. "I 'll swear to that coat, my Lord, +and I 'll prove I 'm right. It was the same stuffing put into both +collars; and if I 'm telling you the truth, it 's a piece of ould +corduroy is in that one there." + +The very grave was not more still than the court as the officer of the +jail, taking off the coat, ripped up the collar, and held up in his hand +a small piece of tarnished corduroy. + +"My Lord! my Lord! will you let a poor man's life be swore away--" + +"Silence, sir,--be still, I say," cried the prisoner's counsel, who +saw the irremediable injury of these passionate appeals. "I am here to +conduct your defence, and I will not be interfered with. Your Lordship +will admit that this proceeding has all the character of surprise. We +were perfectly unprepared for the line my learned friend has taken--" + +"Permit me to interrupt the counsel, my Lord. I need scarcely appeal to +this court to vindicate me against any imputation such as the learned +gentleman opposite would apply to me. Your Lordship's venerable +predecessors on that bench have more than once borne witness to +the fairness and even the lenity of the manner in which the crown +prosecutions have been conducted. Any attempt to surprise, any effort to +entrap a prisoner, would be as unworthy of us as it would be impossible +in a court over which you preside. The testimony which the witness has +just given, the extraordinary light his evidence has just shown, was +only made available to ourselves by one of those circumstances in which +we see a manifestation of the terrible judgment of God upon him who +sheds the blood of his fellow-man. Yes, my Lord, if any case can merit +the designation of Providential intervention, it is this one. Every step +of this singular history is marked by this awful characteristic. It is +the nephew of the murdered man by whom the first trace of crime has been +detected. It is by him that we have been enabled to bring the prisoner +into that dock. It is by him that a revelation has been made which, +had it not occurred in our own day and under our own eyes, we should be +disposed to class amongst the creations of fiction. The learned counsel +has told you that these articles of clothing have been produced here by +surprise. This affidavit is the shortest answer to that suspicion. From +this you will see that, early this morning, young Mr. Dalton requested +that two magistrates of the city should be brought to his bedside, to +take down the details of an important declaration. The fever which for +several days back had oppressed him, had abated for the time, and he +was, although weak and low, calm and collected in all his faculties. It +was then, with remarkable accuracy, and in a manner totally free from +agitation, that he made the following singular revelation." The counsel +then recited, at more length than would suit our reader's patience +to follow, the story of Frank's visit to Ireland when a boy, and his +accidental presence in the grounds of Corrig-O'Neal on the very night +of the murder. "At first the magistrates were disposed to regard +this revelation as the mere dream of an erring intellect; but when he +described every feature of the locality, and the most intricate details +of scenery, their opinion was changed; and when at last he designated +the exact spot where he had seen a large bundle buried, it only needed +that this should be confirmed to establish the strict truth of all +he alleged. With every care and precaution Against deception, the +magistrates proceeded to visit the place. They were accompanied by +several persons of character and station, in presence of whom the +examination was made. So accurate was the narrative, that they found the +spot without difficulty, and, on digging down about two feet, they +came upon the articles which you now see before you. These, without any +examination, they at once sealed up in presence of the witnesses, and +here for the first time have they been displayed to view." + +As the counsel had reached thus far, the fall of a heavy body resounded +through the court, and the cry was raised that the prisoner had been +seized with a fit. + +"No, my Lord," exclaimed the lawyer; "fatigue and weariness alone +have produced this effect. My unhappy client is no more proof against +exhaustion than against slander." + +"My Lord! my Lord!" cried the prisoner, as, holding by the spikes of the +dock, he leaned forwards over it, "can't I get justice? Is it my coat--" + +"Sit down, sir," said his counsel, angrily; "leave this to _me_." + +"What do you care what becomes of me?" cried the other, rudely. "Where's +Father Cahill? Where's----" At this instant his eyes met those of +D'Esmonde, as, seated in the gallery immediately above him, he watched +the proceedings with an agonizing interest only second to the prisoner's +own. "Oh, look what you've brought me to!" cried he, in an accent of +heart-broken misery; "oh, see where I'm standing now!" + +The utterance of these words sent a thrill through the court, and the +judge was obliged to remind the prisoner that he was but endangering his +own safety by these rash interruptions. + +"Sure I know it, my Lord; sure I feel it," cried he, sobbing; "but what +help have I? Is there no one to stand by me? You're looking for marks +of blood, ain't ye?" screamed he to the jury, who were now examining the +coat and cap with great attention. "And there it is now,--there it is!" +cried he, wildly, as his eyes detected a folded paper that one of +the jurymen had just taken from the coat-pocket "What could I get by +it?