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diff --git a/44018-0.txt b/44018-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef4b654 --- /dev/null +++ b/44018-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5582 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44018 *** + + FIRST LOVE. + + A NOVEL + IN THREE VOLUMES. + + + VOL. I. + + + LONDON: + SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET. + + 1830. + + + + + LONDON: + IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY-STREET, STRAND. + + + + +All the mottoes annexed to the chapters of this work, have been +selected from the Author's dramatic and other poetical works, not yet +published. + + + + +FIRST LOVE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "No hut shelters Comala from the rain." + + +A family of travelling vagrants were overtaken on the high road +just leading out of Keswick, on the Penrith side, by a gentleman +on horseback. He had observed the same group begging during the +entertainments of the regatta which had concluded but the evening +before. + +"Ho! ho! my good woman," he said, as he passed in a sling trot, "I am +glad to see your boy has found his second leg!" + +The woman, who appeared to be young, and who would have been handsome, +had not dirt and impudence rendered her disgusting, looked behind her, +and perceived that a poor, sickly, ragged child, apparently about five +years old, who followed her, tired of his crutches, which pushed up his +little shoulders almost out of their sockets, had contrived to loosen +the bandage of his tied-up leg, and slip it down out of the dirty linen +bag, in which it usually hung on the double, and from which it was not +always released, even at night, as so doing necessarily incurred the +further trouble of tying it up again in the morning. She laid down her +bundle, and stood still with her arms a-kimbo, till, with hesitating +steps, and looks of suppressed terror, her victim came up; then +glancing round, to ascertain that the gentleman was out of sight, she +seized the child, snatched both the crutches from his trembling hands, +and grasping them in one of hers, she began to flog him without pity. +He seemed used to this, for he uttered no sound of complaint; silent +tears only rolled down his face. + +"Ye villain!" said she at last, with a strong Cumberland accent, and +gasping for breath, "it's not the first time, is it? it's not the first +time I've beat you within an inch of your life for this. But I'll +do for you this time: that I will! You shan't be a burden to me any +longer, instead of a profit. If it wasn't for the miserable looks of +ye," she added, shaking him almost to atoms as she wheeled him round, +"that sometimes wrings a penny out of the folk, I'd ha' finished ye +long ago." Then, with her great foot, armed with an iron-rimmed wooden +shoe, she gave him a violent kick on the offending leg, continuing +thus:--"Its best break the shanks on ye at ance, ye whey-faced urchin +ye! and then ye'll tak te yeer crutches without biddin'!" + +Finding, however, that though he had staggered and fallen forward on +both hands, he had yet risen again, and still contrived to stand, she +once more lifted her foot, to repeat the kick with increased force: for +she was as much intoxicated by drink as by rage, and really seemed to +intend to break the child's leg; but her husband, a sort of travelling +tinker, coming up at the moment, and uttering a violent curse, struck +her a blow that, poised as she just then was on one foot, brought her +to the ground. + +During the scuffle which ensued, the poor little sufferer, who had +occasioned it all, crept through the hedge of a field by the road side, +and hid himself under some bushes. But the woman, soon after pursuing +in search of him, jumped the fence, and dropped among the very brambles +where he lay. She perceived him instantly, and shook her clenched hand, +which so paralysed him, that he did not dare to move, though she for +some time delayed seizing him. Finding that the inside of the hedge +was covered with clothes for bleaching, she thought it best, the first +thing she did, to secure a good bundle of so desirable a booty, and +fling it over to her husband. She was just in the act of so doing, +when the owner of the linen came into the field, and immediately set +up the halloo of "Thieves! thieves!" upon which, dropping what she had +collected, and giving up all thoughts of carrying the child with her, +she made the best of her way, and disappeared not only from the spot, +but from the neighbourhood. + +About an hour after, when the poor boy, pressed by hunger, crept from +his hiding place, a girl, who was left to watch the clothes, spying +him, cried out, "Ha! you little spawn e--the devil! did she leave you +to bring her the bundle?" And so saying, she pursued and beat him, till +she drove him out of the field, and into the adjoining garden of an old +woman, who was standing at the moment with a long pole in her hand, +endeavouring to beat down, as well as her failing sight would permit, +the few remaining apples from the topmost branches of her single +apple-tree: the well laden lower boughs of which had been robbed of +their goodly winter store but the preceding night. + +On seeing a boy scramble through her hedge, she concluded, of course, +that his errand was to possess himself of the said remaining apples, +and, accordingly, uttering a yell of execration, she