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diff --git a/3699-0.txt b/3699-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f56c71 --- /dev/null +++ b/3699-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1434 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Miss Sarah Jack, of Spanish Town, Jamaica, by +Anthony Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Miss Sarah Jack, of Spanish Town, Jamaica + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2015 [eBook #3699] +[This file was first posted on July 25, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS SARAH JACK, OF SPANISH TOWN, +JAMAICA*** + + +Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman & Hall “Tales of All Countries” edition +by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org. + + + + + + MISS SARAH JACK, OF SPANISH TOWN, JAMAICA. + + +THERE is nothing so melancholy as a country in its decadence, unless it +be a people in their decadence. I am not aware that the latter +misfortune can be attributed to the Anglo-Saxon race in any part of the +world; but there is reason to fear that it has fallen on an English +colony in the island of Jamaica. + +Jamaica was one of those spots on which fortune shone with the full +warmth of all her noonday splendour. That sun has set;—whether for ever +or no none but a prophet can tell; but as far as a plain man may see, +there are at present but few signs of a coming morrow, or of another +summer. + +It is not just or proper that one should grieve over the misfortunes of +Jamaica with a stronger grief because her savannahs are so lovely, her +forests so rich, her mountains so green, and he rivers so rapid; but it +is so. It is piteous that a land so beautiful should be one which fate +has marked for misfortune. Had Guiana, with its flat, level, unlovely +soil, become poverty-stricken, one would hardly sorrow over it as one +does sorrow for Jamaica. + +As regards scenery she is the gem of the western tropics. It is +impossible to conceive spots on the earth’s surface more gracious to the +eye than those steep green valleys which stretch down to the south-west +from the Blue Mountain peak towards the sea; and but little behind these +in beauty are the rich wooded hills which in the western part of the +island divide the counties of Hanover and Westmoreland. The hero of the +tale which I am going to tell was a sugar-grower in the latter district, +and the heroine was a girl who lived under that Blue Mountain peak. + +The very name of a sugar-grower as connected with Jamaica savours of +fruitless struggle, failure, and desolation. And from his earliest +growth fruitless struggle, failure, and desolation had been the lot of +Maurice Cumming. At eighteen years of age he had been left by his father +sole possessor of the Mount Pleasant estate, than which in her palmy days +Jamaica had little to boast of that was more pleasant or more palmy. But +those days had passed by before Roger Cumming, the father of our friend, +had died. + +These misfortunes coming on the head of one another, at intervals of a +few years, had first stunned and then killed him. His slaves rose +against him, as they did against other proprietors around him, and burned +down his house and mills, his homestead and offices. Those who know the +amount of capital which a sugar-grower must invest in such buildings will +understand the extent of this misfortune. Then the slaves were +emancipated. It is not perhaps possible that we, now-a-days, should +regard this as a calamity; but it was quite impossible that a Jamaica +proprietor of those days should not have done so. Men will do much for +philanthropy, they will work hard, they will give the coat from their +back;—nay the very shirt from their body; but few men will endure to look +on with satisfaction while their commerce is destroyed. + +But even this Mr. Cumming did bear after a while, and kept his shoulder +to the wheel. He kept his shoulder to the wheel till that third +misfortune came upon him—till the protection duty on Jamaica sugar was +abolished. Then he turned his face to the wall and died. + +His son at this time was not of age, and the large but lessening property +which Mr. Cumming left behind him was for three years in the hands of +trustees. But nevertheless Maurice, young as he was, managed the estate. +It was he who grew the canes, and made the sugar;—or else failed to make +it. He was the “massa” to whom the free negroes looked as the source +from whence their wants should be supplied, notwithstanding that, being +free, they were ill inclined to work for him, let his want of work be +ever so sore. + +Mount Pleasant had been a very large property. In addition to his +sugar-canes Mr. Cumming had grown coffee; for his land ran up into the +hills of Trelawney to that altitude which in the tropics seems necessary +for the perfect growth of the coffee berry. But it soon became evident +that labour for the double produce could not be had, and the coffee +plantation was abandoned. Wild brush and the thick undergrowth of forest +reappeared on the hill-sides which had been rich with produce. And the +evil re-created and exaggerated itself. Negroes squatted on the +abandoned property; and being able to live with abundance from their +stolen gardens, were less willing than ever to work in the cane pieces. + +And thus things went from bad to worse. In the good old times Mr. +Cumming’s sugar produce had spread itself annually over some three +hundred acres; but by degrees this dwindle down to half that extent of +land. And then in those old golden days they had always taken a full +hogshead from the acre;—very often more. The estate had sometimes given +four hundred hogsheads in the year. But in the days of which we now +speak the crop had fallen below fifty. + +At this time Maurice Cumming was eight-and-twenty, and it is hardly too +much to say that misfortune had nearly crushed him. But nevertheless it +had not crushed him. He, and some few like him, had still hoped against +hope; had still persisted in looking forward to a future for the island +which once was so generous with its gifts. When his father died he might +still have had enough for the wants of life had he sold his property for +what it would fetch. There was money in England, and the remains of +large wealth. But he would not sacrifice Mount Pleasant or abandon +Jamaica; and now after ten years’ struggling he still kept Mount +Pleasant, and the mill was still going; but all other property had parted +from his hands. + +By nature Maurice Cumming would have been gay and lively, a man with a +happy spirit and easy temper; but struggling had made him silent if not +morose, and had saddened if not soured his temper. He had lived alone at +Mount Pleasant, or generally alone. Work or want of money, and the +constant difficulty of getting labour for his estate, had left him but +little time for a young man’s ordinary amusements. Of the charms of +ladies’ society he had known but little. Very many of the estates around +him had been absolutely abandoned, as was the case with his own coffee +plantation, and from others men had sent away their wives and daughters. +Nay, most of the proprietors had gone themselves, leaving an overseer to +extract what little might yet be extracted out of the property. It too +often happened that that little was not sufficient to meet the demands of +the overseer himself. + +The house at Mount Pleasant had been an irregular, low-roofed, +picturesque residence, built with only one floor, and surrounded on all +sides by large verandahs. In the old days it had always been kept in +perfect order, but now this was far from being the case. Few young +bachelors can keep a house in order, but no bachelor young or old can do +so under such a doom as that of Maurice Cumming. Every shilling that +Maurice Cumming could collect was spent in bribing negroes to work for +him. But bribe as he would the negroes would not work. “No, massa: me +pain here; me no workee to-day,” and Sambo would lay his fat hand on his +fat stomach. + +I have said that he lived generally alone. Occasionally his house on +Mount Pleasant was enlivened by visits of an aunt, a maiden sister of his +mother, whose usual residence was at Spanish Town. It is or should be +known to all men that Spanish Town was and is the seat of Jamaica +legislature. + +But Maurice was not over fond of his relative. In this he was both wrong +and foolish, for Miss Sarah Jack—such was her name—was in many respects a +good woman, and was certainly a rich woman. It is true that she was not +a handsome woman, nor a fashionable woman, nor perhaps altogether an +agreeable woman. She was tall, thin, ungainly, and yellow. Her voice, +which she used freely, was harsh. She was a politician and a patriot. +She regarded England as the greatest of countries, and Jamaica as the +greatest of colonies. But much as she loved England she was very loud in +denouncing what she called the perfidy of the mother to the brightest of +her children. And much as she loved Jamaica she was equally severe in +her taunts against those of her brother-islanders who would not believe +that the island might yet flourish as it had flourished in her father’s +days. + +“It is because you and men like you will not do your duty by your +country,” she had said some score of times to Maurice—not with much +justice considering the laboriousness of his life. + +But Maurice knew well what she meant. “What could I do there up at +Spanish Town,” he would answer, “among such a pack as there are there? +Here I may do something.” + +And then she would reply with the full swing of her eloquence, “It is +because you and such as you think only of yourself and not of Jamaica, +that Jamaica has come to such a pass as this. Why is there a pack there +as you call them in the honourable House of Assembly? Why are not the +best men in the island to be found there, as the best men in England are +to be found in the British House of Commons? A pack, indeed! My father +was proud of a seat in that house, and I remember the day, Maurice +Cumming, when your father also thought it no shame to represent his own +parish. If men like you, who have a stake in the country, will not go +there, of course the house is filled with men who have no stake. If they +are a pack, it is you who send them there;—you, and others like you.” + +All had its effect, though at the moment Maurice would shrug his +shoulders and turn away his head from the torrent of the lady’s +discourse. But Miss Jack, though she was not greatly liked, was greatly +respected. Maurice would not own that she convinced him; but at last he +did allow his name to be put up as candidate for his own parish, and in +due time he became a member of the honourable House of Assembly in +Jamaica. + +This honour entails on the holder of it the necessity of living at or +within reach of Spanish Town for some ten weeks towards the chose of +every year. Now on the whole face of the uninhabited globe there is +perhaps no spot more dull to look at, more Lethean in its aspect, more +corpse-like or more cadaverous than Spanish Town. It is the +head-quarters of the government, the seat of the legislature, the +residence of the governor;—but nevertheless it is, as it were, a city of +the very dead. + +Here, as we have said before, lived Miss Jack in a large forlorn +ghost-like house in which her father and all her family had lived before +her. And as a matter of course Maurice Cumming when he came up to attend +to his duties as a member of the legislature took up his abode with her. + +Now at the time of which we are specially speaking he had completed the +first of these annual visits. He had already benefited his country by +sitting out one session of the colonial parliament, and had satisfied +himself that he did no other good than that of keeping away some person +more objectionable than himself. He was however prepared to repeat this +self-sacrifice in a spirit of patriotism for which he received a very +meagre meed of eulogy from Miss Jack, and an amount of self-applause +which was not much more extensive. + +“Down at Mount Pleasant I can do something,” he would say over and over +again, “but what good can any man do up here?” + +“You can do your duty,” Miss Jack would answer, “as others did before you +when the colony was made to prosper.” And then they would run off into a +long discussion about free labour and protective duties. But at the +present moment Maurice Cumming had another vexation on his mind over and +above that arising from his wasted hours at Spanish Town, and his +fruitless labours at Mount Pleasant. He was in love, and was not +altogether satisfied with the conduct of his lady-love. + +Miss Jack had other nephews besides Maurice Cumming, and nieces also, of +whom Marian Leslie was one. The family of the Leslies lived up near +Newcastle—in the mountains, that is, which stand over Kingston—at a +distance of some eighteen miles from Kingston, but in a climate as +different from that of the town as the climate of Naples is from that of +Berlin. In Kingston the heat is all but intolerable throughout the year, +by day and by night, in the house and out of it. In the mountains round +Newcastle, some four thousand feet above the sea, it is merely warm +during the day, and cool enough at night to make a blanket desirable. + +It is pleasant enough living up amongst those green mountains. There are +no roads there for wheeled carriages, nor are there carriages with or +without wheels. All journeys are made on horseback. Every visit paid +from house to house is performed in this manner. Ladies young and old +live before dinner in their riding-habits. The hospitality is free, +easy, and unembarrassed. The scenery is