--sure the will could n't do me any harm." + +"This _is_ a will, my Lord," said the foreman, handing the document down +to the bench. "It is dated, too, on the very-night before Mr. Godfrey's +death." + +The judge quickly scanned the contents, and then passed it over to Mr. +Hipsley, who, glancing his eyes over it, exclaimed, "If we wanted any +further evidence to exculpate the memory of Mr. Dalton, it is here. +By this will, signed, sealed, and witnessed in all form, Mr. Godfrey +bequeathed to his brother-in-law his whole estate of Corrig-O'Neal, and, +with the exception of some trifling legacies, names him heir to all he +is possessed of." + +"Let me out of this,--leave me free!" shouted the prisoner, whose +eyeballs now glared with the red glow of madness. "What brought me into +your schemes and plots?--why did I ever come here? Oh, my Lord, don't +see a poor man come to harm that has no friends. Bad luck to them here +and hereafter, the same Daltons! It was ould Peter turned me out upon +the world, and Godfrey was no better. Oh, my Lord! oh, gentlemen! if ye +knew what druv me to it,--but I did n't do it,--I never said I did. I'll +die innocent!" + +These words were uttered with a wild volubility, and, when over, the +prisoner crouched down in the dock, and buried his face in his hands. +From that instant he never spoke a word. The trial was prolonged till +late into the night; a commission was sworn and sent to the inn, to +examine young Dalton and interrogate him on every point. All that skill +and address could do were exerted by the counsel for the defence; but, +as the case proceeded, the various facts only tended to strengthen and +corroborate each other, and long before the jury retired their verdict +was certain. + +"Guilty, my Lord!" And, well known and anticipated as the words were, +they were heard in all that solemn awe their terrible import conveys. + +The words seemed to rouse the prisoner from his state; for, as if with +a convulsive effort, he sprang to his legs, and advanced to the front +of the dock. To the dreadful question of the Judge, as to what he had to +say, why sentence of death should not be pronounced upon him, he made +no answer; and his wild gaze and astonished features showed an almost +unconsciousness of all around him. From this state of stupor he soon +rallied, and, grasping the iron spikes with his hands, he protruded his +head and shoulders over the dock, while he carried his eyes over the +assembled crowd, till at last they lighted on the spot where Cahill and +D'Esmonde were seated,--the former pale and anxious-looking, the latter +with his head buried in his hands. The prisoner nodded with an insolent +air of familiarity to the priest, and muttered a few broken words in +Irish. Again was the terrible demand made by the Judge; and now the +prisoner turned his face towards the bench, and stood as if reflecting +on his reply. + +"Go on," cried he at last, in a tone of rude defiance; and the judge, +in all the passionless dignity of his high station, calmly reviewed the +evidence in the case, and gave his full concurrence to the verdict of +the jury. + +"I cannot conclude," said he, solemnly, "without adverting to that +extraordinary combination of events by which this crime, after a long +lapse of years, has been brought home to its guilty author. The evidence +you have heard to-day from Mr. Dalton--the singular corroboration of +each particular stated by him in the very existence of the will, which +so strongly refutes the motive alleged against the late Mr. Dalton--were +all necessary links of the great chain of proof; and yet all these might +have existed in vain were it not for another agency, too eventful to +be called an accident; I allude to the circumstance by which this man +became acquainted with one who was himself peculiarly interested in an +fathoming the mystery of this murder; I mean the Abbe D'Esmonde. The +name of this gentleman has been more than once alluded to in this trial; +but he has not been brought before you, nor was there any need that he +should be. Now the Abbe, so far from connecting the prisoner with +the crime, believed him to be the agency by which it might have been +fastened on others; and to this end he devoted himself with every zeal +to the inquiry. Here, then, amidst all the remarkable coincidences of +this case, we find the very strangest of all; for this same Abbe,--the +accidental means of rescuing the prisoner from death at Venice, and who +is the chief agent in now bringing him to punishment here,--this Abbe is +himself the natural son of the late Mr. Godfrey. Sent when a mere boy to +St. Omer and Louvain to be educated for the Roman Catholic priesthood, +he was afterwards transferred to Salamanca, where he graduated, and took +deacon's orders. Without any other clew to his parentage than the vague +lines of admission in the conventual registry, the checks for money +signed and forwarded by