converted her +fruit-pole into a weapon defensive and offensive, and hobbling towards +the poor child, drove him from her premises; over the boundary of +which, long after he had so far escaped, she continued to address to +him, at the very top of her voice, every opprobrious epithet of which +she was mistress: her shrill tones the while collecting, at the heels +of the fugitive, hooting boys, and barking curs innumerable. These, +however, did not follow him far; and when they returned to their homes +or their sports, he wandered about for the rest of the day, avoiding +houses and people, and fearing that every one he met would beat him. + +At length, towards evening, he found himself on the borders of the lake +of Derwent, and seeing a boat fastened close to the land, he got into +it; partly with the idea of hiding himself, and partly with a vague +recollection of having often wished to be a sailor-boy, when begging +about with his mother in sea-port towns. He rolled himself up in an old +cloak which lay under one of the benches, where, exhausted by pain, +hunger, and fatigue, he fell asleep. + +Shortly after our poor wanderer had chosen this refuge, in stepped +Master Henry St. Aubin, whose pleasure-boat it was, to take a sail +_alone_, contrary to reiterated commands, and for no other reason, +but because, for fear of accidents, he had been desired never to go +without a servant. He pushed from the land, and began to arrange his +canvass. He put up his main-sail, which filling immediately, bent his +little bark on one side, almost level with the water, and made it fly +across the lake in great style. When, however, it got under shade of +the high mountains on the Borrowdale coast, the breeze slackened, and +he determined to add his mizen and jib; but what was his surprise, +when, on attempting to remove the old cloak which lay near them, he +discovered within its folds the sleeping boy. Supposing him to be a spy +placed there to watch his movements, and report his disobedience, he +began to curse and swear, kicked at him under the bench, and ordered +him to pack out of his boat instantly. The poor child, but half awake, +gazed all round him, got up as well as his bruises would permit, and +was about to obey in silence; but, when, he saw how far they were from +land, he hesitated; upon which Henry took up a rope's end, and lashed +at him in the manner that sailors call starting, repeating at each +stroke, "Jump, spy! jump!" + +Driven almost wild with the pain of the blows, the child at last did +jump; but, at the same moment, caught instinctively at the side of +the boat, to which he hung with both hands, and so kept his head above +water. Henry set up a loud laugh, and rowed out, towing him after him. +Then, willing to make sport for himself, by terrifying the beggar +brat, he attempted to push his fingers off the edge of the boat, but +they clung to it with all the tenacity of self preservation; when +the one hand was forced for a moment from its hold, the grasp of the +other became but the more convulsively strong; and when the second was +assailed by the united efforts of both of Henry's, the first returned +to its former position. + +At length, tired of the jest himself, Master St. Aubin turned into +shallow water, leaped ashore, and suffering the half-drowned child to +land as he might, bade him scamper, ere he had well got footing. Then, +intent on pursuing his sweet, because forbidden amusement, he stepped +back into his boat, which with its white sails, contrasted with the +dark woods of the coast it glided silently beneath, soon became as +picturesque an object as though the urchin that guided it had been the +most noble and adventurous of romantic heroes. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + --"And I tremble amid the night." + + +About the centre of the entrance of the vale of Borrowdale, +conspicuously situated, stands that curious rock, called, by the +native Cumbrians, Borrowdale-stane. In form and position it is much +like a dismasted and stranded vessel, laying on its keel and leaning +a little to one side. On the highest point of this rock, a station +well known to the lovers of the sublime, stood a lady wrapped in a +warm fur lined cloak. Her air, however, was much too fashionable and +modern to harmonize in any degree with the wild desolation of the +surrounding region, which, when viewed from the elevated position she +thus occupied, as far as the eye could reach, resembled a stormy ocean: +its gigantic billows formed by the congregated tops of mountains. + +The evening was cold, approaching to frost; and the sun, though still +much above the natural horizon, was just sinking from view behind +the lofty chain of western hills: his last rays lingered a while on +the most prominent parts of each stupendous height, then, gradually +retiring, left point after point, which, like so many beacon lights +extinguished by an invisible hand, successively disappeared, till all +became shrouded alike in cheerless gloom and volumes of mist rolling +down the sides of the mountains, a dense fog settled in the valley like +a white and waveless lake. + +The lady on the rock appeared to deem it time to return home, for, +withdrawing her eyes from the distant view, she cast them downward in +search of the path by which to descend; when, amid the rocks and huge +rough stones which lay scattered beneath like the ruins of a former +world, she thought