magnificent. The tropical +foliage is wild and luxuriant beyond measure. There may be enjoyed all +that a southern climate has to offer of enjoyment, without the penalties +which such enjoyments usually entail. + +Mrs. Leslie was a half-sister of Miss Jack, and Miss Jack had been a +half-sister also of Mrs. Cumming; but Mrs. Leslie and Mrs. Cumming had in +no way been related. And it had so happened that up to the period of his +legislative efforts Maurice Cumming had seen nothing of the Leslies. +Soon after his arrival at Spanish Town he had been taken by Miss Jack to +Shandy Hall, for so the residence of the Leslies was called, and having +remained there for three days, had fallen in love with Marian Leslie. +Now in the West Indies all young ladies flirt; it is the first habit of +their nature—and few young ladies in the West Indies were more given to +flirting, or understood the science better than Marian Leslie. + +Maurice Cumming fell violently in love, and during his first visit at +Shandy Hall found that Marian was perfection—for during this first visit +her propensities were exerted altogether in his own favour. That little +circumstance does make such a difference in a young man’s judgment of a +girl! He came back fall of admiration, not altogether to Miss Jack’s +dissatisfaction; for Miss Jack was willing enough that both her nephew +and her niece should settle down into married life. + +But then Maurice met his fair one at a governor’s ball—at a ball where +red coats abounded, and aides-de-camp dancing in spurs, and +narrow-waisted lieutenants with sashes or epaulettes! The aides-de-camp +and narrow-waisted lieutenants waltzed better than he did; and as one +after the other whisked round the ball-room with Marian firmly clasped in +his arms, Maurice’s feelings were not of the sweetest. Nor was this the +worst of it. Had the whisking been divided equally among ten, he might +have forgiven it; but there was one specially narrow-waisted lieutenant, +who towards the end of the evening kept Marian nearly wholly to himself. +Now to a man in love, who has had but little experience of either balls +or young ladies, this is intolerable. + +He only met her twice after that before his return to Mount Pleasant, and +on the first occasion that odious soldier was not there. But a specially +devout young clergyman was present, an unmarried, evangelical, handsome +young curate fresh from England; and Marian’s piety had been so excited +that she had cared for no one else. It appeared moreover that the +curate’s gifts for conversion were confined, as regarded that +opportunity, to Marion’s advantage. “I will have nothing more to say to +her,” said Maurice to himself, scowling. But just as he went away Marian +had given him her hand, and called him Maurice—for she pretended that +they were cousins—and had looked into his eyes and declared that she did +hope that the assembly at Spanish Town would soon be sitting again. +Hitherto, she said, she had not cared one straw about it. Then poor +Maurice pressed the little fingers which lay within his own, and swore +that he would be at Shandy Hall on the day before his return to Mount +Pleasant. So he was; and there he found the narrow-waisted lieutenant, +not now bedecked with sash and epaulettes, but lolling at his ease on +Mrs. Leslie’s sofa in a white jacket, while Marian sat at his feet +telling his fortune with a book about flowers. + +“Oh, a musk rose, Mr. Ewing; you know what a musk rose means!” Then she +got up and shook hands with Mr. Cumming; but her eyes still went away to +the white jacket and the sofa. Poor Maurice had often been nearly +broken-hearted in his efforts to manage his free black labourers; but +even that was easier than managing such as Marion Leslie. + +Marian Leslie was a Creole—as also were Miss Jack and Maurice Cumming—a +child of the tropics; but by no means such a child as tropical children +are generally thought to be by us in more northern latitudes. She was +black-haired and black-eyed, but her lips were as red and her cheeks as +rosy as though she had been born and bred in regions where the snow lies +in winter. She was a small, pretty, beautifully made little creature, +somewhat idle as regards the work of the world, but active and strong +enough when dancing or riding were required from her. Her father was a +banker, and was fairly prosperous in spite of the poverty of his country. +His house of business was at Kingston, and he usually slept there twice a +week; but he always resided at Shandy Hall, and Mrs. Leslie and her +children knew but very little of the miseries of Kingston. For be it +known to all men, that of all towns Kingston, Jamaica, is the most +miserable. + +I fear that I shall have set my readers very much against Marian +Leslie;—much more so than I would wish to do. As a rule they will not +know how thoroughly flirting is an institution in the West +Indies—practised by all young ladies, and laid aside by them when they +marry, exactly as their young-lady names and young-lady habits of various +kinds are laid aside. All I would say of Marian Leslie is this, that she +understood the working of the institution more thoroughly than others +did. And I must add also in her favour that she did not keep her +flirting for sly corners, nor did her admirers keep their distance till +mamma was out of the way. It mattered not to her who was present. Had +she been called on to make one at a synod of the clergy of the island, +she would have flirted with the bishop before all his priests. And there +have been bishops in the colony who would not have gainsayed her! + +But Maurice Cumming did not rightly calculate all this; nor indeed did +Miss Jack do so as thoroughly as she should have done, for Miss Jack knew +more about such matters than did poor Maurice. “If you like Marion, why +don’t you marry her?” + +Miss Jack had once said to him; and this coming from Miss Jack, who was +made of money, was a great deal. + +“She wouldn’t have me,” Maurice had answered. + +“That’s more than you know or I either,” was Miss Jack’s reply. “But if +you like to try, I’ll help you.” + +With reference to this, Maurice as he left Miss Jack’s residence on his +return to Mount Pleasant, had declared that Marian Leslie was not worth +an honest man’s love. + +“Psha!” Miss Jack replied; “Marian will do like other girls. When you +marry a wife I suppose you mean to be master?” + +“At any rate I shan’t marry her,” said Maurice. And so he went his way +back to Hanover with a sore heart. And no wonder, for that was the very +day on which Lieutenant Ewing had asked the question about the musk rose. + +But there was a dogged constancy of feeling about Maurice which could not +allow him to disburden himself of his love. When he was again at Mount +Pleasant among his sugar-canes and hogsheads he could not help thinking +about Marian. It is true he always thought of her as flying round that +ball-room in Ewing’s arms, or looking up with rapt admiration into that +young parson’s face; and so he got but little pleasure from his thoughts. +But not the less was he in love with her;—not the less, though he would +swear to himself three times in the day that for no earthly consideration +would he marry Marian Leslie. + +The early months of the year from January to May are the busiest with a +Jamaica sugar-grower, and in this year they were very busy months with +Maurice Cumming. It seemed as though there were actually some truth in +Miss Jack’s prediction that prosperity would return to him if he attended +to his country; for the prices of sugar had risen higher than they had +ever been since the duty had been withdrawn, and there was more promise +of a crop at Mount Pleasant than he had seen since his reign commenced. +But then the question of labour? How he slaved in trying to get work +from those free negroes; and alas! how often he slaved in vain! But it +was not all in vain; for as things went on it became clear to him that in +this year he would, for the first time since he commenced, obtain +something like a return from his land. What if the turning-point had +come, and things were now about to run the other way. + +But then the happiness which might have accrued to him from this source +was dashed by his thoughts of Marian Leslie. Why had he thrown himself +in the way of that syren? Why had he left Mount Pleasant at all? He +knew that on his return to Spanish Town his first work would be to visit +Shandy Hall; and yet he felt that of all places in the island, Shandy +Hall was the last which he ought to visit. + +And then about the beginning of May, when he was hard at work turning the +last of his canes into sugar and rum, he received his annual visit from +Miss Jack. And whom should Miss Jack bring with her but Mr. Leslie. + +“I’ll tell you what it is,” said Miss Jack; “I have spoken to Mr. Leslie +about you and Marian.” + +“Then you had no business to do anything of the kind,” said Maurice, +blushing up to his ears. + +“Nonsense,” replied Miss Jack, “I understand what I am about. Of course +Mr. Leslie will want to know something about the estate.” + +“Then he may go back as wise as he came, for he’ll learn nothing from me. +Not that I have anything to hide.” + +“So I told him. Now there are a large family of them, you see; and of +course he can’t give Marian much.” + +“I don’t care a straw if he doesn’t give her a shilling. If she cared +for me, or I for her, I shouldn’t look after her for her money.” + +“But a little money is not a bad thing, Maurice,” said Miss Jack, who in +her time had had a good deal, and had managed to take care of it. + +“It is all one to me.” + +“But what I was going to say is this—hum—ha. I don’t like to pledge +myself for fear I should raise hopes which mayn’t be fulfilled.” + +“Don’t pledge yourself to anything, aunt, in which Marian Leslie and I +are concerned.” + +“But what I was going to say is this; my money, what little I have, you +know, must go some day either to you or to the Leslies.” + +“You may give all to them if you please.” + +“Of course I may, and I dare say I shall,” said Miss Jack, who was +beginning to be irritated. “But at any rate you might have the civility +to listen to me when I am endeavouring to put you on your legs. I am +sure I think about nothing else, morning, noon, and night, and yet I +never get a decent word from you. Marian is too good for you; that’s the +truth.” + +But at length Miss Jack was allowed to open her budget, and to make her +proposition; which amounted to this—that she had already told Mr. Leslie +that she would settle the bulk of her property conjointly on Maurice and +Marian if they would make a match of it. Now as Mr. Leslie had long been +casting a hankering eye after Miss Jack’s money, with a strong conviction +however that Maurice Cumming was her favourite nephew and probable heir, +this proposition was not unpalatable. So he agreed to go down to Mount +Pleasant and look about him. + +“But you may live for the next thirty years, my dear Miss Jack,” Mr. +Leslie had said. + +“Yes, I may,” Miss Jack replied, looking very dry. + +“And I am sure I hope you will,” continued Mr. Leslie. And then the +subject was allowed to drop; for Mr. Leslie knew that it was not always +easy to talk to Miss Jack on such matters. + +Miss Jack was a person in whom I think we may say that the good +predominated over the bad. She was often morose, crabbed, and +self-opinionated; but then she knew her own imperfections, and forgave +those she loved for evincing their dislike of them. Maurice Cumming was +often inattentive to her, plainly showing that he was worried by her +importunities and ill at ease in her company. But she loved her nephew +with all her heart; and though she dearly liked to tyrannise over him, +never allow herself to be really angry with him, though he so frequently +refused to bow to her dictation. And she loved Marian Leslie also, +though Marian was so sweet and lovely and she herself so harsh and +ill-favoured. She loved Marian, though Marian would often be +impertinent. She forgave the flirting, the light-heartedness, the love +of amusement. Marian, she said to herself, was young and pretty. She, +Miss Jack, had never known Marian’s temptation. And so she resolved in +her own mind that Marian should be made a good and happy woman;—but +always as the wife of Maurice Cumming. + +But Maurice turned a deaf ear to all these good tidings—or rather he +turned to them an ear that seemed to be deaf. He dearly, ardently loved +that little flirt; but seeing that she was a flirt, that she had flirted +so grossly when he was by, he would not confess his love to a human +being. He would not have it known that he was wasting his heart for a +worthless little chit, to whom every man was the same—except that those +were most eligible whose toes were the lightest and their outside +trappings the brightest. That he did love her he could not help, but he +would not disgrace himself by acknowledging it. + +He was very civil to Mr. Leslie, but he would not speak a word that could +be taken as a proposal for Marian. It had been part of Miss Jack’s plan +that the engagement should absolutely be made down there at Mount +Pleasant, without any reference to the young lady; but Maurice could not +be induced to break the ice. So he took Mr. Leslie through his mills and +over his cane-pieces, talked to him about the laziness of the “niggers,” +while the “niggers” themselves stood by tittering, and rode with him away +to the high grounds where the coffee plantation had been in the good old +days; but not a word was said between them about Marian. And yet Marian +was never out of his heart. + +And then came the day on which Mr. Leslie was to go back to Kingston. +“And you won’t have her then?” said Miss Jack to her nephew early that +morning. “You won’t be said by me?” + +“Not in this matter, aunt.” + +“Then you will live and die a poor man; you mean that, I suppose?” + +“It’s likely enough that I shall. There’s this comfort, at any rate, I’m +used to it.” And then Miss Jack was silent again for a while. + +“Very well, sir; that’s enough,” she said angrily. And then she began +again. “But, Maurice, you wouldn’t have to wait for my death, you know.” +And she put out her hand and touched his arm, entreating him as it were +to yield to her. “Oh, Maurice,” she said, “I do so want to make you +comfortable. Let us speak to Mr. Leslie.” + +But Maurice would not. He took her hand and thanked her, but said that +on this matter he must he his own master. “Very well, sir,” she +exclaimed, “I have done. In future you may manage for yourself. As for +me, I shall go back with Mr. Leslie to Kingston.” And so she did. Mr. +Leslie returned that day, taking her with him. When he took his leave, +his invitation to Maurice to come to Shandy Hall was not very pressing. +“Mrs. Leslie and the children will always be glad to see you,” said he. + +“Remember me very kindly to Mrs. Leslie and the children,” said Maurice. +And so they parted. + +“You have brought me down here on a regular fool’s errand,” said Mr. +Leslie, on their journey back to town. + +“It will all come right yet,” replied Miss Jack. “Take my word for it he +loves her.” + +“Fudge,” said Mr. Leslie. But he could not afford to quarrel with his +rich connection. + +In spite of all that he had said and thought to the contrary, Maurice did +look forward during the remainder of the summer to his return to Spanish +Town with something like impatience, it was very dull work, being there +alone at Mount Pleasant; and let him do what he would to prevent it, his +very dreams took him to Shandy Hall. But at last the slow time made +itself away, and he found himself once more in his aunt’s house. + +A couple of days passed and no word was said about the Leslies. On the +morning of the third day he determined to go to Shandy Hall. Hitherto he +had never been there without staying for the night; but on this occasion +he made up his mind to return the same day. “It would not be civil of me +not to go there,” he said to his aunt. + +“Certainly not,” she replied, forbearing to press the matter further. +“But why make such a terrible hard day’s work of it?” + +“Oh, I shall go down in the cool, before breakfast; and then I need not +have the bother of taking a bag.” + +And in this way he started. Miss Jack said nothing further; but she +longed in her heart that she might be at Marian’s elbow unseen during the +visit. + +He found them all at breakfast, and the first to welcome him at the hall +door was Marian. “Oh, Mr. Cumming, we are so glad to see you;” and she +looked into his eyes with a way she had, that was enough to make a man’s +heart wild. But she not call him Maurice now. + +Miss Jack had spoken to her sister, Mrs. Leslie, as well as to Mr. +Leslie, about this marriage scheme. “Just let them alone,” was Mrs. +Leslie’s advice. “You can’t alter Marian by lecturing her. If they +really love each other they’ll come together; and if they don’t, why then +they’d better not.” + +“And you really mean that you’re going back to Spanish Town to-day?” said +Mrs. Leslie to her visitor. + +“I’m afraid I must. Indeed I haven’t brought my things with me.” And +then he again caught Marian’s eye, and began to wish that his resolution +had not been so sternly made. + +“I suppose you are so fond of that House of Assembly,” said Marian, “that +you cannot tear yourself away for more than one day. You’ll not be able, +I suppose, to find time to come to our picnic next week?” + +Maurice said he feared that he should not have time to go to a picnic. + +“Oh, nonsense,” said Fanny—one of the younger girls—“you must come. We +can’t do without him, can we?” + +“Marian has got your name down the first on the list of the gentlemen,” +said another. + +“Yes; and Captain Ewing’s second,” said Bell, the youngest. + +“I’m afraid I must induce your sister to alter her list,” said Maurice, +in his sternest manner. “I cannot manage to go, and I’m sure she will +not miss me.” + +Marion looked at the little girl who had so unfortunately mentioned the +warrior’s name, and the little girl knew that she had sinned. + +“Oh, we cannot possibly do without you; can we, Marian?” said Fanny. +“It’s to be at Bingley’s Dell, and we’ve got a bed for you at Newcastle; +quite near, you know.” + +“And another for—” began Bell, but she stopped herself. + +“Go away to your lessons, Bell,” said Marion. “You know how angry mamma +will be at your staying here all the morning;” and poor Bell with a +sorrowful look left the room. + +“We are all certainly very anxious that you should come; very anxious for +a great many reasons,” said Marian, in a voice that was rather solemn, +and as though the matter were one of considerable import. “But if you +really cannot, why of course there is no more to be said.” + +“There will be plenty without me, I am sure.” + +“As regards numbers, I dare say there will; for we shall have pretty +nearly the whole of the two regiments;” and Marian as she alluded to the +officers spoke in a tone which might lead one to think that she would +much rather be without them; “but we counted on you as being one of +ourselves; and as you had been away so long, we thought—we thought—,” and +then she turned away her face, and did not finish her speech. Before he +could make up his mind as to his answer she had risen from her chair, and +walked out of the room. Maurice almost thought that he saw a tear in her +eye as she went. + +He did ride back to Spanish Town that afternoon, after an early dinner; +but before he went Marian spoke to him alone for one minute. + +“I hope you are not offended with me,” she said. + +“Offended! oh no; how could I be offended with you?” + +“Because you seem so stern. I am sure I would do anything I could to +oblige you, if I knew how. It would be so shocking not to be good +friends with a cousin like you.” + +“But there are so many different sorts of friends,” said Maurice. + +“Of course there are. There are a great many friends that one does not +care a bit for,—people that one meets at balls and places like that—” + +“And at picnics,” said Maurice. + +“Well, some of them there too; but we are not like that; are we?” + +What could Maurice do but say, “no,” and declare that their friendship +was of a warmer description? And how could he resist promising to go to +the picnic, though as he made the promise he knew that misery would be in +store for him? He did promise, and then she gave him her hand and called +him Maurice. + +“Oh! I am so glad,” she said. “It seemed so shocking that you should +refuse to join us. And mind and be early, Maurice; for I shall want to +explain