Mr. Godfrey, this gentleman had risen by his +great talents to a high and conspicuous station before he addressed +himself to the search after his family. I have no right to pursue this +theme further; nor had I alluded to it at all, save as illustrating +in so remarkable a manner that direct and unmistakable impress of the +working of Providence in this case, showing how, amidst all the strange +chaos of a time of revolution and anarchy, when governments were +crumbling, and nations rending asunder, this one blood-spot--the foul +deed of murder----should cry aloud for retribution, and, by a succession +of the least likely incidents, bring the guilty man to justice." + +After a careful review of all the testimony against the prisoner, the +conclusiveness of which left no room for a doubt, he told him to abandon +all hope of a pardon in this world, concluding, in the terrible words of +the law, by the sentence of death,---- + +"You, Samuel Eustace, will be taken from the bar of this court to +the place from whence you came, the jail, and thence to the place of +execution, there to be hung by the neck till you are dead--" + +"Can I see my priest,----may the priest come to me?" cried the prisoner, +fiercely; for not even the appalling solemnity of the moment could +repress the savage energy of his nature. + +"Miserable man," said the judge, in a faltering accent, "I beseech you +to employ well the few minutes that remain to you in this world, and +carry not into the next that spirit of defiance by which you would brave +an earthly judgment-seat. And may God have mercy on your soul!" + + + + +CHAPTER XL. THE RETRIBUTION. + +The sudden flash of intelligence by which young Frank was enabled to +connect the almost forgotten incidents of boyhood with the date and +the other circumstances of the murder, had very nearly proved fatal to +himself. His brain was little able to resist the influence of all these +conflicting emotions; and for some days his faculties wandered away in +the wildest and most incoherent fancies. It was only on the very morning +of the trial that he became self-possessed and collected. Then it was +that he could calmly remember every detail of that fatal night, and see +their bearing on the mysterious subject of the trial. At first Grounsell +listened to his story as a mere raving; but when Frank described with +minute accuracy the appearance of the spot--the old orchard, the stone +stair that descended into the garden, and the little door which opened +into the wood,--he became eagerly excited; and, anxious to proceed with +every guarantee of caution, he summoned two other magistrates to the +bedside to hear the narrative. We have already seen the event which +followed that revelation, and by which the guilt of the murderer was +established. + +From hour to hour, as the trial proceeded, Frank received tidings from +the court-house. The excitement, far from injuring, seemed to rally and +re-invigorate him; and although the painful exposure of their domestic +circumstances was cautiously slurred over to his ears, it was plain to +see the indignant passion with which he heard of Nelly and Kate being +dragged before the public eye. It was, indeed, a day of deep and +terrible emotion, and when evening came he sank into the heavy sleep +of actual exhaustion. While nothing was heard in the sick-room save the +long-drawn breathings of the sleeper, the drawing-rooms of the hotel +were crowded with the gentry of the neighborhood, all eager to see and +welcome the Dalton's home again. If the old were pleased to meet with +the veteran Count Stephen, the younger were no less delighted with even +such casual glimpses as they caught of Kate, in the few moments she +could spare from her brother's bedside. As for Lady Hester, such a +torrent of sensations, such a perfect avalanche of emotion, was perfect +ecstasy; perhaps not the least agreeable feeling being the assurance +that she no longer possessed any right or title to Corrig-O'Neal, and +was literally unprovided for in the world. + +"One detests things by halves," said she; "but to be utterly ruined is +quite charming." + +The country visitors were not a little surprised at the unfeigned +sincerity of her enjoyment, and still more, perhaps, at the warm +cordiality of her manner towards them,--she who, till now, had declined +all proffers of acquaintanceship, and seemed determined to shun them. + +Consigning to her care all the duties of receiving the crowd of +visitors, which old Count Stephen was but too happy to see, Kate only +ventured for a few minutes at a time to enter the drawing-room. It was +while hastening back from one of these brief intervals that she heard +her name spoken in a low but distinct voice. She turned round, and saw a +man, closely enveloped in a large cloak, beside her. + +"It is I, Miss Dalton,--the Abbe D'Esmonde," said he. "May I speak with +your brother?" + +Kate could hardly answer him from terror. All the scenes in which she +had seen him figure rose before her view, and the man was, to her eyes, +the very embodiment of peril. + +"My brother is too ill, sir, to receive you," said she. "In a few days +hence--" + +"It will then be too late, Miss Dalton," said he, mournfully. "The very +seconds as they