she saw something move, though very slightly. +She looked at it for a time; it quitted not the spot where she +first descried it; yet, still it certainly did move! She descended, +approached, and beheld a poor little boy, who seemed about five or six +years old. He was sitting on the ground; the wretched rags, in which +he was dressed, were dripping with wet; his poor limbs, which were all +bent together, and drawn up close to his face, trembled extremely, +while his little hands, with their long emaciated fingers, spread and +hooked round his knees, seemed endeavouring to hold them, as though +the violence of their motion was becoming too much for his frame to +bear. + +The lady stood looking down on him for a moment with mingled pity and +surprise. He was slowly rocking himself from side to side: it was a +movement quite expressive of despondency, his chin rested on the backs +of the hands which held his knees, and his eyes wandered hopelessly +among the bare stones that lay around him, while his head retained the +same fixed position. + +"Little boy, look up!" she said, taking one of his cold wet hands in +hers. He raised his face; misery was depicted in every feature: his +teeth chattered excessively, and his poor eyes, that swam in tears, +were now lifted to hers with an expression truly piteous. + +"Poor child! come with me," she said. Something like hope began to dawn +on his forlorn countenance; but she finished her sentence, in what she +intended for the most comforting manner, by saying, "and I will take +you home to your mother." + +He had not risen. He drew his hand from hers, turned on his face on +the ground with the universal shudder of terror, and, clinging to the +rocks, cried, "No! no! no!" + +She endeavoured to soothe him, and to untwist his fingers from the +fastenings, which, like so many fibres of roots, they had found for +themselves among the crevices and broken fragments of his flinty bed; +but he hid his face against the hard stone, and would not turn round. +When she succeeded at length in detaching one of his hands, and was +gently endeavouring to raise him, his inward shudderings increased so +visibly that she became fearful of throwing him into convulsions: she +desisted therefore, and, feigning to go away, removed a few paces; +then stopped, and said, "Well! I am going; but won't you tell me your +name?" + +"Edmund," he sobbed out; without, however, raising his head. + +"Well, Edmund," said the lady, in a kind voice, "good night!" He +turned, sat up, looked at her, and then all round, as though having +had her near him, even for the last few seconds, the thought of being +left alone for the night now struck upon his heart anew with fresh +desolation; then, resuming the attitude she had first found him in, +he began, as before, to rock himself from side to side and weep. "But +where do you mean to sleep tonight, Edmund?" said the lady; "I am sure +you must be cold sitting on those hard stones with your clothes so wet." + +"Yes, I am," he said, looking up wistfully again, "very cold, and very +hungry." Then, hesitating a little, he suddenly stretched out his +hand, and said, "I'll go with you, if you will hide me from every one." + +"I will! I will, my poor child!" she exclaimed, flying back to him, +kindly stooping over him, and, with some difficulty, assisting him to +rise; for he was so stiffened it seemed scarcely possible to unbend his +knees: nor did there appear to be one spark of vital heat remaining in +the poor little creature! She drew a part of her warm fur mantle close +over him, and endeavoured to soothe him and give him confidence in her +protection. + +"And will you stay here with me, then?" he whispered softly. + +"I will take you to a much more comfortable place," she replied, "where +there is a good fire, and a nice dinner for Edmund." + +"And are you sure she won't find me there?" he said, still whispering. + +"She shall never hurt you, while you are with me," the lady replied, +"whoever she may be." + +"Then I will go!" said Edmund; and he lifted his head and tried to +smile through his tears. The lady, still sharing with him her warm +cloak, now led him by the hand, while he held hers fast in both of his, +and walked, with short uneven steps, so close to her, that she was +every moment in danger of treading on his little bare feet; and thus +did they arrive at Lodore House, just as the first roll of the thunder +resounded along the desolate valley they had so lately quitted. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Vases filled with liquid beams, hang in chains + Of gold." + + "A sumptuous banquet + Spread, invites the taste." + + +The cheerful, well-aired, already lit up dwelling, now entered by our +wanderers of the valley, formed a striking contrast to the dreary scene +they had just left. An excellent fire blazed in the hall, bronzed +figures held flaming lamps aloft, and powdered, well-dressed, well-fed +servants, bustled to and fro, bearing, towards the dining-room, dishes, +which though covered, tempted the palate by the various savoury odours +they sent forth. In short, every comfort, every elegance, nay, every +luxury, evidently abounded beneath the roof of Lodore House. + +It had indeed, some years since, been a mere shooting lodge, situated +in the midst of an extensive property, on which, from its remoteness, +no family mansion had ever been built. Mrs. Montgomery, however, its +present possessor, had, since