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diff --git a/33556.txt b/33556.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2db8e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/33556.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17342 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Fortunes Of Glencore, 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 Fortunes Of Glencore + +Author: Charles James Lever + +Illustrator: E. J. Wheeler and W. Cubitt Cooke + +Release Date: August 27, 2010 [EBook #33556] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNES OF GLENCORE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE FORTUNES OF GLENCORE + +By Charles James Lever + +With Illustrations By E. J. Wheeler and W. Cubitt Cooke + +Boston: Little, Brown, And Company. + +1902 + + + + +PREFACE. + +I am unwilling to suffer this tale to leave my hands without a word +of explanation to my reader. If I have never disguised from myself the +grounds of any humble success I have attained to as a writer of fiction; +if I have always had before me the fact that to movement and action, +the stir of incident, and a certain light-heartedness and gayety of +temperament, more easy to impart to others than to repress in one's +self, I have owed much, if not all, of whatever popularity I have +enjoyed, I have yet felt, or fancied that I felt, that it would be in +the delineation of very different scenes, and the portraiture of very +different emotions, that I should reap what I would reckon as a real +success. This conviction, or impression if you will, has become stronger +with years and with the knowledge of life; years have imparted, and time +has but confirmed me in, the notion that any skill I possess lies in the +detection of character, and the unravelment of that tangled skein which +makes up human motives. + +I am well aware that no error is more common than to mistake one's own +powers; nor does anything more contribute to this error than a sense of +self-depreciation for what the world has been pleased to deem successful +in us. To test my conviction, or to abandon it as a delusion forever, I +have written the present story of "Glencore." + +I make but little pretension to the claim of interesting; as little do +I aspire to the higher credit of instructing. All I have attempted-all I +have striven to accomplish-is the faithful portraiture of character, +the close analysis of motives, and correct observation as to some of the +manners and modes of thought which mark the age we live in. + +Opportunities of society as well as natural inclination have alike +disposed me to such studies. I have stood over the game of life very +patiently for many a year, and though I may have grieved over the narrow +fortune which has prevented me from "cutting in," I have consoled myself +by the thought of all the anxieties defeat might have cost me, all the +chagrin I had suffered were I to have risen a loser. Besides this, +I have learned to know and estimate what are the qualities which win +success in life, and what the gifts by which men dominate above their +fellows. + +If in the world of well-bred life the incidents and events be fewer, +because the friction is less than in the classes where vicissitudes of +fortune are more frequent, the play of passion, the moods of temper, +and the changeful varieties of nature are often very strongly developed, +shadowed and screened though they be by the polished conventionalities +of society. To trace and mark these has long constituted one of the +pleasures of my life; if I have been able to impart even a portion of +that gratification to my reader, I will not deem the effort in vain, nor +the "Fortunes of Glencore" a failure. + +Let me add that although certain traits of character in some of +the individuals of my story may seem to indicate sketches of real +personages, there is but one character in the whole book drawn entirely +from life. + +This is Billy Traynor. Not only have I had a sitter for this picture, +but he is alive and hearty at the hour I am writing. For the others, +they are purely, entirely fictitious. Certain details, certain +characteristics, I have of course borrowed,--as he who would mould a +human face must needs have copied an eye, a nose, or a chin from some +existent model; but beyond this I have not gone, nor, indeed, have I +found, in all my experience of life, that fiction ever suggests what +has not been implanted unconsciously by memory; originality in the +delineation of character being little beyond a new combination of old +materials derived from that source. + +I wish I could as easily apologize for the faults and blemishes of my +story as I can detect and deplore them; but, like the failings in +one's nature, they are very often difficult to correct, even when +acknowledged. I have, therefore, but to throw myself once more upon the +indulgence which, "old offender" that I am, has never forsaken me, and +subscribe myself, + +Your devoted friend and servant, + +C. L. + + + + + +THE FORTUNES OF GLENCORE + +CHAPTER I. A LONELY LANDSCAPE + +Where that singularly beautiful inlet of the sea known in the west of +Ireland as the Killeries, after narrowing to a mere strait, expands into +a bay, stands the ruin of the ancient Castle of Glencore. With the bold +steep sides of Ben Creggan behind, and the broad blue Atlantic in front, +the proud keep would seem to have occupied a spot that might have +bid defiance to the boldest assailant. The estuary itself here seems +entirely landlocked, and resembles, in the wild, fantastic outline of +the mountains around, a Norwegian fiord, rather than a scene in our +own tamer landscape. The small village of Leenane, which stands on +the Galway shore, opposite to Glencore, presents the only trace of +habitation in this wild and desolate district, for the country around +is poor, and its soil offers little to repay the task of the husbandman. +Fishing is then the chief, if not the sole, resource of those who pass +their lives in this solitary region; and thus in every little creek or +inlet of the shore may be seen the stout craft of some hardy venturer, +and nets, and tackle, and such-like gear, lie drying on every rocky +eminence. We have said that Glencore was a ruin; but still its vast +proportions, yet traceable in massive fragments of masonry, displayed +specimens of various eras of architecture, from the rudest tower of +the twelfth century to the more ornate style of a later period; while +artificial embankments and sloped sides of grass showed the remains of +what once had been terrace and "parterre," the successors, it might be +presumed, of fosse and parapet. Many a tale of cruelty and oppression, +many a story of suffering and sorrow, clung to those old walls, for they +had formed the home of a haughty and a cruel race, the last descendant +of which died at the close of the past century. The Castle of Glencore, +with the title, had now descended to a distant relation of the house, +who had repaired and so far restored the old residence as to make it +habitable,--that is to say, four bleak and lofty chambers were +rudely furnished, and about as many smaller ones fitted for servant +accommodation; but no effort at embellishment, not even the commonest +attempt at neatness, was bestowed on the grounds or the garden; and in +this state it remained for some five-and-twenty or thirty years, when +the tidings reached the little village of Leenane that his lordship was +about to return to Glencore, and fix his residence there. + +Such an event was of no small moment in such a locality, and many were +the speculations as to what might be the consequence of his coming. +Little, or indeed nothing, was known of Lord Glencore; his only visit +to the neighborhood had occurred many years before, and lasted but for a +day. He had arrived suddenly, and, taking a boat at the ferry, as it was +called, crossed over to the Castle, whence he returned at nightfall, to +depart as hurriedly as he came. + +Of those who had seen him in this brief visit the accounts were vague +and most contradictory. Some called him handsome and well built; others +said he was a dark-looking, downcast man, with a sickly and forbidding +aspect. None, however, could record one single word he had spoken, nor +could even gossips pretend to say that he gave utterance to any opinion +about the place or the people. The mode in which the estate was managed +gave as little insight into the character of the proprietor. If no +severity was displayed to the few tenants on the property, there was +no encouragement given to their efforts at improvement; a kind of cold +neglect was the only feature discernible, and many went so far as to say +that if any cared to forget the payment of his rent, the chances were +it might never be demanded of him; the great security against such +a venture, however, lay in the fact that the land was held at a +mere nominal rental, and few would have risked his tenure by such an +experiment. + +It was little to be wondered at that Lord Glencore was not better known +in that secluded spot, since even in England his name was scarcely heard +of. His fortune was very limited, and he had no political influence +whatever, not possessing a seat in the Upper House; so that, as he spent +his life abroad, he was almost totally forgotten in his own country. + +All that Debrett could tell of him was comprised in a few lines, +recording simply that he was sixth Viscount Glencore and Loughdooner; +born in the month of February, 180-, and married in August, 18--, to +Clarissa Isabella, second daughter of Sir Guy Clifford, of Wytchley, +Baronet; by whom he had issue, Charles Conyngham Massey, born 6th June, +18--. There closed the notice. + +Strange and quaint things are these short biographies, with little +beyond the barren fact that "he had lived" and "he had died;" and yet, +with all the changes of this work-a-day world, with its din, and +turmoil, and gold-seeking, and "progress," men cannot divest themselves +of reverence for birth and blood, and the veneration for high descent +remains an instinct of humanity. Sneer as men will at "heaven-born +legislators," laugh as you may at the "tenth transmitter of a foolish +face," there is something eminently impressive in the fact of a position +acquired by deeds that date back to centuries, and preserved inviolate +to the successor of him who fought at Agincourt or at Cressy. If ever +this religion shall be impaired, the fault be with those who have +derogated from their great prerogative, and forgotten to make +illustrious by example what they have inherited illustrious by descent. + +When the news first reached the neighborhood that a lord was about to +take up his residence in the Castle, the most extravagant expectations +were conceived of the benefits to arise from such a source. The very +humblest already speculated on the advantages his wealth was to diffuse, +and the thousand little channels into which his affluence would be +directed. The ancient traditions of the place spoke of a time of +boundless profusion, when troops of mounted followers used to accompany +the old barons, and when the lough itself used to be covered with boats, +with the armorial bearings of Glencore floating proudly from their +mastheads. There were old men then living who remembered as many as two +hundred laborers being daily employed on the grounds and gardens of the +Castle; and the most fabulous stories were told of fortunes accumulated +by those who were lucky enough to have saved the rich earnings of that +golden period. + +Colored as such speculations were with all the imaginative warmth of the +west, it was a terrible shock to such sanguine fancies when they +beheld a middle-aged, sad-looking man arrive in a simple postchaise, +accompanied by his son, a child of six or seven years of age, and +a single servant,--a grim-looking old dragoon corporal, who neither +invited intimacy nor rewarded it. It was not, indeed, for a long time +that they could believe that this was "my lord," and that this solitary +attendant was the whole of that great retinue they had so long been +expecting; nor, indeed, could any evidence less strong than Mrs. +Mulcahy's, of the Post-office, completely satisfy them on the subject. +The address of certain letters and newspapers to the Lord Viscount +Glencore was, however, a testimony beyond dispute; so that nothing +remained but to revenge themselves on the unconscious author of their +self-deception for the disappointment he gave them. This, it is true, +required some ingenuity, for they scarcely ever saw him, nor could they +ascertain a single fact of his habits or mode of life. + +He never crossed the "Lough," as the inlet of the sea, about three miles +in width, was called. He as rigidly excluded the peasantry from the +grounds of the Castle; and, save an old fisherman, who carried his +letter-bag to and fro, and a few laborers in the spring and autumn, none +ever invaded the forbidden precincts. + +Of course, such privacy paid its accustomed penalty; and many an +explanation, of a kind little flattering, was circulated to account for +so ungenial an existence. Some alleged that he had committed some heavy +crime against the State, and was permitted to pass his life there, +on the condition of perpetual imprisonment; others, that his wife had +deserted him, and that in his forlorn condition he had sought out a spot +to live and die in, unnoticed and unknown; a few ascribed his solitude +to debt; while others were divided in opinion between charges of +misanthropy and avarice,--to either of which accusations his lonely and +simple life fully exposed him. + +In time, however, people grew tired of repeating stories to which no +new evidence added any features of interest. They lost the zest for a +scandal which ceased to astonish, and "my lord" was as much forgotten, +and his existence as unspoken of, as though the old towers had once +again become the home of the owl and the jackdaw. + +It was now about eight years since "the lord" had taken up his abode +at the Castle, when one evening, a raw and gusty night of December, the +little skiff of the fisherman was seen standing in for shore,--a sight +somewhat uncommon, since she always crossed the "Lough" in time for the +morning's mail. + +"There's another man aboard, too," said a bystander from the little +group that watched the boat, as she neared the harbor; "I think it's Mr. +Craggs." + +"You 're right enough, Sam,--it's the Corporal; I know his cap, and the +short tail of hair he wears under it. What can bring him at this time of +night?" + +"He's going to bespeak a quarter of Tim Healey's beef, maybe," said one, +with a grin of malicious drollery. + +"Mayhap it's askin' us all to spend the Christmas he'd be," said +another. + +"Whisht! or he 'll hear you," muttered a third; and at the same instant +the sail came clattering down, and the boat glided swiftly past, and +entered a little natural creek close beneath where they stood. + +"Who has got a horse and a jaunting-car?" cried the Corporal, as he +jumped on shore. "I want one for Clifden directly." + +"It's fifteen miles--devil a less," cried one. + +"Fifteen! no, but eighteen! Kiely's bridge is brack down, and you 'll +have to go by Gortnamuck." + +"Well, and if he has, can't he take the cut?" + +"He can't." + +"Why not? Did n't I go that way last week?" + +"Well, and if you did, did n't you lame your baste?" + +"'T was n't the cut did it." + +"It was--sure I know better--Billy Moore tould me." + +"Billy's a liar!" + +Such and such-like comments and contradictions were very rapidly +exchanged, and already the debate was waxing warm, when Mr. Craggs's +authoritative voice interposed with-- + +"Billy Moore be blowed! I want to know if I can have a car and horse?" + +"To be sure! why not?--who says you can't?" chimed in a chorus. + +"If you go to Clifden under five hours my name isn't Terry Lynch," said +an old man in rabbitskin breeches. + +"I 'll engage, if Barny will give me the blind mare, to drive him there +under four." + +"Bother!" said the Rabbitskin, in a tone of contempt. + +"But where's the horse?" cried the Corporal. + +"Ay, that's it," said another; "where's the horse?" + +"Is there none to be found in the village?" asked Craggs, eagerly. + +"Divil a horse, barrin' an ass. Barny's mare has the staggers the last +fortnight, and Mrs. Kyle's pony broke his two knees on Tuesday carrying +sea-weed up the rocks." + +"But I must go to Clifden; I must be there to-night," said Craggs. + +"It's on foot, then, you'll have to do it," said the Rabbitskin. + +"Lord Glencore's dangerously ill, and needs a doctor," said the +Corporal, bursting out with a piece of most uncommon communicativeness. +"Is there none of you will give his horse for such an errand?" + +"Arrah, musha!--it's a pity!" and such-like expressions of compassionate +import, were muttered on all sides; but no more active movement seemed +to flow from the condolence, while in a lower tone were added such +expressions as, "Sorra mend him--if he wasn't a naygar, wouldn't he have +a horse of his own? It's a droll lord he is, to be begging the loan of a +baste!" + +Something like a malediction arose to the Corporal's lips; but +restraining it, and with a voice thick from passion, he said,-- + +"I 'm ready to pay you--to pay you ten times over the worth of your--" + +"You need n't curse the horse, anyhow," interposed Rabbitskin, while +with a significant glance at his friends around him, he slyly intimated +that it would be as well to adjourn the debate,--a motion as quickly +obeyed as it was mooted; for in less than five minutes Craggs was +standing beside the quay, with no other companion than a blind +beggar-woman, who, perfectly regardless of his distress, continued +energetically to draw attention to her own. + +"A little fivepenny bit, my lord--the last trifle your honor's glory +has in the corner of your pocket, that you 'll never miss, and that 'll +sweeten ould Molly's tay to-night? There, acushla, have pity on 'the +dark,' and that you may see glory--" + +But Craggs did not wait for the remainder, but, deep in his own +thoughts, sauntered down towards the village. Already had the others +retreated within their homes; and now all was dark and cheerless along +the little straggling street. + +"And this is a Christian country!--this a land that people tell you +abounds in kindness and good-nature!" said he, in an accent of sarcastic +bitterness. + +"And who'll say the reverse?" answered a voice from behind, and, +turning, he beheld the little hunchbacked fellow who carried the mail on +foot from Oughterard, a distance of sixteen miles, over a mountain, and +who was popularly known as "Billy the Bag," from the little leather sack +which seemed to form part of his attire. "Who 'll stand up and tell +me it's not a fine country in every sense,--for natural beauties, for +antiquities, for elegant men and lovely females, for quarries of marble +and mines of gould?" + +Craggs looked contemptuously at the figure who thus declaimed of +Ireland's wealth and grandeur, and, in a sneering tone, said,-- + +"And with such riches on every side, why do you go barefoot--why are you +in rags, my old fellow?" + +"Is n't there poor everywhere? If the world was all gould and silver, +what would be the precious metals--tell me that? Is it because there's +a little cripple like myself here, that them mountains yonder is n't of +copper and iron and cobalt? Come over with me after I lave the bags at +the office, and I 'll show you bits of every one I speak of." + +"I'd rather you'd show me a doctor, my worthy fellow," said Craggs, +sighing. + +"I'm the nearest thing to that same going," replied Billy. "I can +breathe a vein against any man in the barony. I can't say, that for +any articular congestion of the aortic valves, or for a sero-pulmonic +diathesis--d'ye mind?--that there isn't as good as me; but for the ould +school of physic, the humoral diagnostic touch, who can beat me?" + +"Will you come with me across the lough, and see my lord, then?" said +Craggs, who was glad even of such aid in his emergency. + +"And why not, when I lave the bags?" said Billy, touching the leather +sack as he spoke. + +If the Corporal was not without his misgivings as to the skill +and competence of his companion, there was something in the fluent +volubility of the little fellow that overawed and impressed him, while +his words were uttered in a rich mellow voice, that gave them a sort of +solemn persuasiveness. + +"Were you always on the road?" asked the Corporal, curious to learn some +particulars of his history. + +"No, sir; I was twenty things before I took to the bags. I was a poor +scholar for four years; I kept school in Erris; I was 'on' the ferry in +Dublin with my fiddle for eighteen months; and I was a bear in Liverpool +for part of a winter." + +"A bear!" exclaimed Craggs. "Yes, sir. It was an Italian--one Pipo +Chiassi by name--that lost his beast at Manchester, and persuaded me, +as I was about the same stature, to don the sable, and perform in his +place. After that I took to writin' for the papers--'The Skibbereen +Celt'--and supported myself very well till it broke. But here we are +at the office, so I 'll step in, and get my fiddle, too, if you 've no +objection." + +The Corporal's meditations scarcely were of a kind to reassure him, as +he thought over the versatile character of his new friend; but the case +offered no alternative--it was Billy or nothing--since to reach Clifden +on foot would be the labor of many hours, and in the interval his +master should be left utterly alone. While he was thus musing, Billy +reappeared, with a violin under one arm and a much-worn quarto under the +other. + +"This," said he, touching the volume, "is the 'Whole Art and Mystery of +Physic,' by one Fabricius, of Aquapendente; and if we don't find a cure +for the case down here, take my word for it, it's among the _morba +ignota_, as Paracelsus says." + +"Well, come along," said Craggs, impatiently, and set off at a speed +that, notwithstanding Billy's habits of foot-travel, kept him at a sharp +trot. A few minutes more saw them, with canvas spread, skimming across +the lough, towards Glencore. + +"Glencore--Glencore!" muttered Billy once or twice to himself, as the +swift boat bounded through the hissing surf. "Did you ever hear Lady +Lucy's Lament?" And he struck a few chords with his fingers as he +sang:-- + + "'I care not for your trellised vine, + I love the dark woods on the shore, + Nor all the towers along the Rhine + Are dear to me as old Glencore. + + The ragged cliff, Ben Creggan high, + Re-echoing the Atlantic roar, + Are mingling with the seagull's cry + My welcome back to old Glencore.' + +And then there's a chorus." + +"That's a signal to us to make haste," said the Corporal, pointing to a +bright flame which suddenly shot up on the shore of the lough. "Put out +an oar to leeward there, and keep her up to the wind." + +And Billy, perceiving his minstrelsy unattended to, consoled himself by +humming over, for his own amusement, the remainder of his ballad. + +The wind freshened as the night grew darker, and heavy seas repeatedly +broke on the bow, and swept over the boat in sprayey showers. + +"It's that confounded song of yours has got the wind up," said Craggs, +angrily; "stand by the sheet, and stop your croning!" + +"That's an _error vulgaris_, attributing to music marine disasters," +said Billy, calmly; "it arose out of a mistake about one Orpheus." + +"Slack off there!" cried Craggs, as a squall struck the boat, and laid +her almost over. + +Billy, however, had obeyed the mandate promptly, and she soon righted, +and held on her course. + +"I wish they'd show the light again on shore," muttered the Corporal; +"the night is black as pitch." + +"Keep the top of the mountain a little to windward, and you 're all +right," said Billy. "I know the lough well; I used to come here all +hours, day and night, once, spearing salmon." + +"And smuggling, too!" added Craggs. + +"Yes, sir; brandy, and tay, and pigtail, for Mister Sheares, in +Oughterard." + +"What became of him?" asked Craggs. + +"He made a fortune and died, and his son married a lady!" + +"Here comes another; throw her head up in the wind," cried Craggs. + +This time the order came too late; for the squall struck her with the +suddenness of a shot, and she canted over till her keel lay out of +water, and, when she righted, it was with the white surf boiling over +her. + +"She's a good boat, then, to stand that," said Billy, as he struck a +light for his pipe, with all the coolness of one perfectly at his ease; +and Craggs, from that very moment, conceived a favorable opinion of the +little hunchback. + +"Now we're in the smooth water, Corporal," cried Billy; "let her go a +little free." + +And, obedient to the advice, he ran the boat swiftly along till she +entered a small creek, so sheltered by the highlands that the water +within was still as a mountain tarn. + +"You never made the passage on a worse night, I 'll be bound," said +Craggs, as he sprang on shore. + +"Indeed and I did, then," replied Billy. "I remember--it was two days +before Christmas--we were blown out to say in a small boat, not more +than the half of this, and we only made the west side of Arran Island +after thirty-six hours' beating and tacking. I wrote an account of it +for the 'Tyrawly Regenerator,' commencing with-- + +"'The elemential conflict that with tremendious violence raged, ravaged, +and ruined the adamantine foundations of our western coast, on Tuesday, +the 23rd of December--'" + +"Come along, come along," said Craggs; "we've something else to think +of." + +And with this admonition, very curtly bestowed, he stepped out briskly +on the path towards Glencore. + + + +CHAPTER II. GLENCORE CASTLE + +When the Corporal, followed by Billy, entered the gloomy hall of the +Castle, they found two or three country people conversing in a low but +eager voice together, who speedily turned towards them, to learn if the +doctor had come. + +"Here 's all I could get in the way of a doctor," said Craggs, pushing +Billy towards them as he spoke. + +"Faix, and ye might have got worse," muttered a very old man; "Billy +Traynor has the lucky hand.'" + +"How is my lord, now, Nelly?" asked the Corporal of a woman who, +with bare feet, and dressed in the humblest fashion of the peasantry, +appeared. + +"He's getting weaker and weaker, sir; I believe he's sinking. I'm glad +it's Billy is come; I'd rather see him than all the doctors in the +country." + +"Follow me," said Craggs, giving a signal to step lightly; and he led +the way up a narrow stone stair, with a wall on either hand. Traversing +a long, low corridor, they reached a door, at which having waited for a +second or two to listen, Craggs turned the handle and entered. The room +was very large and lofty, and, seen in the dim light of a small lamp +upon the hearthstone, seemed even more spacious than it was. The oaken +floor was uncarpeted, and a very few articles of furniture occupied the +walls. In one corner stood a large bed, the heavy curtains of which had +been gathered up on the roof, the better to admit air to the sick man. + +As Billy drew nigh with cautious steps, he perceived that, although +worn and wasted by long illness, the patient was a man still in the +very prime of life. His dark hair and beard, which he wore long, were +untinged with gray, and his forehead showed no touch of age. His dark +eyes were wide open, and his lips slightly parted, his whole features +exhibiting an expression of energetic action, even to wildness. Still he +was sleeping; and, as Craggs whispered, he seldom slept otherwise, even +when in health. With all the quietness of a trained practitioner, Billy +took down the watch that was pinned to the curtain and proceeded to +count the pulse. + +"A hundred and thirty-eight," muttered he, as he finished; and then, +gently displacing the bedclothes, laid his hand upon the heart. + +With a long-drawn sigh, like that of utter weariness, the sick man moved +his head round and fixed his eyes upon him. + +"The doctor!" said he, in a deep-toned but feeble voice. "Leave me, +Craggs--leave me alone with him." + +And the Corporal slowly retired, turning as he went to look back towards +the bed, and evidently going with reluctance. + +"Is it fever?" asked the sick man, in a faint but unfaltering accent. + +"It's a kind of cerebral congestion,--a matter of them membranes that's +over the brain, with, of course, _febrilis generalis_." + +The accentuation of these words, marked as it was by the strongest +provincialism of the peasant, attracted the sick man's attention, and he +bent upon him a look at once searching and severe. + +"What are you--who are you?" cried he, angrily. + +"What I am is n't so aisy to say; but who I am is clean beyond me." + +"Are you a doctor?" asked the sick man, fiercely. + +"I'm afear'd I'm not, in the sense of a _gradum Universitatis_,--a +diplomia; but sure maybe Paracelsus himself just took to it, like me, +having a vocation, as one might say." + +"Ring that bell," said the other, peremptorily. + +And Billy obeyed without speaking. + +"What do you mean by this, Craggs?" said the Viscount, trembling with +passion. "Who have you brought me? What beggar have you picked off the +highway? Or is he the travelling fool of the district?" + +But the anger that supplied strength hitherto now failed to impart +energy, and he sank back wasted and exhausted. The Corporal bent over +him, and spoke something in a low whisper, but whether the words were +heard or not, the sick man now lay still, breathing heavily. + +"Can you do nothing for him?" asked Craggs, peevishly--"nothing but +anger him?" + +"To be sure I can if you let me," said Billy, producing a very ancient +lancet-case of boxwood tipped with ivory. "I'll just take a dash of +blood from the temporal artery, to relieve the cerebrum, and then we'll +put cowld on his head, and keep him quiet." + +And with a promptitude that showed at least self-confidence, he +proceeded to accomplish the operation, every step of which he effected +skilfully and well. + +"There, now," said he, feeling the pulse, as the blood continued to flow +freely, "the circulation is relieved at once; it's the same as opening a +sluice in a mill-dam. He 's better already." + +"He looks easier," said Craggs. + +"Ay, and he feels it," continued Billy. "Just notice the respiratory +organs, and see how easy the intercostials is doing their work now. +Bring me a bowl of clean water, some vinegar, and any ould rags you +have." + +Craggs obeyed, but not without a sneer at the direction. + +"All over the head," said Billy; "all over it,--back and front,--and +with the blessing of the Virgin, I'll have that hair off of him if he is +n't cooler towards evening." + +So saying, he covered the sick man with the wetted cloths, and bathed +his hands in the cooling fluid. + +"Now to exclude the light and save the brain from stimulation and +excitation," said Billy, with a pompous enunciation of the last +syllables; "and then _quies_--rest--peace!" + +And with this direction, imparted with a caution to enforce its +benefits, he moved stealthily towards the door and passed out. + +"What do you think of him?" asked the Corporal, eagerly. + +"He 'll do--he 'll do," said Billy. "He's a sanguineous temperament, and +he'll bear the lancet. It's just like weatherin' a point at say. If you +have a craft that will carry canvas, there's always a chance for you." + +"He perceived that you were not a doctor," said Craggs, when they +reached the corridor. + +"Did he, faix?" cried Billy, half indignantly. "He might have perceived +that I did n't come in a coach; that I had n't my hair powdered, nor +gold knee-buckles in my smallcloths; but, for all that, it would be +going too far to say that I was n't a doctor! 'T is the same with physic +and poetry--you take to it, or you don't take to it! There's chaps, +ay, and far from stupid ones either, that could n't compose you ten +hexameters if ye'd put them on a hot griddle for it; and there's +others that would talk rhyme rather than rayson! And so with the _ars +medicatrix_--everybody has n't an eye for a hectic, or an ear for a +cough--_non contigit cuique adire Corintheum_. 'T is n't every one can +toss pancakes, as Horace says." + +"Hush--be still!" muttered Craggs, "here's the young master." And as he +spoke, a youth of about fifteen, well grown and handsome, but poorly, +even meanly clad, approached them. + +"Have you seen my father? What do you think of him?" asked he, eagerly. + +"'Tis a critical state he's in, your honor," said Billy, bowing; "but I +think he 'll come round--_deplation, deplation, deplation--actio, actio, +actio_; relieve the gorged vessels, and don't drown the grand hydraulic +machine, the heart--them's my sentiments." + +Turning from the speaker with a look of angry impatience, the boy +whispered some words in the Corporal's ear. + +"What could I do, sir?" was the answer; "it was this fellow or nothing." + +"And better, a thousand times better, nothing," said the boy, "than +trust his life to the coarse ignorance of this wretched quack." And in +his passion the words were uttered loud enough for Billy to overhear +them. + +"Don't be hasty, your honor," said Billy, submissively, "and don't be +unjust. The realms of disaze is like an unknown tract of country, or a +country that's only known a little, just round the coast, as it might +be; once ye're beyond that, one man is as good a guide as another, +_coeteris paribus_, that is, with 'equal lights.'" + +"What have you done? Have you given him anything?" broke in the boy, +hurriedly. + +"I took a bleeding from him, little short of sixteen ounces, from the +temporial," said Billy, proudly, "and I'll give him now a concoction of +meadow saffron with a pinch of saltpetre in it, to cause diaphoresis, +d'ye mind? Meanwhile, we're disgorging the arachnoid membranes with cowld +applications, and we're relievin' the cerebellum by repose. I challenge +the Hall," added Billy, stoutly, "to say is n't them the grand +principles of 'traitment.' Ah! young gentleman," said he, after a few +seconds' pause, "don't be hard on me, because I 'm poor and in rags, nor +think manely of me because I spake with a brogue, and maybe bad grammar, +for, you see, even a crayture of my kind can have a knowledge of disaze, +just as he may have a knowledge of nature, by observation. What is +sickness, after all, but just one of the phenomenons of all organic and +inorganic matter--a regular sort of shindy in a man's inside, like a +thunderstorm, or a hurry-cane outside? Watch what's coming, look out +and see which way the mischief is brewin', and make your preparations. +That's the great study of physic." + +The boy listened patiently and even attentively to this speech, and when +Billy had concluded, he turned to the Corporal and said, "Look to him, +Craggs, and let him have his supper, and when he has eaten it send him +to my room." + +Billy bowed an acknowledgment, and followed the Corporal to the kitchen. + +"That's my lord's son, I suppose," said he, as he seated himself, "and +a fine young crayture too--_puer ingenuus_, with a grand frontal +development." And with this reflection he addressed himself to the +coarse but abundant fare which Craggs placed before him, and with an +appetite that showed how much he relished it. + +"This is elegant living ye have here, Mr. Craggs," said Billy, as he +drained his tankard of beer, and placed it with a sigh on the table; +"many happy years of it to ye--I could n't wish ye anything better." + +"The life is not so bad," said Craggs, "but it's lonely sometimes." + +"Life need never be lonely so long as a man has health and his +faculties," said Billy; "give me nature to admire, a bit of baycon for +dinner, and my fiddle to amuse me, and I would n't change with the King +of Sugar 'Candy.'" + +"I was there," said Craggs, "it's a fine island." + +"My lord wants to see the doctor," said a woman, entering hastily. + +"And the doctor is ready for him," said Billy, rising and leaving the +kitchen with all the dignity he could assume. + + + +CHAPTER III. BILLY TRAYNOR--POET, PEDLAR, AND PHYSICIAN + +"Didn't I tell you how it would be?" said Billy, as he re-entered the +kitchen, now crowded by the workpeople, anxious for tidings of the sick +man. "The head is re-leaved, the congestive symptoms is allayed, and +when the artarial excitement subsides, he 'll be out of danger." + +"Musha, but I 'm glad," muttered one; "he 'd be a great loss to us." + +"True for you, Patsey; there's eight or nine of us here would miss him +if he was gone." + +"Troth, he doesn't give much employment, but we couldn't spare him," +croaked out a third, when the entrance of the Corporal cut short further +commentary; and the party gathered around the cheerful turf fire with +that instinctive sense of comfort impressed by the swooping wind and +rain that beat against the windows. + +"It's a dreadful night outside; I would n't like to cross the lough in +it," said one. + +"Then that's just what I'm thinking of this minit," said Billy. "I'll +have to be up at the office for the bags at six o'clock." + +"Faix, you 'll not see Leenane at six o'clock to-morrow." + +"Sorra taste of it," muttered another; "there's a sea runnin' outside +now that would swamp a life-boat." + +"I'll not lose an illigant situation of six pounds ten a year, and a +pair of shoes at Christmas, for want of a bit of courage," said Billy; +"I'd have my dismissal if I wasn't there as sure as my name is Billy +Traynor." + +"And better for you than lose your life, Billy," said one. + +"And it's not alone myself I'd be thinking of," said Billy; "but every +man in this world, high and low, has his duties. _My_ duty," added he, +somewhat pretentiously, "is to carry the King's mail; and if anything +was to obstruckt, or impade, or delay the correspondience, it's on me +the blame would lie." + +"The letters wouldn't go the faster because you were drowned," broke in +the Corporal. + +"No, sir," said Billy, rather staggered by the grin of approval that met +this remark--"no, sir, what you ob-sarve is true; but nobody reflects on +the sintry that dies at his post." + +"If you must and will go, I'll give you the yawl," said Craggs; "and I +'ll go with you myself." + +"Spoke like a British Grenadier," cried Billy, with enthusiasm. + +"Carbineer, if the same to you, master," said the other, quietly; "I +never served in the infantry." + +"_Tros Tyriusve mihi_," cried Billy; "which is as much as to say,-- + + "'To storm the skies, or lay siege to the moon, + Give me one of the line, or a heavy dragoon,' + +it's the same to me, as the poet says." + +And a low murmur of the company seemed to accord approval to the +sentiment. + +"I wish you 'd give us a tune, Billy," said one, coaxingly. + +"Or a song would be better," observed another. + +"Faix," cried a third, "'tis himself could do it, and in Frinch or Latin +if ye wanted it." + +"The Germans was the best I ever knew for music," broke in Craggs. "I +was brigaded with Arentschild's Hanoverians in Spain; and they used to +sit outside the tents every evening, and sing. By Jove! how they did +sing--all together, like the swell of a church organ." + +"Yes, you're right," said Billy, but evidently yielding an unwilling +assent to this doctrine. "The Germans has a fine national music, and +they 're great for harmony. But harmony and melody is two different +things." + +"And which is best, Billy?" asked one of the company. + +"Musha, but I pity your ignorance," said Billy, with a degree of +confusion that raised a hearty laugh at his expense. + +"Well, but where's the song?" exclaimed another. + +"Ay," said Craggs, "we are forgetting the song. Now for it, Billy. Since +all is going on so well above stairs, I'll draw you a gallon of ale, +boys, and we 'll drink to the master's speedy recovery." + +It was a rare occasion when the Corporal suffered himself to expand in +this fashion, and great was the applause at the unexpected munificence. + +Billy at the same moment took out his fiddle and began that process of +preparatory screwing and scraping which, no matter how distressing to +the surrounders, seems to afford intense delight to performers on +this instrument. In the present case, it is but fair to say, there was +neither comment nor impatience; on the contrary, they seemed to accept +these convulsive throes of sound as an earnest of the grand flood of +melody that was coming. That Billy was occupied with other thoughts than +those of tuning was, however, apparent, for his lips continued to move +rapidly; and at moments he was seen to beat time with his foot, as +though measuring out the rhythm of a verse. + +"I have it now, ladies and gentlemen," he said, making a low obeisance +to the company; and so saying, he struck up a very popular tune, the +same to which a reverend divine wrote his words of "The night before +Larry was Stretched;" and in a voice of a deep and mellow fulness, +managed with considerable taste, sang-- + + "'A fig for the chansons of France, + Whose meaning is always a riddle; + The music to sing or to dance + Is an Irish tune played on the fiddle. + + To your songs of the Rhine and the Rhone + I 'm ready to cry out I am satis; + Just give us something of our own + In praise of our Land of Potatoes. + + Tol lol de lol, etc. + + + "'What care I for sorrows of those + Who speak of their heart as a cuore; + How expect me to feel for the woes + Of him who calls love an amore! + + Let me have a few words about home, + With music whose strains I 'd remember, + And I 'll give you all Florence and Rome, + Tho' they have a blue sky in December. + + Tol lol de lol, etc. + + + "'With a pretty face close to your own, + I 'm sore there's no rayson for sighing; + Nor when walkin' beside her alone, + Why the blazes be talking of dying! + + That's the way tho', in France and in Spain, + Where love is not real, but acted, + You must always portend you 're insane, + Or at laste that you 're partly distracted. + + Tol lol de lol, etc.'" + + +It is very unlikely that the reader will estimate Billy's impromptu as +did the company; in fact, it possessed the greatest of all claims to +their admiration, for it was partly incomprehensible, and by the +artful introduction of a word here and there, of which his hearers knew +nothing, the poet was well aware that he was securing their heartiest +approval. Nor was Billy insensible to such flatteries. The _irritabile +genus_ has its soft side, and can enjoy to the uttermost its own +successes. It is possible, if Billy had been in another sphere, with +much higher gifts, and surrounded by higher associates, that he might +have accepted the homage tendered him with more graceful modesty, and +seemed at least less confident of his own merits; but under no possible +change of places or people could the praise have bestowed more sincere +pleasure. + +"You're right, there, Jim Morris," said he, turning suddenly round +towards one of the company; "you never said a truer thing than that. +The poetic temperament is riches to a poor man. Wherever I go--in all +weathers, wet and dreary, and maybe footsore, with the bags full, and +the mountain streams all flowin' over--I can just go into my own mind, +just the way you'd go into an inn, and order whatever you wanted. I +don't need to be a king, to sit on a throne; I don't want ships, +nor coaches, nor horses, to convay me to foreign lands. I can bestow +kingdoms. When I haven't tuppence to buy tobacco, and without a shoe to +my foot, and my hair through my hat, I can be dancin' wid princesses, +and handin' empresses in to tay." + +"Musha, musha!" muttered the surrounders, as though they were listening +to a magician, who in a moment of unguarded familiarity condescended to +discuss his own miraculous gifts. + +"And," resumed Billy, "it isn't only what ye are to yourself and your +own heart, but what ye are to others, that without that sacret bond +between you, wouldn't think of you at all. I remember, once on a time, I +was in the north of England travelling, partly for pleasure, and partly +with a view to a small speculation in Sheffield ware--cheap penknives +and scissors, pencil-cases, bodkins, and the like--and I wandered about +for weeks through what they call the Lake Country, a very handsome +place, but nowise grand or sublime, like what we have here in +Ireland--more wood, forest timber, and better-off people, but nothing +beyond that! + +"Well, one evening--it was in August--I came down by a narrow path to +the side of a lake, where there was a stone seat, put up to see the view +from, and in front was three wooden steps of stairs going down into +the water, where a boat might come in. It was a lovely spot, and well +chosen, for you could count as many as five promontories running out +into the lake; and there was two islands, all wooded to the water's +edge; and behind all, in the distance, was a great mountain, with clouds +on the top; and it was just the season when the trees is beginnin' to +change their colors, and there was shades of deep gold, and dark olive, +and russet brown, all mingling together with the green, and glowing in +the lake below under the setting sun, and all was quiet and still +as midnight; and over the water the only ripple was the track of a +water-hen, as she scudded past between the islands; and if ever there +was peace and tranquillity in the world it was just there! Well, I put +down my pack in the leaves, for I did n't like to see or think of it, +and I stretched myself down at the water's edge, and I fell into a fit +of musing. It's often and often I tried to remember the elegant fancies +that came through my head, and the beautiful things that I thought I saw +that night out on the lake fornint me! Ye see I was fresh and fastin'; +I never tasted a bit the whole day, and my brain, maybe, was all the +better; for somehow janius, real janius, thrives best on a little +starvation. And from musing I fell off asleep; and it was the sound of +voices near that first awoke me! For a minute or two I believed I was +dreaming, the words came so softly to my ear, for they were spoken in +a low, gentle voice, and blended in with the slight splash of oars that +moved through the water carefully, as though not to lose a word of him +that was speakin'. + +"It's clean beyond _me_ to tell you what he said; and, maybe, if I +could, ye would n't be able to follow it, for he was discoorsin' about +night and the moon, and all that various poets said about them; ye'd +think that he had books, and was reading out of them, so glibly came the +verses from his lips. I never listened to such a voice before, so soft, +so sweet, so musical, and the words came droppin' down, like the clear +water filterin' over a rocky ledge, and glitterin' like little spangles +over moss and wild-flowers. + +"It wasn't only in English but Scotch ballads, too, and once or twice in +Italian that he recited, till at last he gave out, in all the fulness of +his liquid voice, them elegant lines out of Pope's Homer:-- + + "'As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, + O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light, + When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, + And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene, + Around her throne the vivid planets roll, + And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole: + O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, + And top with silver every mountain's head; + Then shine the vales; the rocks in prospect rise-- + A flood of glory bursts from all the skies; + The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight, + Eye the blue vault and bless the useful light.' + +"The Lord forgive me, but when he came to the last words and said, +'useful light,' I couldn't restrain myself, but broke out, 'That's +mighty like a bull, anyhow, and reminds me of the ould song,-- + + "'Good luck to the moon, she's a fine noble creature, + And gives us the daylight all night in the dark.' + +"Before I knew where I was, the boat glided in to the steps, and a tall +man, a little stooped in the shoulders, stood before me. + +"'Is it you,' said he, with a quiet laugh, 'that accuses Pope of a +bull?' + +"'It is,' says I; 'and, what's more, there isn't a poet from Horace +downwards that I won't show bulls in; there's bulls in Shakspeare and +in Milton; there's bulls in the ancients; I 'll point out a bull in +Aristophanes.' + +"'What have we here?' said he, turning to the others. + +"'A poor crayture,' says I, 'like Goldsmith's chest of drawers,-- + +"'With brains reduced a doable debt to pay, To dream by night, sell +Sheffield ware by day.' + +"Well, with that he took a fit of laughing, and handing the rest out +of the boat, he made me come along at his side, discoorsin' me about +my thravels, and all I seen, and all I read, till we reached an elegant +little cottage on a bank right over the lake; and then he brought me in +and made me take tay with the family; and I spent the night there; and +when I started the next morning there was n't a 'screed' of my pack that +they did n't buy, penknives, and whistles, and nut-crackers, and all, +just, as they said, for keepsakes. Good luck to them, and happy hearts, +wherever they are, for they made mine happy that day; ay, and for many +an hour afterwards, when I just think over their kind words and pleasant +faces." + +More than one of the company had dropped off asleep during Billy's +narrative, and of the others, their complaisance as listeners appeared +taxed to the utmost, while the Corporal snored loudly, like a man who +had a right to indulge himself to the fullest extent. + +"There's the bell again," muttered one, "that's from the 'lord's room;'" +and Craggs, starting up by the instinct of his office, hastened off to +his master's chamber. + +"My lord says you are to remain here," said he, as he re-entered a few +minutes later; "he is satisfied with your skill, and I'm to send off a +messenger to the post, to let them know he has detained you." + +"I 'm obaydient," said Billy, with a low bow; "and now for a brief +repose!" And so saying, he drew a long woollen nightcap from his +pocket, and putting it over his eyes, resigned himself to sleep with the +practised air of one who needed but very little preparation to secure +slumber. + + + +CHAPTER IV. A VISITOR + +The old Castle of Glencore contained but one spacious room, and this +served all the purposes of drawing-room, dining-room, and library. It +was a long and lofty chamber, with a raftered ceiling, from which a +heavy chandelier hung by a massive chain of iron. Six windows, all in +the same wall, deeply set and narrow, admitted a sparing light. In the +opposite wall stood two fireplaces, large, massive, and monumental, the +carved supporters of the richly-chased pediment being of colossal size, +and the great shield of the house crowning the pyramid of strange and +uncouth objects that were grouped below. The walls were partly occupied +by bookshelves, partly covered by wainscot, and here and there displayed +a worn-out portrait of some bygone warrior or dame, who little dreamed +how much the color of their effigies should be indebted to the sad +effects of damp and mildew. The furniture consisted of every imaginable +type, from the carved oak and ebony console to the white and gold of +Versailles taste, and the modern compromise of comfort with ugliness +which chintz and soft cushions accomplish. Two great screens, thickly +covered with prints and drawings, most of them political caricatures of +some fifty years back, flanked each fireplace, making, as it were, in +this case two different apartments. + +At one of those, on a low sofa, sat, or rather lay, Lord Glencore, pale +and wasted by long illness. His thin hand held a letter, to shade his +eyes from the blazing wood-fire, and the other hand hung listlessly +at his side. The expression of the sick man's face was that of deep +melancholy--not the mere gloom of recent suffering, but the deep-cut +traces of a long-carried affliction, a sorrow which had eaten into his +very heart, and made its home there. + +At the second fireplace sat his son, and, though a mere boy, the +lineaments of his father marked the youth's face with a painful +exactness. The same intensity was in the eyes, the same haughty +character sat on the brow; and there was in the whole countenance the +most extraordinary counterpart of the gloomy seriousness of the older +face. He had been reading, but the fast-falling night obliged him to +desist, and he sat now contemplating the bright embers of the wood fire +in dreamy thought. Once or twice was he disturbed from his revery by the +whispered voice of an old serving-man, asking for something with that +submissive manner assumed by those who are continually exposed to the +outbreaks of another's temper; and at last the boy, who had hitherto +scarcely deigned to notice the appeals to him, flung a bunch of keys +contemptuously on the ground, with a muttered malediction on his +tormentor. + +"What's that?" cried out the sick man, startled at the sound. + +"'Tis nothing, my lord, but the keys that fell out of my hand," replied +the old man, humbly. "Mr. Craggs is away to Leenane, and I was going to +get out the wine for dinner." + +"Where's Mr. Charles?" asked Lord Glencore. + +"He's there beyant," muttered the other, in a low voice, while he +pointed towards the distant fireplace; "but he looks tired and weary, +and I did n't like to disturb him." + +"Tired! weary!--with what? Where has he been; what has he been doing?" +cried he, hastily. "Charles, Charles, I say!" + +And slowly rising from his seat, and with an air of languid +indifference, the boy came towards him. + +Lord Glencore's face darkened as he gazed on him. + +"Where have you been?" asked he, sternly. + +"Yonder," said the boy, in an accent like the echo of his own. + +"There's Mr. Craggs, now, my lord," said the old butler, as he looked +out of the window, and eagerly seized the opportunity to interrupt the +scene; "there he is, and a gentleman with him." + +"Ha! go and meet him, Charles,--it's Harcourt. Go and receive him, show +him his room, and then bring him here to me." + +The boy heard without a word, and left the room with the same slow step +and the same look of apathy. Just as he reached the hall the stranger +was entering it. He was a tall, well-built man, with the mingled ease +and stiffness of a soldier in his bearing; his face was handsome, but +somewhat stern, and his voice had that tone which implies the long habit +of command. + +"You're a Massy, that I'll swear to," said he, frankly, as he shook +the boy's hand; "the family face in every lineament. And how is your +father?" + +"Better; he has had a severe illness." + +"So his letter told me. I was up the Rhine when I received it, and +started at once for Ireland." + +"He has been very impatient for your coming," said the boy; "he has +talked of nothing else." + +"Ay, we are old friends. Glencore and I have been schoolfellows, chums +at college, and messmates in the same regiment," said he, with a slight +touch of sorrow in his tone. "Will he be able to see me now? Is he +confined to bed?" + +"No, he will dine with you. I 'm to show you your room, and then bring +you to him." + +"That 's better news than I hoped for, boy. By the way, what's your +name?" + +"Charles Conyngham." + +"To be sure, Charles; how could I have forgotten it! So, Charles, this +is to be my quarters; and a glorious view there is from this window. +What's the mountain yonder?" + +"Ben Creggan." + +"We must climb that summit some of these days, Charley. I hope you 're a +good walker. You shall be my guide through this wild region here, for I +have a passion for explorings." + +And he talked away rapidly, while he made a brief toilet, and refreshed +himself from the fatigues of the road. + +"Now, Charley, I am at your orders; let us descend to the drawing-room." + +"You 'll find my father there," said the boy, as he stopped short at +the door; and Harcourt, staring at him for a second or two in silence, +turned the handle and entered. + +Lord Glencore never turned his head as the other drew nigh, but sat with +his forehead resting on the table, extending his hand only in welcome. + +"My poor fellow!" said Harcourt, grasping the thin and wasted +fingers,--"my poor fellow, how glad I am to be with you again!" And he +seated himself at his side as he spoke. "You had a relapse after you +wrote to me?" + +Glencore slowly raised his head, and, pushing back a small velvet +skull-cap that he wore, said,-- + +"You 'd not have known me, George. Eh? see how gray I am! I saw myself +in the glass to-day for the first time, and I really could n't believe +my eyes." + +"In another week the change will be just as great the other way. It was +some kind of a fever, was it not?" + +"I believe so," said the other, sighing. + +"And they bled you and blistered you, of course. These fellows are like +the farriers--they have but the one system for everything. Who was your +torturer; where did you get him from?" + +"A practitioner of the neighborhood, the wild growth of the mountain," +said Glencore, with a sickly smile; "but I must n't be ungrateful; he +saved my life, if that be a cause for gratitude." + +"And a right good one, I take it. How like you that boy is, Glencore! I +started back when he met me. It was just as if I was transported again +to old school-days, and had seen yourself as you used to be long ago. Do +you remember the long meadow, Glencore?" + +"Harcourt," said he, falteringly, "don't talk to me of long ago,--at +least not now;" and then, as if thinking aloud, added, "How strange that +a man without a hope should like the future better than the past!" + +"How old is Charley?" asked Harcourt, anxious to engage him on some +other theme. + +"He 'll be fifteen, I think, his next birthday; he seems older, does n't +he?" + +"Yes, the boy is well grown and athletic. What has he been doing--have +you had him at a school?" + +"At a school!" said Glencore, starting; "no, he has lived always here +with myself. I have been his tutor; I read with him every day, till that +illness seized me." + +"He looks clever; is he so?" + +"Like the rest of us, George, he may learn, but he can't be taught. The +old obstinacy of the race is strong in him, and to rouse him to rebel +all you have to do is to give him a task; but his faculties are +good, his apprehension quick, and his memory, if he would but tax it, +excellent. Here 's Craggs come to tell us of dinner; give me your arm, +George, we haven't far to go--this one room serves us for everything." + +"You're better lodged than I expected--your letters told me to look for +a mere barrack; and the place stands so well." + +"Yes, the spot was well chosen, although I suppose its founders cared +little enough about the picturesque." + +The dinner-table was spread behind one of the massive screens, and, +under the careful direction of Craggs and old Simon, was well and amply +supplied,--fish and game, the delicacies of other localities, being here +in abundance. Har-court had a traveller's appetite, and enjoyed himself +thoroughly, while Glencore never touched a morsel, and the boy ate +sparingly, watching the stranger with that intense curiosity which comes +of living estranged from all society. + +"Charley will treat you to a bottle of Burgundy, Har-court," said +Glencore, as they drew round the fire; "he keeps the cellar key." + +"Let us have two, Charley," said Harcourt, as the boy arose to leave the +room, "and take care that you carry them steadily." + +The boy stood for a second and looked at his father, as if +interrogating, and then a sudden flush suffused his face as Glencore +made a gesture with his hand for him to go. + +"You don't perceive how you touched him to the quick there, Harcourt? +You talked to him as to how he should carry the wine; he thought that +office menial and beneath him, and he looked at me to know what he +should do." + +"What a fool you have made of the boy!" said Harcourt, bluntly. "By +Jove! it was time I should come here!" + +When the boy came back he was followed by the old butler, carefully +carrying in a small wicker contrivance, _Hibernice_ called a cooper, +three cobwebbed and well-crusted bottles. + +"Now, Charley," said Jarcourt, gayly, "if you want to see a man +thoroughly happy, just step up to my room and fetch me a small leather +sack you 'll find there of tobacco, and on the dressing-table you 'll +see my meerschaum pipe; be cautious with it, for it belonged to no less +a man than Poniatowski, the poor fellow who died at Leipsic." + +The lad stood again irresolute and confused, when a signal from his +father motioned him away to acquit the errand. + +"Thank you," said Harcourt, as he re-entered; "you see I am not vain of +my meerschaum without reason. The carving of that bull is a work of real +art; and if you were a connoisseur in such matters, you 'd say the color +was perfect. Have you given up smoking, Glencore?--you used to be fond +of a weed." + +"I care but little for it," said Glencore, sighing. + +"Take to it again, my dear fellow, if only that it is a bond 'tween +yourself and every one who whiffs his cloud. There are wonderfully few +habits--I was going to say enjoyments, and I might say so, but I 'll +call them habits--that consort so well with every condition and every +circumstance of life, that become the prince and the peasant, suit the +garden of the palace and the red watch-fire of the bivouac, relieve +the weary hours of a calm at sea, or refresh the tired hunter in the +prairies." + +"You must tell Charley some of your adventures in the West.--The Colonel +has passed two years in the Rocky Mountains," said Glencore to his son. + +"Ay, Charley, I have knocked about the world as much as most men, and +seen, too, my share of its wonders. If accidents by sea and land can +interest you, if you care for stories of Indian life and the wild habits +of a prairie hunter, I 'm your man. Your father can tell you more of +_salons_ and the great world, of what may be termed the high game of +life--" + +"I have forgotten it, as much as if I had never seen it," said Glencore, +interrupting, and with a severity of voice that showed the theme +displeased him. And now a pause ensued, painful perhaps to the others, +but scarcely felt by Harcourt, as he smoked away peacefully, and seemed +lost in the windings of his own fancies. + +"Have you shooting here, Glencore?" asked he at length. + +"There might be, if I were to preserve the game." + +"And you do not. Do you fish?" + +"No; never." + +"You give yourself up to farming, then?" + +"Not even that; the truth is, Harcourt, I literally do nothing. A few +newspapers, a stray review or so, reach me in these solitudes, and keep +me in a measure informed as to the course of events; but Charley and +I con over our classics together, and scrawl sheets of paper with +algebraic signs, and puzzle our heads over strange formulas, wonderfully +indifferent to what the world is doing at the other side of this little +estuary." + +"You of all men living to lead such a life as this! a fellow that never +could cram occupation enough into his short twenty-four hours," broke in +Harcourt. + +Glencore's pale cheek flushed slightly, and an impatient movement of his +fingers on the table showed how ill he relished any allusion to his own +former life. + +"Charley will show you to-morrow all the wonders of our erudition. +Harcourt," said he, changing the subject; "we have got to think +ourselves very learned, and I hope you 'll be polite enough not to +undeceive us." + +"You 'll have a merciful critic, Charley," said the Colonel, laughing, +"for more reasons than one. Had the question been how to track a wolf or +wind an antelope, to outmanoeuvre a scout party or harpoon a calf-whale, +I'd not yield to many; but if you throw me amongst Greek roots or double +equations, I 'm only Samson with his hair _en crop!_" + +The solemn clock over the mantelpiece struck ten, and the boy arose as +it ceased. + +"That's Charley's bedtime," said Glencore, "and we are determined to +make no stranger of you, George. He 'll say good-night." + +And with a manner of mingled shyness and pride the boy held out his +hand, which the soldier shook cordially, saying,-- + +"To-morrow, then, Charley, I count upon you for my day, and so that it +be not to be passed in the library I 'll acquit myself creditably." + +"I like your boy, Glencore," said he, as soon as they were alone. "Of +course I have seen very little of him; and if I had seen more I should +be but a sorry judge of what people would call his abilities. But he is +a good stamp: 'Gentleman' is written on him in a hand that any can read; +and, by Jove! let them talk as they will, but that's half the battle of +life!" + +"He is a strange fellow; you'll not understand him in a moment," said +Glencore, smiling half sadly to himself. + +"Not understand him, Glencore? I read him like print, man. You think +that his shy, bashful manner imposes upon me; not a bit of it; I see the +fellow is as proud as Lucifer. All your solitude and estrangement from +the world have n't driven out of his head that he's to be a Viscount one +of these days; and somehow, wherever he has picked it up, he has got a +very pretty notion of the importance and rank that same title confers." + +"Let us not speak of this now, Harcourt; I'm far too weak to enter upon +what it would lead to. It is, however, the great reason for which I +entreated you to come here. And to-morrow--at all events in a day or +two--we can speak of it fully. And now I must leave you. You 'll have +to rough it here, George; but as there is no man can do so with a better +grace, I can spare my apologies; only, I beg, don't let the place be +worse than it need be. Give your orders; get what you can; and see if +your tact and knowledge of life cannot remedy many a difficulty which +our ignorance or apathy have served to perpetuate." + +"I 'll take the command of the garrison with pleasure," said Harcourt, +filling up his glass, and replenishing the fire. "And now a good night's +rest to you, for I half suspect I have already jeopardied some of it." + +The old campaigner sat till long past midnight. The generous wine, his +pipe, the cheerful wood-fire, were all companionable enough, and well +suited thoughts which took no high or heroic range, but were chiefly +reveries of the past,--some sad, some pleasant, but all tinged with the +one philosophy, which made him regard the world as a campaign, wherein +he who grumbles or repines is but a sorry soldier, and unworthy of his +cloth. + +It was not till the last glass was drained that he arose to seek his +bed, and presently humming some old air to himself, he slowly mounted +the stairs to his chamber. + + + +CHAPTER V. COLONEL HARCOUUT'S LETTER + +As we desire throughout this tale to make the actors themselves, +wherever it be possible, the narrators, using their words in preference +to our own, we shall now place before the reader a letter written by +Colonel Harcourt about a week after his arrival at Glencore, which will +at least serve to rescue him and ourselves from the task of repetition. + +It was addressed to Sir Horace Upton, Her Majesty's Envoy at Stuttgard, +one who had formerly served in the same regiment with Glencore and +himself, but who left the army early to follow the career of diplomacy, +wherein, still a young man, he had risen to the rank of a minister. +It is not important, at this moment, to speak more particularly of his +character, than that it was in almost every respect the opposite of his +correspondent's. Where the one was frank, open, and unguarded, the other +was cold, cautious, and reserved; where one believed, the other doubted; +where one was hopeful, the other had nothing but misgivings. Harcourt +would have twenty times a day wounded the feelings, or jarred against +the susceptibility, of his best friend; Upton could not be brought to +trench upon the slightest prejudice of his greatest enemy. We might +continue this contrast to every detail of their characters; but enough +has now been said, and we proceed to the letter in question: + +Glencore Castle. Dear Upton,--True to my promise to give you early +tidings of our old friend, I sit down to pen a few lines, which if a +rickety table and some infernal lampblack for ink should make illegible, +you 'll have to wait for the elucidation till my arrival. I found +Glencore terribly altered; I 'd not have known him. He used to be +muscular and rather full in habit; he is now a mere skeleton. His hair +and mustache were coal black; they are a motley gray. + +He was straight as an arrow--pretentiously erect, many thought; he is +stooped now, and bent nearly double. His voice, too, the most clear and +ringing in the squadron, is become a hoarse whisper. You remember what a +passion he had for dress, and how heartily we all deplored the chance of +his being colonel, well knowing what precious caprices of costly costume +would be the consequence; well, a discharged corporal in a cast-off +mufti is stylish compared to him. I don't think he has a hat--I have +only seen an oilskin cap; but his coat, his one coat, is a curiosity of +industrious patchwork; and his trousers are a pair of our old overalls, +the same pattern we wore at Hounslow when the King reviewed us. + +Great as these changes are, they are nothing to the alteration in the +poor fellow's disposition. He that was generous to munificence is now an +absolute miser, descending to the most pitiful economy and moaning over +every trifling outlay. He is irritable, too, to a degree. Far from +the jolly, light-hearted comrade, ready to join in the laugh against +himself, and enjoy a jest of which he was the object, he suspects a +slight in every allusion, and bristles up to resent a mere familiarity +as though it were an insult. + +Of course I put much of this down to the score of illness, and of bad +health before he was so ill; but, depend upon it, he's not the man we +knew him. Heaven knows if he ever will be so again. The night I arrived +here he was more natural, more like himself, in fact, than he has ever +been since. His manner was heartier, and in his welcome there was a +touch of the old jovial good fellow, who never was so happy as +when sharing his quarters with a comrade. Since that he has grown +punctilious, anxiously asking me if I am comfortable, and teasing me +with apologies for what I don't miss, and excuses about things that I +should never have discovered wanting. + +I think I see what is passing within him; he wants to be confidential, +and he does n't know how to go about it. I suppose he looks on me as +rather a rough father to confess to; he is n't quite sure what kind of +sympathy, if any, he 'll meet with from me, and he more than half dreads +a certain careless, outspoken way in which I have now and then addressed +his boy, of whom more anon. + +I may be right, or I may be wrong, in this conjecture; but certain it +is, that nothing like confidential conversation has yet passed between +us, and each day seems to render the prospect of such only less and less +likely. I wish from my heart you were here; you are just the fellow to +suit him,--just calculated to nourish the susceptibilities that _I_ +only shock. I said as much t' other day, in a half-careless way, and he +immediately caught it up, and said, + +"Ay, George, Upton is a man one wants now and then in life, and when +the moment comes, there is no such thing as a substitute for him." In a +joking manner, I then remarked, "Why not come over to see him?" "Leave +this!" cried he; "venture in the world again; expose myself to its +brutal insolence, or still more brutal pity!" In a torrent of passion, +he went on in this strain, till I heartily regretted that I had ever +touched this unlucky topic. + +I date his greatest reserve from that same moment; and I am sure he +is disposed to connect me with the casual suggestion to go over to +Stuttgard, and deems me, in consequence, one utterly deficient in all +true feeling and delicacy. + +I need n't tell you that my stay here is the reverse of a pleasure. I +'m never what fine people call bored anywhere; and I could amuse myself +gloriously in this queer spot. I have shot some half-dozen seals, +hooked the heaviest salmon I ever saw rise to a fly, and have had rare +coursing,--not to say that Glencore's table, with certain reforms I have +introduced, is very tolerable, and his cellar unimpeachable. I'll back +his chambertin against your Excellency's, and I have discovered a bin +of red hermitage that would convert a whole vineyard of the smallest +Lafitte into Sneyd's claret; but with all these seductions, I can't +stand the life of continued restraint I 'm reduced to. Glencore +evidently sent for me to make some revelations, which, now that he sees +me, he cannot accomplish. For aught I know, there may be as many changes +in _me_ to _his_ eyes as to _mine_ there are in _him_. I only can vouch +for it, that if I ride three stone heavier, I have n't the worse place, +and I don't detect any striking falling off in my appreciation of good +fare and good fellows. + +I spoke of the boy; he is a fine lad,--somewhat haughty, perhaps; a +little spoiled by the country people calling him the young lord; but +a generous fellow, and very like Glencore when he first joined us at +Canterbury. By way of educating him himself, Glencore has been driving +Virgil and decimal fractions into him; and the boy, bred in the +country,--never out of it for a day,--can't load a gun or tie a hackle. +Not the worst thing about the lad is his inordinate love for Glencore, +whom he imagines to be about the greatest and most gifted being that +ever lived. I can scarcely help smiling at the implicitness of this +honest faith; but I take good care not to smile; on the contrary, I +give every possible encouragement to the belief. I conclude the +disenchantment will arrive only too early at last. + +You 'll not know what to make of such a lengthy epistle from me, and +you 'll doubtless torture that fine diplomatic intelligence of yours to +detect the secret motive of my long-windedness; but the simple fact is, +it has rained incessantly for the last three days, and promises the same +cheering weather for as many more. Glencore doesn't fancy that the +boy's lessons should be broken in upon, and _hinc istae litterae_,--that's +classical for you. + +I wish I could say when I am likely to beat my retreat. I 'd stay--not +very willingly, perhaps, but still I 'd stay--if I thought myself of any +use; but I cannot persuade myself that I am such. Glencore is now about +again, feeble of course, and much pulled down, but able to go about the +house and the garden. I can contribute nothing to his recovery, and I +fear as little to his comfort. I even doubt if he desires me to prolong +my visit; but such is my fear of offending him, that I actually dread +to allude to my departure, till I can sound my way as to how he 'll +take it. This fact alone will show you how much he is changed from the +Glencore of long ago. Another feature in him, totally unlike his +former self, struck me the other evening. We were talking of old +messmates--Croydon, Stanhope, Loftus, and yourself--and instead of +dwelling, as he once would have done, exclusively on your traits of +character and disposition, he discussed nothing but your abilities, and +the capacity by which you could win your way to honors and distinction. +I need n't say how, in such a valuation, you came off best. Indeed, he +professes the highest esteem for your talents, and says, "You'll see +Upton either a cabinet minister or ambassador at Paris yet;" and this he +repeated in the same words last night, as if to show it was not dropped +as a mere random observation. + +I have some scruples about venturing to offer anything bordering on +a suggestion to a great and wily diplomatist like yourself; but if an +illustrious framer of treaties and protocols would condescend to take +a hint from an old dragoon colonel, I 'd say that a few lines from your +crafty pen might possibly unlock this poor fellow's heart, and lead +him to unburthen to _you_ what he evidently cannot persuade himself to +reveal to me. I can see plainly enough that there is something on his +mind; but I know it just as a stupid old hound feels there is a fox in +the cover, but cannot for the life of him see how he's to "draw" him. + +A letter from you would do him good, at all events; even the little +gossip of your gossiping career would cheer and amuse him. He said very +plaintively, two nights ago, "They 've all forgotten me. When a man +retires from the world he begins to die, and the great event, after all, +is only the _coup de grace_ to a long agony of torture." Do write to +him, then; the address is "Glencore Castle, Leenane, Ireland," where, I +suppose, I shall be still a resident for another fortnight to come. + +Glencore has just sent for me; but I must close this for the post, or it +will be too late. + +Yours ever truly, + +George Harcourt. + + +I open this to say that he sent for me to ask your address,--whether +through the Foreign Office, or direct to Stuttgard. You 'll probably not +hear for some days, for he writes with extreme difficulty, and I leave +it to your wise discretion to write to him or not in the interval. + +Poor fellow, he looks very ill to-day. He says that he never slept the +whole night, and that the laudanum he took to induce drowsiness only +excited and maddened him. I counselled a hot jorum of mulled +porter before getting into bed; but he deemed me a monster for the +recommendation, and seemed quite disgusted besides. Could n't you send +him over a despatch? I think such a document from Stuttgard ought to be +an unfailing soporific. + + + +CHAPTER VI. QUEER COMPANIONSHIP + +When Harcourt repaired to Glencore's bedroom, where he still lay, +wearied and feverish after a bad night, he was struck by the signs of +suffering in the sick man's face. The cheeks were bloodless and fallen +iq, the lips pinched, and in the eyes there shone that unnatural +brilliancy which results from an over-wrought and over-excited brain. + +"Sit down here, George," said he, pointing to a chair beside the bed; "I +want to talk to you. I thought every day that I could muster courage for +what I wish to say; but somehow, when the time arrived, I felt like a +criminal who entreats for a few hours more of life, even though it be a +life of misery." + +"It strikes me that you were never less equal to the effort than now," +said Harcourt, laying his hand on the other's pulse. + +"Don't believe my pulse, George," said Glencore, smiling faintly. "The +machine may work badly, but it has wonderful holding out. I 've gone +through enough," added he, gloomily, "to kill most men, and here I am +still, breathing and suffering." + +"This place doesn't suit you, Glencore. There are not above two days in +the month you can venture to take the air." + +"And where would you have me go, sir?" he broke in, fiercely. "Would you +advise Paris and the Boulevards, or a palace in the Piazza di Spagna at +Rome; or perhaps the Chiaja at Naples would be public enough? Is it that +I may parade disgrace and infamy through Europe that I should leave this +solitude?" + +"I want to see you in a better climate, Glencore,--in a place where the +sun shines occasionally." + +"This suits me," said the other, bluntly; "and here I have the security +that none can invade,--none molest me. But it is not of myself I wish to +speak,--it is of my boy." + +Harcourt made no reply, but sat patiently to listen to what was coming. + +"It is time to think of him," added Glencore, slowly. "The other +day,--it seems but the other day,--and he was a mere child; a few years +more,--to seem when past like a long dreary night,--and he will be a +man." + +"Very true," said Harcourt; "and Charley is one of those fellows who +only make one plunge from the boy into all the responsibilities of +manhood. Throw him into a college at Oxford, or the mess of a regiment +to-morrow, and this day week you'll not know him from the rest." + +Glencore was silent; if he had heard, he never noticed Harcourt's +remark. + +"Has he ever spoken to you about himself, Harcourt?" asked he, after a +pause. + +"Never, except when I led the subject in that direction; and even then +reluctantly, as though it were a topic he would avoid." + +"Have you discovered any strong inclination in him for a particular kind +of life, or any career in preference to another?" + +"None; and if I were only to credit what I see of him, I 'd say that +this dull monotony and this dreary uneventful existence is what he likes +best of all the world." + +"You really think so?" cried Glencore, with an eagerness that seemed out +of proportion to the remark. + +"So far as I see," rejoined Harcourt, guardedly, and not wishing to let +his observation carry graver consequences than he might suspect. + +"So that you deem him capable of passing a life of a quiet, unambitious +tenor,--neither seeking for distinctions nor fretting after honors?" + +"How should he know of their existence, Glencore? What has the boy ever +heard of life and its struggles? It's not in Homer or Sallust he 'd +learn the strife of parties and public men." + +"And why need he ever know them?" broke in Glencore, fiercely. + +"If he doesn't know them now, he's sure to be taught them hereafter. A +young fellow who will succeed to a title and a good fortune--" + +"Stop, Harcourt!" cried Glencore, passionately. "Has anything of this +kind ever escaped you in intercourse with the boy?" + +"Not a word--not a syllable." + +"Has he himself ever, by a hint, or by a chance word, implied that he +was aware of--" + +Glencore faltered and hesitated, for the word he sought for did not +present itself. Harcourt, however, released him from all embarrassment +by saying,-- + +"With me the boy is rarely anything but a listener; he hears me talk +away of tiger-shooting and buffalo-hunting, scarcely ever interrupting +me with a question. But I can see in his manner with the country people, +when they salute him, and call him 'my lord'--" + +"But he is not 'my lord,'" broke in Glencore. + +"Of course he is not; that I am well aware of." + +"He never will--never shall be," cried Glencore, in a voice to which a +long pent-up passion imparted a terrible energy. + +"How!--what do you mean, Glencore?" said Harcourt, eagerly. "Has he any +malady; is there any deadly taint?" + +"That there is, by Heaven!" cried the sick man, grasping the curtain +with one hand, while he held the other firmly clenched upon his +forehead,--"a taint, the deadliest that can stain a human heart! Talk +of station, rank, title--what are they, if they are to be coupled with +shame, ignominy, and sorrow? The loud voice of the herald calls his +father Sixth Viscount of Glencore, but a still louder voice proclaims +his mother a--" + +With a wild burst of hysteric laughter, he threw himself, face +downwards, on the bed; and now scream after scream burst from him, +till the room was filled by the servants, in the midst of whom appeared +Billy, who had only that same day returned from Leenane, whither he had +gone to make a formal resignation of his functions as letter-carrier. + +"This is nothing but an _accessio nervosa,_" said Billy; "clear the +room, ladies and gentlemen, and lave me with the patient." And Harcourt +gave the signal for obedience by first taking his departure. + +Lord Glencore's attack was more serious than at first it was +apprehended, and for three days there was every threat of a relapse of +his late fever; but Billy's skill was once more successful, and on the +fourth day he declared that the danger was past. During this period, +Harcourt's attention was for the first time drawn to the strange +creature who officiated as the doctor, and who, in despite of all the +detracting influences of his humble garb and mean attire, aspired to be +treated with the deference due to a great physician. + +"If it's the crown and the sceptre makes the king," said he, "'tis the +same with the science that makes the doctor; and no man can be despised +when he has a rag of ould Galen's mantle to cover his shoulders." + +"So you're going to take blood from him?" asked Harcourt, as he met him +on the stairs, where he had awaited his coming one night when it was +late. + +"No, sir; 'tis more a disturbance of the great nervous centres than any +derangement of the heart and arteries," said Billy, pompously; "that's +what shows a real doctor,--to distinguish between the effects of +excitement and inflammation, which is as different as fireworks is from +a bombardment." + +"Not a bad simile, Master Billy; come in and drink a glass of +brandy-and-water with me," said Harcourt, right glad at the prospect of +such companionship. + +Billy Traynor, too, was flattered by the invitation, and seated himself +at the fire with an air at once proud and submissive. + +"You've a difficult patient to treat there," said Harcourt, when he had +furnished his companion with a pipe, and twice filled his glass; "he's +hard to manage, I take it?" + +"Yer' right," said Billy; "every touch is a blow, every breath of air is +a hurricane with him. There 's no such thing as traitin' a man of that +timperament; it's the same with many of them ould families as with our +racehorses,--they breed them too fine." + +"Egad! I think you are right," said Harcourt, pleased with an +illustration that suited his own modes of thinking. + +"Yes, sir," said Billy, gaining confidence by the approval; "a man is a +ma-chine, and all the parts ought to be balanced, and, as the ancients +say, _in equilibrio_. If preponderance here or there, whether it +be brain or spinal marrow, cardiac functions or digestive ones, you +disthroy him, and make that dangerous kind of constitution that, like a +horse with a hard mouth, or a boat with a weather helm, always runs to +one side." + +"That's well put, well explained," said Harcourt, who really thought the +illustration appropriate. + +"Now, my lord there," continued Billy, "is all out of balance, every bit +of him. Bleed him, and he sinks; stimulate him, and he goes ragin' mad. +'T is their physical conformation makes their character; and to know how +to cure them in sickness, one ought to have some knowledge of them in +health." + +"How came you to know all this? You are a very remarkable fellow, +Billy." + +"I am, sir; I'm a phenumenon in a small way. And many people thinks, +when they see and convarse with me, what a pity it is I hav' n't the +advantages of edication and instruction; and that's just where they 're +wrong,--complately wrong." + +"Well, I confess I don't perceive that." + +"I'll show you, then. There's a kind of janius natural to men like +myself,--in Ireland I mean, for I never heerd of it elsewhere,--that's +just like our Irish emerald or Irish diamond,--wonderful if one +considers where you find it, astonishin' if you only think how azy it is +to get, but a regular disappointment, a downright take-in, if you intend +to have it cut and polished and set. No, sir; with all the care and +culture in life, you 'll never make a precious stone of it!" + +"You've not taken the right way to convince me, by using such an +illustration, Billy." + +"I 'll try another, then," said Billy. "We are like Willy-the-Whisps, +showing plenty of light where there's no road to travel, but of no +manner of use on the highway, or in the dark streets of a village where +one has business." + +"Your own services here are the refutation to your argument, Billy," +said Harcourt, filling his glass. + +"'Tis your kindness to say so, sir," said Billy, with gratified pride; +"but the sacrat was, he thrusted me,--that was the whole of it. All the +miracles of physic is confidence, just as all the magic of eloquence is +conviction." + +"You have reflected profoundly, I see," said Harcourt. + +"I made a great many observations at one time of my life,--the +opportunity was favorable." + +"When and how was that?" + +"I travelled with a baste caravan for two years, sir; and there's +nothing taches one to know mankind like the study of bastes!" + +"Not complimentary to humanity, certainly," said Harcourt, laughing. + +"Yes, but it is, though; for it is by a consideration of the _fero +naturo_ that you get at the raal nature of mere animal existence. You +see there man in the rough, as a body might say, just as he was turned +out of the first workshop, and before he was infiltrated with the +_divinus afflatus_, the ethereal essence, that makes him the first +of creation. There 's all the qualities, good and bad,--love, hate, +vengeance, gratitude, grief, joy, ay, and mirth,--there they are in the +brutes; but they 're in no subjection, except by fear. Now, it's out +of man's motives his character is moulded, and fear is only one amongst +them. D' ye apprehend me?" + +"Perfectly; fill your pipe." And he pushed the tobacco towards him. + +"I will; and I 'll drink the memory of the great and good man that first +intro-duced the weed amongst us--Here's Sir Walter Raleigh! By the same +token, I was in his house last week." + +"In his house! where?" + +"Down at Greyhall. You Englishmen, savin' your presence, always forget +that many of your celebrities lived years in Ireland; for it was the +same long ago as now,--a place of decent banishment for men of janius, +a kind of straw-yard where ye turned out your intellectual hunters till +the sayson came on at home." + +"I 'm sorry to see, Billy, that, with all your enlightenment, you have +the vulgar prejudice against the Saxon." + +"And that's the rayson I have it, because it is vulgar," said Billy, +eagerly. "Vulgar means popular, common to many; and what's the best test +of truth in anything but universal belief, or whatever comes nearest to +it? I wish I was in Parliament--I just wish I was there the first night +one of the nobs calls out 'That 's vulgar;' and I 'd just say to him, +'Is there anything as vulgar as men and women? Show me one good thing in +life that is n't vulgar! Show me an object a painter copies, or a poet +describes, that is n't so!' Ayeh," cried he, impatiently, "when they +wanted a hard word to fling at us, why didn't they take the right one?" + +"But you are unjust, Billy; the ungenerous tone you speak of is fast +disappearing. Gentlemen nowadays use no disparaging epithets to men +poorer or less happily circumstanced than themselves." + +"Faix," said Billy, "it isn't sitting here at the same table with +yourself that I ought to gainsay that remark." + +And Harcourt was so struck by the air of good breeding in which he +spoke, that he grasped his hand, and shook it warmly. + +"And what is more," continued Billy, "from this day out I 'll never think +so." + +He drank off his glass as he spoke, giving to the libation all the +ceremony of a solemn vow. + +"D' ye hear that?--them's oars; there's a boat coming in." + +"You have sharp hearing, master," said Harcourt, laughing. + +"I got the gift when I was a smuggler," replied he. "I could put my ear +to the ground of a still night, and tell you the tramp of a revenue boot +as well as if I seen it. And now I'll lay sixpence it's Pat Morissy is +at the bow oar there; he rows with a short jerking stroke there 's +no timing. That's himself, and it must be something urgent from the +post-office that brings him over the lough to-night." + +The words were scarcely spoken when Craggs entered with a letter in his +hand. + +"This is for you, Colonel," said he; "it was marked 'immediate,' and the +post-mistress despatched it by an express." + +The letter was a very brief one; but, in honor to the writer, we shall +give it a chapter to itself. + + + +CHAPTER VII. A GREAT DIPLOMATIST + +My dear Harcourt,--I arrived here yesterday, and by good fortune +caught your letter at F. O., where it was awaiting the departure of the +messenger for Germany. + +Your account of poor Glencore is most distressing. At the same time, my +knowledge of the man and his temper in a measure prepared me for it. +You say that he wishes to see me, and intends to write. Now, there is a +small business matter between us, which his lawyer seems much disposed +to push on to a difficulty, if not to worse. To prevent this, if +possible,--at all events to see whether a visit from me might not be +serviceable,--I shall cross over to Ireland on Tuesday, and be with you +by Friday, or at latest Saturday. Tell him that I am coming, but only +for a day. My engagements are such that I must be here again early in +the following week. On Thursday I go down to Windsor. + +There is wonderfully little stirring here, but I keep that little for +our meeting. You are aware, my dear friend, what a poor, shattered, +broken-down fellow I am; so that I need not ask you to give me a +comfortable quarter for my one night, and some shell-fish, if easily +procurable, for my one dinner. + +Yours, ever and faithfully, + +H. U. + + +We have already told our reader that the note was a brief one, and yet +was it not altogether uncharacteristic. Sir Horace Upton--it will spare +us both some repetition if we present him at once--was one of a very +composite order of human architecture; a kind of being, in fact, of +which many would deny the existence, till they met and knew them, so +full of contradictions, real and apparent, was his nature. Chivalrous +in sentiment and cunning in action, noble in aspiration and utterly +sceptical as regards motives, one half of his temperament was the +antidote to the other. Fastidious to a painful extent in matters of +taste, he was simplicity itself in all the requirements of his life; +and with all a courtier's love of great people, not only tolerating, +but actually preferring the society of men beneath him. In person he was +tall, and with that air of distinction in his manner that belongs only +to those who unite natural graces with long habits of high society. His +features were finely formed, and would have been strikingly handsome, +were the expression not spoiled by a look of astuteness,--a something +that implied a tendency to overreach,--which marred their repose +and injured their uniformity. Not that his manner ever betrayed this +weakness; far from it,--his was a most polished courtesy. It was +impossible to conceive an address more bland or more conciliating. His +very gestures, his voice, languid by a slight habit of indisposition, +seemed as though exerted above their strength in the desire to please, +and making the object of his attentions to feel himself the mark of +peculiar honor. There ran through all his nature, through everything he +did or said or thought, a certain haughty humility, which served, while +it assigned an humble place to himself, to mark out one still more +humble for those about him. There were not many things he could not +do; indeed, he had actually done most of those which win honor and +distinction in life. He had achieved a very gallant but brief military +career in India, made a most brilliant opening in Parliament, where his +abilities at once marked him out for office, was suspected to be the +writer of the cleverest political satire, and more than suspected to be +the author of "the novel" of the day. With all this, he had great social +success. He was deep enough for a ministerial dinner, and "fast" enough +for a party of young Guardsmen at Greenwich. With women, too, he was +especially a favorite; there was a Machiavelian subtlety which he could +throw into small things, a mode of making the veriest trifles little +Chinese puzzles of ingenuity, that flattered and amused them. In a word, +he had great adaptiveness, and it was a quality he indulged less for the +gratification of others than for the pleasure it afforded himself. + +He had mixed largely in society, not only of his own, but of every +country of Europe. He knew every chord of that complex instrument which +people call the world, like a master; and although a certain jaded and +wearied look, a tone of exhaustion and fatigue, seemed to say that he +was tired of it all, that he had found it barren and worthless, the real +truth was, he enjoyed life to the full as much as on the first day in +which he entered it; and for this simple reason,--that he had started +with an humble opinion of mankind, their hopes, fears, and ambitions, +and so he continued, not disappointed, to the end. + +The most governing notion of his own life was an impression that he had +a disease of the chest, some subtle and mysterious affection which had +defied the doctors, and would go on to defy them to the last. He had +been dangerously wounded in the Burmese war, and attributed the origin +of his malady to this cause. Others there were who said that the want of +recognition to his services in that campaign was the direst of all the +injuries he had received. And true it was, a most brilliant career had +met with neither honors nor advancement, and Upton left the service in +disgust, carrying away with him only the lingering sufferings of his +wound. To suggest to him that his malady had any affinity to any known +affection was to outrage him, since the mere supposition would reduce +him to a species of equality with some one else,--a thought infinitely +worse than any mere physical suffering; and, indeed, to avoid this +shocking possibility, he vacillated as to the locality of his disorder, +making it now in the lung, now in the heart, at one time in the +bronchial tubes, at another in the valves of the aorta. It was his +pleasure to consult for this complaint every great physician of Europe, +and not alone consult, but commit himself to their direction, and this +with a credulity which he could scarcely have summoned in any other +cause. + +It was difficult to say how far he himself believed in this +disorder,--the pressure of any momentous event, the necessity of action, +never finding him unequal to any effort, no matter how onerous. Give him +a difficulty,--a minister to outwit, a secret scheme to unravel, a false +move to profit by,--and he rose above all his pulmonary symptoms, and +could exert himself with a degree of power and perseverance that very +few men could equal, none surpass. Indeed it seemed as though he kept +this malady for the pastime of idle hours, as other men do a novel or +a newspaper, but would never permit it to interfere with the graver +business of life. + +We have, perhaps, been prolix in our description; but we have felt it +the more requisite to be thus diffuse, since the studious simplicity +which marked all his manner might have deceived our reader, and which +the impression of his mere words have failed to convey. + +"You will be glad to hear Upton is in England, Glen-core," said +Harcourt, as the sick man was assisted to his seat in the library, "and, +what is more, intends to pay you a visit." + +"Upton coming here!" exclaimed Glencore, with an expression of mingled +astonishment and confusion; "how do you know that?" + +"He writes me from Long's to say that he 'll be with us by Friday, or, +if not, by Saturday." + +"What a miserable place to receive him!" exclaimed Glencore. "As for +you, Harcourt, you know how to rough it, and have bivouacked too often +under the stars to care much for satin curtains. But think of Upton +here! How is he to eat, where is he to sleep?" + +"By Jove! we 'll treat him handsomely. Don't you fret yourself about his +comforts; besides, I 've seen a great deal of Upton, and, with all his +fastidiousness and refinement, he's a thorough good fellow at taking +things for the best. Invite him to Chatsworth, and the chances are he'll +find fault with twenty things,--with the place, the cookery, and the +servants; but take him down to the Highlands, lodge him in a shieling, +with bannocks for breakfast and a Fyne herring for supper, and I 'll +wager my life you 'll not see a ruffle in his temper, nor hear a word of +impatience out of his mouth." + +"I know that he is a well-bred gentleman," said Glencore, half +pettishly; "but I have no fancy for putting his good manners to a severe +test, particularly at the cost of my own feelings." + +"I tell you again he shall be admirably treated; he shall have my room; +and, as for his dinner, Master Billy and I are going to make a raid +amongst the lobster-pots. And what with turbot, oysters, grouse-pie, +and mountain mutton, I 'll make the diplomatist sorrow that he is not +accredited to some native sovereign in the Arran islands, instead of +some 'mere German Hertzog.' He can only stay one day." + +"One day!" + +"That's all; he is over head and ears in business, and he goes down to +Windsor on Thursday, so that there is no help for it." + +"I wish I may be strong enough; I hope to Heaven that I may rally--" +Glencore stopped suddenly as he got thus far, but the agitation the +words cost him seemed most painful. + +"I say again, don't distress yourself about Upton,--leave the care of +entertaining him to _me_. I 'll vouch for it that he leaves us well +satisfied with his welcome." + +"It was not of _that_ I was thinking," said he, impatiently; "I have +much to say to him,--things of great importance. It may be that I +shall be unequal to the effort; I cannot answer for my strength for a +day,--not for an hour. Could you not write to him, and ask him to defer +his coming till such time as he can spare me a week, or at least some +days?" + +"My dear Glencore, you know the man well, and that we are lucky if we +can have him on his _own_ terms, not to think of imposing _ours_; he is +sure to have a number of engagements while he is in England." + +"Well, be it so," said Glencore, sighing, with the air of a man +resigning himself to an inevitable necessity. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE GREAT MAN'S ARRIVAL. + +"Not come, Craggs!" said Harcourt, as late on the Saturday evening the +Corporal stepped on shore, after crossing the lough. + +"No, sir, no sign of him. I sent a boy away to the top of 'the Devil's +Mother,' where you have a view of the road for eight miles, but there +was nothing to be seen." + +"You left orders at the post-office to have a boat in readiness if he +arrived?" + +"Yes, Colonel," said he, with a military salute; and Harcourt now turned +moodily towards the Castle. + +Glencore had scarcely ever been a very cheery residence, but latterly it +had become far gloomier than before. Since the night of Lord Glencore's +sudden illness, there had grown up a degree of constraint between +the two friends which to a man of Harcourt's disposition was positive +torture. They seldom met, save at dinner, and then their reserve was +painfully evident. + +The boy, too, in unconscious imitation of his father, grew more and more +distant; and poor Harcourt saw himself in that position, of all others +the most intolerable,--the unwilling guest of an unwilling host. + +"Come or not come," muttered he to himself, "I 'll bear this no longer. +There is, besides, no reason why I should bear it. I 'm of no use to +the poor fellow; he does not want, he never sees me. If anything, my +presence is irksome to him; so that, happen what will, I 'll start +to-morrow, or next day at farthest." + +He was one of those men to whom deliberation on any subject was no small +labor, but who, once that they have come to a decision, feel as if they +had acquitted a debt, and need give themselves no further trouble in the +matter. In the enjoyment of this newly purchased immunity he entered the +room where Glencore sat impatiently awaiting him. + +"Another disappointment!" said the Viscount, anxiously. + +"Yes; Craggs has just returned, and says there's no sign of a carriage +for miles on the Oughterard road." + +"I ought to have known it," said the other, in a voice of guttural +sternness. "He was ever the same; an appointment with him was an +engagement meant only to be binding on those who expected him." + +"Who can say what may have detained him? He was in London on +business,--public business, too; and even if he had left town, how many +chance delays there are in travelling." + +"I have said every one of these things over to myself, Harcourt; but +they don't satisfy me. This is a habit with Upton. I 've seen him do +the same with his Colonel, when he was a subaltern; I 've heard of his +arrival late to a Court dinner, and only smiling at the dismay of the +horrified courtiers." + +"Egad," said Harcourt, bluntly, "I don't see the advantage of the +practice. One is so certain of doing fifty things in this daily life to +annoy one's friends, through mere inadvertence or forgetfulness, that I +think it is but sorry fun to incur their ill-will by malice prepense." + +"That is precisely why he does it." + +"Come, come, Glencore; old Rixson was right when he said, 'Heaven help +the man whose merits are canvassed while they wait dinner for him.' I +'ll order up the soup, for if we wait any longer we 'll discover Upton +to be the most graceless vagabond that ever walked." + +"I know his qualities, good and bad," said Glencore, rising, and pacing +the room with slow, uncertain steps; "few men know him better. None need +tell me of his abilities; none need instruct me as to his faults. +What others do by accident, _he_ does by design. He started in life +by examining how much the world would bear from him; he has gone on, +profiting by the experience, and improving on the practice." + +"Well, if I don't mistake me much, he 'll soon appear to plead his own +cause. I hear oars coming speedily in this direction." + +And so saying, Harcourt hurried away to resolve his doubts at once. +As he reached the little jetty, over which a large signal-fire threw a +strong red light, he perceived that he was correct, and was just in time +to grasp Upton's hand as he stepped on shore. + +"How picturesque all this, Harcourt," said he, in his soft, low voice; +"a leaf out of 'Rob Roy.' Well, am I not the mirror of punctuality, eh?" + +"We looked for you yesterday, and Glencore has been so impatient." + +"Of course he has; it is the vice of your men who do nothing. How is +he? Does he dine with us? Fritz, take care those leather pillows are +properly aired, and see that my bath is ready by ten o 'clock. Give me +your arm, Harcourt; what a blessing it is to be such a strong fellow!" + +"So it is, by Jove! I am always thankful for it. And you--how do you get +on? You look well." + +"Do I?" said he, faintly, and pushing back his hair with an almost +fine-ladylike affectation. "I 'm glad you say so. It always rallies me a +little to hear I 'm better. You had my letter about the fish?" + +"Ay, and I'll give you such a treat." + +"No, no, my dear Harcourt; a fried mackerel, or a whiting and a few +crumbs of bread,--nothing more." + +"If you insist, it shall be so; but I promise you I'll not be of your +mess, that's all. This is a glorious spot for turbot--and such oysters!" + +"Oysters are forbidden me, and don't let me have the torture of +temptation. What a charming place this seems to be!