pass, now, are as days to one who stands on the brink of +eternity." + +"Is there anything which I could communicate to him myself? for I am +fearful of what might agitate or excite him." + +"If it most be so," said he, sighing, and as if speaking to himself. +"But could you not trust me to say a few words? I will be most +cautious." + +"If, then,' to-morrow--" + +"To-morrow! It must be now,--at this very instant!" cried he, eagerly. +"The life of one who is unfit to go hence depends upon it." Then, taking +her hand, he continued: "I have drawn up a few lines, in shape of a +petition for mercy to this wretched man. They must be in London by +to-morrow night, to permit of a reprieve before Saturday. Your brother's +signature is all-essential. For this I wished to see him, and to know +if he has any acquaintanceship with persons in power which could aid the +project. You see how short the time is; all depends upon minutes. +The Secretary of State can suspend the execution, and in the delay a +commutation of the sentence may be obtained." + +"Oh, give it to me!" cried she, eagerly. And, snatching the paper from +his hands, she hurried into the chamber. + +Frank Dalton was awake, but in all the languor of great debility. He +scarcely listened to his sister, till he heard her pronounce the name of +the Abbe D'Esmonde. + +"Is he here, Kate?--is he here?" cried he, eagerly. + +"Yes, and most anxious to see and speak with you." + +"Then let him come in, Kate. Nay, nay, it will not agitate me." + +Kate noiselessly retired, and, beckoning the Abbe to come forward, she +left the room, and closed the door. + +D'Esmonde approached the sick-bed with a cautious, almost timid air, and +seated himself on a chair, without speaking. + +"So, then, we are cousins, I find," said Frank, stretching out his +wasted hand towards him. "They tell me you are a Godfrey, Abbe?" + +D'Esmonde pressed his hand in token of assent, but did not utter a word. + +"I have no wish--I do not know if I have the right----to stand between +you and your father's inheritance. If I am destined to arise from this +sick-bed, the world is open to me, and I am not afraid to encounter it. +Let us be friends, then, D'Esmonde, in all candor and frankness." + +"Willingly,--most willingly. There need be but one rivalry between us," +said D*Esmonde, with a voice of deep feeling,--"in the struggle who +shall best serve the other. Had we known of this before; had I suspected +how our efforts might have been combined and united; had I but imagined +you as my ally, and not my--But these are too exciting themes to talk +upon. You are not equal to them." + +"Not so; it is in such moments that I feel a touch of health and vigor +once again. Go on, I beseech you." + +"I will speak of that which more immediately concerns us," said the +Abbe. "This wretched man stands for execution on Saturday. Let us try +to save him. His guilt must have already had its expiation in years +of remorse and suffering. Here is a petition I have drawn up to the +Secretary of State. It has been signed by several of the jury who +tried the cause. We want your name also to it Such a commutation as may +sentence him to exile is all that we pray for." + +"Give me the pen; I 'll sign it at once." + +"There,--in that space," said the' Abbe, pointing with his finger. "How +your hand trembles! This cannot be like your usual writing." + +"Let me confirm it by my seal, then. You'll find it on the table +yonder." + +D'Esmonde melted the wax, and stood beside him, while the youth pressed +down the seal. + +"Even that," said the Abbe, "might be disputed. There 's some one +passing in the corridor; let him hear you acknowledge it as your act and +hand." And, so saying, he hastened to the door, and made a sign to the +waiter to come in. "Mr. Dalton desires you to witness his signature," +said he to the man. + +"I acknowledge this as mine," said Frank, already half exhausted by the +unaccustomed exertion. + +"Your name, there, as witnessing it," whispered D'Esmonde; and the +waiter added his signature. + +"Have you hope of success, Abbe?" said Frank, faintly. + +"Hope never fails me," replied D'Esmonde, in a voice of bold and +assured tone. "It is the only capital that humble men like myself +possess; but we can draw upon it without limit. The fate of riches is +often ruins, but there is no bankruptcy in hope. Time presses now," said +he, as if suddenly remembering himself; "I must see to this at once. +When may I come again?" + +"Whenever you like. I have much to say to you. I cannot tell you now how +strangely you are mixed up in my fancy--it is but fancy, after all--with +several scenes of terrible interest." + +"What!