her early widowhood, made additions to +the lodge in her own taste: and though on her daughter's account she +regularly visited London during the fashionable season, at all other +times she chose to reside in this romantic retirement. The lady, +who had just entered, leading poor Edmund by the hand, was Frances +Montgomery, the only child of Mrs. Montgomery. As Frances, with her +charge, crossed the hall already described, they met Henry St. Aubin, a +nephew of Mrs. Montgomery's, a boy of about twelve years old. Frances +called immediately for the housekeeper, and desired her own maid to +bring some warm soup. While her attention was thus engaged, master +Henry contrived to come up close to the poor little stranger, and say +to him in an under tone, "Take care, you sir, you don't dare to tell, +or I'll--" Frances feeling an additional pressure of Edmund's hand, +turned suddenly round, and saw the frown still on Henry's face, with +which he had thought fit to strengthen his arguments. + +"How can you look so cross, Henry?" she exclaimed; "you actually +frighten the poor child!" + +"Pshaw!" said Henry, and went laughing into the drawing-room, where he +attempted to entertain, by ludicrous descriptions of the pretty new +pet Frances had found; while she proceeded to the housekeeper's room, +and there, before a comfortable fire, herself assisted, in despite +of the dinner-announcing voice of the gong, the operations of the two +women she had summoned. They released the poor child from the wet rags +which hung about him, sending a chill to his little heart; they put him +up to the neck in warm water; and cautiously gave him, by a little at +a time, some nourishing soup. Frances then called for meat, pudding, +and every thing nice she could think of; and, lastly, for a supply of +her own night things. By all these prompt exertions, the poor, naked, +shivering, starving Edmund, was soon dressed in a long sleeved, high +collared, full frilled sleeping chemise; his limbs warmly clothed in a +pair of the housekeeper's worsted web stockings, which served him at +once for drawers and hose; a large dressing-gown of Frances's folded +about him, and a pair of her dressing slippers on his little feet; +and, thus equipped, he was seated in front of the fire, with all the +other good things which had been called for, placed on a table before +him. + +It was with the greatest pleasure that Frances, who stayed to help +him herself, saw him venture, thus encouraged, to eat some dinner; +and what with the refreshment, the cleanliness, the glow of all the +surrounding warmth on his cheeks, and the comfortable white dress up +about his neck, he certainly appeared almost a new creature; though, +when he looked up, there was still a wildness, the unsteady glance of +fear mingled with the appealing expression of his eyes; and when he +looked down, their long black lashes, sweeping his hollow cheeks, might +well inspire the beholder with even a painful degree of compassion; +yet when, notwithstanding his timidity, he smiled with gratitude and +a sense of present pleasure arising from bodily comfort, Frances, at +least, could not help thinking him grown already quite a beauty; and +she ran to the dining-room door, and entreated her mamma just to come +out for a moment and see what a fine child the poor boy was, now that +they had washed and dressed him. + +Lord L., hearing her voice, begged permission to follow, but was +refused. + +Frances' absence had, in the meantime, banished the smiles of Edmund, +so that Mrs. Montgomery, on entering the housekeeper's room, exclaimed, +with a laugh, patting her daughter on the cheek, "I cannot say much for +his beauty, my dear!--But that is no reason why you should not save +the life of the poor child," she added; and, with the tenderness of +one accustomed to a mother's feelings, she stroked his little head. He +smiled again, and she continued, "but he may be pretty when he gets +fat." + +"And shall he stay here to get fat, mamma?" asked Frances eagerly. + +"To be sure, my dear," replied Mrs. Montgomery, "we will never turn +the poor little thing out of doors again, while it wants a shelter." +Frances was delighted; caught up both her mother's hands and kissed +them, and then the forehead of her protegé: nor did she leave him till +he dropped asleep in a comfortable bed, with her hand in his to give +him confidence. + +Frances at length entered the dining-room, just as the domestic party +engaged round the table were dispatching a third or fourth summons for +her; the second course having by this time made its appearance. Lord +L., who occupied his usual seat beside her chair, began to question +her about the adventure of the evening. Compassion made her eloquent on +the misery, the cold, the hunger, the wretchedness of poor Edmund; but +when she came to his beauty, she faltered and looked at her mother with +a beseeching expression. + +Mrs. Montgomery laughed, and replied to the look, "Oh, yes! there +was a sweetness when he smiled, that made me begin to think he would +be pretty if he were fat; but now, the poor child is all eyes and +eyelashes." + +"Oh, mamma!" said Frances, "he has the most beautiful mouth I ever saw +in my life, and such nice teeth!" + +"Has he, my dear?" said Mrs. Montgomery, with provoking indifference: +for she happened to be deep in a discussion on the nature of the poor +laws, with Mr. Jackson, the clergyman. + +Master