--very wild, very +rugged." + +"Wild--rugged! I should think it is," muttered Harcourt. + +"This pathway, though, does not bespeak much care. I wish our friend +yonder would hold his lantern a little lower. How I envy you the kind of +life you lead here,--so tranquil, so removed from all bores! By the way, +you get the newspapers tolerably regularly?" + +"Yes, every day." + +"That's all right. If there be a luxury left to any man after the age +of forty, it is to be let alone. It's the best thing I know of. What a +terrible bit of road! They might have made a pathway." + +"Come, don't grow faint-hearted. Here we are; this is Glencore." + +"Wait a moment. Just let him raise that lantern. Really this is very +striking--a very striking scene altogether. The doorway excellent, and +that little watch-tower, with its lone-star light, a perfect picture." + +"You 'll have time enough to admire all this; and we are keeping poor +Glencore waiting," said Harcourt, impatiently. + +"Very true; so we are." + +"Glencore's son, Upton," said Harcourt, presenting the boy, who stood, +half pride, half bashfulness, in the porch. + +"My dear boy, you see one of your father's oldest friends in the +world," said Upton, throwing one arm on the boy's shoulder, apparently +caressing, but as much to aid himself in ascending the stair. "I'm +charmed with your old Schloss here, my dear," said he, as they moved +along. "Modern architects cannot attain the massive simplicity of these +structures. They have a kind of confectionery style with false ornament, +and inappropriate decoration, that bears about the same relation to the +original that a suit of Drury Lane tinfoil does to a coat of Milanese +mail armor. This gallery is in excellent taste." + +And as he spoke, the door in front of him opened, and the pale, +sorrow-struck, and sickly figure of Glencore stood before him. Upton, +with all his self-command, could scarcely repress an exclamation at the +sight of one whom he had seen last in all the pride of youth and great +personal powers; while Glencore, with the instinctive acuteness of his +morbid temperament, as quickly saw the impression he had produced, and +said, with a deep sigh,-- + +"Ay, Horace, a sad wreck." + +"Not so, my dear fellow," said the other, taking the thin, cold hand +within both his own; "as seaworthy as ever, after a little dry-docking +and refitting. It is only a craft like that yonder," and he pointed to +Harcourt, "that can keep the sea in all weathers, and never care for the +carpenter. You and I are of another build." + +"And you--how are you?" asked Glencore, relieved to turn attention away +from himself, while he drew his arm within the other's. + +"The same poor ailing mortal you always knew me," said Upton, languidly; +"doomed to a life of uncongenial labor, condemned to climates totally +unstated to me, I drag along existence, only astonished at the trouble I +take to live, knowing pretty well as I do what life is worth." + +"'Jolly companions every one!' By Jove!" said Har-court, "for a pair of +fellows who were born on the sunny side of the road, I must say you are +marvellous instances of gratitude." + +"That excellent hippopotamus," said Upton, "has no-thought for any +calamity if it does not derange his digestion! How glad I am to see the +soup! Now, Glencore, you shall witness no invalid's appetite." + +As the dinner proceeded, the tone of the conversation grew gradually +lighter and pleasanter. Upton had only to permit his powers to take +their free course to be agreeable, and now talked away on whatever came +uppermost, with a charming union of reflectiveness and repartee. If a +very rigid purist might take occasional Gallicisms in expression, and +a constant leaning to French modes of thought, none could fail to be +delighted with the graceful ease with which he wandered from theme to +theme, adorning each with some trait of that originality which was his +chief characteristic. Harcourt was pleased without well knowing how or +why, while to Glencore it brought back the memory of the days of happy +intercourse with the world, and all the brilliant hours of that polished +circle in which he had lived. To the pleasure, then, which his powers +conferred, there succeeded an impression of deep melancholy, so deep as +to attract the notice of Harcourt, who hastily asked,-- + +"If he felt ill?" + +"Not worse," said he, faintly, "but weak--weary; and I know Upton will +forgive me if I say good-night." + +"What a wreck indeed!" exclaimed Upton, as Glencore left the room with +his son. "I'd not have known him." + +"And yet until the last half-hour I have not seen him so well for weeks +past. I 'm afraid something you said about Alicia Villars affected him," +said Harcourt. + +"My dear Harcourt, how young you are in all these things," said Upton, +as he lighted his cigarette. "A poor heart-stricken fellow, like +Glencore, no more cares for what _you_ would think a painful allusion, +than an old weather-beaten sailor would for a breezy morning on the +Downs at Brighton. His own sorrows lie too deeply moored to be disturbed +by the light winds that ruffle the surface. And to think that all this +is a woman's doing! Is n't that what's passing in your mind, eh, most +gallant Colonel?" + +"By Jove, and so it was! They were the very words I was on the point of +uttering," said Harcourt, half nettled at the ease with which the other +read him. + +"And of course you understand the source of the sorrow?" + +"I'm not quite so sure of that," said Harcourt, more and more piqued at +the tone of bantering superiority with which the other spoke. + +"Yes, you do, Harcourt; I know you better than you know yourself. Your +thoughts were these: Here's a fellow with a title, a good name, good +looks, and a fine fortune, going out of the world of a broken heart, and +all for a woman!" + +"You knew her," said Harcourt, anxious to divert the discussion from +himself. + +"Intimately. Ninetta della Torre was the belle of Florence--what am I +saying? of all Italy--when Glencore met her, about eighteen years ago. +The Palazzo della Torre was the best house in Florence. The old Prince, +her grandfather,--her father was killed in the Russian campaign,--was +spending the last remnant of an immense fortune in every species of +extravagance. Entertainments that surpassed those of the Pitti Palace in +splendor, fetes that cost fabulous sums, banquets voluptuous as those +of ancient Rome, were things of weekly occurrence. Of course every +foreigner, with any pretension to distinction, sought to be presented +there, and we English happened just at that moment to stand tolerably +high in Italian estimation. I am speaking of some eighteen or twenty +years back, before we sent out that swarm of domestic economists who, +under the somewhat erroneous notion of foreign cheapness, by a system +of incessant higgle and bargain, cutting down every one's demand to +the measure of their own pockets, end by making the word 'Englishman' a +synonym for all that is mean, shabby, and contemptible. The English of +that day were of another class; and assuredly their characteristics, as +regards munificence and high dealing, must have been strongly impressed +upon the minds of foreigners, seeing how their successors, very +different people, have contrived to trade upon the mere memory of these +qualities ever since." + +"Which all means that 'my lord' stood cheating better than those who +came after him," said Harcourt, bluntly. + +"He did so; and precisely for that very reason he conveyed the notion +of a people who do not place money in the first rank of all their +speculations, and who aspire to no luxury that they have not a just +right to enjoy. But to come back to Glencore. He soon became a favored +guest at the Palazzo della Torre. His rank, name, and station, combined +with very remarkable personal qualities, obtained for him a high place +in the old Prince's favor, and Ninetta deigned to accord him a little +more notice than she bestowed on any one else. I have, in the course of +my career, had occasion to obtain a near view of royal personages and +their habits, and I can say with certainty that never in any station, no +matter how exalted, have I seen as haughty a spirit as in that girl. To +the pride of her birth, rank, and splendid mode of life were added the +consciousness of her surpassing beauty, and the graceful charm of a +manner quite unequalled. She was incomparably superior to all around +her, and, strangely enough, she did not offend by the bold assertion +of this superiority. It seemed her due, and no more. Nor was it the +assumption of mere flattered beauty. Her house was the resort of persons +of the very highest station, and in the midst of them--some even of +royal blood--she exacted all the deference and all the homage that she +required from others." + +"And they accorded it?" asked Harcourt, half contemptuously. + +"They did; and so had you also if you had been in their place! Believe +me, most gallant Colonel, there is a wide difference between the empty +pretension of mere vanity and the daring assumption of conscious power. +This girl saw the influence she wielded. As she moved amongst us she +beheld the homage, not always willing, that awaited her. She felt that +she had but to distinguish any one man there, and he became for the time +as illustrious as though touched by the sword or ennobled by the star of +his sovereign. The courtier-like attitude of men, in the presence of +a very beautiful woman, is a spectacle full of interest. In the homage +vouchsafed to mere rank there enters always a sense of humiliation, +and in the observances of respect men tender to royalty, the idea of +vassalage presents itself most prominently; whereas in the other case, +the chivalrous devotion is not alloyed by this meaner servitude, and men +never lift their heads more haughtily than after they have bowed them in +lowly deference to loveliness." + +A thick, short snort from Harcourt here startled the speaker, who, +inspired by the sounds of his own voice and the flowing periods he +uttered, had fallen into one of those paroxysms of loquacity which now +and then befell him. That his audience should have thought him tiresome +or prosy, would, indeed, have seemed to him something strange; but that +his hearer should have gone off asleep, was almost incredible. + +"It is quite true," said Upton to himself; "he snores 'like a warrior +taking his rest.' What wonderful gifts some fellows are endowed with! +and, to enjoy life, there is none of them all like dulness. Can you show +me to my room?" said he, as Craggs answered his ring at the bell. + +The Corporal bowed an assent. + +"The Colonel usually retires early, I suppose?" said Upton. + +"Yes, sir; at ten to a minute." + +"Ah! it is one--nearly half-past one--now, I perceive," said he, looking +at his watch. "That accounts for his drowsiness," muttered he, between +his teeth. "Curious vegetables are these old campaigners. Wish him good +night for me when he awakes, will you?" + +And so saying, he proceeded on his way, with all that lassitude and +exhaustion which it was his custom to throw into every act which +demanded the slightest exertion. + +"Any more stairs to mount, Mr. Craggs?" said he, with a bland but sickly +smile. + +"Yes, sir; two flights more." + +"Oh, dear! couldn't you have disposed of me on the lower floor?--I don't +care where or how, but something that requires no climbing. It matters +little, however, for I'm only here for a day." + +"We could fit up a small room, sir, off the library." + +"Do so, then. A most humane thought; for if I _should_ remain another +night--Not at it yet?" cried he, peevishly, at the aspect of an almost +perpendicular stair before him. + +"This is the last flight, sir; and you'll have a splendid view for your +trouble, when you awake in the morning." + +"There is no view ever repaid the toil of an ascent, Mr. Craggs, whether +it be to an attic or the Righi. Would you kindly tell my servant, Mr. +Schoefer, where to find me, and let him fetch the pillows, and put a +little rosemary in a glass of water in the room,--it corrects the odor +of the night-lamp. And I should like my coffee early,--say at seven, +though I don't wish to be disturbed afterwards. Thank you, Mr. +Craggs,--good-night. Oh! one thing more. You have a doctor here: would +you just mention to him that I should like to see him to-morrow about +nine or half-past? Good night, good night." + +And with a smile worthy of bestowal upon a court beauty, and a gentle +inclination of the head, the very ideal of gracefulness, Sir Horace +dismissed Mr. Craggs, and closed the door. + + + +CHAPTER IX. A MEDICAL VISIT + +Mr. Schoefer moved through the dimly lighted chamber with all the +cat-like stealthiness of an accomplished valet, arranging the various +articles of his master's wardrobe, and giving, so far as he was able, +the semblance of an accustomed spot to this new and strange locality. +Already, indeed, it was very unlike what it had been during Harcourt's +occupation. Guns, whips, fishing-tackle, dog-leashes, and landing-nets +had all disappeared, as well as uncouth specimens of costume for boating +or the chase; and in their place were displayed all the accessories +of an elaborate toilet, laid out with a degree of pomp and ostentation +somewhat in contrast to the place. A richly embroidered dressing-gown +lay on the back of a chair, before which stood a pair of velvet slippers +worked in gold. On the table in front of these, a whole regiment of +bottles, of varied shape and color, were ranged, the contents being +curious essences and delicate odors, every one of which entered into +some peculiar stage of that elaborate process Sir Horace Upton went +through, each morning of his life, as a preparation for the toils of the +day. + +Adjoining the bed stood a smaller table, covered with various +medicaments, tinctures, essences, infusions, and extracts, whose subtle +qualities he was well skilled in, and but for whose timely assistance he +would not have believed himself capable of surviving throughout the day. +Beside these was a bulky file of prescriptions, the learned documents of +doctors of every country of Europe, all of whom had enjoyed their little +sunshine of favor, and all of whom had ended by "mistaking his case." +These had now been placed in readiness for the approaching consultation +with "Glencore's doctor;" and Mr. Schoefer still glided noiselessly from +place to place, preparing for that event. + +"I 'm not asleep, Fritz," said a weak, plaintive voice from the bed. +"Let me have my aconite,--eighteen drops; a full dose to-day, for this +journey has brought back the pains." + +"Yes, Excellenz," said Fritz, in a voice of broken accentuation. + +"I slept badly," continued his master, in the same complaining tone. +"The sea beat so heavily against the rocks, and the eternal plash, +plash, all night irritated and worried me. Are you giving me the right +tincture?" + +"Yes, Excellenz," was the brief reply. + +"You have seen the doctor,--what is he like, Fritz?" + +A strange grimace and a shrug of the shoulders were Mr. Schoefer's only +answer. + +"I thought as much," said Upton, with a heavy sigh. "They called him +the wild growth of the mountains last night, and I fancied what that was +like to prove. Is he young?" + +A shake of the head implied not. + +"Nor old?" + +Another similar movement answered the question. + +"Give me a comb, Fritz, and fetch the glass here." And now Sir Horace +arranged his silky hair more becomingly, and having exchanged one or +two smiles with his image in the mirror, lay back on the pillow, saying, +"Tell him I am ready to see him." + +Mr. Schoefer proceeded to the door, and at once presented the obsequious +figure of Billy Traynor, who, having heard some details of the rank and +quality of his new patient, made his approaches with a most deferential +humility. It was true, Billy knew that my Lord Glencore's rank was above +that of Sir Horace, but to his eyes there was the far higher distinction +of a man of undoubted ability,--a great speaker, a great writer, a great +diplomatist; and Billy Traynor, for the first time in his life, found +himself in the presence of one whose claims to distinction stood upon +the lofty basis of personal superiority. Now, though bashful-ness was +not the chief characteristic of his nature, he really felt abashed and +timid as he drew near the bed, and shrank under the quick but searching +glance of the sick man's cold gray eyes. + +"Place a chair, and leave us, Fritz," said Sir Horace; and then, turning +slowly round, smiled as he said, "I'm happy to make your acquaintance, +sir. My friend, Lord Glencore, has told me with what skill you treated +him, and I embrace the fortunate occasion to profit by your professional +ability." + +"I'm your humble slave, sir," said Billy, with a deep, rich brogue; and +the manner of the speaker, and his accent, seemed so to surprise Upton +that he continued to stare at him fixedly for some seconds without +speaking. + +"You studied in Scotland, I believe?" said he, with one of the most +engaging smiles, while he hazarded the question. + +"Indeed, then, I did not, sir," said Billy, with a heavy sigh; "all I +know of the _ars medicatrix_ I picked up,--_currendo per campos_,--as +one may say, vagabondizing through life, and watching my opportunities. +Nature gave me the Hippocratic turn, and I did my best to improve it." + +"So that you never took out a regular diploma?" said Sir Horace, with +another and still blander smile. + +"Sorra one, sir! I 'm a doctor just as a man is a poet,--by sheer +janius! 'T is the study of nature makes both one and the other; that is, +when there's the raal stuff,--the _divinus afflatus_,--inside. Without +you have that, you 're only a rhymester or a quack." + +"You would, then, trace a parallel between them?" said Upton, +graciously. + +"To be sure, sir! Ould Heyric says that the poet and the physician is +one:-- + + "'For he who reads the clouded skies, + And knows the utterings of the deep, + Can surely see in human eyes + The sorrows that so heart-locked sleep.' + +The human system is just a kind of universe of its own; and the very +same faculties that investigate the laws of nature in one case is good +in the other." + +"I don't think the author of 'King Arthur' supports your theory," said +Upton, gently. + +"Blackmoor was an ass; but maybe he was as great a bosthoon in physic as +in poetry," rejoined Billy, promptly. + +"Well, Doctor," said Sir Horace, with one of those plaintive sighs in +which he habitually opened the narrative of his own suffering, "let us +descend to meaner things, and talk of myself. You see before you +one who, in some degree, is the reproach of medicine. That file of +prescriptions beside you will show that I have consulted almost every +celebrity in Europe; and that I have done so unsuccessfully, it is +only necessary that you should look on these worn looks--these wasted +fingers--this sickly, feeble frame. Vouchsafe me a patient hearing for +a few moments, while I give you some insight into one of the most +intricate cases, perhaps, that has ever engaged the faculty." + +It is not our intention to follow Sir Horace through his statement, +which in reality comprised a sketch of half the ills that the flesh +is heir to. Maladies of heart, brain, liver, lungs, the nerves, the +arteries, even the bones, contributed their aid to swell the dreary +catalogue, which, indeed, contained the usual contradictions and +exaggerations incidental to such histories. We could not assuredly +expect from our reader the patient attention with which Billy listened +to this narrative. Never by a word did he interrupt the description; +not even a syllable escaped him as he sat; and even when Sir Horace had +finished speaking, he remained with slightly drooped head and clasped +hands in deep meditation. + +"It's a strange thing," said he, at last; "but the more I see of the +aristocracy, the more I 'm convinced that they ought to have doctors +for themselves alone, just as they have their own tailors and +coachmakers,---chaps that could devote themselves to the study of physic +for the peerage, and never think of any other disorders but them that +befall people of rank. Your mistake, Sir Horace, was in consulting the +regular middle-class practitioner, who invariably imagined there must be +a disease to treat." + +"And you set me down as a hypochondriac, then," said Upton, smiling. + +"Nothing of the kind! You have a malady, sure enough, but nothing +organic. 'Tis the oceans of tinctures, the sieves full of pills, the +quarter-casks of bitters you 're takin', has played the divil with you. +The human machine is like a clock, and it depends on the proportion the +parts bear to each other, whether it keeps time. You may make the spring +too strong, or the chain too thick, or the balance too heavy for the +rest of the works, and spoil everything just by over security. That's +what your doctors was doing with their tonics and cordials. They didn't +see, here's a poor washy frame, with a wake circulation and no vigor. If +we nourish him, his heart will go quicker, to be sure; but what will his +brain be at? There's the rub! His brain will begin to go fast too, +and already it's going the pace. 'T is soothin' and calmin' you want; +allaying the irritability of an irrascible, fretful nature, always on +the watch for self-torment. Say-bathin', early hours, a quiet mopin' +kind of life, that would, maybe, tend to torpor and sleepiness,--them's +the first things you need; and for exercise, a little work in the garden +that you 'd take interest in." + +"And no physic?" asked Sir Horace. + +"Sorra screed! not as much as a powder or a draught,--barrin'," said +he, suddenly catching the altered expression of the sick man's face, "a +little mixture of hyoscyamus I' ll compound for you myself. This, and +friction over the region of the heart, with a mild embrocation, is all +my tratement!" + +"And you have hopes of my recovery?" asked Sir Horace, faintly. + +"My name isn't Billy Traynor if I'd not send you out of this hale and +hearty before two months. I read you like a printed book." + +"You really give me great confidence, for I perceive you understand the +tone of my temperament. Let us try this same embrocation at once; I'll +most implicitly obey you in everything." + +"My head on a block, then, but I'll cure you," said Billy, who +determined that no scruples on his side should mar the trust reposed in +him by the patient. "But you must give yourself entirely up to me; not +only as to your eatin' and drinkin', but your hours of recreation and +study, exercise, amusement, and all, must be at my biddin'. It is the +principle of harmony between the moral and physical nature constitutes +the whole sacret of my system. To be stimulatin' the nerves, and lavin' +the arteries dormant, is like playing a jig to minuet time,--all must +move in simultaneous action; and the cerebellum, the great flywheel of +the whole, must be made to keep orderly time. D'ye mind?" + +"I follow you with great interest," said Sir Horace, to whose subtle +nature there was an intense pleasure in the thought of having discovered +what he deemed a man of original genius under this unpromising exterior. +"There is but one bar to these arrangements: I must leave this at once; +I ought to go to-day. I must be off to-morrow." + +"Then I'll not take the helm when I can't pilot you through the shoals," +said Billy. "To begin my system, and see you go away before I developed +my grand invigoratin' arcanum, would be only to destroy your confidence +in an elegant discovery." + +"Were I only as certain as you seem to be----" began + +Sir Horace, and then stopped. + +"You 'd stay and be cured, you were goin' to say. Well, if you did n't +feel that same trust in me, you 'd be right to go; for it is that very +confidence that turns the balance. Ould Babbington used to say that +between a good physician and a bad one there was just the difference +between a pound and a guinea. But between the one you trust and the one +you don't, there's all the way between Billy Traynor and the Bank of +Ireland!" + +"On that score every advantage is with you," said Upton, with all the +winning grace of his incomparable manner; "and I must now bethink me +how I can manage to prolong my stay here." And with this he fell into +a musing fit, letting drop occasionally some stray word or two, to mark +the current of his thoughts: "The Duke of Headwater's on the thirteenth; +Ardroath Castle the Tuesday after; More-hampton for the Derby day. These +easily disposed of. Prince Boratinsky, about that Warsaw affair, must be +attended to; a letter, yes, a letter, will keep that question open. Lady +Grencliffe _is_ a difficulty; if I plead illness, she 'll say I 'm not +strong enough to go to Russia. I 'll think it over." And with this he +rested his head on his hands, and sank into profound reflection. +"Yes, Doctor," said he, at length, as though summing up his secret +calculations, "health is the first requisite. If you can but restore me, +you will be--I am above the mere personal consideration--you will be +the means of conferring an important service on the King's Government. A +variety of questions, some of them deep and intricate, are now pending, +of which I alone understand the secret meaning. A new hand would +infallibly spoil the game; and yet, in my present condition, how could +I hear the fatigues of long interviews, ministerial deliberations, +incessant note-writing, and evasive conversations?" + +"Utterly unpossible!" exclaimed the doctor. + +"As you observe, it is utterly impossible," rejoined Sir Horace, with +one of his own dubious smiles; and then, in a manner more natural, +resumed: "We public men have the sad necessity of concealing the +sufferings on which others trade for sympathy. We must never confess +to an ache or a pain, lest it be rumored that we are unequal to the +fatigues of office; and so is it that we are condemned to run the race +with broken health and shattered frame, alleging all the while that no +exertion is too much, no effort too great for us." + +"And maybe, after all, it's that very struggle that makes you more than +common men," said Billy. "There's a kind of irritability that keeps +the brain at stretch, and renders it equal to higher efforts than ever +accompany good everyday health. Dyspepsia is the soul of a prose-writer, +and a slight ossification of the aortic valves is a great help to the +imagination." + +"Do you really say so?" asked Sir Horace, with all the implicit +confidence with which he accepted any marvel that had its origin in +medicine. + +"Don't you feel it yourself, sir?" asked Billy. "Do you ever pen a reply +to a knotty state-paper as nately as when you've the heartburn?--are +you ever as epigrammatic as when you're driven to a listen slipper?--and +when do you give a minister a jobation as purtily as when you are +laborin' under a slight indigestion? Not that it would sarve a man to be +permanently in gout or the colic; but for a spurt like a cavalry charge, +there's nothing like eatin' something that disagrees with you." + +"An ingenious notion," said the diplomatist, smiling. + +"And now I 'll take my lave," said Billy, rising. "I'm going out +to gather some mountain-colchicum and sorrel, to make a diaphoretic +infusion; and I've to give Master Charles his Greek lesson; and blister +the colt,--he's thrown out a bone spavin; and, after that, Handy Care's +daughter has the shakin' ague, and the smith at the forge is to be +bled,--all before two o 'dock, when 'the lord' sends for me. But the +rest of the day, and the night too, I'm your honor's obaydient." + +And with a low bow, repeated in a more reverential man-ner at the door, +Billy took his leave and retired. + + + +CHAPTER X. A DISCLOSURE + +"Have you seen Upton?" asked Glencore eagerly of Harcourt as he entered +his bedroom. + +"Yes; he vouchsafed me an audience during his toilet, just as the old +kings of France were accustomed to honor a favorite with one." + +"And is he full of miseries at the dreary place, the rough fare and +deplorable resources of this wild spot?" + +"Quite the reverse; he is charmed with everything and everybody. The +view from his window is glorious; the air has already invigorated him. +For years he has not breakfasted with the same appetite; and he finds +that of all the places he has ever chanced upon, this is the one +veritable exact spot which suits him." + +"This is very kind on his part," said Glencore, with a faint smile. +"Will the humor last, Harcourt? That is the question." + +"I trust it will,--at least it may well endure for the short period +he means to stay; although already he has extended that, and intends +remaining till next week." + +"Better still," said Glencore, with more animation of voice and manner. +"I was already growing nervous about the brief space in which I was to +crowd in all that I want to say to him; but if he will consent to wait a +day or two, I hope I shall be equal to it." + +"In his present mood there is no impatience to be off; on the contrary, +he has been inquiring as to all the available means of locomotion, and +by what convenience he is to make various sea and land excursions." + +"We have no carriage,--we have no roads, even," said Glencore, +peevishly. + +"He knows all that; but he is concerting measures about a certain +turf-kish, I think they call it, which, by the aid of pillows to lie +on, and donkeys to drag, can be made a most useful vehicle; while, for +longer excursions, he has suggested a 'conveniency' of wheels and axles +to the punt, rendering it equally eligible on land or water. Then he +has been designing great improvements in horticulture, and giving orders +about a rake, a spade, and a hoe for himself. I 'm quite serious," said +Harcourt, as Glencore smiled with a kind of droll incredulity. "It is +perfectly true; and as he hears that the messenger occasionally crosses +the lough to the post, when there are no letters there, he hints at a +little simple telegraph for Leenane, which should announce what the mail +contains, and which might be made useful to convey other intelligence. +In fact, all _my_ changes here will be as for nothing to _his_ reforms, +and between us you 'll not know your own house again, if you even be +able to live in it." + +"You have already done much to make it more habitable, Harcourt," said +Glencore, feelingly; "and if I had not the grace to thank you for it, +I 'm not the less grateful. To say truth, my old friend, I half doubted +whether it was an act of friendship to attach me ever so lightly to a +life of which I am well weary. Ceasing as I have done for years back to +feel interest in anything, I dread whatever may again recall me to the +world of hopes and fears,--that agitated sea of passion wherein I have +no longer vigor to contend. To speak to me, then, of plans to carry +out, schemes to accomplish, was to point to a future of activity and +exertion; and!"--here he dropped his voice to a deep and mournful +tone--"can have but one future,--the dark and dreary one before the +grave!" + +Harcourt was too deeply impressed by the solemnity of these words to +venture on a reply, and he sat silently contemplating the sorrow-struck +but placid features of the sick man. + +"There is nothing to prevent a man struggling, and successfully too, +against mere adverse fortune," continued Glencore. "I feel at times +that if I had been suddenly reduced to actual beggary,--left without +a shilling in the world,--there are many ways in which I could eke out +subsistence. A great defeat to my personal ambition I could resist. The +casualty that should exclude me from a proud position and public life, +I could bear up against with patience, and I hope with dignity. Loss of +fortune, loss of influence, loss of station, loss of health even, dearer +than them all, can be borne. There is but one intolerable ill, one +that no time alleviates, no casuistry diminishes,--loss of honor! +Ay, Harcourt, rank and riches do little for him who feels himself the +inferior of the meanest that elbows him in a crowd; and the man whose +name is a scoff and a jibe has but one part to fill,--to make himself +forgotten." + +"I hope I 'm not deficient in a sense of personal honor, Glencore," said +Harcourt; "but I must say that I think your reasoning on this point is +untenable and wrong." + +"Let us not speak more of it," said Glencore, faintly. "I know not how +I have been led to allude to what it is better to bear in secret than +to confide even to friendship;" and he pressed the strong fingers of the +other as he spoke, in his own feeble grasp. "Leave me now, Harcourt, and +send Upton here. It may be that the time is come when I shall be able to +speak to him." + +"You are too weak to-day, Glencore,--too much agitated. Pray defer this +interview." + +"No, Harcourt; these are my moments of strength. The little energy now +left to me is the fruit of strong excitement. Heaven knows how I shall +be to-morrow." + +Harcourt made no further opposition, but left the room in search of +Upton. + +It was full an hour later when Sir Horace Upton made his appearance in +Glencore's chamber, attired in a purple dressing-gown, profusely braided +with gold, loose trousers as richly brocaded, and a pair of real Turkish +slippers, resplendent with costly embroidery; a small fez of blue +velvet, with a deep gold tassel, covered the top of his head, at +either side of which his soft silky hair descended in long massy waves, +apparently negligently, but in reality arranged with all the artistic +regard to effect of a consummate master. From the gold girdle at his +waist depended a watch, a bunch of keys, a Turkish purse, an embroidered +tobacco-bag, a gorgeously chased smelling-bottle, and a small stiletto, +with a topaz handle. In one hand he carried a meerschaum, the other +leaned upon a cane, and with all the dependence of one who could not +walk without its aid. The greeting was cordial and affectionate on both +sides; and when Sir Horace, after a variety of preparations to ensure +his comfort, at length seated himself beside the bed, his features +beamed with all their wonted gentleness and kindness. + +"I'm charmed at what Harcourt has been telling me, Upton," said +Glencore; "and that you really can exist in all the savagery of this +wild spot." + +"I'm in ecstasy with the place, Glencore. My memory cannot recall the +same sensations of health and vigor I have experienced since I came +here. Your cook is first-rate; your fare is exquisite; the quiet is +a positive blessing; and that queer creature, your doctor, is a very +remarkable genius." + +"So he is," said Glencore, gravely. + +"One of those men of original mould who leave cultivation leagues +behind, and arrive at truth by a bound." + +"He certainly treated me with considerable skill." + +"I'm satisfied of it; his conversation is replete with shrewd and +intelligent observation, and he seems to have studied his art more like +a philosopher than a mere physician of the schools. And depend upon it, +Glencore, the curative art must mainly depend upon the secret instinct +which divines the malady, less by the rigid rules of acquired skill than +by that prerogative of genius, which, however exerted, arrives at its +goal at once. Our conversation had scarcely lasted a quarter of an hour, +when he revealed to me the exact seat of all my sufferings, and the +most perfect picture of my temperament. And then his suggestions as to +treatment were all so reasonable, so well argued." + +"A clever fellow, no doubt of it," said Glencore. + +"But he is far more than that, Glencore. Cleverness is only a +manufacturing quality,--that man supplies the raw article also. It has +often struck me as very singular that such heads are not found in _our_ +class,--they belong to another order altogether. It is possible that the +stimulus of necessity engenders the greatest of all efforts, calling +to the operations of the mind the continued strain for contrivance; and +thus do we find the most remarkable men are those, every step of whose +knowledge has been gained with a struggle." + +"I suspect you are right," said Glencore, "and that our old system of +school education, wherein all was rough, rugged, and difficult, turned +out better men than the present-day habit of everything-made-easy and +everybody-made-any-thing. Flippancy is the characteristic of our age, +and we owe it to our teaching." + +"By the way, what do you mean to do with Charley?" said Upton. "Do you +intend him for Eton?" + +"I scarcely know,--I make plans only to abandon them," said Glencore, +gloomily. + +"I'm greatly struck with him. He is one of those fellows, however, +who require the nicest management, and who either rise superior to all +around them, or drop down into an indolent, dreamy existence, conscious +of power, but too bashful or too lazy to exert it." + +"You have hit him off, Upton, with all your own subtlety; and it was to +speak of that boy I have been so eager to see you." + +Glencore paused as he said these words, and passed his hand over his +brow, as though to prepare himself for the task before him. + +"Upton," said he, at last, in a voice of deep and solemn meaning, "the +resolution I am about to impart to you is not unlikely to meet your +strenuous opposition; you will be disposed to show me strong reasons +against it on every ground; you may refuse me that amount of assistance +I shall ask of you to carry out my purpose; but if your arguments were +all unanswerable, and if your denial to aid me was to sever the old +friendship between us, I 'd still persist in my determination. For more +than two years the project has been before my mind. The long hours +of the day, the longer ones of the night, have found me deep in the +consideration of it. I have repeated over to myself everything that my +ingenuity could suggest against it; I have said to my own heart all that +my worst enemy could utter, were he to read the scheme and detect my +plan; I have done more,--I have struggled with myself to abandon it; +but in vain. My heart is linked to it; it forms the one sole tie that +attaches me to life. Without it, the apathy that I feel stealing over me +would be complete, and my existence become a mournful dream. In a word, +Upton, all is passionless within me, save one sentiment; and I drag on +life merely for a '_Vendetta_.'" + +Upton shook his head mournfully, as the other paused here, and said,-- + +"This is disease, Glencore!" + +"Be it so; the malady is beyond cure," said he, sternly. + +"Trust me it is not so," said Upton, gently; "you listened to my +persuasions on a more--" + +"Ay, that I did!" cried Glencore, interrupting; "and have I ever ceased +to rue the day I did so? But for _your_ arguments, and I had not lived +this life of bitter, self-reproaching misery; but for you, and my +vengeance had been sated ere this!" + +"Remember, Glencore," said the other, "that you had obtained all the +world has decreed as satisfaction. He met you and received your fire; +you shot him through the chest,--not mortally, it is true, but to carry +to his grave a painful, lingering disease. To have insisted on his again +meeting you would have been little less than murder. No man could have +stood your friend in such a quarrel. I told you so then, I repeat it +now, _he_ could not fire at you; what, then, was it possible for you to +do?" + +"Shoot him,--shoot him like a dog!" cried Glencore, while his eyes +gleamed like the glittering eyes of an enraged beast. "You talk of his +lingering life of pain: think of _mine_; have some sympathy for what _I_ +suffer! Would all the agony of _his_ whole existence equal one hour of +the torment he has bequeathed to me, its shame and ignominy?" + +"These are things which passion can never treat of, my dear Glencore." + +"Passion alone can feel them," said the other, sternly. "Keep subtleties +for those who use like weapons. As for me, no casuistry is needed +to tell me I am dishonored, and just as little to tell me I must be +avenged! If _you_ think differently, it were better not to discuss this +question further between us; but I did think I could have reckoned upon +you, for I felt you had barred my first chance of a vengeance." + +"Now, then, for your plan, Glencore," said Upton, who, with all the +dexterity of his calling, preferred opening a new channel in the +discussion, to aggravating difficulties by a further opposition. + +"I must rid myself of her! There's my plan!" cried Glencore, savagely. +"You have it all in that resolution. Of no avail is it that I have +separated my fortune from hers, so long as she bears my name, and +renders it infamous in every city of Europe. Is it to _you_, who live in +the world,--who mix with men of every country,--that I need tell this? +If a man cannot throw off such a shame, he must sink under it." + +"But you told me you had an unconquerable aversion to the notion of +seeking a divorce." + +"So I had; so I have! The indelicate, the ignominious course of a trial +at law, with all its shocking exposure, would be worse than a thousand +deaths! To survive the suffering of all the licensed ribaldry of some +gowned coward aspersing one's honor, calumniating, inventing, and, +when invention failed, suggesting motives, the very thought of which in +secret had driven a man to madness! To endure this--to read it--to +know it went published over the wide globe, till one's shame became the +gossip of millions--and then--with a verdict extorted from pity, damages +awarded to repair a broken heart and a sullied name--to carry this +disgrace before one's equals, to be again discussed, sifted, and +cavilled at! No, Upton; this poor shattered brain would give way under +such a trial; to compass it in mere fancy is already nigh to madness! It +must be by other means than these that I attain my object!" + +The terrible energy with which he spoke actually frightened Upton, who +fancied that his reason had already begun to show signs of decline. + +"The world has decreed," resumed Glencore, "that in these conflicts all +the shame shall be the husband's; but it shall not be so here! _She_ +shall have her share, ay, and, by Heaven, not the smaller share +either!" + +"Why, what would you do?" asked Upton, eagerly. + +"Deny my marriage; call her my mistress!" cried Glencore, in a voice +shaken with passion and excitement. + +"But your boy,--your son, Glencore!" + +"He shall be a bastard! You may hold up your hands in horror, and look +with all your best got-up disgust at such a scheme; but if you wish +to see me swear to accomplish it, I'll do so now before you, ay, on +my knees before you! When we eloped from her father's house at +Castellamare, we were married by a priest at Capri; of the marriage +no trace exists. The more legal ceremony was performed before you, as +Charge d'Affaires at Naples,--of that I have the registry here; nor, +except my courier, Sanson, is there a living witness. If you determine +to assert it, you will do so without a fragment of proof, since every +document that could substantiate it is in my keeping. You shall see them +for yourself. She is, therefore, in my power; and will any man dare to +tell me how I should temper that power?" + +"But your boy, Glencore, your boy!" + +"Is my boy's station in the world a prouder one by being the son of the +notorious Lady Glencore, or as the offspring of a nameless mistress? +What avail to him that he should have a title stained by _her_ shame? +Where is he to go? In what land is he to live, where her infamy has not +reached? Is it not a thousand times better that he enter life ignoble +and unknown,--to start in the world's race with what he may of strength +and power,--than drag on an unhonored existence, shunned by his equals, +and only welcome where it is disgrace to find companionship?" + +"But you surely have never contemplated all the consequences of this +rash resolve. It is the extinction of an ancient title, the alienation +of a great estate, when once you have declared your boy illegitimate." + +"He is a beggar: I know it; the penalty he must pay is a heavy one. But +think of _her_, Upton,--think of the haughty Viscountess, revelling in +splendor, and, even in all her shame, the flattered, welcomed guest of +that rotten, corrupt society she lives in. Imagine her in all the pride +of wealth and beauty, sought after, adulated, worshipped as she is, +suddenly struck down by the brand of this disgrace, and left upon the +world without fortune, without rank, without even a name. To be shunned +like a leper by the very meanest of those it had once been an honor when +she recognized them. Picture to yourself this woman, degraded to the +position of all that is most vile and contemptible. She, that scarcely +condescended to acknowledge as her equals the best-born and the highest, +sunk down to the hopeless infamy of a mistress. They tell me she +laughed on the day I fainted at seeing her entering the San Carlos at +Naples,--laughed as they carried me down the steps into the fresh air! +Will she laugh now, think you? Shall I be called 'Le Pauvre Sire' +when she hears this? Was there ever a vengeance more terrible, more +complete?" + +"Again, I say, Glencore, you have no right to involve others in the +penalty of her fault. Laying aside every higher motive, you can have no +more right to deny your boy's claim to his rank and fortune than I or +any one else. It cannot be alienated nor extinguished; by his birth he +became the heir to your title and estates." + +"He has no birth, sir, he is a bastard: who shall deny it? _You_ may," +added he, after a second's pause; "but where's your proof? Is not every +probability as much against you as all documentary evidence, since none +will ever believe that I could rob myself of the succession, and make +over my fortune to Heaven knows what remote relation?" + +"And do you expect me to become a party to this crime?" asked Upton, +gravely. + +"You balked me in one attempt at vengeance, and I think you owe me a +reparation!" + +"Glencore," said Upton, solemnly, "we are both of us men of the +world,--men who have seen life in all its varied aspects sufficiently to +know the hollowness of more than half the pretension men trade upon as +principle; we have witnessed mean actions and the very lowest motives +amongst the highest in station; and it is not for either of us to affect +any overstrained estimate of men's honor and good faith; but I say to +you, in all sincerity, that not alone do I refuse you all concurrence in +the act you meditate, but I hold myself open to denounce and frustrate +it." + +"You do!" cried Glencore, wildly, while with a bound he sat up in his +bed, grasping the curtain convulsively for support. + +"Be calm, Glencore, and listen to me patiently." + +"You declare that you will use the confidence of this morning against +me!" cried Glencore, while the lines in his face became indented more +deeply, and his bloodless lips quivered with passion. "You take your +part with _her!_" + +"I only ask that you would hear me." + +"You owe me four thousand five hundred pounds, Sir Horace Upton," +said Glencore, in a voice barely above a whisper, but every accent of +which was audible. + +"I know it, Glencore," said Upton, calmly. "You helped me by a loan of +that sum in a moment of great difficulty. Your generosity went farther, +for you took, what nobody else would, my personal security." + +Glencore made no reply, but, throwing back the bedclothes, slowly and +painfully arose, and with tottering and uncertain steps approached a +table. With a trembling hand he unlocked a drawer, and taking out a +paper, opened and scanned it over. + +"There's your bond, sir," said he, with a hollow, cavernous voice, as +he threw it into the fire, and crushed it down into the flames with a +poker. "There is now nothing between us. You are free to do your worst!" +And as he spoke, a few drops of dark blood trickled from his nostril, +and he fell senseless upon the floor. + + + +CHAPTER XI. SOME LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF DIPLOMATIC LIFE + +There is a trait in the lives of great diplomatists of which it is just +possible some one or other of my readers may not have heard, which is, +that none of them have ever attained to any great eminence without an +attachment--we can find no better word for it--to some woman of superior +understanding who has united within herself great talents for society +with a high and soaring ambition. + +They who only recognize in the world of politics the dry details of +ordinary parliamentary business, poor-law questions, sanitary rules, +railroad bills, and colonial grants can form but a scanty notion of the +excitement derived from the high interests of party, and the great game +played by about twenty mighty gamblers, with the whole world for the +table, and kingdoms for counters. In this "grand role" women perform no +ignoble part; nay, it were not too much to say that theirs is the very +motive-power of the whole vast machinery. + +Had we any right to step beyond the limits of our story for +illustration, it would not be difficult to quote names enough to show +that we are speaking not at hazard, but "from book," and that great +events derive far less of their impulse from "the lords" than from "the +ladies of creation." Whatever be the part they take in these contests, +their chief attention is ever directed, not to the smaller battle-field +of home questions, but to the greater and wider campaign of +international politics. Men may wrangle and hair-split, and divide about +a harbor bill or a road cession; but women occupy themselves in devising +how thrones may be shaken and dynasties disturbed,--how frontiers may be +changed, and nationalities trafficked; for, strange as it may seem, +the stupendous incidents which mould human destinies are more under the +influence of passion and intrigue than the commonest events of every-day +life. + +Our readers may, and not very unreasonably, begin to suspect that it was +in some moment of abstraction we wrote "Glencore" at the head of these +pages, and that these speculations are but the preface to some very +abstruse reflections upon the political condition of Europe. But no; +they are simply intended as a prelude to the fact that Sir Horace Upton +was not exempt from the weakness of his order, and that he, too, reposed +his trust upon a woman's judgment. + +The name of his illustrious guide was the Princess Sabloukoff, +by birth a Pole, but married to a Russian of vast wealth and high +family, from whom she separated early in life, to mingle in the +world with all the "prestige" of position, riches, and--greater than +either--extreme beauty, and a manner of such fascination as made her +name of European celebrity. + +When Sir Horace first met her, he was the junior member of our Embassy +at Naples, and she the distinguished leader of fashion in that city. +We are not about to busy ourselves with the various narratives which +professed to explain her influence at Court, or the secret means to +which she owed her ascendency over royal highnesses, and her sway over +cardinals. Enough that she possessed such, and that the world knew it. +The same success attended her at Vienna and at Paris. She was courted +and sought after everywhere; and if her arrival was not feted with the +public demonstrations that await royalty, it was assuredly an event +recognized with all that could flatter her vanity or minister to her +self-esteem. + +When Sir Horace was presented to her as an Attache, she simply bowed and +smiled. He renewed his acquaintance some ten years later as a Secretary, +when she vouchsafed to say she remembered him. A third time, after a +lapse of years, he came before her as a Charge d'Affaires, when she +conversed with him; and lastly, when time had made him a Minister, and +with less generosity had laid its impress upon herself, she gave him her +hand, and said,-- + +"My dear Horace, how charming to see an old friend, if you will be good +enough to let me call you so." + +And he was so; he accepted the friendship as frankly as it was +proffered. He knew that time was when he could have no pretension to +this distinction: but the beautiful Princess was no longer young; the +fascinations she had wielded were already a kind of Court tradition; +archdukes and ambassadors were no more her slaves; nor was she the +terror of jealous queens and Court favorites. Sir Horace knew all this; +but he also knew that, she being such, his ambition had never dared +to aspire to her friendship, and it was only in her days of declining +fortune that he could hope for such distinction. + +All this may seem very strange and very odd, dear reader; but we live +in very strange and very odd times, and more than one-half the world +is only living on "second-hand,"--second-hand shawls and second-hand +speeches, second-hand books, and Court suits and opinions are all rife; +and why not second-hand friendships? + +Now, the friendship between a bygone beauty of forty--and we will not +say how many more years--and a hackneyed, half-disgusted man of the +world, of the same age, is a very curious contract. There is no love +in it; as little is there any strong tie of esteem: but there is a +wonderful bond of self-interest and mutual convenience. Each seems to +have at last found "one that understands him;" similarity of pursuit +has engendered similarity of taste. They have each seen the world from +exactly the same point of view, and they have come out of it equally +heart-wearied and tired, stored with vast resources of social knowledge, +and with a keen insight into every phase of that complex machinery by +which one-half the world cheats the other. + +Madame de Sabloukoff was still handsome; she had far more than what +is ill-naturedly called the remains of good looks. She had a brilliant +complexion, lustrous dark eyes, and a profusion of the most beautiful +hair. She was, besides, a most splendid dresser. Her toilet was the very +perfection of taste, and if a little inclining to over-magnificence, not +the less becoming to one whose whole air and bearing assumed something +of queenly dignity. + +In the world of society there is a very great prestige attends those who +have at some one time played a great part in life. The deposed king, the +ex-minister, the banished general, and even the bygone beauty, receive a +species of respectful homage, which the wider world without-doors is not +always ready to accord them. Good breeding, in fact, concedes what mere +justice might deny; and they who have to fall back upon "souvenirs" for +their greatness, always find their advantage in associating with the +class whose prerogative is good manners. + +The Princess Sabloukoff was not, however, one of those who can live upon +the interest of a bygone fame. She saw that, when the time of coquetry +and its fascinations has passed, still, with faculties like hers, +there was yet a great game to be played. Hitherto she had only studied +characters; now she began to reflect upon events. The transition was +an easy one, to which her former knowledge contributed largely its +assistance. There was scarcely a royalty, hardly a leading personage, in +Europe she did not know personally and well. She had lived in intimacy +with ministers, and statesmen, and great politicians. She knew them +in all that "life of the _salon_" where men alternately expand into +frankness, and practise the wily devices of their crafty callings. She +had seen them in all the weaknesses, too, of inferior minds, eager after +small objects, tormented by insignificant cares. They who habitually +dealt with these mighty personages only beheld them in their dignity of +station, or surrounded by the imposing accessories of office. What an +advantage, then, to regard them closer and nearer,--to be aware of their +shortcomings, and acquainted with the secret springs of their ambitions! + +The Princess and Sir Horace very soon saw that each needed the other. +When Robert Macaire accidentally met an accomplished gamester who +"turned the king" as often as he did, and could reciprocate every +trick and artifice with him, he threw down the cards, saying, +"Embrassons-nous, nous sommes freres!" Now, the illustration is a very +ignoble one, but it conveys no very inexact idea of the bond which +united these two distinguished individuals. + +Sir Horace was one of those fine, acute intelligences which may +be gapped and blunted if applied to rough work, but are splendid +instruments where you would cut cleanly and cut deep. She saw this at +once. He, too, recognized in her a wonderful knowledge of life, joined +to vast powers of employing it with profit. No more was wanting to +establish a friendship between them. Dispositions must be, to a certain +degree, different between those who are to live together as friends, but +tastes must be alike. Theirs were so. They had the same veneration for +the same things, the same regard for the same celebrities, and the same +contempt for the small successes which were engaging the minds of +many around them. If the Princess had a real appreciation of the fine +abilities of Sir Horace, he estimated at their full value all the +resources of her wondrous tact and skill, and the fascinations which +even yet surrounded her. + +Have we said enough to explain the terms of this alliance, or must we +make one more confession, and own that her insidious praise--a flattery +too delicate and fine ever to be committed to absolute eulogy--convinced +Sir Horace that she alone, of all the world, was able to comprehend the +vast stores of his knowledge, and the wide measure of his capacity as a +statesman? + +In the great game of statecraft, diplomatists are not above looking into +each other's hands; but this must always be accomplished by means of +a confederate. How terribly alike are all human rogueries, whether the +scene be a conference at Vienna, or the tent of a thimblerig at Ascot! +La Sabloukoff was unrivalled in the art. She knew how to push raillery +and _persiflage_ to the very frontiers of truth, and even peep over and +see what lay beyond. Sir Horace traded on the material with which she +supplied him, and acquired the reputation of being all that was crafty +and subtle in diplomacy. + +How did Upton know this? Whence came he by that? What mysterious source +of information is he possessed of? Who could have revealed such a secret +to him? were questions often asked in that dreary old drawing-room +of Downing Street, where men's destinies are shaped, and the fate of +millions decided, from four o'clock to six of an afternoon. + +Often and often were the measures of the Cabinet shaped by the tidings +which arrived with all the speed of a foreign courier; over and over +again were the speeches in Parliament based upon information received +from him. It has even happened that the news from his hand has caused +the telegraph of the Admiralty to signalize the "Thunderer" to put +to sea with all haste. In a word, he was the trusted agent of our +Government, whether ruled by a Whig or a Tory, and his despatches were +ever regarded as a sure warranty for action. + +The English Minister at a Foreign Court labors under one great +disadvantage, which is, that his policy, and all the consequences that +are to follow it, are rarely, if ever, shaped with any reference to the +state of matters then existing in his own country. Absorbed as he is in +great European questions, how can he follow with sufficient attention +the course of events at home, or recognize, in the signs and tokens of +the division list, the changeful fortunes of party? He may be advising +energy when the cry is all for temporizing; counselling patience and +submission, when the nation is eager for a row; recommend religious +concessions in the very week that Exeter Hall is denouncing toleration; +or actually suggesting aid to a Government that a popular orator has +proclaimed to be everything that is unjust and ignominious. + +It was Sir Horace Upton's fortune to have fallen into one of these +embarrassments. He had advised the Home Government to take some +measures, or at least look with favor on certain movements of the Poles +in Russia, in order the better to obtain some concessions then required +from the Cabinet of the Czar. The Premier did not approve of the +suggestion, nor was it like to meet acceptance at home. We were in a +pro-Russian fever at the moment. Some mob disturbances at Norwich, +a Chartist meeting at Stockport, and something else in Wales, had +frightened the nation into a hot stage of conservatism; and never +was there such an ill-chosen moment to succor Poles or awaken dormant +nationalities. + +Upton's proposal was rejected. He was even visited with one of those +disagreeable acknowledgments by which the Foreign Office reminds a +speculative minister that he is going _ultra crepidam_. When an envoy +is snubbed, he always asks for leave of absence. If the castigation +be severe, he invariably, on his return to England, goes to visit the +Leader of the Opposition. This is the ritual. Sir Horace, however, +only observed it in half. He came home; but after his first morning's +attendance at the Foreign Office, he disappeared; none saw or heard +of him. He knew well all the value of mystery, and he accordingly +disappeared from public view altogether. + +When, therefore, Harcourt's letter reached him, proposing that he should +visit Glencore, the project came most opportunely; and that he only +accepted it for a day, was in the spirit of his habitual diplomacy, +since he then gave himself all the power of an immediate departure, +or permitted the option of remaining gracefully, in defiance of all +pre-engage-ments, and all plans to be elsewhere. We have been driven, +for the sake of this small fact, to go a great way round in our history; +but we promise our readers that Sir Horace was one of those people whose +motives are never tracked without a considerable _detour_. The reader +knows now why he was at Glencore,--he already knew how. + +The terrible interview with Glencore brought back a second relapse of +greater violence than the first, and it was nigh a fortnight ere he was +pronounced out of danger. It was a strange life that Harcourt and Upton +led in that dreary interval. Guests of one whose life was in utmost +peril, they met in that old gallery each day to talk, in half-whispered +sentences, over the sick man's case, and his chances of recovery. + +Harcourt frankly told Upton that the first relapse was the consequence +of a scene between Glencore and himself. Upton made no similar +confession. He reflected deeply, however, over all that had passed, and +came to the conclusion that, in Glencore's present condition, opposition +might prejudice his chance of recovery, but never avail to turn him from +his project. He also set himself to study the boy's character, and found +it, in all respects, the very type of his father's. Great bashfulness, +united to great boldness, timidity, and distrust, were there side by +side with a rash, impetuous nature that would hesitate at nothing in +pursuit of an object. Pride, however, was the great principle of his +being,--the good and evil motive of all that was in him. He had pride +on every subject. His name, his rank, his station, a consciousness of +natural quickness, a sense of aptitude to learn whatever came before +him,--all gave him the same feeling of pride. + +"There's a deal of good in that lad," said Harcourt to Upton, one +evening, as the boy had left the room; "I like his strong affection +for his father, and that unbounded faith he seems to have in Glencore's +being better than every one else in the world." + +"It is an excellent religion, my dear Harcourt, if it could only last!" +said the diplomat, smiling amiably. + +"And why should n't it last?" asked the other, impatiently. + +"Just because nothing lasts that has its origin in ignorance. The boy +has seen nothing of life, has had no opportunity for forming a judgment +or instituting a comparison between any two objects. The first shot +that breaches that same fortress of belief, down will come the whole +edifice!" + +"You 'd give a lad to the Jesuits, then, to be trained up in every +artifice and distrust?" + +"Far from it, Harcourt. I think their system a mistake all through. The +science of life must be self-learned, and it is a slow acquisition. +All that education can do is to prepare the mind to receive it. Now, to +employ the first years of a boy's life by storing him with prejudices, +is just to encumber a vessel with a rotten cargo that she must throw +overboard before she can load with a profitable freight." + +"And is it in that category you'd class his love for his father?" asked +the Colonel. + +"Of course not; but any unnatural or exaggerated estimate of him is a +great error, to lead to an equally unfair depreciation when the time of +deception is past. To be plain, Harcourt, is that boy fitted to enter +one of our great public schools, stand the hard, rough usage of his own +equals, and buffet it as you or I have done?" + +"Why not? or, at least, why should n't he become so after a month or +two?" + +"Just because in that same month or two he'd either die broken-hearted, +or plunge his knife into the heart of some comrade who insulted him." + +"Not a bit of it. You don't know him at all. Charley is a fine +give-and-take fellow; a little proud, perhaps, because he lives apart +from all that are his equals. Let Glencore just take courage to send him +to Harrow or Rugby, and my life on it, but he 'll be the manliest fellow +in the school." + +"I 'll undertake, without Harrow or Rugby, that the boy should become +something even greater than that," said Upton, smiling. + +"Oh, I know you sneer at my ideas of what a young fellow ought to be," +said Harcourt; "but, somehow, you did not neglect these same pursuits +yourself. You can shoot as well as most men, and you ride better than +any I know of." + +"One likes to do a little of everything, Harcourt," said Upton, not at +all displeased at this flattery; "and somehow it never suits a fellow, +who really feels that he has fair abilities, to do anything badly; so +that it comes to this: one does it well, or not at all. Now, you never +heard me touch the piano?" + +"Never." + +"Just because I'm only an inferior performer, and so I only play when +perfectly alone." + +"Egad, if I could only master a waltz, or one of the melodies, I'd be at +it whenever any one would listen to me." + +"You're a good soul, and full of amiability, Harcourt," said Upton; but +the words sounded very much as though he said, "You're a dear, good, +sensible creature, without an atom of self-respect or esteem." + +Indeed, so conscious was Harcourt that the expression meant no +compliment that he actually reddened and looked away. At last he took +courage to renew the conversation, and said,-- + +"And what would you advise for the boy, then?" + +"I 'd scarcely lay down a system; but I 'll tell you what I would not +do. I 'd not bore him with mathematics; I 'd not put his mind on the +stretch in any direction; I 'd not stifle the development of any taste +that may be struggling within him, but rather encourage and foster it, +since it is precisely by such an indication you 'll get some clew to his +nature. Do you understand me?" + +"I 'm not quite sure I do; but I believe you'd leave him to something +like utter idleness." + +"What to _you_, my dear Harcourt, would be utter idleness, I've no +doubt; but not to him, perhaps." + +Again the Colonel looked mortified, but evidently knew not how to resent +this new sneer. + +"Well," said he, after a pause, "the lad will not require to be a +genius." + +"So much the better for him, probably; at all events, so much the better +for his friends, and all who are to associate with him." + +Here he looked fixedly at Upton, who smiled a most courteous +acquiescence in the opinion,--a politeness that made poor Harcourt +perfectly ashamed of his own rudeness, and he continued hurriedly,-- + +"He'll have abundance of money. The life Glencore leads here will be +like a long minority to him. A fine old name and title, and the deuce is +in it if he can't rub through life pleasantly enough with such odds." + +"I believe you are right, after all, Harcourt," said Upton, sighing, and +now speaking in a far more natural tone; "it _is_ 'rubbing through' with +the best of us, and no more!" + +"If you mean that the process is a very irksome one, I enter my dissent +at once," broke in Harcourt. "I 'm not ashamed to own that I like life +prodigiously; and if I be spared to say so, I 'm sure I 'll have the +same story to tell fifteen or twenty years hence; and yet I 'm not a +genius!" + +"No," said Upton, smiling a bland assent. + +"Nor a philosopher either," said Harcourt, irritated at the +acknowledgment. + +"Certainly not," chimed in Upton, with another smile. + +"Nor have I any wish to be one or the other," rejoined Harcourt, +now really provoked. "I know right well that if I were in trouble or +difficulty to-morrow,--if I wanted a friend to help me with a loan of +some thousand pounds,--it is not to a genius or a philosopher I 'd look +for the assistance." + +It is ever a chance shot that explodes a magazine, and so is it that a +random speech is sure to hit the mark that has escaped all the efforts +of skilful direction. + +Upton winced and grew pale at these last words, and he fixed his +penetrating gray eyes upon the speaker with a keenness all his own. +Harcourt, however, bore the look without the slightest touch of +uneasiness. The honest Colonel had spoken without any hidden meaning, +nor had he the slightest intention of a personal application in his +words. Of this fact Upton appeared soon to be convinced, for his +features gradually recovered their wonted calmness. + +"How perfectly right you are, my dear Harcourt," said he, mildly. "The +man who expects to be happier by the possession of genius is like one +who would like to warm himself through a burning-glass." + +"Egad, that is a great consolation for us slow fellows," said Harcourt, +laughing; "and now what say you to a game at _ecarte_; for I believe it +is just the one solitary thing I am more than your match in?" + +"I accept inferiority in a great many others," said Upton, blandly; "but +I must decline the challenge, for I have a letter to write, and our post +here starts at daybreak." + +"Well, I'd rather carry the whole bag than indite one of its contents," +said the Colonel, rising; and, with a hearty shake of the hand, he left +the room. + +A letter was fortunately not so great an infliction to Upton, who opened +his desk at once, and with a rapid hand traced the following lines:-- + +Mv dear Princess,--My last will have told you how and when I came here; +I wish I but knew in what way to explain why I still remain! Imagine +the dreariest desolation of Calabria in a climate of fog and sea-drift: +sunless skies, leafless trees, impassable roads, the out-door comforts; +the joys within depending on a gloomy old house, with a few gloomier +inmates, and a host on a sick bed. Yet, with all this, I believe I am +better; the doctor, a strange, unsophisticated creature, a cross between +Galen and Caliban, seems to have hit off what the great dons of science +never could detect,--the true seat of my malady. He says--and he really +reasons out his case ingeniously--that the brain has been working for +the inferior nerves, not limiting itself to cerebral functions, but +actually performing the humbler office of muscular direction, and so +forth; in fact, a field-marshal doing duty for a common soldier! I +almost fancy I can corroborate his view, from internal sensations; I +have a kind of secret instinct that he is right. Poor brain! why it +should do the work of another department, with abundance of occupation +of its own, I cannot make out. But to turn to something else. This is +not a bad refuge just now. They cannot make out where I am, and all the +inquiries at my club are answered by a vague impression that I have gone +back to Germany, which the people at F. O. are aware is not the case. +I have already told you that my suggestion has been negatived in the +Cabinet: it was ill-timed, Allington says; but I ventured to remind his +Lordship that a policy requiring years to develop, and more years still +to push to a profitable conclusion, is not to be reduced to the category +of mere _a propos_ measures. He was vexed, and replied weakly and +angrily. I rejoined, and left him. Next day he sent for me, but my reply +was, "I was leaving town;" and I left. I don't want the Bath, because it +would be "ill-timed;" so that they must give me Vienna, or be satisfied +to see me in the House and the Opposition! + +Your tidings of Brekenoff came exactly in the nick. Allington said +pompously that they were sure of him; so I just said, "Ask him if they +would like our sending a Consular Agent to Cracow?" It seems that he was +so flurried by a fancied detection that he made a full acknowledgment +of all. But even at this, Allington takes no alarm. The malady of the +Treasury benches is deafness, with a touch of blindness. What a cumbrous +piece of bungling machinery is this boasted "representative government" +of ours! No promptitude, no secrecy! Everything debated, and discussed, +and discouraged, before begun; every blot-hit for an antagonist to +profit by! Even the characters of our public men exposed, and their +weaknesses displayed to view, so that every state of Europe may see +where to wound us, and through whom! There is no use in the Countess +remaining here any longer; the King never noticed her at the last ball; +she is angry at it, and if she shows her irritation she 'll spoil all. I +always thought Josephine would fail in England. It is, indeed, a widely +different thing to succeed in the small Courts of Germany, and our great +whirlpool of St. James. _You_ could do it, my dear friend; but where is +the other dare attempt it? + +Until I hear from you again I can come to no resolution. One thing is +clear,--they do not, or they will not, see the danger I have pointed +out to them. All the home policy of our country is drifting, day by +day, towards a democracy: how, in the name of common sense, then, is our +foreign policy to be maintained at the standard of the Holy Alliance? +What an absurd juxtaposition is there between popular rights and +an alliance with the Czar! This peril will overtake them one day or +another, and then, to escape from national indignation, the minister, +whoever he may be, will be driven to make war. But I can't wait for +this; and yet, were I to resign, my resignation would not embarrass +them,--it would irritate and annoy, but not disconcert. Brekenoff will +surely go home on leave. You ought to meet him; he is certain to be at +Ems. It is the refuge of disgraced diplomacy. Try if something cannot be +done with him. He used to say formerly yours were the only dinners now +in Europe. He hates Allington. This feeling, and his love for white +truffles, are, I believe, the only clews to the man. Be sure, however, +that the truffles are Piedmontese; they have a slight flavor of garlic, +rather agreeable than otherwise. Like Josephine's lisp, it is a defect +that serves for a distinction. The article in the "Beau Monde" was +clever, prettily written, and even well worked out; but state affairs +are never really well treated save by those who conduct them. One must +have played the game himself to understand all the nice subtleties of +the contest. These, your mere reviewer or newspaper scribe never attains +to; and then he has no reserves,--none of those mysterious concealments +that are to negotiations like the eloquent pauses of conversation: the +moment when dialogue ceases, and the real interchange of ideas begins. + +The fine touch, the keen _apercu_, belongs alone to those who have had +to exercise these same qualities in the treatment of great questions; +and hence it is that though the Public be often much struck, and +even enlightened, by the powerful "article" or the able "leader," the +Statesman is rarely taught anything by the journalist, save the force +and direction of public opinion. + +I had a deal to say to you about poor Glencore, whom you tell me +you remember; but, how to say it? He is broken-hearted--literally +broken-hearted--by her desertion of him. It was one of those +ill-assorted leagues which cannot hold together. Why they did not +see this, and make the best of it,--sensibly, dispassionately, even +amicably,--it is difficult to say. An Englishman, it would seem, +must always hate his wife if she cannot love him; and, after all, how +involuntary are all affections, and what a severe penalty is this for an +unwitting offence! + +He ponders over this calamity just as if it were the crushing stroke by +which a man's whole career was to be finished forever. + +The stupidity of all stupidities is in these cases to fly from the world +and avoid society. By doing this a man rears a barrier he never can +repass; he proclaims aloud his sentiment of the injury, quite forgetting +all the offence he is giving to the hundred and fifty others who, in the +same predicament as himself, are by no means disposed to turn hermits +on account of it. Men make revolutionary governments, smash dynasties, +transgress laws, but they cannot oppose _convenances!_ + +I need scarcely say that there is nothing to be gained by reason-ing +with him. He has worked himself up to a chronic fury, and talks of +vengeance all day long, like a Corsican. For company here I have an +old brother officer of my days of tinsel and pipe-clay,--an excellent +creature, whom I amuse myself by tormenting. There is also Glencore's +boy,--a strange, dreamy kind of haughty fellow, an exaggeration of +his father in disposition, but with good abilities. These are not the +elements of much social agreeability; but you know, dear friend, how +little I stand in need of what is called company. Your last letter, +charming as it was, has afforded me all the companionship I could +desire. I have re-read it till I know it by heart. I could almost chide +you for that delightful little party in my absence, but of course it +was, as all you ever do is, perfectly right; and, after all, I am, +perhaps, not sorry that you had those people when I was away, so that we +shall be more _chez nous_ when we meet. But when is that to be? Who can +tell? My medico insists upon five full weeks for my cure. Allington is +very likely, in his present temper, to order me back to my post. You +seem to think that you must be in Berlin when Seckendorf arrives, so +that--But I will not darken the future by gloomy forebodings. I _could_ +leave this--that is, if any urgency required it--at once; but, if +possible, it is better I should remain at least a little longer. My last +meeting with Glencore was unpleasant. Poor fellow! his temper is not +what it used to be, and he is forgetful of what is due to one whose +nerves are in the sad state of mine. You shall hear all my complainings +when we meet, dear Princess; and with this I kiss your hand, begging you +to accept all "_mes hommages" et mon estime_, + +H. U. + +Your letter must be addressed "Leenane, Ireland." Your last had only +"Glencore" on it, and not very legible either, so that it made what I +wished _I_ could do, "the tour of Scotland," before reaching me. + + +Sir Horace read over his letter carefully, as though it had been +a despatch, and, when he had done, folded it up with an air of +satisfaction. He had said nothing that he wished unsaid, and he had +mentioned a little about everything he desired to touch upon. He then +took his "drops" from a queer-looking little phial he carried about with +him, and having looked at his face in a pocket-glass, he half closed his +eyes in revery. + +Strange, confused visions were they that flitted through his brain. +Thoughts of ambition the most daring, fancies about health, speculations +in politics, finance, religion, literature, the arts, society,--all came +and went. Plans and projects jostled each other at every instant. Now +his brow would darken, and his thin lips close tightly, as some painful +impression crossed him; now again a smile, a slight laugh even, betrayed +the passing of some amusing conception. It was easy to see how such +a nature could suffice to itself, and how little he needed of that +give-and-take which companionship supplies. He could--to steal a figure +from our steam language--he could "bank his fires," and await any +emergency, and, while scarcely consuming any fuel, prepare for the most +trying demand upon his powers. A hasty movement of feet overhead, and +the sound of voices talking loudly, aroused him from his reflections, +while a servant entered abruptly to say that Lord Glencore wished to see +him immediately. + +"Is his Lordship worse?" asked Upton. + +"No, sir; but he was very angry with the young lord this evening about +something, and they say that with the passion he opened the bandage on +his head, and set the vein a-bleed-ing again. Billy Traynor is there now +trying to stop it." + +"I'll go upstairs," said Sir Horace, rising, and beginning to fortify +himself with caps, and capes, and comforters,--precautions that he never +omitted when moving from one room to the other. + + + +CHAPTER XII. A NIGHT AT SEA + +Glencore's chamber presented a scene of confusion and dismay as Upton +entered. The sick man had torn off the bandage from his temples, and so +roughly as to reopen the half-closed artery, and renew the bleeding. Not +alone the bedclothes and the curtains, but the faces of the attendants +around him, were stained with blood, which seemed the more ghastly from +contrast with their pallid cheeks. They moved hurriedly to and fro, +scarcely remembering what they were in search of, and evidently deeming +his state of the greatest peril. Traynor, the only one whose faculties +were unshaken by the shock, sat quietly beside the bed, his fingers +firmly compressed upon the orifice of the vessel, while with the other +hand he motioned to them to keep silence. + +Glencore lay with closed eyes, breathing long and labored inspirations, +and at times convulsed by a slight shivering. His face, and even his +lips, were bloodless, and his eyelids of a pale, livid hue. So terribly +like the approach of death was his whole appearance that Upton whispered +in the doctor's ear,-- + +"Is it over? Is he dying?" + +"No, Upton," said Glencore; for, with the acute hearing of intense +nervousness, he had caught the words. "It is not so easy to die." + +"There, now,--no more talkin',--no discoorsin'--azy and quiet is now the +word." + +"Bind it up and leave me,--leave me with _him_;" and Glencore pointed to +Upton. + +"I dar' n't move out of this spot," said Billy, addressing Upton. "You'd +have the blood coming out, _per saltim_, if I took away my finger." + +"You must be patient, Glencore," said Upton, gently; "you know I'm +always ready when you want me." + +"And you'll not leave this,--you'll not desert me?" cried the other, +eagerly. + +"Certainly not; I have no thought of going away." + +"There, now, hould your prate, both of ye, or, by my conscience, I 'll +not take the responsibility upon me,--I will not!" said Billy, angrily. +"'Tis just a disgrace and a shame that ye haven't more discretion." + +Glencore's lips moved with a feeble attempt at a smile, and in his faint +voice he said,-- + +"We must obey the doctor, Upton; but don't leave me." + +Upton moved a chair to the bedside, and sat down without a word. + +"Ye think an artery is like a canal, with a lock-gate to it, I believe," +said Billy, in a low, grumbling voice, to Upton, "and you forget all its +vermicular motion, as ould Fabricius called it, and that it is only by +a coagalum, a kind of barrier, like a mud breakwater, that it can be +plugged. Be off out of that, ye spalpeens! be off, every one of yez, and +leave us tranquil and paceable!" + +This summary command was directed to the various servants, who were +still moving about the room in imaginary occupation. The room was at +last cleared of all save Upton and Billy, who sat by the bedside, his +hand still resting on the sick man's forehead. Soothed by the stillness, +and reduced by the loss of blood, Glencore sank into a quiet sleep, +breathing softly and gently as a child. + +"Look at him now," whispered Billy to Upton, "and you 'll see what +philosophy there is in ascribin' to the heart the source of all our +emotions. He lies there azy and comfortable just because the great +bellows is working smoothly and quietly. They talk about the brain, and +the spinal nerves, and the soliar plexus; but give a man a wake, washy +circulation, and what is he? He's just like a chap with the finest +intentions in the world, but not a sixpence in his pocket to carry them +out! A fine well-regulated, steady-batin' heart is like a credit on the +bank,--you draw on it, and your draft is n't dishonored!" + +"What was it brought on this attack?" asked Upton, in a whisper. + +"A shindy he had with the boy. I was n't here; there was nobody by. But +when I met Master Charles on the stairs, he flew past me like lightning, +and I just saw by a glimpse that something was wrong. He rushed out with +his head bare, and his coat all open, and it sleetin' terribly! Down he +went towards the lough, at full speed, and never minded all my callin' +after him." + +"Has he returned?" asked Upton. + +"Not as I know, sir. We were too much taken up with the lord to ask for +him." + +"I 'll just step down and see," said Sir Horace, who arose, and left the +room on tiptoe. + +To Upton's inquiry all made the same answer. None had seen the young +lord,--none could give any clew as to whither he had gone. Sir Horace +at once hastened to Harcourt's room, and, after some vigorous shakes, +succeeded in awakening the Colonel, and by dint of various repetitions +at last put him in possession of all that had occurred. + +"We must look after the lad," cried Harcourt, springing from his bed, +and dressing with all haste. "He is a rash, hot-headed fellow; but +even if it were nothing else, he might get his death in such a night as +this." + +The wind dashed wildly against the window-panes as he spoke, and the old +timbers of the frame rattled fearfully. + +"Do you remain here, Upton. I'll go in search of the boy. Take care +Glencore hears nothing of his absence." And with a promptitude that +bespoke the man of action, Harcourt descended the stairs and set out. + +The night was pitch dark; sweeping gusts of wind bore the rain along in +torrents, and the thunder rolled incessantly, its clamor increased by +the loud beating of the waves as they broke upon the rocks. Upton had +repeated to Harcourt that Billy saw the boy going towards the sea-shore, +and in this direction he now followed. His frequent excursions had +familiarized him with the place, so that even at night Harcourt found +no difficulty in detecting the path and keeping it. About half an hour's +brisk walking brought him to the side of the lough, and the narrow +flight of steps cut in the rock, which descended to the little +boat-quay. Here he halted, and called out the boy's name several times. +The sea, however, was running mountains high, and an immense drift, +sweeping over the rocks, fell in sheets of scattered foam beyond them; +so that Harcourt's voice was drowned by the uproar. A small shealing +under the shelter of the rock formed the home of a boatman; and at the +crazy door of this humble cot Harcourt now knocked violently. + +The man answered the summons at once, assuring him that he had not heard +or seen any one since the night closed in; adding, at the same time, +that in such a tempest a boat's crew might have landed without his +knowing it. + +"To be sure," continued he, after a pause, "I heard a chain rattlin' on +the rock soon after I went to bed, and I 'll Just step down and see if +the yawl is all right." + +Scarcely had he left the spot, when his voice was heard calling out from +below,-- + +"She's gonel the yawl is gone! the lock is broke with a stone, and she's +away!" + +"How could this be? No boat could live in such a sea," cried Harcourt, +eagerly. + +"She could go out fast enough, sir. The wind is northeast, due; but how +long she'll keep the say is another matter." + +"Then he 'll be lost!" cried Harcourt, wildly. + +"Who, sir,--who is it?" asked the man. + +"Your master's son!" cried he, wringing his hands in anguish. + +"Oh, murther! murther!" screamed the boatman; "we 'll never see him +again. 'T is out to say, into the wild ocean, he'll be blown!" + +"Is there no shelter,--no spot he could make for?" + +"Barrin' the islands, there's not a spot between this and America." + +"But he could make the islands,--you are sure of that?" + +"If the boat was able to live through the say. But sure I know him well; +he 'll never take in a reef or sail, but sit there, with the helm hard +up, just never carin' what came of him! Oh, musha! musha! what druv him +out such a night as this!" + +"Come, it's no time for lamenting, my man; get the launch ready, and let +us follow him. Are you afraid?" + +"Afraid!" replied the man, with a touch of scorn in his voice; "faix, +it's little fear troubles me. But, may be, you won't like to be in +her yourself when she's once out. I 've none belongin' to me,--father, +mother, chick or child; but you may have many a one that's near to you." + +"My ties, are, perhaps, as light as your own," said Harcourt. "Come, +now, be alive. I'll put ten gold guineas in your hand if you can +overtake him." + +"I'd rather see his face than have two hundred," said the man, as, +springing into the boat, he began to haul out the tackle from under the +low half-deck, and prepare for sea. + +"Is your honor used to a boat, or ought I to get another man with me?" +asked the sailor. + +"Trust me, my good fellow; I have had more sailing than yourself, and in +more treacherous seas too," said Harcourt, who, throwing off his cloak, +proceeded to help the other, with an address that bespoke a practised +hand. + +The wind blew strongly off the shore, so that scarcely was the foresail +spread than the boat began to move rapidly through the water, dashing +the sea over her bows, and plunging wildly through the waves. + +"Give me a hand now with the halyard," said the boatman; "and when +the mainsail is set, you 'll see how she 'll dance over the top of the +waves, and never wet us." + +"She 's too light in the water, if anything," said Harcourt, as the boat +bounded buoyantly under the increased press of canvas. + +"Your honor's right; she'd do better with half a ton of iron in her. +Stand by, sir, always, with the peak halyards; get the sail aloft in, +when I give you the word." + +"Leave the tiller to me, my man," said Harcourt, taking it as he spoke. +"You 'll soon see that I 'm no new hand at the work." + +"She's doing it well," said the man. "Keep her up! keep her up! there's +a spit of land runs out here; in a few minutes more we'll have say room +enough." + +The heavier roll of the waves, and the increased force of the wind, soon +showed that they had gained the open sea; while the atmosphere, relieved +of the dark shadows of the mountain, seemed lighter and thinner than in +shore. + +"We 're to make for the islands, you say, sir?" + +"Yes. What distance are they off?" + +"About eighteen miles. Two hours, if the wind lasts, and we can bear +it." + +"And could the yawl stand this?" said Harcourt, as a heavy sea struck +the bow, and came in a cataract over them. + +"Better than ourselves, if she was manned. Luff! luff!--that's it!" And +as the boat turned up to wind, sheets of spray and foam flew over her. +"Master Charles hasn't his equal for steerin', if he wasn't alone. Keep +her there!--now! steady, sir!" + +"Here's a squall coming," cried Harcourt; "I hear it hissing." + +Down went the peak, but scarcely in time, for the wind, catching the +sail, laid the boat gunwale under. After a struggle, she righted, but +with nearly one-third of her filled with water. + +"I'd take in a reef, or two reefs," said the man; "but if she could +n't rise to the say, she 'll fill and go down. We must carry on, at all +events." + +"So say I. It's no time to shorten sail, with such a sea running." + +The boat now flew through the water, the sea itself impelling her, as +with every sudden gust the waves struck the stern. + +"She's a brave craft," said Harcourt, as she rose lightly over the great +waves, and plunged down again into the trough of the sea; "but if we +ever get to land again, I'll have combings round her to keep her dryer." + +"Here it comes!--here it comes, sir!" + +Nor were the words well out, when, like a thunder-clap, the wind struck +the sail, and bent the mast over like a whip. For an instant it seemed +as if she were going down by the prow; but she righted again, and, +shivering in every plank, held on her way. + +"That 's as much as she could do," said the sailor; "and I would not +like to ax her to do more." + +"I agree with you," said Harcourt, secretly stealing his feet back again +into his shoes, which he had just kicked off. + +"It's freshening it is every minute," said the man; "and I'm not sure +that we could make the islands if it lasts." + +"Well,--what then?" + +"There's nothing for it but to be blown out to say," said he, calmly, +as, having filled his tobacco-pipe, he struck a light and began to +smoke. + +"The very thing I was wishing for," said Harcourt, touching his cigar to +the bright ashes. "How she labors! Do you think she can stand this?" + +"She can, if it's no worse, sir." "But it looks heavier weather +outside." + +"As well as I can see, it's only beginnin'." + +Harcourt listened with a species of admiration to the calm and measured +sentiment of the sailor, who, fully conscious of all the danger, yet +never, by a word or gesture, showed that he was flurried or excited. + +"You have been out on nights as bad as this, I suppose?" said Harcourt. + +"Maybe not quite, sir, for it's a great say is runnin'; and, with the +wind off shore, we could n't have this, if there was n't a storm blowing +farther out." + +"From the westward, you mean?" + +"Yes, sir,--a wind coming over the whole ocean, that will soon meet the +land wind." + +"And does that often happen?" + +The words were but out, when, with a loud report like a cannon-shot, the +wind reversed the sail, snapping the strong sprit in two, and bringing +down the whole canvas clattering into the boat. With the aid of a +hatchet, the sailor struck off the broken portion of the spar, and +soon cleared the wreck, while the boat, now reduced to a mere foresail, +labored heavily, sinking her prow in the sea at every bound. Her course, +too, was now altered, and she flew along parallel to the shore, the +great cliffs looming through the darkness, and seeming as if close to +them. + +"The boy!--the boy!" cried Harcourt; "what has become of him? He never +could have lived through that squall." + +"If the spar stood, there was an end of us, too," said the sailor; +"she'd have gone down by the stern, as sure as my name is Peter." + +"It is all over by this time," muttered Harcourt, sorrowfully. + +"Pace to him now!" said the sailor, as he crossed himself, and went over +a prayer. + +The wind now raged fearfully; claps, like the report of cannon, struck +the frail boat at intervals, and laid her nearly keel uppermost; while +the mast bent like a whip, and every rope creaked and strained to its +last endurance. The deafening noise close at hand told where the waves +were beating on the rock-bound coast, or surging with the deep growl +of thunder through many a cavern. They rarely spoke, save when some +emergency called for a word. Each sat wrapped up in his own dark +reveries, and unwilling to break them. Hours passed thus,--long, dreary +hours of darkness, that seemed like years of suffering, so often in this +interval did life hang in the balance. + +As morning began to break with a grayish blue light to the westward, +the wind slightly abated, blowing more steadily, too, and less in sudden +gusts; while the sea rolled in large round waves, unbroken above, and +showing no crest of foam. + +"Do you know where we are?" asked Harcourt. + +"Yes, sir; we 're off the Rooks' Point, and if we hold on well, we 'll +soon be in slacker water." + +"Could the boy have reached this, think you?" + +The man shook his head mournfully, without speaking. + +"How far are we from Glencore?" + +"About eighteen miles, sir; but more by land." + +"You can put me ashore, then, somewhere hereabouts." + +"Yes, sir, in the next bay; there's a creek we can easily run into." + +"You are quite sure he couldn't have been blown out to sea?" + +"How could he, sir? There's only one way the wind could dhrive him. If +he isn't in the Clough Bay, he's in glory." + +All the anxiety of that dreary night was nothing to what Harcourt now +suffered, in his eagerness to round the Rooks' Point, and look in the +bay beyond it. Controlling it as he would, still would it break out in +words of impatience and even anger. + +"Don't curse the boat, yer honor," said Peter, respectfully, but calmly; +"she's behaved well to us this night, or we 'd not be here now." + +"But are we to beat about here forever?" asked the other, angrily. + +"She's doin' well, and we ought to be thankful," said the man; and +his tone, even more than his words, served to reprove the other's +impatience. "I'll try and set the mainsail on her with the remains of +the sprit." + +Harcourt watched him, as he labored away to repair the damaged rigging; +but though he looked at him, his thoughts were far away with poor +Glencore upon his sick bed, in sorrow and in suffering, and perhaps soon +to hear that he was childless. From these he went on to other thoughts. +What could have occurred to have driven the boy to such an act of +desperation? Harcourt invented a hundred imaginary causes, to reject +them as rapidly again. The affection the boy bore to his father seemed +the strongest principle of his nature. There appeared to be no event +possible in which that feeling would not sway and control him. As he +thus ruminated, he was aroused by the sudden cry of the boatman. + +"There's a boat, sir, dismasted, ahead of us, and drifting out to say." + +"I see her!--I see her!" cried Harcourt; "out with the oars, and let's +pull for her." + +Heavily as the sea was rolling, they now began to pull through the +immense waves, Harcourt turning his head at every instant to watch the +boat, which now was scarcely half a mile ahead of them. + +"She's empty!--there's no one in her!" said Peter, mournfully, as, +steadying himself by the mast, he cast a look seaward. + +"Row on,--let us get beside her," said Harcourt. + +"She's the yawl!--I know her now," cried the man. + +"And empty?" + +"Washed out of her with a say, belike," said Peter, resuming his oar, +and tugging with all his strength. + +A quarter of an hour's hard rowing brought them close to the dismasted +boat, which, drifting broadside on the sea, seemed at every instant +ready to capsize. + +"There's something in the bottom,--in the stern-sheets!" screamed Peter. +"It's himself! O blessed Virgin, it's himself!" And, with a bound, he +sprang from his own boat into the other. + +[Illustration: 126] + +The next instant he had lifted the helpless body of the boy from the +bottom of the boat, and, with a shout of joy, screamed out,-- + +"He's alive!--he's well!--it's only fatigue!" + +Harcourt pressed his hands to his face, and sank upon his knees in +prayer. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. A "VOW" ACCOMPLISHED + +Just as Upton had seated himself at that fragal meal of weak tea and +dry toast he called his breakfast, Harcourt suddenly entered the room, +splashed and road-stained from head to foot, and in his whole demeanor +indicating the work of a fatiguing journey. + +"Why, I thought to have had my breakfast with you," cried he, +impatiently, "and this is like the diet of a convalescent from fever. +Where is the salmon--where the grouse pie--where are the cutlets--and +the chocolate--and the poached eggs--and the hot rolls, and the cherry +bounce?" + +"Say, rather, where are the disordered livers, worn-out stomachs, +fevered brains, and impatient tempers, my worthy Colonel?" said Upton, +blandly. "Talleyrand himself once told me that he always treated great +questions starving." + +"And he made a nice mess of the world in consequence," blustered out +Harcourt. "A fellow with an honest appetite and a sound digestion would +never have played false to so many masters." + +"It is quite right that men like you should read history in this wise," +said Upton, smiling, as he dipped a crust in his tea and ate it. + +"Men like me are very inferior creatures, no doubt," broke in Harcourt, +angrily; "but I very much doubt if men like you had come eighteen miles +on foot over a mountain this morning, after a night passed in an open +boat at sea,--ay, in a gale, by Jove, such as I sha' n't forget in a +hurry." + +"You have hit it perfectly, Harcourt; _suum caique_; and if only we +could get the world to see that each of us has his speciality, we should +all of us do much better." + +By the vigorous tug he gave the bell, and the tone in which he ordered +up something to eat, it was plain to see that he scarcely relished the +moral Upton had applied to his speech. With the appearance of the good +cheer, however, he speedily threw off his momentary displeasure, and as +he ate and drank, his honest, manly face lost every trace of annoyance. +Once only did a passing shade of anger cross his countenance. It was +when, suddenly looking up, he saw Upton's eyes settled on him, and his +whole features expressing a most palpable sensation of wonderment and +compassion. + +"Ay," cried he, "I know well what's passing in your mind this minute. +You are lost in your pitying estimate of such a mere animal as I am; +but, hang it all, old fellow, why not be satisfied with the flattering +thought that _you_ are of another stamp,--a creature of a different +order?" + +"It does not make one a whit happier," sighed Upton, who never shrunk +from accepting the sentiment as his own. + +"I should have thought otherwise," said Harcourt, with a malicious +twinkle of the eye; for he fancied that he had at last touched the weak +point of his adversary. + +"No, my dear Harcourt, the _crasso naturo_ have rather the best of it, +since no small share of this world's collisions are actually physical +shocks; and that great strong pipkin that encloses your brains will +stand much that would smash the poor egg-shell that shrouds mine." + +"Whenever you draw a comparison in my favor, I always find at the end +I come off worst," said Harcourt, bluntly; and Upton laughed one of his +rich, musical laughs, in which there was indeed nothing mirthful, but +something that seemed to say that his nature experienced a sense of +enjoyment higher, perhaps, than anything merely comic could suggest. + +"You came off best this time, Harcourt," said he, good-humoredly; and +such a thorough air of frankness accompanied the words that Harcourt was +disarmed of all distrust at once, and joined in the laugh heartily. + +"But you have not yet told me, Harcourt," said the other, "where you +have been, and why you spent your night on the sea." + +"The story is not a very long one," replied he; and at once gave a full +recital of the events, which our reader has already had before him in +our last chapter, adding, in conclusion, + +"I have left the boy in a cabin at Belmullet; he is in a high fever, and +raving so loud that you could hear him a hundred yards away. I told +them to keep cold water on his head, and give him plenty of it to +drink,--nothing more,--till I could fetch our doctor over, for it will +be impossible to move the boy from where he is for the present." + +"Glencore has been asking for him already this morning. He did not +desire to see him, but he begged of me to go to him and speak with him." + +"And have you told him that he was from home,--that he passed the night +away from this?" + +"No; I merely intimated that I should look after him, waiting for your +return to guide myself afterwards." + +"I don't suspect that when we took him from the boat the malady had set +in; he appeared rather like one overcome by cold and exhaustion. It +was about two hours after,--he had taken some food and seemed +stronger,--when I said to him, 'Come, Charley, you 'll soon be all right +again; I have sent a fellow to look after a pony for you, and you 'll be +able to ride back, won't you?' + +"'Ride where?' cried he, eagerly. + +"'Home, of course,' said I, 'to Glencore.' + +"'Home! I have no home,' cried he; and the wild scream he uttered the +words with, I 'll never forget. It was just as if that one thought was +the boundary between sense and reason, and the instant he had passed it, +all was chaos and confusion; for now his raving began,--the most frantic +imaginations; always images of sorrow, and with a rapidity of utterance +there was no following. Of course in such cases the delusions suggest +no clew to the cause, but all his fancies were about being driven out +of doors an outcast and a beggar, and of his father rising from his sick +bed to curse him. Poor boy! Even in this his better nature gleamed forth +as he cried, 'Tell him'--and he said the words in a low whisper--'tell +him not to anger himself; he is ill, very ill, and should be kept +tranquil. Tell him, then, that I am going--going away forever, and he'll +hear of me no more.'" As Harcourt repeated the words, his own voice +faltered, and two heavy drops slowly coursed down his bronzed cheeks. +"You see," added he, as if to excuse the emotion, "that was n't like +raving, for he spoke this just as he might have done if his very heart +was breaking." + +"Poor fellow!" said Upton; and the words were uttered with real feeling. + +"Some terrible scene must have occurred between them," resumed Harcourt; +"of that I feel quite certain." + +"I suspect you are right," said Upton, bending over his teacup; "and +_our_ part, in consequence, is one of considerable delicacy; for until +Glencore alludes to what has passed, _we_ of course, can take no notice +of it. The boy is ill; he is in a fever: we know nothing more." + +"I'll leave you to deal with the father; the son shall be my care. I +have told Traynor to be ready to start with me after breakfast, and have +ordered two stout ponies for the journey. I conclude there will be no +objection in detaining the doctor for the night: what think you, Upton?" + +"Do _you_ consult the doctor on that head; meanwhile, I 'll pay a visit +to Glencore. I 'll meet you in the library." And so saying, Upton rose, +and gracefully draping the folds of his dressing-gown, and arranging the +waving lock of hair which had escaped beneath his cap, he slowly set out +towards the sick man's chamber. + +Of all the springs of human action, there was not one in which Sir +Horace Upton sympathized so little as passion. That any man could adopt +a line of conduct from which no other profit could result than what +might minister to a feeling of hatred, jealousy, or revenge, seemed to +him utterly contemptible. It was not, indeed, the morality of such a +course that he called in question, although he would not have contested +that point. It was its meanness, its folly, its insufficiency. His +experience of great affairs had imbued him with all the importance that +was due to temper and moderation. He scarcely remembered an instant +where a false move had damaged a negotiation that it could not be traced +to some passing trait of impatience, or some lurking spirit of animosity +biding the hour of its gratification. + +He had long learned to perceive how much more temperament has to do, in +the management of great events, than talent or capacity, and his opinion +of men was chiefly founded on this quality of their nature. It was, +then, with an almost pitying estimate of Glenoore that he now entered +the room where the sick man lay. + +Anxious to be alone with him, Glenoore had dismissed all the attendants +from his room, and sat, propped up by pillows, eagerly awaiting his +approach. + +Upton moved through the dimly lighted room like one familiar to the +atmosphere of illness, and took his seat beside the bed with that +noiseless quiet which in _him_ was a kind of instinct. + +It was several minutes before Glencore spoke, and then, in a low, faint +voice, he said, "Are we alone, Upton?" + +"Yes," said the other, gently pressing the wasted fingers which lay on +the counterpane before him. + +"You forgive me, Upton," said he,--and the words trembled as he uttered +them,--"You forgive me, Upton, though I cannot forgive myself." + +"My dear friend, a passing moment of impatience is not to breach the +friendship of a lifetime. Your calmer judgment would, I know, not be +unjust to me." + +"But how am I to repair the wrong I have done you?" + +"By never alluding to it,--never thinking of it again, Glenoore." + +"It is so unworthy, so ignoble in me!" cried Glenoore, bitterly; and a +tear fell over his eyelid and rested on his wan and worn cheek. + +"Let us never think of it, my dear Glenoore. Life has real troubles +enough for either of us, not to dwell on those which we may fashion out +of our emotions. I promise you, I have forgotten the whole incident." + +Glenoore sighed heavily, but did not speak; at last he said, "Be it +so, Upton," and, covering his face with his hand, lay still and silent. +"Well," said he, after a long pause, "the die is cast, Upton: I have +told him!" + +"Told the boy?" said Upton. + +He nodded an assent. "It is too late to oppose me now, Upton,--the thing +is done. I didn't think I had strength for it; but revenge is a strong +stimulant, and I felt as though once more restored to health, as I +proceeded. Poor fellow! he bore it like a man. Like a man, do I say? No, +but better than man ever bore such crushing tidings." + +"He asked me to stop once, while his head reeled, and said, 'In a minute +I shall be myself again,' and so he was, too; you should have seen him, +Upton, as he rose to leave me. So much of dignity was there in his +look that my heart misgave me; and I told him that still, as my son, +he should never want a friend and a protector. He grew deadly pale, +and caught at the bed for support. Another moment, and I 'd not have +answered for myself. I was already relenting; but I thought of _her_, +and my resolution came back in all its force. Still, I dared not look on +him. The sight of that wan cheek, those quivering lips and glassy eyes, +would certainly have unmanned me. I turned away. When I looked round, he +was gone!' As he ceased to speak, a clammy perspiration burst forth over +his face and forehead, and he made a sign to Upton to wet his lips. + +"It is the last pang she is to cost me, Upton, but it is a sore one!" +said he, in a low, hoarse whisper. + +"My dear Glencore, this is all little short of madness; even as revenge +it is a failure, since the heaviest share of the penalty recoils upon +yourself." + +"How so?" cried he, impetuously. + +"Is it thus that an ancient name is to go out forever? Is it in this +wise that a house noble for centuries is to crumble into ruin? I will +not again urge upon you the cruel wrong you are doing. Over that boy's +inheritance you have no more right than over mine,--you cannot rob him +of the protection of the law. No power could ever give you the disposal +of his destiny in this wise." + +"I have done it, and I will maintain it, sir," cried Glencore; "and if +the question is, as you vaguely hint, to be one of law--" + +"No, no, Glencore; do not mistake me." + +"Hear me out, sir," said he, passionately. "If it is to be one of law, +let Sir Horace Upton give his testimony,--tell all that he knows,--and +let us see what it will avail him. You may--it is quite open to +you--place us front to front as enemies. You may teach the boy to regard +me as one who has robbed him of his birthright, and train him up to +become my accuser in a court of justice. But my cause is a strong one, +it cannot be shaken; and where you hope to brand _me_ with tyranny, +you will but visit bastardy upon _him_. Think twice, then, before you +declare this combat. It is one where all your craft will not sustain +you." + +"My dear Glencore, it is not in this spirit that we can speak +profitably to each other. If you will not hear my reasons calmly and +dispassionately, to what end am I here? You have long known me as one +who lays claim to no more rigid morality than consists with the theory +of a worldly man's experiences. I affect no high-flown sentiments. I am +as plain and practical as may be; and when I tell you that you are wrong +in this affair, I mean to say that what you are about to do is not only +bad, but impolitic. In your pursuit of a victim, you are immolating +yourself." + +"Be it so; I go not alone to the stake; there is another to partake of +the torture," cried Glencore, wildly; and already his flushed cheek and +flashing eyes betrayed the approach of a feverish access. + +"If I am not to have any influence with you, then," resumed Upton, "I +am here to no purpose. If to all that I say--to arguments you cannot +answer--you obstinately persist in opposing an insane thirst for +revenge, I see not why you should desire my presence. You have resolved +to do this great wrong?" + +"It is already done, sir," broke in Glencore. + +"Wherein, then, can I be of any service to you?" + +"I am coming to that. I had come to it before, had you not interrupted +me. I want you to be guardian to the boy. I want you to replace me in +all that regards authority over him. You know life well, Upton. You know +it not alone in its paths of pleasure and success, but you understand +thoroughly the rugged footway over which humble men toil wearily to +fortune. None can better estimate a man's chances of success, nor more +surely point the road by which he is to attain it. The provision which I +destine for him will be an humble one, and he will need to rely upon his +own efforts. You will not refuse me this service, Upton. I ask it in the +name of our old friendship." + +"There is but one objection I could possibly have, and yet that seems to +be insurmountable." + +"And what may it be?" cried Glencore. + +"Simply, that in acceding to your request, I make myself an accomplice +in your plan, and thus aid and abet the very scheme I am repudiating." + +"What avails your repudiation if it will not turn me from my resolve? +That it will not, I 'll swear to you as solemnly as ever an oath was +taken. I tell you again, the thing is done. For the consequences which +are to follow on it you have no responsibility; these are my concern." + +"I should like a little time to think over it," said Upton, with the air +of one struggling with irresolution. "Let me have this evening to make +up my mind; to-morrow you shall have my answer." + +"Be it so, then," said Glencore; and, turning his face away, waved a +cold farewell with his hand. + +We do not purpose to follow Sir Horace as he retired, nor does our task +require that we should pry into the secret recesses of his wily nature; +enough if we say that in asking for time, his purpose was rather to +afford another opportunity of reflection to Glencore than to give +himself more space for deliberation. He had found, by the experience of +his calling, that the delay we often crave for, to resolve a doubt, has +sufficed to change the mind of him who originated the difficulty. + +"I'll give him some hours, at least," thought he, "to ponder over what I +have said. Who knows but the argument may seem better in memory than in +action? Such things have happened before now." And having finished +this reflection, he turned to peruse the pamphlet of a quack doctor who +pledged himself to cure all disorders of the circulation by attending +to tidal influences, and made the moon herself enter into the _materia +medica_. What Sir Horace believed, or did not believe, in the wild +rhapsodies of the charlatan, is known only to himself. Whether his +credulity was fed by the hope of obtaining relief, or whether his +fancy only was aroused by the speculative images thus suggested, it is +impossible to say. It is not altogether improbable that he perused +these things as Charles Fox used to read all the trashiest novels of the +Minerva Press, and find, in the very distorted and exaggerated pictures, +a relief and a relaxation which more correct views of life had failed to +impart. Hard-headed men require strange indulgences. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. BILLY TRAYNOR AND THE COLONEL + +It was a fine breezy morning as the Colonel set out with Billy Traynor +for Belmullet. The bridle-path by which they travelled led through a +wild and thinly inhabited tract,--now dipping down between grassy hills, +now tracing its course along the cliffs over the sea. Tall ferns covered +the slopes, protected from the west winds, and here and there little +copses of stunted oak showed the traces of what once had been forest. +It was, on the whole, a silent and dreary region, so that the travellers +felt it even relief as they drew nigh the bright blue sea, and heard the +sonorous booming of the waves as they broke along the shore. + +"It cheers one to come up out of those dreary dells, and hear the +pleasant plash of the sea," said Harcourt; and his bright face showed +that he felt the enjoyment. + +"So it does, sir," said Billy. "And yet Homer makes his hero go +heavy-hearted as he hears the ever-sounding sea." + +"What does that signify, Doctor?" said Harcourt, impatiently. "Telling +me what a character in a fiction feels affects me no more than telling +me what he does. Why, man, the one is as unreal as the other. The fellow +that created him fashioned his thoughts as well as his actions." + +"To be sure he did; but when the fellow is a janius, what he makes is as +much a crayture as either you or myself." + +"Come, come, Doctor, no mystification." + +"I don't mean any," broke in Billy. "What I want to say is this, that as +we read every character to elicit truth,--truth in the working of human +motives, truth in passion, truth in all the struggles of our poor weak +natures,--why would n't a great janius like Homer, or Shakspeare, +or Milton, be better able to show us this in some picture drawn by +themselves, than you or I be able to find it out for ourselves?" + +Harcourt shook his head doubtfully. + +"Well, now," said Billy, returning to the charge, "did you ever see +a waxwork model of anatomy? Every nerve and siny of a nerve was +there,--not a vein nor an artery wanting. The artist that made it all +just wanted to show you where everything was; but he never wanted you to +believe it was alive, or ever had been. But with janius it's different. +He just gives you some traits of a character, he points him out to you +passing,--just as I would to a man going along the street,--and there he +is alive for ever and ever; not like you and me, that will be dead and +buried to-morrow or next day, and the most known of us three lines in +a parish registhry, but he goes down to posterity an example, an +illustration--or a warning, maybe--to thousands and thousands of living +men. Don't talk to me about fiction! What _he_ thought and felt is truer +than all that you and I and a score like us ever did or ever will do. +The creations of janius are the landmarks of humanity; and well for us +is it that we have such to guide us!" + +"All this may be very fine," said Harcourt, contemptuously, "but +give _me_ the sentiments of a living man, or one that has lived, in +preference to all the imaginary characters that have ever adorned a +story." + +"Just as I suppose that you'd say that a soldier in the Blues, or some +big, hulking corporal in the Guards, is a finer model of the human form +than ever Praxiteles chiselled." + +"I know which I 'd rather have alongside of me in a charge, Doctor," +said Harcourt, laughing; and then, to change the topic, he pointed to +a lone cabin on the sea-shore, miles away, as it seemed, from all other +habitations. + +"That's Michel Cady's, sir," said Traynor; "he lives by birds,--hunting +them saygulls and cormorants through the crevices of the rocks, and +stealing the eggs. There isn't a precipice that he won't climb, not a +cliff that he won't face." + +"Well, if that be his home, the pursuit does not seem a profitable one." + +"'Tis as good as breaking stones on the road for four-pence a day, or +carrying sea-weed five miles on your back to manure the potatoes," said +Billy, mournfully. + +"That's exactly the very thing that puzzles me," said Harcourt, "why, in +a country so remarkable for fertility, every one should be so miserably +poor!" + +"And you never heard any explanation of it?" + +"Never; at least, never one that satisfied me." + +"Nor ever will you," said Billy, sententiously. + +"And why so?" + +"Because," said he, drawing a long breath, as if preparing for a +discourse,--"because there's no man capable of going into the whole +subject; for it's not merely an economical question or a social one, but +it is metaphysical, and religious, and political, and ethnological, and +historical,--ay, and geographical too! You have to consider, first, who +and what are the aborigines. A conquered people that never gave in they +were conquered. Who are the rulers? A Saxon race that always felt that +they were infarior to them they ruled over!" + +"By Jove, Doctor, I must stop you there; I never heard any +acknowledgment of this inferiority you speak of." + +"I'd like to get a goold medal for arguin' it out with you," said Billy. + +"And, after all, I don't see how it would resolve the original doubt," +said Harcourt. "I want to know why the people are so poor, and I don't +want to hear of the battle of Clontarf, or the Danes at Dundalk." + +"There it is, you'd like to narrow down a great question of race, +language, traditions, and laws to a little miserable dispute about labor +and wages. O Manchester, Manchester! how ye're in the heart of every +Englishman, rich or poor, gentle or simple! You say you never heard +of any confession of inferiority. Of course you did n't; but quite +the reverse,--a very confident sense of being far better than the poor +Irish; and I'll tell you how, and why, just as you, yourself, after a +discusshion with me, when you find yourself dead bate, and not a word +to reply, you 'll go home to a good dinner and a bottle of wine, dry +clothes and a bright fire; and no matter how hard my argument pushed +you, you'll remember that _I'm_ in rags, in a dirty cabin, with potatoes +to ate and water to drink, and you 'll say, at all events, 'I 'm +better off than he is;' and there's your superiority, neither more or +less,--there it is! And all the while, _I'm_ saying the same thing to +_myself_,--'Sorrow matter for his fine broadcloth, and his white linen, +and his very best roast beef that he's atin',--I 'm his master! In all +that dignifies the spacies in them grand qualities that makes us poets, +rhetoricians, and the like, in those elegant attributes that, as the +poet says,-- + + "In all our pursuits + Lifts us high above brutes,'" + +--in these, I say again, I 'm his master!'" + +As Billy finished his growing panegyric upon his country and himself, he +burst out in a joyous laugh, and cried, "Did ye ever hear conceit like +that? Did ye ever expect to see the day that a ragged poor blackguard +like _me_ would dare to say as much to one like _you?_ And, after all, +it's the greatest compliment I could pay you." + +"How so, Billy? I don't exactly see _that_." + +"Why, that if you weren't a gentleman,--a raal gentleman, born and +bred,--I could never have ventured to tell you what I said now. It +is because, in _your own_ refined feelings, you can pardon all the +coarseness of _mine_, that I have my safety." + +"You're as great a courtier as you are a scholar, Billy," said Harcourt, +laughing; "meanwhile, I'm not likely to be enlightened as to the cause +of Irish poverty." + +"'T is a whole volume I could write on the same subject," said Billy; +"for there's so many causes in operation, com-binin', and assistin', +and aggravatin' each other. But if you want the head and front of the +mischief in one word, it is this, that no Irishman ever gave his heart +and sowl to his own business, but always was mindin' something else that +he had nothin' to say to; and so, ye see, the priest does be thinkin' of +politics, the parson's thinkin' of the priest, the people are always +on the watch for a crack at the agent or the tithe-proctor, and the +landlord, instead of looking after his property, is up in Dublin dinin' +with the Lord-Leftinint and abusin' his tenants. I don't want to screen +myself, nor say I'm better than my neighbors, for though I have a larned +profession to live by, I 'd rather be writin' a ballad, and singin' it +too, down Thomas Street, than I 'd be lecturin' at the Surgeons' Hall." + +"You are certainly a very strange people," said Harcourt. + +"And yet there's another thing stranger still, which is, that your +countrymen never took any advantage of our eccentricities, to rule us +by; and if they had any wit in their heads, they 'd have seen, easy +enough, that all these traits are exactly the clews to a nation's heart. +That's what Pitt meant when he said, 'Let me make the _songs_ of a +people, and I don't care who makes the _laws_.' Look down now in that +glen before you, as far as you can see. There's Belmullet, and ain't you +glad to be so near your journey's end? for you're mighty tired of all +this discoorsin'." + +"On the contrary, Billy, even when I disagree with what you say, I'm +pleased to hear your reasons; at the same time, I 'm glad we are drawing +nigh to this poor boy, and I only trust we may not be too late." + +Billy muttered a pious concurrence in the wish, and they rode along +for some time in silence. "There's the Bay of Belmullet now under your +feet," cried Billy, as he pulled up short, and pointed with his whip +seaward. "There's five fathoms, and fine anchoring ground on every inch +ye see there. There's elegant shelter from tempestuous winds. There's +a coast rich in herrings, oysters, lobsters, and crabs; farther out +there's cod, and haddock, and mackerel in the sayson. There's sea wrack +for kelp, and every other con-vanience any one can require; and a poorer +set of devils than ye 'll see when we get down there, there's nowhere to +be found. Well, well! 'if idleness is bliss, it's folly to work hard.'" +And with this paraphrase, Billy made way for the Colonel, as the +path had now become too narrow for two abreast, and in this way they +descended to the shore. + + + +CHAPTER XV. A SICK BED + +Although the cabin in which the sick boy lay was one of the best in the +village, its interior presented a picture of great poverty. It consisted +of a single room, in the middle of which a mud wall of a few feet +in height formed a sort of partition, abutting against which was the +bed,--the one bed of the entire family,--now devoted to the guest. Two +or three coarsely fashioned stools, a rickety table, and a still more +rickety dresser comprised all the furniture. The floor was uneven and +fissured, and the solitary window was mended with an old hat,--thus +diminishing the faint light which struggled through the narrow aperture. + +A large net, attached to the rafters, hung down in heavy festoons +overhead, the corks and sinks dangling in dangerous proximity to the +heads underneath. Several spars and oars littered one corner, and +a newly painted buoy filled another; but, in spite of all these +encumbrances, there was space around the fire for a goodly company of +some eight or nine of all ages, who were pleasantly eating their supper +from a large pot of potatoes that smoked and steamed in front of them. + +"God save all here!" cried Billy, as he preceded the Colonel into the +cabin. + +"Save ye kindly," was the courteous answer, in a chorus of voices; at +the same time, seeing a gentleman at the door, the whole party arose +at once to receive him. Nothing could have surpassed the perfect +good-breeding with which the fisherman and his wife did the honors of +their humble home; and Harcourt at once forgot the poverty-struck aspect +of the scene in the general courtesy of the welcome. + +"He 's no better, your honor,--no better at all," said the man, as +Harcourt drew nigh the sick bed. "He does be always ravin',--ravin' +on,--beggin' and implorin' that we won't take him back to the Castle; +and if he falls asleep, the first thing he says when he wakes up is, +'Where am I?--tell me I'm not at Glencore!' and he keeps on screechin', +'Tell me, tell me so!'" + +Harcourt bent down over the bed and gazed at him. Slowly and languidly +the sick boy raised his heavy lids and returned the stare. + +"You know me, Charley, boy, don't you?" said he, softly. + +"Yes," muttered he, in a weak tone. + +"Who am I, Charley? Tell me who is speaking to you." + +"Yes," said he again. + +"Poor fellow!" Bighed Harcourt, "he does _not_ know me!" + +"Where's the pain?" asked Billy, suddenly. + +The boy placed his hand on his forehead, and then on his temples. + +"Look up! look at _me!_" said Billy. "Ay, there it is! the pupil does +not contract,--there's mischief in the brain. He wants to say something +to you, sir," said he to Harcourt; "he's makin' signs to you to stoop +down." + +Harcourt put his ear close to the sick boy's lips, and listened. + +"No, my dear child, of course not," said he, after a pause. "You shall +remain here, and I will stay with you too. In a few days your father +will come--" + +A wild yell, a shriek that made the cabin ring, now broke from the boy, +followed by another, and then a third; and then with a spring he arose +from the bed, and tried to escape. Weak and exhausted as he was, such +was the strength supplied by fever, it was all that they could do to +subdue him and replace him in the bed; violent convulsions followed this +severe access, and it was not till after hours of intense suffering that +he calmed down again and seemed to slumber. + +"There's more than we know of here, Colonel," said Billy, as he drew him +to one side. "There's moral causes as well as malady at work." + +"There may be, but I know nothing of them," said Harcourt; and in the +frank air of the speaker the other did not hesitate to repose his trust. + +"If we hope to save him, we ought to find out where the mischief lies," +said Billy; "for, if ye remark, his ravin' is always upon one subject; +he never wanders from that." + +"He has a dread of home. Some altercation with his father has, +doubtless, impressed him with this notion." + +"Ah, that isn't enough, we must go 'deeper; we want a clew to the part +of the brain engaged. Meanwhile, here's at him, with the antiphlogistic +touch;" and he opened his lancet-case, and tucked up his cuffs. "Houlde +the basin, Biddy." + +"There, Harvey himself couldn't do it nater than that. It's an elegant +study to be feelin' a pulse while the blood is flowin'. It comes at +first like a dammed-up cataract, a regular out-pouring, just as a young +girl would tell her love, all wild and tumultuous; then, after a time, +she gets more temperate, the feelings are relieved, and the ardor is +moderated, till at last, wearied and worn out, the heart seems to ask +for rest; and then ye'll remark a settled faint smile coming over the +lips, and a clammy coldness in the face." + +"He's fainting, sir," broke in Biddy. + +"He is, ma'am, and it's myself done it," said Billy. "Oh, dear, oh, +dear! If we could only do with the moral heart what we can with the raal +physical one, what wonderful poets we 'd be!" + +"What hopes have you?" whispered Harcourt. + +"The best, the very best. There 's youth and a fine constitution to work +upon; and what more does a doctor want? As ould Marsden said, 'You can't +destroy these in a fortnight, so the patient must live.' But you must +help me, Colonel, and you _can_ help me." + +"Command me in any way, Doctor." + +"Here's the _modus_, then. You must go back to the Castle and find out, +if you can, what happened between his father and _him_. It does not +signify now, nor will it for some days; but when he comes to the +convalescent stage, it's then we 'll need to know how to manage him, and +what subjects to keep him away from. 'T is the same with the brain as +with a sprained ankle; you may exercise if you don't twist it; but just +come down once on the wrong spot, and maybe ye won't yell out!" + +"You 'll not quit him, then." + +"I'm a senthry on his post, waiting to get a shot at the enemy if +he shows the top of his head. Ah, sir, if ye only knew physic, ye 'd +acknowledge there 's nothing as treacherous as dizaze. Ye hunt him out +of the brain, and then he is in the lungs. Ye chase him out of that, +and he skulks in the liver. At him there, and he takes to the fibrous +membranes, and then it's regular hide-and-go-seek all over the body. +Trackin' a bear is child's play to it." And so saying, Billy held +the Colonel's stirrup for him to mount, and giving his most courteous +salutation, and his best wishes for a good journey, he turned and +re-entered the cabin. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. THE "PROJECT" + +It was not without surprise that Harcourt saw Glencore enter the +drawing-room a few minutes before dinner. Very pale and very feeble, +he slowly traversed the room, giving a hand to each of his guests, and +answering the inquiries for his health by a sickly smile, while he said, +"As you see me." + +"I am going to dine with you to-day, Harcourt," said he, with an attempt +at gayety of manner. "Upton tells me that a little exertion of this kind +will do me good." + +"Upton's right," cried the Colonel, "especially if he added that you +should take a glass or two of that admirable Burgundy. My life on 't but +that is the liquor to set a man on his legs again." + +"I did n't remark that this was exactly the effect it produced upon you +t' other night," said Upton, with one of his own sly laughs. + +"That comes of drinking it in bad company," retorted Harcourt; "a man is +driven to take two glasses for one." + +As the dinner proceeded, Glencore rallied considerably, taking his part +in the conversation, and evidently enjoying the curiously contrasted +temperaments at either side of him. The one, all subtlety, refinement, +and finesse; the other, out-spoken, rude, and true-hearted; rarely +correct in a question of taste, but invariably right in every matter of +honorable dealing. Though it was clear enough that Upton relished the +eccentricities whose sallies he provoked, it was no less easy to see how +thoroughly he appreciated the frank and manly nature of the old soldier; +nor could all the crafty habits of his acute mind overcome the hearty +admiration with which he regarded him. + +It is in the unrestricted ease of these "little dinners," where two +or three old friends are met, that social intercourse assumes its most +charming form. The usages of the great world, which exact a species of +uniformity of breeding and manners, are here laid aside, and men talk +with all the bias and prejudices of their true nature, dashing the +topics discussed with traits of personality, and even whims, that are +most amusing. How little do we carry away of tact or wisdom from the +grand banquets of life; and what pleasant stores of thought, what +charming memories remain to us, after those small gatherings! + +How, as I write this, one little room rises to my recollection, with its +quaint old sideboard of carved oak; its dark-brown cabinets, curiously +sculptured; its heavy old brocade curtains, and all its queer devices of +knick-knackery, where such meetings once were held, and where, throwing +off the cares of life,--shut out from them, as it were, by the massive +folds of the heavy drapery across the door,--. we talked in all the +fearless freedom of old friendship, rambling away from theme to theme, +contrasting our experiences, balancing our views in life, and mingling +through our converse the racy freshness of a boy's enjoyment with the +sager counsels of a man's reflectiveness. Alas! how very early is it +sometimes in life that we tread "the banquet-hall deserted." But to our +story: the evening wore pleasantly on; Upton talked, as few but himself +could do, upon the public questions of the day; and Harcourt, with many +a blunt interruption, made the discourse but more easy and amusing. The +soldier was, indeed, less at his ease than the others. It was not alone +that many of the topics were not such as he was most familiar with, but +he felt angry and indignant at Glencore's seeming indifference as to the +fate of his son. Not a single reference to him even occurred; his name +was never even passingly mentioned. Nothing but the careworn, sickly +face, the wasted form and dejected expression before him, could have +restrained Harcourt from alluding to the boy. He bethought him, however, +that any indiscretion on his part might have the gravest consequences. +Upton, too, might have said something to quiet Glencore's mind. "At +all events, I'll wait," said he to himself; "for wherever there is much +delicacy in a negotiation, I generally make a mess of it." The more +genially, therefore, did Glencore lend himself to the pleasure of the +conversation, the more provoked did Harcourt feel at his heartlessness, +and the more did the struggle cost him to control his own sentiments. + +Upton, who detected the secret working of men's minds with a marvellous +exactness, saw how the poor Colonel was suffering, and that, in all +probability, some unhappy explosion would at last ensue, and took an +opportunity of remarking that though all this chit-chat was delightful +for them, Glencore was still a sick man. + +"We must n't forget, Harcourt," said he, "that a chicken-broth diet +includes very digestible small-talk; and here we are leading our poor +friend through politics, war, diplomacy, and the rest of it, just as if +he had the stomach of an old campaigner and--" + +"And the brain of a great diplomatist! Say it out, man, and avow +honestly the share of excellence you accord to each of us," broke in +Harcourt, laughing. + +"I would to Heaven we could exchange," sighed Upton, languidly. + +"The saints forbid!" exclaimed the other; "and it would do us little +good if we were able." + +"Why so?" + +"I'd never know what to do with that fine intellect if I had it; and as +for _you_, what with your confounded pills and mixtures, your infernal +lotions and embrocations, you'd make my sound system as bad as your own +in three months' time." + +"You are quite wrong, my dear Harcourt; I should treat the stomach as +you would do the brain,--give it next to nothing to do, in the hopes it +might last the longer." + +"There now, good night," said Harcourt; "he's always the better for +bitters, whether he gives or takes them." And with a good-humored laugh +he left the room. + +Glencore's eyes followed him as he retired; and then, as they closed, an +expression as of long-repressed suffering settled down on his features +so marked that Upton hastily asked,-- + +"Are you ill, are you in pain, Glencore?" + +"In pain? Yes," said he, "these two hours back I have been suffering +intensely; but there's no help for it! Must you really leave this +to-morrow, Upton?" + +"I must. This letter from the Foreign Office requires my immediate +presence in London, with a very great likelihood of being obliged to +start at once for the Continent." + +"And I had so much to say,--so many things to consult you on," sighed +the other. + +"Are you equal to it now?" asked Upton. + +"I must try, at all events. You shall learn my plan." He was silent +for some minutes, and sat with his head resting on his hand, in deep +reflection. At last he said, "Has it ever occurred to you, Upton, that +some incident of the past, some circumstance in itself insignificant, +should rise up, as it were, in after life to suit an actual emergency, +just as though fate had fashioned it for such a contingency?" + +"I cannot say that I have experienced what you describe, if, indeed, I +fully understand it." + +"I'll explain better by an instance. You know now,"--here his voice +became slow, and the words fell with a marked distinctness,--"you know +now what I intend by this woman. Well, just as if to make my plan more +feasible, a circumstance intended for a very different object offers +itself to my aid. When my uncle, Sir Miles Herrick, heard that I was +about to marry a foreigner, he declared that he would never leave me a +shilling of his fortune. I am not very sure that I cared much for the +threat when it was uttered. My friends, however, thought differently; +and though they did not attempt to dissuade me from my marriage, they +suggested that I should try some means of overcoming this prejudice; at +all events, that I should not hurry on the match without an effort to +obtain his consent. I agreed,--not very willingly, indeed,--and so the +matter remained. The circumstance was well known amongst my two or three +most intimate friends, and constantly discussed by them. I need n't tell +you that the tone in which such things are talked of as often partakes +of levity as seriousness. They gave me all manner of absurd counsels, +one more outrageously ridiculous than the other. At last, one day,--we +were picnicking at Baia,--Old Clifford,--you remember that original +who had the famous schooner-yacht 'The Breeze,'--well, he took me aside +after dinner, and said, 'Glencore, I have it,--I have just hit upon the +expedient. Your uncle and I were old chums at Christ Church fifty years +ago. What if we were to tell him that you were going to marry a daughter +of mine? I don't think he'd object. I 'm half certain he 'd not. I have +been abroad these five-and-thirty years. Nobody in England knows much +about me now. Old Herrick can't live forever; he is my senior by a good +ten or twelve years; and if the delusion only lasts his time--' + +"'But perhaps you have a daughter?' broke I in. + +"'I have, and she is married already, so there is no risk on that +score.' I need n't repeat all that he said for, nor that I urged +against, the project; for though it was after dinner, and we all had +drunk very freely, the deception was one I firmly rejected. When a man +shows a great desire to serve you on a question of no common difficulty, +it is very hard to be severe upon his counsels, however unscrupulous +they may be. In fact, you accept them as proofs of friendship only the +stronger, seeing how much they must have cost him to offer." + +Upton smiled dubiously, and Glencore, blushing slightly, said, "You +don't concur in this, I perceive." + +"Not exactly," said Upton, in his silkiest of tones; "I rather regard +these occasions as I should do the generosity of a man who, filling my +hand with base money, should say, 'Pass it if you can!'" + +"In this case, however," resumed Glencore, "he took his share of the +fraud, or at least was willing to do so, for I distinctly said 'No' to +the whole scheme. He grew very warm about it; at one moment appealing to +my 'good sense, not to kick seven thousand a year out of the window;' at +the next, in half-quarrelsome mood, asking 'if it were any objection I +had to be connected with his family.' To get rid of a very troublesome +subject, and to end a controversy that threatened to disturb a party, +I said at last, 'We 'll talk it over to-morrow, Clifford, and if your +arguments be as good as your heart, then perhaps they may yet convince +me.' This ended the theme, and we parted. I started the next day on +a shooting excursion into Calabria, and when I got back it was not of +meeting Clifford I was thinking. I hastened to meet the Delia Torres, +and then came our elopement. You know the rest. We went to the East, +passed the winter in Upper Egypt, and came to Cairo in spring, where +Charley was born. I got back to Naples after a year or two, and then +found that my uncle had just died, and in consequence of my marrying the +daughter of his old and attached friend, Sir Guy Clifford, had reversed +the intention of his will, and by a codicil left me his sole heir. It +was thus that my marriage, and even my boy's birth, became inserted +in the Peerage; my solicitor, in his vast eagerness for my interests, +having taken care to indorse the story with his own name. The +disinherited nephews and nieces, the half-cousins and others, soon got +wind of the real facts, and contested the will, on the ground of its +being executed under a delusion. I, of course, would not resist their +claim, and satisfied myself by denying the statement as to my marriage; +and so, after affording the current subject of gossip for a season, I +was completely forgotten, the more as we went to live abroad, and never +mixed with English. And now, Upton, it is this same incident I would +utilize for the present occasion, though, as I said before, when it +originally occurred it had a very different signification." + +"I don't exactly see how," said Upton. + +"In this wise. My real marriage was never inserted in the Peerage. +I'll now manage that it shall so appear, to give me the opportunity of +formally contradicting it, and alluding to the strange persistence with +which, having married me some fifteen years ago to a lady who never +existed, they now are pleased to unite me to one whose character might +have secured me against the calumny. I 'll threaten an action for libel, +etc., obtain a most full, explicit, and abject apology, and then, when +this has gone the round of all the journals of Europe, her doom is +sealed!" + +"But she has surely letters, writings, proofs of some sort." + +"No, Upton, I have not left a scrap in her possession; she has not +a line, not a letter to vindicate her. On the night I broke open her +writing-desk, I took away everything that bore the traces of my own +hand. I tell you again she is in my power, and never was power less +disposed to mercy." + +"Once more, my dear friend," said Upton, "I am driven to tell you that I +cannot be a profitable counsellor in a matter to every detail of which +I object. Consider calmly for one moment what you are doing. See how, +in your desire to be avenged upon _her_, you throw the heaviest share of +the penalty on your own poor boy. I am not her advocate now. I will +not say one word to mitigate the course of your anger towards her, but +remember that you are actually defrauding him of his birthright. This is +not a question where you have a choice. There is no discretionary power +left you." + +"I 'll do it," said Glencore, with a savage energy. + +"In other words, to wreak a vengeance upon one, you are prepared to +immolate another, not only guiltless, but who possesses every claim to +your love and affection." + +"And do you think that if I sacrifice the last tie that attaches me to +life, Upton, that I retire from this contest heart-whole? No, far from +it; I go forth from the struggle broken, blasted, friendless!" + +"And do you mean that this vengeance should outlive you? Suppose, for +instance, that she should survive you." + +"It shall be to live on in shame, then," cried he, savagely. + +"And were she to die first?" + +"In that case--I have not thought well enough about that. It is +possible,--it is just possible; but these are subtleties, Upton, to +detach me from my purpose, or weaken my resolution to carry it +through. You would apply the craft of your calling to the case, and, +by suggesting emergencies, open a road to evasions. Enough for me the +present. I neither care to prejudge the future, nor control it. I know," +cried he, suddenly, and with eyes flashing angrily as he spoke,--"I know +that if you desire to use the confidence I have reposed in you against +me, you can give me trouble and even difficulty; but I defy Sir Horace +Upton, with all his skill and all his cunning, to outwit me." + +There was that in the tone in which he uttered these words, and the +exaggerated energy of his manner, that convinced Upton, Glencore's +reason was not intact. It was not what could amount to aberration in the +ordinary sense, but sufficient evidence was there to show that judgment +had become so obscured by passion that the mental power was weakened by +the moral. + +"Tell me, therefore, Upton," cried he, "before we part, do you leave +this house my friend or my enemy?" + +"It is as your sincere, attached friend that I now dispute with you, +inch by inch, a dangerous position, with a judgment under no influence +from passion, viewing this question by the coldest of all tests,--mere +expediency--' + +"There it is," broke in Glencore; "you claim an advantage over me, +because you are devoid of feeling; but this is a case, sir, where the +sense of injury gives the instinct of reparation. Is it nothing to me, +think you, that I am content to go down dishonored to my grave, but also +to be the last of my name and station? Is it nothing that a whole line +of honorable ancestry is extinguished at once? Is it nothing that I +surrender him who formed my sole solace and companionship in life? You +talk of your calm, unbiassed mind; but I tell you, till your brain be on +fire like mine, and your heart swollen to very bursting, that you have +no right to dictate to _me!_ Besides, it is done! The blow has fallen," +added he, with a deeper solemnity of voice. "The gulf that separates us +is already created. She and I can meet no more. But why continue this +contest? It was to aid me in directing that boy's fortunes I first +sought your advice, not to attempt to dissuade me from what I will not +be turned from." + +"In what way can I serve you?" said Upton, calmly. + +"Will you consent to be his guardian?" + +"I will." + +Glencore seized the other's hand, and pressed it to his heart, and for +some seconds he could not speak. + +"This is all that I ask, Upton," said he. "It is the greatest boon +friendship could accord me. I need no more. Could you have remained here +a day or two more, we could have settled upon some plan together as to +his future life; as it is, we can arrange it by letter." + +"He must leave this," said Upton, thoughtfully. + +"Of course,--at once!" + +"How far is Harcourt to be informed in this matter; have you spoken to +him already?" + +"No; nor mean to do so. I should have from _him_ nothing but reproaches +for having betrayed the boy into false hopes of a station he was never +to fill. You must tell Harcourt. I leave it to yourself to find the +suitable moment." + +"We shall need his assistance," said Upton, whose quick faculties were +already busily travelling many a mile of the future. "I 'll see him +to-night, and try what can be done. In a few days you will have turned +over in your mind what you yourself destine for him,--the fortune you +mean to give--" + +"It is already done," said Glencore, laying a sealed letter on the +table. "All that I purpose in his behalf you will find there." + +"All this detail is too much for you, Glencore," said the other, seeing +that a weary, depressed expression had come over him, while his +voice grew weaker with every word. "I shall not leave this till late +to-morrow, so that we can meet again. And now good night." + + + +CHAPTER XVII. A TETE-A-TETE + +When Harcourt was aroused from his sound sleep by Upton, and requested +in the very blandest tones of that eminent diplomatist to lend him every +attention of his "very remarkable faculties," he was not by any +means certain that he was not engaged in a strange dream; nor was the +suspicion at all dispelled by the revelations addressed to him. + +"Just dip the end of that towel in the water, Upton, and give it to me," +cried he at last; and then, wiping his face and forehead, said, "Have I +heard you aright,--there was no marriage?" + +Upton nodded assent. + +"What a shameful way he has treated this poor boy, then!" cried the +other. "I never heard of anything equal to it in cruelty, and I conclude +it was breaking this news to the lad that drove him out to sea on that +night, and brought on this brain fever. By Jove, I 'd not take _his_ +title, and _your_ brains, to have such a sin on my conscience!" + +"We are happily not called on to judge the act," said Upton, cautiously. + +"And why not? Is it not every honest man's duty to reprobate whatever +he detects dishonorable or disgraceful? I do judge him, and sentence him +too, and I say, moreover, that a more cold-blooded piece of cruelty +I never heard of. He trains up this poor boy from childhood to fancy +himself the heir to his station and fortune; he nurses in him all the +pride that only a high rank can cover; and then, when the lad's years +have brought him to the period when these things assume all their value, +he sends for him to tell him he is a bastard." + +"It is not impossible that I think worse of Glencore's conduct than you +do yourself," said Upton, gravely. + +"But you never told him so, I'll be sworn,--you never said to him it +was a rascally action. I'll lay a hundred pounds on it, you only +expostulated on the inexpediency, or the inconvenience, or some such +trumpery consideration, and did not tell him, in round numbers, that +what he had done was an infamy." + +"Then I fancy you'd lose your money, pretty much as you are losing your +temper,--that is, without getting anything in requital." + +"What did you say to him, then?" said Harcourt, slightly abashed. + +"A great deal in the same strain as you have just spoken in, doubtless +not as warm in vituperation, but possibly as likely to produce an +effect; nor is it in the least necessary to dwell upon that. What +Glencore has done, and what I have said about it, both belong to the +past. They are over,--they are irrevocable. It is to what concerns the +present and the future I wish now to address myself, and to interest +you." + +"Why, the boy's name was in the Peerage,--I read it there myself." + +"My dear Harcourt, you must have paid very little attention to me a +while ago, or you would have understood how that occurred." + +"And here were all the people, the tenantry on the estate, calling +him the young lord, and the poor fellow growing up with the proud +consciousness that the title was his due." + +"There is not a hardship of the case I have not pictured to my own mind +as forcibly as you can describe it," said Upton; "but I really do not +perceive that any reprobation of the past has in the slightest assisted +me in providing for the future." + +"And then," murmured Harcourt,--for all the while he was pursuing his +own train of thought, quite irrespective of all Upton was saying,--"and +then he turns him adrift on the world without friend or fortune." + +"It is precisely that he may have both the one and the other that I +have come to confer with you now," replied Upton. "Glencore has made a +liberal provision for the boy, and asked me to become his guardian. I +have no fancy for the trust, but I did n't see how I could decline +it. In this letter he assigns to him an income, which shall be legally +secured to him. He commits to me the task of directing his education, +and suggesting some future career, and for both these objects I want +your counsel." + +"Education,--prospects,--why, what are you talking about? A poor fellow +who has not a name, nor a home, nor one to acknowledge him,--what need +has he of education, or what chance of prospects? I'd send him to sea, +and if he wasn't drowned before he came to manhood, I'd give him his +fortune, whatever it was, and say, 'Go settle in some of the colonies.' +You have no right to train him up to meet fresh mortifications and +insults in life; to be flouted by every fellow that has a father, and +outraged by every cur whose mother was married." + +"And are the colonies especially inhabited by illegitimate offspring?" +said Upton, dryly. + +"At least he'd not be met with a rebuff at every step he made. The rude +life of toil would be better than the polish of a civilization that +could only reflect upon him." + +"Not badly said, Harcourt," said Upton, smiling; "but as to the boy, I +have other prospects. He has, if I mistake not, very good faculties. You +estimate them even higher. I don't see why they should be neglected. +If he merely possess the mediocrity of gifts which make men tolerable +lawyers and safe doctors, why, perhaps, he may turn them into some +channel. If he really can lay claim to higher qualities, they must not +be thrown away." + +"Which means that he ought to be bred up to diplomacy," said Harcourt. + +"Perhaps," said the other, with a bland inclination of the head. + +"And what can an old dragoon like myself contribute to such an object?" +asked Harcourt. + +"You can be of infinite service in many ways," said Upton; "and for the +present I wish to leave the boy in your care, till I can learn something +about my own destiny. This, of course, I shall know in a few days. +Meanwhile you 'll look after him, and as soon as his removal becomes +safe you 'll take him away from this,--it does not much matter whither; +probably some healthy, secluded spot in Wales, for a week or two, would +be advisable. Glencore and he must not meet again; if ever they are to +do so, it must be after a considerable lapse of time." + +"Have you thought of a name for him, or is his to be still Massy?" asked +Harcourt, bluntly. + +"He may take the maternal name of Glencore's family, and be called +Doyle, and the settlements could be drawn up in that name." + +"I'll be shot if I like to have any share in the whole transaction! Some +day or other it will all come out, and who knows how much blame may be +imputed to us, perhaps for actually advising the entire scheme," said +Harcourt. + +"You must see, my dear Harcourt, that you are only refusing aid to +alleviate an evil, and not to devise one. If this boy--" + +"Well--well--I give in. I'd rather comply at once than be preached into +acquiescence. Even when you do not convince me, I feel ashamed to oppose +myself to so much cleverness; so, I repeat, I 'm at your orders." + +"Admirably spoken," said Upton, with a smile. + +"My greatest difficulty of all," said Harcourt, "will be to meet +Glencore again after this. I know--I feel--I never can forgive him." + +"Perhaps he will not ask forgiveness, Harcourt," said the other, with +one of his slyest of looks. "Glencore is a strange, self-opinionated +fellow, and has amongst other odd notions that of going the road he +likes best himself. Besides, there is another consideration here, and +with no man will it weigh more than with yourself. Glencore has been +dangerously ill,--at this moment we can scarcely say that he has +recovered; his state is yet one of anxiety and doubt. You are the last +who would forget such infirmity; nor is it necessary to secure your pity +that I should say how seriously the poor fellow is now suffering." + +"I trust he'll not speak to me about this business," said Harcourt, +after a pause. + +"Very probably he will not. He will know that I have already told you +everything, so that there will be no need of any communication from +him." + +"I wish from my heart and soul I had never come here. I would to Heaven +I had gone away at once, as I first intended. I like that boy; I feel he +has fine stuff in him; and now--" + +"Come, come, Harcourt, it's the fault of all soft-hearted fellows, like +yourself, that their kindliness degenerates into selfishness, and they +have such a regard for their own feelings that they never agree to +anything that wounds them. Just remember that you and I have very small +parts in this drama, and the best way we can do is to fill them without +giving ourselves the airs of chief characters." + +"You're at your old game, Upton; you are always ready to wet yourself, +provided you give another fellow a ducking." + +"Only if he get a worse one, or take longer to dry after it," remarked +Upton, laughing. + +"Quite true, by Jove!" chimed in the other; "you take special care +to come off best. And now you 're going," added he, as Upton rose to +withdraw, "and I'm certain that I have not half comprehended what you +want from me." + +"You shall have it in writing, Harcourt; I'll send you a clear despatch +the first spare moment I can command after I reach town. The boy will +not be fit to move for some time to come, and so good-bye." + +"You don't know where they are going to send you?" + +"I cannot frame even a conjecture," sighed Upton, languidly. "I ought to +be in the Brazils for a week or so about that slave question; and then +the sooner I reach Constantinople the better." + +"Sha' n't they want you at Paris?" asked Harcourt, who felt a kind of +quiet vengeance in developing what he deemed the weak vanity of the +other. + +"Yes," sighed he again; "but I can't be everywhere." And so saying, he +lounged away, while it would have taken a far more subtle listener than +Harcourt to say whether he was mystifying the other, or the dupe of his +own self-esteem. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. BILLY TRAYNOR AS ORATOR + +Three weeks rolled over,--an interval not without its share of interest +for the inhabitants of the little village of Leenane, since on one +morning Mr. Craggs had made his appearance on his way to Clifden, and +after an absence of two days returned to the Castle. The subject for +popular discussion and surmise had not yet declined, when a boat was +seen to leave Glencore, heavily laden with trunks and travelling +gear; and as she neared the land, the "lord" was detected amongst the +passengers, looking very ill,--almost dying; he passed up the little +street of the village, scarcely noticing the uncovered heads which +saluted him respectfully. Indeed, he scarcely lifted up his eyes, and, +as the acute observers remarked, never once turned a glance towards the +opposite shore, where the Castle stood. + +He had not reached the end of the village, when a chaise with four +horses arrived at the spot. No time was lost in arranging the trunks +and portmanteaus, and Lord Glencore sat moodily on a bank, listlessly +regarding what went forward. At length Craggs came up, and, touching his +cap in military fashion, announced all was ready. + +Lord Glencore arose slowly, and looked languidly around him; his +features wore a mingled expression of weariness and anxiety, like one +not fully awakened from an oppressive dream. He turned his eyes on the +people, who at a respectful distance stood around, and in a voice of +peculiar melancholy said, "Good-bye." + +"A good journey to you, my Lord, and safe back again to us," cried a +number together. + +"Eh--what--what was that?" cried he, suddenly; and the tones were shrill +and discordant in which he spoke. + +A warning gesture from Craggs imposed silence on the crowd, and not a +word was uttered. + +"I thought they said something about coming back again," muttered +Glencore, gloomily. + +"They were wishing you a good journey, my Lord," replied Craggs. + +"Oh, that was it, was it?" And so saying, with bent-down head he walked +feebly forward and entered the carriage. Craggs was speedily on the box, +and the next moment they were away. + +It is no part of our task to dwell on the sage speculations and wise +surmises of the village on this event. They had not, it is true, much +"evidence" before them, but they were hardy guessers, and there was very +little within the limits of possibility which they did not summon to the +aid of their imaginations. All, however, were tolerably agreed upon one +point,--that to leave the place while the young lord was still unable +to quit his bed, and too weak to sit up, was unnatural and unfeeling; +traits which, "after all," they thought "not very surprising, since the +likes of them lords never cared for anybody." + +Colonel Harcourt still remained at Glencore, and under his rigid +sway the strictest blockade of the coast was maintained, nor was any +intercourse whatever permitted with the village. A boat from the Castle, +meeting another from Leenane, half way in the lough, received the +letters and whatever other resources the village supplied. All was done +with the rigid exactness of a quarantine regulation; and if the mainland +had been scourged with plague, stricter measures of exclusion could +scarcely have been enforced. + +In comparison with the present occupant of the Castle, the late one was +a model of amiability; and the village, as is the wont in the case, now +discovered a vast number of good qualities in the "lord," when they had +lost him. After a while, however, the guesses, the speculations, and +the comparisons all died away, and the Castle of Glencore was as much +dreamland to their imaginations as, seen across the lough in the dim +twilight of an autumn evening, its towers might have appeared to their +eyes. + +It was about a month after Lord Glencore's departure, of a fine, soft +evening in summer, Billy Traynor suddenly appeared in the village. Billy +was one of a class who, whatever their rank in life, are always what +Coleridge would have called "noticeable men." He was soon, therefore, +surrounded with a knot of eager and inquiring friends, all solicitous to +know something of the life he was leading, what they were doing "beyant +at the Castle." + +"It's a mighty quiet studious kind of life," said Billy, "but agrees +with me wonderfully; for I may say that until now I never was able +to give my 'janius' fair play. Professional life is the ruin of the +student; and being always obleeged to be thinkin' of the bags destroyed +my taste for letters." A grin of self-approval at his own witticism +closed this speech. + +"But is it true, Billy, the lord is going to break up house entirely, +and not come back here?" asked Peter Slevin, the sacristan, whose rank +and station warranted his assuming the task of cross-questioner. + +"There 's various ways of breakin' up a house," said Billy. "Ye may +do so in a moral sinse, or in a physical sinse; you may obliterate, or +extinguish, or, without going so far, you may simply obfuscate,--do you +perceave?" + +"Yes!" said the sacristan, on whom every eye was now bent, to see if he +was able to follow subtleties that had outwitted the rest. + +"And whin I say _obfuscate_," resumed Billy, "I open a question of +disputed etymology, bekase tho' Lucretius thinks the word _obfuscator_ +original, there's many supposes it comes from _ob_ and _fucus_, the +dye the ancients used in their wool, as we find in Horace, _lana fuco +medicata_; while Cicero employs it in another sense, and says, _facere +fucum_, which is as much as to say, humbuggin' somebody,--do ye mind?" + +"Begorra, he might guess that anyhow!" muttered a shrewd little tailor, +with a significance that provoked hearty laughter. + +"And now," continued Billy, with an air of triumph, "we'll proceed to +the next point." + +"Ye needn't trouble yerself then," said Terry Lynch, "for Peter has gone +home." + +And so, to the amusement of the meeting, it turned out to be the case; +the sacristan had retired from the controversy. "Come in here to Mrs. +Moore's, Billy, and take a glass with us," said Terry; "it isn't often +we see you in these parts." + +"If the honorable company will graciously vouchsafe and condescind +to let me trate them to a half-gallon," said Billy, "it will be the +proudest event of my terrestrial existence." + +The proposition was received with a cordial enthusiasm, flattering to +all concerned; and in a few minutes after, Billy Traynor sat at the head +of a long table in the neat parlor of "The Griddle," with a company of +some fifteen or sixteen very convivially disposed friends around him. + +"If I was Caesar, or Lucretius, or Nebuchadnezzar, I couldn't be +prouder," said Billy, as he looked down the board. "And let moralists +talk as they will, there's a beautiful expansion of sentiment, there's a +fine genial overflowin' of the heart, in gatherin's like this, where we +mingle our feelin's and our philosophy; and our love and our learning +walk hand in hand like brothers--pass the sperits, Mr. Shea. If we look +to the ancient writers, what do we see!--Lemons! bring in some lemons, +Mickey.--What do we see, I say, but that the very highest enjoyment +of the haythen gods was--Hot wather! why won't they send in more hot +wather?" + +"Begorra, if I was a haythen god, I 'd like a little whisky in it," +muttered Terry, dryly. + +"Where was I?" asked Billy, a little disconcerted by this sally, and the +laugh it excited. "I was expatiatin' upon celestial convivialities. The +_nodes coenoeque deum_,--them elegant hospitalities where wisdom was +moistened with nectar, and wit washed down with ambrosia. It is not, by +coorse, to be expected," continued he, modestly, "that we mere mortials +can compete with them elegant refections. But, as Ovid says, we can at +least _diem jucundam decipere_." + +The unknown tongue had now restored to Billy all the reverence and +respect of his auditory, and he continued to expatiate very eloquently +on the wholesome advantages to be derived from convivial intercourse, +both amongst gods and men; rather slyly intimating that either on the +score of the fluids, or the conversation, his own leanings lay towards +"the humanities." + +"For, after all," said he, "'tis our own wakenesses is often the +source of our most refined enjoyments. No, Mrs. Cassidy, ye need n't +be blushin'. I 'm considerin' my subject in a high ethnological and +metaphysical sinse." Mrs. Cassidy's confusion, and the mirth it excited, +here interrupted the orator. + +"The meeting is never tired of hearin' you, Billy," said Terry Lynch; +"but if it was plazin' to ye to give us a song, we'd enjoy it greatly." + +"Ah!" said Billy, with a sigh, "I have taken my partin' kiss with the +Muses; _non mihi licet increpare digitis lyram_:-- + + "'No more to feel poetic fire, + No more to touch the soundin' lyre; + But wiser coorses to begin, + I now forsake my violin.'" + +An honest outburst of regret and sorrow broke from the assembly, who +eagerly pressed for an explanation of this calamitous change. + +"The thing is this," said Billy: "if a man is a creature of mere +leisure and amusement, the fine arts--and by the fine arts I mean music, +paintin', and the ladies--is an elegant and very refined subject of +cultivation; but when you raise your cerebrial faculties to grander and +loftier considerations, to explore the difficult ragions of polemic +or political truth, to investigate the subtleties of the schools, and +penetrate the mysteries of science, then, take my word for it, the fine +arts is just snares,--devil a more than snares! And whether it is soft +sounds seduces you, or elegant tints, or the union of both,--women, I +mane,--you 'll never arrive at anything great or tri-um-phant till you +wane yourself away from the likes of them vanities. Look at the haythen +mythology; consider for a moment who is the chap that represents +Music,--a lame blackguard, with an ugly face, they call Pan. Ay, indeed, +Pan! If you wanted to see what respect they had for the art, it's easy +enough to guess, when this crayture represints it; and as to Paintin', +on my conscience, they have n't a god at all that ever took to the +brush.--Pass up the sperits, Mickey," said he, somewhat blown and out of +breath by this effort. "Maybe," said he, "I'm wearin' you." + +"No, no, no," loudly responded the meeting. + +"Maybe I'm imposin' too much of personal details on the house," added +he, pompously. + +"Not at all; never a bit," cried the company. + +"Because," resumed he, slowly, "if I did so, I 'd have at least the +excuse of say in', like the great Pitt, 'These may be my last words from +this place.'" + +An unfeigned murmur of sorrow ran through the meeting, and he resumed:-- + +"Ay, ladies and gintlemin, Billy Traynor is takin' his 'farewell +benefit;' he's not humbuggin'. I 'm not like them chaps that's always +positively goin', but stays on at the unanimous request of the whole +world. No; I'm really goin' to leave you." + +"What for? Where to, Billy?" broke from a number of voices together. + +"I 'll tell ye," said he,--"at least so far as I can tell; because it +would n't be right nor decent to 'print the whole of the papers for +the house,' as they say in parliamint. I 'm going abroad with the young +lord; we are going to improve our minds, and cultivate our janiuses, by +study and foreign travel. We are first to settle in Germany, where we +'re to enter a University, and commince a coorse of modern tongues, +French, Sweadish, and Spanish; imbibin' at the same time a smatterin' of +science, such as chemistry, conchology, and the use of the globes." + +"Oh dear! oh dear!" murmured the meeting, in wonder and admiration. + +"I 'm not goin' to say that we 'll neglect mechanics, metaphysics, and +astrology; for we mane to be cosmonopolists in knowledge. As for myself, +ladies and gintlemin, it's a proud day that sees me standin' here to +say these words. I, that was ragged, without a shoe to my foot,--without +breeches,--never mind, I was, as the poet says, _nudus nummis ac +vestimentis_,-- + + "'I have n't sixpence in my pack, + I have n't small clothes to my back.' + +carryin' the bag many a weary mile, through sleet and snow, for six +pounds tin per annum, and no pinsion for wounds or superannuation; and +now I 'm to be--it is n't easy to say what--to the young lord a spacies +of humble companion,--not maniai, do you mind, nothing manial; what +the Latins called a __famulus, which was quite a different thing from +a _servus_. The former bein' a kind of domestic adviser, a +deputy-assistant, monitor-general, as a body might say. There, now, if +I discoorsed for a month, I could n't tell you more about myself and my +future prospects. I own to you that I 'm proud of my good luck, and I +would n't exchange it to be Emperor of Jamaica, or King of the Bahamia +Islands." + +If we have been prolix in our office of reporter to Billy Traynor, +our excuse is that his discourse will have contributed so far to the +reader's enlightenment as to save us the task of recapitulation. At the +same time, it is but justice to the accomplished orator that we should +say we have given but the most meagre outline of an address which, to +use the newspaper phrase, "occupied three hours in the delivery." The +truth was, Billy was in vein; the listeners were patient, the punch +strong: nor is it every speaker who has had the good fortune of such +happy accessories. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. THE CASCINE AT FLORENCE + +It was spring, and in Italy! one of those half-dozen days, at very +most, when, the feeling of winter departed, a gentle freshness breathes +through the air; trees stir softly, and as if by magic; the earth +becomes carpeted with flowers, whose odors seem to temper, as it were, +the exciting atmosphere. An occasional cloud, fleecy and jagged, sails +lazily aloft, marking its shadow on the mountain side. In a few days--a +few hours, perhaps--the blue sky will be unbroken, the air hushed, a hot +breath will move among the leaves, or pant over the trickling fountains. + +In this fast-flitting period,--we dare not call it season,--the Cascine +of Florence is singularly beautiful; on one side, the gentle river +stealing past beneath the shadowing foliage; on the other, the +picturesque mountain towards Fiesole, dotted with its palaces and +terraced gardens. The ancient city itself is partly seen, and the +massive Duomo and the Palazzo Vecchio tower proudly above the trees! +What other people of Europe have such a haunt?--what other people would +know so thoroughly how to enjoy it? The day was drawing to a close, +and the Piazzone was now filled with equipages. There were the +representatives of every European people, and of nations far away over +the seas,--splendid Russians, brilliant French, splenetic, supercilious +English, and ponderous Germans, mingled with the less marked +nationalities of Belgium and Holland, and even America. Everything that +called itself Fashion was there to swell the tide; and although a choice +military band was performing with exquisite skill the favorite overtures +of the day, the noise and tumult of conversation almost drowned their +notes. Now, the Cascine is to the world of society what the Bourse is to +the world of trade. It is the great centre of all news and intelligence, +where markets and bargains of intercourse are transacted, and where the +scene of past pleasure is revived, and the plans of future enjoyment are +canvassed. The great and the wealthy are there, to see and to meet with +each other. The proud equipages lie side by side, like great liners; +while phaetons, like fast frigates, shoot swiftly by, and solitary +dandies flit past in varieties of conveyance to which sea-craft can +offer no analogies. All are busy, eager, and occupied. Scandal holds +here its festival, and the misdeeds of every capital of Europe are +now being discussed. The higher themes of politics occupy but few; the +interests of literature attract still less. It is essentially of the +world they talk, and it must be owned they do it like adepts. The last +witticism of Paris,--the last duel at Berlin,--who has fled from his +creditors in England,--who has run away from her husband at Naples,--all +are retailed with a serious circumstantiality that would lead one to +believe that gossip maintained its "own correspondent" in every city of +the Continent. Moralists might fancy, perhaps, that in the tone these +subjects are treated they would mingle a reprobation of the bad, and a +due estimate of the opposite, if it ever occurred at all; but as surely +would they be disappointed. Never were censors more lenient,--never were +critics so charitable. The transgressions against good-breeding--the +"gaucheries" of manner, the solecisms in dress, language, or +demeanor--do indeed meet with sharp reproof and cutting sarcasm; but, +in recompense for such severity, how gently do they deal with graver +offences! For the felonies they can always discover "the attenuating +circumstances;" for the petty larcenies of fashion they have nothing but +whipcord. + +Amidst the various knots where such discussions were carried on, one +was eminently conspicuous. It was around a handsome open carriage, whose +horses, harnessing, and liveries were all in the most perfect taste. The +equipage might possibly have been deemed showy in Hyde Park; but in +the Bois de Boulogne or the Cascine it must be pronounced the acme of +elegance. Whatever might have been the differences of national opinion +on this point, there could assuredly have been none as to the beauty of +those who occupied it. + +Though a considerable interval of years divided them, the aunt and her +niece had a wonderful resemblance to each other. They were both--the +rarest of all forms of beauty--blond Italians; that is, with light +hair and soft gray eyes. They had a peculiar tint of skin, deeper and +mellower than we see in Northern lands, and an expression of mingled +seriousness and softness that only pertains to the South of Europe. +There was a certain coquetry in the similarity of their dress, which in +many parts was precisely alike; and although the niece was but fifteen, +and the aunt above thirty, it needed not the aid of flattery to make +many mistake one for the other. + +Beauty, like all other "Beaux Arts," has its distinctions. The same +public opinion that enthrones the sculptor or the musician, confers +its crown on female loveliness; and by this acclaim were they declared +Queens of Beauty. To any one visiting Italy for the first time, there +would have seemed something very strange in the sort of homage rendered +them: a reverence and respect only accorded elsewhere to royalties,--a +deference that verged on actual humiliation,--and yet all this blended +with a subtle familiarity that none but an Italian can ever attain to. +The uncovered head, the attitude of respectful attention, the patient +expectancy of notice, the glad air of him under recognition, were +all there; and yet, through these, there was dashed a strange tone of +intimacy, as though the observances were but a thin crust over deeper +feelings. "La Contessa"--for she was especially "the Countess," as one +illustrious man of our own country was "the Duke"--possessed every gift +which claims preeminence in this fair city. She was eminently beautiful, +young, charming in her manners, with ample fortune; and, lastly,--ah! +good reader, you would surely be puzzled to supply that "lastly," the +more as we say that in it lies an excellence without which all the rest +are of little worth, and yet with it are objects of worship, almost of +adoration,--she was--separated from her husband! There must have been an +epidemic, a kind of rot, among husbands at one period; for we scarcely +remember a very pretty woman, from five-and-twenty to five-and-thirty, +who had not been obliged to leave hers from acts of cruelty or acts of +brutality, etc., that only husbands are capable of, or of which their +poor wives are ever the victims. + +If the moral geography of Europe be ever written, the region south of +the Alps will certainly be colored with that tint, whatever it be, +that describes the blessedness of a divorced existence. In other lands, +especially in our own, the separated individual labors under no common +difficulty in his advances to society. The story--there must be a +story--of his separation is told in various ways, all, of course, to his +disparagement. Tyrant or victim, it is hard to say under which title +he comes out best,--so much for the man; but for the woman there is no +plea: judgment is pronounced at once, without the merits. Fugitive, or +fled from,--who inquires? she is one that few men dare to recognize. +The very fact that to mention her name exacts an explanation, is +condemnatory. What a boon to all such must it be that there is a +climate mild enough for their malady, and a country that will suit their +constitution; and not only that, but a region which actually pays homage +to their infirmity, and makes of their martyrdom a triumph! As you go to +Norway for salmon-fishing,--to Bengal to hunt tigers,--to St. Petersburg +to eat caviare, so when divorced, if you really know the blessing +of your state, go take a house on the Arno. Vast as are the material +resources of our globe, the moral ones are infinitely greater; nor need +we despair, some day or other, of finding an island where a certificate +of fraudulent bankruptcy will be deemed a letter of credit, and an +evidence of insolvency be accepted as qualification to open a bank. + +La Contessa inhabited a splendid palace, furnished with magnificence; +her gardens were one of the sights of the capital, not only for their +floral display, but that they contained a celebrated group by Canova, of +which no copy existed. Her gallery was, if not extensive, enriched with +some priceless treasures of art; and with all these she possessed +high rank, for her card bore the name of La Comtesse de Glencore, nee +Comtesse della Torre. + +The reader thus knows at once, if not actually as much as we do +ourselves, all that we mean to impart to him; and now let us come back +to that equipage around which swarmed the fashion of Florence, eagerly +pressing forward to catch a word, a smile, or even a look, and actually +perched on every spot from which they could obtain a glimpse of those +within. A young Russian Prince, with his arm in a sling, had just +recited the incident of his' late duel; a Neapolitan Minister had +delivered a rose-colored epistle from a Royal Highness of his own +court. A Spanish Grandee had deposited his offering of camellias, which +actually covered the front cushions of the carriage; and now a little +lane was formed for the approach of the old Duke de Brignolles, who +made his advance with a mingled courtesy and haughtiness that told of +Versailles and long ago. + +A very creditable specimen of the old _noblesse_ of France was the Duke, +and well worthy to be the grandson of one who was Grand Marechal to +Louis XIV. Tall, thin, and slightly stooped from age, his dark eye +seemed to glisten the brighter beneath his shaggy white eyebrows. He +had served with distinction as a soldier, and been an ambassador at the +court of the Czar Paul; in every station he had filled sustaining +the character of a true and loyal gentleman,--a man who could reflect +nothing but honor upon the great country he belonged to. It was amongst +the scandal of Florence that he was the most devoted of La Contessa's +admirers; but we are quite willing to believe that his admiration had +nothing in it of love. At all events, she distinguished him by her most +marked notice. He was the frequent guest of her choicest dinners, and +the constant visitor at her evenings at home. It was, then, with a +degree of favor that many an envious heart coveted, she extended her +hand to him as he came forward, which he kissed with all the lowly +deference he would have shown to that of his prince. + +"_Mon cher Duc_" said she, smiling, "I have such a store of grievances +to lay at your door. The essence of violets is not violets, but +verbena." + +"Charming Comtesse, I had it direct from Pierrot's." + +"Pierrot is a traitor, then, that's all; and where's Ida's Arab? is he +to be here to-day, or to-morrow? When are we to see him?" + +"Why, I only wrote to the Emir on Tuesday last." + +"_Mais a quoi bon l'Emir_ if he can't do impossibilities? Surely the +very thought of him brings up the Arabian Nights and the Calif Haroun. +By the way, thank you for the poignard. It is true Damascus, is it not?" + +"Of course. I 'd not have dared--" + +"To be sure not. I told the Archduchess it was. I wore it in my Turkish +dress on Wednesday, and you, false man, would n't come to admire me!" + +"You know what a sad day was that for me, madam," said he, solemnly. "It +was the anniversary of her fate who was your only rival in beauty, as +she had no rival in undeserved misfortunes." + +"_Pauvre Reine!_" sighed the Countess, and held her bouquet to her face. + +"What great mass of papers is that you have there, Duke?" resumed she. +"Can it be a journal?" + +"It is an English newspaper, my dear Countess. As I know you do not +receive any of his countrymen, I have not asked your permission +to present the Lord Selby; but hearing him read out your name in a +paragraph here, I carried off his paper to have it translated for me. +You read English, don't you?" + +"Very imperfectly, and I detest it," said she, impatiently; "but Prince +Volkoffsky can, I am sure, oblige you." And she turned away her head, in +ill humor. + +"It is here somewhere. _Parbleu_, I thought I marked the place," +muttered the Duke, as he handed the paper to the Russian. "Is n't that +it?" + +"This is all about theatres,--Madame Pasta and the Haymarket." + +"Ah! well, it is lower down; here, perhaps." + +"Court news. The Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar--" + +"No, no; not that." + +"Oh, here it is. 'Great Scandal in High Life.--A very singular +correspondence has just passed, and will soon, we believe, be made +public, between the Heralds' College and Lord Glencore.'" Here the +reader stopped, and lowered his voice at the next word. + +"Read on, Prince. _C'est mon mari_," said she, coldly, while a very +slight movement of her upper lip betrayed what might mean scorn or +sorrow, or even both. + +The Prince, however, had now run his eyes over the paragraph, and +crushing the newspaper in his hand, hurried away from the spot. The Duke +as quickly followed, and soon overtook him. + +"Who gave you this paper, Duke?" cried the Russian, angrily. + +"It was Lord Selby. He was reading it aloud to a friend." + +"Then he is an _infame!_ and I 'll tell him so," cried the other, +passionately. "Which is he? the one with the light moustache, or the +shorter one?" And, without waiting for reply, the Russian dashed between +the carriages, and thrusting his way through the prancing crowd +of moving horses, arrived at a spot where two young men, evidently +strangers to the scene, were standing, calmly surveying the bright +panorama before them. + +"The Lord Selby," said the Russian, taking off his hat and saluting one +of them. + +"That's his Lordship," replied the one he addressed, pointing to his +friend. + +"I am the Prince Volkoffsky, aide-de-camp to the Emperor," said the +Russian; "and hearing from my friend the Duke de Brignolles that you +have just given him this newspaper, that he might obtain the translation +of a passage in it which concerns Lady Glencore, and have the +explanation read out at her own carriage, publicly, before all the +world, I desire to tell you that your Lordship is unworthy of your rank; +that you are an _infame!_ and if you do not resent this, a _polisson!_" + +"This man is mad, Selby," said the short man, with the coolest air +imaginable. + +"Quite sane enough to give your friend a lesson in good manners; and you +too, sir, if you have any fancy for it," said the Russian. + +"I'd give him in charge to the police, by Jove! if there were police +here," said the same one who spoke before; "he can't be a gentleman." + +"There 's my card, sir," said the Russian; "and for you too, sir," said +he, presenting another to him who spoke. + +"Where are you to be heard of?" said the short man. + +"At the Russian legation," said the Prince, haughtily, and turned away. + +"You're wrong, Baynton, he is a gentleman," said Lord Selby, as he +pocketed the card, "though certainly he is not a very mild-tempered +specimen of his order." + +"You did n't give the newspaper as he said--" + +"Nothing of the kind. I was reading it aloud to you when the royal +carriages came suddenly past; and, in taking off my hat to salute, I +never noticed that the old Duke had carried off the paper. I know he +can't read English, and the chances are, he has asked this Scythian +gentleman to interpret for him." + +"So, then, the affair is easily settled," said the other, quietly. + +"Of course it is," was the answer; and they both lounged about among +the carriages, which already were thinning, and, after a while, set out +towards the city. + +They had but just reached the hotel, when a stranger presented himself +to them as the Count de Marny. He had come as the friend of Prince +Volkoffsky, who had fully explained to him the event of that afternoon. + +"Well," said Baynton, "we are of opinion your friend has conducted +himself exceedingly ill, and we are here to receive his excuses." + +"I am afraid, messieurs," said the Frenchman, bowing, "that it will +exhaust your patience if you continue to wait for them. Might it not +be better to come and accept what he is quite prepared to offer +you,--satisfaction?" + +"Be it so," said Lord Selby: "he 'll see his mistake some time or other, +and perhaps regret it. Where shall it be?--and when?" + +"At the Fossombroni Villa, about two miles from this. To-morrow morning, +at eight, if that suit you." + +"Quite well. I have no other appointment. Pistols, of course?" + +"You have the choice, otherwise my friend would have preferred the +sword." + +"Take him at his word, Selby," whispered Baynton; "you are equal to any +of them with the rapier." + +"If your friend desire the sword, I have no objection,--I mean the +rapier." + +"The rapier be it," said the Frenchman; and with a polite assurance +of the infinite honor he felt in forming their acquaintance, and the +gratifying certainty that they were sure to possess of his highest +consideration, he bowed, backed, and withdrew. + +"Well-mannered fellow, the Frenchman," said Baynton, as the door closed; +and the other nodded assent, and rang the bell for dinner. + + + +CHAPTER XX. THE VILLA FOSSOMBRONI + +The grounds of the Villa Fossombroni were, at the time we speak of, +the Chalk Farm, or the Fifteen Acres of Tuscany. The villa itself, long +since deserted by the illustrious family whose name it bore, had fallen +into the hands of an old Pied-montese noble, ruined by a long life of +excess and dissipation. He had served with gallantry in the imperial +army of France, but was dismissed the service for a play transaction +in which his conduct was deeply disgraceful; and the Colonel Count +Tasseroni, of the 8th Hussars of the Guards, was declared unworthy to +wear the uniform of a Frenchman. + +For a number of years he had lived so estranged from the world that +many believed he had died; but at last it was known that he had gone +to reside in a half-ruined villa near Florence, which soon became the +resort of a certain class of gamblers whose habits would have speedily +attracted notice if practised within the city. The quarrels and +altercations, so inseparable from high play, were usually settled on the +spot in which they occurred, until at last the villa became famous for +these meetings, and the name of Fossombroni, in a discussion, was the +watchword for a duel. + +It was of a splendid spring morning that the two Englishmen arrived +at this spot, which, even on the unpleasant errand that they had come, +struck them with surprise and admiration. The villa itself was one +of those vast structures which the country about Florence abounds in. +Gloomy, stern, and jail-like without, while within, splendid apartments +opened into each other in what seems an endless succession. Frescoed +walls and gorgeously ornamented ceilings, gilded mouldings and rich +tracery, were on every side; and these, too, in chambers where the +immense proportions and the vast space recalled the idea of a royal +residence. Passing in by a dilapidated "grille" which once had been +richly gilded, they entered by a flight of steps a great hall which ran +the entire length of the building. Though lighted by a double range of +windows, neglect and dirt had so dimmed the panes that the place was +almost in deep shadow. Still, they could perceive that the vaulted roof +was a mass of stuccoed tracery, and that the colossal divisions of the +wall were of brilliant Sienna marble. At one end of this great gallery +was a small chapel, now partly despoiled of its religious decorations, +which were most irreverently replaced by a variety of swords and sabres +of every possible size and shape, and several pairs of pistols, arranged +with an evident eye to picturesque grouping. + +"What are all these inscriptions here on the walls, Baynton?" cried +Selby, as he stood endeavoring to decipher the lines on a little marble +slab, a number of which were dotted over the chapel. + +"Strange enough this, by Jove!" muttered the other, reading to +himself, half aloud, "'Francesco Ricordi, ucciso da Gieronimo Gazzi, 29 +Settembre, 1818.'" + +"What does that mean?" asked Selby. + +"It is to commemorate some fellow who was killed here in '18." + +"Are they all in the same vein?" asked the other. + +"It would seem so. Here 's one: 'Gravamente ferito,'--badly wounded; +with a postscript that he died the same night." + +"What's this large one here, in black marble?" inquired Selby. + +"To the memory of Carlo Luigi Guiccidrini, 'detto il Carnefice,' called +'the slaughterer:' cut down to the forehead by Pietro Baldasseroni, on +the night of July 8th, 1819." + +"I confess any other kind of literature would amuse me as well," said +Selby, turning back again into the large hall. Baynton had scarcely +joined him when they saw advancing towards them through the gloom a +short, thickset man, dressed in a much-worn dressing-gown and slippers. + +He removed his skull-cap as he approached, and said, "The Count +Tasseroni, at your orders." + +"We have come here by appointment," said Baynton. + +"Yes, yes. I know it all. Volkoffsky sent me word. He was here on +Saturday. He gave that French colonel a sharp lesson. Ran the sword +clean through the chest. To be sure, he was wounded too, but only +through the arm; but 'La Marque' has got his passport." + +"You'll have him up there soon, then," said Baynton, pointing towards +the chapel. + +"I think not. We have not done it latterly," said the Count, musingly. +"The authorities don't seem to like it; and, of course, we respect the +authorities!" + +"That's quite evident," said Baynton, who turned to translate the +observation to his friend. + +Selby whispered a word in his ear. + +"What does the signore say?" inquired the Count. + +"My friend thinks that they are behind the time." + +"_Per Baccho!_ Let him be easy as to that. I have known some to think +that the Russian came too soon. I never heard of one who wished him +earlier! There they are now: they always come by the garden." And so +saying, he hastened off to receive them. + +"How is this fellow to handle a sword, if his right arm be wounded?" +said Selby. + +"Don't you know that these Russians use the left hand indifferently with +the right, in all exercises? It may be awkward for _you_; but, depend +upon it, _he'll_ not be inconvenienced in the least." + +As he spoke, the others entered the other end of the hall. The Prince +no sooner saw the Englishmen than he advanced towards them with his hat +off. "My lord," said he, rapidly, "I have come to make you an apology, +and one which I trust you will accept in all the frankness that I +offer it. I have learned from your friend the Duc de Brignolles how the +incident of yesterday occurred. I see that the only fault committed +was my own. Will you pardon, then, a momentary word of ill-temper, +occasioned by what I wrongfully believed to be a great injury?" + +"Of course, I knew it was all a mistake on your part. I told Colonel +Baynton, here, you'd see so yourself,--when it is too late, perhaps." + +"I thank you sincerely," said the Russian, bowing; "your readiness to +accord me this satisfaction makes your forgiveness more precious to me. +And now, as another favor, will you permit me to ask you one question?" + +"Yes, certainly." + +"Why, when you could have so easily explained this misconception on my +part, did you not take the trouble of doing so?" + +Selby looked confused, blushed, looked awkwardly from side to side, and +then, with a glance towards his friend, seemed to say, "Will you try and +answer him?" + +"I think you have hit it yourself, Prince," said Baynton. "It was the +trouble, the bore of an explanation, deterred him. He hates writing, and +he thought there would be a shower of notes to be replied to, meetings, +discussions, and what not; and so he said, 'Let him have his shot, and +have done with it.'" + +The Russian looked from one to the other as he listened, and seemed +really as if not quite sure whether this speech was uttered +in seriousness or sarcasm. The calm, phlegmatic faces of the +Englishmen,--the almost apathetic expression they wore,--soon convinced +him that the words were truthfully spoken; and he stood actually +confounded with amazement before them. + +Lord Selby and his friend freely accepted the polite invitation of the +Prince to breakfast, and they all adjourned to a small but splendidly +decorated room, where everything was already awaiting them. There are +few incidents in life which so much predispose to rapid intimacy as the +case of an averted duel. The revulsion from animosity is almost certain +to lead to, if not actual friendship, what may easily become so. In the +present instance, the very diversities of national character gave a zest +and enjoyment to the meeting; and while the Englishmen were charmed by +the fascination of manners and conversational readiness of their hosts, +the Russians were equally struck with a cool imperturbability and +impassiveness, of which they had never seen the equal. + +By degrees the Russian led the conversation to the question by which +their misunderstanding originated. "You know my Lord Glencore, perhaps?" +said he. + +"Never saw, scarcely ever heard of him," said Selby, in his dry, laconic +tone. + +"Is he mad, or a fool?" asked the Prince, half angrily. + +"I served in a regiment once where he commanded a troop," said Baynton; +"and they always said he was a good sort of fellow." + +"You read that paragraph this morning, I conclude?" said the Russian. +"You saw how he dares to stigmatize the honor of his wife,--to degrade +her to the rank of a mistress,--and, at the same time, to bastardize the +son who ought to inherit his rank and title?" + +"I read it," said Selby, dryly; "and I had a letter from my lawyer about +it this morning." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed he, anxious to hear more, and yet too delicate to +venture on a question. + +"Yes; he writes to me for some title-deeds or other. I did n't pay much +attention, exactly, to what he says. Glen-core's man of business had +addressed a letter to him." + +The Russian bowed, and waited for him to resume; but, apparently, he had +rather fatigued himself by such unusual loquacity, and so he lay back in +his chair, and puffed his cigar in indolent enjoyment. + +"A goodish sort of thing for _you_ it ought to be," said Baynton, +between the puffs of his tobacco smoke, and with a look towards Selby. + +"I suspect it may," said the other, without the slightest change of tone +or demeanor. + +"Where is it,--somewhere in the south?" + +"Mostly, Devon. There's something in Wales too, if I remember aright." + +"Nothing Irish?" + +"No, thank Heaven,--nothing Irish;" and his grim Lordship made the +nearest advance to a smile of which his unplastic features seemed +capable. + +"Do I understand you aright, my Lord," said the Prince, "that you +receive an accession of fortune by this event?" + +"I shall, if I survive Glencore," was the brief reply. + +"You are related, then?" + +"Some cousinship,--I forget how it is. Do you remember, Baynton?" + +"I'm not quite certain. I think it was a Coventry married one of Jack +Conway's sisters, and she afterwards became the wife of Sir something +Massy. Isn't that it?" + +"Yes, that's it," muttered the other, in the tone of a man who was tired +of a knotty problem. + +"And, according to your laws, this Lord Glencore may marry again?" cried +the Russian. + +"I should think so, if he has no wife living," said Selby; "but I trust, +for _my_ sake, he'll not." + +"And what if he should, and should be discovered the wedded husband of +another?" + +"That would be bigamy," said Selby. "Would they hang him, Baynton?" + +"I think not,--scarcely," rejoined the Colonel. + +The Prince tried in various ways to obtain some insight into Lord +Glencore's habits, his tastes and mode of life, but all in vain. They +knew, indeed, very little, but even that little they were too indolent +to repeat. Lord Selby's memory was often at fault, too, and Baynton's +had ill supplied the deficiency. Again and again did the Russian mutter +curses to himself over the apathy of these stony islanders. At moments +he fancied that they suspected his eagerness, and had assumed their most +guarded caution against him; but he soon perceived that this manner was +natural to them, not prompted in the slightest degree by any distrust +whatever. + +"After all," thought the Russian, "how can I hope to stimulate a man who +is not excited by his own increase of fortune? Talk of Turkish fatalism, +these fellows would shame the Moslem." + +"Do you mean to prolong your stay at Florence, my Lord?" asked the +Prince, as they arose from the table. + +"I scarcely know. What do you say, Baynton?" + +"A week or so, I fancy," muttered the other. + +"And then on to Rome, perhaps?" + +The two Englishmen looked at each other with an air of as much confusion +as if subjected to a searching examination in science. + +"Well, I shouldn't wonder," said Selby, at last, with a sigh. + +"Yes, it may come to that," said Baynton, like a man who had just +overcome a difficulty. + +"You 'll be in time for the Holy Week and all the ceremonies," said the +Prince. + +"Mind that, Baynton," said his Lordship, who wasn't going to carry what +he felt to be another man's load; and Baynton nodded acquiescence. + +"And after that comes the season for Naples,--you have a month or six +weeks, perhaps, of such weather as nothing in all Europe can vie with." + +"You hear, Baynton!" said Selby. + +"I've booked it," muttered the other; and so they took leave of their +entertainer, and set out towards Florence. Neither you nor I, dear +reader, will gain anything by keeping them company, for they say +scarcely a word by the way. They stop at intervals, and cast their eyes +over the glorious landscape at their feet. Their glances are thrown over +the fairest scene of the fairest of all lands; and whether they turn +towards the snow-capt Apennines, by Vall'ombrosa, or trace the sunny +vineyards along the Val' d' Arno, they behold a picture such as no +canvas ever imitated; still, they are mute and uncommunicative. Whatever +of pleasure their thoughts suggest, each keeps for himself. Objects of +wonder, strange sights and new, may present themselves, but they are +not to be startled out of national dignity by so ignoble a sentiment as +surprise. And so they jog onward,--doubtless richer in reflection than +eloquent in communion; and so we leave them. + +Let us not be deemed unjust or ungenerous if we assert that we have met +many such as these. They are not individuals,--they are a class; and, +strange enough too, a class which almost invariably pertains to a high +and distinguished rank in society. It would be presumptuous to ascribe +such demeanor to insensibility. There is enough in their general conduct +to disprove the assumption. As little is it affectation; it is simply +an acquired habit of stoical indifference, supposed to be--why, Heaven +knows!--the essential ingredient of the best breeding. If the practice +extinguish all emotion, and obliterate all trace of feeling from the +heart, we deplore the system. If it only gloss over the working of human +sympathy, we pity the men. At all events, they are very uninteresting +company, with whom longer dalliance would only be wearisome. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. SOME TRAITS OF LIFE + +It was the night Lady Glencore received; and, as usual, the street +was crowded with equipages, which somehow seemed to have got into +inextricable confusion,--some endeavoring to turn back, while others +pressed forward,--the court of the palace being closely packed with +carriages which the thronged street held in fast blockade. As the +apartments which faced the street were not ever used for these +receptions, the dark unlighted windows suggested no remark; but they who +had entered the courtyard were struck by the gloomy aspect of the vast +building: not only that the entrance and the stairs were in darkness, +but the whole suite of rooms, usually brilliant as the day, were now in +deep gloom. From every carriage window heads were protruded, wondering +at this strange spectacle; and eager inquiries passed on every side +for an explanation. The explanation of "sudden illness" was rapidly +disseminated, but as rapidly contradicted, and the reply given by +the porter to all demands quickly repeated from mouth to mouth, "Her +Ladyship will not receive." + +"Can no one explain this mystery?" cried the old Princess Borinsky, as, +heavy with fat and diamonds, she hung out of her carriage window. +"Oh, there 's Major Scaresby; he is certain to know, if it be anything +malicious." + +Scaresby was, however, too busy in recounting his news to others to +perceive the signals the old Princess held out; and it was only as +her chasseur, six feet three of green and gold, bent down to give her +Highness's message, that the Major hurried off, in all the importance of +a momentary scandal, to the side of her carriage. + +"Here I am, all impatience. What is it, Scaresby? Tell me quickly," +cried she. + +"A smash, my dear Princess,--nothing more or less," said he, in a voice +which nature seemed to have invented to utter impertinences, so harsh +and grating, and yet so painfully distinct in all its accents,--"as +complete a smash as ever I heard of." + +"You can't mean that her fortune is in peril?" + +"I suppose that must suffer also. It is her character--her station as +one of us--that's shipwrecked here." + +"Go on, go on," cried she, impatiently; "I wish to hear it all." + +"All is very briefly related, then," said he. "The charming Countess, +you remember, ran away with a countryman of mine, young Glencore, of the +8th Hussars; I used to know his father intimately." + +"Never mind his father." + +"That 's exactly what Glencore did. He came over here and fell in +love with the girl, and they ran off together; but they forgot to get +married, Princess. Ha--ha--ha!" And he laughed with a cackle a demon +could not have rivalled. + +"I don't believe a word of it,--I'll never believe it," cried the +Princess. + +"That's exactly what I was recommending to the Mar-quesa Guesteni. I +said, you need n't believe it. Why, how do we go anywhere, nowadays, +except by 'not believing' the evil stories that are told of our +entertainers." + +"Yes, yes; but I repeat that this is an infamous calumny. She, a +Countess, of a family second to none in all Italy; her father a Grand +d'Espagne. I 'll go to her this moment." + +"She'll not see you. She has just refused to see La Genori," said the +Major, tartly. "Though, if a cracked reputation might have afforded any +sympathy, she might have admitted _her_." + +"What is to be done?" exclaimed the Princess, sorrowfully. + +"Just what you suggested a few moments ago,--don't believe it. Hang +me, but good houses and good cooks are growing too scarce to make one +credulous of the ills that can be said of their owners." + +"I wish I knew what course to take," muttered the Princess. + +"I'll tell you, then. Get half a dozen of your own set together +to-morrow morning, vote the whole story an atrocious falsehood, and +go in a body and tell the Countess your mind. You know as well as I, +Princess, that social credit is as great a bubble as commercial; we +should all of us be bankrupts if our books were seen. Ay, by Jove! and +the similitude goes farther too; for when one old established house +breaks, there is generally a crash in the whole community around it." + +While they thus talked, a knot had gathered around the carriage, all +eager to hear what opinion the Princess had formed on the catastrophe. + +Various were the sentiments expressed by the different speakers,--some +sorrowfully deploring the disaster; others more eagerly inveighing +against the infamy of the man who had proclaimed it. Many declared that +they had come to the determination to discredit the story. Not one, +however, sincerely professed that he disbelieved it. + +Can it be, as the French moralist asserts, that we have a latent sense +of satisfaction in the misfortunes of even our best friends; or is it, +as we rather suspect, that true friendship is a rarer thing than +is commonly believed, and has little to do with those conventional +intimacies which so often bear its name? + +Assuredly of all this well-bred, well-dressed, and wellborn company, now +thronging the courtyard of the palace and the street in front of it, the +tone was as much sarcasm as sorrow, and many a witty epigram and smart +speech were launched over a disaster which might have been spared such +levity. At length the space slowly began to thin. Slowly carriage after +carriage drove off,--the heaviest grief of their occupants often being +over a lost _soiree_, an unprofited occasion to display toilette and +jewels; while a few, more reflective, discussed what course was to be +followed in future, and what recognition extended to the victim. + +The next day Florence sat in committee over the lost Countess. Witnesses +were heard and evidence taken as to her case. They all agreed it was a +great hardship,--a terrible calamity; but still, if true, what could be +done? + +Never was there a society less ungenerously prudish, and yet there were +cases--this, one of them--which transgressed all conventional rule. +Like a crime which no statute had ever contemplated, it stood out +self-accused and self-condemned. A few might, perhaps, have been +merciful, but they were overborne by numbers. Lady Glencore's beauty and +her vast fortune were now counts in the indictment against her, and many +a jealous rival was not sorry at this hour of humiliation. The despotism +of beauty is not a very mild sway, after all; and perhaps the Countess +had exercised her rule right royally. At all events, it was the young +and the good-looking who voted her exclusion, and only those who could +not enter into competition with her charms who took the charitable +side. They discussed and debated the question all day; but while they +hesitated over the reprieve, the prisoner was beyond the law. The gate +of the palace, locked and barred all day, refused entrance to every one; +at night, it opened to admit the exit of a travelling-carriage. The next +morning large bills of sale, posted over the walls, declared that all +the furniture and decorations-were to be sold. + +The Countess had left Florence, none knew whither. + +"I must really have those large Sevres jars," said one. + +"And I, the small park phaeton," cried another. + +"I hope she has not taken Horace with her; he was the best cook in +Italy. Splendid hock she had,--I wonder is there much of it left?" + +"I wish we were certain of another bad reputation to replace her," +grunted out Scaresby; "they are the only kind of people who give good +dinners, and never ask for returns." + +And thus these dear friends--guests of a hundred brilliant +fetes--discussed the fall of her they once had worshipped. + +It may seem small-minded and narrow to stigmatize such conduct as this. +Some may say that for the ordinary courtesies of society no pledges of +friendship are required, no real gratitude incurred. Be it so. Still, +the revulsion, from habits of deference and respect, to disparagement, +and even sarcasm, is a sorry evidence of human kindness; and the +threshold, over which for years we had only passed as guests, might well +suggest sadder thoughts as we tread it to behold desolation. + +The fair Countess had been the celebrity of that city for many a day. +The stranger of distinction sought her, as much as a matter of course +as he sought presentation to the sovereign. Her _salons_ had the double +eminence of brilliancy in rank and brilliancy in wit; her entertainments +were cited as models of elegance and refinement; and now she was gone! +The extreme of regret that followed her was the sorrow of those who were +to dine there no more; the grief of him who thought he should never have +a house like it. + +The respectable vagabonds of society are a large family, much larger +than is usually supposed. They are often well born, almost always well +mannered, invariably well dressed. They do not, at first blush, appear +to discharge any very great or necessary function in life; but we must +by no means, from that, infer their inutility. Naturalists tell us +that several varieties of insect existence we rashly set down as mere +annoyances, have their peculiar spheres of usefulness and good; and, +doubtless, these same loungers contribute in some mysterious manner to +the welfare of that state which they only seem to burden. We are told +that but for flies, for instance, we should be infested with myriads of +winged tormentors, insinuating themselves into our meat and drink, and +rendering life miserable. Is there not something very similar performed +by the respectable class I allude to? Are they not invariably devouring +and destroying some vermin a little smaller than themselves, and making +thus a healthier atmosphere for their betters? If good society only knew +the debt it owes to these defenders of its privileges, a "Vagabonds' +Home and Aged Asylum" would speedily figure amongst bur national +charities. + +We have been led to these thoughts by observing how distinctly different +was Major Scaresby's tone in talking of the Countess when he addressed +his betters or spoke in his own class. To the former he gave vent to all +his sarcasm and bitterness; they liked it just because they would n't +condescend to it themselves. To his own he put on the bullying air of +one who said, "How should _you_ possibly know what vices such great +people have, any more than you know what they have for dinner? _I_ live +amongst them,--_I_ understand them,--_I_ am aware that what would be +very shocking in _you_ is quite permissible to _them_. _They_ know +how to be wicked; _you_ only know how to be gross." And thus Scaresby +talked, and sneered, and scoffed, making such a hash of good and evil, +such a Maelstrom of right and wrong, that it were a subtle moralist who +could have extracted one solitary scrap of uncontaminated meaning from +all his muddy lucubrations. + +He, however, effected this much: he kept the memory of her who had +gone, alive by daily calumnies. He embalmed her in poisons, each morning +appearing with some new trait of her extravagance, till the world, grown +sick of himself and his theme, vowed they would hear no more of either; +and so she was forgotten. + +Ay, good reader, utterly forgotten! The gay world, for so it likes to be +called, has no greater element of enjoyment amongst all its high gifts +than its precious power of forgetting. It forgets not only all it +owes to others,--gratitude, honor, and esteem,--but even the closer +obligations it has contracted with itself. The Palazzo della Torre was +for a fortnight the resort of the curious and the idle. At the sale +crowds appeared to secure some object of especial value to each; +and then the gates were locked, the shutters closed, and a large, +ill-written notice on the door announced that any letters for the +proprietor were to be addressed to "Pietro Arretini, Via del Sole." + + + +CHAPTER XXII. AN UPTONIAN DESPATCH + +British Legation, Naples. My dear Harcourt,--It would seem that a letter +of mine to you must have miscarried,--a not unfrequent occurrence when +entrusted to our Foreign Office for transmission. Should it ever reach +you, you will perceive how unjustly you have charged me with neglecting +your wishes. I have ordered the Sicilian wine for your friend; I have +obtained the Royal leave for you to shoot in Calabria; and I assure +you it is rather a rare incident in my life to have forgotten nothing +required of me! Perhaps you, who know me well, will do me this justice, +and be the more grateful for my present promptitude. + +It was quite a mistake sending me here; for anything there is to be +done, Spencer or Lonsdale would perfectly suffice. _I_ ought to have +gone to Vienna,--and so they know at home; but it's the old game played +over again. Important questions! why, my dear friend, there is not a +matter between this country and our own that rises above the capacity +of a Colonel of Dragoons. Meanwhile really great events are preparing in +the East of Europe,--not that I am going to inflict them upon you, nor +ask you to listen to speculations which even those in authority turn a +deaf ear to. + +It is very kind of you to think of my health. I am still a sufferer; the +old pains rather aggravated than relieved by this climate. You are aware +that, though warm, the weather here has some exciting property, some +excess or other of a peculiar gas in the atmosphere, prejudicial to +certain temperaments. I feel it greatly; and though the season is +midsummer, I am obliged to dress entirely in a light costume of +buckskin, and take Marsalla baths, which refresh me, at least for the +while. I have also taken to smoke the leaves of the nux vomica, steeped +in arrack, and think it agrees with me. The King has most kindly placed +a little villa at Ischia at my disposal; but I do not mean to avail +myself of the politeness. The Duke of San Giustino has also offered me +his palace at Baia; but I don't fancy leaving this just now, where there +is a doctor, a certain Luigi Buffeloni, who really seems to have hit +off my case. He calls it arterial arthriticis,--a kind of inflammatory +action of one coat of the arterial system; his notion is highly +ingenious, and wonderfully borne out by the symptoms. I wish you would +ask Brodie, or any of our best men, whether they have met with this +affection; what class it affects, and what course it usually takes? +My Italian doctor implies that it is the passing malady of men highly +excitable, and largely endowed with mental gifts. He may, or may not, +be correct in this. It is only nature makes the blunder of giving the +sharpest swords the weakest scabbards. What a pity the weapon cannot be +worn naked! + +You ask me if I like this place. I do, perhaps, as well as I should +like anywhere. There is a wonderful sameness over the world just now, +preluding, I have very little doubt, some great outburst of nationality +from all the countries of Europe,--just as periods of Puritanism succeed +intervals of gross licentiousness. + +Society here is, therefore, what you see it in London or Paris; +well-bred people, like Gold, are current everywhere. There is really +little peculiar to observe. I don't perceive that there is more levity +than elsewhere. The difference is, perhaps, that there is less shame +about it, since it is under the protection of the Church. + +I go out very little; my notion is, that the Diplomatist, like the +ancient Augur, must not suffer himself to be vulgarized by contact. He +can only lose, not gain, by that mixed intercourse with the world. I +have a few who come when I want them, and go in like manner. They +tell me "what is going on," far better and more truthfully than paid +employees, and they cannot trace my intentions through my inquiries, +and hasten off to retail them at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of my +colleagues I see as little as possible, though, when we do meet, I feel +an unbounded affection for them. So much for my life, dear Harcourt; on +the whole, a very tolerable kind of existence, which if few would envy, +still fewer would care to part with. + +I now come to the chief portion of your letter. This boy of Glencore's, +I rather like the account you give of him, better than you do yourself. +Imaginative and dreamy he may be, but remember what he was, and where we +have placed him. A moonstruck, romantic youth at a German University. Is +it not painting the lily? + +I merely intended he should go to Goettingen to learn the +language,--always a difficulty, if not abstracted from other and more +dulcet sounds. I never meant to have him domesticated with some rusty +Hochgelehrter, eating sauer-kraut in company with a green-eyed Fraulein, +and imbibing love and metaphysics together. Let him "moon away," as you +call it, my dear Harcourt. It is wonderfully little consequence what any +one does with his intellect till he be three or four and twenty. Indeed, +I half suspect that the soil might be left quietly to rear weeds till +that time; and as to dreaminess, it signifies nothing if there be a +strong "physique." With a weak frame, imagination will play the tyrant, +and never cease till it dominates over all the other faculties; but +where there is strength and activity, there is no fear of this. + +You amuse me with your account of the doctor; and so the Germans have +actually taken him for a savant, and given him a degree "honoris +causa." May they never make a worse blunder. The man is eminently +remarkable,--with his opportunities, miraculous. I am certain, Harcourt, +you never felt half the pleasure on arriving at a region well stocked +with game, that he did on finding himself in a land of Libraries, +Museums, and Collections. Fancy the poor fellow's ecstasy at being +allowed to range at will through all ancient literature, of which +hitherto a stray volume alone had reached him. Imagine his delight as +each day opened new stores of knowledge to him, surrounded as he was by +all that could encourage zeal and reward research. The boy's treatment +of him pleases me much; it smacks of the gentle blood in his veins. Poor +lad, there is something very sad in his case. + +You need not have taken such trouble about accounts and expenditure; of +course, whatever you have done I perfectly approve of. You say that the +boy has no idea of money or its value. There is both good and evil in +this. And now as to his future. I should have no objection whatever to +having him attached to my Legation here, and perhaps no great difficulty +in effecting his appointment; but there is a serious obstacle in his +position. The young men who figure at embassies and missions are all +"cognate numbers." They each of them know who and what the other is, +whence he came, and so on. Now, our poor boy could not stand this +ordeal, nor would it be fair he should be exposed to it. Besides this, +it was never Glencore's wish, but the very opposite to it, that he +should be brought prominently forward in life. He even suggested one of +the Colonies as the means of withdrawing him at once, and forever, from +public gaze. + +You have interested me much by what you say of the boy's progress. His +tastes, I infer, lie in the direction which, in a worldly sense, are +least profitable; but, after all, Harcourt, every one has brains enough, +and to spare, for any career. Let us only decide upon that one most +fitted for him, and, depend upon it, his faculties will day by day +conform to his duties, and his tastes be merely dissipations, just as +play or wine is to coarser natures. + +If you really press the question of his coming to me, I will not refuse, +seeing that I can take my own time to consider what steps subsequently +should be adopted. How is it that you know nothing of Glencore,--can he +not be traced? + +Lord Selby, whom you may remember in the Blues formerly, dined here +yesterday, and mentioned a communication he had received from his lawyer +with regard to some property entail, which, if Glencore should leave +no heir male, devolved upon him. I tried to find out the whereabouts and +the amount of this heritage; but, with the admirable indifference that +characterizes him, he did not know or care. + +As to my Lady, I can give you no information whatever. Her house at +Florence is uninhabited, the furniture is sold off; but no one seems +even to guess whither she has betaken herself. The fast and loose +of that pleasant city are, as I hear, actually houseless since her +departure. No asylum opens there with fire and cigars. A number of +the destitute have come down here in half despair, amongst the rest +Scaresby,--Major Scaresby, an insupportable nuisance of flat stories +and stale gossip; one of those fellows who cannot make even malevolence +amusing, and who speak ill of their neighbors without a single spark +of wit. He has left three cards upon me, each duly returned; but I am +resolved that our inter-change of courtesies shall proceed no farther. + +I trust I have omitted nothing in reply to your last despatch, except +it be to say that I look for you here about September, or earlier, if as +convenient to you; you will, of course, write to me, however, meanwhile. + +Do not mention having heard from me, at the clubs or in society. I am, +as I have the right to be, on the sick list, and it is as well my rest +should remain undisturbed. + +I wish you had any means of making it known that the article in the +"Quarterly," on our Foreign relations, is not mine. The newspapers have +coolly assumed me to be the author, and of course I am not going to give +them the _eclat_ of a personal denial. The fellow who wrote it must be +an ass; since had he known what he pretends, he had never revealed it. +He who wants to bag his bird, Colonel, never bangs away at nothing. I +have now completed a longer despatch to you than I intend to address to +the Noble Secretary at F. O., and am yours, very faithfully, + +Horace Upton. + +Whose Magnesia is it that contains essence of Bark? Tripley's or +Chipley's, I think. Find it out for me, and send me a packet through the +office; put up Fauchard's pamphlet with it, on Spain, and a small box +of those new blisters,--Mouches they are called; they are to be had at +Atkinson's. I have got so accustomed to their stimulating power that I +never write without one or two on my forehead. They tell me the cautery, +if dexterously applied, is better; but I have not tried it. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. THE TUTOR AND HIS PUPIL + +We are not about to follow up the correspondence of Sir Horace by +detailing the reply which Harcourt sent, and all that thereupon ensued +between them. + +We pass over, then, some months of time, and arrive at the late autumn. + +It is a calm, still morning; the sea, streaked with tinted shadows, +is without a ripple; the ships of many nations that float on it are +motionless, their white sails hung out to bleach, their ensigns drooping +beside the masts. Over the summit of Vesuvius--for we are at Naples--a +light blue cloud hangs, the solitary one in all the sky. A mild, +plaintive song, the chant of some fishermen on the rocks, is the only +sound, save the continuous hum of that vast city, which swells and falls +at intervals. + +Close beside the sea, seated on a rock, are two figures. One is that +of a youth of some eighteen or nineteen years; his features, eminently +handsome, wear an expression of gloomy pride as in deep preoccupation +he gazes out over the bay; to all seeming, indifferent to the fair scene +before him, and wrapped in his own sad thoughts. The other is a short, +square-built, almost uncouth figure, overshadowed by a wide straw hat, +which seems even to diminish his stature; a suit of black, wide +and ample enough for one twice his size, gives his appearance a +grotesqueness to which his features contribute their share. + +It is, indeed, a strange physiognomy, to which Celt and Calmuc seem +equally to contribute. The low, overhanging forehead, the intensely keen +eye, sparkling with an almost imp-like drollery, are contrasted by +a firmly compressed mouth and a far-projecting under-jaw that imply +sternness even to cruelty; a mass of waving black hair, that covers neck +and shoulders, adds a species of savagery to a head which assuredly +has no need of such aid. Bent down over a large quarto volume, he never +lifts his eyes; but, intently occupied, his lips are rapidly repeating +the words as he reads them. + +"Do you mean to pass the morning here?" asks the youth, at length, "or +where shall I find you later on?" + +"I 'll do whatever you like best," said the other, in a rich brogue; "I +'m agreeable to go or stay,--_ad utrumque pa-ratus_." And Billy Traynor, +for it was he, shut up his venerable volume. + +"I don't wish to disturb you," said the boy, mildly, "you can read. I +cannot; I have a fretful, impatient feeling over me that perhaps will +go off with exercise. I'll set out, then, for a walk, and come back here +towards evening, then go and dine at the Rocca, and afterwards whatever +you please." + +"If you say that, then," said Billy, in a voice of evident delight, +"we'll finish the day at the Professor Tadeucci's, and get him to go +over that analysis again." + +"I have no taste for chemistry. It always seems to me to end where it +began," said the boy, impatiently. "Where do all researches tend to? +how are you elevated in intellect? how are your thoughts higher, wider, +nobler, by all these mixings and manipulations?" + +"Is it nothing to know how thunder and lightning is made; to understand +electricity; to dive into the secrets of that old crater there, and see +the ingredients in the crucible that was bilin' three thousand years +ago?" + +"These things appeal more grandly to my imagination when the mystery +of their forces is unrevealed. I like to think of them as dread +manifestations of a mighty will, rather than gaseous combinations or +metallic affinities." + +"And what prevents you?" said Billy, eagerly. "Is the grandeur of +the phenomenon impaired because it is in part intelligible? Ain't you +elevated as a reasoning being when you get what I may call a peep into +God's workshop, rather than by implicitly accepting results just as any +old woman accepts a superstition?" + +"There is something ignoble in mechanism," said the boy, angrily. + +"Don't say that, while your heart is beatin' and your arteries is +contractin; never say it as long as your lungs dilate or collapse. +It's mechanism makes water burst out of the ground, and, swelling into +streams, flow as mighty rivers through the earth. It's mechanism raises +the sap to the topmost bough of the cedar-tree that waves over Lebanon. +'T is the same power moves planets above, just to show us that as there +is nothing without a cause, there is one great and final 'Cause' behind +all." + +"And will you tell me," said the boy, sneeringly, "that a sunbeam pours +more gladness into your heart because a prism has explained to you the +composition of light?" + +"God's blessings never seemed the less to me because he taught me the +beautiful laws that guide them," said Billy, reverently; "every little +step that I take out of darkness is on the road, at least, to Him." + +In part abashed by the words, in part admonished by the tone of the +speaker, the boy was silent for some minutes. "You know, Billy," said +he, at length, "that I spoke in no irreverence; that I would no more +insult your convictions than I would outrage my own. It is simply that +it suits my dreamy indolence to like the wonderful better than the +intelligible; and you must acknowledge that there never was so palatable +a theory for ignorance." + +"Ay, but I don't want you to be ignorant," said Billy, earnestly; +"and there's no greater mistake than supposing that knowledge is an +impediment to the play of fancy. Take my word for it, Master Charles, +imagination, no more than any one else, does not work best in the dark." + +"I certainly am no adept under such circumstances," said the boy. "I +have n't told you what happened me in the studio last night. I went in +without a candle, and, trying to grope my way to the table, I overturned +the large olive jar, full of clay, against my Niobe, and smashed her to +atoms." + +"Smashed Niobe!" cried Billy, in horror. + +"In pieces. I stood over her sadder than ever she felt herself, and I +have not had the courage to enter the studio since." + +"Come, come, let us see if she couldn't be restored," said Billy, +rising. "Let us go down there together." + +"You may, if you have any fancy,--there's the key," said the boy. "I 'll +return there no more till the rubbish be cleared away." And so saying, +he moved off, and was soon out of sight. + +Deeply grieving over this disaster, Billy Traynor hastened from the +spot, but he had only reached the garden of the Chiaja when he heard a +faint, weak voice calling him by his name; he turned, and saw Sir Horace +Upton, who, seated in a sort of portable arm-chair, was enjoying the +fresh air from the sea. + +"Quite a piece of good fortune to meet you, Doctor," said he, smiling; +"neither you nor your pupil have been near me for ten days or more." + +"'Tis our own loss then, your Excellency," said Billy, bowing; "even +a chance few minutes in your company is like whetting the intellectual +razor,--I feel myself sharper for the whole day after." + +"Then why not come oftener, man? Are you afraid of wearing the steel all +away?" + +"'T is more afraid I am of gapping the fine edge of your Excellency by +contact with my own ruggedness," said Billy, obsequiously. + +"You were intended for a courtier, Doctor," said Sir Horace, smiling. + +"If there was such a thing as a court fool nowadays, I'd look for the +place." + +"The age is too dull for such a functionary. They'll not find ten men +in any country of Europe equal to the office," said Sir Horace. "One has +only to see how lamentably dull are the journals dedicated to wit and +drollery, to admit this fact; though written by many hands, how rare +it is to chance upon what provokes a laugh. You 'll have fifty +metaphysicians anywhere before you 'll hit on one Moliere. Will you +kindly open that umbrella for me? This autumnal sun, they say, gives +sunstroke. And now what do you think of this boy? He'll not make a +diplomatist, that's clear." + +"He 'll not make anything,--just for one simple reason, because he could +be whatever he pleased." + +"An intellectual spendthrift," sighed Sir Horace "What a hopeless +bankruptcy it leads to!" + +"My notion is 'twould be spoiling him entirely to teach him a trade or +a profession. Let his great faculties shoot up without being trimmed or +trained; don't want to twist or twine or turn them at all, but just see +whether he won't, out of his uncurbed nature, do better than all our +discipline could effect. There's no better colt than the one that was +never backed till he was a five-year-old." + +"He ought to have a career," said Sir Horace, thoughtfully. "Every man +ought to have a calling, if only that he may be able to abandon it." + +"Just as a sailor has a point of departure," said Billy. + +"Precisely," said Sir Horace, pleased at being so well appreciated. + +"You are aware, Doctor," resumed he, after a pause, "that the lad will +have little or no private fortune. There are family circumstances that +I cannot enter into, nor would your own delicacy require it, that will +leave him almost dependent on his own efforts. Now, as time is rolling +over, we should bethink us what direction it were wisest to give his +talents; for he has talents." + +"He has genius and talents both," said Billy; "he has the raw material, +and the workshop to manufacture it." + +"I am rejoiced to hear such an account from one so well able to +pronounce," said Sir Horace, blandly; and Billy bowed, and blushed with +a sense of happiness that none but humble men, so praised, could ever +feel. + +"I should like much to hear what you would advise for him," said Upton. + +"He's so full of promise," said Billy, "that whatever he takes to he 'll +be sure to fancy he 'd be better at something else. See, now,--it isn 't +a bull I 'm sayin', but I 'll make a blunder of it if I try to explain." + +"Go on; I think I apprehend you." + +"By coorse you do. Well, it's that same feelin' makes me cautious +of sayin' what he ought to do. For, after all, a variety of capacity +implies discursiveness, and discursiveness is the mother of failure." + +"You speak like an oracle, Doctor." + +"If I do, it's because the priest is beside me," said Billy, howmg. "My +notion is this: I'd let him cultivate his fine gifts for a year or two +in any way he liked,--in work or idleness; for they 'll grow in the +fallow as well as in the tilled land. I 'd let him be whatever he +liked,--striving always, as he's sure to be striving, after something +higher, and greater, and better than he'll ever reach; and then, when he +has felt both his strength and his weakness, I 'd try and attach him to +some great man in public life; set a grand ambition before him, and say, +'Go on.'" + +"He's scarcely the stuff for public life," muttered Sir Horace. + +"He is," said Billy, boldly. + +"He 'd be easily abashed,--easily deterred by failure." + +"Sorra bit. Success might cloy, but failure would never damp him." + +"I can't fancy him a speaker." + +"Rouse him by a strong theme and a flat contradiction, and you 'll see +what he can do." + +"And then his lounging, idle habits--" + +"He'll do more in two hours than any one else in two days." + +"You are a warm admirer, my dear Doctor," said Sir Horace, smiling +blandly. "I should almost rather have such a friend than the qualities +that win the friendship.--Have you a message for me, Antoine?" said +he to a servant who stood at a little distance, waiting the order to +approach. The man came forward, and whispered a few words. Sir Horace's +cheek gave a faint, the very faintest possible, sign of flush as he +listened, and uttering a brief "Very well," dismissed the messenger. + +"Will you give me your arm, Doctor?" said he, languidly; and the elegant +Sir Horace Upton passed down the crowded promenade, leaning on his +uncouth companion, without the slightest consciousness of the surprise +and sarcasm around him. No man more thoroughly could appreciate +conventionalities; he would weigh the effect of appearances to the +veriest nicety; but in practice he seemed either to forget his knowledge +or despise it. So that, as leaning on the little dwarf's arm he moved +along, his very air of fashionable languor seemed to heighten the +absurdity of the contrast. Nay, he actually seemed to bestow an almost +deferential attention to what the other said, bowing blandly his +acquiescence, and smiling with an urbanity all his own. + +Of the crowd that passed, nearly all knew the English Minister. +Uncovered heads were bent obsequiously; graceful salutations met him as +he went; while a hundred conjectures ran as to who and what might be his +companion. + +He was a Mesmeric Professor, a Writer in Cipher, a Rabbi, an Egyptian +Explorer, an Alchemist, an African Traveller, and, at last, Monsieur +Thiers!--and so the fine world of Naples discussed the humble individual +whom you and I, dear reader, are acquainted with as Billy Traynor. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. HOW A "RECEPTION" COMES TO ITS CLOSE + +On the evening of that day the handsome saloons of the great Hotel +"Universo" were filled with a brilliant assemblage to compliment the +Princess Sabloukoff on her arrival. We have already introduced this lady +to the reader, and have no need to explain the homage and attention +of which she was the object. There is nothing which so perfectly +illustrates the maxim of _ignotum pro magnifico_ as the career of +politics; certain individuals obtaining, as they do, a pre-eminence +and authority from a species of mysterious prestige about them, and a +reputation of having access at any moment to the highest personage in +the world of state affairs. Doubtless great ministers are occasionally +not sorry to see the public full cry on a false scent, and encourage to +a certain extent this mystification; but still it would be an error +to deny to such persons as we speak of a knowledge, if not actually an +influence, in great affairs. + +When the Swedish Chancellor uttered his celebrated sarcasm on the +governing capacities of Europe, the political _salon_, as a state +engine, was not yet in existence. What additional energy might it have +given to his remark, had he known that the tea-table was the chapel of +ease to the council-room, and gossip a new power in the state. Despotic +governments are always curious about public opinion; they dread while +affecting to despise it. They, however, make a far greater mistake +than this, for they imagine its true exponent to be the society of the +highest in rank and station. + +It is not necessary to insist upon an error so palpable, and yet it is +one of which nearly every capital of Europe affords example; and the +same council-chamber that would treat a popular movement with disdain +would tremble at the epigram launched by some "elegant" of society. The +theory is, "that the masses _act_, but never _think_; the higher ranks +_think_, and set the rest in motion." Whether well or ill founded, one +consequence of the system is to inundate the world with a number of +persons who, no matter what their station or pretensions, are no other +than spies. If it be observed that, generally speaking, there is +nothing worth recording; that society, too much engaged with its own +vicissitudes, troubles itself little with those of the state,--let it +be remembered that the governments which employ these agencies are in +a position to judge of the value of what they receive; and as they +persevere in maintaining them, they are, doubtless, in some degree, +remunerated. + +To hold this high detective employ, a variety of conditions are +essential. The individual must have birth and breeding to gain access +to the highest circles; conciliating manners and ample means. If a lady, +she is usually young and a beauty, or has the fame of having once been +such. The strangest part of all is, that her position is thoroughly +appreciated. She is recognized everywhere for what she is; and yet her +presence never seems to impose a restraint or suggest a caution. She +becomes, in reality, less a discoverer than a depositary of secrets. +Many have something to communicate, and are only at a loss as to the +channel. They have found out a political puzzle, hit a state blot, or +unravelled a cabinet mystery. Others are in possession of some personal +knowledge of royalty. They have marked the displeasure of the Queen +Dowager, or seen the anger of the Crown Prince. Profitable as such facts +are, they are nothing without a market. Thus it is that these characters +exercise a wider sphere of influence than might be naturally ascribed +to them, and possess besides a terrorizing power over society, the chief +members of which are at their mercy. + +It is, doubtless, not a little humiliating that such should be the +instruments of a government, and that royalty should avail itself of +such agencies; but the fact is so, and perhaps an inquiry into the +secret working of democratic institutions might not make one a whit more +proud of Popular Sovereignty. + +Amongst the proficients in the great science we speak of, the Princess +held the first place. Mysterious stories ran of her acquaintance with +affairs the most momentous; there were narratives of her complicity in +even darker events. Her name was quoted by Savary in his secret report +of the Emperor Paul's death; an allusion to her was made by one of the +assassins of Murat; and a gloomy record of a celebrated incident in +Louis Philippe's life ascribed to her a share in a terrible tragedy. +Whether believed or not, they added to the prestige that attended her, +and she was virtually a "puissance" in European politics. + +To all the intriguists in state affairs her arrival was actually a +boon. She could and would give them, out of her vast capital, enough +to establish them successfully in trade. To the minister of police +she brought accurate descriptions of suspected characters,--the +_signalements_ of Carbonari that were threatening half the thrones of +Europe. To the foreign secretary she brought tidings of the favor in +which a great Emperor held him, and a shadowy vision of the grand +cross he was one day to have. She had forbidden books for the cardinal +confessor, and a case of smuggled cigars for the minister of finance. +The picturesque language of a "Journal de Modes" could alone convey the +rare and curious details of dress which she imported for the benefit of +the court ladies. In a word, she had something to secure her a welcome +in every quarter,--and all done with a tact and a delicacy that the most +susceptible could not have resisted. + +If the tone and manner of good society present little suitable to +description, they are yet subjects of great interest to him who would +study men in their moods of highest subtlety and astuteness. To mere +passing careless observation, the reception of the Princess was a +crowded gathering of a number of well-dressed people, in which the men +were in far larger proportion than the other sex. There was abundance of +courtesy; not a little of that half-flattering compliment which is the +small change of intercourse; some--not much--scandal, and a fair share +of small-talk. It was late when Sir Horace Upton entered, and, advancing +to where the Princess stood, kissed her gloved hand with all the +submissive deference of a courtier. The most lynx-eyed observer could +not have detected either in his manner or in hers that any intimacy +existed between them, much less friendship; least of all, anything still +closer. His bearing was a most studied and respectful homage,--hers a +haughty, but condescending, acceptance of it; and yet, with all this, +there was that in those around that seemed to say, "This man is more +master here than any of us." He did not speak long with the Princess, +but, respectfully yielding his place to a later arrival, fell back into +the crowd, and soon after took a seat beside one of the very few ladies +who graced the reception. In all, they were very few, we are bound to +acknowledge; for although La Sabloukoff was received at court and all +the embassies, they who felt, or affected to feel, any strictness on the +score of morals avoided rather than sought her intimacy. + +She covered over what might have seemed this disparagement of her +conduct, by always seeking the society of men, as though their hardy and +vigorous intellects were more in unison with her own than the graceful +attributes of the softer sex; and in this tone did the few lady friends +she possessed appear also to concur. It was their pride to discuss +matters of state and politics; and whenever they condescended to more +trifling themes, they treated them with a degree of candor and in a +spirit that allowed men to speak as unreservedly as though no ladies +were present. + +Let us be forgiven for prolixity, since we are speaking less of +individuals than of a school,--a school, too, on the increase, and +one whose results will be more widely felt than many are disposed to +believe. + +As the evening wore on, the guests bartered the news and _bons mots_; +scraps of letters from royal hands were read; epigrams from illustrious +characters repeated; racy bits of courtly scandal were related; and +shrewd explanations hazarded as to how this was to turn out, and that +was to end. It was a very strange language they talked,--so much seemed +left for inference, so much seemed left to surmise. There was a shadowy +indistinctness, as it were, over all; and yet their manner showed a +perfect and thorough appreciation of whatever went forward. Through all +this treatment of great questions, one striking feature pre-eminently +displayed itself,--a keen appreciation of how much the individual +characters, the passions, the prejudices, the very caprices of men in +power modified the acts of their governments; and thus you constantly +heard such remarks as, "If the Duke of Wellington disliked the Emperor +less; or, so long as Metternich has such an attachment to the Queen +Dowager; when we get over Carini's dread of the Archduchess; or, if we +could only reconcile the Prince to a visit from Nesselrode,"--showing +that private personal feelings were swaying the minds of those whose +contemplation might have seemed raised to a far loftier level. And then +what a mass of very small gossip abounded,--incidents so slight and +insignificant that they only were lifted into importance by the actors +in them being Kings and Kaisers! By what accidents great events were +determined; on what mere trifles vast interests depended,--it were, +doubtless, no novelty to record; still, it would startle many to be +told that a casual pique, a passing word launched at hazard, some petty +observance omitted or forgotten, have changed the destinies of whole +nations. + +It is in such circles as these that incidents of this kind are +recounted. Each has some anecdote, trivial and unimportant it may be, +but still illustrating the life of those who live under the shadow +of Royalty. The Princess herself was inexhaustible in these stores of +secret biography; there was not a dynastic ambition to be consolidated +by a marriage, not a Coburg alliance to patch up a family compact, that +she was not well versed in. She detected in the vaguest movements plans +and intentions, and could read the signs of a policy in indications that +others would have passed without remark. + +One by one the company retired, and at length Sir Horace found himself +the last guest of the evening. Scarcely had the door closed on the last +departure, when, drawing his arm-chair to the side of the fire opposite +to that where the Princess sat, he took out his cigar-case, and, +selecting a cheroot, deliberately lighted and commenced to smoke it. + +"I thought they 'd never go," said she, with a sigh; "but I know why +they remained,--they all thought the Prince of Istria was coming. They +saw his carriage stop here this evening, and heard he had sent up to +know if I received. I wrote on a card, 'To-morrow at dinner, at eight;' +so be sure you are here to meet him." + +Sir Horace bowed, and smiled his acceptance. + +"And your journey, dear Princess," said he, between the puffs of his +smoke, "was it pleasant?" + +"It might have been well enough, but I was obliged to make a great +_detour_. The Duchess detained me at Parma for some letters, and then +sent me across the mountains of Pontremoli--a frightful road--on a +secret mission to Massa." + +"To Massa! of all earthly places." + +"Even so. They had sent down there, some eight or nine months ago, the +young Count Wahnsdorf, the Archduchess Sophia's son, who, having got +into all manner of dissipation at Vienna, and lost largely at play, +it was judged expedient to exile him for a season; and as the Duke of +Modena offered his aid to their plans, he was named to a troop in a +dragoon regiment, and appointed aide-de-camp to his Royal Highness. Are +you attending; or has your Excellency lost the clew of my story?" + +"I am all ears; only waiting anxiously to hear: who is she?" + +"Oh, then, you suspect a woman in the case?" + +"I am sure of it, dear Princess. The very accents of your voice prepared +me for a bit of romance." + +"Yes, you are right; he has fallen in love,--so desperately in love +that he is incessant in his appeals to the Duchess to intercede with his +family and grant him leave to marry." + +"To marry whom?" asked Sir Horace. + +"That's the very question which he cannot answer himself; and when +pressed for information, can only reply that 'she is an angel.' Now, +angels are not always of good family; they have sometimes very humble +parents, and very small fortunes." + +"_Helas!_" sighed the diplomatist, pitifully. + +"This angel, it would seem, is untraceable. She arrived with her mother, +or what is supposed to be her mother, from Corsica; they landed at +Spezzia, with an English passport, calling them Madame and Mademoiselle +Harley. On arriving at Massa they took a villa close to the town, and +established themselves with all the circumstance of people well-off as +to means. They, however, neither received visits nor made acquaintance +with any one. They even so far withdrew themselves from public view +that they rarely left their own grounds, and usually took their +carriage-airing at night. You are not attending, I see." + +"On the contrary, I am an eager listener; only, it is a story one has +heard so often. I never heard of any one preserving the incognito except +where disclosure would have revealed a shame." + +"Your Excellency mistakes," replied she; "the incognito is sometimes, +like a feigned despatch in diplomacy, a means of awakening curiosity." + +"_Ces ruses ne se font plus_, Princess,--they were the fashion in +Talleyrand's time; now we are satisfied to mystify by no meaning." + +"If the weapons of the old school are not employed, there is another +reason, perhaps," said she, with a dubious smile. + +"That modern arms are too feeble to wield them, you mean," said he, +bowing courteously. "Ah! it is but too true, Princess;" and he sighed +what might mean regret over the fact, or devotion to herself,--perhaps +both. At all events, his submission served as a treaty of peace, and she +resumed. + +"And now, _revenons a nos moutons_," said she, "or at least to our +lambs. This Wahnsdorf is quite capable of contracting a marriage without +any permission, if they appear inclined to thwart him; and the question +is, What can be done? The Duke would send these people away out of his +territory, only that, if they be English, as their passports imply, he +knows that there will be no end of trouble with your amiable Government, +which is never paternal till some one corrects one of her children. +If Wahnsdorf be sent away, where are they to send him? Besides, in all +these cases the creature carries his malady with him, and is sure +to marry the first who sympathizes with him. In a word, there were +difficulties on all sides, and the Duchess sent me over, in observation, +as they say, rather than with any direct plan of extrication." + +"And you went?" + +"Yes; I passed twenty-four hours. I couldn't stay longer, for I promised +the Cardinal Caraffa to be in Rome on the 18th, about those Polish +nunneries. As to Massa, I gathered little more than I had heard +beforehand. I saw their villa; I even penetrated as far as the orangery +in my capacity of traveller,--the whole a perfect Paradise. I 'm not +sure I did not get a peep at Eve herself,--at a distance, however. I +made great efforts to obtain an interview, but all unsuccessfully. The +police authorities managed to summon two of the servants to the Podesta, +on pretence of some irregularity in their papers, but we obtained +nothing out of them; and, what is more, I saw clearly that nothing could +be effected by a _coup de main_. The place requires a long siege, and I +had not time for that." + +"Did you see Wahnsdorf?" + +"Yes; I had him to dinner with me alone at the hotel, for, to avoid all +observation, I only went to the Palace after nightfall. He confessed all +his sins to me, and, like every other scapegrace, thought marriage was +a grand absolution for past wickedness. He told me, too, how he made the +acquaintance of these strangers. They were crossing the Magra with their +carriage on a raft, when the cable snapped, and they were all carried +down the torrent. He happened to be a passenger at the time, and did +something very heroic, I 've no doubt, but I cannot exactly remember +what; but it amounted to either being, or being supposed to be, their +deliverer. He thus obtained leave to pay his respects at the villa. But +even this gratitude was very measured; they only admitted him at rare +intervals, and for a very brief visit. In fact, it was plain he had +to deal with consummate tacticians, who turned the mystery of their +seclusion and the honor vouchsafed him to an ample profit." + +"He told them his name and his rank?" + +"Yes; and he owned that they did not seem at all impressed by the +revelation. He describes them as very naughty, very condescending in +manner, _tres grandes dames_, in fact, but unquestionably born to the +class they represent. They never dropped a hint of whence they had come, +or any circumstance of their past lives, but seemed entirely engrossed +by the present, which they spent principally in cultivating the arts; +they both drew admirably, and the young lady had become a most skilful +modellist in clay, her whole day being passed in a studio which they had +just built. I urged him strongly to try and obtain permission for me +to see it, but he assured me it was hopeless,--the request might even +endanger his own position with them. + +"I could perceive that, though very much in love, Wahns-dorf was equally +taken with the romance of this adventure. He had never been a hero to +himself before, and he was perfectly enchanted by the novelty of +the sensation. He never affected to say that he had made the least +impression on the young lady's heart; but he gave me to understand that +the nephew of an Emperor need not trouble his head much on that score. +He is a very good-looking, well-mannered, weak boy, who, if he only +reach the age of thirty without some great blunder, will pass for a very +dignified Prince for the rest of his life." + +"Did you give him any hopes?" + +"Of course, if he only promised to follow my counsels; and as these same +counsels are yet in the oven, he must needs wait for them. In a word, he +is to write to me everything, and I to him; and so we parted." + +"I should like to see these people," said Upton, languidly. + +"I'm sure of it," rejoined she; "but it is perhaps unnecessary;" and +there was that in the tone which made the words very significant. + +"Chelmsford--he 's now Secretary at Turin--might perhaps trace them," +said he; "he always knows everything of those people who are secrets to +the rest of the world." + +"For the present, I am disposed to think it were better not to direct +attention towards them," replied she. "What we do here must be done +adroitly, and in such a way as that it can be disavowed if necessary, or +abandoned if unsuccessful." + +"Said with all your own tact, Princess," said Sir Horace, smiling. "I +can perceive, however, that you have a plan in your head already. Is it +not so?" + +"No," said she, with a faint sigh; "I took wonderfully little interest +in the affair. It was one of those games where the combinations are so +few you don't condescend to learn it. Are you aware of the hour?" + +"Actually three o'clock," said he, standing up. "Really, Princess, I am +quite shocked." + +"And so am I," said she, smiling; "_on se compromet si facilement dans +ce bas monde_. Good night." And she courtesied and withdrew before he +had time to take his hat and retire. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. A DUKE AND HIS MINISTER + +In this age of the world, when everybody has been everywhere, seen +everything, and talked with everybody, it may savor of an impertinence +if we ask of our reader if he has ever been at Massa. It may so chance +that he has not, and, if so, as assuredly has he yet an untasted +pleasure before him. + +Now, to be sure, Massa is not as it once was. The little Duchy, whose +capital it formed, has been united to a larger state. The distinctive +features of a metropolis, and the residence of a sovereign prince, +are gone. The life and stir and animation which surround a court have +subsided; grass-grown streets and deserted squares replace the busy +movement of former days; a dreamy weariness seems to have fallen over +every one, as though life offered no more prizes for exertion, and that +the day of ambition was set forever. Yet are there features about the +spot which all the chances and changes of political fortune cannot +touch. Dynasties may fall, and thrones crumble, but the eternal +Apennines will still rear their snow-clad summits towards the sky. Along +the vast plain of ancient olives the perfumed wind will still steal at +evening, and the blue waters of the Mediterranean plash lazily among the +rocks, over which the myrtle and the arbutus are hanging. There, amidst +them all, half hid in clustering vines, bathed in soft odors from +orange-groves, with plashing fountains glittering in the sun, and +foaming streams gushing from the sides of marble mountains,--there +stands Massa, ruined, decayed, and deserted, but beautiful in all its +desolation, and fairer to gaze on than many a scene where the tide of +human fortune is at the flood. + +As you wander there now, passing the deep arch over which, hundreds +of feet above you, the ancient fortress frowns, and enter the silent +streets, you would find it somewhat difficult to believe how, a very few +years back, this was the brilliant residence of a court,--the gay resort +of strangers from every land of Europe,--that showy equipages traversed +these weed-grown squares, and highborn dames swept proudly beneath these +leafy alleys. Hard, indeed, to fancy the glittering throng of courtiers, +the merry laughter of light-hearted beauty, beneath these trellised +shades, where, moodily and slow, some solitary figure now steals along, +"pondering sad thoughts over the bygone!" + +But a few, a very few years ago, and Massa was in the plenitude of its +prosperity. The revenues of the state were large,--more than sufficient +to have maintained all that such a city could require, and nearly enough +to gratify every caprice of a prince whose costly tastes ranged over +every theme, and found in each a pretext for reckless expenditure. He +was one of those men whom Nature, having gifted largely, "takes out" the +compensation by a disposition of instability and fickleness that renders +every acquirement valueless. He could have been anything,--orator, +poet, artist, soldier, statesman; and yet, in the very diversity of his +abilities there was that want of fixity of purpose that left him +ever short of success, till he himself, wearied by repeated failures, +distrusted his own powers, and ceased to exert them. + +Such a man, under the hard pressure of a necessity, might have done +great things; as it was, born to a princely station, and with a vast +fortune, he became a reckless spendthrift,--a dreamy visionary at one +time, an enthusiastic dilettante at another. There was not a scheme of +government he had not eagerly embraced and abandoned in turn. He had +attracted to his little capital all that Europe could boast of artistic +excellence, and as suddenly he had thrown himself into the most +intolerant zeal of Papal persecution,--denouncing every species of +pleasure, and ordaining a more than monastic self-denial and strictness. +There was only one mode of calculating what he might be, which was, +by imagining the very opposite to what he then was. Extremes were +his delight, and he undulated between Austrian tyranny and democratic +licentiousness in politics, just as he vacillated between the darkest +bigotry of his church and open infidelity. + +At the time when we desire to present him to our readers (the exact year +is not material), he was fast beginning to weary of an interregnum of +asceticism and severity. He had closed theatres, and suppressed all +public rejoicings; and for an entire winter he had sentenced his +faithful subjects to the unbroken sway of the Priest and the Friar,--a +species of rule which had banished all strangers from the Duchy, and +threatened, by the injury to trade, the direst consequences to his +capital. To have brought the question formally before him in all its +details would have ensured the downfall of any minister rash enough +for such daring. There was, indeed, but one man about the court who had +courage for the enterprise; and to him we would devote a few lines as we +pass. He was an Englishman, named Stubber. He had originally come out to +Italy with horses for his Highness, and been induced, by good offers of +employment, to remain. He was not exactly stable-groom, nor trainer, +nor was he of the dignity of master of the stables; but he was something +whose attributes included a little of all, and something more. One thing +he assuredly was,--a consummately clever fellow, who could apply all his +native Yorkshire shrewdness to a new sphere, and make of his homespun +faculties the keen intelligence by which he could guide himself in novel +and difficult circumstances. + +A certain freedom of speech, with a bold hardihood of character, based, +it is true, upon a conscious sense of honor, had brought him more than +once under the notice of the Prince. His Highness felt such pleasure in +the outspoken frankness of the man that he frequently took opportunities +of conversing with him, and even asking his advice. Never deterred by +the subject, whatever it was, Stubber spoke out his mind; and by +the very force of strong native sense, and an unswerving power of +determination, soon impressed his master that his best counsels were to +be had from the Yorkshire jockey, and not from the decorated and gilded +throng who filled the antechambers. + +To elevate the groom to the rank of personal attendant, to create him +a Chevalier, and then a Count, were all easy steps to such a Prince. +At the time we speak of, Stubber was chief of the Cabinet,--the trusted +adviser of his master in knottiest questions of foreign politics, the +arbiter of the most difficult points with other states, the highest +authority in home affairs, and the absolute ruler over the Duke's +household and all who belonged to it. He was one of those men of action +who speedily distinguish themselves wherever the game of life is being +played. Smart to discern the character of those around him, prompt to +avail himself of their knowledge, little hampered by the scruples which +conventionalities impose on men bred in a higher station, he generally +attained his object before others had arranged their plans to oppose +him. To these qualities he added a rugged, unflinching honesty, and +a loyal attachment to the person of his Prince. Strong in his own +conscious rectitude, and in the confiding regard of his sovereign, +Stubber stood alone against all the wiles and machinations of his +formidable rivals. + +Were we giving a history of this curious court and its intrigues, we +could relate some strange stories of the mechanism by which states are +ruled. We have, however, no other business with the subject than as it +enters into the domain of our own story, and to this we return. + +It was a calm evening of the early autumn, as the Prince, accompanied +by Stubber alone, and unattended by even a groom, rode along one of the +alleys of the olive wood which skirts the sea-shore beneath Massa. +His Highness was unusually moody and thoughtful, and as he sauntered +carelessly along, seemed scarcely to notice the objects about him. + +"What month are we in, Stubber?" asked he, at length. + +"September, Altezza," was the short reply. + +"_Per Bacco!_ so it is; and in this very month we were to have been in +Bohemia with the Archduke Stephen,--the best shooting in all Europe, and +the largest stock of pheasants in the whole world, perhaps; and I, that +love field-sports as no man ever loved them! Eh, Stubber?" and he +turned abruptly round to seek a confirmation of what he asserted. +Either Stubber did not fully agree in the judgment, or did not deem +it necessary to record his concurrence; but the Prince was obliged to +reiterate his statement, adding, "I might say, indeed, it is the one +solitary dissipation I have ever permitted myself." + +Now, this was a stereotyped phrase of his Highness, and employed by him +respecting music, literature, field-sports, picture-buying, equipage, +play, and a number of other pursuits not quite so pardonable, in each of +which, for the time, his zeal would seem to be exclusive. + +A scarcely audible ejaculation--a something like a grunt--from Stubber, +was the only assent to this proposition. + +"And here I am," added the Prince, testily, "the only man of my rank in +Europe, perhaps, without society, amusement, or pleasure, condemned +to the wearisome details of a petty administration, and actually a +slave,--yes, sir, I say, a slave--What the deuce is this? My horse is +sinking above his pasterns. Where are we, Stubber?" and with a vigorous +dash of the spurs he extricated himself from the deep ground. + +"I often told your Highness that these lands were ruined for want of +drainage. You may remark how poor the trees are along here; the fruit, +too, is all deteriorated,--all for want of a little skill and industry. +And, if your Highness remarked the appearance of the people in that +village, every second man has the ague on him." + +"They did look very wretched. And why is it not drained? Why isn't +everything done as it ought, Stubber, eh?" + +"Why is n't your Highness in Bohemia?" + +"Want of means, my good Stubber; no money. My man, Landelli, tells me +the coffer is empty; and until this new tax on the Colza comes in, we +shall have to live on our credit or our wits,--I forget which, but I +conclude they are about equally productive." + +"Landelli is a _ladro_," said Stubber. "He has money enough to build a +new wing to his chateau in Serravezza, and to give fifty thousand scudi +of fortune to his daughter, though he can't afford your Highness the +common necessaries of your station." + +"_Per Bacco!_ Billy, you are right; you must look into these accounts +yourself. They always confuse me." + +"I _have_ looked into them, and your Highness shall have two hundred +thousand francs to-morrow on your dressing-table, and as much more +within the week." + +"Well done, Billy! you are the only fellow who can unmask these +rogueries. If I had only had you with me long ago! Well! well! well! it +is too late to think of it. What shall we do with this money? Bohemia is +out of the question now. Shall we rebuild the San Felice? It is really +too small; the stage is crowded with twenty people on it. There's that +gate towards Carrara, when is it to be completed? There's a figure +wanted for the centre pedestal. As for the fountain, it must be done by +the municipality. It is essentially the interest of the townspeople. +You 'd advise me to spend the money in draining these low lands, or in +a grant to that new company for a pier at Marina; but I 'll not; I have +other thoughts in my head. Why should not this be the centre of art to +the whole Peninsula? Carrara is a city of sculptors. Why not concentrate +their efforts here--by a gallery? I have myself some glorious +things,--the best group Canova ever modelled; the original Ariadne +too,--far finer than the thing people go to see at Frankfort. Then +there's Tanderini's Shepherd with the Goats.--Who lives yonder, Stubber? +What a beautiful garden it is!" And he drew up short in front of a villa +whose grounds were terraced in a succession of gardens down to the very +margin of the sea. Plants and shrubs of other climates were mingled +with those familiar to Italy, making up a picture of singular beauty, by +diversity of color and foliage. "Isn't this the 'Ombretta,' Stubber?" + +"Yes, Altezza; but the Morelli have left it. It is let now to a +stranger,--a French lady. Some call her English, I believe." + +"To be sure; I remember. There was a demand about a formal permission +to reside here. Landelli advised me not to sign it,--that she might turn +out English, or have some claim upon England, which was quite equivalent +to placing the Duchy, and all within it, under that blessed thing they +call British protection." + +"There are worse things than even that," muttered Stubber. + +"British occupation, perhaps you mean; well, you may be right. At all +events, I did not take Landelli's advice, for I gave the permission, and +I have never heard more of her. She must be rich, I take it. See what +order this place is kept in; that conservatory is very large indeed, and +the orange-trees are finer than ours." + +"They seem very fine indeed," said Stubber. + +"I say, sir, that we have none such at the Palace. I'll wager a zecchino +they have come from Naples. And look at that magnolia: I tell you, +Stubber, this garden is very far superior to ours." + +"Your Highness has not been in the Palace gardens lately, perhaps. I was +there this morning, and they are really in admirable order." + +"I'll have a peep inside of these grounds, Stubber," said the Duke, who, +no longer attentive to the other, only followed out his own train of +thought. At the same instant he dismounted, and, without giving himself +any trouble about his horse, made straight for a small wicket which lay +invitingly open in front of him. The narrow skirting of copse passed, +the Duke at once found himself in the midst of a lovely garden, laid +out with consummate skill and taste, and offering at intervals the most +beautiful views of the surrounding scenery. Although much of what he +beheld around him was the work of many years, there were abundant traces +of innovation and improvement. Some of the statues were recently placed, +and a small temple of Grecian architecture seemed to have been just +restored. A heavy curtain hung across the doorway; drawing back which, +the Duke entered what he at once perceived to be a sculptor's studio. +Casts and models lay carelessly about, and a newly begun group stood +enshrouded in the wetted drapery with which artists clothe their +unfinished labors. No mean artist himself, the Duke examined critically +the figures before him; nor was he long in perceiving that the artist +had committed more than one fault in drawing and proportion. "This is +amateur work," said he to himself; "and yet not without cleverness, +and a touch of genius too. Your dilettante scorns anatomy, and will not +submit to drudgery; hence, here are muscles incorrectly developed, and +their action ill expressed." So saying, he sat down before the model, +and taking up one of the tools at his side, began to correct some of the +errors in the work. It was exactly the kind of task for which his skill +adapted him. Too impatient and too discursive to accomplish anything of +his own, he was admirably fitted to correct the faults of another, and +so he worked away vigorously,--totally forgetting where he was, how he +had come there, and as utterly oblivious of Stubber, whom he had left +without. Growing more and more interested as he proceeded, he arose at +length to take a better view of what he had done, and, standing some +distance off, exclaimed aloud, "_Per Bacco!_ I have made a good thing of +it--there 's life in it now!" + +"So indeed is there," cried a gentle voice behind him; and, turning, he +beheld a young and very beautiful girl, whose dress was covered by +the loose blouse of a sculptor. "How I thank you for this!" said she, +blushing deeply, as she courtesied before him. "I have had no teaching, +and never till this moment knew how much I needed it." + +"And this is your work, then?" said the Duke, who turned again towards +the model. "Well, there is promise in it. There is even more. Still, you +have hard labor before you, if you would be really an artist. There is a +grammar in these things, and he who would speak the tongue must get over +the declensions. I know but little myself--" + +"Oh, do not say so!" cried she, eagerly; "I feel that I am in a master's +presence." + +The Duke started, partly struck by the energy of her manner, in part by +the words themselves. It is often difficult for men in his station +to believe that they are not known and recognized; and so he stood +wondering at her, and thinking who she could be that did not know him to +be the Prince. "You mistake me," said he, gently, and with that dignity +which is the birthright of those born to command. "I am but a very +indifferent artist. I have studied a little, it is true; but other +pursuits and idleness have swept away the small knowledge I once +possessed, and left me, as to art, pretty much as I am in morals,--that +is, I know what is right, but very often I can't accomplish it." + +"You are from Carrara, I conclude?" said the young girl, timidly, still +curious to hear more about him. + +"Pardon me," said he, smiling; "I am a native of Massa, and live here." + +"And are you not a sculptor by profession?" asked she, still more +eagerly. + +"No," said he, laughing pleasantly; "I follow a more precarious trade, +nor can I mould the clay I work in so deftly." + +"At least you love art," said she, with an enthusiasm heightened by the +changes he had effected in her group. + +"Now it is my turn to question, Signorina," said he, gayly. "Why, with +a talent like yours, have you not given yourself to regular study? You +live in a land where instruction should not be difficult to obtain. +Carrara is one vast studio; there must be many there who would not alone +be willing, but even proud, to have such a pupil. Have you never thought +of this?" + +"I have thought of it," said she, pensively, "but my aunt, with whom +I live, desires to see no one, to know no one;--even now," added she, +blushing deeply, "I find myself conversing with an utter stranger, in +a way--" She stopped, overwhelmed with confusion, and he finished her +sentence for her. + +"In a way which shows how naturally a love of art establishes a +confidence between those who profess it." As he spoke, the curtain was +drawn back, and a lady entered, who, though several years older, bore +such a likeness to the young girl that she might readily have been taken +for her sister. + +"It is at length time I should make my excuses for this intrusion, +madame," said he, turning towards her; and then in a few words explained +how the accidental passing by the spot, and the temptation of the open +wicket, had led him to a trespass, "which," added he, smiling, "I can +only say I shall be charmed if you will condescend to retaliate. I, +too, have some objects of art, and gardens which are thought worthy of a +visit." + +"We live here, sir, apart from the world. It is for that reason we have +selected this residence," replied she, coldly. + +"I shall respect your seclusion, madame," answered he, with a deep bow, +"and only beg once more to tender my sincere apologies for the past." He +moved towards the door as he spoke, the ladies courtesied deeply, and, +with a still lowlier reverence, he passed out. + +The Duke lingered in the garden, as though unwilling to leave the spot. +For a while some doubt as to whether he had been recognized passed +through his mind, but he soon satisfied himself that such was not the +case, and the singularity of the situation amused him. + +"I am culling a souvenir, madame," said he, plucking a moss-ross as the +lady passed. + +"I will give you a better one, sir," said she, detaching one from her +bouquet, and handing it to him. And so they parted. + +"_Per Bacco!_ Stubber, I have seen two very charming women. They are +evidently persons of condition; find out all about them, and let me +hear it to-morrow." And so say-ing, his Highness rode away, thinking +pleasantly over his adventure, and fancying a hundred ways in which it +might be amusingly carried out. The life of princes is rarely fertile +in surprises; perhaps, therefore, the uncommon and unusual are the +pleasantest of all their sensations. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. ITALIAN TROUBLES + +Stubber knew his master well. There was no need for any "perquisitions" +on his part; the ladies, the studio, and the garden were totally +forgotten ere nightfall. Some rather alarming intelligence had arrived +from Carrara, which had quite obliterated every memory of his late +adventure. That little town of artists had long been the resort of an +excited class of politicians, and it was more than rumored that the +"Carbonari" had established there a lodge of their order. Inflammatory +placards had been posted through the town--violent denunciations of +the Government--vengeance, even on the head of the sovereign, openly +proclaimed, and a speedy day promised when the wrongs of an enslaved +people should be avenged in blood. The messenger who brought the +alarming tidings to Massa carried with him many of the inflammatory +documents, as well as several knives and poniards, discovered by the +activity of the police in a ruined building at the sea-shore. No +arrests had as yet been made, but the authorities were in possession of +information with regard to various suspicious characters, and the police +prepared to act at a moment's notice. + +It was an hour after midnight when the Council met; and the Duke sat, +pale, agitated, and terrified, at the table, with Landelli, the Prime +Minister, Caprini, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and General +Ferrucio, the War Minister; a venerable ecclesiastic, Monsignore Abbati, +occupying the lowest place, in virtue of his humble station as confessor +of his Highness. He who of all others enjoyed his master's confidence, +and whose ready intelligence was most needed in the emergency, was not +present; his title of Minister of the Household not qualifying him for a +place at the Council. + +Whatever the result, the deliberation was a long one. Even while it +continued, there was time to despatch a courier to Carrara, and receive +the answer he brought back; and when the Duke returned to his room, +it was already far advanced in the morning. Fatigued and harassed, he +dismissed his valet at once, and desired that Stubber might attend him. +When he arrived, however, his Highness had fallen off asleep, and lay, +dressed as he was, on his bed. + +Stubber sat noiselessly beside his master, his mind deeply pondering +over the events which, although he had not been present at the Council, +had all been related to him. It was not the first time he had heard of +that formidable conspiracy, which, under the title of the Carbonari, had +established themselves in every corner of Europe. + +In the days of his humbler fortune he had known several of them +intimately; he had been often solicited to join their band; but +while steadily refusing this, he had detected much which to his keen +intelligence savored of treachery to the cause amongst them. This cause +was necessarily recruited from those whose lives rejected all honest and +patient labor. They were the disappointed men of every station, from +the highest to the lowest. The ruined gentleman, the beggared noble, the +bankrupt trader, the houseless artisan, the homeless vagabond, were all +there; bold, daring, and energetic, fearless as to the present, reckless +as to the future. They sought for any change, no matter what, seeing +that in the convulsion their own condition must be bettered. Few +troubled their heads how these changes were to be accomplished; they +cared little for the real grievances they assumed to redress: their work +was demolition. It was to the hour of pillage alone they looked for the +recompense of their hardihood. Some, unquestionably, took a different +view of the agencies and the objects; dreamy, speculative men, with high +aspirations, hoped that the cruel wrongs which tyranny inflicted on many +a European state might be effectually curbed by a glorious freedom, +when each man's actions should be made comformable to the benefit of the +community, and the will of all be typified in the conduct of each. +There was, however, another class, and to these Stubber had given deep +attention. It was a party whose singular activity and energy were always +in the ascendant,--ever suggesting bold measures whose results could +scarcely be more than menaces, and advocating actions whose greatest +effect could not rise above acts of terror and dismay. And thus while +the leaders plotted great political convulsions, and the masses dreamed +of sack and pillage, these latter dealt in acts of assassination,--the +vengeance of the poniard and the poison-cup. These were the men Stubber +had studied with no common attention. He fancied he saw in them neither +the dupes of their own excited imaginations, nor the reckless followers +of rapine, but an order of men equal to the former by intelligence, +but far transcending the last in crime and infamy. In his own early +experiences he had perceived that more than one of these had expatriated +themselves suddenly, carrying away to foreign shores considerable +wealth, and, that, too, under circumstances where the acquisition of +property seemed scarcely possible. Others he had seen as suddenly, +throwing off their political associates, rise into stations of rank and +power; and one memorable case he knew where the individual had become +the chief adviser of the very state whose destruction he had sworn to +accomplish. Such a one he now fancied he had detected among the advisers +of his Prince; and deeply ruminating on this theme, he sat at the +bedside. + +"Is it a dream, Stubber, or have we really heard bad news from Carrara? +Has Fraschetti been stabbed, or not?" + +"Yes, your Highness, he has been stabbed exactly two inches below where +he was wounded in September last,--then, it was his pocket-book saved +him; now, it was your Highness's picture, which, like a faithful +follower, he always carried about him." + +"Which means, that you disbelieve the whole story." + +"Every word of it." + +"And the poniards found at the Bocca di Magra?" + +"Found by those who placed them there." + +"And the proclamations?" + +"Blundering devices. See, here is one of them, printed on the very paper +supplied to the Government offices. There 's he water-mark, with the +crown and your own cipher on it." + +"_Per Bacco!_so it is. Let me show this to Landelli." + +"Wait awhile, your Highness; let us trace this a little farther. No +arrests have been made?" + +"None." + +"Nor will any. The object in view is already gained; they have terrified +you, and secured the next move." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Simply, that they have persuaded you that this state is the hotbed +of revolutionists; that your own means of security and repression are +unequal to the emergency; that disaffection exists in the army; and +that, whether for the maintenance of the Government or your safety, you +have only one course remaining." + +"Which is--" + +"To call in the Austrians." + +"_Per Bacco!_ it is exactly what they have advised. How did you come to +know it? Who is the traitor at the Council-board?" + +"I wish I could tell you the name of one who was not such. Why, your +Highness, these fellows are not _your_ Ministers, except in so far as +they are paid by you. They are Metternich's people; they receive their +appointments from Vienna, and are only accountable to the cabinet held +at Schoenbrunn. If wise and moderate counsels prevailed here, if our +financial measures prospered, if the people were happy and contented, +how long, think you, would Lombardy submit to be ruled by the rod and +the bayonet? Do you imagine that _you_ will be suffered to give an +example to the Peninsula of a good administration?" + +"But so it is," broke in the Prince; "I defy any man to assert the +opposite. The country _is_ prosperous, the people _are_ contented, the +laws justly administered, and, I hesitate not to say, myself as popular +as any sovereign of Europe." + +"And I tell your Highness, just as distinctly, that the country is +ground down with taxation, even to export duties on the few things +we have to export; that the people are poor to the very verge of +starvation; that if they do not take to the highways as brigands, it is +because some traditions as honest men yet survive amongst them; that the +laws only exist as an agent of tyranny, arrest and imprisonment being +at the mere caprice of the authorities. Nor is there a means by which an +innocent man can demand his trial, and insist on being confronted with +his accuser. Your jails are full, crowded to a state of pestilence with +supposed political offenders, men that, in a free country, would be +at large, toiling industriously for their families, and whose opinions +could never be dangerous, if not festering in the foul air of a dungeon. +And as to _your own_ popularity, all I say is, don't walk in the Piazza +at Carrara after dusk. No, nor even at noonday." + +"And you dare to speak thus to _me_, Stubber!" said the Prince, his face +covered with a deadly pallor as he spoke, and his white lips trembling, +but less in passion than in fear. + +"And why not, sir? Of what value could such a man as I am be to +your service, if I were not to tell you what you 'll never hear from +others,--the plain, simple truth? Is it not clear enough that if I +only thought of my own benefit, I 'd say whatever you'd like best to +hear?--I'd tell you, like Landelli, that the taxes were well paid, or +say, as Cerreccio did t'other day, that your army would do credit to any +state in Europe, when he well knew at the time that the artillery was +in mutiny from arrears of pay, and the cavalry horses dying from short +rations!" + +"I am well weary of all this," said the Duke, with a sigh. "If the half +of what I hear of my kingdom every day be but true, my lot in life is +worse than a galley-slave's. One assures me that I am bankrupt; another +calls me a vassal of Austria; a third makes me out a Papal spy; and +_you_ aver that if I venture into the streets of my own town, in the +midst of my own people, I am almost sure to be assassinated!" + +"Take no man's word, sir, for what, while you can see for yourself, it +is your own duty to ascertain," said Stubber, resolutely. "If you really +only desire a life of ease and indolence, forgetting what you owe to +yourself and those you rule over, send for the Austrians. Ask for a +brigade and a general. You 'll have them for the asking. They 'd come +at a word, and try your people at the drum-head, and flog and shoot them +with as little disturbance to you as need be. You may pension off the +judges; for a court-martial is a far speedier tribunal, and a corporal's +guard is quite an economy in criminal justice. Trade will not, perhaps, +prosper with martial law, nor is a state of siege thought favorable +to commerce. No matter. You 'll sleep safe so long as you keep +within doors, and the band under your window will rouse the spirit of +nationality in your heart, as it plays, 'God preserve the Emperor!'" + +"You forget yourself, sir, and you forget _me!_" said the Duke, sternly, +as he drew himself up, and threw a look of insolent pride at the +speaker. + +"Mayhap I do, your Highness," was the ready answer; "and out of that +very forgetfulness let your Highness take a warning. I say, once more, +I distrust the people about you; and as to this conspiracy at Carrara, +I'll wager a round sum on it that it was hatched on t 'other side of +the Alps, and paid for in good florins of the Holy Roman Empire. At all +events, give me time to investigate the matter. Let me have till the +end of the week to examine into it, and, if I find nothing to confirm +my views, I 'll say not one word against all the measures of precaution +that your Council are bent on importing from Austria." + +"Take your own way; I promise nothing," said the Duke, haughtily; and, +with a motion of his hand, dismissed his adviser. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. CARRARA + +To all the luxuriant vegetation and cultivated beauty of Massa, glowing +in the "golden glories" of its orange-groves,--steeped in the perfume of +its thousand gardens,--Carrara offers the very strongest contrast. +Built in a little cleft of the Apennines, it is begirt with great +mountains,--wild, barren, and desolate. Some, dark and precipitous, have +no traces in their sides but those of the torrents which are formed by +the melting snows; others show the white caves, as they are called, of +that pure marble which has made the name of the spot famous throughout +Europe. High in the mountain sides, escarped amidst rocks, and +zig-zagging over many a dangerous gorge and deep abyss, are the rough +roads trodden by the weary oxen,--trailing along their massive loads +and straining their stout chests to drag the great white blocks of +glittering stone. Far down below, crossed and recrossed by splashing +torrents, sprinkled with the spray of a hundred cataracts, stands +Carrara itself,--a little marble city of art, every house a studio, +every citizen a sculptor. Hither are sent all the marvellous conceptions +of genius,--the models which mighty imaginations have begotten,--to +be converted into imperishable stone. Here are the grand conceptions +gathered for every land and clime, treasures destined to adorn the great +galleries of nations, or the splendid palaces of kings. + +Some of these studios are of imposing size and vast proportions, and not +devoid of a certain architectural pretension,--a group, a figure, or a +bas-relief usually adorning the space over the door, and by its subject +giving some indication of the tastes of the proprietor. Thus, Madonnas +and saints are of frequent occurrence; and the majority of the artists +display their faith by an image of the saint whose patronage they claim. +Others exhibit some ideal conception; and a few denote their nationality +by the bust of their sovereign, or some prince of his house. + +One of these buildings, a short distance from the town, and so small as +to be little more than a mere crypt, was distinguished by the chaste and +simple elegance of its design, and the tasteful ornament with which its +owner had decorated the most minute details of the building. He was +a young artist who had arrived in Carrara friendless and unknown, but +whose abilities had soon obtained for him consideration and employment. +At first, the tasks intrusted to him were the humbler ones of friezes +and decorative art; but at length, his skill becoming acknowledged, to +his hands were confided the choicest conceptions of Danneker, the most +rare creations of Canova. Little or nothing was known of him; his habits +were of the strictest seclusion,--he went into no society, he formed +no friendships. His solitary life, after a while, ceased to attract any +notice; and men saw him pass, and come and go, without question,--almost +without greeting; and, save when some completed work was about to be +packed off to its destination, the name of Sebastian Greppi was rarely +heard in Carrara. + +His strict retirement had not, however, exempted him from the jealous +suspicions of the authorities; on the contrary, the seeming mystery of +his life had sharpened their curiosity and aroused their zeal; and more +than once was he summoned to the Prefecture to answer some frivolous +questions about his passport or his means of subsistence. + +It was on one of these errands that he stood one morning in the +antechamber of the Podesta's court, awaiting his turn to be called +and interrogated. The heat of a crowded chamber, the wearisome +delay,--perhaps, too, some vexation at the frequency of these irritating +calls,--had partially excited him; and when he was at length introduced, +his manner was confused, and his replies vague and almost wandering. + +Two strangers, whose formal permission to reside were then being filled +up by a clerk, were accommodated with seats in the room, and listened +with no slight interest to a course of inquiry so strange and novel to +their ears. + +"Greppi!" cried the harsh voice of the President, "come forward;" and +a youth stood up, dressed in the blue blouse of a common workman, and +wearing the coarse shoes of the very humblest laborer; but yet, in the +calm dignity of his mien and the mild character of his sad but handsome +features, already proclaiming that he came of a class whose instincts +denote good blood. + +"Greppi, you have a servant, it would seem, whose name is not in your +passport. How is this?" + +"He is an humble friend who shares my fortunes, sir," said the artist. +"They asked no passport from him when we crossed the Tuscan frontier; +and he has been here some months without any demand for one." + +"Does he assist you in your work?" + +"He does, sir, by advice and counsel; but he is not a sculptor. Poor +fellow! he never dreamed that his presence here could have attracted any +remark." + +"His tongue and accent betray a foreign origin, Greppi?" + +"Be it so,--so do mine, perhaps. Are we the less submissive to the +laws?" + +"The laws can make themselves respected," said the Podesta, sternly. +"Where is this man,--how is he called?" + +"He is known as Guglielmo, sir. At this moment he is ill; he has caught +the fever of the Campagna, and is confined to bed." + +"We shall send to ascertain the fact," was the reply. + +"Then my word is doubted!" said the youth haughtily. + +The Podesta started, but more in amazement than anger. There was, +indeed, enough to astonish him in the haughty ejaculation of the poorly +clad boy. + +"I am given to believe that you are not--as your passport would imply--a +native of Capri, nor a Neapolitan born," said the Podesta. + +"If my passport be regular and my conduct blameless, what have you or +any one to do with my birthplace? Is there any charge alleged against +me?" + +"You are forgetting where you are, boy; but I may take measures to +remind you of it," said the Podesta, whispering to a sergeant of the +gendarmes at his side. + +"I hope I have said nothing that could offend you," said the boy, +eagerly; "I scarcely know what I have said. My wish is to submit myself +in all obedience to the laws; to live quietly and follow my trade. If +my presence here give displeasure to the authorities, I will, however +sorry, take my departure, though I cannot say whither to." The last +words were uttered falteringly, and in a kind of soliloquy, and only +overheard by the two strangers, who now, having received their papers, +arose to withdraw. + +"Will you call at our inn and speak with us? That's my card," said one, +as he passed out, and gave a visiting-card into the youth's hand. + +He took it without a word; indeed, he was too deeply engaged in his own +thoughts to pay much attention to the request. + +"The sergeant will accompany you, my good youth, to your lodgings, and +verify what you have stated as to your companion. To-morrow you will +appear here again, to answer certain questions we shall put to you as to +your subsistence, and the means by which you live." + +"Is it a crime to have wherewithal to subsist upon?" asked the boy. + +"He whose means of living are disproportionate to his evident station +may well be an object of suspicion," said the other, with a sneer. + +"And who is to say what is my station, or what becomes it? Will _you_ +take upon you to pronounce upon the question?" cried the boy, boldly. + +"Mayhap it is what I shall do very soon!" was the calm answer. + +"Then let me have done with this. I'll leave the place as soon as my +friend be able to bear removal." + +"Even that I 'll not promise for." + +"Why, you 'll not detain me here by force?" exclaimed the youth. \ + +A cold, ambiguous smile was the only reply he received to this speech. + +"Well, let us see when this restraint is to begin," cried the boy, +passionately, as he moved towards the door; but no impediment was +offered to his departure. On the contrary, the servant, at a signal +from the Prefect, threw wide the two sides of the folding-doors, and the +youth passed out, down the stairs, and into the street. + +His mind obscured by passion, his heart bursting with indignation, he +threaded his way through many a narrow lane and alley, till he reached a +small rustic bridge, crossing over which he ascended a narrow flight of +steps cut in the solid rock, and gained a little terrace, on which stood +a small cottage of the humblest kind. + +As usual in Italy, during the summer-time, the glass sashes of the +windows had been removed, and the shutters closed. Opening one of these +gently with his hand, he peeped in, and as suddenly a voice cried out, +"Are you come back? Oh, how my heart was aching to see you here again! +Come in quickly, and let me touch your hand." + +The next moment the boy was seated by the bed, where lay a man greatly +emaciated by sickness, and bearing in his worn features the traces of a +severe tertian. + +"It's going off now," said he, "but the fit was a long one. This morning +it began at eight o'clock; but I 'm throwing it off now, and I 'll soon +be better." + +"My poor fellow," said the boy, caressing the cold fingers within his +own hands, "it was in these midnight rambles of mine you caught the +terrible malady. As it ever has been, your fidelity is fatal to you. I +told you a thousand times that I was born to hard luck, and carried more +than enough to swamp all who might try to succor me. + +"And don't I say, as the ould heathen philosopher did of fortune, +'Nullum numen habes, si sit prudentia'?" Is it necessary to say that the +speaker was Billy Traynor, and the boy his pupil? + +"_Prudentia_," said the youth, scoffingly, "may mean anything, from +trickery to downright meanness; since, by such acts as these, men grow +great in life. _Prudentia_ is thrift and self-denial; but it is more +too,--it is a compromise between a man's dignity and his worldly +success--it is the compact that says, Bear _this_ that _that_ may +happen; and so I 'll none of it." + +"Tell me how you fared with the Prefect," asked Billy. + +"You shall hear, and judge for yourself," said the other; and related, +as well as his memory would serve him, the circumstances of his late +interview. + +"Well, well!" said Billy, "it might be worse." + +"I knew you 'd say so, poor fellow!" said the youth, affectionately; +"you accept the rubs of life as cheerfully as I take them with +impatience. But, after all, this is matter of temperament too. _You_ can +forgive,--I love better to resist." + +"Mine is the better philosophy, though," said Billy, "since it will last +one's lifetime. Forgiveness must dignify old age, when your virtue of +resistance be no longer possible." + +"I never wish to reach the time when I may be too old for it," said the +boy, passionately. + +"Hush! don't say that. It's not for you to determine how long you are to +live, nor in what frame of mind years are to find you." He paused, and +there was a long unbroken silence between them. + +"I have been at the post," said the youth, at last, "and found that +letter, which, by the Neapolitan postmark, must have been despatched +many weeks since." + +Billy Traynor took up the letter, whose seal was yet unbroken, and +having examined it carefully, returned it to him, saying, "You did n't +answer his last, I think?" + +"No; and I half hoped he might have felt offended, and given up the +correspondence. What have we to do with ambassadors or great ministers, +Billy? Ours is not the grand highway in life, but the humble path on the +mountain side." + +"I'm content if it only lead upwards," said the sick man; and the words +were uttered firmly, but with the solemn fervor of prayer. + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. A NIGHT SCENE + +As young Massy--for so we like best to call him--sat with the letter +in his hand, a card fell to the ground from between his fingers, and, +taking it up, he read the name "Lord Selby." + +"What does this mean, Billy?" asked he; "whom can it belong to? Oh, +I remember now. There were some strangers at the Podesta's office this +morning when I was there; and one of them asked me to call at this inn, +and speak with them." + +"He has seen the 'Alcibiades,'" exclaimed Billy, eagerly. "He has been +at the studio?" + +"How should he?" rejoined the youth. "I have not been there myself for +two days: here is the key!" + +"He has heard of it then,--of that I'm certain; since he could not be in +town here an hour without some one telling him of it." Massy smiled half +sadly, and shook his head. "Go and see him, at all events," said Billy; +"and be sure to put on your coat and a hat; for one would n't know what +ye were at all, in that cap and dirty blouse." + +"I'll go as I am, or not at all," said the other, rising. "I am +Sebastian Greppi, a young sculptor. At least," added he, bitterly, "I +have about the same right to that name that I have to any other." He +turned abruptly away as he spoke, and gained the open air. There for a +few moments he stood seemingly irresolute, and then, wiping away a heavy +tear that had fallen on his cheek, he slowly descended the steps towards +the bridge. + +When he reached the inn, the strangers had just dined, but left word +that when he called he should be introduced at once, and Massy followed +the waiter into a small garden, where, in a species of summer-house, +they were seated at their wine. One of them arose courteously as the +youth came forward, and placing a chair for him, and filling out a glass +of wine, invited him to join them. + +"Give him one of your cigars, Baynton," said the other; "they are better +than mine." And Massy accepted, and began smoking without a word. + +"That fellow at the police-office gave you no further trouble, I hope," +said my lord, in a half-languid tone, and with that amount of difficulty +that showed he was no master of Italian. + +"No," replied Massy; "for the present, he has done nothing more. I +'m not so certain, however, that to-morrow or next day I shall not be +ordered away from this." + +"On what grounds?" + +"Suspicion,--Heavens knows of what!" + +"That's infamous, I say. Eh, Baynton?" + +"Detestable," muttered the other. + +"And whereto can you go?" + +"I scarcely know as yet, since the police are in communication +throughout the whole Peninsula, and they transmit your character from +state to state." + +"They 'd not credit this in England, Baynton!" + +"No, not a word of it!" rejoined the other. + +"You 're a Neapolitan, I think I heard him say." + +"So my passport states." + +"Ah, he won't say that he is one, though," interposed his Lordship, in +English. "Do you mind that, Baynton?" + +"Yes, I remarked it," was the reply. + +"And how came you here originally?" asked Selby, turning towards the +youth. + +"I came here to study and to work. There is always enough to be had to +do in this place, copying the works of great masters; and at one's spare +moments there is time to try something of one's own." + +"And have you done anything of that kind?" + +"Yes, I have begun. I have attempted two or three." + +"We should like to see them,--eh, Baynton?" + +"Of course, when we 've finished our wine. It's not far off, is it?" + +"A few minutes' walk; but not worth even that, when the place is full +of things really worth seeing. There's Danneker's 'Bathing Nymph,' and +Canova's 'Dead Cupid,' and Rauch's 'Antigone,' all within reach." + +"Mind that, Baynton; we must see all these to-morrow. Could you come +about with us, and show us what we ought to see?" + +"Who knows if I shall not be on the road to-morrow?" said the youth, +smiling faintly. + +"Oh, I think not, if there's really nothing against you; if it's only +mere suspicion." + +"Just so!" said the other, and drank off his wine. + +"And you are able to make a good thing of it here,--by copying, I mean?" +asked his Lordship, languidly. + +"I can live," said the youth; "and as I labor very little and idle a +great deal, that is saying enough, perhaps." + +"I 'm not sure the police are not right about him, after all, Baynton," +said his Lordship; "he doesn't seem to care much about his trade;" and +Massy was unable to repress a smile at the remark. + +"You don't understand English, do you?" asked Selby, with a degree of +eagerness very unusual to him. + +"Yes, I am English by birth," was the answer. + +"English! and how came you to call yourself a Neapolitan? What was the +object of that?" + +"I wished to excite less notice and less observation here, and, if +possible, to escape the jealousy with which Englishmen are regarded by +the authorities; for this I obtained a passport at Naples." + +Baynton eyed him suspiciously as he spoke, and as he sipped his wine +continued to regard him with a keen glance. + +"And how did you manage to get a Neapolitan passport?" + +"Our Minister, Sir Horace Upton, managed that for me." + +"Oh, you are known to Sir Horace, then?" + +"Yes." + +A quick interchange of looks between my lord and his friend showed that +they were by no means satisfied that the young sculptor was simply a +worker in marble and a fashioner in modelling-clay. + +"Have you heard from Sir Horace lately?" asked Lord Selby. + +"I received this letter to-day, but I have not read it;" and he showed +the unopened letter as he spoke. + +"The police may, then, have some reasonable suspicions about your +residence here," said his Lordship, slowly. + +"My Lord," said Massy, rising, "I have had enough of this kind of +examination from the Podesta himself this morning, not to care to pass +my evening in a repetition of it. Who I am, what I am, and with what +object here, are scarcely matters in which you have any interest, and +assuredly were not the subjects on which I expected you should address +me. I beg now to take my leave." He moved towards the garden as he +spoke, bowing respectfully to each. + +"Wait a moment; pray don't go,--sit down again,--I never meant,--of +course I could n't mean so,--eh, Baynton?" said his Lordship, +stammering in great confusion. + +"Of course not," broke in Baynton; "his Lordship's inquiries were really +prompted by a sincere desire to serve you." + +"Just so,--a sincere desire to serve you." + +"In fact, seeing you, as I may say, in the toils." + +"Exactly so,--in the toils." + +"He thought very naturally that his influence and his position +might,--you understand,--for these fellows know perfectly well what +an English peer is,--they take a proper estimate of the power of Great +Britain." + +His Lordship nodded assentingly, as though any stronger corroboration +might not be exactly graceful on his part, and Baynton went on:-- + +"Now you perfectly comprehend why,--you see at once the whole thing; and +I 'm sure, instead of feeling any soreness or irritation at my lord's +interference, that in point of fact--" + +"Just so," broke in his Lordship, pressing Massy into a seat at his +side,--"just so; that's it!" + +It requires no ordinary tact for any man to reseat himself at a table +from which he has risen in anger or irritation, and Massy had far too +little knowledge of life to overcome this difficulty gracefully. He +tried, indeed, to seem at ease, he endeavored even to be cheerful; but +the efforts were all unsuccessful. My lord was no very acute observer at +any time; he was, besides, so constitutionally indolent that the company +which exacted least was ever the most palatable to him. As for Baynton, +he was only too happy whenever least reference was made to his opinion, +and so they sat and sipped their wine with wonderfully little converse +between them. + +"You have a statue, or a group, or something or other, have n't you?" +said my lord, after a very long interval. + +"I have a half-finished model," said the youth, not without a certain +irritation at the indifference of his questioner. + +"Scarcely light enough to look at it to-night,--eh, Baynton?" + +"Scarcely!" was the dry answer. + +"We can go in the morning though, eh?" + +The other nodded a cool assent. + +My lord now filled his glass, drank it off, and refilled, with the air +of a man nerving himself for a great undertaking,--and such was indeed +the case. He was about to deliver himself of a sentiment, and the +occasion was one to which Baynton could not lend his assistance. + +"I have been thinking," said he, "that if that same estate we spoke +of, Baynton,--that Welsh property, you know, and that thing in +Ireland,--should fall in, I 'd buy some statues and have a gallery!" + +"Devilish costly work you'd find it," muttered Baynton. + +"Well, I suppose it is,--not more so than a racing stable, after all." + +"Perhaps not." + +"Besides, I look upon that property--if it does ever come to me--as a +kind of windfall; it was one of those pieces of fortune one could n't +have expected, you know." Then, turning towards the youth, as if to +apologize for a discussion in which he could take no part, he said, "We +were talking of a property which, by the eccentricity of its owner, may +one day become mine." + +"And which doubtless some other had calculated on inheriting," said the +youth. + +"Well, that may be very true; I never thought about that,--eh, Baynton?" + +"Why should you?" was the short response. + +"Gain and loss, loss and gain," muttered the youth, moodily, "are the +laws of life." + +"I say, Baynton, what a jolly moonlight there is out there in the +garden! Would n't it be a capital time this to see your model, eh?" + +"If you are disposed to take the trouble," said the youth, rising, and +blushing modestly; and the others stood up at the same moment. + +Nothing passed between them as they followed the young sculptor through +many an intricate by-way and narrow lane, and at last reached the little +stream on whose bank stood his studio. + +"What have we here!" exclaimed Baynton as he saw it; "is this a little +temple?" + +"It is my workshop," said the boy, proudly, and produced the key to open +the door. + +Scarcely had he crossed the threshold, however, than his foot struck +a roll of papers, and, stooping down, he caught up a large placard, +headed, "Morte al Tiranno," in large capitals. Holding the sheet up to +the moonlight, he saw that it contained a violent and sanguinary +appeal to the wildest passions of the Carbonari,--one of those savage +exhortations to bloodshedding which were taken from the terrible +annals of the French Revolution. Some of these bore the picture of the +guillotine at top, others were headed with cross poniards. + +"What are all these about?" asked Baynton, as he took up three or four +of them in his hand; but the youth, overcome with terror, could make no +answer. + +"These are all _sans-culotte_ literature, I take it," said his Lordship; +but the youth was stupefied and silent. + +"Has there been any treachery at work here?" asked Baynton. "Is there a +scheme to entrap you?" + +The youth nodded a melancholy and slow assent. + +"But why should you be obnoxious to these people? Have you any enemies +amongst them?" + +"I cannot tell," gloomily muttered the youth. + +"And this is your statue?" said Baynton, as, opening a large shutter, he +suffered a flood of moonlight to fall on the figure. + +[Illustration: 242] + +"Fine!--a work of great merit, Baynton," broke in his Lordship, +whose apathy was at last overcome by admiration. But the youth stood +regardless of their comments, his eyes bent upon the ground; nor did he +heed them as they moved from side to side, examining the statue in all +its details, and in words of high praise speaking their approval. + +"I'll buy this," muttered his Lordship. "I'll give him an order, too, +for another work,--leaving the subject to himself." + +"A clever fellow, certainly," replied the other. + +"Whom does he mean the figure to represent?" + +"It is Alcibiades as he meets his death," broke in the youth; "he is +summoned to the door as though to welcome a friend, and he falls pierced +by a poisoned arrow,--there is but legend to warrant the fact. I cared +little for the incident,--I was full of the man, as he contended with +seven chariots in the Olympic games, and proudly rode the course with +his glittering shield of ivory and gold, and his waving locks +all perfumed. I thought of him in his gorgeous panoply, and his +voluptuousness; lion-hearted and danger-seeking, pampering the very +flesh he offered to the spears of the enemy. I pictured him to my +mind, embellishing life with every charm, and daring death in every +shape,--beautiful as Apollo, graceful as the bounding Mercury, bold as +Achilles, the lion's whelp, as AEschylus calls him. This," added he, in +a tone of depression,--"this is but a sorry version of what my mind had +conceived." + +"I arrest you, Sebastiano Greppi," said a voice from behind; and +suddenly three gendarmes surrounded the youth, who stood still and +speechless with terror, while a mean-looking man in shabby black +gathered up the printed proclamations that lay about, and commenced a +search for others throughout the studio. + +"Ask them will they take our bail for his appearance, Baynton," said my +lord, eagerly. + +"No use,--they 'd only laugh at us," was the reply. + +"Can we be of any service to you? Is there anything we can do?" asked +his Lordship of the boy. + +"You must not communicate with the prisoner, signore," cried the +brigadier, "if you don't wish to share his arrest." + +"And this, doubtless," said the man in black, standing, and holding up +the lantern to view the statue,--"this is the figure of Liberty we have +heard of, pierced by the deadly arrow of Tyranny!" + +"You hear them!" cried the boy, in wild indignation, addressing +the Englishmen; "you hear how these wretches draw their infamous +allegations! But this shall not serve them as a witness." And with a +spring he seized a large wooden mallet from the floor, and dashed the +model in pieces. + +A cry of horror and rage burst from the bystanders, and as the +Englishmen stooped in sorrow over the broken statue, the gendarmes +secured the boy's wrists with a stout cord, and led him away. + +"Go after them, Baynton; tell them he is an Englishman, and that if he +comes to harm they 'll hear of it!" cried my lord, eagerly; while he +muttered in a lower tone, "I think we might knock these fellows over and +liberate him at once, eh, Baynton?" + +"No use if we did," replied the other; "they'd overpower us afterwards. +Come along to the inn; we'll see about it in the morning." + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. A COUNCIL OF STATE + +It was a fine mellow evening of the late autumn as two men sat in a +large and handsomely furnished chamber opening upon a vast garden. There +was something in the dim half-light, the heavily perfumed air, rich with +the odor of the orange and the lime, and the stillness, that imparted +a sense of solemnity to the scene, where, indeed, few words were +interchanged, and each seemed to ponder long after every syllable of the +other. + +We have no mysteries with our reader, and we hasten to say that one of +these personages was the Chevalier Stubber,--confidential minister of +the Duke of Massa; the other was our old acquaintance Billy Traynor. If +there was some faint resemblance in the fortunes of these two men, who, +sprung from the humblest walks of life, had elevated themselves by +their talents to a more exalted station, there all likeness between them +ended. Each represented, in some of the very strongest characteristics, +a nationality totally unlike that of the other: the Saxon, blunt, +imperious, and decided; the Celt, subtle, quick-sighted, and suspicious, +distrustful of all, save his own skill in a moment of difficulty. + +"But you have not told me his real name yet," said the Chevalier, as +he slowly smoked his cigar, and spoke with the half-listlessness of a +careless inquirer. + +"I know that, sir," said Billy, cautiously; "I don't see any need of +it." + +"Nor your own, either," remarked the other. + +"Nor even that, sir," responded Billy, calmly. + +"It comes to this, then, my good friend," rejoined Stubber, "that, +having got yourself into trouble, and having discovered, by the aid of a +countryman, that a little frankness would serve you greatly, you prefer +to preserve a mystery that I could easily penetrate if I cared for it, +to speaking openly and freely, as a man might with one of his own." + +"We have no mysteries, sir. We have family secrets that don't regard any +one but ourselves. My young ward, or pupil, whichever I ought to call +him, has, maybe, his own reasons for leading a life of unobtrusive +obscurity, and what one may term an umbrageous existence. It's enough +for me to know that, to respect it." + +"Come, come, all this is very well if you were at liberty, or if you +stood on the soil of your own country; but remember where you are now, +and what accusations are hanging over you. I have here beside me very +grave charges indeed,--constant and familiar intercourse with leaders of +the Carbonari--" + +"We don't know one of them," broke in Billy. + +"Correspondence with others beyond the frontier," continued the +Chevalier. + +"Nor that either," interrupted Billy. + +"Treasonable placards found by the police in the very hands of the +accused; insolent conduct to the authorities when arrested; attempted +escape: all these duly certified on oath." + +"Devil may care for that; oaths are as plenty with these blaguards as +clasp-knives, and for the same purpose too. Here's what it is, now," +said he, crossing his arms on the table, and staring steadfastly at the +other: "we came here to study and work, to perfect ourselves in the art +of modellin', with good studies around us; and, more than all, a quiet, +secluded little spot, with nothing to distract our attention, or take us +out of a mind for daily labor. That we made a mistake, is clear enough. +Like everywhere else in this fine country, there's nothing but tyrants +on one side, and assassins on the other; and meek and humble as we +lived, we could n't escape the thievin' blaguards of spies." + +"Do you know the handwriting of this address?" said the Chevalier, +showing a sealed letter directed to Sebastiano Greppi, Sculptore, +Carrara. + +"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," was the gruff reply. "Won't you let me +finish what I was savin'?" + +"This letter was found in the possession of the young prisoner, and is +of some consequence," continued the other, totally inattentive to the +question. + +"I suppose a letter is always of consequence to him it's meant for," was +the half-sulky reply. "Sure you 're not goin' to break the seal--sure +you don't mean to read it!" exclaimed he, almost springing from his seat +as he spoke. + +"I don't think I'd ask your permission for anything I think fit to do, +my worthy fellow," said the other, sternly; and then, passing across the +room, he summoned a gendarme, who waited at the door, to enter. + +"Take this man back to the Fortezza," said he, calmly; and while Billy +Traynor slowly followed the guard, the other seated himself leisurely +at the table, lighted his candles, and perused the letter. Whether +disappointed by the contents, or puzzled by the meaning, he sat long +pondering with the document before him. + +It was late in the night when a messenger came to say that his Highness +desired to see him; and Stubber arose at once, and hastened to the +Duke's chamber. + +In a room studiously plain and simple in all its furniture, and on a +low, uncurtained bed, lay the Prince, half dressed, a variety of books +and papers littering the table, and even the floor at his side. Maps, +prints, colored drawings,--some representing views of Swiss scenery, +others being portraits of opera celebrities,--were mingled with +illuminated missals and richly-embossed rosaries; while police reports, +petitions, rose-colored billets and bon-bons, made up a mass of +confusion wonderfully typical of the illustrious individual himself. + +Stubber had scarcely crossed the threshold of the room when he appeared +to appreciate the exact frame of his master's mind. It was the very +essence of his tact to catch in a moment the ruling impulse which swayed +for a time that strange and vacillating nature, and he had but to glance +at him to divine what was passing within. + +"So then," broke out the Prince, "here we are actually in the very midst +of revolution. Marocchi has been stabbed in the Piazza of Carrara. Is it +a thing to laugh at, sir?" + +"The wound has only been fatal to the breast of his surtout, your +Highness; and so adroitly given, besides, that it does not correspond +with the incision in his waistcoat." + +"You distrust everyone and everything, Stubber; and, of course, you +attribute all that is going forward to the police." + +"Of course I do, your Highness. They predict events with too much +accuracy not to have a hand in their fulfilment. I knew three weeks ago +when this outbreak was to occur, who was to be assassinated,--since that +is the phrase for Marocchi's mock wound,--who was to be arrested, and +the exact nature of the demand the Council would make of your Royal +Highness to suppress the troubles." + +"And what was that?" asked the Duke, grasping a paper in his hand as he +spoke. + +"An Austrian division, with a half-battery of field-artillery, a +judge-advocate to try the prisoners, and a provost-marshal to shoot +them." + +"And you 'd have me believe that all these disturbances are deliberate +plots of a party who desire Austrian influence in the Duchy?" cried +the Duke, eagerly. "There may be really something in what you suspect. +Here's a letter I have just received from La Sabloukoff,--she 's always +keen-sighted; and _she_ thinks that the Court at Vienna is playing out +here the game that they have not courage to attempt in Lombardy. What if +this Wahnsdorf was a secret agent in the scheme, eh, Stubber?" + +Stubber started with well-affected astonishment, and appeared as if +astounded at the keen acuteness of the Duke's suggestion. + +"Eh!" cried his Highness, in evident delight. "That never occurred to +_you_, Stubber? I'd wager there's not a man in the Duchy could have hit +that plot but myself." + +Stubber nodded sententiously, without a word. + +"I never liked that fellow," resumed the Duke. "I always had my +suspicion about that half-reckless, wasteful manner he had. I know that +I was alone in this opinion, eh, Stubber? It never struck _you?