--how do you mean?" said D'Esmonde, turning hastily about + +"I scarcely know where to begin, or how to separate truth from its +counterfeit Your image is before me, at times and in places where you +could not have been. Ay, even in the very crash and tumult of battle, as +I remember once at Varenna, beside the Lake of Como. I could have sworn +to have seen you cheering on the peasants to the attack." + +"What strange tricks imagination will play upon us!" broke in D'Esmonde; +but his voice faltered, and his pale cheek grew paler as he said the +words. + +"Then, again, in the Babli Palace at Milan, where I was brought as +a prisoner, I saw you leave the council-chamber arm-in-arm with an +Austrian Archduke. When I say I saw you, I mean as I now see you +here,--more palpable to my eyes than when you sat beside my sick-bed at +Verona." + +"Dreams,----dreams," said D'Esmonde. "Such illusions bespeak a mind +broken by sickness. Forget them, Dalton, if you would train your +thoughts to higher uses." And, so saying, in a tone of pride, the Abbe +bowed, and passed out. + +As D'Esmonde passed out into the street, Cahill joined him. + +"Well," cried the latter, "is it done?" + +"Yes, Michel," was the answer; "signed, and sealed, and witnessed in +all form. By this document I am recognized as a member of his family, +inheriting that which I shall never claim. No," cried he, with +exultation of voice and manner, "I want none of their possessions; I ask +but to be accounted of their race and name; and yet the time may come +when these conditions shall be reversed, and they who would scarcely own +me to-day may plot and scheme to trace our relationship. Now for Rome. +To-night--this very night--I set out. With this evidence of my station +and fortune there can be no longer any obstacle. The struggle is past; +now to enjoy the victory!" + +"You will see him before you go, D'Esmonde? A few minutes is all he +asks." + +"Why should I? What bond is there between us now? The tie is loosened +forever; besides, he deceived us, Michel,----deceived us in everything." + +"Be it so," said the other; "but remember that it is the last prayer of +one under sentence of death,--the last wish of one who will soon have +passed away hence." + +"Why should I go to hear the agonizing entreaties for a mercy that +cannot be granted,--the harrowing remorse of a guilty nature?" + +"Do not refuse him, D'Esmonde. He clings to this object with a fixed +purpose that turns his mind from every thought that should become the +hour. In vain I speak to him of the short interval between him and +the grave. He neither hears nor heeds me. His only question is, 'Is he +coming,----will he come tome?'" + +"To lose minutes, when every one of them is priceless, to waste emotions +when my heart is already racked and tortured,----why should I do this?" +cried D'Esmonde, peevishly. + +"Do not refuse me, D'Esmonde," said Cahill, passionately. "I despair +of recalling the miserable man to the thought of his eternal peril till +this wish be satisfied." + +"Be it so, then," said the Abbe, proudly; and he walked along beside his +friend in silence. + +They traversed the streets without a word spoken. Already D'Esmonde +had assumed an air of reserve which seemed to mark the distance between +himself and his companion; the thoughtful gravity of his look savored no +less of pride than reflection. In such wise did Cahill read his manner, +and by a cautious deference appear to accept the new conditions of their +intimacy. + +"The prisoner has not uttered a word since you were here, sir," said +the jailer, as they entered the gate. "He shows the greatest anxiety +whenever the door opens; but, as if disappointed at not seeing whom he +expected, relapses at once into his silent reserve." + +"You see that he still expects you," whispered Cahill to the Abbe; and +the other assented with a faint nod of the head. + +"No, sir; this way," said the jailer; "he is now in the condemned cell." +And, so saying, he led the way along the corridor. + +By the faint light of a small lamp, fixed high up in the wall, they +could just detect the figure of a man, as he sat crouched on the low +settle-bed, his head resting on his arms as they were crossed over his +knees. He never moved as the grating sound of the heavy door jarred on +the stillness, but sat still and motionless. + +"The Abbe D'Esmonde has come to see you, Eustace," said the jailer, +tapping him on the shoulder. "Wake up, man, and speak to him." + +The prisoner lifted his head and made an effort to say something; but +though his lips moved, there came no sounds from them. At last, with +an effort that was almost convulsive, he pointed to the door, and said, +"Alone--alone!" + +"He wants to speak with you alone, sir," whispered the jailer, "and so +we will retire." + +D'Esmonde could not see them leave the cell without a sense of +fear,--less the dread of any personal injury than the strange terror +so inseparable to any close communion with one convicted of a dreadful +crime,--and he actually shuddered as the massive door was banged to. + +"You are cold, sir!" said the prisoner, in a hollow, sepulchral voice. + +"No, it was not cold!" replied D'Esmonde. + +"I can guess what it was, then!" said the other, with an energy to which +passion seemed to contribute. "But I 'll not keep you long here. Sit +down, sir. You must sit beside me, for there is no other seat than the +settle-bed. But there is nobody here to see the great Abbe D'Esmonde +side by side with a murderer." + +"Wretched man," said D'Esmonde, passionately, "by what fatality did you +rush upon your fate? Why did you ever return to this country?" + +"It is to tell you that--ay, that very thing--I asked you to come here +to-night," said the prisoner, with a firm, full voice. "I came here +for _you_--just so--for _you yourself_, There, there," continued he, +naughtily, "don't look as if I wanted to trick you. Is it here. Is it +now, that a lie would sarve me? Listen to me, and don't stop me, for I +want to turn my thoughts to something else when this is off my heart. +Listen to me. Very soon after you saved me at Venice, I knew all about +you; who you were, and what you were planning,--ay, deep as you thought +yourself, I read every scheme in you, and opened every letter you wrote +or received. You don't believe me. Shall I give you a proof? Did you +accept eight bills for money Morlache the Jew sent you, from Florence, +in March last? Did Cardinal Antinori write to say that the Bull that +named you cardinal must have your birth set forth as noble? Did the +Austrian Field-Marshal send you the cross of St. Joseph, and did you not +return it, as to wear it would unmask you to the Italians?" + +"What if all this were true?" said D'Esmonde, proudly. "Is it to one +like you I am to render account for my actions? What is it to you if--" + +"What is it to _me?_" cried the other, fiercely,----"what is it to me? +Isn't it everything? Isn't it what brought me here, and what in three +days more will bring me to the gallows? I tell you again, I saw what you +were bent on, and I knew you 'd succeed,--ay, that I did. If it was good +blood you wanted to be a cardinal, I was the only one could help you." + +"You knew the secret of my birth, then?" cried D'Esmonde, in deep +earnestness. "You could prove my descent from the Godfreys?" + +"No! but I could destroy the only evidence against it," said the other, +in a deep, guttural voice. "I could tear out of the parish registry the +only leaf that could betray you; and it was for that I came back here; +and it was for that I 'm now here. And I did do it. I broke into the +vestry of the chapel at midnight, and I tore out the page, and I have +it here, in my hand, this minute. There was a copy of this same paper +at the college at Louvain, but I stole that, too; for I went as porter +there, just to get an opportunity to take it,--that one I destroyed." + +"But whence this interest in my fortunes?" said D'Esmonde, half proudly, +for he was still slow to believe all that he heard. + +"The paper will tell you that," said the other, slowly unfolding it, and +flattening it out on his knee. "This is the certificate of your baptism! +Wait--stop a minute," cried he, catching D'Esmonde's arm, as, in his +impatience, he tried to seize the paper. "This piece of paper is the +proof of who you are, and, moreover, the only proof that will soon exist +to show it." + +"Give it to me--let me see it!" cried D'Esmonde, eagerly. "Why have you +withheld till this time what might have spared me anxious days and weary +nights; and by what right have you mixed yourself up with my fortunes?" + +"By what right is it--by what right?" cried the other, in a voice which +passion rendered harsh and discordant. "Is that what you want to know?" +And, as he spoke, he bent down and fixed his eyes on the Abbe with a +stern stare. "You want to know what right I have," said he, and his face +became almost convulsed with passion. "There's my right--read that!" +cried he, holding out the paper before D'Esmonde's eyes. "There's your +birth proved and certified: 'Matthew, son of Samuel and Mary Eustace, +of Ballykinnon, baptized by me this 10th day of April, 18----. Joseph +Barry, P.P.' There's the copy of your admission into the convent, and +here's the superior's receipt for the first quarter's payment as a +probationer. Do you know who you are now? or do you still ask me what +right I have to meddle in your affairs?" + +"And you--and you--you--" cried D'Esmonde, gasping. + +"I am your father. Ay, you can hear the words here, and needn't start +at the sound of them. We're in the condemned cell of a jail, and +nobody near us. You are my son. Mr. Godfrey paid for you as a student +till--till--But it's all over now. I never meant you to know the truth; +but a lie would n't serve you any longer. Oh, Matthew, Matthew!" cried +he--and of a sudden his voice changed, and softened to accents of almost +choking sorrow--"haven't you one word for me?--one word of affection for +him that you brought to this, and who forgives you for it?--one word, +even to call me your own father?" He fell at the other's feet, and +clasped his arms around his knees as he spoke, but the appeal was +unheard. + +[Illustration: 514] + +Pale as a corpse, with his head slightly thrown forward, and his eyes +wildly staring before him, D'Esmonde sat, perfectly motionless. At last +the muscles of his mouth fashioned themselves into a ghastly smile, +a look of mockery so dreadful to gaze upon that the prisoner, +terror-stricken at the sight, rushed to the door, and beat loudly +against it, as he screamed for help. It was opened on the instant, and +the Jailer, followed by two others, entered. + +"He's ill; his reverence is taken bad," said the old man, while he +trembled from head to foot with agitation. + +"What's this paper? What is he clutching in his hands?" cried the +jailer. + +D'Esmonde started at the words. For the first time a gleam of +intelligence shot over his features, and as suddenly he bent a look of +withering hate on the