Henry, meanwhile, was greedily devouring tart and cream, +with his face close to his plate, and his eyes levelled at the dish, +in great anxiety to be in time to claim the last portion which now +remained on it; but, in his attempt to swallow what was before him, he +missed his aim, and was a moment too late, though he thrust out his +plate with both hands just as he saw a servant coming round; but the +tart was dispatched to Lord L., to whom it had been offered, and who, +being too much occupied to refuse it, had bowed. It lay before him +a few moments, and went away untouched. Henry, vexed extremely, and +desirous of revenge on Frances for the disappointment occasioned him +by her lover, said, "If you are talking of the beggar brat, he is the +image of a monkey! I was quite afraid he would bite me as I passed him +in the hall." + +"I am sure, Henry," retorted Frances, "he seemed more afraid of you, +than you could be of him: and, by the bye, you need not, I think, have +looked so cross at the poor child." + +"Cross!" repeated Henry, "I did not look cross. What reason do you +suppose I had to look cross? I never saw the brat before in my life." + +Henry's speech was accompanied by that hateful expression, which the +eyes of an ill-disposed child assume, when it knows it is uttering +falsehood! + +"Henry!" said Mrs. Montgomery, with some surprise; "you need not look +angry, much less guilty. No one can suppose that you know any thing of +the poor boy. But leave the room, sir: and remember you don't sit at +table again, till you know better how to conduct yourself." + +Henry obeyed, but slowly and sulkily; trailing one foot after the +other, and determining to have revenge on the cause of his disgrace. +He offered no apology, and therefore was not taken into favour again +for the evening, though poor Mrs. Montgomery, as she passed to her own +apartment, looked into that where he lay, and said, with a sigh, "Good +night, and God bless you, child!" + +To account, in some degree, for the unprepossessing manners of Master +Henry, we shall introduce a few words respecting the young gentleman's +birth, and hitherto unfortunately directed education. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "Lifting at + The thought my timid eyes, I pass them o'er + His brow; and, if I would, I dare not love him: + Yet, dare I never disobey that eye, + Flashing outward fires, while, within its depths, + Where love should dwell, 'tis ever still, and cold, + To look upon." + + +St. Aubin, Henry's father, was a Frenchman, and totally without +religion. A flourish of worldly honour, as long as no temptation had +arisen, had sustained for him even a showy character. By this, a +showy appearance, and showy manners, he had, what is called, gained +the affections, that is, he had dazzled the fancy, of Maria, the +younger sister of Mrs. Montgomery. Maria was a beautiful girl, and +but seventeen. Her sister, who was also her guardian, for she was some +years her senior, and their parents were dead, disapproved of the +match, but in vain: Maria married St. Aubin, and was miserable! The +marriage being a runaway affair, no settlements were entered into, +which circumstance St. Aubin imagined would be in his favour; but, +when he discovered that the consent of the guardians not having been +obtained, gave them the power of withholding Maria's fortune till she +should be of age, and of then settling it on herself and her children, +without suffering him to touch one shilling, his brutality was such, +that Mrs. St. Aubin, before the birth of her child, for she had but +one, was broken-hearted. + +She denied herself the consolation she might have found in the sympathy +of her sister, for she wished to conceal from her the wretchedness she +had brought upon herself, by acting contrary to her advice. She was, +however, shortly removed out of the reach of that sister's penetration. + +St. Aubin was deeply in debt when he married, and things had been +ever since becoming worse and worse. He had always flattered himself +that the guardians would not use the full power of which they spoke, +and that by making fair promises he should be able, when once Maria +was of age, to get the money, or the greater part of it, into his own +hands; he had therefore laboured incessantly to put off the payment of +every demand to the day of his wife's coming of age, and made all his +arrangements with reference to that period. At length it arrived. He +made application for his wife's fortune; but Mrs. Montgomery, in reply, +reminded him, that her sister having married without her consent, had +given her, as sole remaining guardian, a power, which she now saw it +was her duty to exert; namely, that of refusing to pay down any part of +the money. She should, therefore, she said, secure the whole of it in +the hands of trustees, as a future provision for Maria and her child. + +With this letter open in his hand, St. Aubin, foaming with rage, +entered the room where his wife sat with Henry, then between two +and three years old, playing on the ground at her feet, while she +was absorbed in melancholy anticipations of the probable result of +her husband's application. St. Aubin flung the letter in her face, +swearing, with horrid imprecations, that he would be the death both +of her and her brat, and then blow out his own brains. Mrs. St. Aubin +remained silent; but the shrieks of the child brought servants. By +the time they