_" + +"Never! your Highness, never!" replied Stubber, frankly. + +"I can't show you the Sabloukoff's letter, Stubber, there are certain +private details for my own eye alone; but she speaks of a young sculptor +at Carrara, a certain--Let me find his name. Ah! here it is, Sebastian +Greppi, a young artist of promise, for whom she bespeaks our protection. +Can you make him out, and let us see him?" + +Stubber bowed in silence. + +"I will give him an order for something. There's a pedestal in the +flower-garden where the Psyche stood. You remember, I smashed the +Psyche, because it reminded me of Camilla Monti. He shall design a +figure for that place. I 'd like a youthful Bacchus. I have a clever +sketch of one somewhere; and it shall be tinted,--slightly tinted. The +Greeks always colored their statues. Strange enough, too; for, do you +remark, Stubber, they never represented the iris of the eye, which the +Romans invariably did. And yet, if you observe closely, you'll see that +the eyelid implies the direction of the eye more accurately than in the +Roman heads. I 'm certain you never detected what I 'm speaking of, eh, +Stubber?" + +Stubber candidly confessed that he had not, and listened patiently while +his master descanted critically on the different styles of art, and his +own especial tact and skill in discriminating between them. + +"You'll look after these police returns, then, Stubber," said he, at +last. "You'll let these people understand that we can suffice for the +administration of our own duchy. We neither want advice from Metternich, +nor battalions from Radetzky. The laws here are open to every man; and +if we have any claim to the gratitude of our people, it rests on our +character for justice." + +While he spoke with a degree of earnestness that indicated sincerity, +there was something in the expression of his eye--a half-malicious +drollery in its twinkle--that made it exceedingly difficult to say +whether his words were uttered in honesty of purpose, or in mere mockery +and derision. Whether Stubber rightly understood their import is more +than we are able to say; but it is very probable that he was, with all +his shrewdness, mystified by one whose nature was a puzzle to himself. + +"Let Marocchi return to Carrara. Say we have taken the matter into our +own hands. Change the brigadier in command of the gendarmerie there. +Tell the _canonico_ Baldetti that we look to _him_ and his deacons for +true reports of any movement that is plotting in the town. I take no +steps with regard to Wahnsdorf for the present, but let him be closely +watched. And then, Stubber, send off an _estafetta_ to Pietra Santa +for the ortolans, for I think we have earned our breakfast by all this +attention to state affairs." And then, with a laugh whose accents gave +not the very faintest clew to its meaning, he lay back on his pillow +again. + +"And these two prisoners, your Highness, what is to be done with them?" + +"Whatever you please, Stubber. Give them the third-class cross of Massa, +or a month's imprisonment, at your own good pleasure. Only, no more +business,--no papers to sign, no schemes to unravel; and so good night." +And the Chevalier retired at once from a presence which he well knew +resented no injury so unmercifully as any invasion of his personal +comfort. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. THE LIFE THEY LED AT MASSA + +It was with no small astonishment young Massy heard that he and his +faithful follower were not alone restored to liberty, but that an +order of his Highness had assigned them a residence in a portion of the +palace, and a promise of future employment. + +"This smacks of Turkish rather than of European rule," said the youth. +"In prison yesterday,--in a palace to-day. My own fortunes are wayward +enough, Heaven knows, not to require any additional ingredient of +uncertainty. What think you, Traynor?" + +"I'm thinkin'," said Billy, gravely, "that as the bastes of the field +are guided by their instincts to objects that suit their natures, so +man ought, by his reason, to be able to pilot himself in +difficulties,--choosin' this, avoidin' that; seein' by the eye of +prophecy where a road would lead him, and makin' of what seem the +accidents of life, steppin'-stones to fortune." + +"In what way does your theory apply here?" cried the other. "How am I to +guess whither this current may carry me?" + +"At all events, there's no use wastin' your strength by swimmin' against +it," rejoined Billy. + +"To be the slave of some despot's whim,--the tool of a caprice that may +elevate me to-day, and to-morrow sentence me to the gallows. The object +I have set before myself in life is to be independent. Is this, then, +the road to it?" + +"You 're tryin' to be what no man ever was, or will be, to the world's +end, then," said Billy. "Sure it's the very nature and essence of our +life here below that we are dependent one on the other for kindness, for +affection, for material help in time of difficulty, for counsel in time +of doubt. The rich man and the poor one have their mutual dependencies; +and if it was n't so, cowld-hearted and selfish as the world is, it +would be five hundred times worse." + +"You mistake my meaning," said Massy, sternly, "as you often do, to read +me a lesson on a text of your own. When I spoke of independence, I meant +freedom from the serfdom of another's charity. I would that my life +here, at least, should be of my own procuring." + +"_I_ get mine from _you_," said Traynor, calmly, "and never felt myself +a slave on that account." + +"Forgive me, my dear, kind friend. I could hate myself if I gave you a +moment's pain. This temper of mine does not improve by time." + +"There's one way to conquer it. Don't be broodin' on what's within. +Don't be magnifyin' your evil fortunes to your own heart till you come +to think the world all little, and yourself all great. Go out to your +daily labor, whatever it be, with a stout spirit to do your best, and a +thankful, grateful heart that you are able to do it. Never let it out of +your mind that if there's many a one your inferior, winnin' his way up +to fame and fortune before you, there's just as many better than you +toilin' away unseen and unnoticed, wearin' out genius in a garret, and +carryin' off a Godlike intellect to an obscure grave!" + +"You talk to me as though my crying sin were an overweening vanity," +said the youth, half angrily. + +"Well, it's one of them," said Billy; and the blunt frankness of the +avowal threw the boy into a fit of laughing. + +"You certainly do not intend to spoil me, Billy," said he, still +laughing. + +"Why would I do what so many is ready to do for nothing? What does the +crowd that praise the work of a young man of genius care where they 're +leading him to? It's like people callin' out to a strong swimmer, +'Go out farther and farther,--out to the open say, where the waves is +rollin' big, and the billows is roughest; that's worthy of you, in your +strong might and your stout limbs. Lave the still water and the shallows +to the weak and the puny. _Your_ course is on the mountain wave, over +the bottomless ocean.' It's little they think if he's ever to get back +again. 'T is their boast and their pride that they said, 'Go on;' and +when his cold corpse comes washed to shore, all they have is a word of +derision and scorn for one who ventured beyond his powers." + +"How you cool down one's ardor; with what pleasure you check every +impulse that nerves one's heart for high daring!" said the youth, +bitterly. "These eternal warnings--these never-ending forebodings of +failure--are sorry stimulants to energy." + +"Is n't it better for you to have all your reverses at the hands of a +crayture as humble as me?" said Billy, while the tears glistened in his +eyes. "What good am I, except for this?" + +In a moment the boy's arms were around him, while he cried out,-- + +"There, forgive me once more, and let me try if I cannot amend a temper +that any but yourself had grown weary of correcting. I'll work--I'll +labor--I'll submit--I'll accept the daily rubs of life, as others take +them, and you shall be satisfied with me. We shall go back to all our +old pursuits, my dear Billy. I'll join all your ecstasies over AEschylus, +and believe as much as I can of Herodotus, to please you. You shall lead +me to all the wonders of the stars, and dazzle me with the brightness of +visions that my intellect is lost in; and in revenge I only ask that you +should sit with me in the studio, and read to me some of those songs of +Horace that move the heart like old wine. Shall I own to you what it is +which sways me thus uncertainly,--jarring every chord of my existence, +making life a sea of stormy conflict? Shall I tell you?" + +He grasped the other's hand with both his own as he spoke, and, while +his lips quivered in strong emotion, went on:-- + +"It is this, then. I cannot forget, do all that I will, I cannot root +out of my heart what I once believed myself to be. You know what I mean. +Well, there it is still, like the sense of a wrong or foul injustice, +as though I had been robbed and cheated of what never was mine! This +contrast between the life my earliest hopes had pictured, and that which +I am destined to, never leaves me. All your teachings--and I have seen +how devotedly you have addressed yourself to this lesson--have not +eradicated from my nature the proud instincts that guided my childhood. +Often and often have you warmed my blood by thoughts of a triumph to be +achieved by me hereafter,--how men should recognize me as a genius, and +elevate me to honors and rewards; and yet would I barter such success, +ten thousand times told, for an hour of that high station that comes +by birth alone, independent of all effort,--the heirloom of deeds +chronicled centuries back, whose actors have been dust for ages. That is +real pride," cried he, enthusiastically, "and has no alloy of the petty +vanity that mingles with the sense of a personal triumph." + +Traynor hung his head heavily as the youth spoke, and a gloomy +melancholy settled on his features; the sad conviction came home to him +of all his counsels being fruitless, all his teachings in vain; and as +the boy sat wrapped in a wild, dreamy revery of ancestral greatness, the +humble peasant brooded darkly over the troubles such a temperament might +evoke. + +"It is agreed, then," cried Massy, suddenly, "that we are to accept of +this great man's bounty, live under his roof, and eat his bread. Well, +I accede,--as well his as another's. Have you seen the home they destine +for us?" + +"Yes, it's a real paradise, and in a garden that would beat Adam's +now," exclaimed Traynor; "for there's marble fountains, and statues, and +temples, and grottos in it; and it's as big as a prairie, and as wild as +a wilderness. And, better than all, there's a little pathway leads to +a private stair that goes up into the library of the palace,--a spot +nobody ever enters, and where you may study the whole day long without +hearin' a footstep. All the books is there that ever was written, and +manuscripts without end besides; and the Minister says I'm to have my +own kay, and go in and out whenever I plaze. 'And if there's anything +wantin',' says be, 'just order it on a slip of paper and send it to me, +and you 'll have it at once.' When I asked if I ought to spake to the +librarian himself, he only laughed, and said, 'That's me; but I'm +never there. Take my word for it, Doctor, you 'll have the place to +yourself.'" + +He spoke truly. Billy Traynor had it, indeed, to himself. There, the +gray dawn of morning, and the last shadows of evening, ever found him, +seated in one of those deep, cell-like recesses of the windows; the +table, the seats, the very floor littered with volumes which, revelling +in the luxury of wealth, he had accumulated around him. His greedy +avidity for knowledge knew no bounds. The miser's thirst for gold was +weak in comparison with that intense craving that seized upon him. +Historians, critics, satirists, poets, dramatists, metaphysicians, never +came amiss to a mind bent on acquiring. The life he led was like the +realization of a glorious dream,--the calm repose, the perfect stillness +of the spot, the boundless stores that lay about him; the growing +sense of power, as day by day his intellect expanded; new vistas opened +themselves before him, and new and unproved sources of pleasure sprang +up in his nature. The never-ending variety gave a zest, too, to his +labors that averted all weariness; and at last he divided his time +ingeniously, alternating grave and difficult subjects with lighter +topics,--making, as he said himself, "Aristophanes digest Plato." + +And what of young Massy all this while? His life was a dream, too, +but of another and very different kind. Visions of a glorious future +alternated with sad and depressing thoughts; high darings, and hopeless +views of what lay before him, came and went, and went and came again. +The Duke, who had just taken his departure for some watering-place in +Germany, gave him an order for certain statues, the models for which +were to be ready by his return,--at least, in that sketchy state of +which clay is even more susceptible than canvas. The young artist chafed +and fretted under the restraint of an assigned task. It was gall to his +haughty nature to be told that his genius should accept dictation, and +his fancy be fettered by the suggestions of another. If he tried to +combat this rebellious spirit, and addressed himself steadily to labor, +he found that his imagination grew sluggish, and his mind uncreative. +The sense of servitude oppressed him; and though he essayed to subdue +himself to the condition of an humble artist, the old pride still +rankled in his heart, and spirited him to a haughty resistance. His days +thus passed over in vain attempts to work, or still more unprofitable +lethargy. He lounged through the deserted garden, or lay, half-dreamily, +in the long, deep grass, listening to the cicala, or watching the +emerald-backed lizards as they lay basking in the sun. He drank in all +the soft voluptuous influences of a climate which steeps the senses in +a luxurious stupor, making the commonest existence a toil, but giving to +mere indolence all the zest of a rich enjoyment. Sometimes he wandered +into the library, and noiselessly drew nigh the spot where Billy sat +deeply busied in his books. He would gaze silently, half curiously, +at the poor fellow, and then steal noiselessly away, pondering on the +blessings of that poor peasant's nature, and wondering what in his own +organization had denied him the calm happiness of this humble man's +life. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. AT MASSA + +Billy Traynor sat, deeply sunk in study, in the old recess of the palace +library. A passage in the "Antigone" had puzzled him, and the table was +littered with critics and commentators, while manuscript notes, scrawled +in the most rude hand, lay on every side. He did not perceive, in +his intense preoccupation, that Massy had entered and taken the place +directly in front of him. There the youth sat gazing steadfastly at +the patient and studious features before him. It was only when Traynor, +mastering the difficulty that had so long opposed him, broke out into an +enthusiastic declamation of the text that Massy, unable to control the +impulse, laughed aloud. + +"How long are you there? I never noticed you comin' in," said Billy, +half-shamed at his detected ardor. + +"But a short time; I was wondering at--ay, Billy, and was envying, +too--the concentrated power in which you address yourself to your task. +It is the real secret of all success, and somehow it is a frame of mind +I cannot achieve." + +"How is the boy Bacchus goin' on?" asked Billy, eagerly. + +"I broke him up yesterday, and it is like a weight off my heart that his +curly bullet head and sensual lips are not waiting for me as I enter the +studio." + +"And the Cleopatra?" asked Traynor, still more anxiously. + +"Smashed,--destroyed. Shall I own to you, Billy, I see at last myself +what you have so often hinted to me,--I have no genius for the work?" + +"I never said,--I never thought so," cried the other; "I only insisted +that nothing was to be done without labor,--hard, unflinching labor; +that easy successes were poor triumphs, and bore no results." + +"There,--there, I'll hear that sermon no more. I'd not barter the +freedom of my own unfettered thoughts, as they come and go, in hours of +listless idleness, for all the success you ever promised me. There +are men toil elevates,--me it wearies to depression, and brings no +compensation in the shape of increased power. Mine is an unrewarding +clay,--that's the whole of it. Cultivation only develops the rank weeds +which are deep sown in the soil. I'd like to travel,--to visit some new +land, some scene where all association with the past shall be broken. +What say you?" + +"I'm ready, and at your orders," said Traynor, closing his book. + +"East or west, then, which shall it be? If sometimes my heart yearns for +the glorious scenes of Palestine, full of memories that alone satisfy +the soul's longings, there are days when I pant for the solitude of +the vast savannas of the New World. I feel as if to know one's self +thoroughly, one's nature should be tested by the perils and exigencies +of a life hourly making some demand on courage and ingenuity. The +hunter's life does this. What say you,--shall we try it?" + +"I 'm ready," was the calm reply. + +"We have means for such an enterprise, have we not? You told me, some +short time past, that nearly the whole of our last year's allowance was +untouched." + +"Yes, it's all there to the good," said Billy; "a good round sum too." + +"Let us get rid of all needless equipment, then," cried Massy, "and only +retain what beseems a prairie life. Sell everything, or give it away at +once." + +"Leave all that to me,--I'll manage everything; only say when you make +up your mind." + +"But it is made up. I have resolved on the step. Few can decide so +readily; for I leave neither home nor country behind." + +"Don't say that," burst in Billy; "here's myself, the poorest crayture +that walks the earth, that never knew where he was born or who nursed +him, yet even to me there's the tie of a native land,--there's the soil +that reared warriors and poets and orators that I heard of when a +child, and gloried in as a man; and, better than that, there's the green +meadows and the leafy valleys where kind-hearted men and women live and +labor, spakin' our own tongue and feelin' our own feelin's, and that, if +we saw to-morrow, we 'd know were our own,--heart and hand our own. +The smell of the yellow furze, under a griddle of oaten bread, would be +sweeter to me than all the gales of Araby the Blest; for it would remind +me of the hearth I had my share of, and the roof that covered me when I +was alone in the world." + +The boy buried his face in his hands and made no answer. At last, +raising up his head, he said,-- + +"Let us try this life; let us see if action be not better than mere +thought. The efforts of intellect seem to inspire a thirst there is no +slaking. Sleep brings no rest after them. I long for the sense of some +strong peril which, over, gives the proud feeling of a goal reached,--a +feat accomplished." + +"I'll go wherever you like; I'll be whatever you want me," said Billy, +affectionately. + +"Let us lose no time, then. I would not that my present ardor should +cool ere we have begun our plan. What day is this? The seventh. Well, on +the eighteenth there is a ship sails from Genoa for Porto Rico. It was +the announcement set my heart a-thinking of the project. I dreamed of it +two entire nights. I fancied myself walking the deck on a starlit night, +and framing all my projects for the future. The first thing I saw next +morning was the same placard, 'The "Colombo" will sail for Porto Rico on +Friday, the eighteenth.'" + +"An unlucky day," muttered Billy, interrupting. + +"I have fallen upon few that were otherwise," said Massy, gloomily; +"besides," he added, after a pause, "I have no faith in omens, or any +care for superstitions. Come, let us set about our preparations. Do +_you_ bethink you how to rid ourselves of all useless encumbrances here. +Be it _my_ care to jot down the list of all we shall need for the voyage +and the life to follow it. Let us see which displays most zeal for the +new enterprise." + +Billy Traynor addressed himself with a will to the duty allotted him. He +rummaged through drawers and desks, destroyed papers and letters, laid +aside all the articles which he judged suitable for preservation, and +then hastened off to the studio to arrange for the disposal of the +few "studies," for they were scarcely more, which remained of Massy's +labors. + +A nearly finished Faun, the head of a Niobe, the arm and hand of a Jove +launching a thunderbolt, the torso of a dead sailor after shipwreck, lay +amid fragments of shattered figures, grotesque images, some caricatures +of his own works, and crude models of anatomy. The walls were +scrawled with charcoal drawings of groups,--one day to be fashioned +in sculpture,--with verses from Dante, or lines from Tasso, inscribed +beneath; proud resolves to a life of labor figured beside stanzas in +praise of indolence and dreamy abandonment. There were passages of +Scripture, too, glorious bursts of the poetic rapture of the Psalms, +intermingled with quaint remarks on life from Jean Paul or Herder. All +that a discordant, incoherent nature consisted of was there in some +shape or other depicted; and as Billy ran his eye over this curious +journal,--for such it was,--he grieved over the spirit which had +dictated it. + +The whole object of all his teaching had been to give a purpose to this +uncertain and wavering nature, and yet everything showed him now that +he had failed. The blight which had destroyed the boy's early fortunes +still worked its evil influences, poisoning every healthful effort, and +dashing with a sense of shame every successful step towards fame and +honor. + +"Maybe he's right after all," muttered Billy to himself. "The New World +is the only place for those who have not the roots of an ancient stock +to hold them in the Old. Men can be there whatever is in them, and they +can be judged without the prejudices of a class." + +Having summed up, as it were, his own doubts in this remark, he +proceeded with his task. While he was thus occupied, Massy entered, and +threw himself into a chair. + +"There, you may give it up, Traynor. Fate is ever against us, do and +decide on what we will. Your confounded omen of a Friday was right this +time." + +"What do you mean? Have you altered your mind?" + +"I expected you to say so," said the other, bitterly. "I knew that I +should meet with this mockery of my resolution, but it is uncalled for. +It is not I that have changed!" + +"What is it, then, has happened,--do they refuse your passport?" + +"Not that either; I never got so far as to ask for it. The misfortune +is in this wise: on going to the bank to learn the sum that lay to +my credit and draw for it, I was met by the reply that I had nothing +there,--not a shilling. Before I could demand how this could be the +case, the whole truth suddenly flashed across my memory, and I recalled +to mind how one night, as I lay awake, the thought occurred to me that +it was base and dishonorable in me, now that I was come to manhood, to +accept of the means of life from one who felt shame in my connection +with him. 'Why,' thought I, 'is there to be the bond of dependence where +there is no tie of affection to soften its severity?' And so I arose +from my bed, and wrote to Sir Horace, saying that by the same post I +should remit to his banker at Naples whatever remained of my last year's +allowance, and declined in future to accept of any further assistance. +This I did the same day, and never told you of it,--partly, lest you +should try to oppose me in my resolve; partly," and here his voice +faltered, "to spare myself the pain of revealing my motives. And now +that I have buoyed my heart up with this project, I find myself without +means to attempt it. Not that I regret my act, or would recall it," +cried he, proudly, "but that the sudden disappointment is hard to bear. +I was feeding my hopes with such projects for the future when this +stunning news met me, and the thought that I am now chained here by +necessity has become a torture." + +"What answer did Sir Horace give to your letter?" asked Billy. + +"I forget; I believe he never replied to it, or if he did, I have no +memory of what he said. Stay,--there was a letter of his taken from me +when I was arrested at Carrara. The seal was unbroken at the time." + +"I remember the letter was given to the Minister, who has it still in +his keeping." + +"What care I," cried Massy, angrily, "in whose hands it may be?" + +"The Minister is not here now," said Billy, half speaking to himself, +"he is travelling with the Duke; but when he comes back--" + +"When he comes back!" burst in Massy, impatiently; "with what calm +philosophy you look forward to a remote future. I tell you that this +scheme is now a part and parcel of my very existence. I can turn to no +other project, or journey no other road in life, till at least I shall +have tried it!" + +"Well, it is going to work in a more humble fashion," said Billy, +calmly. "Leave me to dispose of all these odds and ends here--" + +"This trash!" cried the youth, fiercely. "Who would accept it as a +gift?" + +"Don't disparage it; there are signs of genius even in these things; +but, above all, don't meddle with me, but just leave me free to follow +my own way. There now, go back and employ yourself preparing for the +road; trust the rest to me." + +Massy obeyed without speaking. It was not, indeed, that he ventured +to believe in Traynor's resources, but he was indisposed to further +discussion, and longed to be in solitude once more. + +It was late at night when they met again. Charles Massy was seated at a +window of his room, looking out into the starry blue of a cloudless sky, +when Traynor sat down beside him. "Well," said he, gently, "it's all +done and finished. I have sold off everything, and if you will only +repair the hand of the Faun, which I broke in removing, there's nothing +more wanting." + +"That much can be done by any one," said Massy, haughtily. "I hope never +to set eyes on the trumpery things again." + +"But I have promised you would do it," said Traynor, eagerly. + +"And how--by what right could you pledge yourself for my labor? Nay," +cried he, suddenly changing the tone in which he spoke, "knowing my +wilful nature, how could you answer for what I might or might not do?" + +"I knew," said Billy, slowly, "that you had a great project in your +head, and that to enable you to attempt it, you would scorn to throw all +the toil upon another." + +"I never said I was ashamed of labor," said the youth, reddening with +shame. + +"If you had, I would despair of you altogether," rejoined the other. + +"Well, what is it that I have to do?" said Massy, bluntly. + +"It is to remodel the arm, for I don't think you can mend it; but you +'ll see it yourself." + +"Where is the figure,--in the studio?" + +"No; it is in a small pavilion of a villa just outside the gates. It was +while I was conveying it there it met this misfortune. There's the name +of the villa on that card. You 'll find the garden gate open, and +by taking the path through the olive wood you 'll be there in a few +minutes; for I must go over to-morrow to Carrara with the Niobe; the +Academy has bought it for a model." + +A slight start of surprise and a faint flush bespoke the proud +astonishment with which he heard of this triumph; but he never spoke a +word. + +"If you had any pride in your works, you'd be delighted to see where the +Faun is to be placed. It is in a garden, handsomer even than this here, +with terraces rising one over the other, and looking out on the blue +sea, from the golden strand of Via Reggio down to the headlands above +Spezia. The great olive wood in the vast plain lies at your feet, and +the white cliffs of Serravezza behind you." + +"What care I for all this?" said Massy, gloomily. "Benvenuto could +afford to be in love with his own works,--_I_ cannot!" + +Traynor saw at once the mood of mind he was in, and stole noiselessly +away to his room. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. THE PAVILION IN THE GARDEN + +Charles Massy, dressed in the blouse of his daily labor, and with the +tools of his craft in his hand, set out early in search of the garden +indicated by Billy Traynor. A sense of hope that it was for the last +time he was to exercise his art, that a new and more stirring existence +was now about to open before him, made his step lighter and his spirits +higher as he went. "Once amid the deep woods, and on the wide plains of +the New World, I shall dream no more of what judgment men may pass upon +my efforts. There, if I suffice to myself, I have no other ordeal to +meet. Perils may try me, but not the whims and tastes of other men." + +Thus, fancying an existence of unbounded freedom and unfettered action, +he speedily traversed the olive wood, and almost ere he knew it found +himself within the garden. The gorgeous profusion of beautiful flowers, +the graceful grouping of shrubs, the richly perfumed air, laden with a +thousand odors, first awoke him from his day dream, and he stood amazed +in the midst of a scene surpassing all that he had ever conceived +of loveliness. From the terrace, where under a vine trellis he was +standing, he could perceive others above him rising on the mountain +side, while some beneath descended towards the sea, which, blue as a +turquoise, lay basking and glittering below. A stray white sail or so +was to be seen, but there was barely wind to shake the olive leaves, and +waft the odors of the orange and the oleander. It was yet too early for +the hum of insect life, and the tricklings of the tiny fountains that +sprinkled the flower-beds were the only sounds in the stillness. It was +in color, outline, effect, and shadow, a scene such as only Italy can +present, and Massy drank in all its influences with an eager delight. + +"Were I a rich man," said he, "I would buy this paradise. What in all +the splendor of man's invention can compare with the gorgeous glory +of this flowery carpet? What frescoed ceiling could vie with these +wide-leaved palms, interlaced with these twining acacias, glimpses of +the blue sky breaking through? And for a mirror, there lies Nature's +own,--the great blue ocean! What a life were it, to linger days and +hours here, amid such objects of beauty, having one's thoughts ever +upwards, and making in imagination a world of which these should be the +types. The faintest fancies that could float across the mind in such an +existence would be pleasures more real, more tangible, than ever were +felt in the tamer life of the actual world." + +Loitering along, he at length came upon the little temple which served +as a studio, on entering which, he found his own statue enshrined in the +place of honor. Whether it was the frame of mind in which he chanced to +be, or that place and light had some share in the result, for the first +time the figure struck him as good, and he stood long gazing at his own +work with the calm eye of a critic. At length, detecting, as he deemed, +some defects in design, he drew nigh, and began to correct them. +There are moments in which the mind attains the highest and clearest +perception,--seasons in which, whatever the nature of the mental +operation, the faculties address themselves readily to the task, and +labor becomes less a toil than an actual pleasure. This was such. Massy +worked on for hours; his conceptions grew rapidly under his hand into +bold realities, and he saw that he was succeeding. It was not alone that +he had imparted a more graceful and lighter beauty to his statue, but he +felt within himself the promptings of a spirit that grew with each new +suggestion of its own. Efforts that before had seemed above him he now +essayed boldly; difficulties that once had appeared insurmountable he +now encountered with courageous daring. Thus striving, he lost all sense +of fatigue. Hunger and exhaustion were alike unremembered, and it was +already late in the afternoon, as, overcome by continued toil, he threw +himself heavily down, and sank off into a deep sleep. + +It was nigh sunset as he awoke. The distant bell of a monastery was +ringing the hour of evening prayer, the solemn chime of the "Venti +quattro," as he leaned on his arm and gazed in astonishment around +him. The whole seemed like a dream. On every side were objects new and +strange to, his eyes,--casts and models he had never seen before busts +and statues and studies all unknown to him. At last his eyes rested +on the Faun, and he remembered at once where he was. The languor of +excessive fatigue, however, still oppressed him, and he was about to lie +back again in sleep, when, bending gently over him, a young girl, with a +low, soft accent, asked if he felt ill, or only tired. + +Massy gazed, without speaking, at features regular as the most classic +model, and whose paleness almost gave them the calm beauty of the +marble. His steady stare slightly colored her cheek, and made her voice +falter a little as she repeated her question. + +"I scarcely know," said he, sighing heavily. "I feel as though this were +a dream, and I am afraid to awaken from it." + +"Let me give you some wine," said she, bending down to hand him the +glass; "you have over-fatigued yourself. The Faun is by your hand, is it +not?" + +He nodded a slow assent. + +"Whence did you derive that knowledge of ancient art?" said she, +eagerly. "Your figure has the light elasticity of the classic models, +and yet nothing strained or exaggerated in attitude. Have you studied at +Rome?" + +"I could do better now," said the youth, as, rising on his elbow, he +strained his eyes to examine her. "I could achieve a real success." + +A deep flush covered her face at these words, so palpably alluding to +herself, and she tried to repeat her question. + +"No," said he, "I cannot say I have ever studied: all that I have done +is full of faults; but I feel the spring of better things within me. +Tell me, is this _your_ home?" + +"Yes," said she, smiling faintly. "I live in the villa here with my +aunt. She has purchased your statue, and wishes you to repair it, and +then to engage in some other work for her. Let me assist you to rise; +you seem very weak." + +"I _am_ weak, and weary too," said he, staggering to a seat. "I have +overworked myself, perhaps,--I scarcely know. Do not take away your +hand." + +"And you are, then, the Sebastian Greppi of whom Carrara is so proud?" + +"They call me Sebastian Greppi; but I never heard that my name was +spoken of with any honor." + +"You are unjust to your own fame. We have often heard of you. See, here +are two models taken from your works. They have been my studies for +many a day. I have often wished to see you, and ask if my attempt were +rightly begun. Then here is a hand." + +"Let me model yours," said the youth, gazing steadfastly at the +beautifully shaped one which rested on the chair beside him. + +"Come with me to the villa, and I will present you to my aunt; she will +be pleased to know you. There, lean on my arm, for I see you are very +weak." + +"Why are you so kind, so good to me?" said he, faintly, while a tear +rose slowly to his eye. + +He arose totteringly, and, taking her arm, walked slowly along at her +side. As they went, she spoke kindly and encouragingly to him, praised +what she had seen of his works, and said how frequently she had wished +to know him, and enjoy the benefit of his counsels in art. "For I, too," +said she, laughing, "would be a sculptor." + +The youth stopped to gaze at her with a rapture he could not control. +That one of such a station, surrounded by all the appliances of a +luxurious existence, could devote herself to the toil and labor of art, +implied an amount of devotion and energy that at once elevated her in +his esteem. She blushed deeply at his continued stare, and turned at +last away. + +"Oh, do not feel offended with me," cried he, passionately. "If you but +knew how your words have relighted within me the dying-out embers of +an almost exhausted ambition,--if you but knew how my heart has gained +courage and hope,--how light and brightness have shone in upon me after +hours and days of gloom! It was but yesterday I had resolved to abandon +this career forever. I was bent on a new life, in a new world beyond +the seas. These few things that a faithful companion of mine had charged +himself to dispose of, were to supply the means of the journey; and now +I think of it no more. I shall remain here to work hard and study, and +try to achieve what may one day be called good. You will sometimes deign +to see what I am doing, to tell me if my efforts are on the road to +success, to give me hope when I am weak-hearted, and courage when I am +faint. I know and feel," said he, proudly, "that I am not devoid of what +accomplishes success, for I can toil and toil, and throw my whole soul +into my work; but for this I need, at least, one who shall watch me +with an eye of interest, glorying when I win, sorrowing when I am +defeated.--Where are we? What palace is this?" cried he, as they crossed +a spacious hall paved with porphyry and Sienna marble. + +"This is my home," said the girl, "and this is its mistress." + +Just as she spoke, she presented the youth to a lady, who, reclining on +a sofa beside a window, gazed out towards the sea. She turned suddenly, +and fixed her eyes on the stranger. With a wild start, she sprang up, +and, staring eagerly at him, cried, "Who is this? Where does he come +from?" + +[Illustration: frontispiece] + +The young girl told his name and what he was; but the words did not +fall on listening ears, and the lady sat like one spell-bound, with eyes +riveted on the youth's face. + +"Am I like any one you have known, signora?" asked he, as he read +the effect his presence had produced on her. "Do I recall some other +features?" + +"You do," said she, reddening painfully. + +"And the memory is not of pleasure?" added the youth. + +"Far, far from it; it is the saddest and cruelest of all my life," +muttered she, half to herself. "What part of Italy are you from? Your +accent is Southern." + +"It is the accent of Naples, signora," said he, evading her question. + +"And your mother, was she Neapolitan?" + +"I know little of my birth, signora. It is a theme I would not be +questioned on." + +"And you are a sculptor?" + +"The artist of the Faun, dearest aunt," broke in the girl, who watched +with intense anxiety the changing expressions of the youth's features. + +"Your voice even more than your features brings up the past," said the +lady, as a deadly pallor spread over her own face, and her lips trembled +as she spoke. "Will you not tell me something of your history?" + +"When you have told me the reason for which you ask it, perhaps I may," +said the youth, half sternly. + +"There, there!" cried she, wildly, "in every tone, in every gesture, I +trace this resemblance. Come nearer to me; let me see your hands." + +"They are seamed and hardened with toil, lady," said the youth, as he +showed them. + +"And yet they look as if there was a time when they did not know labor," +said she, eagerly. + +An impatient gesture, as if he would not endure a continuance of this +questioning, stopped her, and she said in a faint tone,-- + +"I ask your pardon for all this. My excuse and my apology are that your +features have recalled a time of sorrow more vividly than any words +could. Your voice, too, strengthens the illusion. It may be a mere +passing impression; I hope and pray it is. Come, Ida, come with me. Do +not leave this, sir, till we speak with you again." So saying, she took +her niece's arm and left the room. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. NIGHT THOUGHTS + +It was with a proud consciousness of having well fulfilled his mission +that Billy Traynor once more bent his steps towards Massa. Besides +providing himself with books of travel and maps of the regions they were +about to visit, he had ransacked Genoa for weapons, and accoutrements, +and horse-gear. Well knowing the youth's taste for the costly and the +splendid, he had suffered himself to be seduced into the purchase of a +gorgeously embroidered saddle mounting, and a rich bridle, in Mexican +taste; a pair of splendidly mounted pistols, chased in gold and studded +with large turquoises, with a Damascus sabre, the hilt of which was a +miracle of fine workmanship, were also amongst his acquisitions; and +poor Billy fed his imagination with the thought of all the delight these +objects were certain to produce. In this way he never wearied admiring +them; and a dozen times a day would he unpack them, just to gratify his +mind by picturing the enjoyment they were to afford. + +"How well you are lookin', my dear boy!" cried he, as he burst into the +youth's room, and threw his arms around him; "'tis like ten years off +my life to see you so fresh and so hearty. Is it the prospect of +the glorious time before us that has given this new spring to your +existence?" + +"More likely it is the pleasure I feel in seeing you back again," said +Massy; and his cheek grew crimson as he spoke. + +"'Tis too good you are to me,--too good," said Billy, and his eyes ran +over in tears, while he turned away his head to hide his emotion; "but +sure it is part of yourself I do be growing every day I live. At first +I could n't bear the thought of going away to live in exile, in a +wilderness, as one may say; but now that I see your heart set upon +it, and that your vigor and strength comes back just by the mere +anticipation of it, I'm downright delighted with the plan." + +"Indeed!" said the youth, dreamily. + +"To be sure I am," resumed Billy; "and I do be thinking there 's a kind +of poethry in carrying away into the solitary pine forest minds stored +with classic lore, to be able to read one's Horace beside the gushing +stream that flows on nameless and unknown, and con over ould Herodotus +amidst adventures stranger than ever he told himself." + +"It might be a happy life," said the other, slowly, almost moodily. + +"Ay, and it will be," said Billy, confidently. "Think of yourself, +mounted on that saddle on a wild prairie horse, galloping free as the +wind itself over the wide savannas, with a drove of rushing buffaloes in +career before you, and so eager in pursuit that you won't stop to bring +down the scarlet-winged bustard that swings on the branch above you. +There they go, plungin' and snortin', the mad devils, with a force that +would sweep a fortress before them; and here are we after them, makin' +the dark woods echo again with our wild yells. That's what will warm +up our blood, till we 'll not be afeard to meet an army of dragoons +themselves. Them pistols once belonged to Cariatoke, a chief from Scio; +and that blade--a real Damascus--was worn by an Aga of the Janissaries. +Isn't it a picture?" + +The youth poised the sword in his hand, and laid it down without a word; +while Billy continued to stare at him with an expression of intensest +amazement. + +"Is it that you don't care for it all now, that your mind is changed, +and that you don't wish for the life we were talkin' over these three +weeks? Say so at once, my own darlin', and here I am, ready and willin' +never to think more of it. Only tell me what's passin' in your heart; I +ask no more." + +"I scarcely know it myself," said the youth. "I feel as though in a +dream, and know not what is real and what fiction." + +"How have you passed your time? What were you doin' while I was away?" + +"Dreaming, I believe," said the other, with a sigh. "Some embers of my +old ambition warmed up into a flame once more, and I fancied that there +was that in me that by toil and labor might yet win upwards; and that, +if so, this mere life of action would but bring repining and regret, and +that I should feel as one who chose the meaner casket of fate, when both +were within my reach." + +"So you were at work again in the studio?" + +"I have been finishing the arm of the Faun in that pavilion outside the +town." A flush of crimson covered his face as he spoke, which Billy as +quickly noticed, but misinterpreted. + +"Ay, and they praised you, I 'll be bound. They said it was the work of +one whose genius would place him with the great ones of art, and that he +who could do this while scarcely more than a boy, might, in riper years, +be the great name of his century. Did they not tell you so?" + +"No; not that, not that," said the other, slowly. + +"Then they bade you go on, and strive and labor hard to develop into +life the seeds of that glorious gift that was in you?" + +"Nor that," sighed the youth, heavily, while a faint spot of crimson +burned on one cheek, and a feverish lustre lit up his eye. + +"They did n't dispraise what you done, did they?" broke in Billy. "They +could not, if they wanted to do it; but sure there's nobody would have +the cruel heart to blight the ripenin' bud of genius,--to throw gloom +over a spirit that has to struggle against its own misgivin's?" + +"You wrong them, my dear friend; their words were all kindness and +affection. They gave me hope, and encouragement too. They fancy that I +have in me what will one day grow into fame itself; and even you, Billy, +in your most sanguine hopes, have never dreamed of greater success for +me than they have predicted in the calm of a moonlit saunter." + +"May the saints in heaven reward them for it!" said Billy, and in his +clasped hands and uplifted eyes was all the fervor of a prayer. "They +have my best blessin' for their goodness," muttered he to himself. + +"And so I am again a sculptor!" said Massy, rising and walking the +room. "Upon this career my whole heart and soul are henceforth to be +concentrated; my fame, my happiness are to be those of the artist. From +this day and this hour let every thought of what--not what I once was, +but what I had hoped to be, be banished from my heart. I am Sebastian +Greppi. Never let another name escape your lips to me. I will not, even +for a second, turn from the path in which my own exertions are to +win the goal. Let the faraway land of my infancy, its traditions, its +associations, be but dreams for evermore. Forwards! forwards!" cried he, +passionately; "not a glance, not a look, towards the past." + +Billy stared with admiration at the youth, over whose features a glow +of enthusiasm was now diffused, and in broken, unconnected words spoke +encouragement and good cheer. + +"I know well," said the youth, "how this same stubborn pride must be +rooted out, how these false, deceitful visions of a stand and a +station that I am never to attain must give place to nobler and +higher aspirations; and you, my dearest friend, must aid me in all +this,--unceasingly, unwearyingly reminding me that to myself alone must +I look for anything; and that if I would have a country, a name, or a +home, it is by the toil of this head and these hands they are to be won. +My plan is this," said he, eagerly seizing the other's arm, and speaking +with immense rapidity: "A life not alone of labor, but of the simplest; +not a luxury, not an indulgence; our daily meals the humblest, our +dress the commonest, nothing that to provide shall demand a moment's +forethought or care; no wants that shall turn our thoughts from this +great object, no care for the requirements that others need. Thus +mastering small ambitions and petty desires, we shall concentrate all +our faculties on our art; and even the humblest may thus outstrip those +whose higher gifts reject such discipline." + +"You 'll not live longer under the Duke's patronage, then?" said +Traynor. + +"Not an hour. I return to that garden no more. There's a cottage on the +mountain road to Serravezza will suit us well: it stands alone and on an +eminence, with a view over the plain and the sea beyond. You can see it +from the door,--there, to the left of the olive wood, lower down than +the old ruin. We 'll live there, Billy, and we 'll make of that mean +spot a hallowed one, where young enthusiasts in art will come, years +hence, when we have passed away, to see the humble home Sebastian lived +in,--to sit upon the grassy seat where he once sat, when dreaming of the +mighty triumphs that have made him glorious." A wild burst of mocking +laughter rung from the boy's lips as he said this; but its accents were +less in derision of the boast than a species of hysterical ecstasy at +the vision he had conjured up. + +"And why would n't it be so?" exclaimed Billy, ardently,--"why would n't +you be great and illustrious?" + +The moment of excitement was now over, and the youth stood pale, silent, +and almost sickly in appearance; great drops of perspiration, too, stood +on his forehead, and his quivering lips were bloodless. + +"These visions are like meteor streaks," said he, falteringly; "they +leave the sky blacker than they found it! But come along, let us to +work, and we 'll soon forget mere speculation." + +Of the life they now led each day exactly resembled the other. Rising +early, the youth was in his studio at dawn; the faithful Billy, seated +near, read for him while he worked. Watching, with a tact that only +affection ever bestows, each changeful mood of the youth's mind, Traynor +varied the topics with the varying humors of the other, and thus little +of actual conversation took place between them, though their minds +journeyed along together. To eke out subsistence, even humble as theirs, +the young sculptor was obliged to make small busts and figures for sale, +and Billy disposed of them at Lucca and Pisa, making short excursions to +these cities as need required. + +The toil of the day over, they wandered out towards the seashore, taking +the path which led through the olive road by the garden of the villa. At +times the youth would steal away a moment from his companion, and +enter the little park, with every avenue of which he was familiar; +and although Billy noticed his absence, he strictly abstained from the +slightest allusion to it. As he delayed longer and longer to return, +Traynor maintained the same reserve, and thus there grew up gradually a +secret between them,--a mystery that neither ventured to approach. With +a delicacy that seemed an instinct in his humble nature, Billy would now +and then feign occupation or fatigue to excuse himself from the evening +stroll, and thus leave the youth free to wander as he wished; till at +length it became a settled habit between them to separate at nightfall, +to meet only on the morrow. These nights were spent in walking the +garden around the villa, lingering stealthily amid the trees to watch +the room where she was sitting, to catch a momentary glimpse of her +figure as it passed the window, to hear perchance a few faint accents of +her voice. Hours long would he so watch in the silent night, his whole +soul steeped in a delicious dream wherein her image moved, and came and +went, with every passing fancy. In the calm moonlight he would try to +trace her footsteps in the gravel walk that led to the studio, and, +lingering near them, whisper to her words of love. + +One night, as he loitered thus, he thought he was perceived, for as +he suddenly emerged from a dark alley into a broad space where the +moonlight fell strongly, he saw a figure on a terrace above him, +but without being able to recognize to whom it belonged. Timidly and +fearfully he retired within the shade, and crept noiselessly away, +shocked at the very thought of discovery. The next day he found a small +bouquet of fresh flowers on the rustic seat beneath the window. At first +he scarcely dared to touch it; but with a sudden flash of hope that it +had been destined for himself, he pressed the flowers to his lips, and +hid them in his bosom. Each night now the same present attracted him to +the same place, and thus at once within his heart was lighted a flame +of hope that illuminated all his being, making his whole life a glorious +episode, and filling all the long hours of the day with thoughts of her +who thus could think of him. + +Life has its triumphant moments, its dream of entrancing, ecstatic +delight, when suocess has crowned a hard-fought struggle, or when +the meed of other men's praise comes showered on us. The triumphs of +heroism, of intellect, of noble endurance; the trials of temptation met +and conquered; the glorious victory over self-interest,--are all great +and ennobling sensations; but what are they all compared with the first +consciousness of being loved, of being to another the ideal we have made +of her? To this, nothing the world can give is equal. From the moment +we have felt it, life changes around us. Its crosses are but barriers +opposed to our strong will, that to assail and storm is a duty. Then +comes a heroism in meeting the every-day troubles of existence, as +though we were soldiers in a good and holy cause. No longer unseen or +unmarked in the great ocean of life, we feel that there is an eye +ever turned towards us, a heart ever throbbing with our own; that our +triumphs are its triumphs,--our sorrows its sorrows. Apart from all the +intercourse with the world, with its changeful good and evil, we feel +that we have a treasure that dangers cannot approach; we know that in +our heart of hearts a blessed mystery is locked up,--a well of pure +thoughts that can calm down the most fevered hour of life's anxieties. +So the youth felt, and, feeling so, was happy. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. A MINISTER'S LETTER + + +British Legation, Naples, + +Nov--, 18--. + +My dear Harcourt,--Not mine the fault that your letter has lain six +weeks unanswered; but having given up penwork myself for the last +eight months, and Crawley, my private sec., being ill, the delay was +unavoidable. The present communication you owe to the fortunate arrival +here of Captain Mellish, who has kindly volunteered to be my amanuensis. +I am indeed sorely grieved at this delay. I shall be _desole_ if it +occasion you anything beyond inconvenience. How a private sec. should +permit himself the luxury of an attack of influenza I cannot conceive. +We shall hear of one's hairdresser having the impertinence to catch +cold, to-morrow or next day! + +If I don't mistake, it was you yourself recommended Crawley to me, and I +am only half grateful for the service. He is a man of small prejudices; +fancies that he ought to have a regular hour for dinner; thinks that +he should have acquaintances; and will persist in imagining himself an +existent something, appertaining to the Legation,--while, in reality, he +is only a shadowy excrescence of my own indolent habits, the recipient +of the trashy superfluities one commits to paper and calls despatches. +Latterly, in my increasing laziness, I have used him for more intimate +correspondence; and, as Doctor Allitore has now denied me all manual +exertion whatever, I am actually wholly dependent on such aid. I'm +sure I long for the discovery of some other mode of transmitting one's +brain-efforts than by the slow process of manuscript,--some photographic +process that, by a series of bright pictures, might display _en tableau_ +what one is now reduced to accomplish by narrative. As it ever did and +ever will happen too, they have deluged me with work when I crave rest. +Every session of Parliament must have its blue-book; and by the devil's +luck they have decided that Italy is to furnish the present one. + +You have always been a soldier, and whenever your inspecting general +came his round, your whole care has been to make the troop horses look +as fat, the men's whiskers as trim, their overalls as clean, and their +curb-chains as bright, as possible. You never imagined or dreamed of a +contingency when it would be desirable that the animals should be all +sorebacked, the whole regiment under stoppages, and the trumpeter in a +quinsy. Had you been a diplomatist instead of a dragoon, this view of +things might, perhaps, have presented itself, and the chief object +of your desire have been to show that the system under which you +functionated worked as ill as need be; that the court to which you were +accredited abhorred you; its Ministers snubbed, its small officials +slighted you; that all your communications were ill received, your +counsels ill taken; that what you reprobated was adopted, what you +advised rejected; in fact, that the only result of your presence was the +maintenance of a perpetual ill-will and bad feeling; and that without +the aid of a line-of-battle ship, or at least a frigate, your position +was no longer tenable. From the moment, my dear H----, that you can +establish this fact, you start into life as an able and active Minister, +imbued with thoroughly British principles--an active asserter of what is +due to his country's rights and dignity, not truckling to court favor, +or tamely submitting to royal impertinences; not like the noble lord +at this place, or the more subservient viscount at that, but, in plain +words, an admirable public servant, whose reward, whatever courts and +cabinets may do, will always be willingly accorded by a grateful nation. + +I am afraid this sketch of a special envoy's career will scarcely tempt +you to exchange for a mission abroad! And you are quite right, my dear +friend. It is a very unrewarding profession. I often wish myself that +I had taken something in the colonies, or gone into the Church, or some +other career which had given me time and opportunity to look after my +health,--of which, by the way, I have but an indifferent account to +render you. These people here can't hit it off at all, Harcourt; they +keep muddling away about indigestion, deranged functions, and the rest +of it. The mischief is in the blood,--I mean, in the undue distribution +of the blood. So Treysenac, the man of Bagneres, proved to me. There +is a flux and reflux in us, as in the tides, and when, from deficient +energy or lax muscular power, that ceases, we are all driven by +artificial means to remedy the defect. Treysenac's theory is position. +By a number of ingeniously contrived positions he accomplishes an +artificial congestion of any part he pleases; and in his establishment +at Bagneres you may see some fifty people strung up by the arms and +legs, by the waists or the ankles, in the most marvellous manner, and +with truly fabulous success. I myself passed three mornings suspended by +the middle, like the sheep in the decoration of the Golden Fleece, and +was amazed at the strange sensations I experienced before I was cut +down. + +You know the obstinacy with which the medical people reject every +discovery in the art, and only sanction its employment when the world +has decreed in its favor. You will, therefore, not be surprised to hear +that Larrey and Cooper, to whom I wrote about Treysenac's theory, sent +me very unsatisfactory, indeed very unseemly, replies. I have resolved, +however, not to let the thing drop, and am determined to originate a +Suspensorium in England, when I can chance upon a man of intelligence +and scientific knowledge to conduct it. Like mesmerism, the system has +its antipathies; and thus yesterday Crawley fainted twice after a few +minutes' suspension by the arms. But he is a bigot about anything he +hears for the first time, and I was not sorry at his punishment. + +I wish you would talk over this matter with any clever medical man in +your neighborhood, and let me hear the result. + +And so you are surprised, you say, how little influence English +representations exercise over the determinations of foreign cabinets. I +go farther, and confess no astonishment at all at the no-influence! My +dear dragoon, have you not, some hundred and fifty times in this life, +endured a small martyrdom in seeing a very indifferent rider torment +almost to madness the animal he bestrode, just by sheer ignorance +and awkwardness,--now worrying the flank with incautious heel, now +irritating the soft side of the mouth with incessant jerkings; always +counteracting the good impulses, ever prompting the bad ones of his +beast? And have you not, while heartily wishing yourself in the saddle, +felt the utter inutility of administering any counsels to the rider? +You saw, and rightly saw, that even if he attempted to follow your +suggestions, he would do so awkwardly and inaptly, acting at wrong +moments and without that continuity of purpose which must ever accompany +an act of address; and that for his safety, and even for the welfare +of the animal, it were as well they should jog on together as they +had done, trusting that after a time they might establish a sort of +compromise, endurable, if not beneficial, to both. + +Such, my dear friend, in brief, is the state of many of those foreign +governments to whom we are so profuse of our wise counsels. It were +doubtless much better if they ruled well; but let us see if the road to +this knotty consummation be by the adoption of methods totally new to +them, estranged from all their instincts and habits, and full of perils +which their very fears will exaggerate. Constitutional governments, like +underdone roast beef, suit our natures and our latitude; but they would +seem lamentable experiments when tried south of the Alps. Liberty with +us means the right to break heads at a county election, and to print +impertinences in newspapers. With the Spaniard or the Italian it would +be to carry a poniard more openly, and use it more frequently than at +present. + +At all events, if it be any satisfaction to you, you may be assured that +the rulers in all these cases are not much better off than those they +rule over. They lead lives of incessant terror, distrust, and anxiety. +Their existence is poisoned by ceaseless fears of treachery,--they know +not where. They change ministers as travellers change the direction of +their journey, to disconcert the supposed plans of their enemies; and +they vacillate between cruelty and mercy, really not knowing in which +lies their safety. Don't fancy that they have any innate pleasure in +harsh measures. The likelihood is, they hate them as much as you do +yourself; but they know no other system; and, to come back to my cavalry +illustration, the only time they tried a snaffle, they were run away +with. + +I trust these prosings will be a warning to you how you touch upon +politics again in a letter to me; but I really did not wish to-be a +bore, and now here I am, ready to answer, as far as in me lies, all your +interrogatories; first premising that I am not at liberty to enter upon +the question of Glencore himself, and for the simple reason that he has +made me his confidant. And now, as to the boy, I could make nothing +of him, Harcourt; and for this reason,--he had not what sailors call +"steerage way" on him. He went wherever you bade, but without an +impulse. I tried to make him care for his career; for the gay +world; for the butterfly life of young diplomacy; for certain +dissipations,--excellent things occasionally to develop nascent +faculties. I endeavored to interest him by literary society and savans, +but unsuccessfully. For art indeed he showed some disposition, +and modelled prettily; but it never rose above "amateurship." Now, +enthusiasm, although a very excellent ingredient, will no more make an +artist than a brisk kitchen fire will provide a dinner where all the +materials are wanting. + +I began to despair of him, Harcourt, when I saw that there were no +features about him. He could do everything reasonably well, because +there was no hope of his doing anything with real excellence. He +wandered away from me to Carrara, with his quaint companion the Doctor; +and after some months wrote me rather a sturdy letter, rejecting all +moneyed advances, past and future, and saying something very haughty, +and of course very stupid, about the "glorious sense of independence." +I replied, but he never answered me; and here might have ended all +my knowledge of his history, had not a letter, of which I send you an +extract, resumed the narrative. The writer is the Princess Sabloukoff, +a lady of whose attractions and fascinations you have often heard me +speak. When you have read, and thought over the enclosed, let me have +your opinion. I do not, I cannot, believe in the rumor you allude +to. Glencore is not the man to marry at his time of life, and in +his circumstances. Send me, however, all the particulars you are in +possession of. I hope they don't mean to send you to India, because +you seem to dislike it. For my own part, I suspect I should enjoy that +country immensely. Heat is the first element of daily comfort, and all +the appliances to moderate it are _ex-officio_ luxuries; besides that in +India there is a splendid and enlarged selfishness in the mode of life +very different from the petty egotisms of our rude Northland. + +If you do go, pray take Naples in the way. The route by Alexandria and +Suez, they all tell me, is the best and most expeditious. + +Mellish desires me to add his remembrances, hoping you have not +forgotten him. He served in the "Fifth" with you in Canada,--that is, if +you be the same George Harcourt who played Tony Lumpkin so execrably at +Montreal. I have told him it is probable, and am yours ever, + +H. U. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. HARCOURT'S LODGINGS + +When Harcourt had finished the reading of that letter we have presented +in our last chapter, he naturally turned for information on the subject +which principally interested him to the enclosure. It was a somewhat +bulky packet, and, from its size, at once promised very full and ample +details. As he opened it, however, he discovered it was in various +handwritings; but his surprise was further increased by the following +heading, in large letters, in the top of a page: "Sulphur Question," and +beginning, "My Lord, by a reference to my despatch, No. 478, you +will perceive that the difficulties which the Neapolitan +Government--" Harcourt turned over the page. It was all in the same +strain. Tariffs, treaties, dues, and duties occurred in every line. +Three other documents of like nature accompanied this; after which came +a very ill-written scrawl on coarse paper, entitled, "Hints as to diet +and daily exercise for his Excellency's use." + +The honest Colonel, who was not the quickest of men, was some time +before he succeeded in unravelling to his satisfaction the mystery +before him, and recognizing that the papers on his table had been +destined for a different address, while the letter of the Princess had, +in all probability, been despatched to the Foreign Office, and was now +either confounding or amusing the authorities in Downing Street. While +Harcourt laughed over the blunder, he derived no small gratification +from thinking that nothing but great geniuses ever fell into these +mistakes, and was about to write off in this very spirit to Upton, +when he suddenly bethought him that, before an answer could arrive, he +himself would be far away on his journey to India. + +"I asked nothing," said he, "that could be difficult to reply to. It was +plain enough, too, that I only wanted such information as he could +have given me off-hand. If I could but assure Glencore that the boy +was worthy of him,--that there was stuff to give good promise of future +excellence, that he was honorable and manly in all his dealings,--who +knows what effect such assurance might have had? There are days when it +strikes me Glencore would give half his fortune to have the youth beside +him, and be able to call him his own. Why he cannot, does not do it, is +a mystery which I am unable to fathom. He never gave me his confidence +on this head; indeed, he gave me something like a rebuff one evening, +when he erroneously fancied that I wanted to probe the mysterious +secret. It shows how much he knows of my nature," added he, laughing. +"Why, I'd rather carry a man's trunk or his portmanteau on my back than +his family secrets in my heart. I could rest and lay down my burden in +the one case,--in the other, there's never a moment of repose! And now +Glencore is to be here this very day--the ninth--to learn my news. The +poor fellow comes up from Wales, just to talk over these matters, and I +have nothing to offer him but this blundering epistle. Ay, here 's the +letter:-- + +"Dear Harcourt,--Let me have a mutton-chop with you on the ninth, and +give me, if you can, the evening after it. + +"Yours, + +"Glencore." + + +"A man must be ill off for counsel and advice when he thinks of such aid +as mine. Heaven knows, I never was such a brilliant manager of my own +fortunes that any one should trust his destinies in my hands. Well, he +shall have the mutton-chop, and a good glass of old port after it; and +the evening, or, if he likes it, the night shall be at his disposal." +And with this resolve, Harcourt, having given orders for dinner at +six, issued forth to stroll down to his club, and drop in at the Horse +Guards, and learn as much as he could of the passing events of the +day,--meaning, thereby, the details of whatever regarded the army-list, +and those who walk in scarlet attire. + +It was about five o'clock of a dreary November afternoon that a +hackney-coach drew op at Harcourt's lodgings in Dover Street, and a tall +and very sickly looking man, carrying his carpet-bag in one hand and a +dressing-case in the other, descended and entered the house. + +"Mr. Massy, sir?" said the Colonel's servant, as he ushered him in; +for such was the name Glencore desired to be known by. And the stranger +nodded, and throwing himself wearily down on a sofa, seemed overcome +with fatigue. + +"Is your master out?" asked he, at length. + +"Yes, sir; but I expect him immediately. Dinner was ordered for six, and +he 'll be back to dress half an hour before that time." + +"Dinner for two?" half impatiently asked the other. + +"Yes, sir, for two." + +"And all visitors in the evening denied admittance? Did your master say +so?" + +"Yes, sir; out for every one." + +Glencore now covered his face with his hands, and relapsed into silence. +At length he lifted his eyes till they fell upon a colored drawing over +the chimney. It was an officer in hussar uniform, mounted on a splendid +charger, and seated with all the graceful ease of a consummate horseman. +This much alone he could perceive from where he lay, and indolently +raising himself on one arm, he asked if it were "a portrait of his +master"? + +"No, sir; of my master's colonel, Lord Glencore, when he commanded the +Eighth, and was said to be the handsomest man in the service." + +"Show it to me!" cried he, eagerly, and almost snatched the drawing from +the other's hands. He gazed at it intently and fixedly, and his sallow +cheek once reddened slightly as he continued to look. + +"That never was a likeness!" said he, bitterly. + +"My master thinks it a wonderful resemblance, sir,--not of what he is +now, of course; but that was taken fifteen years ago or more." + +"And is he so changed since that?" asked the sick man, plaintively. + +"So I hear, sir. He had a stroke of some kind, or fit of one sort or +another, brought on by fretting. They took away his title, I'm told. +They made out that he had no right to it, that he wasn't the real lord. +But here's the Colonel, sir;" and almost as he spoke, Harcourt's step +was on the stair. The next moment his hand was cordially clasped in that +of his guest. + +"I scarcely expected you before six; and how have you borne the +journey?" cried he, taking a seat beside the sofa. A gentle motion of +the eyebrows gave the reply. + +"Well, well, you'll be all right after the soup. Marcom, serve the +dinner at once. I'll not dress. And mind, no admittance to any one." + +"You have heard from Upton?" asked Glencore. + +"Yes." + +"And satisfactorily?" asked he, more anxiously. + +"Quite so; but you shall know all by and by. I have got mackerel for +you. It was a favorite dish of yours long ago, and you shall taste such +mutton as your Welsh mountains can't equal. I got the haunch from the +Ardennes a week ago, and kept it for you." + +"I wish I deserved such generous fare; but I have only an invalid's +stomach," said Glencore, smiling faintly. + +"You shall be reported well, and fit for duty to-day, or my name is not +George Harcourt. The strongest and toughest fellow that ever lived could +n't stand up against the united effects of low diet and low spirits. +To act generously and think generously, you must live generously, +take plenty of exercise, breathe fresh air, and know what it is to be +downright weary when you go to bed,--not bored, mark you, for that's +another thing. Now, here comes the soup, and you shall tell me whether +turtle be not the best restorative a man ever took after twelve hours of +the road." + +Whether tempted by the fare, or anxious to gratify the hospitable wishes +of his host, Glencore ate heartily, and drank what for his abstemious +habit was freely, and, so far as a more genial air and a more ready +smile went, fully justified Harcourt's anticipations. + +"By Jove! you 're more like yourself than I have seen you this many a +day," said the Colonel, as they drew their chairs towards the fire, +and sat with that now banished, but ever to be regretted, little +spider-table, that once emblematized after-dinner blessedness, between +them. "This reminds one of long ago, Glencore, and I don't see why we +cannot bring to the hour some of the cheerfulness that we once boasted." + +A faint, very faint smile, with more of sorrow than joy in it, was the +other's only reply. + +"Look at the thing this way, Glencore," said Harcourt, eagerly. "So long +as a man has, either by his fortune or by his personal qualities, the +means of benefiting others, there is a downright selfishness in shutting +himself up in his sorrow, and saying to the world, 'My own griefs are +enough for me; I 'll take no care or share in yours.' Now, there never +was a fellow with less of this selfishness than you--" + +"Do not speak to me of what I was, my dear friend. There's not a plank +of the old craft remaining. The name alone lingers, and even that will +soon be extinct." + +"So, then, you still hold to this stern resolution? Shall I tell you +what I think of it?" + +"Perhaps you had better not do so," said Glencore, sternly. + +"By Jove! then, I will, just for that menace," said Harcourt. "I said, +'This is vengeance on Glencore's part.'" + +"To whom, sir, did you make this remark?" + +"To myself, of course. I never alluded to the matter to any other; +never." + +"So far, well," said Glencore, solemnly; "for had you done so, we had +never exchanged words again!" + +"My dear fellow," said Harcourt, laying his hand affectionately on the +other's, "I can well imagine the price a sensitive nature like yours +must pay for the friendship of one so little gifted with tact as I am. +But remember always that there's this advantage in the intercourse: you +can afford to hear and bear things from a man of _my_ stamp, that would +be outrages from perhaps the lips of a brother. As Upton, in one of his +bland moments, once said to me, 'Fellows like you, Harcourt, are the +bitters of the human pharmacopoeia,--somewhat hard to take, but very +wholesome when you're once swallowed.'" + +"You are the best of the triad, and no great praise that, either," +muttered Glencore to himself. After a pause, he continued: "It has not +been from any distrust in your friendship, Harcourt, that I have not +spoken to you before on this gloomy subject. I know well that you bear +me more affection than any one of all those who call themselves my +friends; but when a man is about to do that which never can meet +approval from those who love him, he seeks no counsel, he invites no +confidence. Like the gambler, who risks all on a single throw, he makes +his venture from the impulse of a secret mysterious prompting within, +that whispers, 'With this you are rescued or ruined!' Advice, counsel!" +cried he, in bitter mockery, "tell me, when have such ever alleviated +the tortures of a painful malady? Have you ever heard that the writhings +of the sick man were calmed by the honeyed words of his friends at the +bedside? I"--here his voice became full and loud--"I was burdened with a +load too great for me to bear. It had bowed me to the earth, and all +but crushed me! The sense of an unaccomplished vengeance was like a debt +which, unrequited ere I died, sent me to my grave dishonored. Which +of you all could tell me how to endure this? What shape could your +philosophy assume?" + +"Then I guessed aright," broke in Harcourt. "This was done in +vengeance." + +"I have no reckoning to render you, sir," said Glencore, haughtily; "for +any confidence of mine, you are more indebted to my passion than to my +inclination. I came up here to speak and confer with you about this boy, +whose guardianship you are unable to continue longer. Let us speak of +that." + +"Yes," said Harcourt, in his habitual tone of easy good humor, "they +are going to send me out to India again. I have had eighteen years of +it already; but I have no Parliamentary influence, nor could I trace a +fortieth cousinship with the House of Lords; but, after all, it might be +worse. Now, as to this lad, what if I were to take him out with me? +This artist life that he seems to have adopted scarcely promises much." + +"Let me see Upton's letter," said Glencore, gravely. + +"There it is. But I must warn you that the really important part is +wanting; for instead of sending us, as he promised, the communication +of his Russian Princess, he has stuffed in a mass of papers intended for +Downing Street, and a lot of doctor's prescriptions, for whose loss he +is doubtless suffering martyrdom." + +"Is this credible?" cried Glencore. + +"There they are, very eloquent about sulphur, and certain refugees with +long names, and with some curious hints about Spanish flies and the +flesh-brush." + +Glencore flung down the papers in indignation, and walked up and down +the room without speaking. + +"I'd wager a trifle," cried Harcourt, "that Madame--What 's-her-name's +letter has gone to the Foreign Office in lien of the despatches; and, if +so, they have certainly gained most by the whole transaction." + +"You have scarcely considered, perhaps, what publicity may thus be given +to my private affairs," said Glencore. "Who knows what this woman may +have said; what allusions her letter may contain?" + +"Very true; I never did think of that," muttered Harcourt. + +"Who knows what circumstances of my private history are now bandied +about from desk to desk by flippant fools, to be disseminated afterwards +over Europe by every courier?" cried he, with increasing passion. + +Before Harcourt could reply, the servant entered, and whispered a few +words in his ear. "But you already denied me," said Harcourt. "You told +him that I was from home?" + +"Yes, sir; but he said that his business was so important that he 'd +wait for your return, if I could not say where he might find you. This +is his card." + +Harcourt took it, and read, "Major Scaresby, from Naples." "What think +you, Glencore? Ought we to admit this gentleman? It may be that this visit +relates to what we have been speaking about." + +"Scaresby--Scaresby--I know the name," muttered Glencore. "To be sure! +There was a fellow that hung about Florence and Rome long ago, and +called himself Scaresby; an ill-tongued old scandal-monger people +encouraged in a land where newspapers are not permitted." + +"He affects to have something very pressing to communicate. Perhaps it +were better to have him up." + +"Don't make me known to him, then, or let me have to talk to him," said +Glencore, throwing himself down on a sofa; "and let his visit be as +brief as you can manage." + +Harcourt made a significant sign to his servant, and the moment after +the Major was heard ascending the stairs. + +"Very persistent of me, you'll say, Colonel Harcourt. Devilish tenacious +of my intentions, to force myself thus upon you!" said the Major, as +he bustled into the room, with a white leather bag in his hand; "but I +promised Upton I'd not lie down on a bed till I saw you." + +"All the apologies should come from my side, Major," said Harcourt, +as he handed him to a chair; "but the fact was, that having an invalid +friend with me, quite incapable of seeing company, and having matters of +some importance to discuss with him--" + +"Just so," broke in Scaresby; "and if it were not that I had given a +very strong pledge to Upton, I 'd have given my message to your servant, +and gone off to my hotel. But he laid great stress on my seeing you, and +obtaining certain papers which, if I understand aright, have reached you +in mistake, being meant for the Minister at Downing Street. Here's his +own note, however, which will explain all." + +It ran thus:-- + +Dear H------,--So I find that some of the despatches have got +into your enclosure instead of that "on his Majesty's service." I +therefore send off the insupportable old bore who will deliver this, +to rescue them, and convey them to their fitting destination. "The +extraordinaries" will be burdened to some fifty or sixty pounds for it; +but they very rarely are expended so profitably as in getting rid of an +intolerable nuisance. Give him all the things, therefore, and pack +him off to Downing Street. I'm far more uneasy, however, about some +prescriptions which I suspect are along with them. One, a lotion for the +cervical vertebrae, of invaluable activity, which you may take a copy +of, but strictly, on honor, for your own use only. Scaresby will obtain +the Princess's letter, and hand it to you. It is certain not to have +been opened at F. O., as they never read anything not alluded to in the +private correspondence. + +This blunder has done me a deal of harm. My nerves are not in a state to +stand such shocks; and though, in fact, you are not the culpable party, +I cannot entirely acquit you for having in part occasioned it. [Harcourt +laughed good-humoredly at this, and continued:] If you care for it, +old S. will give you all the last gossip from these parts, and be the +channel of yours to me. But don't dine him; he's not worth a dinner. +He 'll only repay sherry and soda-water, and one of those execrable +cheroots you used to be famed for. Amongst the recipes, let me recommend +you an admirable tonic, the principal ingredient in which is the oil +of the star-fish. It will probably produce nausea, vertigo, and even +fainting for a week or two, but these symptoms decline at last, and, +except violent hiccup, no other inconvenience remains. Try it, at all +events. + +Yours ever, H. U. + + +While Harcourt perused this short epistle, Scaresby, on the invitation +of his host, had helped himself freely to the Madeira, and a plate of +devilled biscuits beside it, giving, from time to time, oblique glances +towards the dark corner of the room, where Glencore lay, apparently +asleep. + +"I hope Upton's letter justifies my insistence, Colonel. He certainly +gave me to understand that the case was a pressing one," said Scaresby. + +"Quite so, Major Scaresby; and I have only to reiterate my excuses for +having denied myself to you. But you are aware of the reason;" and he +glanced towards where Glen-Core was lying. + +"Very excellent fellow, Upton," said the Major, sipping his wine, "but +very--what shall I call it?--eccentric; very odd; not like any one else, +you know, in the way he does things. I happened to be one of his guests +t'other day. He had detained us above an hour waiting dinner, when he +came in all flurried and excited, and, turning to me, said, 'Scaresby, +have you any objection to a trip to England at his Majesty's expense?' +and as I replied, 'None whatever; indeed, it would suit my book to +perfection just now.' + +"'Well, then,' said he, 'get your traps together, and be here within +an hour. I 'll have all in readiness for you.' I did not much fancy +starting off in this fashion, and without my dinner, too; but egad! he's +one of those fellows that don't stand parleying, and so I just took him +at his word, and here I am. I take it the matter must be a very emergent +one, eh?" + +"It is clear Sir Horace Upton thought so," said Harcourt, rather amused +than offended by the other's curiosity. + +"There's a woman in it, somehow, I 'll be bound, eh?" + +Harcourt laughed heartily at this sally, and pushed the decanter towards +his guest. + +"Not that I'd give sixpence to know every syllable of the whole +transaction," said Scaresby. "A man that has passed, as I have, the last +twenty-five years of his life between Rome, Florence, and Naples, has +devilish little to learn of what the world calls scandal." + +"I suppose you must indeed possess a wide experience," said Harcourt. + +"Not a man in Europe, sir, could tell you as many dark passages of +good society! I kept a kind of book once,--a record of fashionable +delinquencies; but I had to give it up. It took me half my day to +chronicle even the passing events; and then my memory grew so retentive +by practice, I did n't want the reference, but could give you date, and +name, and place for every incident that has scandalized the world for +the last quarter of the century." + +"And do you still possess this wonderful gift, Major?" + +"Pretty well; not, perhaps, to the same extent I once did. You see, +Colonel Harcourt,"--here his voice became low and confidential,--"some +twenty, or indeed fifteen years back, it was only persons of actual +condition that permitted themselves the liberty to do these things; but, +hang it, sir! now you have your middle-class folk as profligate as their +betters. Jones, or Smith, or Thompson runs away with his neighbor's +wife, cheats at cards, and forges his friend's name, just as if he had +the best blood in his veins, and fourteen quarterings on his escutcheon. +What memory, then, I ask you, could retain all the shortcomings of +these people?" + +"But I 'd really not trouble my head with such ignoble delinquents," +said Harcourt. + +"Nor do I, sir, save when, as will sometimes happen, they have a +footing, with one leg at least, in good society. For, in the present +state of the world, a woman with a pretty face, and a man with a +knowledge of horseflesh, may move in any circle they please." + +"You're a severe censor of the age we live in, I see," said Harcourt, +smiling. "At the same time, the offences could scarcely give you +much uneasiness, or you 'd not take up your residence where they most +abound." + +"If you want to destroy tigers, you must frequent the jungle," said +Scaresby, with one of his heartiest laughs. + +"Say, rather, if you have the vulture's appetite, you must go where +there is carrion!" cried Glencore, with a voice to which passion lent a +savage vehemence. + +"Eh? ha! very good! devilish smart of your sick friend. Pray present me +to him," said Scaresby, rising. + +"No, no, never mind him," whispered Harcourt, pressing him down into +his seat. "At some other time, perhaps. He is nervous and irritable. +Conversation fatigues him, too." + +"Egad! that was neatly said, though; I hope I shall not forget it. +One envies these sick fellows, sometimes, the venom they get from bad +health. But I am forgetting myself in the pleasure of your society," +added he, rising from the table, as he finished off the last glass in +the decanter. "I shall call at Downing Street to-morrow for that letter +of Upton's, and, with your permission, will deposit it in your hands +afterwards." + +Harcourt accompanied him to the door with thanks. Profuse, indeed, was +he in his recognitions, desiring to get him clear off the ground before +any further allusions on his part, or rejoinders from Glencore, might +involve them all in new complications. + +"I know that fellow well," cried Glencore, almost ere the door closed on +him. "He is just what I remember him some twenty years ago. Dressed up +in the cast-off vices of his betters, he has passed for a man of fashion +amongst his own set, while he is regarded as a wit by those who mistake +malevolence for humor. I ask no other test of a society than that such a +man is endured in it." + +"I sometimes suspect," said Harcourt, "that the world never believes +these fellows to be as ill-natured as then-tongues bespeak them." + +"You are wrong, George; the world knows them well. The estimation they +are held in is, for the reflective flattery by which each listener to +their sarcasms soothes his own conscience as he says, 'I could be just +as bitter, if I consented to be as bad.''' + +"I cannot at all account for Upton's endurance of such a man," said +Harcourt. + +"As there are men who fancy that they strengthen their animal system by +braving every extreme of climate, so Upton imagines that he invigorates +his _morale_ by associating with all kinds and descriptions of people; +and there is no doubt that in doing so he extends the sphere of his +knowledge of mankind. After all," muttered he, with a sigh, "it 's only +learning the geography of a land too unhealthy to live in." + +Glencore arose as he said this, and, with a nod of leave-taking, retired +to his room. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. A FEVERED MIND + +Harcourt passed the morning of the following day in watching the street +for Scaresby's arrival. Glencore's impatience had grown into absolute +fever to obtain the missing letter, and he kept asking every moment at +what hour he had promised to be there, and wondering at his delay. + +Noon passed over,--one o'clock; it was now nearly half-past, as a +carriage drove hastily to the door. + +"At last," cried Glencore, with a deep sigh. + +"Sir Gilbert Bruce, sir, requests to know if you can receive him," said +the servant to Harcourt. + +"Another disappointment!" muttered Glencore, as he left the room, when +Harcourt motioned to the servant to introduce the visitor. + +"My dear Colonel Harcourt," cried the other, entering, "excuse a very +abrupt call; but I have a most pressing need of your assistance. I hear +you can inform me of Lord Glencore's address." + +"He is residing in North Wales at present. I can give you his post +town." + +"Yes, but can I be certain that he will admit me if I should go down +there? He is living, I hear, in strict retirement, and I am anxious for +a personal interview." + +"I cannot insure you that," said Harcourt. "He does live, as you have +heard, entirely estranged from all society. But if you write to him--" + +"Ah! there's the difficulty. A letter and its reply takes some days." + +"And is the matter, then, so very imminent?" + +"It is so; at least it is thought to be so by an authority that neither +you nor I will be likely to dispute. You know his Lordship intimately, I +fancy?" + +"Perhaps. I may call myself as much his friend as any man living." + +"Well, then, I may confide to you my business with him. It happened +that, a few days back, Lord Adderley was on a visit with the King at +Brighton, when a foreign messenger arrived with despatches. They were, +of course, forwarded to him there; and as the King has a passion for +that species of literature, he opened them all himself. Now, I suspect +that his Majesty cares more for the amusing incidents which occasionally +diversify the life of foreign courts than for the great events of +politics. At all events, he devours them with avidity, and seems +conversant with the characters and private affairs of some hundreds +of people he has never seen, nor in all likelihood will ever see! In +turning over the loose pages of one of the despatches from Naples, I +think, he came upon what appeared to be a fragment of a letter. Of +what it was, or what it contained, I have not the slightest knowledge. +Adderley himself has not seen it, nor any one but the King. All I +know is that it concerns in some way Lord Glencore; for immediately on +reading it he gave me instructions to find him out, and send him down to +Brighton." + +"I am afraid, were you to see Glencore, your mission would prove a +failure. He has given up the world altogether, and even a royal command +would scarcely withdraw him from his retirement." + +"At all events, I must make the trial. You can let me have his address, +and perhaps you would do more, and give me some sort of introduction to +him,--something that might smooth down the difficulty of a first visit." + +Harcourt was silent, and stood for some seconds in deep thought; which +the other, mistaking for a sign of unwillingness to comply with his +request, quickly added, "If my demand occasion you any inconvenience, or +if there be the slightest difficulty--" + +"Nay, nay, I was not thinking of that," said Harcourt. "Pray excuse me +for a moment. I will fetch you the address you spoke of;" and without +waiting for more, he left the room. The next minute he was in Glencore's +room, hurriedly narrating to him all that had passed, and asking him +what course he should pursue. Glencore heard the story with a greater +calm than Harcourt dared to hope for; and seemed pleased at the +reiterated assurance that the King alone had seen the letter referred +to; and when Harcourt abruptly asked what was to be done, he slowly +replied, "I must obey his Majesty's commands. I must go to Brighton." + +"But are you equal to all this? Have you strength for it?" + +"I think so; at all events, I am determined to make the effort. I was +a favorite with his Majesty long ago. He will say nothing to hurt me +needlessly; nor is it in his nature to do so. Tell Bruce that you will +arrange everything, and that I shall present myself to-morrow at the +palace." + +"Remember, Glencore, that if you say so--" + +"I must be sure and keep my word. Well, so I mean, George. I was a +courtier once upon a time, and have not outlived my deference to a +sovereign. I 'll be there; you may answer for me." + +From the moment that Glencore had come to this resolve, a complete +change seemed to pass over the nature of the man. It was as though a +new spring had been given to his existence. The reformation that all the +blandishments of friendship, all the soft influences of kindness, could +never accomplish, was more than half effected by the mere thought of +an interview with a king, and the possible chance of a little royal +sympathy! + +If Harcourt was astonished, he was not the less pleased at all this. +He encouraged Glencore's sense of gratification by every means in his +power, and gladly lent himself to all the petty anxieties about dress +and appearance in which he seemed now immersed. Nothing could exceed, +indeed, the care he bestowed on these small details; ever insisting as +he did that, his Majesty being the best-dressed gentleman in Europe, +these matters assumed a greater importance in his eyes. + +"I must try to recover somewhat of my former self," said he. "There was +a time when I came and went freely to Carlton House, when I was somewhat +more than a mere frequenter of the Prince's society. They tell me that +of late he is glad to see any of those who partook of his intimacy of +those times; who can remember the genial spirits who made his table the +most brilliant circle of the world; who can talk to him of Hanger, and +Kelly, and Sheridan, and the rest of them. I spent my days and nights +with them." + +Warming with the recollection of a period which, dissolute and +dissipated as it was, yet redeemed by its brilliancy many of its least +valuable features, Glencore poured forth story after story of a time +when statesmen had the sportive-ness of schoolboys, and the greatest +intellects loved to indulge in the wildest excesses of folly. A +good jest upon Eldon, a smart epigram on Sidmouth, a quiz against +Vansittart, was a fortune at Court; and there grew up thus around the +Prince a class who cultivated ridicule so assiduously that nothing was +too high or too venerable to escape their sarcasms. + +Though Glencore was only emerging out of boyhood,--a young subaltern +in the Prince's own regiment,--when he first entered this society, +the impression it had made upon his mind was not the less permanent. +Independently of the charm of being thus admitted to the most choice +circle of the land, there was the fascination of intimacy with names +that even amongst contemporaries were illustrious. + +"I feel in such spirits to-day, George," cried Glencore at length, +"that I vote we go and pass the day at Richmond. We shall escape +the possibility of being bored by your acquaintance. We shall have a +glorious stroll through the fields, and a pleasant dinner afterwards at +the Star and Garter." + +Only too well pleased at this sudden change in his friend's humor, +Harcourt assented. + +The day was a bright and clear one, with a sharp, frosty air and that +elasticity of atmosphere that invigorates and stimulates. They both soon +felt its influence, and as the hours wore on, pleasant memories of +the past were related, and old friends remembered and talked over in a +spirit that brought back to each much of the youthful sentiments they +recorded. + +"If one could only go over it all again, George," said Glencore, as they +sat after dinner, "up to three-and-twenty, or even a year or two later, +I 'd not ask to change a day,--scarcely an hour. Whatever was deficient +in fact, was supplied by hope. It was a joyous, brilliant time, when +we all made partnership of our good spirits, and traded freely on the +capital. Even Upton was frank and free-hearted then. There were some six +or eight of us, with just fortune enough never to care about money, and +none of us so rich as to be immersed in dreams of gold, as ever happens +with your millionnaire. Why could we not have continued so to the end?" + +Harcourt adroitly turned him from the theme which he saw impending,--his +departure for the Continent, his residence there, and his marriage,--and +once more occupied him in stories of his youthful life in London, when +Glencore suddenly came to a stop, and said, "I might have married the +greatest beauty of the time,--of a family, too, second to none in all +England. You know to whom I allude. Well, she would have accepted me; +her father was not averse to the match; a stupid altercation with her +brother, Lord Hervey, at Brookes's one night--an absurd dispute about +some etiquette of the play-table--estranged me from their house. I was +offended at what I deemed their want of courtesy in not seeking me,--for +I was in the right; every one said so. I determined not to call first. +They gave a great entertainment, and omitted me; and rather than stay +in town to publish this affront, I started for the Continent; and out +of that petty incident, a discussion of the veriest trifle imaginable, +there came the whole course of my destiny." + +"To be sure," said Harcourt, with assumed calm, "every man's fortune in +life is at the sport of some petty incident or other, which at the time +he undervalues." + +"And then we scoff at those men who scrutinize each move, and hesitate +over every step in life, as triflers and little-minded; while, if your +remark be just, it is exactly they who are the wise and prudent," cried +Glencore, with warmth. "Had I, for instance, seen this occurrence, +trivial as it was, in its true light, what and where might I not have +been to-day?" + +"My dear Glencore, the luckiest fellow that ever lived, were he only to +cast a look back on opportunities neglected, and conjunctures unprofited +by, would be sure to be miserable. I am far from saying that some have +not more than their share of the world's sorrows; but, take my word for +it, every one has his load, be it greater or less; and, what is worse, +we all of us carry our burdens with as much inconvenience to ourselves +as we can." + +"I know what you would say, Harcourt. It is the old story about giving +way to passion, and suffering temper to get the better of one; but let +me tell you that there are trials where passion is an instinct, and +reason works too slowly. I have experienced such as this." + +"Give yourself but fair play, Glencore, and you will surmount all your +troubles. Come back into the world again,--I don't mean this world of +balls and dinner-parties, of morning calls and afternoons in the Park; +but a really active, stirring life. Come with me to India, and let us +have a raid amongst the jaguars; mix with the pleasant, light-hearted +fellows you 'll meet at every mess, who ask for nothing better than +their own good spirits and good health, to content them with the +world; just look out upon life, and see what numbers are struggling and +swimming for existence, while you, at least, have competence and wealth +for all you wish; and bear in mind that round the table where wit is +flashing and the merriest laughter rings, there is not a man--no, not +one--who hasn't a something heavy in his heart, but yet who'd feel +himself a coward if his face confessed it." + +"And why am I to put this mask upon me? For what and for whom have I to +wear this disguise?" cried Glencore, angrily. + +"For yourself! It is in bearing up manfully before the world you'll +gain the courage to sustain your own heart. Ay, Glencore, you 'll do +it to-morrow. In the presence of royalty you 'll comport yourself with +dignity and reserve, and you 'll come out from the interview higher and +stronger in self-esteem." + +"You talk as if I were some country squire who would stand abashed and +awe-struck before his King; but remember, my worthy Colonel, I have +lived a good deal inside the tabernacle, and its mysteries are no +secrets to _me_. + +"Reason the more for what I say!" broke in Harcourt; "your deference +will not obliterate your judgment; your just respect will not alloy your +reason." + +"I'll talk to the King, sir, as I talk to you," said Glencore, +passionately; "nor is the visit of my seeking. I have long since done +with courts and those who frequent them. What can royalty do for _me?_ +Upton and yourself may play the courtier, and fawn at levees; you have +your petitions to present, your favors to beg for; you want to get this, +or be excused from that: but I am no supplicant; I ask for no place, no +ribbon. If the King speak to me about my private affairs, he shall be +answered as I would answer any one who obtrudes his rank into the place +that should only be occupied by friendship." + +"It may be that he has some good counsel to offer." + +"Counsel to offer me!" burst in Glencore, with increased warmth. "I +would no more permit any man to give me advice unasked than I would +suffer him to go to my tradespeople and pay my debts for me. A man's +private sorrows are his debts,--obligations between himself and his own +heart. Don't tell me, sir, that even a king's prerogative absolves him +from the duties of a gentleman." + +While he uttered these words, he continued to fill and empty his +wine-glass several times, as if passion had stimulated his thirst; and +now his flashing eyes and his heightened color betrayed the effect of +wine. + +"Let us stroll out into the cool air," said Harcourt. "See what a +gorgeous night of stars it is!" + +"That you may resume your discourse on patience and resignation!" said +Glencore, scoffingly. "No, sir. If I must listen to you, let me have at +least the aid of the decanter. Your bitter maxims are a bad substitute +for olives, but I must have wine to swallow them." + +"I never meant them to be so distasteful to you," said Harcourt, +good-humoredly. + +"Say, rather, you troubled your head little whether they were or not," +replied Glencore, whose voice was now thick from passion and drink +together. "You and Upton, and two or three others, presume to lecture +_me_--who, because gifted, if you call it gifted--I'd say cursed--ay, +sir, cursed with coarser natures--temperaments where higher sentiments +have no place--fellows that can make what they feel subordinate to what +they want--you appreciate _that_, I hope--_that_ stings you, does it? +Well, sir, you'll find me as ready to act as to speak. There's not a +word I utter here I mean to retract to-morrow." + +"My dear Glencore, we have both taken too much wine." + +"Speak for yourself, sir. If you desire to make the claret the excuse +for your language, I can only say it's like everything else in your +conduct,--always a subterfuge, always a scapegoat. Oh, George, George, I +never suspected this in you;" and burying his head between his hands, he +burst into tears. + +He never spoke a word as Harcourt assisted him to the carriage, nor did +he open his lips on the road homewards. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. THE VILLA AT SORRENTO + +In one of the most sequestered nooks of Sorrento, almost escarped out +of the rocky cliff, and half hid in the foliage of orange and oleander +trees, stood the little villa of the Princess Sabloukoff. The blue sea +washed the white marble terrace before the windows, and the arbutus, +whose odor scented the drawing-room, dipped its red berries in the +glassy water. The wildest and richest vegetation abounded on every side. +Plants and shrubs of tropical climes mingled with the hardier races of +Northern lands; and the cedar and the plantain blended their leaves with +the sycamore and the ilex; while, as if to complete the admixture, birds +and beasts of remote countries were gathered together; and the bustard, +the ape, and the antelope mixed with the peacock, the chamois, and +the golden pheasant. The whole represented one of those capricious +exhibitions by which wealth so often associates itself with the +beautiful, and, despite all errors in taste, succeeds in making a spot +eminently lovely. So was it. There was often light where a painter would +have wished shadow. There were gorgeous flowers where a poet would +have desired nothing beyond the blue heather-bell. There were startling +effects of view, managed where chance glimpses through the trees had +been infinitely more picturesque. There was, in fact, the obtrusive +sense of riches in a thousand ways and places where mere unadorned +nature had been far preferable; and yet, with all these faults, sea and +sky, rock and foliage, the scented air, the silence, only broken by +the tuneful birds, the rich profusion of color upon a sward strewn with +flowers, made of the spot a perfect paradise. + +In a richly decorated room, whose three windows opened on a marble +terrace, sat the Princess. It was December; but the sky was cloudless, +the sea a perfect mirror, and the light air that stirred the leaves +soft and balmy as the breath of May. Her dress was in keeping with the +splendor around her: a rich robe of yellow silk fastened up the front +with large carbuncle buttons; sleeves of deep Valenciennes lace fell far +over her jewelled fingers; and a scarf of golden embroidery, negligently +thrown over an arm of her chair, gave what a painter would call the warm +color to a very striking picture. Farther from the window, and carefully +protected from the air by a screen, sat a gentleman whose fur-lined +pelisse and velvet skull-cap showed that he placed more faith in the +almanac than in the atmosphere. From his cork-soled boots to his shawl +muffled about the throat, all proclaimed that distrust of the weather +that characterizes the invalid. No treachery of a hot sun, no seductions +of that inveterate cheat, a fine day in winter, could inveigle Sir +Horace Upton into any forgetfulness of his precautions. He would have +regarded such as a palpable weakness on his part,--a piece of folly +perfectly unbecoming in a man of his diplomatic standing and ability. + +He was writing, and smoking, and talking by turns, the table before him +being littered with papers, and even the carpet at his feet strewn with +the loose sheets of his composition. There was not in his air any of +the concentration, or even seriousness, of a man engaged in an important +labor; and yet the work before him employed all his faculties, and +he gave to it the deepest attention of abilities of which very few +possessed the equal. To great powers of reasoning and a very strong +judgment he united a most acute knowledge of men; not exactly of mankind +in the mass, but of that especial order with whom he had habitually to +deal. Stolid, commonplace stupidity might puzzle or embarrass him; +while for any amount of craft, for any degree of subtlety, he was an +over-match. The plain matter-of-fact intelligence occasionally gained a +slight advantage over him at first; the trained and polished mind of +the most astute negotiator was a book he could read at sight. It was his +especial tact to catch up all this knowledge at once,--very often in +a first interview,--and thus, while others were interchanging the +customary platitudes of every-day courtesy, he was gleaning and +recording within himself the traits and characteristics of all around +him. + +"A clever fellow, very clever fellow, Cineselli," said he, as he +continued to write. "His proposition is--certain commercial advantages, +and that we, on our side, leave him alone to deal his own way with his +own rabble. I see nothing against it, so long as they continue to be +rabble; but grubs grow into butterflies, and very vulgar populace have +now and then emerged into what are called liberal politicians." + +"Only where you have the blessing of a free press," said the Princess, +in a tone of insolent mockery. + +"Quite true, Princess; a free press is a tonic that with an increased +dose becomes a stimulant, and occasionally over-excites." + +"It makes your people drunk now and then!" said she, angrily. + +"They always sleep it off over-night," said he, softly. "They very +rarely pay even the penalty of the morning headache for the excess, +which is exactly why it will not answer in warmer latitudes." + +"Ours is a cold one, and I 'm sure it would not suit us." + +"I'm not so certain of that," said he, languidly. "I think it is +eminently calculated for a people who don't know how to read." + +She would have smiled at the remark, if the sarcasm had not offended +her. + +"Your Lordship will therefore see," muttered he, reading to himself as +he wrote, "that in yielding this point we are, while apparently making a +concession, in reality obtaining a very considerable advantage--" + +"Rather an English habit, I suspect," said she, smiling. + +"Picked up in the course of our Baltic trade, Princess. In sending us +your skins, you smuggled in some of your sentiments; and Russian tallow +has enlightened the nation in more ways than one!" + +"You need it all, my dear chevalier," said she, with a saucy smile. +"Harzewitch told me that your diplomatic people were inferior to those +of the third-rate German States; that, in fact, they never had any +'information.'" + +"I know what he calls 'information,' Princess; and his remark is just. +Our Government is shockingly mean, and never would keep up a good system +of spies." + +"Spies! If you mean by an odious word to inculpate the honor of a high +calling--" + +"Pray forgive my interruption, but I am speaking in all good faith. When +I said 'spy,' it was in the bankrupt misery of a man who had nothing +else to offer. I wanted to imply that pure but small stream which +conveys intelligence from a fountain to a river it was not meant to +feed. Was n't that a carriage I heard in the 'cour'? Oh, pray don't open +the window; there's an odious _libeccio_ blowing to-day, and there's +nothing so injurious to the nervous system." + +"A cabinet messenger, your Excellency," said a servant, entering. + +"What a bore! I hoped I was safe from a despatch for at least a month to +come. I really believe they have no veneration for old institutions in +England. They don't even celebrate Christmas!" + +"I'm charmed at the prospect of a bag," cried the Princess. + +"May I have the messenger shown in here, Princess?" + +"Certainly; by all means." + +"Happy to see your Excellency; hope your Ladyship is in good health," +said a smart-looking young fellow, who wore a much-frogged pelisse, and +sported a very well-trimmed moustache. + +"Ah, Stevins, how d'ye do?" said Upton. "You've had a cold journey over +the Cenis." + +"Came by the Splugen, your Excellency. I went round by Vienna, and +Maurice Esterhazy took me as far as Milan." + +The Princess stared with some astonishment. That the messenger should +thus familiarly style one of that great family was indeed matter of +wonderment to her; nor was it lessened as Upton whispered her, "Ask him +to dine." + +"And London, how is it? Very empty, Stevins?" continued he. + +"A desert," was the answer. + +"Where's Lord Adderley?" + +"At Brighton. The King can't do without him,--greatly to Adderley's +disgust; for he is dying to have a week's shooting in the Highlands." + +"And Cantworth, where is he?" + +"He's off for Vienna, and a short trip to Hungary. I met him at dinner +at the mess while waiting for the Dover packet. By the way, I saw a +friend of your Excellency's,--Harcourt." + +"Not gone to India?" + +"No. They've made him a governor or commander-in-chief of something in +the Mediterranean; I forget exactly where or what." + +"You have brought me a mighty bag, Stevins," said Upton, sighing. "I had +hoped for a little ease and rest now that the House is up." + +"They are all blue-books, I believe," replied Stevins. "There's that +blacking your Excellency wrote about, and the cricket-bats; the lathe +must come out by the frigate, and the down mattress at the same time." + +"Just do me the favor to open the bag, my dear Stevins. I am utterly +without aid here," said Upton, sighing drearily; and the other proceeded +to litter the table and the floor with a variety of strange and +incongruous parcels. + +"Report of factory commissioners," cried he, throwing down a weighty +quarto. "Yarmouth bloaters; Atkinson's cerulean paste for the eyebrows; +Worcester sauce; trade returns for Tahiti; a set of shoemaking +tools; eight bottles of Darby's pyloric corrector; buffalo +flesh-brushes,--devilish hard they seem; Hume's speech on the reduction +of foreign legations; novels from Bull's; top-boots for a tiger; and a +mass of letters," said Stevins, throwing them broadcast over the sofa. + +"No despatches?" cried Upton, eagerly. + +"Not one, by Jove!" said Stevins. + +"Open one of those Darby's. I 'll take a teaspoonful at once. Will you +try it, Stevins?" + +"Thanks, your Excellency, I never take physic." + +"Well, you dine here, then," said he, with a sly look at the Princess. + +"Not to-day, your Excellency. I dine with Grammont at eight." + +"Then I'll not detain you. Come back here to-morrow about eleven or a +little later. Come to breakfast if you like." + +"At what hour?" + +"I don't know,--at any hour," sighed Upton, as he opened one of his +letters and began to read; and Stevins bowed and withdrew, totally +unnoticed and unrecognized as he slipped from the room. + +One after another Upton threw down, after reading half a dozen lines, +muttering some indistinct syllables over the dreary stupidity of +letter-writers in general. Occasionally he came upon some pressing +appeal for money,--some urgent request for even a small remittance by +the next post; and these he only smiled at, while he refolded them with +a studious care and neatness. "Why will you not help me with this chaos, +dear Princess?" said he, at last. + +"I am only waiting to be asked," said she; "but I feared that there +might be secrets--" + +"From you?" said he, with a voice of deep tenderness, while his eyes +sparkled with an expression far more like raillery than affection. The +Princess, however, had either not seen or not heeded it, for she was +already deep in the correspondence. + +"This is strictly private. Am I to read it?" said she. + +"Of course," said he, bowing courteously. And she read:-- + +"Dear Upton,--Let us have a respite from tariffs and trade-talk for a +month or two, and tell me rather what the world is doing around you. We +have never got the right end of that story about the Princess Celestine +as yet. Who was he? Not Labinsky, I'll be sworn. The K---- insists it +was Roseville, and I hope you may be able to assure me that he is +mistaken. He is worse tempered than ever. That Glencore business has +exasperated him greatly. Could n't your Princess,--the world calls her +yours ["How good of the world, and how delicate of your friend!" said +she, smiling superciliously. "Let us see who the writer is. Oh! a great +man,--the Lord Adderley," and went on with her reading:] couldn't your +Princess find out something of real consequence to us about the Q----" + +"What queen does he mean?" cried she, stopping. + +"The Queen of Sheba, perhaps," said Upton, biting his lips with anger, +while he made an attempt to take the letter from her. + +"Pardon! this is interesting," said she, and went on: + +"We shall want it soon; that is, if the manufacturing districts will +not kindly afford us a diversion by some open-air demonstrations and a +collision with the troops. We have offered them a most taking bait, by +announcing wrongfully the departure of six regiments for India; thus +leaving the large towns in the North apparently ungarrisoned. They are +such poltroons that the chances are they 'll not bite! You were right +about Emerson. We have made his brother a Bishop, and he voted with us +on the Arms Bill. Cole is a sterling patriot and an old Whig. He +says nothing shall seduce him from his party, save a Lordship of the +Admiralty. Corruption everywhere, my dear Upton, except on the Treasury +benches! + +"Holecroft insists on being sent to Petersburg; and having ascertained +that the Emperor will not accept him, I have induced the K----to +nominate him to the post. 'Non culpa nostra,' etc. He can scarcely vote +against us after such an evidence of our good-will. Find out what will +give most umbrage to your Court, and I will tell you why in my next. + +"Don't bother yourself about the Greeks. The time is not come yet, nor +will it till it suit our policy to loosen the ties with Russia. As +to France, there is not, nor will there be, in our time at least, any +Government there. We must deal with them as with a public meeting, which +may reverse to-morrow the resolutions they have adopted to-day. The +French will never be formidable till they are unanimous. They 'll never +be unanimous till we declare war with them! Remember, I don't want +anything serious with Cineselli. Irritate and worry as much as you can. +Send even for a ship or two from Malta; but go no farther. I want this +for our radicals at home. Our own friends are in the secret. Write me a +short despatch about our good relations with the Two Sicilies; and send +me some news in a private letter. Let me have some ortolans in the bag, +and believe me yours, + +"Adderley." + +"There," said she, turning over a number of letters with a mere glance +at their contents, "these are all trash,--shooting and fox-hunting news, +which one reads in the newspapers better, or at least more briefly, +narrated, with all that death and marriage intelligence which you +English are so fond of parading before the world. But what is this +literary gem here? Where did the paper come from? And that wonderful +seal, and still more wonderful address?--'To his Worshipful Excellency +the Truly Worthy and Right Honorable Sir Horace Upton, Plenipotentiary, +Negotiator, and Extraordinary Diplomatist, living at Naples.'" + +"What can it mean?" said he, languidly. + +"You shall hear," said she, breaking the massive seal of green wax, +which, to the size of a crown piece, ornamented one side of the epistle. +"It is dated Schwats, Tyrol, and begins: 'Venerated and Reverend +Excellency, when these unsymmetrically-designed, and not more +ingeniously-conceived syllables--' Let us see his name," said she, +stop-ping suddenly, and turning to the last page, read, "'W. T., +_vulgo_, Billy Traynor,--a name cognate to your Worshipful Eminence in +times past.'" + +"To be sure, I remember him perfectly,--a strange creature that came out +here with that boy you heard me speak of. Pray read on." + +"I stopped at 'syllables.' Yes--when these curiously-conceived +syllables, then, come under the visionary apertures of your acute +understanding, they will disclose to your much-reflecting and +nice-discriminating mind as cruel and murderous a deed as ever a +miscreant imagination suggested to a diabolically-constructed and +nefariously-fashioned organization, showing that Nature in her +bland adaptiveness never imposes a mistaken fruit on a genuine +arborescence'--Do you understand him?" asked she. + +"Partly, perhaps," continued he. "Let us have the subject." + +"'Not to weary your exalted and never-enough-to-be-esteemed +intelligence, I will proceed, without further ambiguous or +circumgyratory evolutions, to the main body of my allegation. It +happened in this way: Charley--your venerated worship knows who I +mean--Charley, ever deep in marmorial pursuits, and far progressed in +sculptorial excellence, with a genius that Phidias, if he did not envy, +would esteem--' + +"Really I cannot go on with these interminable parentheses," said she; +"you must decipher them yourself." Upton took the letter, and read +it, at first hastily, and then, recommencing, with more of care and +attention, occasionally stopping to reflect, and consider the details. +"This is likely to be a troublesome business," said he. "This boy has +got himself into a serious scrape. Love and a duel are bad enough; but +an Austrian state-prison, and a sentence of twenty years in irons, +are even worse. So far as I can make out from my not over lucid +correspondent, he had conceived a violent affection for a young lady +at Massa, to whose favor a young Austrian of high rank at the same time +pretended." + +"Wahnsdorf, I'm certain," broke in the Princess; "and the girl--that +Mademoiselle--" + +"Harley," interposed Sir Horace. + +"Just so,--Harley. Pray go on," said she, eagerly. + +"A very serious altercation and a duel were the consequences of this +rivalry, and Wahnsdorf has been dangerously wounded; his life is still +in peril. The Harleys have been sent out of the country, and my unlucky +_protege_, handed over to the Austrians, has been tried, condemned, and +sentenced to twenty years in Kuffstein, a Tyrol fortress where great +severity is practised,--from the neighborhood of which this letter is +written, entreating my speedy interference and protection." + +"What can you do? It is not even within your jurisdiction," said she, +carelessly. + +"True; nor was the capture by the Austrians within theirs, Princess. It +is a case where assuredly everybody was in the wrong, and, therefore, +admirably adapted for nice negotiation." + +"Who and what is the youth?" + +"I have called him a _protege_." + +"Has he no more tender claim to the affectionate solicitude of Sir +Horace Upton?" said she, with an easy air of sarcasm. + +"None, on my honor," said he, eagerly; "none, at least, of the kind you +infer. His is a very sad story, which I 'll tell you about at another +time. For the present, I may say that he is English, and as such must +be protected by the English authorities. The Government of Massa have +clearly committed a great fault in handing him over to the Austrians. +Stubber must be 'brought to book' for this in the first instance. By +this we shall obtain a perfect insight into the whole affair." + +"The Imperial family will never forgive an insult offered to one of +their own blood," said the Princess, haughtily. + +"We shall not ask them to forgive anything, my dear Princess. We shall +only prevent their natural feelings betraying them into an act of +injustice. The boy's offence, whatever it was, occurred outside the +frontier, as I apprehend." + +"How delighted you English are when you can convert an individual case +into an international question! You would at any moment sacrifice an +ancient alliance to the trumpery claim of an aggrieved tourist," said +she, rising angrily, and swept out of the room ere Sir Horace could +arise to open the door for her. + +Upton walked slowly to the chimney and rang the bell. "I shall want the +caleche and post-horses at eight o'clock, Antoine. Put up some things +for me, and get all my furs ready." And with this he measured forty +drops from a small phial he carried in his waistcoat pocket, and sat +down to pare his nails with a very diminutive penknife. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. A DIPLOMATIST'S DINNER + +Were we writing a drama instead of a true history, we might like to +linger for a few moments on the leave-taking between the Princess and +Sir Horace Upton. They were indeed both consummate "artists," and they +played their parts to perfection,--not as we see high comedy performed +on the stage, by those who grotesque its refinements and exaggerate +its dignity; "lashing to storm" the calm and placid lake, all whose +convulsive throes are many a fathom deep, and whose wildest workings +never bring a ripple to the surface. No, theirs was the true version +of well-bred "performance." A little well-affected grief at separation, +brief as it was meant to be; a little half-expressed surprise, on the +lady's part, at the suddenness of the departure; a little, just +as vaguely conveyed, complaint on the other side, over the severe +requirements of duty, and a very little tenderness--for there was no one +to witness it--at the thought of parting; and with a kiss upon her hand, +whose respectful courtesy no knight-errant of old could have surpassed, +Sir Horace backed from the "presence," sighed, and slipped away. + +Had our reader been a spectator instead of a peruser of the events +we have lately detailed, he might have fancied, from certain small +asperities of manner, certain quicknesses of reproof and readiness at +rejoinder, that here were two people only waiting for a reasonable and +decent pretext to go on their separate roads in life. Yet nothing of +this kind was the case; the bond between them was not affection, it was +simply convenience. Their partnership gave them a strength and a social +solvency which would have been sorely damaged had either retired from +"the firm;" and they knew it. + +What would the Princess's dinners have been without the polished ease +of him who felt himself half the host? What would all Sir Horace Upton's +subtlety avail him, if it were not that he had sources of information +which always laid open the game of his adversaries? Singly, each would +have had a tough struggle with the world; together, they were more than +a match for it. + +The highest order of diplomatist, in the estimation of Upton, was the +man who, at once, knew what was _possible_ to be done. It was his +own peculiar quality to possess this gift; but great as his natural +acuteness was, it would not have availed him, without those secret +springs of intelligence we have alluded to. There is no saying to what +limit he might not have carried this faculty, had it not been that one +deteriorating and detracting feature marred and disfigured the fairest +form of his mind. + +He could not, do all that he would, disabuse himself of a very +low estimate of men and their motives. He did not slide into this +philosophy, as certain indolent people do, just to save them the trouble +of discriminating; he did not acquire it by the hard teachings of +adversity. No; it came upon him slowly and gradually, the fruit, as he +believed, of calm judgment and much reflection upon life. As little did +he accept it willingly; he even labored against the conviction: but, +strive as he might, there it was, and there it would remain. + +His fixed impression was, that in every circumstance and event in +life there was always a _dessous des cartes_,--a deeper game concealed +beneath the surface,--and that it was a mere question of skill and +address how much of this penetrated through men's actions. If this +theory unravelled many a tangled web of knavery to him, it also served +to embarrass and confuse him in situations where inferior minds had +never recognized a difficulty! How much ingenuity did he expend to +detect what had no existence! How wearily did he try for soundings where +there was no bottom! + +Through the means of the Princess he had learned--what some very wise +heads do not yet like to acknowledge--that the feeling of the despotic +governments towards England was very different from what it had been at +the close of the great war with Napoleon. They had grown more dominant +and exacting, just as we were becoming every hour more democratic. To +maintain our old relations with them, therefore, on the old footing, +would be only to involve ourselves in continual difficulty, with a +certainty of final failure; and the only policy that remained was to +encourage the growth of liberal opinions on the Continent, out of which +new alliances might be formed, to recompense us for the loss of the +old ones. There is a story told of a certain benevolent prince, whose +resources were, unhappily, not commensurate with his good intentions, +and whose ragged retinue wearied him with entreaties for assistance. "Be +of good cheer," said he, one day, "I have ordered a field of flax to be +sown, and you shall all of you have new shirts." Such were pretty much +the position and policy of England. Out of our crop of Constitutionalism +we speculated on a rich harvest, to be afterwards manufactured for our +use and benefit. We leave it to deeper heads to say if the result has +been all that we calculated on, and, asking pardon for such digression, +we join Sir Horace once more. + +When Sir Horace Upton ordered post-horses to his carriage, he no more +knew where he was going, nor where he would halt, than he could have +anticipated what course any conversation might take when once started. +He had, to be sure, a certain ideal goal to be reached; but he was one +of those men who liked to think that the casual interruptions one meets +with in life are less obstruction than opportunity; so that, instead of +deeming these subjects for regret or impatience, he often accepted them +as indications that there was some profit to be derived from them,--a +kind of fatalism more common than is generally believed. When he set +out for Sorrento it was with the intention of going direct to Massa; +not that this state lay within the limits his functions ascribed to +him,--that being probably the very fact which imparted a zest to the +journey. Any other man would have addressed himself to his colleague in +Tuscany, or wherever he might be; while he, being Sir Horace Upton, +took the whole business upon himself in his own way. Young Massy's case +opened to his eyes a great question, viz., what was the position the +Austrians assumed to take in Italy? For any care about the youth, or any +sympathy with his sufferings, he distressed himself little; not that he +was, in any respect, heartless or unfeeling, it was simply that greater +interests were before him. Here was one of those "grand issues" that he +felt worthy of his abilities,--it was a cause where he was proud to hold +a brief. + +Resolving all his plans of action methodically, yet rapidly; arranging +every detail in his own mind, even to the use of certain expressions +he was to employ,--he arrived at the palace of the Embassy, where he +desired to halt to take up his letters and make a few preparations +before his departure. His Maestro di Casa, Signor Franchetti, was in +waiting for his arrival, and respectfully assured him "that all was in +readiness, and that his Excellency would be perfectly satisfied. We had, +it is true," continued he, "a difficulty about the fish, but I sent off +an express to Baia, and we have secured a sturgeon." + +"What are you raving about, caro Pipo?" said the Minister; "what is all +this long story of Baia and the fish?" + +"Has your Excellency forgotten that we have a grand dinner to-day, at +eight o'clock; that the Prince Maximilian of Bavaria and all the foreign +ambassadors are invited?" + +"Is this Saturday, Pipo?" said Sir Horace, blandly. + +"Yes, your Excellency." + +"Send Mr. Brockett to me," said Sir Horace, as he slowly mounted the +stairs to his own apartment. + +Sir Horace was stretched on a sofa, in all the easy luxury of +magnificent dressing-gown and slippers, when Mr. Brockett entered; and +without any preliminary of greeting he said, with a quiet laugh, "You +have let me forget all about the dinner to-day, Brockett!" + +"I thought you knew it; you took great trouble about the persons to +be asked, and you canvassed whether the Duc de Borodino, being only a +Charge d'Affaires--" + +"There, there; don't you see the--the inappropriateness of what you are +doing? Even in England a man is not asked to criminate himself. How many +are coming?" + +"Nineteen; the 'Nonce' is ill, and has sent an apology." + +"Then the party can be eighteen, Brockett; you must tell them that I am +ill,--too ill to come to dinner. I know the Prince Max very well,--he +'ll not take it badly; and as to Cineselli, we shall see what humor he +is in!" + +"But they 'll know that you arrived here this afternoon; they 'll +naturally suppose--" + +"They 'll naturally suppose--if people ever do anything so intensely +stupid as naturally to suppose anything--that I am the best judge of my +own health; and so, Mr. Brockett, you may as well con over the terms by +which you may best acquaint the company with the reasons for my absence; +and if the Prince proposes a visit to me in the evening, let him come; +he 'll find me here in my own room. Would you do me the kindness to let +Antinori fetch his cupping-glasses, and tell Franchetti also that I 'll +take my chicken grilled, not roasted. I'll look over the treaty in the +evening. One mushroom, only one, he may give me, and the Carlsbad water, +at 28 degrees. I 'm very troublesome, Brockett, but I 'm sure you 'll +excuse it. Thanks, thanks;" and he pressed the Secretary's hand, and +gave him a smile, whose blandishment had often done good service, and +would do so again! + +To almost any other man in the world this interruption to his +journey--this sudden tidings of a formally-arranged dinner which he +could not or would not attend--would have proved a source of chagrin and +dissatisfaction. Not so with Upton; he liked a "contrariety." Whatever +stirred the still waters of life, even though it should be a head-wind, +was far more grateful than a calm! He laughed to himself at the various +comments his company were sure to pass over his conduct; he pictured to +his mind the anger of some and the astonishment of others, and revelled +in the thought of the courtier-like indignation such treatment of a +Royal Highness was certain to elicit. + +"But who can answer for his health?" said he, with an easy laugh to +himself. "Who can promise what he may be ten days hence?" The appearance +of his dinner--if one may dignify by such a name the half of a chicken, +flanked by a roasted apple and a biscuit--cut short his lucubrations; +and Sir Horace ate and sipped his Carlsbad with as much enjoyment as +many another man has felt over venison and Chambertin. + +"Are they arrived, Pipo?" said he, as his servant removed the dessert of +two figs and a lime. + +"Yes, your Excellency, they are at table." + +"How many are there?" + +"Seventeen, sir, and Mr. Brockett." + +"Did the Prince seem to--to feel my absence, Pipo?" + +"I thought he appeared very sorry for your Excellency when Mr. Brockett +spoke to him, and he whispered something to the aide-de-camp beside +him." + +"And the others, how did they take it?" + +"Count Tarrocco said he'd retire, sir, that he could not dine where the +host was too ill to receive him; but the Duc de Campo Stretto said +it was impossible they could leave the room while a 'Royal Highness' +continued to remain in it; and they all agreed with him." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Upton, in a low tone. "I hope the dinner is a good +one?" + +"It is exquisite, sir; the Prince ate some of the caviare soup, and was +asking a second time for the 'pain des ortolans' when I left the room." + +"And the wine, Pipo? have you given them that rare 'La Rose'?" + +"Yes, your Excellency, and the 'Klausthaller cabinet;' his Royal +Highness asked for it." + +"Go back, then, now. I want for nothing more; only drop in here by and +by, and tell me how all goes on. Just light that pastil before you go; +there--that will, do." + +And once more his Excellency was left to himself. In that vast +palace,--the once home of a royal prince,--no sounds of the distant +revelry could reach the remote quarter where he sat, and all was silent +and still around him, and Upton was free to ruminate and reflect at +ease. There was a sense of haughty triumph in thinking that beneath his +roof, at that very moment, were assembled the great representatives of +almost every important state of Europe, to whom he had not deigned +to accord the honor of his presence; but though this thought did flit +across his mind, far more was he intent on reflecting what might be the +consequences--good or evil--of the incident. "And then," said he, aloud, +"how will Printing House Square treat us? What a fulminating leader +shall we not have, denouncing either our insolence or our incompetence, +ending with the words: 'If, then, Sir Horace Upton be not incapacitated +from illness for the discharge of his high functions, it is full time +for his Government to withdraw him from a sphere where his caprice and +impertinence have rendered him something worse than useless;' and then +will come a flood of petty corroborations,--the tourist tribe who heard +of us at Berlin, or called upon as at the Hague, and whose unreturned +cards and uninvited wives are counts in the long indictment against us. +What a sure road to private friendships is diplomacy! How certain is one +of conciliating the world's good opinion by belonging to it! I wish +I had followed the law, or medicine," muttered he; "they are both +abstruse, both interesting; or been a gardener, or a shipwright, or a +mathematical instrument maker, or--" Whatever the next choice might have +been we know not, for he dropped off asleep. + +From that pleasant slumber, and a dream of Heaven knows what life of +Arcadian simplicity, of rippling streams and soft-eyed shepherdesses, +he was destined to be somewhat suddenly, if not rudely, aroused, as +Franchetti introduced a stranger who would accept no denial. + +"Your people were not for letting me up, Upton," cried a rich, mellow +voice; and Harcourt stood before him, bronzed and weather-beaten, as he +came off his journey. + +"You, George? Is it possible!" exclaimed Sir Horace; "what best of all +lucky winds has driven you here? I'm not sure I wasn't dreaming of you +this very moment. I know I have had a vision of angelic innocence and +simplicity, which you must have had your part in; but do tell me when +did you arrive, and whence--" + +"Not till I have dined, by Jove! I have tasted nothing since daybreak, +and then it was only a mere apology for a breakfast." + +"Franchetti, get something, will you?" said Upton, languidly,--"a +cutlet, a fowl; anything that can be had at once." + +"Nothing of the kind, Signor Franchetti," interposed Harcourt; "if +I have a wolfs appetite, I have a man's patience. Let me have a real +dinner,--soup, fish, an entree,--two if you like,--roast beef; and I +leave the wind-up to your own discretion, only premising that I like +game, and have a weakness for woodcocks. By the way, does this climate +suit Bordeaux, Upton?" + +"They tell me so, and mine has a good reputation." + +"Then claret be it, and no other wine. Don't I make myself at home, old +fellow, eh?" said he, clapping Upton on the shoulder. "Have I not taken +his Majesty's Embassy by storm, eh?" + +"We surrender at discretion, only too glad to receive our vanquisher. +Well, and how do you find me looking? Be candid: how do I seem to your +eyes?" + +"Pretty much as I have seen you these last fifteen years,--not an hour +older, at all events. That same delicacy of constitution is a confounded +deal better than most men's strong health, for it never wears out; but I +have always said it, Upton will see us all down!" + +Sir Horace sighed, as though this were too pleasant to be true. + +"Well," said he, at last, "but you have not told me what good chance has +brought you here. Is it the first post-station on the way to India?" + +"No; they've taken me off the saddle, and given me a staff appointment +at Corfu. I 'm going out second in command there; and whether it was +to prevent my teasing them for something else, or that there was really +some urgency in the matter, they ordered me off at once." + +"Are they reinforcing the garrison there?" asked Upton. + +"No; not so far as I have heard." + +"It were better policy to do so than to send out a 'commander-in-chief +and a drummer of great experience,'" muttered Upton to himself; but +Harcourt could not catch the remark. "Have you any news stirring in +England? What do the clubs talk about?" asked Sir Horace. + +"Glencore's business occupied them for the last week or so; now, I +think, it is yourself furnishes the chief topic for speculation." + +"What of me?" asked Upton, eagerly. + +"Why, the rumor goes that you are to have the Foreign Office; Adderley, +they say, goes out, and Conway and yourself are the favorites, the odds +being slightly on his side." + +"This is all news to me, George," said Upton, with a degree of animation +that had nothing fictitious about it; "I have had a note from Adderley +in the last bag, and there's not a word about these changes." + +"Possibly; but perhaps my news is later. What I allude to is said to +have occurred the day I started." + +"Ah, very true; and now I remember that the messenger came round by +Vienna, sent there by Adderley, doubtless," muttered he, "to consult +Conway before seeing _me_; and, I have little doubt, with a letter for +_me_ in the event of Conway declining." + +"Well, have you hit upon the solution of it?" said Har-court, who had +not followed him through his half-uttered observation. + +"Perhaps so," said Upton, slowly, while he leaned his head upon his +hand, and fell into a fit of meditation. Meanwhile, Harcourt's dinner +made its appearance, and the Colonel seated himself at the table with a +traveller's appetite. + +"Whenever any one has called you a selfish fellow, Upton," said he, as +he helped himself twice from the same dish, "I have always denied it, +and on this good ground, that, had you been so, you had never kept the +best cook in Europe, while unable to enjoy his talents. What a rare +artist must this be! What's his name?" + +"Pipo, how is he called?" said Upton, languidly. + +"Monsieur Carmael, your Excellency." + +"Ah, to be sure; a person of excellent family. I've been told he's from +Provence," said Upton, in the same weary voice. + +"I could have sworn to his birthplace," cried Harcourt; "no man can +manage cheese and olives in cookery but a Provencal. Ah, what a glass +of Bordeaux! To your good health, Upton, and to the day that you may be +able to enjoy this as I do," said he, as he tossed off a bumper. + +"It does me good even to witness the pleasure it yields," said Upton, +blandly. + +"By Jove! then, I 'll be worth a whole course of tonics to you, for I +most thoroughly appreciate all the good things you have given me. By the +way, how are you off for dinner company here,--any pleasant people?" + +"I have no health for pleasant people, my dear Harcourt; like horse +exercise, they only agree with you when you are strong enough not to +require them." + +"Then what have you got?" asked the Colonel, somewhat abashed. + +"Princes, generals, envoys, and heads of departments." + +"Good heavens! legions of honor and golden fleeces!" + +"Just so," said Upton, smiling at the dismay in the other's countenance; +"I have had such a party as you describe to-day. Are they gone yet, +Franchetti?" + +"They're at coffee, your Excellency, but the Prince has ordered his +carriage." + +"And you did not go near them?" asked Harcourt, in amazement. + +"No; I was poorly, as you see me," said Upton, smiling. "Pipo tells me, +however, that the dinner was a good one, and I am sure they pardon my +absence." + +"Foreign ease, I've no doubt; though I can't say I like it," muttered +Harcourt. "At all events, it is not for _me_ to complain, since the +accident has given me the pleasure of your society." + +"You are about the only man I could have admitted," said Upton, with +a certain graciousness of look and manner that, perhaps, detracted a +little from its sincerity. + +Fortunately, not so to Harcourt's eyes, for he accepted the speech in +all honesty and good faith, as he said, "Thank you heartily, my boy. The +welcome is better even than the dinner, and that is saying a good deal. +No more wine, thank you; I 'm going to have a cigar, and, with your +leave, I 'll ask for some brandy and water." + +This was addressed to Franchetti, who speedily reappeared with a liqueur +stand and an ebony cigar-case. + +"Try these, George; they 're better than your own," said Upton, dryly. + +"That I will," cried Harcourt, laughing; "I'm determined to draw all +my resources from the country in occupation, especially as they are +superior to what I can obtain from home. This same career of yours, +Upton, strikes me as rather a good thing. You have all these things duty +free?" + +"Yes, we have that privilege," said Upton, sighing. + +"And the privilege of drawing some few thousand pounds per annum, paid +messengers to and from England, secret-service money, and the rest of +it, eh?" + +Upton smiled, and sighed again. + +"And what do you do for all that,--I mean, what are you expected to do?" + +"Keep your party in when they are in; disconcert the enemy when your +friends are out." + +"And is that always a safe game?" asked Harcourt, eagerly. + +"Not when played by unskilful players, my dear George. They occasionally +make sad work, and get bowled out themselves for their pains; but +there's no great harm in that neither." + +"How do you mean there 's no harm in it?" + +"Simply, that if a man can't keep his saddle, he ought n't to try to +ride foremost; but these speculations will only puzzle you, my dear +Harcourt. What of Glencore? You said awhile ago that the town was +talking of him--how and wherefore was it?" + +"Haven't you heard the story, then?" + +"Not a word of it." + +"Well, I'm a bad narrator; besides, I don't know where to begin; and +even if I did, I have nothing to tell but the odds and ends of club +gossip, for I conclude nobody knows all the facts but the King himself." + +"If I were given to impatience, George, you would be a most consummate +plague to me," said Upton; "but I am not. Go on, however, in your own +blundering way, and leave me to glean what I can _in mine_." + +Cheered and encouraged by this flattering speech, Harcourt did begin; +but, more courteous to him than Sir Horace, we mean to accord him a new +chapter for his revelations; premising the while to our reader that the +Colonel, like the knife-grinder, had really "no story to tell." + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. A VERY BROKEN NARRATIVE + +"You want to hear all about Glencore?" said Harcourt, as, seated in the +easiest of attitudes in an easy-chair, he puffed his cigar luxuriously; +"and when I have told you all I know, the chances are you'll be little +the wiser." Upton smiled a bland assent to this exordium, but in such a +way as to make Harcourt feel less at ease than before. + +"I mean," said the Colonel, "that I have little to offer you beyond the +guesses and surmises of club talk. It will be for your own intelligence +to penetrate through the obscurity afterwards. You understand me?" + +"I believe I understand you," said Upton, slowly, and with the same +quiet smile. Now, this cold, semi-sarcastic manner of Upton was the +one sole thing in the world which the honest Colonel could not stand +up against; he always felt as though it were the prelude to something +cutting or offensive,--some sly impertinence that he could not detect +till too late to resent,--some insinuation that might give the point +to a whole conversation, and yet be undiscovered by him till the day +following. Little as Harcourt was given to wronging his neighbor, he +in this instance was palpably unjust; Upton's manner being nothing more +than the impress made upon a very subtle man by qualities very unlike +any of his own, and which in their newness amused him. The very look of +satire was as often an expression of sorrow and regret that he could +not be as susceptible--as easy of deception--as those about him. Let us +pardon our worthy Colonel if he did not comprehend this; shrewder heads +than his own had made the same mistake. Half to resent this covert +slyness, half to arouse himself to any conflict before him, he said, +in a tone of determination, "It is only fair to tell you that you are +yourself to blame for anything that may have befallen poor Glencore." + +"I to blame! Why, my dear Harcourt, you are surely dreaming." + +"As wide awake as ever I was. If it had not been for a blunder of +yours,--an unpardonable blunder, seeing what has come of it,--sending +a pack of trash to me about salt and sulphur, while you forwarded a +private letter about Glencore to the Foreign Office, all this might not +have happened." + +"I remember that it was a most disagreeable mistake. I have paid heavily +for it, too. That lotion for the cervical vertebrae has come back all +torn, and we cannot make out whether it be a phosphate or a prot'-oxide +of bismuth. You don't happen to remember?" + +"I?--of course I know nothing about it. I'd as soon have taken a +porcupine for a pillow as I 'd have adventured on the confounded +mixture. But, as I was saying, that blessed letter, written by some +Princess or other, as I understand, fell into the King's hands, and the +consequence was that he sent off immediately to Glencore an order to go +down to him at Brighton. Naturally enough, I thought he 'd not go; he +had the good and sufficient pretext of his bad health to excuse him. +Nobody had seen him abroad in the world for years back, and it was easy +enough to say that he could not bear the journey. Nothing of the kind; +he received the command as willingly as he might have done an invitation +to dinner fifteen years ago, and talked of nothing else for the whole +evening after but of his old days and nights in Carlton House; how +gracious the Prince used to be to him formerly; how constantly he was a +guest at his table; what a brilliant society it was; how full of wit and +the rest of it; till, by Jove, what between drinking more wine than he +was accustomed to take, and the excitement of his own talking, he became +quite wild and unmanageable. He was not drunk, nor anything like it, it +was rather the state of a man whose mind had got some sudden shock; +for in the midst of perfectly rational conversation, he would fall +into paroxysms of violent passion, inveighing against every one, and +declaring that he never had possessed one true-hearted, honest friend in +his life. + +"It was not without great difficulty that I got him back to my lodgings, +for we had gone to dine at Richmond. Then we put him to bed, and I sent +for Hunter, who came on the instant. Though by this time Glencore was +much more calm and composed, Hunter called the case brain fever; had his +hair cut quite close, and ice applied to the head. Without any knowledge +of his history or even of his name, Hunter pronounced him to be a man +whose intellect had received some terrible shock, and that the present +was simply an acute attack of a long-existent malady." + +"Did he use any irritants?" asked Upton, anxiously. + +"No; he advised nothing but the cold during the night." + +"Ah! what a mistake," sighed Upton, heavily. "It was precisely the case +for the cervical lotion I was speaking of. Of course he was much worse +next morning?" + +"That he was; not as regarded his reason, however, for he could talk +collectedly enough, but he was irritable and passionate to a degree +scarcely credible: would not endure the slightest opposition, and so +suspectful of everything and everybody that if he overheard a whisper it +threw him into a convulsion of anger. Hunter's opinion was evidently +a gloomy one, and he said to me as we went downstairs, 'He may come +through it with life, but scarcely with a sound intellect.' This was a +heavy blow to _me_, for I could not entirely acquit myself of the fault +of having counselled this visit to Brighton, which I now perceived had +made such a deep impression upon him. I roused myself, however, to meet +the emergency, and walked down to St. James's to obtain some means of +letting the King know that Glencore was too ill to keep his appointment. +Fortunately, I met Knighton, who was just setting off to Brighton, and +who promised to take charge of the commission. I then strolled over +to Brookes's to see the morning papers, and lounged till about four +o'clock, when I turned homeward. + +"Gloomy and sad I was as I reached my door, and rang the bell with a +cautious hand. They did not hear the summons, and I was forced to +ring again, when the door was opened by my servant, who stood pale and +trembling before me. 'He's gone, sir,--he's gone,' cried he, almost +sobbing. + +"'Good Heaven!' cried I. 'Dead?' + +"'No, sir, gone away,--driven off, no one knows where. I had just gone +out to the chemist's, and was obliged to call round at Doctor Hunter's +about a word in the prescription they could n't read, and when I came +back he was away.' + +"I then ascertained that the carriage which had been ordered the day +before at a particular hour, and which we had forgotten to countermand, +had arrived during my servant's absence. Glencore, hearing it stop at +the door, inquired whose it was, and as suddenly springing out of bed, +proceeded to dress himself, which he did, in the suit he had ordered to +wait on the King. So apparently reasonable was he in all he said, and +such an air of purpose did he assume, that the nurse-tender averred she +could not dare to interpose, believing that his attack might possibly be +some sort of passing access that he was accustomed to, and knew best how +to deal with. + +"I did not lose a moment, but, ordering post-horses, pursued him with +all speed. On reaching Croydon, I heard he had passed about two hours +before; but though I did my best, it was in vain. I arrived at Brighton +late at night, only to learn that a gentleman had got out at the +Pavilion, and had not left it since. + +"I do not believe that all I have ever suffered in my life equalled what +I went through in the two weary hours that I passed walking up and down +outside that low paling that skirts the Palace garden. The poor fellow, +in all his misery, came before me in so many shapes; sometimes wandering +in intellect--sometimes awake and conscious of his sufferings--now +trying to comport himself as became the presence he was in--now reckless +of all the world and everything. What could have happened to detain +him so long? What had been the course of events since he passed that +threshold? were questions that again and again crossed me. + +"I tried to make my way in,--I know not exactly what I meant to do +afterwards; but the sentries refused me admittance. I thought of scaling +the enclosure, and reaching the Palace through the garden; but the +police kept strict watch on every side. At last, it was nigh twelve +o'clock, that I heard a sentry challenge some one, and shortly after a +figure passed out and walked towards the pier. I followed, determined to +make inquiry, no matter of whom. He walked so rapidly, however, that I +was forced to run to overtake him. This attracted his notice; he turned +hastily, and by the straggling moonlight I recognized Glencore. + +"He stood for a moment still, and beckoning me towards him, he took my +arm in silence, and we walked onward in the direction of the sea-shore. +It was now a wild and gusty night. The clouds drifted fast, shutting out +the moon at intervals, and the sea broke harshly along the strand. + +"I cannot tell you the rush of strange and painful emotions which came +upon me as I thus walked along, while not a word passed between us. +As for myself, I felt that the slightest word from me might, perhaps, +change the whole current of his thoughts, and thus destroy my only +chance of any clew to what was passing within him. 'Are you cold?' said +he, at length, feeling possibly a slight tremor in my arm. 'Not cold, +exactly,' said I, 'but the night is fresh, and I half suspect too fresh +for _you_.' 'Feel that,' said he, placing his hand in mine; and it was +burning. 'The breeze that comes off the sea is grateful to me, for I am +like one on fire.' Then I am certain, my dear Glencore,' said I, 'that +this is a great imprudence. Let us turn back, towards the inn.' + +"He made no reply, but with a rough motion of his arm moved forward +as before. 'Three hours and more,' said he, with a full and stern +utterance, 'they kept me waiting. There were Ministers with the King; +there was some foreign envoy, too, to be presented; and if I had not +gone in alone and unannounced, I might still be in the ante-chamber. +How he stared at me, Harcourt, and my close-cropped hair. It was +_that_ seemed first to strike him, as he said, "Have you had an illness +lately?" He looked poorly, too, bloated and pale, and like one who +fretted, and I told him so. "We are both changed, sir," said I,--"sadly +changed since we met last. We might almost begin to hope that another +change is not far off,--the last and the best one." I don't remember +what he answered. It was, I think, something about who came along with +me from town, and who was with me at Brighton,--I forget exactly; but I +know that he sent for Knighton, and made him feel my pulse. "You'll find +it rapid enough, I 've no doubt, Sir William," said I. "I rose from a +sick bed to come here; his Majesty had deigned to wish to see me." Then +the King stopped me, and made a sign to Knighton to withdraw. + +"'Was n't it a strange situation, Harcourt, to be seated there beside +the King, alone? None other present,--all to ourselves,--talking as you +and I might talk of what interested us most of all the world; and _he_ +showing me that letter,--the letter that ought to have come to _me_. How +he could do it I know not. Neither you nor I, George, could have done +so; for, after all, she was, ay, and she _is_, his wife. He could not +avail himself of _my_ stratagem. I said so too, and he answered, "Ay, +but I can divorce her if one half of that be true;" and he pointed to +the letter. "The Lady Glencore," said he, "must know everything, and +be willing to tell it too. She has paid the heaviest penalty ever woman +paid for another. Read that." And I read it,--ay, I read it four times, +five times over; and then my brain began to burn, and a thousand fancies +flitted across me, and though he talked on, I heard not a word. + +"'"But that lady is my wife, sir," broke I in; "and what a part do you +assign her! She is to be a spy, a witness, perhaps, in some infamous +cause. How shall I, a peer of the realm, endure to see my name thus +degraded? Is it Court favor can recompense me for lost or tarnished +honor?" "But it will be her own vindication," said he. Her own +vindication,--these were the words, George; _she_ should be clear of +all reproach. By Heaven, he said so, that I might declare it before the +world. And then it should be proved!--be proved! How base a man can be, +even though he wear a crown! Just fancy his proposition! But I spurned +it, and said, "You must seek for some one with a longer chance of life, +sir, to do this; my days are too brief for such dishonor;" and he was +angry with me, and said I had forgotten the presence in which I stood. +It was true, I had forgotten it. + +"'He called me a wretched fool, too, as I tore up that letter. That was +wrong in me, Harcourt, was it not? I did not see him go, but I found +myself alone in the room, and I was picking up the fragments of the +letter as they entered. They were less than courteous to me, though +I told them who I was,--an ancient barony better than half the modern +marquisates. I gave them date and place for a creation that smacked of +other services than theirs. Knighton would come with me, but I shook him +off. Your Court physician can carry his complaisance even to poison. By +George! it is their chief office, and I know well what snares are now in +store for me.' + +"And thence he went on to say that he would hasten back to his Irish +solitude, where none could trace him out. That there his life, at least, +would be secure, and no emissaries of the King dare follow him. It was +in vain I tried to induce him to return, even for one night, to the +hotel; and I saw that to persist in my endeavors would be to hazard the +little influence I still possessed over him. I could not, however, leave +the poor fellow to his fate without at least the assurance of a home +somewhere, and so I accompanied him to Ireland, and left him in +that strange old ruin where we once sojourned together. His mind +had gradually calmed down, but a deep melancholy had gained entire +possession of him, and he passed whole days without a word. I saw that +he often labored to recall some of the events of the interview with +the King; but his memory had not retained them, and he seemed like one +eternally engaged in some problem which his faculties could not solve. + +"When I left him and arrived in town, I found the clubs full of the +incident, but evidently without any real knowledge of what had occurred; +since the version was that Glencore had asked an audience of the King, +and gone down to the Pavilion to read to his Majesty a most +atrocious narrative of the Queen's life in Italy, offering to +substantiate--through his Italian connection--every allegation it +contained,--a proposal that, of course, was only received by the King in +the light of an insult; and that this reception, so different from all +his expectations, had turned his head and driven him completely insane! + +"I believe now I have told you everything as I heard it; indeed, I have +given you Glencore's own words, since, without them, I could not convey +to you what he intended to say. The whole affair is a puzzle to me, for +I am unable to tell when the poor fellow's brain was wandering, and when +he spoke under the guidance of right reason. You, of course, have the +clew to it all." + +"I! How so?" cried Upton. + +"You have seen the letter which caused all the trouble; you know its +contents, and what it treats of." + +"Very true; I must have read it; but I have not the slightest +recollection of what it was about. There was something, I know, about +Glencore's boy,--he was called Greppi, though, and might not have been +recognized; and there was some gossip about the Princess of Wales--the +Queen, as they call her now--and her ladies; but I must frankly confess +it did not interest me, and I have forgotten it all." + +"Is the writer of the letter to be come at?" + +"Nothing easier. I'll take you over to breakfast with her to-morrow +morning; you shall catechise her yourself." + +"Oh! she is then--" + +"She is the Princess Sabloukoff, my dear George, and a very charming +person, as you will be the first to acknowledge. But as to this +interview at Brighton, I fancy--even from the disjointed narrative of +Glencore--one can make a guess of what it portended. The King saw that +my Lady Glencore--for so we must call her--knew some very important +facts about the Queen, and wished to obtain them; and saw, too, that +certain scandals, as the phrase goes, which attached to her ladyship, +lay at another door. He fancied, not unreasonably, perhaps, that +Glencore would be glad to hear this exculpation of his wife; and he +calculated that by the boon of this intelligence he could gain over +Glencore to assist him in his project for a divorce. Don't you perceive, +Harcourt, of what an inestimable value it would prove, to possess one +single gentleman, one man or one woman of station, amid all this +rabble that they are summoning throughout the world to bring shame upon +England?" + +"Then you incline to believe Lady Glencore blameless?" asked Harcourt, +anxiously. + +"I think well of every one, my charming Colonel. It is the only true +philosophy in life. Be as severe as you please on all who injure +yourself, but always be lenient to the faults that only damage your +friends. You have no idea how much practical wisdom the maxim contains, +nor what a fund of charity it provides." + +"I 'm ashamed to be so stupid, but I must come back to my old question. +Is all this story against Glencore's wife only a calumny?" + +"And I must fall back upon my old remark, that all the rogues in the +world are in jail; the people you see walking about and at large +are unexceptionably honest,--every man of them. Ah, my dear +deputy-assistant, adjutant, or commissary, or whatever it be, can you +not perceive the more than folly of these perquisitions into character? +You don't require that the ice should be strong enough to sustain a +twenty-four pounder before you venture to put foot on it,--enough +that it is quite equal to your own weight; and so of the world at +large,--everybody, or nearly everybody, has virtue enough for all we +want with him. This English habit--for it is essentially English--of +eternally investigating everything, is like the policy of a man who +would fire a round-shot every morning at his house, to see if it were +well and securely built." + +"I don't, I can't agree with you," cried Harcourt. + +"Be it so, my dear fellow; only don't give me your reasons, and at least +I shall respect your motives." + +"What would you do, then, in Glencore's place? Let me ask you that." + +"You may as well inquire how I should behave if I were a quadruped. +Don't you perceive that I never could, by any possibility, place myself +in such a false position? The man who, in a case of difficulty, takes +counsel from his passions, is exactly like one, who being thirsty, fills +himself out a bumper of aquafortis and drinks it off." + +"I wish with all my heart you 'd give up aphorisms, and just tell me +how we could serve this poor fellow; for I feel that there is a gleam of +light breaking through his dark fortunes." + +"When a man is in the state Glencore is now in, the best policy is to +let him alone. They tell us that when Murat's blood was up, the Emperor +always left him to his own guidance, since he either did something +excessively brilliant, or made such a blunder as recalled him to +subjection again. Let us treat our friend in this fashion, and wait. Oh, +my worthy Colonel, if you but knew what a secret there is in that same +waiting policy. Many a game is won by letting the adversary move out of +his turn." + +"If all this subtlety be needed to guide a man in the plain road of +life, what is to become of poor simple fellows like myself?" + +"Let them never go far from home, Harcourt, and they 'll always find +their way back," said Upton; and his eyes twinkled with quiet drollery. +"Come, now," said he, with perfect good-nature of look and voice, "If I +won't tell you what I should counsel Glencore in this emergency, I 'll +do the next best thing, I' ll tell you what advice you'd give him." + +"Let us hear it, then," said the other. + +"You'd send him abroad to search out his wife; ask her forgiveness +for all the wrong he has done her; call out any man that whispered the +shadow of a reproach against her; and go back to such domesticity as it +might please Heaven to accord him." + +"Certainly, if the woman has been unjustly dealt with--" + +"There's the rock you always split on: you are everlastingly in search +of a character. Be satisfied when you have eaten a hearty breakfast, +and don't ask for a bill of health. Researches are always dangerous. My +great grandfather, who had a passion for genealogy, was cured of it by +discovering that the first of the family was a staymaker! Let the lesson +not be lost on us." + +"From all which I am to deduce that you 'd ask no questions,--take her +home again, and say nothing." + +"You forget, Harcourt, we are now discussing the line of action _you_ +would recommend; I am only hinting at the best mode of carrying out +_your_ ideas." + +"Just for the pleasure of showing me that I did n't know how to walk in +the road I made myself," said Harcourt, laughing. + +"What a happy laugh that was, Harcourt! How plainly, too, it said, +'Thank Heaven I 'm not like that fellow, with all his craft!' And you +are right too, my dear friend; if the devil were to walk the world now, +he 'd be bored beyond endurance, seeing nothing but the old vices played +over again and again. And so it is with all of us who have a spice of +his nature; we'd give anything to see one new trick on the cards. Good +night, and pleasant dreams to you!" And with a sigh that had in its +cadence something almost painful, he gave his two fingers to the honest +grasp of the other, and withdrew. + +"You're a better fellow than you think yourself, or wish any one else +to believe you," muttered Harcourt, as he puffed his cigar; and he +ruminated over this reflection till it was bedtime. + +And Harcourt was right. + + + +CHAPTER XL. UPTONISM + +About noon on the following day, Sir Horace Upton and the Colonel drove +up to the gate of the villa at Sorrento, and learned, to their no small +astonishment, that the Princess had taken her departure that morning for +Como. If Upton heard these tidings with a sense of pain, nothing in his +manner betrayed the sentiment; on the contrary, he proceeded to do the +honors of the place like its owner. He showed Harcourt the grounds and +the gardens, pointed out all the choice points of view, directed his +attention to rare plants and curious animals; and then led him within +doors to admire the objects of art and luxury which abounded there. + +"And that, I conclude, is a portrait of the Princess," said Harcourt, as +he stood before what had been a flattering likeness twenty years back. + +"Yes, and a wonderful resemblance," said Upton, eying it through +his glass. "Fatter and fuller now, perhaps; but it was done after an +illness." + +"By Jove!" muttered Harcourt, "she must be beautiful; I don't think I +ever saw a handsomer woman!" + +"You are only repeating a European verdict. She is the most perfectly +beautiful woman of the Continent." + +"So there is no flattery in that picture?" + +"Flattery! Why, my dear fellow, these people, the very cleverest of +them, can't imagine anything as lovely as that. They can imitate,--they +never invent real beauty." + +"And clever, you say, too?" + +"_Esprit_ enough for a dozen reviewers and fifty fashionable novelists." +And as he spoke he smiled and coquetted with the portrait, as though to +say, "Don't mind my saying all this to your face." + +"I suppose her history is a very interesting one." + +"Her history, my worthy Harcourt! She has a dozen histories. Such women +have a life of politics, a life of literature, a life of the _salons_, +a life of the affections, not to speak of the episodes of jealousy, +ambition, triumph, and sometimes defeat, that make up the brilliant +web of their existence. Some three or four such people give the whole +character and tone to the age they live in. They mould its interests, +sway its fashions, suggest its tastes, and they finally rule those who +fancy that they rule mankind." + +"Egad, then, it makes one very sorry for poor mankind," muttered +Harcourt, with a most honest sincerity of voice. + +"Why should it do so, my good Harcourt? Is the refinement of a woman's +intellect a worse guide than the coarser instincts of a man's nature? +Would you not yourself rather trust your destinies to the fair creature +yonder than be left to the legislative mercies of that old gentleman +there, Hardenberg, or his fellow on the other side, Metternich?" + +"Grim-looking fellow the Prussian; the other is much better," said +Harcourt, rather evading the question. + +"I confess I prefer the Princess," said Upton, as he bowed before the +portrait in deepest courtesy. "But here comes breakfast. I have ordered +them to give it to us here, that we may enjoy that glorious sea view +while we eat." + +"I thought your cook a man of genius, Upton, but this fellow is his +master," said Harcourt, as he tasted his soup. + +"They are brothers,--twins, too; and they have their separate gifts," +said Upton, affectedly. "My fellow, they tell me, has the finer +intelligence; but he plays deeply, speculates on the Bourse, and it +spoils his nerve." + +Harcourt watched the delivery of this speech to catch if there were +any signs of raillery in the speaker; he felt that there was a kind of +mockery in the words; but there was none in the manner, for there was +not any in the mind of him who uttered them. + +"My _chef_," resumed Upton, "is a great essayist, who must have time for +his efforts. This fellow is a _feuilleton_ writer, who is required to +be new and sparkling every day of the year,--always varied, never +profound." + +"And is this your life of every day?" said Harcourt, as he surveyed the +splendid room, and carried his glance towards the terraced gardens that +flanked the sea. + +"Pretty much this kind of thing," sighed Upton, wearily. + +"And no great hardship either, I should call it." + +"No, certainly not," said the other, hesitatingly. "To one like myself, +for instance, who has no health for the wear and tear of public life, +and no heart for its ambitions, there is a great deal to like in the +quiet retirement of a first-class mission." + +"Is there really, then, nothing to do?" asked Harcourt, innocently. + +"Nothing, if you don't make it for yourself. You can have a harvest if +you like to sow. Otherwise, you may lie in fallow the year long. +The subordinates take the petty miseries of diplomacy for _their_ +share,--the sorrows of insulted Englishmen, the passport difficulties, +the custom-house troubles, the police insults. The Secretary calls at +the offices of the Government, carries messages and the answers; and I, +when I have health for it, make my compliments to the King in a cocked +hat on his birthday, and have twelve grease-pots illuminated over my +door to honor the same festival." + +"And is that all?" + +"Very nearly. In fact, when one does anything more, they generally do +wrong; and by a steady persistence in this kind of thing for +thirty years, you are called 'a safe man, who never compromised his +Government,' and are certain to be employed by any party in power." + +"I begin to think I might be an envoy myself," said Harcourt. + +"No doubt of it; we have two or three of your calibre in Germany this +moment,--men liked and respected; and, what is of more consequence, well +looked upon at 'the Office.'" + +"I don't exactly follow you in that last remark." + +"I scarcely expected you should; and as little can I make it clear to +you. Know, however, that in that venerable pile in Downing Street called +the Foreign Office, there is a strange, mysterious sentiment,--partly +tradition, partly prejudice, partly toadyism,--which bands together all +within its walls, from the whiskered porter at the door to the essenced +Minister in his bureau, into one intellectual conglomerate, that judges +of every man in 'the Line'--as they call diplomacy--with one accord. +By that curious tribunal, which hears no evidence, nor ever utters a +sentence, each man's merits are weighed; and to stand well in the +Office is better than all the favors of the Court, or the force of great +abilities." + +"But I cannot comprehend how mere subordinates, the underlings of +official life, can possibly influence the fortunes of men so much above +them." + +"Picture to yourself the position of an humble guest at a great man's +table; imagine one to whose pretensions the sentiments of the servants' +hall are hostile: he is served to all appearance like the rest of the +company; he gets his soup and his fish like those about him, and +his wine-glass is duly replenished,--yet what a series of petty +mortifications is he the victim of; how constantly is he made to +feel that he is not in public favor; how certain, too, if he incur an +awkwardness, to find that his distresses are exposed. The servants' +hall is the Office, my dear Harcourt, and its persecutions are equally +polished." + +"Are you a favorite there yourself?" asked the other, slyly. + +"A prime favorite; they all like _me!_" said he, throwing himself back +in his chair, with an air of easy self-satisfaction; and Harcourt stared +at him, curious to know whether so astute a man was the dupe of his own +self-esteem, or merely amusing himself with the simplicity of another. +Ah, my good Colonel, give up the problem; it is an enigma far above your +powers to solve. That nature is too complex for _your_ elucidation; in +its intricate web no one thread holds the clew, but all is complicated, +crossed, and entangled. + +"Here comes a cabinet messenger again," said Upton, as a courier's +_caleche_ drove up, and a well-dressed and well-looking fellow leaped +out. + +"Ah, Stanhope, how are you?" said Sir Horace, shaking his hand with what +from him was warmth. "Do you know Colonel Harcourt? Well, Frank, what +news do you bring me?" + +"The best of news." + +"From F. O., I suppose," said Upton, sighing. + +"Just so. Adderley has told the King you are the only man capable to +succeed him. The Press says the same, and the clubs are all with you." + +"Not one of them all, I'd venture to say, has asked whether I have the +strength or health for it," said Sir Horace, with a voice of pathetic +intonation. + +"Why, as we never knew you want energy for whatever fell to your lot to +do, we have the same hope still," said Stanhope. + +"So say I too," cried Harcourt. "Like many a good hunter, he 'll do his +work best when he is properly weighted." + +"It is quite refreshing to listen to you both--creatures with crocodile +digestion--talk to a man who suffers nightmare if he over-eat a dry +biscuit at supper. I tell you frankly, it would be the death of me to +take the Foreign Office. I 'd not live through the season,--the very +dinners would kill me; and then, the House, the heat, the turmoil, the +worry of opposition, and the jaunting back and forward to Brighton or to +Windsor!" + +While he muttered these complaints, he continued to read with great +rapidity the letters which Stanhope had brought him, and which, despite +all his practised coolness, had evidently afforded him pleasure in the +perusal. + +"Adderley bore it," continued he, "just because he was a mere machine, +wound up to play off so many despatches, like so many tunes; and then, +he permitted a degree of interference on the King's part I never could +have suffered; and he liked to be addressed by the King of Prussia as +'Dear Adderley.' But what do I care for all these vanities? Have I not +seen enough of the thing they call the great world? Is not this retreat +better and dearer to me than all the glare and crash of London, or all +the pomp and splendor of Windsor?" + +"By Jove! I suspect you are right, after all," said Harcourt, with an +honest energy of voice. + +"Were I younger, and stronger in health, perhaps," said Upton, "this +might have tempted me. Perhaps I can picture to myself what I might +have made of it; for you may perceive, George, these people have done +nothing: they have been pouring hot water on the tea-leaves Pitt left +them,--no more." + +"And you 'd have a brewing of your own, I 've no doubt," responded the +other. + +"I'd at least have foreseen the time when this compact, this Holy +Alliance, should become impossible; when the developed intelligence of +Europe would seek something else from their rulers than a well-concocted +scheme of repression. I 'd have provided for the hour when England +must either break with her own people or her allies; and I 'd have +inaugurated a new policy, based upon the enlarged views and extended +intelligence of mankind." + +"I 'm not certain that I quite apprehend you," muttered Harcourt. + +"No matter; but you can surely understand that if a set of mere +mediocrities have saved England, a batch of clever men might have done +something more. She came out of the last war the acknowledged head of +Europe: does she now hold that place, and what will she be at the next +great struggle?" + +"England is as great as ever she was," cried Harcourt, boldly. + +"Greater in nothing is she than in the implicit credulity of her +people!" sighed Upton. "I only wish I could have the same faith in my +physicians that she has in hers! By the way, Stanhope, what of that new +fellow they have got at St. Leonard's? They tell me he builds you up in +some preparation of gypsum, so that you can't move or stir, and that +the perfect repose thus imparted to the system is the highest order of +restorative." + +"They were just about to try him for manslaughter when I left England," +said Stanhope, laughing. + +"As often the fate of genius in these days as in more barbarous times," +said Upton. "I read his pamphlet with much interest. If you were going +back, Harcourt, I 'd have begged of you to try him." + +"And I 'm forced to say, I'd have refused you flatly." + +"Yet it is precisely creatures of robust constitution, like you, that +should submit themselves to these trials, for the sake of humanity. +Frail organizations, like mine, cannot brave these ordeals. What are +they talking of in town? Any gossip afloat?" + +"The change of ministry is the only topic. Glencore's affair has worn +itself out." + +"What was that about Glencore?" asked Upton, half indolently. + +"A strange story; one can scarcely believe it. They say that Glencore, +hearing of the King's great anxiety to be rid of the Queen, asked an +audience of his Majesty, and actually suggested, as the best possible +expedient, that his Majesty should deny the marriage. They add that he +reasoned the case so cleverly, and with such consummate craft and skill, +it was with the greatest difficulty that the King could be persuaded +that he was deranged. Some say his Majesty was outraged beyond +endurance; others, that he was vastly amused, and laughed immoderately +over it." + +"And the world, how do they pronounce upon it?" + +"There are two great parties,--one for Glencore's sanity the other +against; but, as I said before, the cabinet changes have absorbed all +interest latterly, and the Viscount and his case are forgotten; and when +I started, the great question was, who was to have the Foreign Office." + +"I believe I could tell them one who will not," said Upton, with a +melancholy smile. "Dine with me, both of you, to-day, at seven; no +company, you know. There is an opera in the evening, and my box is at +your service, if you like to go; and so, till then;" and with a little +gesture of the hand he waved an adieu, and glided from the room. + +"I'm sorry he's not up to the work of office," said Har-court; "there's +plenty of ability in him." + +"The best man we have," said Stanhope; "so they say at the Office." + +"He's gone to lie down, I take it; he seemed much exhausted. What say +you to a walk back to town?" + +"I ask nothing better," said Stanhope; and they started for Naples. + + + +CHAPTER XLI. AN EVENING IN FLORENCE + +That happy valley of the Val d'Arno, in which fair Florence stands, +possesses, amidst all its virtues, none more conspicuous than the +blessed forgetfulness of the past, so eminently the gift of those who +dwell there. Faults and follies of a few years back have so faded by +time as to be already historical; and as, in certain climates, rocks and +stones become shrined by lichens, and moss-covered in a year or two, so +here, in equally brief space, bygones are shrouded and shadowed in a +way that nothing short of cruelty and violence could once more expose to +view. + +The palace where Lady Glencore once displayed all her attractions of +beauty and toilette, and dispensed a hospitality of princely splendor, +had remained for a course of time close barred and shut up. The massive +gate was locked, the windows shuttered, and curious tourists were told +that there were objects of interest within, but it was impossible to +obtain sight of them. The crowds who once flocked there at nightfall, +and whose equipages filled the court, now drove on to other haunts, +scarcely glancing as they passed at the darkened casements of the +grim old edifice; when at length the rumor ran that "some one" had +arrived there. Lights were seen in the porter's lodge, the iron _grille_ +was observed to open and shut, and tradespeople came and went within +the building; and, finally, the assurance gained ground that its former +owner had returned. + +"Only think who has come back to us," said one of the idlers of the +Cascine, as he lounged on the steps of a fashionable carriage,--"La +Nina!" And at once the story went far and near, repeated at every +corner, and discussed in every circle; so that had a stranger to the +place but caught the passing sounds, he would have heard that one name +uttered in every group he encountered. La Nina! and why not the Countess +of Glencore, or, at least, the Countess de la Torre? As when exiled +royalists assume titles in accordance with fallen fortunes, so, in +Italy, injured fame seeks sympathy in the familiarity of the Christian +name, and "Society" at once accepts the designation as that of those +who throw themselves upon the affectionate kindness of the world, rather +than insist upon its reverence and respect. + +Many of her former friends were still there; but there was also a +numerous class, principally foreigners, who only knew of her by repute. +The traditions of her beauty, her gracefulness, the charms of her +demeanor, and the brilliancy of her diamonds, abounded. Her admirers +were of all ages, from those who worshipped her loveliness to that +not less enthusiastic section who swore by her cook; and it was indeed +"great tidings" to hear that she had returned. + +Some statistician has asserted that no less than a hundred thousand +people awake every day in London, not one of whom knows where he +will pass the night. Now, Florence is but a small city, and the +lacquered-boot class bear but a slight proportion to the shoeless herd +of humanity. Yet there is a very tolerable sprinkling of well-dressed, +well-got-up individuals, who daily arise without the very vaguest +conception of who is to house them, fire them, light them, and cigar +them for the evening. They are an interesting class, and have this +strong appeal to human sympathy, that not one of them, by any possible +effort, could contribute to his own support. + +They toil not, neither do they spin. They have the very fewest of social +qualities; they possess no conversational gifts; they are not even +moderately good reporters of the passing events of the day. And yet, +strange to say, the world they live in seems to have some need of them. +Are they the last relics of a once gifted class,--worn out, effete, and +exhausted,--degenerated like modern Greeks from those who once shook +the Parthenon? Or are they what anatomists call "rudimentary +structures,"--the first abortive attempts of nature to fashion something +profitable and good? Who knows? + +Amidst this class the Nina's arrival was announced as the happiest of +all tidings; and speculation immediately set to work to imagine who +would be the favorites of the house; what would be its habits and hours; +would she again enter the great world of society, or would she, as her +quiet, unannounced arrival portended, seek a less conspicuous position? +Nor was this the mere talk of the cafes and the Cascine. The _salons_ +were eagerly discussing the very same theme. + +In certain social conditions a degree of astuteness is acquired as to +who may and who may not be visited, that, in its tortuous intricacy of +reasons, would puzzle the craftiest head that ever wagged in Equity. +Not that the code is a severe one; it is exactly in its lenity lies +its difficulty,--so much may be done, but so little may be fatal! The +Countess in the present case enjoyed what in England is reckoned a great +privilege,--she was tried by her peers--or "something more." They were, +however, all nice discriminators as to the class of case before them, +and they knew well what danger there was in admitting to their "guild" +any with a little more disgrace than their neighbors. It was curious +enough that she, in whose behalf all this solicitude was excited, should +have been less than indifferent as to the result; and when, on the third +day of the trial, a verdict was delivered in her favor, and a shower +of visiting-cards at the porter's lodge declared that the act of her +recognition had passed, her orders were that the cards should be +sent back to their owners, as the Countess had not the honor of their +acquaintance. + +"Les grands coups se font respecter toujours," was the maxim of a +great tactician in war and politics; and the adage is no less true +in questions of social life. We are so apt to compute the strength of +resources by the amount of pretension that we often yield the victory +to the mere declaration of force. We are not, however, about to dwell on +this theme,--our business being less with those who discussed her, than +with the Countess of Glencore herself. + +In a large _salon_, hung with costly tapestries, and furnished in the +most expensive style, sat two ladies at opposite sides of the fire. They +were both richly dressed, and one of them (it was Lady Glencore), as she +held a screen before her face, displayed a number of valuable rings +on her fingers, and a massive bracelet of enamel with a large emerald +pendant. The other, not less magnificently attired, wore an imperial +portrait suspended by a chain around her neck, and a small knot of white +and green ribbon on her shoulder, to denote her quality of a lady in +waiting at Court. There was something almost queenly in the haughty +dignity of her manner, and an air of command in the tone with which +she addressed her companion. It was our acquaintance the Princess +Sabloukoff, just escaped from a dinner and reception at the Pitti +Palace, and carrying with her some of the proud traditions of the +society she had quitted. + +"What hour did you tell them they might come, Nina?" asked she. + +"Not before midnight, my dear Princess; I wanted to have a talk with you +first. It is long since we have met, and I have so much to tell you." + +"_Cara mia_," said the other, carelessly, "I know everything already. +There is nothing you have done, nothing that has happened to you, that +I am not aware of. I might go further, and say that I have looked with +secret pleasure at the course of events which to your short-sightedness +seemed disastrous." + +"I can scarce conceive that possible," said the Countess, sighing. + +"Naturally enough, perhaps, because you never knew the greatest of all +blessings in this life, which is--liberty. Separation from your husband, +my dear Nina, did not emancipate you from the tiresome requirements +of the world. You got rid of _him_, to be sure, but not of those who +regarded you as his wife. It required the act of courage by which you +cut with these people forever, to assert the freedom I speak of." + +"I almost shudder at the contest I have provoked, and had you not +insisted on it--" + +"You had gone back again to the old slavery, to be pitied and +compassionated, and condoled with, instead of being feared and envied," +said the other; and as she spoke, her flashing eyes and quivering brows +gave an expression almost tiger-like to her features. "What was there +about your house and its habits distinctive before? What gave you any +pre-eminence above those that surround you? You were better looking, +yourself; better dressed; your _salons_ better lighted; your dinners +more choice,--there was the end of it. _Your_ company was _their_ +company,--_your_ associates were _theirs_. The homage _you_ received +to-day had been yesterday the incense of another. There was not a +bouquet nor a flattery offered to _you_ that had not its _facsimile_, +doing service in some other quarter. You were 'one of them,' Nina, +obliged to follow their laws and subscribe to their ideas; and while +_they_ traded on the wealth of your attractions, _you_ derived nothing +from the partnership but the same share as those about you." + +"And how will it be now?" asked the Countess, half in fear, half in +hope. + +"How will it be now? I 'll tell you. This house will be the resort of +every distinguished man, not of Italy, but of the world at large. Here +will come the highest of every nation, as to a circle where they +can say, and hear, and suggest a thousand things in the freedom of +unauthorized intercourse. You will not drain Florence alone, but all the +great cities of Europe, of its best talkers and deepest thinkers. The +statesman and the author, and the sculptor and the musician, will hasten +to a neutral territory, where for the time a kind of equality will +prevail. The weary minister, escaping from a Court festival, will come +here to unbend; the witty converser will store himself with his best +resources for your _salons_. There will be all the freedom of a club to +these men, with the added charm of that fascination your presence +will confer; and thus, through all their intercourse, will be felt +the '_parfum de femme_,' as Balzac calls it, which both elevates and +entrances." + +"But will not society revenge itself on all this?" "It will invent a +hundred calumnious reports and shocking stories; but these, like the +criticisms on an immoral play, will only serve to fill the house. +Men--even the quiet ones--will be eager to see what it is that +constitutes the charm of these gatherings; and one charm there is that +never misses its success. Have you ever experienced, in visiting some +great gallery, or, still more, some choice collection of works of art, a +strange, mysterious sense of awe for objects which you rather knew to +be great by the testimony of others, than felt able personally to +appreciate? You were conscious that the picture was painted by Raphael, +or the cup carved by Cellini, and, independently of all the pleasure it +yielded you, arose a sense of homage to its actual worth. The same +is the case in society with illustrious men. They may seem slower of +apprehension, less ready at reply, less apt to understand; but there +they are, Originals, not Copies of greatness. They represent value." + +Have we said enough to show our reader the kind of persuasion by which +Madame de Sabloukoff led her friend into this new path? The flattery +of the argument was, after all, its success; and the Countess was +fascinated by fancying herself something more than the handsomest and +the best-dressed woman in Florence. They who constitute a free port of +their house will have certainly abundance of trade, and also invite no +small amount of enterprise. + +A little after midnight the _salons_ began to fill, and from the Opera +and the other theatres flocked in all that was pleasant, fashionable, +and idle of Florence. The old beau, painted, padded, and essenced, came +with the younger and not less elaborately dressed "fashionable," great +in watch-chains and splendid in waistcoat buttons; long-haired artists +and moustached hussars mingled with close-shaven actors and pale-faced +authors; men of the world, of politics, of finance, of letters, of +the turf,--all were there. There was the gossip of the Bourse and the +cabinet, the green-room and the stable. The scandal of society, the +events of club life, the world's doings in dinners, divorces, and duels, +were all revealed and discussed, amidst the most profuse gratitude +to the Countess for coming back again to that society which scarcely +survived her desertion. + +They were not, it is but fair to say, all that the Princess Sabloukoff +had depicted them; but there was still a very fair sprinkling of witty, +pleasant talkers. The ease of admission permitted any former intimate +to present his friend, and thus at once, on the very first night of +receiving, the Countess saw her _salons_ crowded. They smoked, and +sang, and laughed, and played ecarte, and told good stories. They drew +caricatures, imitated well-known actors, and even preachers, talking +away with a volubility that left few listeners; and then there was a +supper laid out on a table too small to accommodate even by standing, +so that each carried away his plate, and bivouacked with others of his +friends, here and there, through the rooms. + +All was contrived to impart a sense of independence and freedom; all, +to convey an impression of "license" special to the place, that made the +most rigid unbend, and relaxed the gravity of many who seldom laughed. + +As in certain chemical compounds a mere drop of some one powerful +ingredient will change the whole property of the mass, eliciting new +elements, correcting this, developing that, and, even to the eye, +announcing by altered color the wondrous change accomplished, so here +the element of womanhood, infinitely small in proportion as it was, +imparted a tone and a refinement to this orgie which, without it, had +degenerated into coarseness. The Countess's beautiful niece, Ida Delia +Torre, was also there, singing at times with all an artist's excellence +the triumphs of operatic music; at others, warbling over those +"canzonettes" which to Italian ears embody all that they know of love +of country. How could such a reception be other than successful; or +how could the guests, as they poured forth into the silent street at +daybreak, do aught but exult that such a house was added to the haunts +of Florence,--so lovely a group had returned to adorn their fair city? + +In a burst of this enthusiastic gratitude they sang a serenade before +they separated; and then, as the closed curtains showed them that the +inmates had left the windows, they uttered the last "felice Notte," and +departed. + +"And so Wahnsdorf never made his appearance?" said the Princess, as she +was once more alone with the Countess. + +"I scarcely expected him. He knows the ill-feeling towards his +countrymen amongst Italians, and he rarely enters society where he may +meet them." + +"It is strange that he should marry one!" said she, half musingly. + +"He fell in love,--there's the whole secret of it," said the Countess. +"He fell in love, and his passion encountered certain difficulties. His +rank was one of them, Ida's indifference another." + +"And how have they been got over?" + +"Evaded rather than surmounted. He has only his own consent after all." + +"And Ida, does she care for him?" + +"I suspect not; but she will marry him. Pique will often do what +affection would fail in. The secret history of the affair is this: There +was a youth at Massa, who, while he lived there, made our acquaintance +and became even intimate at the Villa: he was a sculptor of some talent, +and, as many thought, of considerable promise. I engaged him to give Ida +lessons in modelling, and, in this way, they were constantly together. +Whether Ida liked him or not I cannot say; but it is beyond a doubt that +he loved her. In fact, everything he produced in his art only showed +what his mind was full of,--her image was everywhere. This aroused +Wahnsdorf's jealousy, and he urged me strongly to dismiss Greppi, and +shut my doors to him. At first I consented, for I had a strange sense, +not exactly of dislike, but misgiving, of the youth. I had a feeling +towards him that if I attempted to convey to you, it would seem as +though in all this affair I had suffered myself to be blinded by +passion, not guided by reason. There were times that I felt a deep +interest in the youth: his genius, his ardor, his very poverty +engaged my sympathy; and then, stronger than all these, was a strange, +mysterious sense of terror at sight of him, for he was the very image of +one who has worked all the evil of my life." + +"Was not this a mere fancy?" said the Princess, compassionately, for she +saw the shuddering emotion these words had cost her. + +"It was not alone his look," continued the Countess, speaking now with +impetuous eagerness, "it was not merely his features, but their every +play and movement; his gestures when excited; the very voice was _his_. +I saw him once excited to violent passion; it was some taunt that +Wahnsdorf uttered about men of unknown or ignoble origin; and then +He--he himself seemed to stand before me as I have so often seen him, +in his terrible outbursts of rage. The sight brought back to me the +dreadful recollection of those scenes,--scenes," said she, looking +wildly around her, "that if these old walls could speak, might freeze +your heart where you are sitting. + +"You have heard, but you cannot know, the miserable life we led +together; the frantic jealousy that maddened every hour of his +existence; how, in all the harmless freedom of our Italian life, he saw +causes of suspicion and distrust; how, by his rudeness to this one, +his coldness to that, he estranged me from all who have been my dearest +intimates and friends, dictating to me the while the custom of a land +and a people I had never seen nor wished to see; till at last I was left +a mockery to some, an object of pity to others, amidst a society where +once I reigned supreme,--and all for a man that I had ceased to love! It +was from this same life of misery, unrewarded by the affection by which +jealousy sometimes compensates for its tyranny, that I escaped, to +attach myself to the fortunes of that unhappy Princess whose lot bore +some resemblance to my own. + +"I know well that he ascribed my desertion to another cause, and--shall +I own it to you?--I had a savage pleasure in leaving him to the +delusion. It was the only vengeance within my reach, and I grasped it +with eagerness. Nothing was easier for me than to disprove it,--a mere +word would have shown the falsehood of the charge; but I would not utter +it. I knew his nature well, and that the insult to his name and the +stain to his honor would be the heaviest of all injuries to him; and +they were so. He drove _me_ from my home,--I banished _him_ from the +world. It is true, I never reckoned on the cruel blow he had yet in +store for me, and when it fell I was crushed and stunned. There was now +a declared war between us,--each to do their worst to the other. It +was less succumbing before him, than to meditate and determine on the +future, that I fled from Florence. It was not here and in such a society +I should have to blush for any imputation. But I had always held my +place proudly, perhaps too proudly, here, and I did not care to enter +upon that campaign of defence--that stooping to cultivate alliances, +that humble game of conciliation--that must ensue. + +"I went away into banishment. I went to Corsica, and thence to Massa. +I was meditating a journey to the East. I was even speculating on +establishing myself there for the rest of my life, when your letters +changed my plans. You once more kindled in my heart a love of life by +instilling a love of vengeance. You suggested to me the idea of coming +back here boldly, and confronting the world proudly." + +"Do not mistake me, Nina," said the Princess, "the 'Vendetta' was the +last thing in my thoughts. I was too deeply concerned for you to be +turned away from my object by any distracting influence. It was that +you should give a bold denial--the boldest--to your husband's calumny, I +counselled your return. My advice was: Disregard, and, by disregarding, +deny the foul slander he has invented. Go back to the world in the rank +that is yours and that you never forfeited, and then challenge him to +oppose your claim to it." + +"And do you think that for such a consideration as this--the honor to +bear the name of a man I loathe--that I 'd face that world I know so +well? No, no; believe me, I had very different reasons. I was resolved +that my future life, _my_ name, _his_ name, should gain a European +notoriety. I am well aware that when a woman is made a public talk, when +once her name comes sufficiently often before the world, let it be for +what you will,--her beauty, her will, her extravagance, her dress,--from +that hour her fame is perilled, and the society she has overtopped take +their vengeance in slandering her character. To be before the world as +a woman is to be arraigned. If ever there was a man who dreaded such a +destiny for his wife, it was _he_. The impertinences of the Press had +greater terrors for his heart than aught else in life, and I resolved +that he should taste them." + +"How have you mistaken, how have you misunderstood me, Nina!" said the +Princess, sorrowfully. + +"Not so," cried she, eagerly. "You only saw one advantage in the plan +you counselled. _I_ perceived that it contained a double benefit." + +"But remember, dearest Nina, revenge is the most costly of all +pleasures, if one pays for it with all that they possess--their +tranquillity. I myself might have indulged such thoughts as yours; there +were many points alike in our fortunes: but to have followed such a +course would be like the wisdom of one who inoculates himself with a +deadly malady that he may impart the poison to another." + +"Must I again tell you that in all I have done I cared less how it might +serve _me_ than how it might wound _him?_ I know you cannot understand +this sentiment; I do not ask of you to sympathize with it. _Your_ +talents enabled you to shape out a high and ambitious career for +yourself. You loved the great intrigues of state, and were well fitted +to conduct or control them. None such gifts were mine. I was and I am +still a mere creature of society. I never soared, even in fancy, +beyond the triumphs which the world of fashion decrees. A cruel destiny +excluded me from the pleasures of a life that would have amply satisfied +me, and there is nothing left but to avenge myself on the cause." + +"My dearest Nina, with all your self-stimulation you cannot make +yourself the vindictive creature you would appear," said the Princess, +smiling. + +"How little do you know my Italian blood!" said the other, passionately. +"That boy--he was not much more than boy--that Greppi was, as I told +you, the very image of Glencore. The same dark skin, the same heavy +brow, the same cold, stern look, which even a smile did not enliven; +even to the impassive air with which he listened to a provocation,--all +were alike. Well, the resemblance has cost him dearly. I consented at +last to Wahnsdorf's continual entreaty to exclude him from the Villa, +and charged the Count with the commission. I am not sure that he +expended an excess of delicacy on the task; I half fear me that he did +the act more rudely than was needed. At all events, a quarrel was the +result, and a challenge to a duel. I only knew of this when all was +over; believe me, I should never have permitted it. However, the result +was as safe in the hands of Fate. The youth fled from Massa; and though +Wahnsdorf followed him, they never met." + +"There was no duel, you say?" cried the Princess, eagerly. + +"How could there be? This Greppi never went to the rendezvous. He +quitted Massa during the night, and has never since been heard of. In +this, I own to you, he was not like _him._" And, as she said the words, +the tears swam in her eyes, and rolled down her cheeks. "May I ask you +how you learned all this?" "From Wahnsdorf; on his return, in a week or +two, he told me all. Ida, at first, would not believe it; but how could +she discredit what was plain and palpable? Greppi was gone. All the +inquiries of the police were in vain as to his route; none could guess +how he had escaped." + +"And this account was given you--you yourself--by Wahnsdorf?" repeated +the Princess. + +"Yes, to myself. Why should he have concealed it?" "And now he is to +marry Ida?" said the Princess, half musingly, to herself. + +"We hope, with _your_ aid, that it may be so. The family difficulties +are great; Wahnsdorf s rank is not ours; but he persists in saying that +to your management nothing is impossible." + +"His opinion is too flattering," said the Princess, with a cold gravity +of manner. + +"But you surely will not refuse us your assistance?" "You may count upon +me even for more than you ask," said the Princess, rising. "How late +it is! day is breaking already!" And so, with a tender embrace, they +parted. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. MADAME DE SABBLOUKOFF IN THE MORNING + +Madame de Sabloukoff inhabited "the grand apartment" of the Hotel +d'Italie, which is the handsomest quarter of the great hotel of +Florence. The same suite which had once the distinguished honor of +receiving a Czar and a King of Prussia, and Heaven knows how many lesser +potentates! was now devoted to one who, though not of the small number +of the elect-in-purple, was yet, in her way, what politicians calls a +"puissance." + +As in the drama a vast number of agencies are required for the due +performance of a piece, so, on the greater stage of life, many of the +chief motive powers rarely are known to the public eye. The Princess was +of this number. She was behind the scenes, in more than one sense, and +had her share in the great events of her time. + +While her beauty lasted, she had traded on the great capital of +attractions which were unsurpassed in Europe. As the perishable flower +faded, she, with prudential foresight, laid up a treasure in secret +knowledge of people and their acts, which made her dreaded and feared +where she was once admired and flattered. Perhaps--it is by no means +improbable--she preferred this latter tribute to the former. + +Although the strong sunlight was tempered by the closed jalousies and +the drawn muslin curtains, she sat with her back to the window, so that +her features were but dimly visible in the darkened atmosphere of +the room. There was something of coquetry in this; but there was +more,--there was a dash of semi-secrecy in the air of gloom and +stillness around, which gave to each visitor who presented himself,--and +she received but one at a time,--an impression of being admitted to an +audience of confidence and trust. The mute-like servant who waited +in the corridor without, and who drew back a massive curtain on +your entrance, also aided the delusion, imparting to the interview a +character of mysterious solemnity. + +Through that solemn portal there had passed, in and out, during the +morning, various dignitaries of the land, ministers and envoys, and +grand "charges" of the Court. The embroidered key of the Chamberlain and +the purple stockings of a Nuncio had come and gone; and now there was +a Brief pause, for the groom in waiting had informed the crowd in the +antechamber that the Princess could receive no more. Then there was +a hurried scrawling of great names in a large book, a shower of +visiting-cards, and all was over; the fine equipages of fine people +dashed off, and the courtyard of the hotel was empty. + +The large clock on the mantelpiece struck three, and Madame de +Sabloukoff compared the time with her watch, and by a movement of +impatience showed a feeling of displeasure. She was not accustomed to +have her appointments lightly treated, and he for whom she had fixed +an hour was now thirty minutes behind his time. She had been known to +resent such unpunctuality, and she looked as though she might do so +again. "I remember the day when his grand-uncle descended from his +carriage to speak to me," muttered she; "and that same grand-uncle was +an emperor." + +Perhaps the chance reflection of her image in the large glass before her +somewhat embittered the recollection, for her features flushed, and as +suddenly grew pale again. It may have been that her mind went rapidly +back to a period when her fascination was a despotism that even the +highest and the haughtiest obeyed. "Too true," said she, speaking to +herself, "time has dealt heavily with us all. But _they_ are no more +what they once were than am I. Their old compact of mutual assistance is +crumbling away under the pressure of new rivalries and new pretensions. +Kings and Kaisers will soon be like bygone beauties. I wonder will they +bear their altered fortune as heroically?" It is but just to say that +her tremulous accents and quivering lip bore little evidence of the +heroism she spoke of. + +She rang the bell violently, and as the servant entered she said, but in +a voice of perfect unconcern,-- + +"When the Count von Wahnsdorf calls, you will tell him that I am +engaged, but will receive him to-morrow--" + +"And why not to-day, charming Princess?" said a young man, entering +hastily, and whose graceful but somewhat haughty air set off to every +advantage his splendid Hungarian costume. "Why not now?" said he, +stooping to kiss her hand with respectful gallantry. She motioned to the +servant to withdraw, and they were alone. + +"You are not over exact in keeping an appointment, monsieur," said +she, stiffly. "It is somewhat cruel to remind me that my claims in this +respect have grown antiquated." + +"I fancied myself the soul of punctuality, my dear Princess," said +he, adjusting the embroidered pelisse he wore over his shoulder. "You +mentioned four as the hour--" + +"I said three o'clock," replied she, coldly. + +"Three, or four, or even five,--what does it signify?" said he, +carelessly. "We have not either of us, I suspect, much occupation to +engage us; and if I have interfered with your other plans--if you have +plans--A thousand pardons!" cried he, suddenly, as the deep color of her +face and her flashing eye warned him that he had gone too far; "but the +fact is, I was detained at the riding-school. They have sent me some +young horses from the Banat, and I went over to look at them." + +"The Count de Wahnsdorf knows that he need make no apologies to Madame +de Sabloukoff," said she, calmly; "but it were just as graceful, +perhaps, to affect them. My dear Count," continued she, but in a tone +perfectly free from all touch of irritation, "I have asked to see and +speak with you on matters purely your own--" + +"You want to dissuade me from this marriage," said he, interrupting; +"but I fancy that I have already listened to everything that can be +urged on that affair. If you have any argument other than the old one +about misalliance and the rest of it, I 'll hear it patiently; though I +tell you beforehand that I should like to learn that a connection with +an imperial house had some advantage besides that of a continual barrier +to one's wishes." + +"I understand," said she, quietly, "that you named the terms on which +you would abandon this project,--is it not so?" + +"Who told _you_ that?" cried he, angrily. "Is this another specimen of +the delicacy with which ministers treat a person of my station?" + +"To discuss that point, Count, would lead us wide of our mark. Am I to +conclude that my informant was correct?" + +"How can I tell what may have been reported to you?" said he, almost +rudely. + +"You shall hear and judge for yourself," was the calm answer. "Count +Kollorath informed me that you offered to abandon this marriage on +condition that you were appointed to the command of the Pahlen Hussars." + +The young man's face became scarlet with shame, and he tried twice to +speak, but unavailingly. + +With a merciless slowness of utterance, and a manner of the most unmoved +sternness, she went on: "I did not deem the proposal at all exorbitant. +It was a price that they could well afford to pay." + +"Well, they refused me," said he, bluntly. + +"Not exactly refused you," said she, more gently. "They reminded you of +the necessity of conforming--of at least appearing to conform--to the +rules of the service; that you had only been a few months in command of +a squadron; that your debts, which were considerable, had been noised +about the world, so that a little time should elapse, and a favorable +opportunity present itself, before this promotion could be effected." + +"How correctly they have instructed you in all the details of this +affair!" said he, with a scornful smile. + +"It is a rare event when I am misinformed, sir," was her cold reply; +"nor could it redound to the advantage of those who ask my advice to +afford me incorrect information." + +"Then I am quite unable to perceive what you want with _me_." cried he. +"It is plain enough you are in possession of all that I could tell you. +Or is all this only the prelude to some menace or other?" + +She made no other answer to this rude question than by a smile so +dubious in its meaning, it might imply scorn, or pity, or even sorrow. + +"You must not wonder if I be angry," continued he, in an accent that +betokened shame at his own violence. "They have treated me so long as a +fool that they have made me something worse than one." + +"I am not offended by your warmth, Count," said she, softly. "It is at +least the guarantee of your sincerity. I tell you, therefore, I have +no threat to hold over you. It will be enough that I can show you the +impolicy of this marriage,--I don't want to use a stronger word,--what +estrangement it will lead to as regards your own family, how +inadequately it will respond to the sacrifices it must cost." + +"That consideration is for me to think of, madam," said he, proudly. + +"And for your friends also," interposed she, softly. + +"If by my friends you mean those who have watched every occasion of my +life to oppose my plans and thwart my wishes, I conclude that they +will prove themselves as vigilant now as heretofore; but I am getting +somewhat weary of this friendship." + +"My dear Count, give me a patient--if possible, an indulgent--hearing +for five minutes, or even half that time, and I hope it will save us +both a world of misconception. If this marriage that you are so eager to +contract were an affair of love,--of that ardent, passionate love which +recognizes no obstacle nor acknowledges any barrier to its wishes,--I +could regard the question as one of those everyday events in life whose +uniformity is seldom broken by a new incident; for love stories have a +terrible sameness in them." She smiled as she said this, and in such a +way as to make him smile at first, and then laugh heartily. + +"But if," resumed she, seriously,--"if I only see in this project a +mere caprice, half--more than half--based upon the pleasure of wounding +family pride, or of coercing those who have hitherto dictated to you; +if, besides this, I perceive that there is no strong affection on either +side, none of that impetuous passion which the world accepts as 'the +attenuating circumstance' in rash marriages--" + +"And who has told you that I do not love Ida, or that she is not devoted +with her whole heart to _me?