speaker; and then, with a passionate vehemence +that told of a frantic brain, he tore the paper into fragments, and, +with a wild yell, as if of triumph, he fell senseless on the ground. +When they lifted him up, his features were calm, but passionless, his +eye was vacant, and his lips slightly parted. An expression of weariness +and exhaustion, rather than of actual pain, pervaded the face. He never +spoke again. The lamp of intellect was extinguished forever, and not +even a flicker or a spark remained to cheer the darkness within him. +Hopeless and helpless idiotcy was ever after the lot of one whose mind, +once stored with the most lofty ambitions, never scrupled, at any cost, +to attain its object. And he whose proud aspirings soared to the very +grandest of earthly prizes, who gave his counsel among princes, now +lives on, bereft of mind and intelligence, without consciousness of the +past, or a hope for the future. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. THE END + +With the sad episode which closes our last chapter we would fain let +fall the curtain on this history. Very few words will now suffice to +complete the narrative of those with whom we have so long sojourned. The +discovery which revealed the murder of Mr. Godfrey restored Frank Dalton +to the home and fortune of his family; and although the trying scenes +through which he had passed made deep and dangerous inroads on his +health, youth and hope, and the watchful care of Kate, restored him; +and, after the lapse of some weeks, he was enabled to be about once +more, recalling to the recollection of many the handsome figure and +manly bearing of his father. + +For many a year before, Corrig-O'Neal had not seen such a party beneath +its roof, nor had those gloomy old walls echoed to such sounds as now +were heard within them. In addition to Lady Hester, George Onslow, now +a colonel, was the guest of the Daltons. Scarcely arrived in England, +he quitted London at the moment when the tidings of his gallant +achievements had made him the hero of the day, and hurried to see _her_ +who, through every change of his fortunes, had been the dearest object +of his heart. + +What tender reproaches, what heart-warm confessions, did those old woods +hear, as, side by side, the lovers walked along, revealing the secret +sorrows of the past, and recalling each incident which once had cheered +with hope or shadowed with despair. But it is not in such company we +would play the "eavesdropper," nor watch for the changeful blushes of +that soft cheek where tears of joy and grief are mingled. Neither would +we care to accompany Grounsell, as with deeds and bonds, codicils and +conveyances, he actually hunted poor Frank from place to place, urgently +impressing on him the necessity for those "business habits," the +sad neglect of which had been the ruin of all the Daltons. As little +inducement is there to follow Lady Hester, whose restless activity +was interfering with every one and everything, taking the most lively +Interest in the property the very moment it ceased to be her own, and +devoted to all the charities which no longer could lay claim to being +duties. + +Pleasanter, perhaps, would it be to follow the old Count, as he +sauntered alone for hours, trying to trace out in the long-forgotten +scenes the stories of his boyhood. What pleasant reveries they +were!--what glorious compensations for all the tumultuous passages of an +eventful life! And so he felt them! And so he recognized with grateful +heart the happy destiny which had befallen him, to close his days where +he had begun them--in the midst of his own--loving and beloved. + +And yet with such scenes and emotions we must not dally. Story-tellers, +like Mother Carey's chickens, have no sympathies with sunny skies and +soft airs,--their province is amidst the hurricane and the storm. In +truth, too, it is the very essence of tranquil enjoyment that it must be +left to the imagination of each to conceive. + +But one care weighed on all, and that was the absence of poor Nelly. +Why was she not amongst them, to see their happiness, and heighten its +enjoyment by all the benevolence of her kindly nature? It was true +they were relieved of all anxiety regarding her by a letter which had +followed them from Vienna, and which told how she had arrived in that +city a few days after they had left it. + + "I stood," she said, "looking at the great palace where they + told me Count Stephen lived, and could not bring myself to + think it was not a dream that such as _I_ should have + business there! + + "I sat down on the steps of a church in front of it, and + gazed for hours long at the great door through which you + must have passed so often, and the windows which doubtless + you stood at--perhaps thinking of poor Nelly! At last came + Hanserl to say that he had obtained leave to see the palace; + and oh, how my heart beat at the words,--for there was pride + as well as humiliation in the thought,--and so we went in, + and, crossing the great court, ascended the wide staircase. + How beautiful it all was, those marble statues,--the rich + frescos of the ceilings,--the gorgeous lamps, all emblazoned + with armorial emblems; and yet I thought less of these than + the