arrived, however, St. Aubin was striding up and down the +room, venting his rage on the open letter, which he kicked before him +at each step. + +Shortly after this final disappointment respecting Maria's fortune, St. +Aubin found it necessary to take refuge from his creditors in the Isle +of Man; whither he went accordingly, carrying with him his wife and +child, and settling there with a very reduced establishment. + +Not choosing, it would seem, to be hung for declared murder, he +appeared determined, by every species of ingenious barbarity, to +torture the wretched Maria out of her remaining shred of existence; +and, among other devices, he daily and hourly made her shudder, by his +vows of deep and black revenge on her sister. + +One day, after sitting some time leaning his head on his hand, with a +countenance resembling the thunder-cloud, lightning suddenly flashed +from his eyes, imprecations exploded from his lips, he started to his +feet, stood before his wife, and clenching his hand, uttered these +words: "I tell you, Mrs. St. Aubin, that child, that I hate, because +it is yours! that child, to whose future provision she has sacrificed +me! that child I will rear, I will preserve, for the sole purpose of +being the instrument of my revenge!--by his means, were it twenty years +hence, were it thirty years hence, I will break her heart! Yes," he +added, as if in reply to a look from Maria of astonishment, almost +amounting to incredulity, "and I have determined how I shall do it." He +then resumed his sitting attitude, and again leaning his head on his +hand, a long hour of utter silence followed, during which his unhappy +wife sat at the other side of the table, not daring to arouse him by +rising to leave the room. + +Henry, at this time, promised to have in him a strange mixture of the +dispositions both of his father and mother; or, in other words, of evil +and good. The evil certainly did predominate; yet, had a careful hand +early separated the seeds, cultivated the good, and cast out the bad, +this ill-fated child might have been saved from perdition; or had he, +with all his faults, been supplied with that only unerring standard of +right, the practical application of sacred truths to moral obligations, +even in after-life there might have been hope; but his father, as we +have said, had no religion: he daily scoffed at whatever was most +sacred, purposely to insult the feelings of his wife, and this before +his child. One morning, he found Maria with the Bible before her, and +Henry on her knee. He looked at them for a moment; then taking the +child by the shoulder, he raised one foot level with the hand in which +he held him, and kicked him, in a contemptuous manner, as he swung him +to the middle of the floor, saying, that such a mammy's brat ought +to have been a girl. Mrs. St. Aubin ran to raise the child from the +ground. St. Aubin snatched up the sacred volume, open as it lay, and +flung it after her, telling her, in a voice of thunder, that she was a +psalm-singing fool, and ordering her not to cram the boy's head with +any of her cursed nonsense. Indeed, in his calmest and best disposed +moods, "You are a fool, Mrs. St. Aubin!" was his usual remark on any +thing his wife ventured to say or do. + +Mrs. St. Aubin having ascertained that the child was not hurt, took up +the book, arranged its ruffled leaves in silence, and laid it with +reverence on the table. Her husband viewed her with a malicious grin +till her task was completed; then, walking up to the table, he opened +the treasury of sacred knowledge, and deliberately tore out every leaf, +flinging them, now on one side, now on the other, to each far corner of +the apartment; then striding towards the fire-place, he planted himself +on the hearth, with his back to the chimney, his legs spread in the +attitude of a colossal statue, the tails of his coat turned apart under +his arms, and his hands in his side-pockets. + +"Now," he said, looking at his wife, "pick them up!--pick them up! pick +them up!" he continued, till all were collected. + +Mrs. St. Aubin was about to place the sheets within their vacant cover +on the table; but, with a stamp of his foot, which made every article +of furniture in the room shake, and brought a picture that hung +against the wall, on its face to the floor, he commanded her to put +them in the fire. She hesitated; when seizing her arm, he shook it over +the flames, till the paper taking fire, she was compelled to loose her +hold. + +"I ought to have reserved a sheet to have made a fool's cap for you, I +think," he said, perceiving that silent tears were following each other +down the cheeks of his wife. "Why, what an idiot you are! the child has +more sense than you have," he added, seeing that Henry, occupied by +surprise and curiosity, was not crying. "Come, Henry," he continued, in +a voice for him most condescending, "you shall carry my fishing basket +to-day." + +Henry had been just going to pity his poor mamma when he saw her +crying; but hearing his father say that he had more sense than his +mother, he could not help feeling raised in his own estimation, and +anxious to show his sense by flying with peculiar alacrity for the +basket. + +He had viewed the whole of the preceding scene with but little +comprehension, as may be supposed, of its meaning, and with very +confused ideas of right and wrong, being, at the time, not above six +years old; but the practical lesson--and there are no lessons like +practical lessons--made an indelible impression: all future efforts, +whether of mother or aunt, usher or schoolmaster, layman or divine, +to infuse into Henry precepts derived from a source he had seen so +contemned by his father, were for ever vain. His father, he was old +enough to perceive, was feared and obeyed by every one within the +small sphere of his observation: for him, therefore, he felt a sort +of spurious deference, though he could not love him. For his mother, +who had always indulged him with the too great tenderness of a +gentle spirit utterly broken, and who had wept over him many a silent +hour, till his little heart was saddened without his knowing why, he +naturally felt some affection; but then he daily saw her treated with +indignity, and therefore did not respect either her or her lessons: for +he was just at the age when a quick child judges wrong, a dull one not +at all. + +Henry had much of the violence of his father's temper, with some of the +fearfulness of his mother's. In judicious hands, the latter, though +no virtue, might have been made to assist in correcting the former; +the whole current of his fears might have been turned into a useful +channel: in short, he might have been taught to fear only doing wrong, +and, by a strict administration of justice, proving to him his perfect +security from blame while he did right, he might have been given +all that honest-hearted boldness in a good cause, which, throughout +after-life, is so necessary to ensure dignity to the character of man, +and the early promises of which, it is so delightful to see in the +happy open countenance, in the very step and air of a fine frank boy, +who has never had his spirit broken by undeserved harshness, or been +rendered hopeless of pleasing by inconsistency. + +Henry, on the contrary, when he had done no real wrong, was frequently +treated with the most violent cruelty; while his very worst faults +passed unreproved, if they did not happen to cross the whims of his +father: and this cruelty, thus inflicted on a helpless, powerless +child, which could not resist, for ever raised in the breast of Henry, +who was, as we have said, naturally violent, an ever unsatisfied +thirst of vengeance; a sense too of the injustice of the punishments +inflicted, a thing early understood by children, embittered his +feelings, and the transient impressions thus rendered permanent, +corroded inwardly, till they settled into a malice of nature, totally +subversive of all that was or might have been good or amiable. + +Alas! why will not parents reflect, how much the characters and +happiness of their children, in after life, depend on the species of +minor experience collected in infancy, and the few years immediately +succeeding that period. When intellect is matured, we may call upon it +to judge of great events, to guide us in great undertakings, or lead us +to signal self-conquests; but by this time, the feelings, the strong +holds, whether of vice or virtue, are pre-occupied, and the passions, +already in arms and in the field, too probably on the side of error, +certainly so, if hitherto undirected. And hence it is, that in so many +minds the kingdom within is found in a perpetual state of rebellion +against the sovereignty of reason: or, in other words, hence it is, +that so many people daily act by impulse, contrary to what they call +their better judgment. Here, then, is the true task of the parent; to +use, for the benefit of his child, that deliberate sense of right, +which, in his own case, comes frequently too late for action. And how +shall that parent depart in peace, who has not thus endeavoured, at +least, to smooth the path of truth before the footsteps of his child? + +When Henry was old enough for public education, Mrs. Montgomery wrote +to her sister, to offer an allowance for the expenses of placing him at +school. St. Aubin ordered his wife to accept the offer, and selected +S-- B-- school, with the meanest description of lodging in the +neighbouring village, as the cheapest he could hear of, that a part of +the allowance, which was liberal, might remain in his own hands. + +The school-house, at the period of which we speak, could accommodate +but a very few of the boys, while the rest were generally lodged in the +houses of the poor villagers; where, it is to be feared, they lorded +it, and did just as they pleased. + +Rather more than a year before the opening of this history, St. Aubin +was assailed by a temptation, against which, the fear of detection, in +the desperate state of his affairs, was an insufficient defence. He +yielded, and became engaged in a swindling transaction to an immense +amount. The business was discovered, and St. Aubin apprehended under +circumstances which left no doubt of his being hung, unless steps were +taken to prevent the prosecution. In this extremity the wretched Maria +entreated her sister, if the sacrifice of the fortune so long preserved +would suffice, to rescue with it herself and child from the disgrace +of having a husband and father die an ignominious death. A compromise +was accordingly offered, and accepted. It was not, however, in the +power of the persons principally interested, to do more than connive +at the escape of St. Aubin, who therefore fled the kingdom, taking +with him his miserable wife, and his black factotum, the only slaves +utter beggary had left him; and