it all. We are to meet, you know, at Clifton Gate at one +o’clock, but do you be a little before that, and we shall be there.” + +Maurice Cumming resolved within his own breast as he rode back to Spanish +Town, that if Marian behaved to him all that day at the picnic as she had +done this day at Shandy Hall, he would ask her to be his wife before he +left her. + +And Miss Jack also was to be at the picnic. + +“There is no need of going early,” said she, when her nephew made a fuss +about the starting. “People are never very punctual at such affairs as +that; and then they are always quite long enough.” But Maurice explained +that he was anxious to be early, and on this occasion he carried his +point. + +When they reached Clifton Gate the ladies were already there; not in +carriages, as people go to picnics in other and tamer countries, but each +on her own horse or her own pony. But they were not alone. Beside Miss +Leslie was a gentleman, whom Maurice knew as Lieutenant Graham, of the +flag-ship at Port Royal; and at a little distance which quite enabled him +to join in the conversation was Captain Ewing, the lieutenant with the +narrow waist of the previous year. + +“We shall have a delightful day, Miss Leslie,” said the lieutenant. + +“Oh, charming, isn’t it?” said Marian. + +“But now to choose a place for dinner, Captain Ewing;—what do you say?” + +“Will you commission me to select? You know I’m very well up in +geometry, and all that?” + +“But that won’t teach you what sort of a place does for a picnic +dinner;—will it, Mr. Cumming?” And then she shook hands with Maurice, +but did not take any further special notice of him. “We’ll all go +together, if you please. The commission is too important to be left to +one.” And then Marian rode off, and the lieutenant and the captain rode +with her. + +It was open for Maurice to join them if he chose, but he did not choose. +He had come there ever so much earlier than he need have done, dragging +his aunt with him, because Marian had told him that his services would be +specially required by her. And now as soon as she saw him she went away +with the two officers!—went away without vouchsafing him a word. He made +up his mind, there on the spot, that he would never think of her +again—never speak to her otherwise than he might speak to the most +indifferent of mortals. + +And yet he was a man that could struggle right manfully with the world’s +troubles; one who had struggled with them from his boyhood, and had never +been overcome. Now he was unable to conceal the bitterness of his wrath +because a little girl had ridden off to look for a green spot for her +tablecloth without asking his assistance! + +Picnics are, I think, in general, rather tedious for the elderly people +who accompany them. When the joints become a little stiff, dinners are +eaten most comfortably with the accompaniment of chairs and tables, and a +roof overhead is an agrément de plus. But, nevertheless, picnics cannot +exist without a certain allowance of elderly people. The Miss Marians +and Captains Ewing cannot go out to dine on the grass without some one to +look after them. So the elderly people go to picnics, in a dull tame +way, doing their duty, and wishing the day over. Now on the morning in +question, when Marian rode off with Captain Ewing and lieutenant Graham, +Maurice Cumming remained among the elderly people. + +A certain Mr. Pomken, a great Jamaica agriculturist, one of the Council, +a man who had known the good old times, got him by the button and held +him fast, discoursing wisely of sugar and ruin, of Gadsden pans and +recreant negroes, on all of which subjects Maurice Cumming was known to +have an opinion of his own. But as Mr. Pomken’s words sounded into one +ear, into the other fell notes, listened to from afar,—the shrill +laughing voice of Marian Leslie as she gave her happy order to her +satellites around her, and ever and anon the bass haw-haw of Captain +Ewing, who was made welcome as the chief of her attendants. That evening +in a whisper to a brother councillor Mr. Pomken communicated his opinion +that after all there was not so much in that young Cumming as some people +said. But Mr. Pomken had no idea that that young Cumming was in love. + +And then the dinner came, spread over half an acre. Maurice was among +the last who seated himself; and when he did so it was in an awkward +comfortless corner, behind Mr. Pomken’s back, and far away from the +laughter and mirth of the day. But yet from his comfortless corner he +could see Marian as she sat in her pride of power, with her friend Julia +Davis near her, a flirt as bad as herself, and her satellites around her, +obedient to her nod, and happy in her smiles. + +“Now I won’t allow any more champagne,” said Marian, “or who will there +be steady enough to help me over the rocks to the grotto?” + +“Oh, you have promised me!” cried the captain. + +“Indeed, I have not; have I, Julia?” + +“Miss Davis has certainly promised me,” said the lieutenant. + +“I have made no promise, and don’t think I shall go at all,” said Julia, +who was sometimes inclined to imagine that Captain Ewing should be her +own property. + +All which and much more of the kind Maurice Cumming could not hear; but +he could see—and imagine, which was worse. How innocent and inane are, +after all, the flirtings of most young ladies, if all their words and +doings in that line could be brought to paper! I do not know whether +there be as a rule more vocal expression of the sentiment of love between +a man and woman than there is between two thrushes! They whistle and +call to each other, guided by instinct rather than by reason. + +“You are going home with the ladies to-night, I believe,” said Maurice to +Miss Jack, immediately after dinner. Miss Jack acknowledged that such +was her destination for the night. + +“Then my going back to Spanish Town at once won’t hurt any one—for, to +tell the truth, I have had enough of this work.” + +“Why, Maurice, you were in such a hurry to come.” + +“The more fool I; and so now I am in a hurry to go away. Don’t notice it +to anybody.” + +Miss Jack looked in his face and saw that he was really wretched; and she +knew the cause of his wretchedness. + +“Don’t go yet, Maurice,” she said; and then added with a tenderness that +was quite uncommon with her, “Go to her, Maurice, and speak to her openly +and freely, once for all; you will find that she will listen then. Dear +Maurice, do, for my sake.” + +He made no answer, but walked away, roaming sadly by himself among the +trees. “Listen!” he exclaimed to himself. “Yes, she will alter a dozen +times in as many hours. Who can care for a creature that can change as +she changes?” And yet he could not help caring for her. + +As he went on, climbing among rocks, he again came upon the sound of +voices, and heard especially that of Captain Ewing. “Now, Miss Leslie, +if