polished steps which your feet had trodden, and which I + could have kissed for your sake. + + "I had not imagined so much magnificence. You will smile, + perhaps, at my simplicity, but so did not that kind old + soldier with the wooden leg, who took such pains to show us + everything. He was evidently pleased to witness our admiring + wonder, and actually laughed at Hanserl's enthusiasm for all + those bright scimitars and shields of Turkish make, the + horse-tailed banners, and other emblems of Austrian victory; + while I stole away silently into a little chamber all hung + with blue damask, over the mantelpiece of which was a + portrait of our own dear Frank. How I felt that the room was + yours, Kate,--how my heart told me each object you had + touched,--and how they all became to my delighted senses + like precious relics, revealing stores of affection laid up + in your bosom, and showing a wealth of love I was not + conscious of till then. Oh, no, dearest sister, I never + knew, till then, how things without life themselves can be + the links between beating hearts! I looked everywhere for a + portrait of yourself, and it was only by asking the old + corporal that I succeeded in finding it. 'The Graefin's + picture is in the Field-Marshal's own room,' said he, with + pride, and led the way towards it. Oh, Kate, how beautiful-- + nay, it is Nelly, your own stern Nelly, who never flattered + you herself nor could bear others to do so--it is Nelly, the + same Nelly, unchanged, save in being less trustful, less + impulsive, less forgiving than you knew her, and _she_ tells + you that at sight of such loveliness she stood wonderstruck + and fascinated. Had you been really then before me, such as + the picture represented, I had not dared to approach you; + there was that of nobility and grandeur that had appalled my + poor peasant heart, unused to the glitter of diamonds and + the queenly air of high-born beauty; but, as I gazed on the + likeness, long and steadily, this expression faded away, + and, as though the lineaments were changing, I thought the + eyes grew softer; they seemed to moisten, the lips trembled, + the bosom heaved and fell, and it was you-----you! as I + had pressed you to my heart a thousand times--my own! my + own! I know not what foolish words I may have uttered, nor + to what excess my rapture carried me, but I was weeping + bitterly as they led me away,--ay, bitterly, Kate; for such + ecstasy as I felt finds its true vent in sorrow! But now I + am happy once more,--happy that I have seen you and dear + Frank,--happy that each of us in life has trodden the path + that best became him! and so I came away, with many a + lingering look, and many a backward glance, at what I was + never to see again. + + "Here, in my mountain home, once more I can sit, alone, + and think of you for days. You wander through all my + thoughts, the characters of endless stories, in every + imaginable vicissitude, and with every change of fortune; + but throughout all, Kate--good and beautiful--truthful too, + as you ever were. There, my tears have blotted out what I + tried to say, nor dare I trust myself with more. My school + children are already coming through the vineyard; I hear + their song,--it was your own long ago:---- + + 'Da sind die Taege lang gennch, Da sind die Nachte milde.' + + "Good-bye, good-bye, my sister--my dear sister. + + "N. D. Meran." + + +"Oh, let us hasten thither at once!" cried Kate, in rapture. "Oh, dear +uncle, let us away to Meran." + +"Not till after Tuesday, Kate," whispered George, passionately; and the +words covered her cheeks with blushes as she heard them. + +The reader knows now all that we care to tell him. Time was when +story-tellers wound up with a kind wish that, "if they were not happy, +that you and I may be." Nor am I quite certain that we are wiser in our +vocation than when those words were in vogue. + +We are not vain enough to suppose that we have inspired an interest for +any of those characters who have supported the minor parts of our drama. +Should such good fortune have happily attended us, let us say, once for +all, that Messrs. Haggerstone, Jekyl, and Purvis yet survive; that the +Ricketts family are in excellent health, autograph gathering and duke +courting, poetizing and painting, and pilfering, with all the ardor of +youth, untouched by years and unrestrained by conscience. Lady Hester, +too, is again living abroad, and, after trying three new changes +of religion, is in treaty with a Heidelberg professor for a +"spick-and-span" new faith, which will transcend everything hitherto +known, and make even Mormonism ashamed of itself. + +As for Prince Midchekoff, he and my Lady Norwood are the delight of +a foreign city which shall be nameless, and their receptions nightly +crowded by all the fashionable celebrities and distinguished visitors of +that favored region. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Daltons, Volume II (of II), by +Charles James Lever + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DALTONS, VOLUME II (OF II) *** + +***** This file should be named 32062.txt or 32062.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/0/6/32062/ + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |