1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064
1065
1066
1067
1068
1069
1070
1071
1072
1073
1074
1075
1076
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
1086
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140
1141
1142
1143
1144
1145
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
1154
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159
1160
1161
1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
1190
1191
1192
1193
1194
1195
1196
1197
1198
1199
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
1206
1207
1208
1209
1210
1211
1212
1213
1214
1215
1216
1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243
1244
1245
1246
1247
1248
1249
1250
1251
1252
1253
1254
1255
1256
1257
1258
1259
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
1283
1284
1285
1286
1287
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292
1293
1294
1295
1296
1297
1298
1299
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307
1308
1309
1310
1311
1312
1313
1314
1315
1316
1317
1318
1319
1320
1321
1322
1323
1324
1325
1326
1327
1328
1329
1330
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
1338
1339
1340
1341
1342
1343
1344
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
1359
1360
1361
1362
1363
1364
1365
1366
1367
1368
1369
1370
1371
1372
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377
1378
1379
1380
1381
1382
1383
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
1395
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413
1414
1415
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420
1421
1422
1423
1424
1425
1426
1427
1428
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
1434
1435
1436
1437
1438
1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453
1454
1455
1456
1457
1458
1459
1460
1461
1462
1463
1464
1465
1466
1467
1468
1469
1470
1471
1472
1473
1474
1475
1476
1477
1478
1479
1480
1481
1482
1483
1484
1485
1486
1487
1488
1489
1490
1491
1492
1493
1494
1495
1496
1497
1498
1499
1500
1501
1502
1503
1504
1505
1506
1507
1508
1509
1510
1511
1512
1513
1514
1515
1516
1517
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522
|
<!DOCTYPE html
PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" />
<title>Miss Sarah Jack, of Spanish Town, Jamaica, by Anthony Trollope</title>
<style type="text/css">
/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */
<!--
P { margin-top: .75em;
margin-bottom: .75em;
}
P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;}
P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; }
.GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; }
H1, H2 {
text-align: center;
margin-top: 2em;
margin-bottom: 2em;
}
H3, H4, H5 {
text-align: center;
margin-top: 1em;
margin-bottom: 1em;
}
BODY{margin-left: 10%;
margin-right: 10%;
}
table { border-collapse: collapse; }
table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;}
td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;}
td p { margin: 0.2em; }
.blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */
.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;}
.pagenum {position: absolute;
left: 92%;
font-size: small;
text-align: right;
font-weight: normal;
color: gray;
}
img { border: none; }
img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; }
p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; }
div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; }
div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;}
div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%;
border-top: 1px solid; }
div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%;
border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;}
div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%;
margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid;
border-bottom: 1px solid; }
div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%;
margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid;
border-bottom: 1px solid;}
div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%;
border-top: 1px solid; }
.citation {vertical-align: super;
font-size: .8em;
text-decoration: none;}
img.floatleft { float: left;
margin-right: 1em;
margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; }
img.floatright { float: right;
margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em;
margin-bottom: 0.5em; }
img.clearcenter {display: block;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em;
margin-bottom: 0.5em}
-->
/* XML end ]]>*/
</style>
</head>
<body>
<pre>
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: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS SARAH JACK, OF SPANISH TOWN,
JAMAICA***
</pre>
<p>Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman & Hall “Tales of
All Countries” edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org.</p>
<h1>MISS SARAH JACK, OF SPANISH TOWN, JAMAICA.</h1>
<p><span class="smcap">There</span> 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“Down at Mount Pleasant I can do something,” he
would say over and over again, “but what good can any man
do up here?”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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!</p>
<p>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?”</p>
<p>Miss Jack had once said to him; and this coming from Miss
Jack, who was made of money, was a great deal.</p>
<p>“She wouldn’t have me,” Maurice had
answered.</p>
<p>“That’s more than you know or I either,” was
Miss Jack’s reply. “But if you like to try,
I’ll help you.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“Psha!” Miss Jack replied; “Marian will do
like other girls. When you marry a wife I suppose you mean
to be master?”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“I’ll tell you what it is,” said Miss Jack;
“I have spoken to Mr. Leslie about you and
Marian.”</p>
<p>“Then you had no business to do anything of the
kind,” said Maurice, blushing up to his ears.</p>
<p>“Nonsense,” replied Miss Jack, “I understand
what I am about. Of course Mr. Leslie will want to know
something about the estate.”</p>
<p>“Then he may go back as wise as he came, for he’ll
learn nothing from me. Not that I have anything to
hide.”</p>
<p>“So I told him. Now there are a large family of
them, you see; and of course he can’t give Marian
much.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“It is all one to me.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“Don’t pledge yourself to anything, aunt, in which
Marian Leslie and I are concerned.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“You may give all to them if you please.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“But you may live for the next thirty years, my dear
Miss Jack,” Mr. Leslie had said.</p>
<p>“Yes, I may,” Miss Jack replied, looking very
dry.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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?”</p>
<p>“Not in this matter, aunt.”</p>
<p>“Then you will live and die a poor man; you mean that, I
suppose?”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“Remember me very kindly to Mrs. Leslie and the
children,” said Maurice. And so they parted.</p>
<p>“You have brought me down here on a regular fool’s
errand,” said Mr. Leslie, on their journey back to
town.</p>
<p>“It will all come right yet,” replied Miss
Jack. “Take my word for it he loves her.”</p>
<p>“Fudge,” said Mr. Leslie. But he could not
afford to quarrel with his rich connection.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“Certainly not,” she replied, forbearing to press
the matter further. “But why make such a terrible
hard day’s work of it?”</p>
<p>“Oh, I shall go down in the cool, before breakfast; and
then I need not have the bother of taking a bag.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>“And you really mean that you’re going back to
Spanish Town to-day?” said Mrs. Leslie to her visitor.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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?”</p>
<p>Maurice said he feared that he should not have time to go to a
picnic.</p>
<p>“Oh, nonsense,” said Fanny—one of the
younger girls—“you must come. We can’t do
without him, can we?”</p>
<p>“Marian has got your name down the first on the list of
the gentlemen,” said another.</p>
<p>“Yes; and Captain Ewing’s second,” said
Bell, the youngest.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>Marion looked at the little girl who had so unfortunately
mentioned the warrior’s name, and the little girl knew that
she had sinned.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“And another for—” began Bell, but she
stopped herself.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“There will be plenty without me, I am sure.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“I hope you are not offended with me,” she
said.</p>
<p>“Offended! oh no; how could I be offended with
you?”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“But there are so many different sorts of
friends,” said Maurice.</p>
<p>“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—”</p>
<p>“And at picnics,” said Maurice.</p>
<p>“Well, some of them there too; but we are not like that;
are we?”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>And Miss Jack also was to be at the picnic.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“We shall have a delightful day, Miss Leslie,”
said the lieutenant.</p>
<p>“Oh, charming, isn’t it?” said Marian.</p>
<p>“But now to choose a place for dinner, Captain
Ewing;—what do you say?”</p>
<p>“Will you commission me to select? You know
I’m very well up in geometry, and all that?”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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!</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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?”</p>
<p>“Oh, you have promised me!” cried the captain.</p>
<p>“Indeed, I have not; have I, Julia?”</p>
<p>“Miss Davis has certainly promised me,” said the
lieutenant.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“Why, Maurice, you were in such a hurry to
come.”</p>
<p>“The more fool I; and so now I am in a hurry to go
away. Don’t notice it to anybody.”</p>
<p>Miss Jack looked in his face and saw that he was really
wretched; and she knew the cause of his wretchedness.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“Why are you running away from us?” said
Marian.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“What is the matter, Maurice?” she said.
“Are you angry with me? Will you come and join
us?”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“But it has not come to that, and if it did why should I
not be Mrs. C., as you call it?”</p>
<p>“The knight of the rueful countenance, I call
him.”</p>
<p>“I tell you what then, he is an excellent young man, and
the fact is you don’t know him.”</p>
<p>“I don’t like excellent young men with long
faces. I suppose you won’t be let to dance quick
dances at all now.”</p>
<p>“I shall dance whatever dances I like, as I have always
done,” said Marian, with some little asperity in her
tone.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“That’s not true, Julia;—I never gave him
the tenth part of a promise.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>“Marian,” said she. “Step here a
moment, I want to say a word to you.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>“Are you going to dance with Maurice
to-night?”</p>
<p>“Yes, I believe so,—the first
quadrille.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“Why, aunt, what nonsense!”</p>
<p>“Now my dearest, dearest girl, it is all for your own
sake. Well, then, it must out. He does not like it,
you know.”</p>
<p>“What he?”</p>
<p>“Maurice.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“And so, Marian, your wings are regularly clipped at
last,” said Julia Davis coming up to her.</p>
<p>“No more clipped than your own,” said Marian.</p>
<p>“If Sir Rue won’t let you waltz now, what will he
require of you when you’re married to him?”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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!”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“Maurice,” she said, “can I come
in?”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>“Maurice,” and she walked close up to him as she
spoke, “Maurice, I have brought some one with me to ask
your pardon.”</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>“Whom do you mean? who is it?” he asked at
last.</p>
<p>“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?”</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>“I beg your pardon if I angered you last night,”
she said.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISS SARAH JACK, OF SPANISH TOWN,
JAMAICA***</p>
<pre>
***** This file should be named 3699-h.htm or 3699-h.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. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country outside the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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.
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
provided that
* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation."
* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
works.
* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.
* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
www.gutenberg.org
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
gbnewby@pglaf.org
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
</pre></body>
</html>
|