you will take my hand you will soon be over all the difficulty.” And +then a party of seven or eight, scrambling over some stones, came nearly +on the level on which he stood, in full view of him; and leading the +others were Captain Ewing and Miss Leslie. + +He turned on his heel to go away, when he caught the sound of a step +following him, and a voice saying, “Oh, there is Mr. Cumming, and I want +to speak to him;” and in a minute a light hand was on his arm. + +“Why are you running away from us?” said Marian. + +“Because—oh, I don’t know. I am not running away. You have your party +made up, and I am not going to intrude on it.” + +“What nonsense! Do come now; we are going to this wonderful grotto. I +thought it so ill-natured of you, not joining us at dinner. Indeed you +know you had promised.” + +He did not answer her, but he looked at her—full in the face, with his +sad eyes laden with love. She half understood his countenance, but only +half understood it. + +“What is the matter, Maurice?” she said. “Are you angry with me? Will +you come and join us?” + +“No, Marian, I cannot do that. But if you can leave them and come with +me for half an hour, I will not keep you longer.” + +She stood hesitating a moment, while her companion remained on the spot +where she had left him. “Come, Miss Leslie,” called Captain Ewing. “You +will have it dark before we can get down.” + +“I will come with you,” whispered she to Maurice, “but wait a moment.” +And she tripped back, and in some five minutes returned after an eager +argument with her friends. “There,” she said, “I don’t care about the +grotto, one bit, and I will walk with you now;—only they will think it so +odd.” And so they started off together. + +Before the tropical darkness had fallen upon them Maurice had told the +tale of his love,—and had told it in a manner differing much from that of +Marian’s usual admirers, he spoke with passion and almost with violence; +he declared that his heart was so full of her image that he could not rid +himself of it for one minute; “nor would he wish to do so,” he said, “if +she would be his Marian, his own Marian, his very own. But if not—” and +then he explained to her, with all a lover’s warmth, and with almost more +than a lover’s liberty, what was his idea of her being “his own, his very +own,” and in doing so inveighed against her usual light-heartedness in +terms which at any rate were strong enough. + +But Marian here it all well. Perhaps she knew that the lesson was +somewhat deserved; and perhaps she appreciated at its value the love of +such a man as Maurice Cumming, weighing in her judgment the difference +between him and the Ewings and the Grahams. + +And then she answered him well and prudently, with words which startled +him by their prudent seriousness as coming from her. She begged his +pardon heartily, she said, for any grief which she had caused him; but +yet how was she to be blamed, seeing that she had known nothing of his +feelings? Her father and mother had said something to her of this +proposed marriage; something, but very little; and she had answered by +saying that she did not think Maurice had any warmer regard for her than +of a cousin. After this answer neither father nor mother had pressed the +matter further. As to her own feelings she could then say nothing, for +she then knew nothing;—nothing but this, that she loved no one better +than him, or rather that she loved no one else. She would ask herself if +she could love him; but he must give her some little time for that. In +the meantime—and she smiled sweetly at him as she made the promise—she +would endeavour to do nothing that would offend him; and then she added +that on that evening she would dance with him any dances that he liked. +Maurice, with a self-denial that was not very wise, contented himself +with engaging her for the first quadrille. + +They were to dance that night in the mess-room of the officers at +Newcastle. This scheme had been added on as an adjunct to the picnic, +and it therefore became necessary that the ladies should retire to their +own or their friends’ houses at Newcastle to adjust their dresses. +Marian Leslie and Julia Davis were there accommodated with the loan of a +small room by the major’s wife, and as they were brushing their hair, and +putting on their dancing-shoes, something was said between them about +Maurice Cumming. + +“And so you are to be Mrs. C. of Mount Pleasant,” said Julia. “Well; I +didn’t think it would come to that at last.” + +“But it has not come to that, and if it did why should I not be Mrs. C., +as you call it?” + +“The knight of the rueful countenance, I call him.” + +“I tell you what then, he is an excellent young man, and the fact is you +don’t know him.” + +“I don’t like excellent young men with long faces. I suppose you won’t +be let to dance quick dances at all now.” + +“I shall dance whatever dances I like, as I have always done,” said +Marian, with some little asperity in her tone. + +“Not you; or if you do, you’ll lose your promotion. You’ll never live to +be my Lady Rue. And what will Graham say? You know you’ve given him +half a promise.” + +“That’s not true, Julia;—I never gave him the tenth part of a promise.” + +“Well, he says so;” and then the words between the young ladies became a +little more angry. But, nevertheless, in due time they came forth with +faces smiling as usual, with their hair brushed, and without any signs of +warfare. + +But Marian had to stand another attack before the business of the evening +commenced, and this was from no less doughty an antagonist than her aunt, +Miss Jack. Miss Jack soon found that Maurice had not kept his threat of +going home; and though she did not absolutely learn from him that he had +gone so far towards perfecting her dearest hopes as to make a formal +offer to Marion, nevertheless she did gather that things were fast that +way tending. If only this dancing were over! she said to herself, +dreading the unnumbered waltzes with Ewing, and the violent polkas with +Graham. So Miss Jack resolved to say one word to Marian—“A wise word in +good season,” said Miss Jack to herself, “how sweet a thing it is.” + +“Marian,” said she. “Step here a moment, I want to say a word to you.” + +“Yes, aunt Sarah,” said Marian, following her aunt into a corner, not +quite in the best humour in the world; for she had a dread of some +further interference. + +“Are you going to dance with Maurice to-night?” + +“Yes, I believe so,—the first quadrille.” + +“Well, what I was going to say is this. I don’t want you to dance many +quick dances to-night, for a reason I have;—that is, not a great many.” + +“Why, aunt, what nonsense!” + +“Now my dearest, dearest girl, it is all for your own sake. Well, then, +it must out. He does not like it, you know.” + +“What he?” + +“Maurice.” + +“Well, aunt, I don’t know that I’m bound to dance or