_" cried he, interrupting her. + +"You yourself have told the first. You have shown by the price you have +laid on the object the value at which you estimate it. As for the latter +part of your question--" She paused, and arranged the folds of her shawl, +purposely playing with his impatience, and enjoying it. + +"Well," cried he, "as for the latter part; go on." + +"It scarcely requires an answer. I saw Ida Delia Torre last night in a +society of which her affianced husband was not one; and, I will be +bold enough to say, hers was not the bearing that bespoke engaged +affections." + +"Indeed!" said he, but in a tone that indicated neither displeasure nor +surprise. + +"It was as I have told you, Count. Surrounded by the youth of Florence, +such as you know them, she laughed, and talked, and sang, in all the +careless gayety of a heart at ease; or, if at moments a shade of sadness +crossed her features, it was so brief that only one observing her +closely as myself could mark it." + +"And how did that subtle intelligence of yours interpret this show of +sorrow?" said he, in a voice of mockery, but yet of deep anxiety. + +"My subtle intelligence was not taxed to guess, for I knew her secret," +said the Princess, with all the strength of conscious power. + +"Her secret--her secret!" said he, eagerly. "What do you mean by that?" + +The Princess smiled coldly, and said, "I have not yet found my frankness +so well repaid that I should continue to extend it." + +"What is the reward to be, madam? Name it," said he, boldly. + +"The same candor on your part, Count; I ask for no more." + +"But what have I to reveal; what mystery is there that your omniscience +has not penetrated?" + +"There may be some that your frankness has not avowed, my dear Count." + +"If you refer to what you have called Ida's secret--" + +"No," broke she in. "I was now alluding to what might be called _your_ +secret." + +"Mine! _my_ secret!" exclaimed he. But though the tone was meant to +convey great astonishment, the confusion of his manner was far more +apparent. + +"Your secret, Count," she repeated slowly, "which has been just as safe +in my keeping as if it had been confided to me on honor." + +"I was not aware how much I owed to your discretion, madam," said he, +scoffingly. + +"I am but too happy when any services of mine can rescue the fame of +a great family from reproach, sir," replied she, proudly; for all the +control she had heretofore imposed upon her temper seemed at last +to have yielded to offended dignity. "Happily for that illustrious +house--happily for you, too--I am one of a very few who know of Count +Wahnsdorf's doings. To have suffered your antagonist in a duel to be +tracked, arrested, and imprisoned in an Austrian fortress, when a word +from you had either warned him of his peril or averted the danger, was +bad enough; but to have stigmatized his name with cowardice, and to have +defamed him because he was your rival, was far worse." + +Wahnsdorf struck the table with his clenched fist till it shook beneath +the blow, but never uttered a word, while with increased energy she +continued,-- + +"Every step of this bad history is known to me; every detail of it, +from your gross and insulting provocation of this poor friendless youth +to the last scene of his committal to a dungeon." + +"And, of course, you have related your interesting narrative to Ida?" +cried he. + +"No, sir; the respect which I have never lost for those whose name +you bear had been quite enough to restrain me, had I not even other +thoughts." + +"And what may they be?" asked he. + +"To take the first opportunity of finding myself alone with you, to +represent how nearly it concerns your honor that this affair should +never be bruited abroad; to insist upon your lending every aid to obtain +this young man's liberation; to show that the provocation came from +yourself; and, lastly, all-painful though it be, to remove from him the +stain you have inflicted, and to reinstate him in the esteem that your +calumny may have robbed him of. These were the other thoughts I alluded +to." + +"And you fancy that I am to engage in this sea of trouble for the sake +of some nameless bastard, while in doing so I compromise myself and my +own honor?" + +"Do you prefer that it should be done by another, Count Wahnsdorf?" +asked she. + +"This is a threat, madam." + +"All the speedier will the matter be settled if you understand it as +such." + +"And, of course, the next condition will be for me to resign my +pretensions to Ida in his favor," said he, with a savage irony. + +"I stipulate for nothing of the sort; Count Wahnsdorf's pretensions will +be to-morrow just where they are to-day." + +"You hold them cheaply, madam. I am indeed unfortunate in all my pursuit +of your esteem." + +"You live in a sphere to command it, sir," was her reply, given with a +counterfeited humility; and whether it was the tone of mingled insolence +and submission she assumed, or simply the sense of his own unworthiness +in her sight, but Wahnsdorf cowered before her like a frightened child. +At this moment the servant entered, and presented a visiting-card to the +Princess. + +"Ah, he comes in an opportune moment," cried she. "This is the Minister +of the Duke of Massa's household,--the Chevalier Stubber. Yes," +continued she to the servant, "I will receive him." + +If there was not any conspicuous gracefulness in the Chevalier's +approach, there was an air of quiet self-possession that bespoke a sense +of his own worth and importance; and while he turned to pay his respects +to the young Count, his unpolished manner was not devoid of a certain +dignity. + +"It is a fortunate chance by which I find you here, Count Wahnsdorf," +said he, "for you will be glad to learn that the young fellow you had +that affair with at Massa has just been liberated." + +"When, and how?" cried the Princess, hastily. + +"As to the time, it must be about four days ago, as my letters inform +me; as to the how, I fancy the Count can best inform you,--he has +interested himself greatly in the matter." The Count blushed deeply, +and turned away to hide his face, but not so quickly as to miss the +expression of scornful meaning with which the Princess regarded him. + +"But I want to hear the details, Chevalier," said she. + +"And I can give you none, madam. My despatches simply mention that the +act of arrest was discovered in some way to be informal. Sir Horace +Upton proved so much. There then arose a question of giving him up to +us; but my master declined the honor,--he would have no trouble, he +said, with England or Englishmen; and some say that the youth claims an +English nationality. The cabinet of Vienna are, perhaps, like-minded in +the matter; at all events, he is free, and will be here to-morrow." + +"Then I shall invite him to dinner, and beg both of you gentlemen to +meet him," said she, with a voice wherein a tone of malicious drollery +mingled. + +"I am your servant, madam," said Stubber. + +"And I am engaged," said Wahnsdorf, taking up his shako. + +"You are off to Vienna to-night, Count Wahnsdorf," whispered the +Princess-in his ear. + +"What do you mean, madam?" said he, in a tone equally low. + +"Only that I have a letter written for the Archduchess Sophia, which I +desire to intrust to your hands. You may as well read ere I seal it." + +The Count took the letter from her hand, and retired towards the window +to read it. While she conversed eagerly with Stubber, she did not fail +from time to time to glance towards the other, and mark the expression +of his features as he folded and replaced the letter in its envelope, +and, slowly approaching her, said,-- + +"You are most discreet, madam." + +"I hope I am just, sir," said she, modestly. + +"This was something of a difficult undertaking, too," said he, with an +equivocal smile. + +"It was certainly a pleasant and proud one, sir, as it always must be, +to write to a mother in commendation of her son. By the way, Chevalier, +you have forgotten to make your compliments to the Count on his +promotion--" + +"I have not heard of it, madam; what may it be?" asked Stubber. + +"To the command of the Pahlen Hussars, sir,--one of the proudest +'charges' of the Empire." + +A rush of blood to Wahnsdorf's face was as quickly followed by a deadly +pallor, and with a broken, faint utterance he said, "Good-bye," and left +the room. + +"A fine young fellow,--the very picture of a soldier," exclaimed +Stubber, looking after him. + +"A chevalier of the olden time, sir,--the very soul of honor," said the +Princess, enthusiastically. "And now for a little gossip with yourself." + +It is not "in our brief" to record what passed in that chatty interview; +plenty of state secrets and state gossip there was,--abundance of that +dangerous trifling which mixes up the passions of society with the great +game of politics, and makes statecraft feel the impress of men's +whims and caprices. We were just beginning that era, "the policy of +resentments," which has since pervaded Europe, and the Chevalier and +the Princess were sufficiently behind the scenes to have many things +to communicate; and here we must leave them while we hasten on to other +scenes and other actors. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. DOINGS IN DOWNING STREET + +The dull old precincts of Downing Street were more than usually astir. +Hackney-coaches and cabs at an early hour, private chariots somewhat +later, went to and fro along the dreary pavement, and two cabinet +messengers with splashed _caleches_ arrived in hot haste from Dover. +Frequent, too, were the messages from the House; a leading Oppositionist +was then thundering away against the Government, inveighing against the +treacherous character of their foreign policy, and indignantly calling +on them for certain despatches to their late envoy at Naples. At +every cheer which greeted him from his party a fresh missive would +be despatched from the Treasury benches, and the whisper, at first +cautiously muttered, grew louder and louder, "Why does not Upton come +down?" + +So intricate has been the web of our petty entanglements, so complex the +threads of those small intrigues by which we have earned our sobriquet +of the "perfide Albion," that it is difficult at this time of day to +recall the exact question whose solution, in the words of the orator of +the debate, "placed us either at the head of Europe, or consigned to us +the fatal mediocrity of a third-rate power." The prophecy, whichever way +read, gives us unhappily no clew to the matter in hand, and we are only +left to conjecture that it was an intervention in Spain, or "something +about the Poles." As is usual in such cases, the matter, insignificant +enough in itself, was converted into a serious attack on the Government, +and all the strength of the Opposition was arrayed to give power and +consistency to the assault. As is equally usual, the cabinet was totally +unprepared for defence; either they had altogether undervalued the +subject, or they trusted to the secrecy with which they had conducted +it; whichever of these be the right explanation, each minister could +only say to his colleague, "It never came before _me_; Upton knows all +about it." + +"And where is Upton?--why does he not come down?"--were again and again +reiterated; while a shower of messages and even mandates invoked his +presence. + +The last of these was a peremptory note from no less a person than the +Premier himself, written in three very significant words, thus: "Come, +or go;" and given to a trusty whip, the Hon. Gerald Neville, to deliver. + +Armed with this not very conciliatory document, the well-practised +tactician drew up to the door of the Foreign Office, and demanded to see +the Secretary of State. + +"Give him this card and this note, sir," said he to the well-dressed and +very placid young gentleman who acted as his private secretary. + +"Sir Horace is very poorly, sir; he is at this moment in a mineral bath; +but as the matter you say is pressing, he will see you. Will you pass +this way?" + +Mr. Neville followed his guide through an infinity of passages, and at +length reached a large folding-door, opening one side of which he was +ushered into a spacious apartment, but so thoroughly impregnated with +a thick and offensive vapor that he could barely perceive, through the +mist, the bath in which Upton lay reclined, and the figure of a man, +whose look and attitude bespoke the doctor, beside him. + +"Ah, my dear fellow," sighed Upton, extending two dripping fingers in +salutation, "you have come in at the death. This is the last of it!" + +"No, no; don't say that," cried the other, encouragingly. "Have you had +any sudden seizure? What is the nature of it?" + +"He," said he, looking round to the doctor, "calls it 'arachnoidal +trismus,'--a thing, he says, that they have all of them ignored for many +a day, though Charlemagne died of it. Ah, Doctor,"--and he addressed a +question to him in German. + +A growled volley of gutturals ensued, and Upton went on:-- + +"Yes, Charlemagne,--Melancthon had it, but lingered for years. It is +the peculiar affection of great intellectual natures over-taxed and +over-worked." + +Whether there was that in the manner of the sick man that inspired hope, +or something in the aspect of the doctor that suggested distrust, or a +mixture of the two together, but certainly Neville rapidly rallied from +the fears which had beset him on entering, and in a voice of a more +cheery tone, said,-- + +"Come, come, Sir Horace, you 'll throw off this as you have done other +such attacks. You have never been wanting either to your friends or +yourself when the hour of emergency called. We are in a moment of such +difficulty now, and you alone can rescue us." + +"How cruel of the Duke to write me that!" sighed Upton, as he held up +the piece of paper, from which the water had obliterated all trace of +the words. "It was so inconsiderate,--eh, Neville?" + +"I'm not aware of the terms he employed," said the other. + +This was the very admission that Upton sought to obtain, and in a far +more cheery voice he said,-- + +"If I was capable of the effort,--if Doctor Geimirstad thought it safe +for me to venture,--I could set all this to right. These people are +all talking 'without book,' Neville,--the ever-recurring blunder of an +Opposition when they address themselves to a foreign question: they +go upon a newspaper paragraph, or the equally incorrect 'private +communication from a friend.' Men in office alone can attain to +truth--exact truth--about questions of foreign policy." + +"The debate is taking a serious turn, however," interposed Neville. +"They reiterate very bold assertions, which none of our people are in +a position to contradict. Their confidence is evidently increasing with +the show of confusion in our ranks. Something must be done to meet them, +and that quickly." + +"Well, I suppose I must go," sighed Upton; and as he held out his wrist +to have his pulse felt, he addressed a few words to the doctor. + +"He calls it 'a life period,' Neville. He says that he won't answer for +the consequences." + +The doctor muttered on. + +"He adds that the trismus may be thus converted into 'Bi-trismus.' Just +imagine Bi-trismus!" + +This was a stretch of fancy clear and away beyond Neville's +apprehension, and he began to feel certain misgivings about pushing a +request so full of danger; but from this he was in a measure relieved +by the tone in which Upton now addressed his valet with directions as to +the dress he intended to wear. "The loose pelisse, with the astrakhan, +Giuseppe, and that vest of _cramoisie_ velvet; and if you will just +glance at the newspaper, Neville, in the next room, I 'll come to you +immediately." + +The newspapers of the morning after this interview afford us the +speediest mode of completing the incidents; and the concluding sentences +of a leading article will be enough to place before our readers what +ensued:-- + +"It was at this moment, and amidst the most enthusiastic cheers of the +Treasury bench, that Sir Horace Upton entered the House. Leaning on the +arm of Mr. Neville, he slowly passed up and took his accustomed place. +The traces of severe illness in his features, and the great debility +which his gestures displayed, gave an unusual interest to a scene +already almost dramatic in its character. For a moment the great +chief of Opposition was obliged to pause in his assault, to let this +flood-tide of sympathy pass on; and when at length he did resume, it was +plain to see how much the tone of his invective had been tempered by a +respect for the actual feeling of the House. The necessity for this act +of deference, added to the consciousness that he was in presence of the +man whose acts he so strenuously denounced, were too much for the nerves +of the orator, and he came to an abrupt conclusion, whose confused and +uncertain sentences scarcely warranted the cheers with which his friends +rallied him. + +"Sir Horace rose at once to reply. His voice was at first so +inarticulate that we could but catch the burden of what he said,--a +request that the House would accord him all the indulgence which his +state of debility and suffering called for. If the first few sentences +he uttered imparted a painful significance to the entreaty, it very soon +became apparent that he had no occasion to bespeak such indulgence. In a +voice that gained strength and fulness as he proceeded, he entered +upon what might be called a narrative of the foreign policy of the +administration, clearly showing that their course was guided by certain +great principles which dictated a line of action firm and undeviating; +that the measures of the Government, however modified by passing events +in Europe, had been uniformly consistent,--based upon the faith of +treaties, but ever mindful of the growing requirements of the age. +Through a narrative of singular complexity he guided himself with +consummate skill, and though detailing events which occupied every +region of the globe, neither confusion nor inconsistency ever marred the +recital, and names and places and dates were quoted by him without any +artificial aid to memory." + +There was in the polished air, and calm, dispassionate delivery of the +speaker, something which seemed to charm the ears of those who for four +hours before had been so mercilessly assailed by all the vituperation +and insolence of party animosity. It was, so to say, a period of relief +and repose, to which even antagonists were not insensible. No man ever +understood the advantage of his gifts in this way better than Upton, nor +ever was there one who could convert the powers which fascinated society +into the means of controlling a popular assembly, with greater assurance +of success. He was a man of a strictly logical mind, a close and acute +thinker; he was of a highly imaginative temperament, rich in all the +resources of a poetic fancy; he was thoroughly well read, and gifted +with a ready memory; but, above all these,--transcendently above them +all,--he was a "man of the world;" and no one, either in Parliament or +out of it, knew so well when it was wrong to say "the right thing." But +let us resume our quotation:-- + +"For more than three hours did the House listen with breathless +attention to a narrative which in no parliamentary experience has been +surpassed for the lucid clearness of its details, the unbroken flow of +its relation. The orator up to this time had strictly devoted himself +to explanation; he now proceeded to what might be called reply. If +the House was charmed and instructed before, it was now positively +astonished and electrified by the overwhelming force of the speaker's +raillery and invective. Not satisfied with showing the evil consequences +that must ensue from any adoption of the measures recommended by the +Opposition, he proceeded to exhibit the insufficiency of views always +based upon false information. + +"'We have been taunted,' said he, 'with the charge of fomenting discords +in foreign lands; we have been arraigned as disturbers of the world's +peace, and called the firebrands of Europe; we are exhibited as parading +the Continent with a more than Quixotic ardor, since we seek less the +redress of wrong than the opportunity to display our own powers +of interference,--that quality which the learned gentleman has +significantly stigmatized as a spirit of meddling impertinence, +offensive to the whole world of civilization. Let me tell him, sir, that +the very debate of this night has elicited, and from himself too, the +very outrages he has had the temerity to ascribe to us. His has been +this indiscriminate ardor, his this unjudging rashness, his this +meddling impertinence (I am but quoting, not inventing, a phrase), +by which, without accurate, without, indeed, any, information, he has +ventured to charge the Government with what no administration would +be guilty, of--a cool and deliberate violation of the national law of +Europe. + +"'He has told you, sir, that in our eagerness to distinguish ourselves +as universal redressers of injury, we have "ferreted out"--I take his +own polished expression--the case of an obscure boy in an obscure corner +of Italy, converted a commonplace and very vulgar incident into a tale +of interest, and, by a series of artful devices and insinuations based +upon this narrative, a grave and insulting charge upon one of the +oldest of our allies. He has alleged that throughout the whole of those +proceedings we had not the shadow of pretence for our interference; that +the acts imputed occurred in a land over which we had no control, and +in the person of an individual in whom we had no interest; that this +Sebastiano Greppi--this image boy, for so with a courteous pleasantry he +has called him--was a Neapolitan subject, the affiliated envoy of I know +not what number of secret societies; that his sculptural pretensions +were but pretexts to conceal his real avocations,--the agency of a +bloodthirsty faction; that his crime was no less than an act of +high treason; and that Austrian gentleness and mercy were never more +conspicuously illustrated than in the commutation of a death-sentence to +one of perpetual imprisonment. + +"'What a rude task is mine when I must say that for even one of these +assertions there is not the slightest foundation in fact. Greppi's +offence was not a crime against the state; as little was it committed +within the limits of the Austrian territory. He is not the envoy, or +even a member, of any revolutionary club; he never--I am speaking with +knowledge, sir--he never mingled in the schemes of plotting politicians; +as far removed is he from sympathy with such men, as, in the genius of a +great artist, he is elevated above the humble path to which the learned +gentleman's raillery would sentence him. For the character of "an image +vendor," the learned gentleman must look nearer home; and, lastly, this +youth is an Englishman, and born of a race and a blood that need feel no +shame in comparison with any I see around me!' + +"To the loud cry of 'Name, name,' which now arose, Sir Horace replied: +'If I do not announce the name at this moment, it is because there are +circumstances in the history of the youth to which publicity would give +irreparable pain. These are details which I have no right to bring under +discussion, and which must inevitably thus become matters of town-talk. +To any gentleman of the opposite side who may desire to verify the +assertions I have made to the House, I would, under pledge of secrecy, +reveal the name. I would do more; I would permit him to confide it to +a select number of friends equally pledged with himself. This is surely +enough?'" + +We have no occasion to continue our quotation farther, and we take +up our history as Sir Horace, overwhelmed by the warmest praises and +congratulations, drove off from the House to his home. Amid all the +excitement and enthusiasm which this brilliant success produced among +the ministerialists, there was a kind of dread lest the overtaxed powers +of the orator should pay the heavy penalty of such an effort. They +had all heard how he came from a sick chamber; they had all seen him, +trembling, faint, and almost voiceless, as he stole up to his place, and +they began to fear lest they had, in the hot zeal of party, imperilled +the ablest chief in their ranks. + +What a relief to these agonies had it been, could they have seen Upton +as he once more gained the solitude of his chamber, where, divested +of all the restraints of an audience, he walked leisurely up and down, +smoking a cigar, and occasionally smiling pleasantly as some "conceit" +crossed his mind. + +Had there been any one to mark him there, it is more than likely that +he would have regarded him as a man revelling in the after-thought of a +great success,--one who, having come gloriously through the combat, was +triumphantly recalling to his memory every incident of the fight. How +little had they understood Sir Horace Upton who would have read him in +this wise! That daring and soaring nature rarely dallied in the past; +even the present was scarcely full enough for the craving of a spirit +that cried ever, "Forward!" + +What might be made of that night's success; how best it should be turned +to account!--these were the thoughts which beset him, and many were the +devices which his subtlety hit on to this end. There was not a goal +his ambition could point to but which became associated with some +deteriorating ingredient. He was tired of the Continent, he hated +England, he shuddered at the Colonies. "India, perhaps," said he, +hesitatingly,--"India, perhaps, might do." To continue as he +was,--to remain in office, as having reached the topmost round of the +ladder,--would have been insupportable indeed; and yet how, without +longer service at his post, could any man claim a higher reward? + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. THE SUBTLETIES OF STATECRAFT + +It was not till Sir Horace had smoked his third cigar that he seated +himself at his writing-table. He then wrote rapidly a brief note, of +which he proceeded to make a careful copy. This he folded and placed in +an envelope, addressing it to his Grace the Duke of Cloudeslie. + +A few minutes afterwards he began to prepare for bed. The day was +already breaking, and yet that sick man was unwearied and unwasted; not +a trace of fatigue on features that, under the infliction of a tiresome +dinner-party, would have seemed bereft of hope. + +The tied-up knocker, the straw-strewn street, the closely drawn curtains +announced to London the next morning that the distinguished minister +was seriously ill; and from an early hour the tide of inquirers, in +carriages and on foot, passed silently along that dreary way. High and +mighty were the names inscribed in the porter's book; royal dukes +had called in person; and never was public solicitude more widely +manifested. There is something very flattering in the thought of a great +intelligence being damaged and endangered in our service! With all its +melancholy influences, there is a feeling of importance suggested by +the idea that for us and our interests a man of commanding powers should +have jeoparded his life. There is a very general prejudice, not alone in +obtaining the best article for our money, but the most of it also; +and this sentiment extends to the individuals employed in the public +service; and it is doubtless a very consolatory reflection to the +tax-paying classes that the great functionaries of state are not +indolent recipients of princely incomes, but hard-worked men of office, +up late and early at their duties,--prematurely old, and worn out before +their time! Something of this same feeling inspires much of the sympathy +displayed for a sick statesman,--a sentiment not altogether void of a +certain misgiving that we have probably over-taxed the energies employed +in our behalf. + +Scarcely one in a hundred of those who now called and "left their names" +had ever seen Sir Horace Upton in their lives. Few are more removed from +public knowledge than the men who fill even the highest places in +our diplomacy. He was, therefore, to the mass a mere name. Since his +accession to office little or nothing had been heard of him, and of that +little, the greater part was made up of sneering allusions to his habits +of indolence; impertinent hints about his caprices and his tastes. Yet +now, by a grand effort in the "House," and a well got-up report of a +dangerous illness the day after, was he the most marked man in all the +state,--the theme of solicitude throughout two millions of people! + +There was a dash of mystery, too, in the whole incident, which +heightened its flavor for public taste; a vague, indistinct +impression--it did not even amount to rumor--was abroad, that Sir Horace +had not been "fairly treated" by his colleagues; either that they could, +if they wished it, have defended the cause themselves, or that they had +needlessly called him from a sick bed to come to the rescue, or that +some subtle trap had been laid to ensnare him. These were vulgar +beliefs, which, if they obtained little credence in the higher region +of club-life, were extensively circulated, and not discredited, in less +distinguished circles. How they ever got abroad at all; how they found +their ways into newspaper paragraphs, terrifying timid supporters of +the ministry by the dread prospect of a "smash," exciting the hopes +of Opposition with the notion of a great secession, throwing broadcast +before the world of readers every species of speculation, all kinds of +combination,--who knows how all this happened? Who, indeed, ever +knew how things a thousand times more secret ever got wind and became +club-talk ere the actors in the events had finished an afternoon's +canter in the Park? + +If, then, the world of London learned on the morning in question that +Sir Horace Upton was very ill, it also surmised--why and wherefore it +knows best--that the same Sir Horace was an ill-used man. Now, of +all the objects of public sympathy and interest, next after a foreign +emperor on a visit at Buckingham Palace, or a newly arrived hippopotamus +at the Zoological Gardens, there is nothing your British public is so +fond of as "an ill-used man." It is essential, however, to his great +success that he be ill-used in high places; that his enemies and +calumniators should have been, if not princes, at least dukes and +marquises and great dignitaries of the state. Let him only be supposed +to be martyred by these, and there is no saying where his popularity may +be carried. A very general impression is current that the mass of the +nation is more or less "ill-used,"--denied its natural claims and just +rewards. To hit upon, therefore, a good representation of this hard +usage, to find a tangible embodiment of this great injustice, is a +discovery that is never unappreciated. + +To read his speech of the night before, and to peruse the ill-scrawled +bulletin of his health at the hall door in the morning, made up the +measure of his popularity, and the world exclaimed, "Think of the man +they have treated in this fashion!" Every one framed the indictment to +his own taste; nor was the wrong the less grievous that none could give +it a name. Even cautious men fell into the trap, and were heard to say, +"If all we hear be true, Upton has not been fairly treated." + +What an air of confirmation to all these rumors did it give, when the +evening papers announced in the most striking type: Resignation of Sir +Horace Upton. If the terms in which he communicated that step to the +Premier were not before the world, the date, the very night of the +debate, showed that the resolution had been come to suddenly. + +Some of the journals affected to be in the whole secret of the +transaction, and only waiting the opportune moment to announce it to the +world. The dark, mysterious paragraphs in which journalists show their +no-meanings abounded, and menacing hints were thrown out that the +country would no longer submit to.--Heaven knows what. There was, +besides all this, a very considerable amount of that catechetical +inquiry, which, by suggesting a number of improbabilities, hopes to +arrive at the likely, and thus, by asking questions where they had +a perfect confidence they would never be answered, they seemed to +overwhelm their adversaries with shame and discomfiture. The great fact, +however, was indisputable,--Upton had resigned. + +To the many who looked up at the shuttered windows of his sad-looking +London house, this reflection occurred naturally enough,--How little the +poor sufferer, on his sick bed, cared for the contest that raged around +him; how far away were, in all probability, his thoughts from that world +of striving and ambition whose waves came to his door-sills. Let us, +in that privilege which belongs to us, take a peep within the curtained +room, where a bright fire is blazing, and where, seated behind a screen, +Sir Horace is now penning a note; a bland half smile rippling his +features as some pleasant conceit has flashed across his mind. We have +rarely seen him looking so well. The stimulating events of the last few +days have done for him more than all the counsels of his doctors, +and his eyes are brighter and his cheeks fuller than usual. A small +miniature hangs suspended by a narrow ribbon round his neck, and a +massive gold bracelet adorns one wrist,--"two souvenirs" which he stops +to contemplate as he writes; nor is there a touch of sorrowful +meaning in the glance he bestows upon them,--the look rather seems the +self-complacent regard that a successful general might bestow on the +decorations he had won by his valor. It is essentially vainglorious. + +More than once has he paused to read over the sentence he has written, +and one may see, by the motion of his lips as he reads, how completely +he has achieved the sentiment he would express. "Yes, charming +Princess," said he, perusing the lines before him, "I've once more to +throw myself at your feet, and reiterate the assurances of a devotion +which has formed the happiness of my existence." ("That does not sound +quite French, after all," muttered he; "better perhaps: 'has formed the +religion of my heart.'") "I know you will reproach my precipitancy; I +feel how your judgment, unerring as it ever is, will condemn what may +seem a sudden ebullition of temper; but, I ask, is this amongst the +catalogue of my weaknesses? Am I of that clay which is always fissured +when heated? No. _You_ know me better,--_you_ alone of all the world +have the clew to a heart whose affections are all your own. The few +explanations of all that has happened must be reserved for our meeting. +Of course, neither the newspapers nor the reviews have any conception +of the truth. Four words will set your heart at ease, and these you +must have: 'I have done wisely;' with that assurance you have no more +to fear. I mean to leave this in all secrecy by the end of the week. I +shall go over to Brussels, where you can address me under the name of +Richard Bingham. I shall only remain there to watch events for a day or +two, and thence on to Geneva. + +"I am quite charmed with your account of poor Lady G------, though, as +I read, I can detect how all the fascinations you tell of were but +reflected glories. Your view of her situation is admirable, and, by your +skilful tactique, it is she herself that ostracizes the society that +would only have accepted her on sufferance. How true is your remark as +to the great question at issue,--not her guilt or innocence, but what +danger might accrue to others from infractions that invite publicity. +The cabinet were discussing t' other day a measure by which sales of +estated property could be legalized without those tiresome and costly +researches into title which, in a country where confiscations were +frequent, became at last endless labor. Don't you think that some such +measure might be beneficially adopted as regards female character? Could +there not be invented a species of social guarantee which, rejecting all +investigation into bygones after a certain limit, would confer a valid +title that none might dispute? + +"Lawyers tell us that no man's property would stand the test of a search +for title. Are we quite certain how far the other sex are our betters in +this respect; and might it not be wise to interpose a limit beyond which +research need not proceed? + +"I concur in all you say about G------himself. He was always looking for +better security than he needed,--a great mistake, whether the investment +consist of our affections or our money. Physicians say that if any man +could only see the delicate anatomy on which his life depends, and watch +the play of those organs that sustain him, he would not have courage to +move a step or utter a loud word. Might we not carry the analogy into +morals, and ask, is it safe or prudent in us to investigate too deeply? +are we wise in dissecting motives? or would it not be better to enjoy +our moral as we do our material health, without seeking to assure +ourselves further? + +"Besides all this, the untravelled Englishman--and such was Glencore +when he married--never can be brought to understand the harmless +levities of foreign life. Like a fresh-water sailor, he always fancies +the boat is going to upset, and he throws himself out at the first +'jobble'! I own to you frankly, I never knew the case in question; 'how +far she went,' is a secret to me. I might have heard the whole story. +It required some address in me to escape it; but I do detest these +narrations, where truth is marred by passion, and all just inferences +confused and confounded with vague and absurd suspicions. + +"Glencore's conduct throughout was little short of insanity; like a +man who, hearing his banker is insecure, takes refuge in insolvency, he +ruins himself to escape embarrassment. They tell me here that the shock +has completely deranged his intellect, and that he lives a life of +melancholy isolation in that old castle in Ireland. + +"How few men in this world can count the cost of their actions, and make +up that simple calculation, 'How much shall I have to pay for it?' + +"Take any view one pleases of the case, would it not have been +better for him to have remained in the world and of it? Would not its +pleasures, even its cares, have proved better 'distractions' than his +own brooding thoughts? If a man have a secret ailment, does he parade +it in public? Why, then, this exposure of a pain for which there is no +sympathy? + +"Life, after all, is only a system of compensations. Wish it to be +whatever you please, but accept it as it really is, and make the best +of it! For my own part, I have ever felt like one who, having got a most +disastrous account of a road he was about to travel, is delightfully +surprised to find the way better and the inns more comfortable than he +looked for. In the main, men and women are very good; our mistake is, +expecting to find people always in our own humor. Now, if one is +very rich, this is practical enough; but the mass must be content to +encounter disparity of mood and difference of taste at every step. +There is, therefore, some tact required in conforming to these +'irregularities,' and unhappily everybody has not got tact. + +"You, charming Princess, have tact; but you have beauty, wit, +fascination, rank,--all that can grace high station, and all that high +station can reflect upon great natural gifts; that _you_ should see the +world through a rose-tinted medium is a very condition of your identity; +and there is truth, as well as good philosophy, in this view! You have +often told me that if people were not exactly all that strict moralists +might wish, yet that they made up a society very pleasant and livable +withal, and that there was also a floating capital of kindness and +good feeling quite sufficient to trade upon, and even grow richer by +negotiating! + +"People who live out of the world, or, what comes to the same +thing, in a little world of their own, are ever craving after +perfectibility,--just as, in time of peace, nations only accept in their +armies six-foot grenadiers and gigantic dragoons. Let the pressure of +war or emergency arise, however, or, in other words, let there be the +real business of life to be done, then the standard is lowered at once, +and the battle is sought and won by very inferior agency. Now, show +troops and show qualities are very much alike; they are a measure of +what would be very charming to arrive at, were it only practicable! Oh +that poor Glencore had only learned this lesson, instead of writing +nonsense verses at Eton! + +"The murky domesticities of England have no correlatives in the sunny +enjoyments of Italian life; and John Bull has got a fancy that virtue is +only cultivated where there are coal fires, stuff curtains, and a +window tax. Why, then, in the name of Doctors' Commons, does he marry a +foreigner?" + +Just as Upton had written these words, his servant presented him with a +visiting-card. + +"Lord Glencore!" exclaimed he, aloud. "When was he here?" + +"His Lordship is below stairs now, sir. He said he was sure you'd see +him." + +"Of course; show him up at once. Wait a moment; give me that cane, place +those cushions for my feet, draw the curtain, and leave the aconite and +ether drops near me,--that will do, thank you." + +Some minutes elapsed ere the door was opened; the slow footfall of +one ascending the stairs, step by step, was heard, accompanied by the +labored respiration of a man breathing heavily; and then Lord Glencore +entered, his form worn and emaciated, and his face pale and colorless. +With a feeble, uncertain voice, he said,-- + +"I knew you 'd see me, Upton, and I would n't go away!" And with this he +sank into a chair and sighed deeply. + +"Of course, my dear Glencore, you knew it," said the other, feelingly, +for he was shocked by the wretched spectacle before him; "even were I +more seriously indisposed than--" + +"And were you really ill, Upton?" asked Glencore, with a weakly smile. + +"Can you ask the question? Have you not seen the evening papers, +read the announcement on my door, seen the troops of inquirers in the +streets?" + +"Yes," sighed he, wearily, "I have heard and seen all you say; and yet +I bethought me of a remark I once heard from the Duke of Orleans: +'Monsieur Upton is a most active minister when his health permits; and +when it does not, he is the most mischievous intriguant in Europe.'" + +"He was always straining at an antithesis; he fancied he could talk like +St. Simon, and it really spoiled a very pleasant converser." + +"And so you have been very ill?" said Glencore, slowly, and as though he +had not heeded the last remark; "so have I also!" + +"You seem to me too feeble to be about, Glencore," said Upton, kindly. + +"I am so, if it were of any consequence,--I mean, if my life could +interest or benefit any one. My head, however, will bear solitude no +longer; I must have some one to talk to. I mean to travel; I will leave +this in a day or so." + +"Come along with me, then; my plan is to make for Brussels, but it +must not be spoken of, as I want to watch events there before I remove +farther from England." + +"So it is all true, then,--you have resigned?" said Glencore. + +"Perfectly true." + +"What a strange step to take! I remember, more than twenty years ago, +your telling me that you'd rather be Foreign Secretary of England than +the monarch of any third-rate Continental kingdom." + +"I thought so then, and, what is more singular, I think so still." + +"And you throw it up at the very moment people are proclaiming your +success!" + +"You shall hear all my reasons, Glencore, for this resolution, and will, +I feel assured, approve of them; but they 'd only weary you now." + +"Let me know them now, Upton; it is such a relief to me when, even by +a momentary interest in anything, I am able to withdraw this poor tired +brain from its own distressing thoughts." He spoke these words not only +with strong feeling, but even imparted to them a tone of entreaty, so +that Upton could not but comply. + +"When I wished for the Secretaryship, my dear Glencore," said he, "I +fancied the office as it used to be in olden times, when one played the +great game of diplomacy with kings and ministers for antagonists, and +the world at large for spectators; when consummate skill and perfect +secrecy were objects of moment, and when grand combinations rewarded +one's labor with all the certainty of a mathematical problem. Every move +on the board could be calculated beforehand, no disturbing influences +could derange plans that never were divulged till they were +accomplished. All that is past and gone; our Constitution, grown every +day more and more democratic, rules by the House of Commons. Questions +whose treatment demands all the skill of a statesman and all the +address of a man of the world come to be discussed in open Parliament; +correspondence is called for, despatches and even private notes are +produced; and while the State you are opposed to revels in the security +of secrecy, _your_ whole game is revealed to the world in the shape of a +blue-book. + +"Nor is this all: the debaters on these nice and intricate questions, +involving the most far-reaching speculation of statesmanship, are men +of trade and enterprise, who view every international difficulty only in +its relation to their peculiar interests. National greatness, honor, and +security are nothing,--the maintenance of that equipoise which preserves +peace is nothing,--the nice management which, by the exhibition of +courtesy here, or of force there, is nothing compared to alliances +that secure us ample supplies of raw material, and abundant markets for +manufactures. Diplomacy has come to this!" + +"But you must have known all this before you accepted office; you had +seen where the course of events led to, and were aware that the House +ruled the country." + +"Perhaps I did not recognize the fact to its full extent. Perhaps +I fancied I could succeed in modifying the system," said Upton, +cautiously. + +"A hopeless undertaking!" said Glencore. + +"I'm not quite so certain of that," said Upton, pausing for a while +as he seemed to reflect. When he resumed, it was in a lighter and more +flippant tone: "To make short of it, I saw that I could not keep office +on these conditions, but I did not choose to go out as a beaten man. For +my pride's sake I desired that my reasons should be reserved for myself +alone; for my actual benefit it was necessary that I should have a hold +over my colleagues in office. These two conditions were rather difficult +to combine, but I accomplished them. + +"I had interested the King so much in my views as to what the Foreign +Office ought to be that an interchange of letters took place, and his +Majesty imparted to me his fullest confidence in disparagement of the +present system. This correspondence was a perfect secret to the whole +Cabinet; but when it had arrived at a most confidential crisis, I +suggested to the King that Cloudeslie should be consulted. I knew well +that this would set the match to the train. No sooner did Cloudeslie +learn that such a correspondence had been carried on for months without +his knowledge, views stated, plans promulgated, and the King's pleasure +taken on questions not one of which should have been broached without +his approval and concurrence, than he declared he would not hold the +seals of office another hour. The King, well knowing his temper, and +aware what a terrific exposure might come of it, sent for me, and asked +what was to be done. I immediately suggested my own resignation as a +sacrifice to the difficulty and to the wounded feelings of the Duke. +Thus did I achieve what I sought for. I imposed a heavy obligation on +the King and the Premier, and I have secured secrecy as to my motives, +which none will ever betray. + +"I only remained for the debate of the other night, for I wanted a +little public enthusiasm to mark the fall of the curtain." + +"So that you still hold them as your debtors?" asked Glencore. + +"Without doubt, I do; my claim is a heavy one." + +"And what would satisfy it?" + +"If my health would stand England," said Upton, leisurely, "I'd take a +peerage; but as this murky atmosphere would suffocate me, and as I don't +care for the latter without the political privileges, I have determined +to have the 'Garter.'" + +"The Garter! a blue ribbon!" exclaimed Glencore, as though the +insufferable coolness with which the pretension was announced might +justify any show of astonishment. + +"Yes; I had some thoughts of India, but the journey deters me,--in fact, +as I have enough to live on, I 'd rather devote the remainder of my days +to rest, and the care of this shattered constitution." It is impossible +to convey to the reader the tender and affectionate compassion with +which Sir Horace seemed to address these last words to himself. + +"Do you ever look upon yourself as the luckiest fellow in Europe, +Upton?" asked Glencore. + +"No," sighed he; "I occasionally fancy I have been hardly dealt with by +fortune. I have only to throw my eyes around me, and see a score of men, +richer and more elevated than myself, not one of whom has capacity for +even a third-rate task, so that really the self-congratulation you speak +of has not occurred to me." + +"But, after all, you have had a most successful career--" + +"Look at the matter this way, Glencore; there are about six--say six men +in all Europe--who have a little more common sense than all the rest of +the world: I could tell you the names of five of them." If there was a +supreme boastfulness in the speech, the modest delivery of it completely +mystified the hearer, and he sat gazing with wonderment at the man +before him. + + + +CHAPTER XLV. SOME SAD REVERIES + +"Have you any plans, Glencore?" asked Upton, as they posted along +towards Dover. + +"None," was the brief reply. + +"Nor any destination you desire to reach?" + +"Just as little." + +"Such a state as yours, then, I take it, is about the best thing +going in life. Every move one makes is attended with so many adverse +considerations,--every goal so separated from us by unforeseen +difficulties,--that an existence, even without what is called an object, +has certain great advantages." + +"I am curious to hear them," said the other, half cynically. + +"For myself," said Upton, not accepting the challenge, "the brief +intervals of comparative happiness I have enjoyed have been in periods +when complete repose, almost torpor, has surrounded me, and when the +mere existence of the day has engaged my thoughts." + +"What became of memory all this while?" + +"Memory!" said Upton, laughing, "I hold my memory in proper subjection. +It no more dares obtrude upon me uncalled for than would my valet come +into my room till I ring for him. Of the slavery men endure from their +own faculties I have no experience." + +"And, of course, no sympathy for them." + +"I will not say that I cannot compassionate sufferings, though I have +not felt them." + +"Are you quite sure of that?" asked Glencore, almost sternly; "is not +your very pity a kind of contemptuous sentiment towards those who sorrow +without reason,--the strong man's estimate of the weak man's sufferings? +Believe me, there is no true condolence where there is not the same +experience of woe!" + +"I should be sorry to lay down so narrow a limit to fellow-feeling," +said Upton. + +"You told me a few moments back," said Glencore, "that your memory was +your slave. How, then, can you feel for one like me, whose memory is his +master? How understand a path that never wanders out of the shadow of +the past?" + +There was such an accent of sorrow impressed upon these words that Upton +did not desire to prolong a discussion so painful; and thus, for the +remainder of the way, little was interchanged between them. They crossed +the strait by night, and as Upton stole upon deck after dusk, he found +Glencore seated near the wheel, gazing intently at the lights on shore, +from which they were fast receding. + +"I am taking my last look at England, Upton," said he, affecting a tone +of easy indifference. + +"You surely mean to go back again one of these days?" said Upton. + +"Never, never!" said he, solemnly. "I have made all my arrangements for +the future,--every disposition regarding my property; I have neglected +nothing, so far as I know, of those claims which, in the shape of +relationship, the world has such reverence for; and now I bethink me of +myself. I shall have to consult you, however, about this boy," said he, +faltering in the words. "The objection I once entertained to his bearing +my name exists no longer; he may call himself Massy, if he will. The +chances are," added he, in a lower and more feeling voice, "that he +rejects a name that will only remind him of a wrong!" + +"My dear Glencore," said Upton, with real tenderness, "do I apprehend +you aright? Are you at last convinced that you have been unjust? Has the +moment come in which your better judgment rises above the evil counsels +of prejudice and passion--" + +"Do you mean, am I assured of her innocence?" broke in Glencore, wildly. +"Do you imagine, if I were so, that I could withhold my hand from taking +a life so infamous and dishonored as mine? The world would have no +parallel for such a wretch! Mark me, Upton!" cried he, fiercely, "there +is no torture I have yet endured would equal the bare possibility of +what you hint at." + +"Good Heavens! Glencore, do not let me suppose that selfishness has so +marred and disfigured your nature that this is true. Bethink you of what +you say. Would it not be the crowning glory of your life to repair a +dreadful wrong, and acknowledge before the world that the fame you had +aspersed was without stain or spot?" + +"And with what grace should I ask the world to believe me? Is it when +expiating the shame of a falsehood that I should call upon men to accept +me as truthful? Have I not proclaimed her, from one end of Europe to the +other, dishonored? If _she_ be absolved, what becomes of _me?_" + +"This is unworthy of you, Glencore," said Upton, severely; "nor, if +illness and long suffering had not impaired your judgment, had you ever +spoken such words. I say once more, that if the day came that you +could declare to the world that her fame had no other reproach than the +injustice of your own unfounded jealousy, that day would be the best and +the proudest of your life." + +"The proud day that published me a calumniator of all that I was most +pledged to defend,--the deliberate liar against the obligation of the +holiest of all contracts! You forget, Upton,--but I do not forget,--that +it was by this very argument you once tried to dissuade me from my act +of vengeance. You told me--ay, in words that still ring in my ears--to +remember that if by any accident or chance her innocence might be +proven, I could never avail myself of the indication without first +declaring my own unworthiness to profit by it; that if the Wife stood +forth in all the pride of purity, the Husband would be a scoff and a +shame throughout the world!" + +"When I said so," said Upton, "it was to turn you from a path that +could not but lead to ruin; I endeavored to deter you by an appeal that +interested even your selfishness." + +"Your subtlety has outwitted itself, Upton," said Glencore, with a +bitter irony; "it is not the first instance on record where blank +cartridge has proved fatal!" + +"One thing is perfectly clear," said Upton, boldly, "the man who shrinks +from the repair of a wrong he has done, on the consideration of how it +would affect himself and his own interests, shows that he cares more for +the outward show of honor than its real and sustaining power." + +"And will you tell me, Upton, that the world's estimate of a man's fame +is not essential to his self-esteem, or that there yet lived one, who +would brave obloquy without, by the force of something within him?" + +"This I will tell you," replied Upton, "that he who balances between the +two is scarcely an honest man, and that he who accepts the show for the +substance is not a wise one." + +"These are marvellous sentiments to hear from one whose craft has +risen to a proverb, and whose address in life is believed to be not his +meanest gift." + +"I accept the irony in all good humor; I go farther, Glencore, I stoop +to explain. When any one in the great and eventful journey of life seeks +to guide himself safely, he has to weigh all the considerations, and +calculate all the combinations adverse to him. The straight road is +rarely, or never, possible; even if events were, which they are not, +easy to read, they must be taken in combination with others, and with +their consequences. The path of action becomes necessarily devious and +winding, and compromises are called for at every step. It is not in the +moment of shipwreck that a man stops to inquire into petty details of +the articles he throws into a long-boat; he is bent on saving himself as +best he can. He seizes what is next to him, if it suit his purpose. Now, +were he to act in this manner in all the quiet security of his life on +shore, his conduct would be highly blamable. No emergency would warrant +his taking what belonged to another,--no critical moment would drive +him to the instinct of self-preservation. Just the same is the interval +between action and reflection. Give me time and forethought, and I will +employ something better and higher than craft. My subtlety, as you like +to call it, is not my best weapon; I only use it in emergency." + +"I read the matter differently," said Glencore, sulkily; "I could, +perhaps, offer another explanation of your practice." + +"Pray let me hear it; we are all in confidence here, and I promise you I +will not take badly whatever you say to me." + +Glencore sat silent and motionless. + +"Come, shall I say it for you, Glencore? for I think I know what is +passing in your mind." + +The other nodded, and he went on,-- + +"You would tell me, in plain words, that I keep my craft for myself; my +high principle for my friends." + +Glencore only smiled, but Upton continued,-- + +"So, then, I have guessed aright; and the very worst you can allege +against this course is, that what I bestow is better than what I +retain!" + +"One of Solomon's proverbs may be better than a shilling; but which +would a hungry man rather have? I want no word-fencing, Upton; still +less do I seek what might sow distrust between us. This much, however, +has life taught me: the great trials of this world are like its great +maladies. Providence has meant them to be fatal. We call in the doctor +in the one case, or the counsellor in the other, out of habit rather +than out of hope. Our own consciousness has already whispered that +nothing can be of use; but we like to do as our neighbors, and so we +take remedies and follow injunctions to the last. The wise man quickly +detects by the character of the means how emergent is the case believed +to be, and rightly judges that recourse to violent measures implies the +presence of great peril. If he be really wise, then he desists at once +from what can only torture his few remaining hours. They can be given to +better things than the agonies of such agency. To this exact point has +my case come, and by the counsels you have given me do I read my danger! +Your only remedy is as bad as the malady it is meant to cure! I cannot +take it!" + +"Accepting your own imagery, I would say," said Upton, "that you are +one who will not submit to an operation of some pain that he might be +cured." + +Glencore sat moodily for some moments without speaking; at last he +said,-- + +"I feel as though continual change of place and scene would be a relief +to me. Let us rendezvous, therefore, somewhere for the autumn, and +meanwhile I 'll wander about alone." + +"What direction do you purpose to take?" + +"The Schwarzwald and the Hohlenthal, first. I want to revisit a place I +knew in happier days. Memory must surely have something besides sorrows +to render us. I owned a little cottage there once, near Steig. I fished +and read Uhland for a summer long. I wonder if I could resume the same +life. I knew the whole village,--the blacksmith, the schoolmaster, the +Dorfrichter,--all of them. Good, kind souls they were: how they wept +when we parted! Nothing consoled them but my having purchased the +cottage, and promised to come back again!" + +Upton was glad to accept even this much of interest in the events of +life, and drew Glencore on to talk of the days he had passed in this +solitary region. + +As in the dreariest landscape a ray of sunlight will reveal some +beautiful effects, making the eddies of the dark pool to glitter, +lighting up the russet moss, and giving to the half-dried lichen a tinge +of bright color, so will, occasionally, memory throw over a life of +sorrow a gleam of happier meaning. Faces and events, forms and accents, +that once found the way to our hearts, come back again, faintly and +imperfectly it may be, but with a touch that revives in us what we once +were. It is the one sole feature in which self-love becomes amiable, +when, looking back on our past, we cherish the thought of a time before +the world had made us sceptical and hard-hearted! + +Glencore warmed as he told of that tranquil period when poetry gave a +color to his life, and the wild conceptions of genius ran like a thread +of gold through the whole web of existence. He quoted passages that had +struck him for their beauty or their truthfulness; he told how he had +tried to allure his own mind to the tone that vibrated in "the magic +music of verse," and how the very attempt had inspired him with gentler +thoughts, a softer charity, and a more tender benevolence towards his +fellows. + +"Tieck is right, Upton, when he says there are two natures in us, +distinct and apart: one, the imaginative and ideal; the other, the +actual and the sensual. Many shake them together and confound them, +making of the incongruous mixture that vile compound of inconsistency +where the beautiful and the true are ever warring with the deformed +and the false; their lives a long struggle with themselves, a perpetual +contest between high hope and base enjoyment. A few keep them apart, +retaining, through their worldliness, some hallowed spot in the heart, +where ignoble desires and mean aspirations have never dared to come. A +fewer still have made the active work of life subordinate to the guiding +spirit of purity, adventuring on no road unsanctioned by high and holy +thoughts, caring for no ambitions but such as make us nobler and better. + +"I once had a thought of such a life; and even the memory of it, like +the prayers we have learned in our childhood, has a hallowing influence +over after years. If that poor boy, Upton," and his lips trembled on the +words,--"if that poor boy could have been brought up thus humbly! If +he had been taught to know no more than an existence of such simplicity +called for, what a load of care might it have spared _his_ heart and +_mine!_" + +"You have read over those letters I gave you about him?" asked Upton, +who eagerly availed himself of the opportunity to approach an almost +forbidden theme. + +"I have read them over and over," said Glencore, sadly; "in all the +mention of him I read the faults of my own nature,--a stubborn spirit of +pride that hardens as much as elevates; a resentful temper, too prone to +give way to its own impulses; an over-confidence in himself, too, always +ready to revenge its defeats on the world about him. These are his +defects, and they are mine. Poor fellow, that he should inherit all that +I have of bad, and yet not be heir to the accidents of fortune which +make others so lenient to faults!" + +If Upton heard these words with much interest, no less was he struck by +the fact that Glencore made no inquiry whatever as to the youth's fate. +The last letter of the packet revealed the story of an eventful duel and +the boy's escape from Massa by night, with his subsequent arrest by +the police; and yet in the face of incidents like these he continued to +speculate on traits of mind and character, nor even adverted to the +more closely touching events of his fate. By many an artful hint +and ingenious device did Sir Horace try to tempt him to some show +of curiosity; but all were fruitless. Glencore would talk freely and +willingly of the boy's disposition and his capacity; he would even +speculate on the successes and failures such a temperament might meet +with in life; but still he spoke as men might speak of a character in a +fiction, ingeniously weighing casualties and discussing chances; never, +even by accident, approaching the actual story of his life, or seeming +to attach any interest to his destiny. + +Upton's shrewd intelligence quickly told him that this reserve was not +accidental; and he deliberated within himself how far it was safe to +invade it. + +At length he resumed the attempt by adroitly alluding to the spirited +resistance the boy had made to his capture, and the consequences one +might naturally enough ascribe to a proud and high-hearted youth thus +tyrannically punished. + +"I have heard something," said Upton, "of the severities practised at +Kuffstein, and they recall the horrible tales of the Inquisition; the +terrible contrivances to extort confessions,--expedients that often +break down the intellect whose secrets they would discover; so that one +actually shudders at the name of a spot so associated with evil." + +Glencore placed his hands over his face, but did not utter a word; and +again Upton went on urging, by every device he could think of, some +indication that might mean interest, if not anxiety, when suddenly he +felt Glencore's hand grasp his arm with violence. + +"No more of this, Upton," cried he, sternly; "you do not know the +torture you are giving me." There was a long and painful pause between +them, at the end of which Glencore spoke, but it was in a voice scarcely +above a whisper, and every accent of which trembled with emotion. "You +remember one sad and memorable night, Upton, in that old castle in +Ireland,--the night when I came to the resolution of this vengeance! I +sent for the boy to my room; we were alone there together, face to face. +It was such a scene as could brook no witness, nor dare I now recall its +details as they occurred. He came in frankly and boldly, as he felt +he had a right to do. How he left that room,--cowed, abashed, and +degraded,--I have yet before me. Our meeting did not exceed many minutes +in duration; neither of us could have endured it longer. Brief as it +was, we ratified a compact between us: it was this,--neither was ever to +question or inquire after the other, as no tie should unite, no interest +should bind us. Had you seen him then, Upton," cried Glencore, wildly, +"the proud disdain with which he listened to my attempts at excuse, +the haughty distance with which he seemed to reject every thought +of complaint, the stern coldness with which he heard me plan out his +future,--you would have said that some curse had fallen upon my heart, +or it could never have been dead to traits which proclaimed him to be +my own. In that moment it was my lot to be like him who held out his own +right hand to be first burned, ere he gave his body to the flames. + +"We parted without an embrace; not even a farewell was spoken between +us. While I gloried in his pride, had he but yielded ever so little, +had one syllable of weakness, one tear escaped him, I had given up my +project, reversed all my planned vengeance, and taken him to my heart as +my own. But no! He was resolved on proving by his nature that he was of +that stern race from which, by a falsehood, I was about to exclude him. +It was as though my own blood hurled a proud defiance to me. + +"As he walked slowly to the door, his glove fell from his hand. I +stealthily caught it up. I wanted to keep it as a memorial of that +bitter hour; but he turned hastily around and plucked it from my hand. +The action was even a rude one; and with a mocking smile, as though he +read my meaning and despised it, he departed. + +"You now have heard the last secret of my heart in this sad history. +Let us speak of it no more." And with this, Glencore arose and left the +deck. + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. THE FLOOD IN THE MAGRA + +When it rains in Italy it does so with a passionate ardor that bespeaks +an unusual pleasure. It is no "soft dissolving in tears," but a perfect +outburst of woe,--wailing in accents the very wildest, and deluging the +land in torrents. Mountain streams that were rivulets in the morning, +before noon arrives are great rivers, swollen and turbid, carrying away +massive rocks from their foundations, and tearing up large trees by the +roots. The dried-up stony bed you have crossed a couple of hours back +with unwetted feet is now the course of a stream that would defy the +boldest. + +These sudden changes are remarkably frequent along that beautiful tract +between Nice and Massa, and which is known as the "Riviera di Levante." +The rivers, fed from innumerable streams that pour down from the +Apennines, are almost instantaneously swollen; and as their bed +continually slopes towards the sea, the course of the waters is one of +headlong velocity. Of these, the most dangerous by far is the Magra. The +river, which even in dry seasons is a considerable stream, becomes, when +fed by its tributaries, a very formidable body of water, stretching full +a mile in width, and occasionally spreading a vast sheet of foam close +to the very outskirts of Sarzana. The passage of the river is all the +more dangerous at these periods as it approaches the sea, and more than +one instance is recorded where the stout raft, devoted to the use of +travellers, has been carried away to the ocean. + +Where the great post-road from Genoa to the South passes, a miserable +shealing stands, half hidden in tall osiers, and surrounded with a +sedgy, swampy soil the foot sinks in at every step. This is the shelter +of the boatmen who navigate the raft, and who, in relays by day and +night, are in waiting for the service of travellers. In the dreary days +of winter, or in the drearier nights, it is scarcely possible to imagine +a more hopeless spot; deep in the midst of a low marshy tract, the +especial home of tertian fever, with the wild stream roaring at the very +door-sill, and the thunder of the angry ocean near, it is indeed all +that one can picture of desolation and wretchedness. Nor do the living +features of the scene relieve its gloomy influence. Though strong men, +and many of them in the prime of life, premature age and decay seem to +have settled down upon them. Their lustreless eyes and leaden lips tell +of ague, and their sad, thoughtful faces bespeak those who are often +called upon to meet peril, and who are destined to lives of emergency +and hazard. + +It was in the low and miserable hut we speak of, just as night set in of +a raw November, that four of these raftsmen sat at their smoky fire, in +company with two travellers on foot, whose humble means compelled them +to await the arrival of some one rich enough to hire the raft. Meanly +clad and wayworn were the strangers who now sat endeavoring to dry their +dripping clothes at the blaze, and conversing in a low tone together. +If the elder, dressed in a russet-colored blouse and a broad-leafed hat, +his face almost hid in beard and moustaches, seemed by his short and +almost grotesque figure a travelling showman, the appearance of the +younger, despite all the poverty of his dress, implied a very different +class. + +He was tall and well knit, with a loose activity in all his gestures +which almost invariably characterizes the Englishman; and though his +dark hair and his bronzed cheek gave him something of a foreign look, +there was a calm, cold self-possession in his air that denoted the +Anglo-Saxon. He sat smoking his cigar, his head resting on one hand, and +evidently listening with attention to the words of his companion. The +conversation that passed will save us the trouble of introducing them to +our reader, if he have not already guessed them. + +"If we don't wait," said the elder, "till somebody richer and better +off than ourselves comes, we 'll have to pay seven francs for passin' in +such a night as this." + +"It is a downright robbery to ask so much," cried the other, angrily. +"What so great danger is there, or what so great hardship, after all?" + +"There is both one and the other, I believe," replied he, in a tone +evidently meant to moderate his passion; "and just look at the poor +craytures that has to do it. They're as weak as a bit of wet paper; +they haven't strength to make themselves heard when they talk out there +beside the river." + +"The fellow yonder," said the youth, "has got good brawny arms and +sinewy legs of his own." + +"Ay, and he is starved after all. A cut of rye bread and an onion +won't keep the heart up, nor a jug of red vinegar, though ye call it +grape-juice. On my conscience, I 'm thinkin' that the only people that +preserves their strength upon nothin' is the Irish. I used to carry +the bags over Slieb-na-boregan mountain and the Turk's Causeway on wet +potatoes and buttermilk, and never a day late for eleven years." + +"What a life!" cried the youth, in an accent of utter pity. + +"Faix, it was an elegant life,--that is, when the weather was anyways +good. With a bright sun shinin' and a fine fresh breeze blowin' the +white clouds away over the Atlantic, my road was a right cheery one, and +I went along inventin' stories, sometimes fairy tales, sometimes makin' +rhymes to myself, but always happy and contented. There wasn't a bit of +the way I had n't a name for in my own mind, either some place I read +about, or some scene in a story of my own; but better than all, there +was a dog,--a poor starved lurcher he was,--with a bit of the tail +cut off; he used to meet me, as regular as the clock, on the side of +Currah-na-geelah, and come beside me down to the ford every day in the +year. No temptation nor flattery would bring him a step farther. I spent +three-quarters of an hour once trying it, but to no good; he took leave +of me on the bank of the river, and went away back with his head down, +as if he was grievin' over something. Was n't that mighty curious?" + +"Perhaps, like ourselves, Billy, he wasn't quite sure of his passport," +said the other, dryly. + +"Faix, may be so," replied he, with perfect seriousness. "My notion was +that he was a kind of an outlaw, a chap that maybe bit a child of the +family, or ate a lamb of a flock given him to guard. But indeed his +general appearance and behavior was n't like that; he had good manners, +and, starved as he was, he never snapped the bread out of my fingers, +but took it gently, though his eyes was dartin' out of his head with +eagerness all the while." + +"A great test of good breeding, truly," said the youth, sadly. "It must +be more than a mere varnish when it stands the hard rubs of life in this +wise." + +"'Tis the very notion occurred to myself. It was the dhrop of good blood +in him made him what he was." + +Stealthy and fleeting as was the look that accompanied these words, the +youth saw it, and blushed to the very top of his forehead. "The night +grows milder," said he, to relieve the awkwardness of the moment by any +remark. + +"It's a mighty grand sight out there now," replied the other; "there's +three miles if there's an inch of white foam dashing down to the sea, +that breaks over the bar with a crash like thunder; big trees are +sweepin' past, and pieces of vine trellises, and a bit of a mill-wheel, +all carried off just like twigs on a stream." + +"Would money tempt those fellows, I wonder, to venture out on such a +night as this?" + +"To be sure; and why not? The daily fight poverty maintains with +existence dulls the sense of every danger but what comes of want. Don't +I know it myself? The poor man has no inimy but hunger; for, ye see, the +other vexations and troubles of life, there's always a way of gettin' +round them. You can chate even grief, and you can slip away from danger; +but there's no circumventin' an empty stomach." + +"What a tyrant is then your rich man!" sighed the youth, heavily. + +"That he is. 'Dives honoratus. Pulcher rex denique regum.' You may do as +you please if ye'r rich as a Begum." + +"A free translation, rather, Billy," said the other, laughing. + +"Or ye might render it this way," said Billy,-- + + "If ye 've money enough and to spare in the bank, + The world will give ye both beauty and rank. + +And I 've nothing to say agin it," continued he. "The raal stimulus to +industhry in life, is to make wealth powerful. Gettin' and heapin' +up money for money's sake is a debasin' kind of thing; but makin' a +fortune, in order that you may extind your influence, and mowld the +distinies of others,--that's grand." + +"And see what comes of it!" cried the youth, bitterly. "Mark the base +and unworthy subserviency it leads to; see the race of sycophants it +begets." + +"I have you there, too," cried Billy, with all the exultation of a ready +debater. "Them dirty varmint ye speak of is the very test of the truth +I 'm tellin' ye. 'T is because they won't labor--because they won't +work--that they are driven to acts of sycophancy and meanness. The +spirit of industhry saves a man even the excuse of doin' anything low!" + +"And how often, from your own lips, have I listened to praises at your +poor humble condition; rejoicings that your lot in life secured you +against the cares of wealth and grandeur!" + +"And you will again, plaze God! if _I_ live, and _you_ pre-sarve +your hearin'. What would I be if I was rich, but an ould--an ould +voluptuary?" said Billy, with great emphasis on a word he had some +trouble in discovering. "Atin' myself sick with delicacies, and drinkin' +cordials all day long. How would I know the uses of wealth? Like all +other vulgar creatures, I 'd be buyin' with my money the respect that I +ought to be buyin' with my qualities. It's the very same thing you +see in a fair or a market,--the country girls goin' about, hobbled +and crippled with shoes on, that, if they had bare feet, could walk as +straight as a rush. Poverty is not ungraceful itself. It's tryin' to be +what isn't natural, spoils people entirely." + +"I think I hear voices without. Listen!" cried the youth. + +"It 's only the river; it's risin' every minute." + +"No, that was a shout. I heard it distinctly. Ay, the boatmen hear it +now!" + +"It is a travelling-carriage. I see the lamps," cried one of the men, +as he stood at the door and looked landward. "They may as well keep the +road; there's no crossing the Magra to-night!" + +By this time the postilions' whips commenced that chorus of cracking by +which they are accustomed to announce all arrivals of importance. + +"Tell them to go back, Beppo," said the chief of the raftsmen to one +of his party. "If we might try to cross with the mail-bags in a boat, +there's not one of us would attempt the passage on the raft." + +To judge from the increased noise and uproar, the travellers' impatience +had now reached its highest point; but to this a slight lull succeeded, +probably occasioned by the parley with the boatman. + +"They'll give us five Napoleons for the job," said Beppo, entering, and +addressing his Chief. + +"_Per Dio_, that won't support our families if we leave them +fatherless," muttered the other. "Who and what are they that can't wait +till morning?" + +"Who knows?" said Beppo, with a genuine shrug of native indifference. +"Princes, belike!" + +"Princes or beggars, we all have lives to save!" mumbled out an old man, +as he reseated himself by the fire. Meanwhile the courier had entered +the hut, and was in earnest negotiation with the chief, who, however, +showed no disposition to run the hazard of the attempt. + +"Are you all cowards alike?" said the courier, in all the insolence +of his privileged order; "or is it a young fellow of _your_ stamp that +shrinks from the risk of a wet jacket?" + +This speech was addressed to the youth, whom he had mistaken for one of +the raftsmen. + +"Keep your coarse speeches for those who will bear them, my good +fellow," said the other, boldly, "or mayhap the first wet jacket here +will be one with gold lace on the collar." + +"He's not one of us; he's a traveller," quickly interposed the chief, +who saw that an angry scene was brewing. "He's only waiting to cross the +river," muttered he in a whisper, "when some one comes rich enough to +hire the raft." + +"_Sacre bleu!_ Then he shan't come with us; that I'll promise him," said +the courier, whose offended dignity roused all his ire. "Now, once for +all, my men, will you earn a dozen Napoleons, or not? Here they are for +you if you land us safely at the other side; and never were you so well +paid in your lives for an hour's labor." + +The sight of the gold, as it glistened temptingly in his outstretched +hand, appealed to their hearts far more eloquently than all his words, +and they gathered in a group together to hold counsel. + +"And you, are you also a distinguished stranger?" said the courier, +addressing Billy, who sat warming his hands by the embers of the fire. + +"Look you, my man," cried the youth, "all the gold in your master's +leathern bag there can give you no claim to insult those who have +offered you no offence. It is enough that you know that we do not belong +to the raft to suffer us to escape your notice." + +"_Sacristi!_" exclaimed the courier, in a tone of insolent mockery, "I +have travelled the road long enough to learn that one does not need an +introduction before addressing a vagabond." + +[Illustration: 402] + +"Vagabond!" cried the youth, furiously; and he sprang at the other with +the bound of a tiger. The courier quickly parried the blow aimed at him, +and, closely grappled, they both now reeled out of the hut in terrible +conflict. With that terror of the knife that figures in all Italian +quarrels, the boatmen did not dare to interfere, but looked on +as, wrestling with all their might, the combatants struggled, each +endeavoring to push the other towards the stream. Billy, too, restrained +by force, could not come to the rescue, and could only by words, +screamed out in all the wildness of his agony, encourage his companion. +"Drop on your knee--catch him by the legs--throw him back--back into the +stream. That's it--that's it! Good luck to ye!" shouted he, madly, as +he fought like a lion with those about him. Slipping in the slimy soil, +they had both now come to their knees; and after a struggle of some +minutes' duration, rolled, clasped in each other's fierce embrace, down +the slope into the river. A plash, and a cry half smothered, were heard, +and all was over. + +While some threw themselves on the frantic creature, whose agony now +overtopped his reason, and who fought to get free, with the furious rage +of despair, others, seizing lanterns and torches, hurried along the bank +of the torrent to try and rescue the combatants. A sudden winding of the +river at the place gave little hope to the search, and it was all but +certain that the current must already have swept them down far beyond +any chance of succor. Assisted by the servants of the traveller, who +speedily were apprised of the disaster, the search was continued for +hours, and morning at length began to break over the dreary scene, +without one ray of hope. By the gray cold dawn, the yellow flood could +be seen for a considerable distance, and the banks too, over which +a gauzy mist was hanging; but not a living thing was there! The wild +torrent swept along his murky course with a deep monotonous roar. Trunks +of trees and leafy branches rose and sank in the wavy flood, but nothing +suggested the vaguest hope that either had escaped. The traveller's +carriage returned to Spezia, and Billy, now bereft of reason, was +conveyed to the same place, fast tied with cords, to restrain him from a +violence that threatened his own life and that of any near him. + +In the evening of that day a peasant's car arrived at Spezia, conveying +the almost lifeless courier, who had been found on the river's bank, +near the mouth of the Magra. How he had reached the spot, or what had +become of his antagonist, he knew not. Indeed, the fever which soon set +in placed him beyond the limit of all questioning, and his incoherent +cries and ravings only betrayed the terrible agonies his mind must have +passed through. + +If this tragic incident, heightened by the actual presence of two of the +actors--one all but dead, the other dying--engaged the entire interest +and sympathy of the little town, the authorities were actively employed +in investigating the event, and ascertaining, so far as they could, to +which side the chief blame inclined. + +The raftsmen had all been arrested, and were examined carefully, one +by one; and now it only remained to obtain from the traveller himself +whatever information he could contribute to throw light on the affair. + +His passport, showing that he was an English peer, obtained for him all +the deference and respect foreign officials are accustomed to render to +that title, and the Prefect announced that if it suited his convenience, +he would wait on his Lordship at his hotel to receive his deposition. + +"I have nothing to depose, no information to give," was the dry and +not over-courteous response; but as the visit, it was intimated, was +indispensable, he named his hour to admit him. + +The bland and polite tone of the Prefect was met by a manner of cold but +well-bred ease which seemed to imply that the traveller only regarded +the incident in the light of an unpleasant interruption to his journey, +but in which he took no other interest. Even the hints thrown out +that he ought to consider himself aggrieved and his dignity insulted, +produced no effect upon him. + +"It was my intention to have halted a few days at Massa, and I could +have obtained another courier in the interval," was the cool commentary +he bestowed on the incident. + +"But your Lordship would surely desire investigation. A man is missing; +a great crime may have been committed--" + +"Excuse my interrupting; but as I am not, nor can be supposed to be, the +criminal,--nor do I feel myself the victim,--while I have not a claim to +the character of witness, you would only harass me with interrogatories +I could not answer, and excite me to take interest, or at least bestow +attention, on what cannot concern me." + +"Yet there are circumstances in this case which give it the character of +a preconcerted plan," said the Prefect, thoughtfully. + +"Perhaps so," said the other, in a tone of utter indifference. + +"Certainly, the companion of the man who is missing, and of whom no clew +can be discovered, is reported to have uttered your name repeatedly in +his ravings." + +"My name,--how so?" cried the stranger, hurriedly. + +"Yes, my Lord, the name of your passport,--Lord Glen-core. Two of those +I have placed to watch beside his bed have repeated the same story, +and told how he has never ceased to mutter the name to himself in his +wanderings." + +"Is this a mere fancy?" said the stranger, over whose sickly features a +flush now mantled. "Can I see him?" + +"Of course. He is in the hospital, and too ill to be removed; but if you +will visit him there, I will accompany you." + +It was only when a call was made upon Lord Glencore for some bodily +exertion that his extreme debility became apparent. Seated at ease in a +chair, his manner seemed merely that of natural coolness and apathy; +he spoke as one who would not suffer his nature to be ruffled by any +avoidable annoyance; but now, as he arose from his seat, and endeavored +to walk, one side betrayed unmistakable signs of palsy, and his general +frame exhibited the last stage of weakness. + +"You see, sir, that the exertion costs its price," said he, with a +sad, sickly smile. "I am the wreck of what once was a man noted for his +strength." + +The other muttered some words of comfort and compassion, and they +descended the stairs together. + +"I do not know this man," said Lord Glencore, as he gazed on the flushed +and fevered face of the sick man, whose ill-trimmed and shaggy beard +gave additional wild-ness to his look; "I have never, to my knowledge, +seen him before." + +The accents of the speaker appeared to have suddenly struck some chord +in the sufferer's intelligence, for he struggled for an instant, and +then, raising himself on his elbow, stared fixedly at him. "Not know +me?" cried he, in English; "'t is because sorrow and sickness has +changed me, then." + +"Who are you? Tell me your name?" said Glencore, eagerly. + +"I'm Billy Traynor, my Lord, the one you remember, the doctor--" + +"And my boy!" screamed Glencore, wildly. + +The sick man threw up both his arms in the air, and fell backward with +a cry of despair; while Glencore, tottering for an instant, sank with a +low groan, and fell senseless on the ground. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. A FRAGMENT OF A LETTER + +Long before Lord Glencore had begun to rally from an attack which +had revived all the symptoms of his former illness, Billy Traynor had +perfectly recovered, and was assiduously occupied in attending him. +Almost the first tidings which Glencore could comprehend assured him +that the boy was safe, and living at Massa under the protection of the +Chevalier Stubber, and waiting eagerly for Billy to join him. A brief +extract from one of the youth's letters to his warm-hearted follower +will suffice to show how he himself regarded the incident which befell, +and the fortune that lay before him. + +It was a long swim, of a dark night too, Master Billy; and whenever the +arm of a tree would jostle me, as it floated past, I felt as though that +"blessed" courier was again upon me, and turned to give fight at once. +If it were not that the river took a sudden bend as it nears the sea, I +must infallibly have been carried out; but I found myself quite suddenly +in slack water, and very soon after it shallowed so much that I could +walk ashore. The thought of what became of my adversary weighed more +heavily on me when I touched land; indeed, while my own chances of +escape were few, I took his fate easily enough. With all its dangers, it +was a glorious time, as, hurrying downward in the torrent, through the +dark night, the thunder growling overhead, the breakers battering away +on the bar, I was the only living thing there to confront that peril! +What an emblem of my own fate in everything! A headlong course, an +unknown ending, darkness--utter and day less darkness--around me, and +not one single soul to say, "Courage!" There is something splendidly +exciting in the notion of having felt thoughts that others have +never felt,--of having set footsteps in that un tracked sand where no +traveller has ever ventured. This impression never left me as I buffeted +the murky waves, and struck out boldly through the surfy stream. Nay, +more, it will never leave me while I live. I have now proved myself to +my own heart! I have been, and for a considerable time too, face to +face with death. I have regarded my fate as certain, and yet have I not +quailed in spirit or flinched in coolness. No, Billy; I reviewed every +step of my strange and wayward life. I bethought me of my childhood, +with all its ambitious longings, and my boyish days as sorrow first +broke upon me, and I felt that there was a fitness in this darksome and +mysterious ending to a life that touched on no other existence. For am I +not as much alone in the great world as when I swam there in the yellow +flood of the Magra? + +As the booming breakers of the sea met my ear, and I saw that I was +nearing the wide ocean, I felt as might a soldier when charging an +enemy's battery at speed. I was wildly mad with impatience to get +forward, and shouted till my voice rang out above the din around me. +How the mad cheer echoed in my own heart! It was the trumpet-call of +victory. + +Was it reaction from all this excitement--the depression that follows +past danger--that made me feel low and miserable afterwards? I know +I walked along towards Lavenza in listlessness, and when a gendarme +stopped to question me, and asked for my passport, I had not even energy +to tell him how I came there. Even the intense desire to see that spot +once more,--to walk that garden and sit upon that terrace,--all had +left me; it was as though the waves had drowned the spirit, and left the +limbs to move unguided. He led me beside the walls of the villa, by the +little wicket itself, and still I felt no touch of feeling, no memory +came back on me; I was indifferent to all! and yet _you_ know how many +a weary mile I have come just to see them once more,--to revisit a spot +where the only day-dream of my life lingered, and where I gave way to +the promptings of a hope that have not often warmed this sad heart. + +What a sluggish swamp has this nature of mine become, when it needs a +hurricane of passion to stir it! Here I am, living, breathing, walking, +and sleeping, but without one sentiment that attaches me to existence; +and yet do I feel as though whatever endangered life, or jeoparded fame +would call me up to an effort and make me of some value to myself. + +I went yesterday to see my old studio: sorry things were those strivings +of mine,--false endeavors to realize conceptions that must have some +other interpreter than marble. Forms are but weak appeals, words are +coarse ones; music alone, my dear friend, is the true voice of the +heart's meanings. + +How a little melody that a peasant girl was singing last night touched +me! It was one that _she_ used to warble, humming as we walked, like +some stray waif thrown up by memory on the waste of life. + +So then, at last, I feel I am not a sculptor; still as little, with all +your teaching, am I a scholar. The world of active life offers to me +none of its seductions; I only recognize what there is in it of vulgar +contention and low rivalry. I cannot be any of the hundred things by +which men eke out subsistence, and yet I long for the independence of +being the arbiter of my own daily life. What is to become of me? Say, +dearest, best of friends,--say but the word, and let me try to obey +you. What of our old plans of 'savagery'? The fascinations of civilized +habits have made no stronger hold upon me since we relinquished that +grand idea. Neither you nor I assuredly have any places assigned us at +the feast of this old-world life; none have bidden us to it, nor have we +even the fitting garments to grace it! + +There are moments, however,--one of them is on me while I +write,--wherein I should like to storm that strong citadel of social +exclusion, and test its strength. Who are they who garrison it? Are they +better, and wiser, and purer than their fellows? Are they lifted by the +accidents of fortune above the casualties and infirmities of nature? +and are they more gentle-minded, more kindly-hearted, and more forgiving +than others? This I should wish to know and learn for myself. Would they +admit us, for the nonce, to see and judge them? let the Bastard and the +Beggar sit down at their board, and make brotherhood with them? I trow +not, Billy. They would hand us over to the police! + +And my friend the courier was not so far astray when he called us +vagabonds! + +If I were free, I should, of course, be with you; but I am under a kind +of mild bondage here, of which I don't clearly comprehend the meaning. +The chief minister has taken me, in some fashion, under his protection, +and I am given to understand that no ill is intended me; and, indeed, +so far as treatment and moderate liberty are concerned, I have every +reason to be satisfied. Still is there something deeply wounding in all +this mysterious "consideration." It whispers to me of an interest in me +on the part of those who are ashamed to avow it,--of kind feelings held +in check by self-esteem. Good Heavens! what have _I_ done, that this +humiliation should be my portion? There is no need of any subtlety to +teach me what I am, and what the world insists I must remain. There is +no ambition I dare to strive for, no affection my heart may cherish, no +honorable contest I may engage in, but that the utterance of one fatal +word may not bar the gate against my entrance, and send me back in shame +and confusion. Had I of myself incurred this penalty, there would be in +me that stubborn sense of resistance that occurs to every one who counts +the gain and loss of all his actions; but I have not done so! In the +work of my own degradation I am blameless! + +I have just been told that a certain Princess de Sabloukoff is to arrive +here this evening, and that I am to wait upon her immediately. Good +Heavens! can she be--? The thought has just struck me, and my head is +already wandering at the bare notion of it! How I pray that this may not +be so; my own shame is enough, and more than I can bear; but to witness +that of--I Can you tell me nothing of this? But even if you can, the +tidings will come too late; I shall have already seen her. + +I am unable to write more now; my brain is burning, and my hand trembles +so that I cannot trace the letters. Adieu till this evening. + + +Midnight. + +I was all in error, dear friend. I have seen her; for the last two hours +we have conversed together, and my suspicion had no foundation. She +evidently knows all my history, and almost gives me to believe that one +day or other I may stand free of this terrible shame that oppresses me. +If this were possible, what vengeance would be enough to wreak on those +who have thus practised on me? Can you imagine any vendetta that +would pay off the heart-corroding misery that has made my youth like +a sorrowful old age, dried up hope within me, made my ambition to be a +snare, and my love a mere mockery? I could spend a life in the search +after this revenge, and think it all too short to exhaust it! + +I have much to tell you of this Princess, but I doubt if I can remember +it. Her manner meant so much, and yet so little; there was such elegance +of expression with such perfect ease,--so much of the _finest_ knowledge +of life united to a kind of hopeful trust in mankind, that I kept +eternally balancing in my mind whether her intelligence or her +kindliness had the supremacy. She spoke to me much of the Harleys. +Ida was well, and at Florence. She had refused Wahnsdorf's offer of +marriage, and though ardently solicited to let time test her decision, +persisted in her rejection. + +Whether she knew of my affection or not, I cannot say; but I opine not, +for she talked of Ida as one whose haughty nature would decline alliance +with even an imperial house if they deemed it a condescension; so that +the refusal of Wahnsdorf may have been on this ground. But how can it +matter to _me?_ + +I am to remain here a week, I think they said. Sir Horace Upton is +coming on his way south, and wishes to see me; but you will be with me +ere that time, and then we can plan our future together. As this web of +intrigue--for so I cannot but feel it--draws more closely around me, I +grow more and more impatient to break bounds and be away! It is evident +enough that _my_ destiny is to be the sport of some accident, lucky or +unlucky, in the fate of others. Shall I await this? + +And they have given me money, and fine clothes, and a servant to wait +upon me, and treated me like one of condition. Is this but another +act of the drama, the first scene of which was an old ruined castle in +Ireland? They will fail signally if they think so; a heart can be broken +only once! They may even feel sorry for what they have done, but I can +never forgive them for what they have made me! Come to me, dear, kind +friend, as soon as you can; you little know how far your presence +reconciles me to the world and to yourself!--Ever yours, + +C. M. + + +This letter Billy Traynor read over and over as he sat by Glencore's +bedside. It was his companion in the long, dreary hours of the night, +and he pondered over it as he sat in the darkened room at noonday. + +"What is that you are crumpling up there? From whom is the letter?" said +Lord Glencore, as Billy hurriedly endeavored to conceal the oft-perused +epistle. "Nay," cried he, suddenly correcting himself, "you need not +tell me; I asked without forethought." He paused a few seconds, and then +went on: "I am now as much recovered as I ever hope to be, and you may +leave me to-morrow. I know that both your wish and your duty call you +elsewhere. Whatever future fortune may betide any of us, you at least +have been a true and faithful friend, and shall never want! As I count +upon your honesty to keep a pledge, I reckon on your delicacy not asking +the reasons for it. You will, therefore, not speak of having been with +me here. To mention me would be but to bring up bitter memories." + +In the pause which now ensued, Billy Traynor's feelings underwent a sore +trial; for while he bethought him that now or never had come the moment +to reconcile the father and the son, thus mysteriously separated, his +fears also whispered the danger of any ill-advised step on his part, +and the injury he might by possibility inflict on one he loved best on +earth. + +"You make me this pledge, therefore, before we part," said Lord +Glencore, who continued to ruminate on what he had spoken. "It is +less for _my_ sake than that of another." Billy took the hand Glencore +tendered towards him respectfully in his own, and kissed it twice. + +"There are men who have no need of oaths to ratify their faith +and trustfulness. You are one of them, Tray-nor," said Glencore, +affectionately. + +Billy tried to speak, but his heart was too full, and he could not utter +a word. + +"A dying man's words have ever their solemn weight," said Glencore, "and +mine beseech you not to desert one who has no prize in life equal to +your friendship. Promise me nothing, but do not forget my prayer to +you." And with this, Lord Glencore turned away, and buried his face +between his hands. + +"And in the name of Heaven," muttered Billy to himself as he stole away, +"what is it that keeps them apart and won't let them love one another? +Sure it wasn't in nature that a boy of his years could ever do what +would separate them this way. What could he possibly say or do that his +father might n't forget and forgive by this time? And then if it was +n't the child's fault at all, where's the justice in makin' him pay for +another's crime? Sure enough, great people must be unlike poor craytures +like me, in their hearts and feelin's as well as in their grandeur; and +there must be things that _we_ never mind nor think of, that are thought +to be mortial injuries by _them_. Ay, and that is raysonable too! We see +the same in the matayrial world. There's fevers that some never takes; +and there's climates some can live in, and no others can bear! + +"I suppose, now," said he, with a wise shake of the head, "pride--pride +is at the root of it all, some way or other; and if it is, I may give +up the investigation at onst, for divil a one o' me knows what pride +is,--barrin' it's the delight one feels in consthruin' a hard bit in +a Greek chorus, or hittin' the manin' of a doubtful passage in ould +AEschylus. But what's the good o' me puzzlin' myself? If I was to +speculate for fifty years, I 'd never be able to think like a lord, +after all!" And with this conclusion he began to prepare for his +journey. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. HOW A SOVEREIGN TREATS WITH HIS MINISTER + +"What can have brought them here, Stubber?" said the Duke of Massa, as +he walked to and fro in his dressing-room, with an air of considerable +perturbation. "Be assured of one thing, they have come for mischief! +I know that Sabloukoff well. _She_ it was separated Prince Max from my +sister, and that Montenegro affair was all _her_ doing also." + +"I don't suspect--" + +"Don't you? Well, then, _I_ do, sir; and that's enough," said he, +interrupting. "And as to Upton, he's well known throughout Europe,--a +'mauvais coucheur,' Stubber; that's what the Emperor Franz called +him,--a 'mauvais coucheur,' one of those fellows England employs to get +up the embarrassments she so deeply deplores. Eh, Stubber, that's the +phrase: 'While we deeply deplore the condition of the kingdom,'--that's +always the exordium to sending out a fleet or an impertinent +despatch. But I'll not endure it here. I have my sovereign rights, my +independence, my allies. By the way, haven't my allies taken possession +of the Opera House for a barrack?" + +"That they have, sir; and they threaten an encampment in the Court +gardens." + +"An open insult, an outrage! And have _you_ endured and submitted to +this?" + +"I have refused the permission; but they may very possibly take no heed +of my protest." + +"And you 'll tell me that I am the ruler of this state?" + +"No, but I 'll say you might, if you liked to be so." + +"How so, Stubber? Come, my worthy fellow, what's your plan? You have +a plan, I'm certain--but I guess it: turn Protestant, hunt out the +Jesuits, close the churches, demolish the monasteries, and send for an +English frigate down to the Marina, where there's not water to float +a fishing-boat. But no, sir, I 'll have no such alliances; I 'll throw +myself upon the loyalty and attachment of my people, and--I'll raise +the taxes. Eh, Stubber? We'll tax the 'colza' and the quarries! If they +demur, we 'll abdicate; that's my last word,--abdicate." + +"I wonder who this sick man can be that accompanies Upton," said +Stubber, who never suffered himself to be moved by his master's +violence. + +"Another firebrand,--another emissary of English disturbance. Hardenberg +was perfectly right when he said the English nation pays off the meanest +subserviency to their own aristocracy by hunting down all that is +noble in every state of Europe. There, sir, he hit the mark in the very +centre. Slaves at home, rebels abroad,--that's your code!" + +"We contrive to mix up a fair share of liberty with our bondage, sir." + +"In your talk,--only in your talk; and in the newspapers, Stubber. I +have studied you closely and attentively. You submit to more social +indignities than any nation, ancient or modern. I was in London in '15, +and I remember, at a race-course,--Ascot, they called it,--the Prince +had a certain horse called Rufus." + +"I rode him," said Stubber, dryly. + +"_You_ rode him?" + +"Yes, sir. I was his jock for the King's Plate. There was a matter of +twenty-eight started,--the largest field ever known for the Cup,--and +Rufus reared, and, falling back, killed his rider; and the Duke of +Dunrobin sent for me, and told me to mount. That's the way I came to be +there." + +"_Per Bacco!_ it was a splendid race, and I'm sure I never suspected +when I cheered you coming in, that I was welcoming my future minister. +Eh, Stubber, only fancy what a change!" + +Stubber only shrugged his shoulders, as though the alteration in fortune +was no such great prize after all. + +"I won two thousand guineas on that day, Stubber. Lord Heddleworth paid +me in gold, I remember; for they picked my pocket of three rouleaux on +the course. The Prince laughed so at dinner about it, and said it was +pure patriotism not to suffer exportation of bullion. A great people +the English, that I must say! The display of wealth was the grandest +spectacle I ever beheld; and such beauty too! By the way, Stubber, our +ballet here is detestable. Where did they gather together that gang of +horrors?" + +"What? signifies it, sir, if the Austrian Jagers are bivouacked in the +theatre?" + +"Very true, by Jove!" said the Duke, pondering. "Can't we hit upon +something,--have you no happy suggestion? I have it, Stubber,--an +admirable thought. We 'll have Upton to dinner. We 'll make it appear +that he has come here specially to treat with us. There is a great +coldness just now between St. James's and Vienna. Upton will be charmed +with the thought of an intrigue; so will be La Sabloukoff. We 'll not +invite the Field-Marshal Rosen-krantz: that will itself offend Austria. +Eh, Stubber, is n't it good? Say to-morrow at six, and go yourself with +the invitation." + +And, overjoyed with the notion of his own subtlety, the Prince walked up +and down, laughing heartily, and rubbing his hands in glee. + +Stubber, however, was too well versed in the changeability of his +master's nature to exhibit any rash promptitude in obeying him. + +"You must manage to let the English papers speak of this, Stubber. +The 'Augsburg Gazette' will be sure to copy the paragraph, and what a +sensation it will create at Vienna!" + +"I am inclined to think Upton has come here about that young fellow we +gave up to the Austrians last autumn, and for whom he desires to claim +some compensation and an ample apology." + +"Apology, of course, Stubber,--humiliation to any extent. I'll send the +Minister Landelli into exile,--to the galleys, if they insist; but I +'ll not pay a scudo,--my royal word on it! But who says that such is the +reason of his presence here?" + +"I had a hint of it last night, and I received a polite note from Upton +this morning, asking when he might have a few moments' conversation with +me." + +"Go to him, Stubber, with our invitation. Ask him if he likes shooting. +Say I am going to Serravezza on Saturday; sound him if he desires to +have the Red Cross of Massa; hint that I am an ardent admirer of his +public career; and be sure to tell me something he has said or done, if +he come to dinner." + +"There is to be a dinner, then, sir?" asked Stubber, with the air of one +partly struggling with a conviction. + +"I have said so, Chevalier!" replied the Prince, haughtily, and in the +tone of a man whose decisions were irrevocable. "I mean to dine in the +state apartments, and to have a reception in the evening, just to show +Rosenkrantz how cheaply we hold him. Eh, Stubber? It will half kill him +to come with the general company!" + +Stubber gave a faint sigh, as though fresh complications and more +troubles would be the sole results of this brilliant tactique. + +"If I were well served and faithfully obeyed, there is not a sovereign +in Europe who would boast a more independent position,--protected by +my bold people, environed by my native Apennines, and sustained by the +proud consciousness--the proud consciousness---that I cannot injure a +state which has not sixpence in the treasury! Eh, Stubber?" cried he, +with a burst of merry laughter. "That's the grand feature of composure +and dignity, to know you can't be worse! and this, we Italian princes +can all indulge in. Look at the Pope himself, he is collecting the +imposts a year in advance!" + +"I hope that this country is more equitably administered," said Stubber. + +"So do I, sir. Were I not impressed with the full conviction that the +subjects of this realm were in the very fullest enjoyment of every +liberty consistent with public tranquillity, protected in the +maintenance of every privilege--By the way, talking of privileges, +they must n't play 'Trottolo' on the high roads; they sent one of those +cursed wheels flying between the legs of my horse yesterday, so that +if I had n't been an old cavalry soldier, I must have been thrown! I +ordered the whole village to be fined three hundred scudi, one half of +which to be sent to the shrine of our Lady of Loretta, who really, I +believe, kept me in my saddle!" + +"If the people had sufficient occupation, they 'd not play 'Trottolo,'" +said Stubber, sternly. + +"And whose the fault if they have not, sir? How many months have I been +entreating to have those terraced gardens finished towards the sea? I +want that olive wood, too, all stubbed up, and the ground laid out in +handsome parterres. How repeatedly have I asked for a bridge over that +ornamental lake; and as to the island, there's not a magnolia planted +in it yet. Public works, indeed; find me the money, Stubber, and I 'll +suggest the works. Then, there 's that villa, the residence of those +English people,--have we not made a purchase of it?" + +"No, your Highness; we could not agree about the terms, and I have just +heard that the stranger who is travelling with Upton is going to buy +it." + +"Stepping in between me and an object I have in view! And in my own +Duchy, too! And you have the hardihood to tell me that you knew of and +permitted this negotiation to go on?" + +"There is nothing in the law to prevent it, sir." + +"The law! What impertinence to tell me of the law I Why, sir, it is I +am the law,--I am the head and fountain of all law here; without my +sanction, what can presume to be legal?" + +"I opine that the Act which admits foreigners to possess property in the +state was passed in the life of your Highness's father." + +"I repeal it, then! It saps the nationality of a people; it is a blow +aimed at the very heart of independent sovereignty. I may stand alone +in all Europe on this point, but I will maintain it. And as to this +stranger, let his passport be sent to him on the spot." + +"He may possibly be an Englishman, your Highness: and remember that we +have already a troublesome affair on our hands with that other youth, +who in some way claims Upton's protection. Had we not better go more +cautiously to work? I can see and speak with him." + +"What a tyranny is this English interference! There is not a land, +from Sweden to Sicily, where, on some assumed ground of humanity, your +Government have not dared to impose their opinions! You presume to +assert that all men must feel precisely like your dogged and hard-headed +countrymen, and that what are deemed grievances in your land should be +thought so elsewhere. You write up a code for the whole world, built +out of the materials of all your national prejudices, your insular +conceit,--ay, and out of the very exigencies of your bad climate; and +then you say to us, blessed in the enjoyment of light hearts and God's +sunshine, that we must think and feel as you do! I am not astonished +that my nobles are discontented with the share you possess of my +confidence; they must long have seen how little suited the maxims of +your national policy are to the habits of a happier population!" + +"The people are far better than their nobles,--that I 'm sure of," said +Stubber, stoutly. + +"You want to preach socialism to me, and hope to convert me to that +splendid doctrine of communism we hear so much of. You are a dangerous +fellow,--a very dangerous fellow. It was precisely men of your stamp +sapped the monarchy in France, and with it all monarchy in Europe." + +"If your Highness intends Proserpine to run at Bologna, she ought to be +put in training at once," said Stubber, gravely; "and we might send up +some of the weeds at the same time, and sell them off." + +"Well thought of, Stubber; and there was something else in my +head,--what was it?" + +"The suppression of the San Lorenzo convent, perhaps; it is all +completed, and only waits your Highness to sign the deed." + +"What sum does it give us, Stubber, eh?" + +"About one hundred and eighty thousand scudi, sir, of which some twenty +thousand go to the National Mortgage Fund." + +"Not one crown of it,--not a single bajocco, as I am a Christian knight +and a true gentleman. I need it all, if it were twice as much. If we +incur the anger of the Pope and the Sacred College,--if we risk the +thunders of the Vatican,--let us have the worldly consolation of a full +purse." + +"I advised the measure on wiser grounds, sir. It was not fair and just +that a set of lazy friars should be leading lives of indolence and +abundance in the midst of a hard-worked and ill-fed peasantry." + +"Quite true; and on these wise grounds, as you call them, we have rooted +them out. We only wish that the game were more plenty, for the sport +amuses us vastly." And he clapped Stubber familiarly on the shoulder, +and laughed heartily at his jest. + +It was in this happy frame of mind that Stubber always liked to leave +his master; and so, promising to attend to the different subjects +discussed between them, he bowed and withdrew. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. SOCIAL DIPLOMACIES + +"What an insufferable bore, dear Princess!" sighed Sir Horace, as he +opened the square-shaped envelope that contained his Royal Highnesses +invitation to dinner. + +"I mean to be seriously indisposed," said Madame de Sabloukoff; "one +gets nothing but chagrin in intercourse with petty Courts." + +"Like provincial journals, they only reproduce what has appeared in the +metropolitan papers, and give you old gossip for fresh intelligence." + +"Or, worse again, ask you to take an interest in their miserable +'localisms,'--the microscopic contentions of insect life." + +"They have given us a sentry at the door, I perceive," said Sir Horace, +with assumed indifference. + +"A very proper attention!" remarked the lady, in a tone that more than +half implied the compliment was one intended for herself. + +"Have you seen the Chevalier Stubber yet?" asked Upton. + +"No; he has been twice here, but I was dressing, or writing notes. And +you?" + +"I told him to come about two o'clock," sighed Sir Horace. "I rather +like Stubber." + +This was said in a tone of such condescension that it sounded as though +the utterer was confessing to an amicable weakness in his nature,--"I +rather like Stubber." + +Though there was something meant to invite agreement in the tone, the +Princess only accepted the speech with a slight motion of her eyebrows, +and a look of half unwilling assent. + +"I know he's not of _your_ world, dear Princess, but he belongs to that +Anglo-Saxon stock we are so prone to associate with all the ideas of +rugged, unadorned virtue." + +"Rugged and unadorned indeed!" echoed the lady. + +"And yet never vulgar," rejoined Upton,--"never affecting to be other +than he is; and, stranger still, not self-opinionated and conceited." + +"I own to you," said she, haughtily, "that the whole Court here puts me +in mind of Hayti, with its Marquis of Orgeat and its Count Marmalade. +These people, elevated from menial station to a mock nobility, only +serve to throw ridicule upon themselves and the order that they +counterfeit. No socialist in Europe has done such service to the cause +of democracy as the Prince of Massa!" + +"Honesty is such a very rare quality in this world that I am not +surprised at his Highness prizing it under any garb. Now, Stubber is +honest." + +"He says so himself, I am told." + +"Yes, he says so, and I believe him. He has been employed in situations +of considerable trust, and always acquitted himself well. Such a man +cannot have escaped temptations, and yet even his enemies do not accuse +him of venality." + +"Good Heavens! what more would he have than his legitimate spoils? He +is a Minister of the Household, with an ample salary; a Master of the +Horse; an inspector of Woods and Forests; a something over Church lands; +and a Red Cross of Massa besides. I am quite 'made up' in his dignities, +for they are all set forth on his visiting-card with what purports to +be a coat of arms at top." And, as she spoke, she held out the card in +derision. + +"That's silly, I must say," said Upton, smiling; "and yet, I suppose +that here in Massa it was requisite he should assert all his pretensions +thus openly." + +"Perhaps so," said she, dryly. + +"And, after all," said Upton, who seemed rather bent on a system of mild +tormenting,--"after all, there is something amiable in the weakness of +this display,--it smacks of gratitude! It is like saying to the world, +'See what the munificence of my master has made me!'" + +"What a delicate compliment, too, to his nobles, which proclaims that +for a station of trust and probity the Prince must recruit from the +kitchen and the stables. To _my_ thinking, there is no such impertinent +delusion as that popular one which asserts that we must seek +for everything in its least likely place,--take ministers out of +counting-houses, and military commanders from shop-boards. For the +treatment of weighty questions in peace or war, the gentleman element is +the first essential." + +"Just as long as the world thinks so, dear Princess; not an hour +longer." + +The Princess arose, and walked the room in evident displeasure. She half +suspected that his objections were only devices to irritate, and she +determined not to prolong the discussion. The temptation to reply +proved, however, too strong for her resolution, and she said,-- + +"The world has thought so for some centuries; and when a passing shade +of doubt has shaken the conviction, have not the people rushed from +revolution into actual bondage, as though any despotism were better than +the tyranny of their own passions?" + +"I opine," said Upton, calmly, "that the 'prestige' of the gentleman +consists in his belonging to an 'order.' Now, that is a privilege that +cannot be enjoyed by a mere popular leader. It is like the contrast +between a club and a public meeting." + +"It is something that you confess these people have no 'prestige,'" said +she, triumphantly. "Indeed, their presence in the world of politics, +to my thinking, is a mere symbol of change,--an evidence that we are in +some stage of transition." + +"So we are, madame; there is nothing more true. Every people of Europe +have outgrown their governments, like young heirs risen to manhood, +ordering household affairs to their will. The popular voice now swells +above the whisper of cabinets. So long as each country limits itself +to home questions, this spirit will attract but slight notice. Let the +issue, however, become a great international one, and you will see the +popular will declaring wars, cementing alliances, and signing peaces in +a fashion to make statecraft tremble!" + +"And you approve of this change, and welcome it?" asked she, derisively. + +"I have never said so, madame. I foresee the hurricane, that's all. Men +like Stubber are to be seen almost everywhere throughout Europe. They +are a kind of declaration that, for the government and guidance of +mankind, the possession of a good head and an honest heart is amply +sufficient; that rulers neither need fourteen quarterings nor names +coeval with the Roman Empire." + +"You have given me but another reason to detest him," said the Princess, +angrily. "I don't think I shall receive him to-day." + +"But you want to speak with him about that villa; there is some +formality to be gone through before a foreigner can own property here. I +think you promised Glencore you would arrange the matter." + +She made no reply, and he continued: "Poor fellow! a very short lease +would suffice for his time; he is sinking rapidly. The conflict his +mind wages between hope and doubt has hastened all the symptoms of his +malady." + +"In such a struggle a woman has more courage than a man." + +"Say more boldness, Princess," said Upton, slyly. + +"I repeat, courage, sir. It is fear, and nothing but fear, that agitates +him. He is afraid of the world's sneer; afraid of what society will +think, and say, and write about him; afraid of the petty gossip of the +millions he will never see or hear of. This cowardice it is that checks +him in every aspiration to vindicate his wife's honor and his boy's +birth." + +"_Si cela se peut_," said Upton, with a very equivocal smile. + +A look of haughty anger, with a flush of crimson on her cheek, was the +only answer she made him. + +"I mean that he is really not in a position to prove or disprove +anything. He assumed certain 'levities'--I suppose the word will do--to +mean more than levities; he construed indiscretions into grave faults, +and faults into crimes. But that he did all this without sufficient +reason, or that he now has abundant evidence that he was mistaken, I am +unable to say, nor is it with broken faculties and a wandering intellect +that he can be expected to review the past and deliver judgment on it." + +"The whole moral of which is: what a luckless fate is that of a foreign +wife United to an English husband!" + +"There is much force in the remark," said Upton, calmly. + +"To have her thoughts, and words, and actions submitted to the standard +of a nation whose moral subtleties she could never comprehend; to be +taught that a certain amount of gloom must be mixed up with life, +just as bitters are taken for tonics; that _ennui_ is the sure type of +virtue, and low spirits the healthiest condition of the mind,--these are +her first lessons: no wonder if she find them hard ones. + +"To be told that all the harmless familiarities she has seen from her +childhood are dangerous freedoms, all the innocent gayeties of the world +about her are snares and pitfalls, is to make existence little better +than a penal servitude,--this is lesson the second. While, to complete +her education, she is instructed how to assume a censorial rigidity of +manner that would shame a duenna, and a condemnatory tone that assumes +to arraign all the criminals of society, and pass sentence on them. How +amiable she may become in disposition, and how suitable as a companion +by this training, _you_, sir, and your countrymen are best able to +pronounce." + +"You rather exaggerate our demerits, my dear Princess," said Upton, +smiling. "We really do _not_ like to be so very odious as you would make +us." + +"You are excellent people, with whom no one can live,--that's the whole +of it," said she, with a saucy laugh. "If your friend Lord Glencore had +been satisfied to stay at home and marry one of his own nation, he might +have escaped a deal of unhappiness, and saved a most amiable creature +much more sorrow than falls to the lot of the least fortunate of her own +country. I conclude you have some influence over him?" + +"As much, perhaps, as any one; but even that says little." + +"Can you not use it, therefore, to make him repair a great wrong?" + +"You had some plan, I think?" said he, hesitatingly. + +"Yes; I have written to her to come down here. I have pretended that +her presence is necessary to certain formalities about the sale of the +villa. I mean that they should meet, without apprising either of them. I +have sent the boy out of the way to Pontremoli to make me a copy of some +frescoes there; till the success of my scheme be decided, I did not wish +to make him a party to it." + +"You don't know Glencore,--at least as I know him." + +"There is no reason that I should," broke she in. "What I would try is +an experiment, every detail of which I would leave to chance. Were this +a case where all the wrong were on one side, and all the forgiveness +to come from the other, friendly aid and interposition might well be +needed; but here is a complication which neither you, nor I, nor any one +else can pretend to unravel. Let them meet, therefore, and let Fate--if +that be the name for it--decide what all the prevention and planning in +the world could never provide for." + +"The very fact that their meeting has been plotted beforehand will +suggest distrust." + +"Their manner in meeting will be the best answer to that," said she, +resolutely. "There will be no acting between them, depend upon 't." + +"He told me that he had destroyed the registry of their marriage, nor +does he know where a single witness of the ceremony could be found." + +"I don't want to know _how_ he could make the _amende_ till I know that +he is ready to do it," said she, in the same calm tone. + +"To have arranged a meeting with the boy had perhaps been better than +this. Glencore has not avowed it, but I think I can detect misgivings +for his treatment of the youth." + +"This was my first thought, and I spoke to young Massy the evening +before Lord Glencore arrived. I led him to tell me of his boyish days +in Ireland and his home there; a stern resolution to master all emotion +seemed to pervade whatever he said; and though, perhaps, the effort may +have cost him much, his manner did not betray it. He told me that he +was illegitimate, that the secret was divulged to him by his own father, +that he had never heard who his mother was, nor what rank in life she +occupied. When I said that she was one in high station, that she was +alive and well, and one of my own dearest friends, a sudden crimson +covered his face, as quickly followed by a sickly pallor; and though he +trembled in every limb, he never spoke a word. I endeavored to excite +in him some desire to learn more of her, if not to see her, but in +vain. The hard lesson he had taught himself enabled him to repress +every semblance of feeling. It was only when at last, driven to the very +limits of my patience, I abruptly asked him, 'Have you no wish to see +your mother?' that his coldness gave way, and, in a voice tremulous and +thick, he said, 'My shame is enough for myself.' I was burning to say +more, to put before him a contingency, the mere shadow of a possibility +that his claim to birth and station might one day or other be +vindicated. I did not actually do so, but I must have let drop some +chance word that betrayed my meaning, for he caught me up quickly, and +said, 'It would come too late, if it came even to-day. I am that which +I am by many a hard struggle; you 'll never see me risk a disappointment +in life by any encouragement I may give to hope.' + +"I then adverted to his father; but he checked me at once, saying, +'When the ties that should be closest in life are stained with shame and +dishonor, they are bonds of slavery, not of affection. My debt to Lord +Glencore is the degradation I live in,--none other. His heritage to me +is the undying conflict in my heart between what I once thought I was +and what I now know I am. If we met, it would be to tell him so.' In a +word, every feature of the father's proud unforgivingness is reproduced +in the boy, and I dreaded the very possibility of their meeting. If +ever Lord Glencore avow his marriage and vindicate his wife's honor, his +hardest task will be reconciliation with this boy." + +"All, and more than all, the evils I anticipated have followed this +insane vengeance," said Upton. "I begin to think that one ought to leave +a golden bridge even to our revenge, Princess." + +"Assuredly, wherever a woman is the victim," said she, smiling; "for you +are so certain to have reasons for distrusting yourself." + +Upton sat meditating for some time on the plan of the Princess; had +it only originated with himself, it was exactly the kind of project he +would have liked. He knew enough of life to be aware that one can do +very little more than launch events upon the great ocean of destiny; +that the pretension to guide and direct them is oftener a snare than +anything else; that the contingencies and accidents, the complications +too, which beset every move in life, disconcert all one's +pre-arrangements, so that it is rare indeed when we are able to pursue +the same path towards any object by which we have set out. + +As the scheme was, however, that of another, he now scrutinized it, and +weighed every objection to its accomplishment, constantly returning to +the same difficulty, as he said,-- + +"You do not know Glencore." + +"The man who has but one passion, one impulse in life, is rarely a +difficult study," was the measured reply. "Lord Glencore's vengeance has +worn itself out, exactly as all similar outbreaks of temper do, for want +of opposition. There was nothing to feed, nothing to minister to it. He +sees--I have taken care that he should see--that his bolt has not struck +the mark; that her position is not the precarious thing he meant to +make it, but a station as much protected and fenced round by its own +conventionalities as that of any, the proudest lady in society. For one +that dares to impugn her, there are full fifty ready to condemn _him_; +and all this has been done without reprisal or recrimination; no +partisanship to arraign his moroseness and his cruelty,--none of that +'coterie' defence which divides society into two sections. This, of +course, has wounded his pride, but it has not stimulated his anger; but, +above all, it has imparted to her the advantage of a dignity of which +his vengeance was intended to deprive her." + +"You must be a sanguine and a hopeful spirit, Princess, if you deem that +such elements will unite happily hereafter," said Upton, smiling. + +"I really never carried my speculations so far," replied she. "It is in +actual life, as in that of the stage, quite sufficient to accompany the +actors to the fall of the curtain." + +"The Chevalier Stubber, madame," said a servant, entering, "wishes to +know if you will receive him." + +"Yes--no--yes. Tell him to come in," said, she rapidly, as she resumed +her seat beside the fire. + + + +CHAPTER L. ANTE-DINNER REFLECTIONS + +Notwithstanding the strongly expressed sentiments of the Princess with +regard to the Chevalier Stubber, she received him with marked favor, and +gave him her hand to kiss, with evident cordiality. As for Upton, it was +the triumph of his manner to deal with men separated widely from himself +in station and abilities. He could throw such an air of good fellowship +into the smallest attentions, impart such a glow of kindliness to the +veriest commonplaces, that the very craftiest and shrewdest could never +detect. As he leaned his arm, therefore, on Stubber's shoulder, and +smiled benignly on him, you would have said it was the affectionate +meeting with a long-absent brother. But there was something besides +this: there was the expansive confidence accorded to a trusty colleague; +and as he asked him about the Duchy, its taxation, its debt, its +alliances and difficulties, you might mark in the attention he bestowed +all the signs of one receiving very valuable information. + +"You perceive, Princess," said he, at last, "Stubber quite agrees with +the Duke of Cloudeslie,--these small states enjoy no real independence." + +"Then why are they not absorbed into the larger nations about them?" + +"They have their uses; they are like substances interposed between +conflicting bodies, which receive and diminish the shock of collisions. +So that Prussia, when wanting to wound Austria, only pinches Baden; and +Austria, desirous of insulting Saxony, 'takes it out' on Sigmaringen." + +"It's a pleasant destiny you assign them," said she, laughing. + +"Stubber will tell you I'm not far wrong in my appreciation." + +"I 'm not for what they call 'mediatizing' them neither, my Lady," said +Stubber, who generally used the designation to imply his highest degree +of respect. "That may all be very well for the interests of the great +states, and the balance of power, and all that sort of thing; but we +ought also to bestow a thought upon the people of these small countries, +especially on the inhabitants of their cities. What's to become of +_them_ when you withdraw their courts, and throw their little capitals +into the position of provincial towns and even villages?" + +"They will eke out a livelihood somehow, my dear Stubber. Be assured +that they 'll not starve. Masters of the Horse may have to keep livery +stables; chamberlains turn valets; ladies of the bedchamber descend to +the arts of millinery: but, after all, the change will be but in name, +and there will not be a whit more slavery in the new condition than in +the old one." + +"Well, I 'm not so sure they 'll take the same comfortable view of it +that you do, Sir Horace," said Stubber; "nor can I see who can possibly +want livery stables, or smart bonnets, or even a fine butler, when +the resources of the Court are withdrawn, and the city left to its own +devices." + +"Stubber suspects," said Upton, "that the policy which prevails amongst +our great landed proprietors against small holdings is that which at +present influences the larger states of Europe against small kingdoms; +and so far he is right. It is unquestionably the notion of our day that +the influences of government require space for their exercise." + +"If the happiness of the people was to be thought of, which of course it +is not," said Stubber, "I'd say leave them as they are." + +"Ah, my dear Stubber, you are now drawing the question into the realm of +the imaginary. What do any of us know about our happiness?" + +"Enough to eat and drink, a comfortable roof over you, good clothes, +nothing oppressive or unequal in the laws,--these go for a good way +in the kind of thing I mean; and let me observe, sir, it is a great +privilege little states, like little people, enjoy, that they need have +no ambitions. They don't want to conquer anybody; they neither ask for +the mouth of a river here, or an island there; and if only let alone, +they 'll never disturb the peace of the world at large." + +"My dear Stubber, you are quite a proficient at state-craft," said +Upton, with the very least superciliousness in the accent. + +"Well, I don't know, Sir Horace," said the other, modestly, "but as my +master's means are about the double of what they were when I entered his +service, and as the people pay about one-sixth less in taxes than they +used to do, mayhap I might say that I have put the saddle on the right +part of the back." + +"Your foreign policy does not seem quite as unobjectionable as your home +management. That was an ugly business about that boy you gave up to the +Austrians." + +"Well, there were mistakes on all sides. You yourself, Sir Horace, gave +him a false passport; his real name turns out to be Massy: it made an +impression on me, from a circumstance that happened when I was a young +fellow living as pad-groom with Prince Tottskoy. I went over on a +lark one day to Capri, and was witness to a wedding there of a young +Englishman called Massy." + +"Were you, then, present at the ceremony?" + +"Yes, sir; and what's stranger still, I have a voucher for it." + +"A voucher for it. What do you mean?" + +"It was this way, sir. There was a great supper for the country people +and the servants, and I was there, and I suppose I took too much of that +Capri wine; it was new and hot at the time, and I got into a row of +some sort, and I beat the Deputato from some place or t' other, and got +locked up for three days; and the priest, a very jolly fellow, gave +me under his handwriting a voucher that I had been a witness of the +marriage, and all the festivities afterwards, just to show my master how +everything happened. But the Prince never asked me for any explanations, +and only said he 'hoped I had amused myself well;' and so I kept my +voucher to myself, and I have it at this very hour." + +"Will you let me see it, Stubber?" + +"To be sure, sir, you shall have it, if I can lay my hand on 't in the +course of the day." + +"Let me beg you will go at once and search for it; it may be of more +importance than you know of. Go, my dear Stubber, and look it up." + +"I'll not lose a moment, since you wish to have it," said Stubber; "and +I am sure your ladyship will excuse my abrupt departure." + +The Princess assured him that her own interest in the document was not +inferior to that of Sir Horace, and he hastened off to prosecute his +search. + +"Here, then, are all my plans altered at once," exclaimed she, as the +door closed after him. "If this paper mean only as much as he asserts, +it will be ample proof of marriage, and lead us to the knowledge of all +those who were present at it." + +"Yet must we well reflect on the use we make of it," said Upton. +"Glencore is now evidently balancing what course to take. As his chances +of recovery grow less each day, he seems to incline more and more to +repair the wrong he has done. Should we show on our side the merest +semblance of compulsion, I would not answer for him." + +"So that we have the power, as a last resource, I am content to +diplomatize," said the Princess; "but you must see him this evening, and +press for a decision." + +"He has already asked me to come to him after we return from Court. It +will be late, but it is the hour at which he likes best to talk. If I +see occasion for it, I can allude to what Stubber has told us; but it +will be only if driven by necessity to it." + +"I would act more boldly and more promptly," said she. + +"And rouse an opposition, perhaps, that already is becoming dormant. No, +I know Glencore well, and will deal with him more patiently." + +"From the Chevalier Stubber, your Excellency," said a servant, +presenting a sealed packet; and Sir Horace opened it at once. The +envelope contained a small and shabby slip of paper, of which the +writing appeared faint and indistinct. It was dated 18--, Church of +St. Lorenzo, Capri, and went to certify that Guglielmo Stubber had been +present, on the morning of the 18th August, at the marriage of the Most +Noble Signor Massy with the Princess de la Torre, having in quality +as witness signed the registry thereof; and then went on to state +the circumstance of his attendance at the supper, and the event which +ensued. It bore the name of the writer at foot, Basilio Nardoni, priest +of the aforesaid church and village. + +"Little is Glencore aware that such an evidence as this is in +existence," said Upton. "The conviction that he had his vengeance in his +power led him into this insane project. He fancied there was not a flaw +in that terrible indictment; and see, here is enough to open the door to +truth, and undo every detail of all his plotting. How strange is it that +the events of life should so often concur to expose the dark schemes of +men's hearts; proofs starting up in un-thought-of places, as though to +show how vain was mere subtlety in conflict with the inevitable law of +Fate." + +"This Basilio Nardoni is an acquaintance of mine," said the Princess, +bent on pursuing another train of thought; "he was chaplain to the +Cardinal Caraffa, and frequently brought me communications from his +Eminence. He can be found, if wanted." + +"It is unlikely--most unlikely--that we shall require him." + +"If you mean that Lord Glencore will himself make all the amends he can +for a gross injury and a fraud, no more is necessary," said she, folding +the paper, and placing it in her pocket-book; "but if anything short of +this be intended, then there is no exposure too open, no publicity too +wide, to be given to the most cruel wrong the world has ever heard of." + +"Leave me to deal with Glencore. I think I am about the only one who can +treat with him." + +"And now for this dinner at Court, for I have changed my mind, and mean +to go," said the Princess. "It is full time to dress, I believe." + +"It is almost six o'clock," said Upton, starting up. "We have quite +forgotten ourselves." + + + +CHAPTER LI. CONFLICTING THOUGHTS + +The Princess Sabloukoff found--not by any means an unfrequent experience +in life--that the dinner, whose dulness she had dreaded, turned out a +very pleasant affair. The Prince was unusually gracious. He was in good +spirits, and put forth powers of agreeability which had been successful +in one of less distinction than himself. He possessed eminently, what a +great orator once panegyrized as a high conversational element, "great +variety," and could without abruptness pass from subject to subject, +with always what showed he had bestowed thought upon the theme before +him. Great people have few more enviable privileges than that they +choose their own topics for conversation. Nothing disagreeable, nothing +wearisome, nothing inopportune, can be intruded upon them. When they +have no longer anything worth saying, they can change the subject or the +company. + +His Highness talked with Madame de Sabloukoff on questions of state +as he might have talked with a Metternich; he even invited from her +expressions of opinion that were almost counsels, sentiments that +might pass for warnings. He ranged over the news of the day, relating +occasionally some little anecdote, every actor in which was a celebrity; +or now and then communicating some piece of valueless secrecy, told with +all the mystery of a "great fact;" and then he discussed with Upton the +condition of England, and deplored, as all Continental rulers do, +the impending downfall of that kingdom, from the growing force of our +restless and daring democracy. He regretted much that Sir Horace was not +still in office, but consoled himself by reflecting that the pleasure he +enjoyed in his society had been in that case denied him. In fact, what +with insinuated flatteries, little signs of confidence, and a most +marked tone of cordiality, purposely meant to strike beholders, the +Prince conducted the conversation right royally, and played "Highness" +to perfection. + +And these two crafty, keen-sighted people, did they not smile at the +performance, and did they not, as they drove home at night, amuse +themselves as they recounted the little traits of the great man's +dupery? Not a bit of it. They were charmed with his gracious manner, and +actually enchanted with his agreeability. Strong in their self-esteem, +they could not be brought to suspect that any artifice could be +practised on _them_, or that the mere trickery and tinsel of high +station could be imposed on them as true value. Nay, they even went +further, and discovered that his Highness was really a very remarkable +man, and one who received far less than the estimation due to him. His +flightiness became versatility; his eccentricity was all originalty; and +ere they reached the hotel, they had endowed him with almost every moral +and mental quality that can dignify manhood. + +"It is really a magnificent turquoise," said the Princess, gazing with +admiration at a ring the Prince had taken from his own finger to present +to her. + +"How absurd is that English jealousy about foreign decorations! I was +obliged to decline the Red Cross of Massa which his Highness proposed +to confer on me. A monarchy that wants to emulate a republic is simply +ridiculous." + +"You English are obliged to pay dear for your hypocrisies; and you +ought, for you really love them." And with this taunt the carriage +stopped at the door of the inn. + +As Upton passed up the stairs, the waiter handed him a note, which he +hastily opened; it was from Glencore, and in these words:-- + +Dear Upton,--I can bear this suspense no longer; to remain here +canvassing with myself all the doubts that beset me is a torture +I cannot endure. I leave, therefore, at once for Florence. Once +there,--where I mean to see and hear for myself,--I can decide what is +to be the fate of the few days or weeks that yet remain to--Yours, + +Glencore. + + +"He is gone, then,--his Lordship has started?" + +"Yes, your Excellency, he is by this time near Lucca, for he gave orders +to have horses ready at all the stations." + +"Read that, madame," said Upton, as he once more found himself alone +with the Princess; "you will see that all your plans are disconcerted. +He is off to Florence." + +Madame de Sabloukoff read the note, and threw it carelessly on the +table. "He wants to forgive himself, and only hesitates how to do so +gracefully," said she, sneeringly. + +"I think you are less than just to him," said Upton, mildly; "his is a +noble nature, disfigured by one grand defect." + +"Your national character, like your language, is so full of +incongruities and contradictions that I am not ashamed to own myself +unequal to master it; but it strikes me that both one and the other +usurp freedoms that are not permitted to others. At all events, I am +rejoiced that he has gone. It is the most wearisome thing in life to +negotiate with one too near you. Diplomacy of even the humblest kind +requires distance." + +"You agree with the duellist, I perceive," said he, laughing, "that +twelve paces is a more fatal distance than across a handkerchief: +proximity begets tremor." + +"You have guessed my meaning correctly," said she; "meanwhile, I must +write to _her_ not to come here. Shall I say that we will be in Florence +in a day or two?" + +"I was just thinking of those Serravezza springs," said Upton; "they +contain a bi-chloride of potash, which Staub, in his treatise, says, 'is +the element wanting in all nervous organizations.'" + +"But remember the season,--we are in mid-winter; the hotels are closed." + +"The springs are running, Princess; 'the earth,' as Mos-chus says, 'is +a mother that never ceases to nourish.' I do suspect I need a little +nursing." + +The Princess understood him thoroughly. She well knew that whenever the +affairs of Europe followed an unbroken track, without anything eventful +or interesting, Sir Horace fell back upon his maladies for matter of +occupation. She had, however, now occasion for his advice and counsel, +and by no means concurred in his plan of spending some days, if not +weeks, in the dreary mountain solitudes of Serravezza. "You must +certainly consult Zanetti before you venture on these waters," said +she; "they are highly dangerous if taken without the greatest +circumspection;" and she gave a catalogue of imaginary calamities which +had befallen various illustrious and gifted individuals, to which Upton +listened with profound attention. + +"Very well," sighed he, as she finished, "it must be as you say. I'll +see Zanetti, for I cannot afford to die just yet. That 'Greek question' +will have no solution without me,--no one has the key of it but myself. +That Panslavic scheme, too, in the Principalities attracts no notice +but _mine_; and as to Spain, the policy I have devised for that country +requires all the watchfulness I can bestow on it. No, Princess,"--here +he gave a melancholy sigh,--"we must not die at this moment. There are +just four men in Europe; I doubt if she could get on with three." + +"What proportion do you admit as to the other sex?" said she, laughing. + +"I only know of one, madame;" and he kissed her hand with gallantry. +"And now for Florence, if you will." + +It is by no means improbable that our readers have a right to an apology +at our hands for the habit we have indulged of lingering along with the +two individuals whose sayings and doings are not directly essential +to our tale; but is not the story of every-day life our guarantee +that incidents and people cross and re-cross the path we are going, +attracting our attention, engaging our sympathy, enlisting our energies, +even in our most anxious periods? Such is the world; and we cannot +venture out of reality. Besides this, we are disposed to think that the +moral of a tale is often more effectively conveyed by the characters +than by the catastrophe of a story. The strange, discordant tones of +the human heart, blending, with melody the purest, sounds of passionate +meaning, are in themselves more powerful lessons than all the records of +rewarded virtue and all the calendars of punished vice. The nature of +a single man can be far more instructive than the history of every +accident that befalls him. + +It is, then, with regret that we leave the Princess and Sir Horace to +pursue their journey alone. We confess a liking for their society, and +would often as soon loiter in the by-paths that they follow as journey +in the more recognized high-road of our true story. Not having the +conviction that our sympathy is shared by our readers, we again return +to the fortunes of Glencore. + +When Lord Glencore's carriage underwent the usual scrutiny exercised +towards travellers at the gate of Florence, and prying officials poked +their lanterns in every quarter, in all the security of their "caste," +two foot travellers were rudely pushed aside to await the time till the +pretentious equipage passed on. They were foreigners, and their effects, +which they carried in knapsacks, required examination. + +"We have come a long way on foot to-day," said the younger in a tone +that indicated nothing of one asking a favor. "Can't we have this search +made at once?" + +"Whisht! whisht!" whispered his companion, in English; "wait till the +Prince moves on, and be polite with them all." + +"I am seeking for nothing in the shape of compliment," said the other; +"there is no reason why, because I am on foot, I must be detained for +this man." + +Again the other remonstrated, and suggested patience. + +"What are you grumbling about, young fellow?" cried one of the officers. +"Do you fancy yourself of the same consequence as Milordo? And see, he +must wait his time here." + +"We came a good way on foot to-day, sir," interposed the elder, eagerly, +taking the reply on himself, "and we 're tired and weary, and would be +deeply obliged if you'd examine us as soon as you could." + +"Stand aside and wait your turn," was the stern response. + +"You almost deserve the fellow's insolence, Billy," said the youth; "a +crown-piece in his hand had been far more intelligible than your appeal +to his pity." And he threw himself wearily down on a stone bench. + +Aroused by the accent of his own language, Lord Glencore sat up in his +carriage, and leaned out to catch sight of the speaker; but the shadow +of the overhanging roof concealed him from view. "Can't you suffer those +two poor fellows to move on?" whispered his Lordship, as he placed a +piece of money in the officer's hand; "they look tired and jaded." + +"There, thank his Excellency for his kindness to you, and go your way," +muttered the officer to Billy, who, without well understanding the +words, drew nigh the window; but the glass was already drawn up, the +postilions were once more in their saddles, and away dashed the cumbrous +carriage in all the noise and uproar that is deemed the proper tribute +to rank. + +The youth heard that they were free to proceed, with a half-dogged +indifference, and throwing his knapsack on his shoulders, moved away. + +"I asked them if they knew one of her name in the city, and they said, +'No,'" said the elder. + +"But they so easily mistake names: how did you call her?" + +"I said 'Harley,--la Signora Harley,'" rejoined the other; "and they +were positive she was not here. They never heard of her." + +"Well, we shall know soon," sighed the youth, heavily. "Is not this an +inn, Billy?" + +"Ay is it, but not one for our purpose,--it's like a palace. They told +me of the 'Leone d'Oro' as a quiet place and cheap." + +"I don't care where or what it be; one day and night here will do all I +want. And then for Genoa, Billy, and the sea, and the world beyond the +sea," said the youth, with increasing animation. "You shall see what a +different fellow I'll be when I throw behind me forever the traditions +of this dreary life here." + +"I know well the good stuff that's in ye," said the other, +affectionately. + +"Ay, but you don't know that I have energy as well as pride," said the +other. + +"There's nothing beyond your reach if you will only strive to get it," +said he again, in the same voice. + +"You're an arrant flatterer, old boy," cried the youth, throwing his arm +around him; "but I would not have you otherwise for the world. There is +a happiness even in the self-deception of your praise that I could not +deny myself." + +Thus chatting, they arrived at the humble door of the "Leone d'Oro," +where they installed themselves for the night. It was a house frequented +by couriers and _vetturini_, and at the common table for this company +they now took their places for supper. The Carnival was just drawing to +its close, and all the gayeties of that merry season were going forward. +Nothing was talked of but the brilliant festivities of the city, the +splendid balls of the Court, and the magnificent receptions in the +houses of the nobility. + +"The Palazzo della Torre takes the lead of all," said one. "There were +upwards of three thousand masks there this evening, I 'm told, and the +gardens were just as full as the _salons_." + +"She is rich enough to afford it well," cried another. "I counted twenty +servants in white and gold liveries on the stairs alone." + +"Were you there, then?" asked the youth, whom we may at once call by his +name of Massy. + +"Yes, sir; a mask and a domino, such as you see yonder, are passports +everywhere for the next twenty-four hours; and though I 'm only a +courier, I have been chatting with duchesses, and exchanging smart +sayings with countesses, in almost every great house in Florence this +evening. The Pergola Theatre, too, is open, and all the boxes crowded +with visitors." + +"You are a stranger, as I detect by your accent," said another, "and you +ought to have a look at a scene such as you'll never witness in your own +land." + +"What would come of such freedoms with us, Billy?" whispered Massy. +"Would our great lords tolerate, even for a few hours, the association +with honest fellows of this stamp?" + +"There would be danger in the attempt, anyhow," said Billy. + +"What calumnies would be circulated, what slanderous tales would be sent +abroad, under cover of this secrecy! How many a coward stab would +be given in the shadow of that immunity! For one who would use the +privilege for mere amusement, how many would turn it to account for +private vengeance." + +"Are you quite certain such accidents do not occur here?" + +"That society tolerates the custom is the best answer to this. There may +be, for aught we know, many a cruel vengeance executed under favor of +this secrecy. Many may cover their faces to unmask their hearts; but, +after all, they continue to observe a habit which centuries back their +forefathers followed; and the inference fairly is, that it is not +baneful. For my own part, I am glad to have an opportunity of witnessing +these Saturnalia, and to-morrow I 'll buy a mask and a domino, Billy, +and so shall you too. Why should we not have a day's fooling, like the +rest?" + +Billy shook his head and laughed, and they soon afterwards parted for +the night. + +While young Massy slept soundly, not a dream disturbing the calmness +of his rest, Lord Glencore passed the night in a state of feverish +excitement. Led on by some strange, mysterious influence, which he could +as little account for as resist, he had come back to the city where the +fatal incident of his life had occurred. With what purpose, he could not +tell. It was not, indeed, that he had no object in view. It was rather +that he had so many and conflicting ones that they marred and destroyed +each other. No longer under the guidance of calm reason, his head +wandered from the past to the present and the future, disturbed by +passion and excited by injured self-love. At one moment, sentiments of +sorrow and shame would take the ascendant; and at the next, a vindictive +desire to follow out his vengeance and witness the ruin that he had +accomplished. The unbroken, unrelieved pressure of one thought, for +years and years of time, had at last undermined his reasoning powers; +and every attempt at calm judgment or reflection was sure to be attended +with some violent paroxysm of irrepressible rage. + +There are men in whom the combative element is so strong that it usurps +all their guidance, and when once they are enlisted in a contest, they +cannot desist till the struggle be decided for or against them. Such was +Glencore. To discover that the terrible injury he had inflicted on +his wife had not crushed her nor driven her with shame from the world, +aroused once more all the vindictive passions of his nature. It was a +defiance he could not withstand. Guilty or innocent, it mattered not; +she had braved him,--at least so he was told,--and as such he had come +to see her with his own eyes. If this was the thought which predominated +in his mind, others there were that had their passing power over +him,--moments of tenderness, moments in which the long past came back +again, full of softening memories; and then he would burst into tears +and cry bitterly. + +If he ventured to project any plan for reconciliation with her he had +so cruelly wronged, he as suddenly bethought him that her spirit was not +less high and haughty than his own. She had, so far as he could learn, +never quailed before his vengeance; how, then, might he suppose would +she act in the presence of his avowed injustice? Was it not, besides, +too late to repair the wrong? Even for his boy's sake, would it not be +better if he inherited sufficient means to support an honorable life, +unknown and unnoticed, than bequeath to him a name so associated with +shame and sorrow? + +"Who can tell," he would cry aloud, "what my harsh treatment may not +have made him? what resentment may have taken root in his young heart? +what distrust may have eaten into his nature? If I could but see him and +talk with him as a stranger,--if I could be able to judge him apart from +the influences that my own feelings would create,--even then, what would +it avail me? I have so sullied and tarnished a proud name that he could +never bear it without reproach. 'Who is this Lord Glencore?' people +would say. 'What is the strange story of his birth? Has any one yet +got at the truth? Was the father the cruel tyrant, or the mother the +worthless creature, we hear tell of? Is he even legitimate, and, if so, +why does he walk apart from his equals, and live without recognition +by his order?' This is the noble heritage I am to leave him,--this the +proud position to which he is to succeed! And yet Upton says that the +boy's rights are inalienable; that, think how I may, do what I will, the +day on which I die, he is the rightful Lord Glencore. His claim may lie +dormant, the proofs may be buried, but that, in truth and fact, he will +be what all my subterfuge and all my falsehood cannot deny him. And +then, if the day should come that he asserts his right,--if, by some +of those wonderful accidents that reveal the mysteries of the world, +he should succeed to prove his claim,--what a memory will he cherish +of _me!_ Will not every sorrow of his youth, every indignity of his +manhood, be associated with my name? Will he or can he ever forgive him +who defamed the mother and despoiled the son?" + +In the terrible conflict of such thoughts as these he passed the night; +intervals of violent grief or passion alone breaking the sad connection +of such reflections, till at length the worn-out faculties, incapable +of further exercise, wandered away into incoherency, and he raved in all +the wildness of insanity. + +It was thus that Upton found him on his arrival. + + + +CHAPTER LII. MAJOR SCARESBY'S VISIT + +Down the crowded thoroughfare of the Borgo d' Ognisanti the tide of +Carnival mummers poured unceasingly. Hideous masks and gay dominos, +ludicrous impersonations and absurd satires on costume, abounded, and +the entire population seemed to have given themselves up to merriment, +and were fooling it to the top o' their bent. Bands of music and +chorus-singers from the theatre filled the air with their loud strains, +and carriages crowded with fantastic figures moved past, pelting the +bystanders with mock sweetmeats, and covering them with showers of +flour. It was a season of universal license, and, short of actual +outrage, all was permitted for the time. Nor did the enjoyment of the +scene seem to be confined to the poorer classes of the people, who thus +for the nonce assumed equality with their richer neighbors; but all, +even to the very highest, mixed in the wild excitement of the pageant, +and took the rough treatment they met with in perfect good-humor. +Dukes and princes, white from head to foot with the snowy shower, went +laughingly along, and grave dignitaries were fain to walk arm-inarm +with the most ludicrous monstrosities, whose gestures turned on them +the laughter of all around. Occasionally--but, it must be owned, +rarely--some philosopher of a sterner school might be seen passing +hurriedly along, his severe features and contemptuous glances owning +to little sympathy with the mummery about him; but even _he_ had to +compromise his proud disdain, and escape, as best he might, from the +indiscriminate justice of the crowd. To detect one of this stamp, to +follow, and turn upon him the full tide of popular fury, seemed to be +the greatest triumph of the scene. When such a victim presented himself, +all joined in the pursuit: nuns embraced, devils environed him, angels +perched on his shoulders, mock wild boars rushed between his legs; his +hat was decorated with feathers, his clothes inundated with showers of +meal or flour; hackney-coachmen, dressed as ladies, fainted in his arms, +and semi-naked bacchanals pressed drink to his lips. In a word, each +contributed what he might of attention to the luckless individual, whose +resistance--if he were so impolitic as to make any--only increased the +zest of the persecution. + +An instance of this kind had now attracted general attention, nor was +the amusement diminished by the discovery that he was a foreigner and an +Englishman. Impertinent allusions to his nation, absurd attempts at his +language, ludicrous travesties of what were supposed to be his native +customs, were showered on him, in company with a hailstorm of mock +bonbons and lime-pellets; till, covered with powder, and outraged +beyond all endurance, he fought his way into the entrance of the Hotel +d'Italie, followed by the cries and laughter of the populace. + +"Cursed tomfoolery! Confounded asses!" cried he, as he found himself in +a harbor of refuge. "What the devil fun can they discover in making each +other dirtier than their daily habits bespeak them? I say," cried he, +addressing a waiter, "is Sir Horace Upton staying here? Well, will you +say Major Scaresby--be correct in the name--Major Scaresby requests to +pay his respects." + +"His Excellency will see you, sir," said the man, returning quickly with +the reply. + +From the end of a room, so darkened by closed shutters and curtains as +to make all approach difficult, a weak voice called out, "Ah, Scaresby, +how d' ye do? I was just thinking to myself that I could n't be in +Florence, since I had not seen you." + +"You are too good, too kind, Sir Horace, to say so," said the other, +with a voice whose tones by no means corresponded with the words. + +"Yes, Scaresby, everything in this good city is in a manner associated +with your name. Its intrigues, its quarrels, its loves and jealousies, +its mysteries, in fine, have had no such interpreter as yourself within +the memory of man! What a pity there were no Scaresbys in the Cinque +Cento! How sad there were none of your family here in the Medician +period! What a picture might we then have had of a society fuller even +than the present of moral delinquencies." There was a degree of +pomposity in the manner he uttered this that served to conceal in a +great measure its sarcasm. + +"I am much flattered to learn that I have ever enlightened your +Excellency on any subject," said the Major, dryly. + +"That you have, Scaresby. I was a mere dabbler in moral toxicology when +I heard your first lecture, and, I assure you, I was struck by your +knowledge. And how is the dear city doing?" + +"It is masquerading to-day," said Scaresby, "and, consequently, far more +natural than at any other period of the whole year. Smeared faces and +dirty finery,--exactly its suitable wear!" + +"Who are here, Major? Any one that one knows?" + +"Old Millington is here." + +"The Marquis?" + +"Yes, he 's here, fresh painted and lacquered; his eyes twinkling with +a mock lustre that makes him look like an old po'-chaise with a pair of +new lamps!" + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Sir Horace, encouragingly. + +"And then--there's Mabworth." + +"Sir Paul Mabworth?" + +"Ay, the same old bore as ever! He has got off one of Burke's speeches +on the India Bill by heart, and says that he spoke it on the question of +the grant for Maynooth. Oh, if poor Burke could only look up!" + +"Look down! you ought to say, Scaresby; depend upon't, he 's not on the +Opposition benches still!" + +"I hate the fellow," said Scaresby, whose ill-temper was always +augmented by any attempted smartness of those he conversed with. "He has +taken Walmsley's cook away from him, and never gives any one a dinner." + +"That is shameful; a perfect dog in the manger!" + +"Worse; he 's a dog without any manger! For he keeps his house on +board-wages, and there's literally nothing to eat! That poor thing, +Strejowsky." + +"Oh, Olga Strejowsky, do you mean? What of her?" + +"Why, there's another husband just turned up. They thought he was killed +in the Caucasus, but he was only passing a few years in Siberia; and so +he has come back, and claims all the emeralds. You remember, of course, +that famous necklace, and the great drops! They belonged once to the +Empress Catherine, but Mabworth says that he took the concern with all +its dependencies; he 'll give up his bargain, but make no compromise." + +"She's growing old, I fancy." + +"She's younger than the Sabloukoff by five good years, and they tell me +_she_ plays Beauty to this hour." + +Ah, Scaresby, had you known what words were these you have just uttered, +or had you only seen the face of him who heard them, you had rather +bitten your tongue off than suffered it to fashion them! + +"Brignolles danced with her at that celebrated _fete_ given by the +Prince of Orleans something like eight-and-thirty years ago." + +"And how is the dear Duke?" asked Upton, sharply. + +"Just as you saw him at the Court of Louis XVIII.; he swaggers a little +more as he gets more feeble about the legs, and he shows his teeth when +he laughs, more decidedly since his last journey to Paris. Devilish +clever fellows these modern dentists are! He wants to marry; I suppose +you 've heard it." + +"Not a word of it. Who is the happy fair?" + +"The Nina, as they call her now. She was one of the Delia Torres, who +married, or didn't marry, Glencore. Don't you remember him? He was +Colonel of the Eleventh, and a devil of a martinet he was." + +"I remember him," said Upton, dryly. + +"Well, he ran off with one of those girls, and some say they were +married at Capri,--as if it signified what happened at Capri! She was +a deuced good-looking girl at the time,--a coquette, you know,--and +Glencore was one of those stiff English fellows that think every man is +making up to his wife; he drank besides." + +"No, pardon me, there you are mistaken. I knew him intimately; Glencore +was as temperate as myself." + +"I have it from Lowther, who used to take him home at night; _he_ said +Glencore never went to bed sober! At all events, she hated him, and +detested his miserly habits." + +"Another mistake, my dear Major. Glencore was never what is called a +rich man, but he was always a generous one!" + +"I suppose you'll not deny that he used to thrash her? Ay, and with a +horsewhip too!" + +"Come, come, Scaresby; this is really too coarse for mere jesting." + +"Jest? By Jove! it was very bitter earnest. She told Brignolles all +about it. I 'm not sure she didn't show him the marks." + +"Take my word for it, Scaresby," said Upton, dropping his voice to a low +but measured tone, "this is a base calumny, and the Duke of Brignolles +no more circulated such a story than I did. He is a man of honor, and +utterly incapable of it." + +"I can only repeat that I believe it to be perfectly true!" said +Scaresby, calmly. "Nobody here ever doubted the story." + +"I cannot say what measure of charity accompanies your zeal for truth in +this amiable society, Scaresby, but I can repeat my assertion that this +must be a falsehood." + +"You will find it very hard, nevertheless, to bring any one over to your +opinion," retorted the unappeasable Major. "He was a fellow everybody +hated; proud and supercilious to all, and treated his wife's +relations--who were of far better blood than himself--as though they +were _canaille_." + +A loud crash, as if of something heavy having fallen, here interrupted +their colloquy, and Upton sprang from his seat and hastened into the +adjoining room. Close beside the door--so close that he almost fell over +it in entering--lay the figure of Lord Glencore. In his efforts to +reach the door he had fainted, and there he lay,--a cold, clammy sweat +covering his livid features, and his bloodless lips slightly parted. + +It was almost an hour ere his consciousness returned; but when it did, +and he saw Upton alone at his bedside, he pressed his hand within his +own, and said, "I heard it all, Upton, every word! I tried to reach +the room; I got out of bed--and was already at the door--when my brain +reeled, and my heart grew faint It may have been malady, it might be +passion,--I know not; but I saw no more. He is gone,--is he not?" cried +he, in a faint whisper. + +"Yes, yes,--an hour ago; but you will think nothing of what he said, +when I tell you his name. It was Scaresby,--Major Scaresby; one whose +bad tongue is the one solitary claim by which he subsists in a society +of slanderers!" + +"And he is gone!" repeated the other, in a tone of deep despondency. + +"Of course he is. I never saw him since; but be assured of what I have +just told you, that his libels carry no reproach. He is a calumniator by +temperament." + +"I 'd have shot him, if I could have opened the door," muttered Glencore +between his teeth; but Upton heard the words distinctly. "What am I to +this man," cried he, aloud, "or he to me, that I am to be arraigned +by him on charges of any kind, true or false? What accident of fortune +makes him my judge? Tell me that, sir. Who has appealed to him for +protection? Who has demanded to be righted at his hand?" + +"Will you not hear me, Glencore, when I say that his slanders have no +sting? In the circles wherein he mixes, it is the mere scandal that +amuses; for its veracity, there is not one that cares. You, or I, or +some one else, supply the name of an actor in a disreputable drama, the +plot of which alone interests, not the performer." + +"And am I to sit tamely down under this degradation?" exclaimed +Glencore, passionately. "I have never subscribed to this dictation. +There is little, indeed, of life left to me, but there is enough, +perhaps, to vindicate myself against men of this stamp. You shall take +him a message from me; you shall tell him by what accident I overheard +his discoveries." + +"My dear Glencore, there are graver interests, far worthier cares, than +any this man's name can enter into, which should now engage you." + +"I say he shall have my provocation, and that within an hour!" cried +Glencore, wildly. + +"You would give this man and his words a consequence that neither have +ever possessed," said Upton, in a mild and subdued tone. "Remember, +Glencore, when I left with you this morning that paper of Stubber's it +was with a distinct understanding that other and wiser thoughts than +those of vengeance were to occupy your attention. I never scrupled to +place it in your hands; I never hesitated about confiding to you what in +a lawyer's phrase would be a proof against you. When an act of justice +was to be done, I would not stain it by the faintest shadow of coercion. +I left you free, I leave you still free, from everything but the +dictates of your own honor." + +Glencore made no reply, but the conflict of his thoughts seemed to +agitate him greatly. + +"The man who has pursued a false path in life," said Upton, calmly, +"has need of much courage to retrace his steps; but courage is not the +quality you fail in, Glencore, so that I appeal to you with confidence." + +"I have need of courage," muttered Glencore; "you say truly. What was it +the doctor said this morning,--aneurism?" + +Upton moved his head with an inclination barely perceptible. + +"What a Nemesis there is in nature," said Glencore, with a sickly +attempt to smile, "that passion should beget malady! I never knew, +physically speaking, that I had a heart--till it was broken. So that," +resumed he, in a more agreeable tone, "death may ensue at any moment--on +the least excitement?" + +"He warned you gravely on that point," said Upton, cautiously. + +"How strange that I should have come through that trial of an hour ago! +It was not that the struggle did not move me. I could have torn that +fellow limb from limb, Upton, if I had but the strength! But see," cried +he, feebly, "what a poor wretch I am; I cannot close these fingers!" +and he held out a worn and clammy hand as he spoke. "Do with me as you +will," said he, after a pause; "I ought to have followed your counsels +long ago!" + +Upton was too subtle an anatomist of human motives to venture by even +the slightest word to disturb a train of thought which any interference +could only damage. As the other still continued to meditate, and, by +his manner and look, in a calmer and more reflective spirit, the wily +diplomatist moved noiselessly away, and left him alone. + + + +CHAPTER LIII. A MASK IN CARNIVAL TIME + +From the gorgeous halls of the Pitti Palace down to the humblest chamber +in Camaldole, Florence was a scene of rejoicing. As night closed in, the +crowds seemed only to increase, and the din and clamor to grow louder. +It seemed as though festivity and joy had overflowed from the houses, +filling the streets with merry-makers. In the clear cold air, groups +feasted, and sang, and danced, all mingling and intermixing with a +freedom that showed how thoroughly the spirit of pleasure-seeking can +annihilate the distinctions of class. The soiled and tattered mummer +leaned over the carriage-door and exchanged compliments with the masked +duchess within. The titled noble of a dozen quarterings stopped to +pledge a merry company who pressed him to drain a glass of Monte +Pulciano with them. There was a perfect fellowship between those whom +fortune had so widely separated, and the polished accents of high +society were heard to blend with the quaint and racy expressions of the +"people." + +Theatres and palaces lay open, all lighted "_a giorno_." The whole +population of the city surged and swayed to and fro like a mighty sea in +motion, making the air resound the while with a wild mixture of sounds, +wherein music and laughter were blended. Amid the orgie, however, not +an act, not a word of rudeness, disturbed the general content. It was a +season of universal joy, and none dared to destroy the spell of pleasure +that presided. + +Our task is not to follow the princely equipages as they rolled in +unceasing tides within the marble courts, nor yet to track the strong +flood that poured through the wide thoroughfares in all the wildest +exuberance of their joy. + +Our business is with two travellers, who, well weary of being for hours +a-foot, and partly sated with pleasure, sat down to rest themselves on a +bench beside the Arno. + +"It is glorious fooling, that must be owned, Billy," said Charles Massy, +"and the spirit is most contagious. How little have you or I in +common with these people! We scarce can catch the accents of the droll +allusions, we cannot follow the strains of their rude songs, and yet we +are carried away like the rest to feel a wild enjoyment in all this din, +and glitter, and movement. How well they do it, too!" + +"That's all by rayson of concentration," said 'Billy, gravely. "They +are highly charged with fun. The ould adage says, 'Non semper sunt +Saturnalia,'--It is not every day Morris kills a cow." + +"Yet it is by this very habit of enjoyment that they know how to be +happy." + +"To be sure it is," cried Billy; "_they_ have a ritual for it which _we_ +have n't; as Cicero tells us, 'In jucundis nullum periculum.' But ye see +we have no notion of any amusement without a dash of danger through it, +if not even cruelty!" + +"The French know how to reconcile the two natures; they are brave, and +light-hearted too." + +"And the Irish, Mister Charles,--the Irish especially," said Billy, +proudly; "for I was alludin' to the English in what I said last. The +'versatile ingenium' is all our own. + + He goes into a tent and he spends half a-crown, + Comes out, meets a friend, and for love knocks him down. + +There 's an elegant philosophy in that, now, that a Saxon would never +see! For it is out of the very fulness of the heart, ye may remark, that +Pat does this, just as much as to say, 'I don't care for the expense!' +He smashes a skull just as he would a whole dresser of crockery-ware! +There's something very grand in that recklessness." + +The tone of the remark, and a certain wild energy of his manner, showed +that poor Billy's faculties were slightly under the influences of the +Tuscan grape; and the youth smiled at sight of an excess so rare. + +"How hard it must be," said Massy, "to go back to the workaday routine +of life after one of these outbursts,--to resume not alone the drudgery, +but all the slavish observances that humble men yield to great ones!" + +"'Tis what Bacon says, 'There's nothing so hard as unlearnin' anything;' +and the proof is how few of us ever do it! We always go on mucin' old +thoughts with new,--puttin' different kinds of wine into the same glass, +and then wonderin' we are not invigorated!" + +"You 're in a mood for moralizing to-night, I see, Billy," said the +other, smiling. + +"The levities of life always puts me on that thrack, just as too bright +a day reminds me to take out an umbrella with me." + +"Yet I do not see that all your observation of the world has indisposed +you to enjoy it, or that you take harsher views of life the closer you +look at it." + +"Quite the reverse; the more I see of mankind, the more I 'm struck with +the fact that the very wickedest and worst can't get rid of remorse! +'Tis something out of a man's nature entirely--something that dwells +outside of him--sets him on to commit a crime; and then he begins +to rayson and dispute with the temptation, just like one keepin' bad +company, and listenin' to impure notions and evil suggestions day after +day; as he does this, he gets to have a taste for that kind of low +society,--I mane with his own bad thoughts,--till at last every other +ceases to amuse him. Look! what's that there; where are they goin' with +all the torches there?" cried he, suddenly, springing up and pointing +to a dense crowd that passed along the street. It was a band of music, +dressed in a quaint mediaeval costume, on its way to serenade some +palace. + +"Let us follow and listen to them, Billy," said the youth; and they +arose and joined the throng. + +Following in the wake of the dense mass, they at last reached the gates +of a great palace, and after some waiting gained access to the spacious +courtyard. The grim old statues and armorial bearings shone in the glare +of a hundred torches, and the deep echoes rang with the brazen voices of +the band as, pent up within the quadrangle, the din of a large +orchestra arose. On a great terrace overhead numerous figures were +grouped,--indistinctly seen from the light of the _salons_ within,--but +whose mysterious movements completed the charm of a very interesting +picture. + +Some wrapped in shawls to shroud them from the night air, some, less +cautiously emerging from the rooms within, leaned over the marble +balustrade and showed their jewelled arms in the dim hazy light, while +around and about them gay uniforms and costumes abounded. As Billy gave +himself up to the excitement of the music, young Massy, more interested +by the aspect of the scene, gazed unceasingly at the balcony. There was +just that shadowy indistinctness in the whole that invested it with a +kind of romantic interest, and he could weave stories and incidents from +those whose figures passed and repassed before him. He fancied that in +their gestures he could trace many meanings, and as the bent-down heads +approached, and their hands touched, he fashioned many a tale in his own +mind of moving fortunes. + +"And see, she comes again to that same dark angle of the terrace," +muttered he to himself, as, shrouded in a large mantle and with a half +mask on her features, a tall and graceful figure passed into the place +he spoke of. "She looks like one among, but not of, them. How much of +heart-weariness is there in that attitude; how full is it of sad and +tender melancholy! Would that I could see her face! My life on't that +it is beautiful! There, she is tearing up her bouquet; leaf by leaf the +rose-leaves are falling, as though one by one hopes are decaying in +her heart." He pushed his way through the dense throng till he gained a +corner of the court where a few leaves and flower-stems yet strewed the +ground; carefully gathering up these, he crushed them in his hand, and +seemed to feel as though a nearer tie bound him to the fair unknown. How +little ministers to the hope; how infinitely less again will feed the +imagination of a young heart! + +Between them now there was, to his appreciation, some mysterious link. +"Yes," he said to himself, "true, I stand unknown, unnoticed; yet it is +to _me_ of all the thousands here she could reveal what is passing in +that heart! I know it, I feel it! She has a sorrow whose burden I might +help to bear. There is cruelty, or treachery, or falsehood arrayed +against her; and through all the splendor of the scene--all the wild +gayety of the orgie--some spectral image never leaves her side! I would +stake existence on it that I have read her aright!" + +Of all the intoxications that can entrance the human faculties, there is +none so maddening as that produced by giving full sway to an exuberant +imagination. The bewilderment resists every effort of reason, and in its +onward course carries away its victims with all the force of a mountain +torrent. A winding stair, long unused and partly dilapidated, led to the +end of the terrace where she stood, and Massy, yielding to some strange +impulse, slowly and noiselessly crept up this till he gained a spot only +a few yards removed from her. The dark shadow of the building almost +completely concealed his figure, and left him free to contemplate her +unnoticed. + +Some event of interest within had withdrawn all from the terrace +save herself; the whole balcony was suddenly deserted, and she alone +remained, to all seeming lost to the scene around her. It was then that +she removed her mask, and suffering it to fall back on her neck, rested +her head pensively on her hand. Massy bent over eagerly to try and catch +sight of her face; the effort he made startled her, she looked round, +and he cried out, "Ida--Ida! My heart could not deceive me!" In another +instant he had climbed the balcony and was beside her. + +"I thought we had parted forever, Sebastian," said she; "you told me so +on the last night at Massa." + +"And so I meant when I said it," cried he; "nor is our meeting now of my +planning. I came to Florence, it is true, to see, but not to speak with +you, ere I left Europe forever. For three entire days I have searched +the city to discover where you lived, and chance--I have no better name +for it--chance has led me hither." + +"It is an unkind fortune that has made us meet again," said she, in a +voice of deep melancholy. + +"I have never known fortune in any other mood," said he, fiercely. "When +clouds show me the edge of their silver linings, I only prepare myself +for storm and hurricane." + +"I know you have endured much," said she, in a voice of deeper sadness. + +"You know but little of what I have endured," rejoined he, sternly. +"You saw me taunted, indeed, with my humble calling, insulted for my low +birth, expelled ignominiously from a house where my presence had been +sought for; and yet all these, grievous enough, are little to other +evils I have had to bear." + +"By what unhappy accident, what mischance, have you made _her_ your +enemy, Sebastian? She would not even suffer me to speak to you. She +went so far as to tell me that there was a reason for the dislike,--one +which, if she could reveal, I would never question." + +"How can I tell?" cried he, angrily. "I was born, I suppose, under an +evil star; for nothing prospers with me." + +"But can you even guess her reasons?" said she, eagerly. + +"No, except it be the presumption of one in _my_ condition daring to +aspire to one in _yours_; and that, as the world goes, would be reason +enough. It is probable, too, that I did not state these pretensions of +mine over delicately. I told her, with a frankness that was not quite +acceptable, I was one who could not speak of birth or blood. She did not +like the coarse word I applied to myself, and I will not repeat it; and +she ventured to suggest that, had there not appeared some ambiguity +in her own position, _I_ could never have so far forgotten mine as to +advance such pretensions--" + +"Well, and then?" cried the girl, eagerly. + +"Well, and then," said he, deliberately, "I told her I had heard rumors +of the kind she alluded to, but to _me_ they carried no significance; +that it was for _you_ I cared. The accidents of life around you had no +influence on my choice; you might be all that the greatest wealth and +highest blood could make you, or as poor and ignoble as myself, without +any change in my affections. 'These,' said she, 'are the insulting +promptings of that English breeding which you say has mixed with your +blood, and if for no other cause would make me distrust you.' + +"'Stained as it may be,' said I, 'that same English blood is the best +pride I possess.' She grew pale with passion as I said this, but never +spoke a word; and there we stood, staring haughtily at each other, till +she pointed to the door, and so I left her. And now, Ida, who is she +that treats me thus disdainfully? I ask you not in anger, for I know too +well how the world regards such as me to presume to question its harsh +injustice. But tell me, I beseech you, that she is one to whose station +these prejudices are the fitting accompaniments, and let me feel that +it is less myself as the individual that she wrongs, than the class I +belong to is that which she despises. I can better bear this contumely +when I know that it is an instinct." + +"If birth and blood can justify a prejudice, a Princess of the house of +Delia Torre might claim the privilege," said the girl, haughtily. "No +family of the North, at least, will dispute with our own in lineage; but +there are other causes which may warrant all that she feels towards you +even more strongly, Sebastian. This boast of your English origin, this +it is which has doubtless injured you in her esteem. Too much reason has +she had to cherish the antipathy! Betrayed into a secret marriage by an +Englishman who represented himself as of a race noble as her own, she +was deserted and abandoned by him afterwards. This is the terrible +mystery which I never dared to tell you, and which led us to a life of +seclusion at Massa. This is the source of that hatred towards all of a +nation which she must ever associate with the greatest misfortunes of +her life! And from this unhappy event was she led to make me take that +solemn oath that I spoke of, never to link my fortunes with one of that +hated land." + +"But you told me that you had not made the pledge," said he, wildly. + +"Nor had I then, Sebastian; but since we last met, worked on by +solicitation, I could not resist; tortured by a narrative of such +sorrows as I never listened to before, I yielded, and gave my promise." + +"It matters little to _me!_" said he, gloomily; "a barrier the more or +the less can be of slight moment when there rolls a wide sea between us! +Had you ever loved me, such a pledge had been impossible." + +"It was you yourself, Sebastian, told me we were never to meet again," +rejoined she. + +"Better that we had never done so!" muttered he. "Nay, perhaps I am +wrong," added he, fiercely; "this meeting may serve to mark how little +there ever was between us!" + +"Is this cruelty affected, Sebastian, or is it real?" + +"It cannot be cruel to echo your own words. Besides," said he, with an +air of mockery in the words, "she who lives in this gorgeous palace, +surrounded with all the splendors of life, can have little complaint to +make against the cruelty of fortune!" + +"How unlike yourself is all this!" cried she. "You of all I have ever +seen or known, understood how to rise above the accidents of fate, +placing your happiness and your ambitions in a sphere where mere +questions of wealth never entered. What can have so changed you?" + +Before he could reply, a sudden movement in the crowd beneath attracted +the attention of both, and a number of persons who had filled the +terrace now passed hurriedly into the _salons_, where, to judge from +the commotion, an event of some importance had occurred. Ida lost not +a moment in entering, when she was met by the words: "It is she, Nina +herself is ill; some mask--a stranger, it would seem--has said something +or threatened something." In fact, she had been carried to her room in +strong convulsions; and while some were in search of medical aid +for her, others, not less eagerly, were endeavoring to detect the +delinquent. + +From the gay and brilliant picture of festivity which was presented but +a few minutes back, what a change now came over the scene! Many hurried +away at once, shocked at even a momentary shadow on the sunny road of +their existence; others as anxiously pressed on to recount the incident +elsewhere; some, again, moved by curiosity or some better prompting, +exerted themselves to investigate what amounted to a gross violation of +the etiquette of a carnival; and thus, in the _salons_, on the stairs, +and in the court itself, the greatest bustle and confusion prevailed. At +length some suggested that the gate of the palace should be closed, +and none suffered to depart without unmasking. The motion was at once +adopted, and a small knot of persons, the friends of the Countess, +assumed the task of the scrutiny. + +Despite complaints and remonstrances as to the inconvenience and delay +thus occasioned, they examined every carriage as it passed out. None, +however, but faces familiar to the Florentine world were to be met with; +the well-known of every ball and _fete_ were there, and if a stranger +presented himself, he was sure to be one for whom some acquaintance +could bear testimony. + +At a fire in one of the smaller _salons_ stood a small group, of which +the Duc de Brignolles and Major Scaresby formed a part. Sentiments of a +very different order had detained these two individuals, and while +the former was deeply moved by the insult offered to the Countess, the +latter felt an intense desire to probe the circumstance to the bottom. + +"Devilish odd it is!" cried Scaresby; "here we have been this last hour +and a half turning a whole house out of the windows, and yet there's no +one to tell us what it's all for, what it 's all about!" + +"Pardon, monsieur," said the Duke, severely. "We know that a lady +whose hospitality we have been accepting has retired from her company +insulted. It is very clearly our duty that this should not pass +unpunished." + +"Oughtn't we to have some clearer insight into what constituted the +insult? It may have been a practical joke,--a _mauvaise plaisanterie_, +Duke." + +"We have no claim to any confidence not extended to us, sir," said +the Frenchman. "To me it is quite sufficient that the Countess feels +aggrieved." + +"Not but we shall cut an absurd figure to-morrow, when we own that we +don't know what we were so indignant about." + +"Only so many of us as have characters for the 'latest intelligence.'" + +To this sally there succeeded a somewhat awkward pause, Scaresby +occupying himself with thoughts of some perfectly safe vengeance. + +"I shouldn't wonder if it was that Count Marsano--that fellow who used +to be about the Nina long ago--come back again. He was at Como this +summer, and made many inquiries after his old love!" + +A most insulting stare of defiance was the only reply the old Duke +could make to what he would have been delighted to resent as a personal +affront. + +"Marsano is a _mauvais drole_," said a Russian; "and if a woman slighted +him, or he suspected that she did, he's the very man to execute a +vengeance of the kind." + +"I should apply a harsher epithet to a man capable of such conduct," +said the Duke. + +"He 'd not take it patiently, Duke," said the other. + +"It is precisely in that hope, sir, that I should employ it," said the +Duke. + +Again was the conversation assuming a critical turn, and again an +interval of ominous silence succeeded. + +"There is but one carriage now in the court, your Excellency," said the +servant, addressing the Duke in a low voice, "and the gentleman inside +appears to be seriously ill. It might be better, perhaps, not to detain +him." + +"Of course not," said the Duke; "but stay, I will go down myself." + +There were still a considerable number of persons on foot in the court +when the Duke descended, but only one equipage remained,--a hired +carriage,--at the open door of which a servant was standing, holding a +glass of water for his master. + +"Can I be of any use to your master?" said the Duke, approaching. "Is he +ill?" + +"I fear he has burst a blood-vessel, sir," said the man. "He is too weak +to answer me." + +"Who is it,--what 's his name?" + +"I am not able to tell you, sir; I only accompanied him from the hotel." + +"Let us have a doctor at once; he appears to be dying," said the Duke, +as he placed his fingers on the sick man's wrist. "Let some one go for a +physician." + +"There is one here," cried a voice. "I'm a doctor;" and Billy Traynor +pushed his way to the spot. "Come, Master Charles, get into the coach +and help me to lift him out." + +Young Massy obeyed, and not without difficulty they succeeded at last +in disengaging the almost lifeless form of a man whose dark domino was +perfectly saturated with fresh blood; his half mask still covered his +face, and, to screen his features from the vulgar gaze of the crowd, +they suffered it to remain there. + +Up the wide stairs and into a spacious _salon_ they now carried the +figure, whose drooping head and hanging limbs gave little signs of life. +They placed him on a sofa, and Traynor, with a ready hand, untied +the mask and removed it. "Merciful Heavens," cried he, "it's my Lord +himself!" + +The youth bent down, gazed for a few seconds at the corpse-like face, +and fell fainting to the floor. + +"My Lord Glencore himself!" said the Duke, who was himself an old and +attached friend. + +"Hush! not a word," whispered Traynor; "he 's rallyin'--he 's comin' to; +don't utter a syllable." + +Slowly and languidly the dying man raised his eyelids, and gazed at each +of those around him. From their faces he turned his gaze to the chamber, +viewing the walls and the ceiling all in turn; and then, in an accent +barely audible, he said, "Where am I?" + +"Amongst friends, who love and will cherish you, dear Glencore," said +the Duke, affectionately. + +"Ah, Brignolles, I remember you. And this,--who is this?" + +"Traynor, my Lord,--Billy Traynor, that will never leave you while he +can serve you!" + +"Whose tears are those upon my hand,--I feel them hot and burning," said +the sick man; and Billy stepped back, that the light should fall upon +the figure that knelt beside him. + +"Don't cry, poor fellow," said Glencore; "it must be a hard world, or +you have many better and dearer friends than I could have ever been to +you. Who is this?" + +Billy tried, but could not answer. + +"Tell him, if you know who it is; see how wild and excited it has made +him," cried the Duke; for, stretching out both hands, Glencore had +caught the boy's face on either side, and continued to gaze on it, in +wild eagerness. "It' is--it is!" cried he, pressing it to his bosom, and +kissing the forehead over and over again. + +"Whom does he fancy it? Whom does he suspect?" + +"This is--look, Brignolles," cried the dying man, in a voice already +thick with a death-rattle,--"this is the seventh Lord Viscount Glencore. +I declare it. And now------" + +He fell back, and never spoke more. A single shudder shook his feeble +frame, and he was dead. + +We have had occasion once before in this veracious history to speak of +the polite oblivion Florentine society so well understands to throw over +the course of events which might cloud, even for a moment, the sunny +surface of its enjoyment. No people, so far as we know, have greater +gifts in this way; to shroud the disagreeables of life in decent +shadow--to ignore or forget them is their grand prerogative. + +Scarcely, therefore, had three weeks elapsed, than the terrible +catastrophe at the Palazzo della Torre was totally consigned to the +bygones; it ceased to be thought or spoken of, and was as much matter +of remote history as an incident in the times of one of the Medici. Too +much interested in the future to waste time on the past, they launched +into speculations as to whether the Countess would be likely to marry +again; what change the late event might effect in the amount of her +fortune; and how far her position in the world might be altered by the +incident. He who, in the ordinary esteem of society, would have felt +less acutely than his neighbors for Glencore's sad fate,--Upton,--was +in reality deeply and sincerely affected. The traits which make a +consummate man of the world--one whose prerogative it is to appreciate +others, and be able to guide and influence their actions--are, in truth, +very high and rare gifts, and imply resources of fine sentiment as fully +as stores of intellectual wealth. Upton sorrowed over Glencore as for +one whose noble nature had been poisoned by an impetuous temper, and +over whose best instincts an ungovernable self-esteem had ever held +the mastery. They had been friends almost from boyhood, and the very +worldliest of men can feel the bitterness of that isolation in which the +"turn of life" too frequently commences. Such friendships are never made +in later life. We lend our affections when young on very small security, +and though it is true we are occasionally unfortunate, we do now +and then make a safe investment. No men are more prone to attach an +exaggerated value to early friendships than those who, stirred by strong +ambitions, and animated by high resolves, have played for the great +stakes in the world's lottery. Too much immersed in the cares and +contests of life to find time to contract close personal attachments, +they fall back upon the memory of school or college days to supply the +want of their hearts. There is a sophistry, too, that seduces them to +believe that then, at least, they were loved for what they were, for +qualities of their nature, not for accidents of station, or the proud +rewards of success. There is also another and a very strange element in +the pleasure such memories afford. Our early attachments serve as points +of departure by which we measure the distance we have travelled in life. +"Ay," say we, "we were schoolfellows; I remember how he took the lead of +me in this or that science, how far behind he left me in such a thing; +and yet look at us now!" Upton had very often to fall back upon +similar recollections; neither his school nor his college life had +been remarkable for distinction; but it was always perceived that every +attainment he achieved was such as would be available in after life. Nor +did he ever burden himself with the toils of scholarship while there +lay within his reach stores of knowledge that might serve to contest the +higher and greater prizes that he had already set before his ambition. + +But let us return to himself as, alone and sorrow-struck, he sat in +his room of the Hotel d'Italie. Various cares and duties consequent +on Glencore's death had devolved entirely upon him. Young Massy had +suddenly disappeared from Florence on the morning after the funeral, and +was seen no more, and Upton was the only one who could discharge any of +the necessary duties of such a moment. The very nature of the task +thus imposed upon him had its own depressing influence on his mind; the +gloomy pomp of death--the terrible companionship between affliction and +worldliness--the tear of the mourner--the heart-broken sigh drowned in +the sharp knock of the coffin-maker. He had gone through it all, and sat +moodily pondering over the future, when Madame de Sabloukoff entered. + +"She 's much better this morning, and I think we can go over and dine +with her to-day," said she, removing her shawl and taking a seat. + +He gave a little easy smile that seemed assent, but did not speak. + +"I perceive you have not opened your letters this morning," said she, +turning towards the table, littered over with letters and despatches of +every size and shape! "This seems to be from the King,--is that his mode +of writing 'G. R.' in the corner?" + +"So it is," said Upton, faintly. "Will you be kind enough to read it for +me?" + +"Pavilion, Brighton. + +"Dear Upton,--Let me be the first to congratulate you on an appointment +which it affords me the greatest pleasure to confirm-- + +"What does he allude to?" cried she, stopping suddenly, while a slight +tinge of color showed surprise, and a little displeasure, perhaps, +mingled in her emotions. + +"I have not the very remotest conception," said Upton, calmly. "Let +us see what that large despatch contains; it comes from the Duke of +Agecombe. Oh," said he, with a great effort to appear as calm and +unmoved as possible, "I see what it is, they have given me India!" + +"India!" exclaimed she, in amazement. + +"I mean, my dear Princess, they have given me the Governor-Generalship." + +"Which, of course, you would not accept." + +"Why not, pray?" + +"India!" It is banishment, barbarism, isolation from all that really +interests or embellishes existence,--a despotism that is wanting in the +only element which gives a despot dignity, that he founds or strengthens +a dynasty." + +"No, no, charming Princess," said he, smiling; "it is a very glorious +sovereignty, with unlimited resources and--a very handsome stipend." + +"Which, therefore, you do not decline," said she, with a very peculiar +smile. + +"With your companionship, I should call it a paradise," said he. + +"And without such?" + +"Such a sacrifice as one must never shrink from at the call of duty," +said he, bowing profoundly. + +The Princess dined that day with the Countess of Glencore, and Sir +Horace Upton journeyed towards England. + + + +CHAPTER LIV. THE END + +Tears have gone over, and once more--it is for the last time--we come +back to the old castle in the West, beside the estuary of the Killeries. +Neglect and ruin have made heavy inroads on it. The battlements of +the great tower have fallen. Of the windows, the stormy winds of the +Atlantic have left only the stone mullions. The terrace is cumbered with +loose stones and fallen masonry. Not a trace of the garden remains, save +in the chance presence of some flowering plant or shrub, half-choked +by weeds, and wearing out a sad existence in uncared-for solitude. The +entrance-gate is closely barred and fastened, but a low portal, in +a side wing, lies open, entering by which we can view the dreary +desolation within. The apartments once inhabited by Lord Glencore are +all dismantled and empty. The wind and the rain sweep at will along the +vaulted corridors and through the deep-arched chambers. Of the damp, +discolored walls and ceilings, large patches litter the floors with +fragments of stucco and carved architraves. + +One small chamber, on the ground-floor, maintains a habitable aspect. +Here a bed and a few articles of furniture, some kitchen utensils and +a little bookshelf, all neatly and orderly arranged, show that some one +calls this a home! Sad and lonely enough is it! Not a sound to break +the weary stillness, save the deep roar of the heavy sea; not a living +voice, save the wild shrill cry of the osprey, as he soars above the +barren cliffs! It is winter, and what desolation can be deeper or +gloomier! The sea-sent mists wrap the mountains and even the lough +itself in their vapory shroud. The cold thin rain falls unceasingly; a +cheerless, damp, and heavy atmosphere dwells even within doors; and the +gray half light gives a shadowy indistinctness even to objects at hand, +disposing the mind to sad and dreary imaginings. + +In a deep straw chair, beside the turf fire, sits a very old man, with +a large square volume upon his knee. Dwarfed by nature and shrunk by +years, there is something of almost goblin semblance in the bright +lustre of his dark eyes, and the rapid motion of his lips as he reads to +himself half aloud. The almost wild energy of his features has survived +the wear and tear of time, and, old as he is, there is about him a dash +of vigor that seems to defy age. Poor Billy Traynor is now upwards of +eighty; but his faculties are clear, his memory unclouded, and, like +Moses, his eye not dimmed. "The Three Chronicles of Loughdooner," in +which he is reading, is the history of the Glencores, and contains, +amongst its family records, many curious predictions and prophecies. +The heirs of that ancient house were, from time immemorial, the sport of +fortune, enduring vicissitudes without end. No reverses seemed ever +too heavy to rally from; no depth of evil fate too deep for them to +extricate themselves. Involved in difficulties innumerable, engaged in +plots, conspiracies, luckless undertakings, abortive enterprises, still +they contrived to survive all around them, and come out with, indeed, +ruined fortunes and beggared estate, but still with life, and with what +is the next to life itself, an unconquerable energy of character. + +It was in the encouragement of these gifts that Billy now sought for +what cheered the last declining days of his solitary life. His lord, +as he ever called him, had been for years and years away in a distant +colony, living under another name. Dwelling amongst the rough settlers +of a wild remote tract, a few brief lines at long intervals were the +only tidings that assured Billy he was yet living; yet were they enough +to convince him, coupled with the hereditary traits of his house, that +some one day or other he would come back again to resume his proud place +and the noble name of his ancestors. More than once had it been the fate +of the Glencores to see "the hearth cold, and the roof-tree blackened;" +and Billy now muttered the lines of an old chronicle where such a +destiny was bewailed:-- + + "Where are the voices, whispering low, + Of lovers side by side? + And where the haughty dames who swept + Thy terraces in pride? + Where is the wild and joyous mirth + That drown'd th' Atlantic's roar, + Making the rafters ring again + With welcome to Glencore? + "And where's the step of belted knight, + That strode the massive floor? + And where's the laugh of lady bright, + We used to hear of yore? + The hound that bayed, the prancing steed, + Impatient at the door, + May bide the time for many a year-- + They 'll never see Glencore! + +"And he came back, after all,--Lord Hugo,--and was taken prisoner at +Ormond by Cromwell, and sentenced to death!" said Billy. "Sentenced to +death!--but never shot! Nobody knew why, or ever will know. After years +and years of exile he came back, and was at the Court of Charles, but +never liked,--they say dangerous! That 's exactly the word,--dangerous!" + +He started up from his revery, and, taking his stick, issued from the +room. The mist was beginning to rise, and he took his way towards the +shore of the lough, through the wet and tangled grass. It was a long and +toilsome walk for one so old as he was, but he went manfully onward, and +at last reached the little jetty where the boats from the mainland were +wont to put in. All was cheerless and leaden-hued over the wide waste +of water; a surging swell swept heavily along, but not a sail was to be +seen. Far across the lough he could descry the harbor of Leenane, where +the boats were at anchor, and see the lazy smoke as it slowly rose +in the thick atmosphere. Seated on a stone at the water's edge, Billy +watched long and patiently, his eyes turning at times towards the bleak +mountain-road, which for miles was visible. At last, with a weary sigh, +he arose, and muttering, "He won't come to-day," turned back again to +his lonely home. + +To this hour he lives, and waits the "coming of Glencore." + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Fortunes Of Glencore, by Charles James Lever + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNES OF GLENCORE *** + +***** This file should be named 33556.txt or 33556.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/5/33556/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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