not to dance just as +Mr. Cumming may like. Papa does not mind my dancing. The people have +come here to dance and you can hardly want to make me ridiculous by +sitting still.” And so that wise word did not appear to be very sweet. + +And then the amusement of the evening commenced, and Marian stood up for +a quadrille with her lover. She however was not in the very best humour. +She had, as she thought, said and done enough for one day in Maurice’s +favour. And she had no idea, as she declared to herself, of being +lectured by aunt Sarah. + +“Dearest Marion,” he said to her, as the quadrille came to a close, “it +is an your power to make me so happy,—so perfectly happy.” + +“But then people have such different ideas of happiness,” she replied. +“They can’t all see with the same eyes, you know.” And so they parted. + +But during the early part of the evening she was sufficiently discreet; +she did waltz with Lieutenant Graham, and polk with Captain Ewing, but +she did so in a tamer manner than was usual with her, and she made no +emulous attempts to dance down other couples. When she had done she +would sit down, and then she consented to stand up for two quadrilles +with two very tame gentlemen, to whom no lover could object. + +“And so, Marian, your wings are regularly clipped at last,” said Julia +Davis coming up to her. + +“No more clipped than your own,” said Marian. + +“If Sir Rue won’t let you waltz now, what will he require of you when +you’re married to him?” + +“I am just as well able to waltz with whom I like as you are, Julia; and +if you say so in that way, I shall think it’s envy.” + +“Ha—ha—ha; I may have envied you some of your beaux before now; I dare +say I have. But I certainly do not envy you Sir Rue.” And then she went +off to her partner. + +All this was too much for Marian’s weak strength, and before long she was +again whirling round with Captain Ewing. “Come, Miss Leslie,” said he, +“let us see what we can do. Graham and Julia Davis have been saying that +your waltzing days are over, but I think we can put them down.” + +Marian as she got up, and raised her arm in order that Ewing might put +his round her waist, caught Maurice’s eye as he leaned against a wall, +and read in it a stern rebuke. “This is too bad,” she said to herself. +“He shall not make a slave of me, at any rate as yet.” And away she went +as madly, more madly than ever, and for the rest of the evening she +danced with Captain Ewing and with him alone. + +There is an intoxication quite distinct from that which comes from strong +drink. When the judgment is altogether overcome by the spirits this +species of drunkenness comes on, and in this way Marian Leslie was drunk +that night. For two hours she danced with Captain Ewing, and ever and +anon she kept saying to herself that she would teach the world to +know—and of all the world Mr. Cumming especially—that she might be lead, +but not driven. + +Then about four o’clock she went home, and as she attempted to undress +herself in her own room she burst into violent tears and opened her heart +to her sister—“Oh, Fanny, I do love him, I do love him so dearly! and now +he will never come to me again!” + +Maurice stood still with his back against the wall, for the full two +hours of Marian’s exhibition, and then he said to his aunt before he +left—“I hope you have now seen enough; you will hardly mention her name +to me again.” Miss Jack groaned from the bottom of her heart but she +said nothing. She said nothing that night to any one; but she lay awake +in her bed, thinking, till it was time to rise and dress herself. “Ask +Miss Marian to come to me,” she said to the black girl who came to assist +her. But it was not till she had sent three times, that Miss Marian +obeyed the summons. + +At three o’clock on the following day Miss Jack arrived at her own hall +door in Spanish Town. Long as the distance was she ordinarily rode it +all, but on this occasion she had provided a carriage to bring her over +as much of the journey as it was practicable for her to perform on +wheels. As soon as she reached her own hall door she asked if Mr. +Cumming was at home. “Yes,” the servant said. “He was in the small +book-room, at the back of the house, up stairs.” Silently, as if afraid +of being heard, she stepped up her own stairs into her own drawing-room; +and very silently she was followed by a pair of feet lighter and smaller +than her own. + +Miss Jack was usually somewhat of a despot in her own house, but there +was nothing despotic about her now as she peered into the book-room. +This she did with her bonnet still on, looking round the half-opened door +as though she were afraid to disturb her nephew, he sat at the window +looking out into the verandah which ran behind the house, so intent on +his thoughts that he did not hear her. + +“Maurice,” she said, “can I come in?” + +“Come in? oh yes, of course;” and he turned round sharply at her. “I +tell you what, aunt; I am not well here and I cannot stay out the +session. I shall go back to Mount Pleasant.” + +“Maurice,” and she walked close up to him as she spoke, “Maurice, I have +brought some one with me to ask your pardon.” + +His face became red up to the roots of his hair as he stood looking at +her without answering. “You would grant it certainly,” she continued, +“if you knew how much it would be valued.” + +“Whom do you mean? who is it?” he asked at last. + +“One who loves you as well as you love her—and she cannot love you +better. Come in, Marian.” The poor girl crept in at the door, ashamed +of what she was induced to do, but yet looking anxiously into her lover’s +face. “You asked her yesterday to be your wife,” said Miss Jack, “and +she did not then know her own mind. Now she has had a lesson. You will +ask her once again; will you not, Maurice?” + +What was he to say? how was he to refuse, when that soft little hand was +held out to him; when those eyes laden with tears just ventured to look +into his face? + +“I beg your pardon if I angered you last night,” she said. + +In half a minute Miss Jack had left the room, and in the space of another +thirty seconds Maurice had forgiven her. “I am your own now, you know,” +she whispered to him in the course of that long evening. “Yesterday, you +know—,” but the sentence was never finished. + +It was in vain that Julia Davis was ill-natured and sarcastic, in vain +that Ewing and Graham made joint attempt upon her constancy. From that +night to the morning of her marriage—and the interval was only three +months—Marian Leslie was never known to flirt. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS SARAH JACK, OF SPANISH TOWN, +JAMAICA*** + + +******* This file should be named 3699-0.txt or 3699-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/6/9/3699 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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