abandoning the child, still at S-- B-- +school, to the compassion of Mrs. Montgomery. Nor did he remit any part +of his hatred to that lady, notwithstanding her late concession; on the +contrary, he called down fresh imprecations on her head, as being the +sole cause, he said, of all his misfortunes, by having withheld the +money at the time it would have been really of use, and enabled him to +have arranged his affairs before they became quite desperate. + +The next accounts Mrs. Montgomery had of her sister and St. Aubin +were, that the ship in which they had sailed, with all the crew, and +passengers, had perished off the coast of France. The affair was of +too public a nature to afford, from the first, the slightest hope of +mis-statement; for the vessel, though a merchantman, was of importance, +from the value of her cargo, as she had much specie on board. The +circumstances too under which she was lost were remarkable, and +consequently made a great noise, for the weather was perfectly calm. +She had been seen and passed in the evening by a frigate homeward +bound, but after that was never seen or heard of more, and not even +one individual, it was stated, had escaped, to relate the particulars +of the accident: it was therefore concluded, that she must have +foundered during the night. + +Thus was Henry cast entirely on Mrs. Montgomery; who, while she grieved +to trace in him the evil nature of his father, could not help loving +him, as the child of her poor lost sister. Having concluded this +necessary retrospect, we shall, in our next chapter, return to our +narrative. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "He + To her face looked up, with innocent love, + And she looked fondly on him." + + +We left the family at Lodore House enjoying, we hope, the refreshment +of a good night's rest. The next morning Frances, before she thought +of breakfast, repaired to the bedside of Edmund. He had been for some +time awake; but, unaccustomed, it would seem, to have any friend or +confidant, he had not ventured to speak or stir. The tones of Frances' +voice, naming him to the servants as she inquired for him, appeared to +bring at once happiness and confidence to his heart. He opened his +eyes as she bent over him: he started up, clung round her neck, and +wept; though now it was evidently for joy. These first transports, over +however, he cast, from time to time, doubting glances on the various +sides of the apartment, and especially towards that in which the door +was placed, and evinced a great anxiety to retain Frances' hand. She +thought him feverish; and with great alarm perceived that his poor +little frame was covered with fearful bruises. His neck and hands first +drew her attention; and Mrs. Smyth, the housekeeper, soon ascertained +that the limbs, concealed by the night-dress, had suffered full as +much. Frances sent to Keswick for medical aid, and left her charge +with Mrs. Smyth. Mrs. Smyth was a good-natured woman, added to which, +the patience and gentleness of the little sufferer had begun to win +upon her heart, from the very moment her assistance was first ordered +to him. She found it necessary to sit by and encourage him while he +breakfasted, for, like a wild animal, driven by hunger nearer to the +haunts of man than usual, he started, and desisted from eating, at +every sound. + +"And what might you have for breakfast yesterday's morn, my dear?" said +Mrs. Smyth. + +"Nothing," he answered. + +"And what had you for dinner, then?" + +"Nothing." + +"Nothing, my dear!" repeated the good woman; "and ye could na ha' +less! Ney fault tell the cooking o' sic dinners, to be sure! And wha +was it then, that beat and bruised the life and saul out on ye in this +shamefoo manner, my dear?" she continued. + +Edmund trembled, sighed heavily, and was silent. + +"And win't ye tall me wha it was 'at beat ye?" + +Tears stood in his eyes, but still he was silent. + +"So you win't speak till me! And after the nice breakfast I geed ye, +too!" + +The tears now flowed, but still he was silent. + +"And wha was it then, that droonded ye in the water?" + +He looked all round, but did not speak; and Mrs. Smyth soon saw it was +vain to persist in questioning him. + +Mr. Dixon, the Keswick surgeon, arrived. He inquired of Mrs. Smyth what +the child had eaten, and how his food had seemed to agree with him. +Having received due replies, he turned to Frances, who by this time was +just entering, and addressed her thus:-- + +"I should not have anticipated, madam--I should not have anticipated, +that so great a variety of aliment would have assimilated well in the +child's stomach; but, such being the case, I never set my face against +facts, madam!--never set my face against facts! I should, therefore, +continue the course which has been hitherto pursued, with respect to +nutriment." + +"Yes, sir; but have you seen his bruises?" asked Frances. + +"My practice is very simple, madam," resumed the doctor, without +answering her question; "I love to go hand-in-hand with our great +instructress, Nature." + +"But--these terrible bruises, sir! What is your----" + +"It is too much the custom with men of our profession, to oppose the +efforts of nature; but I love to assist them, madam--I love to assist +them." + +"You are quite right, sir. But, do you think those bruises will be of +any consequence?" + +"Depend upon it, madam, depend upon it, there is always a revulsion, +as it were, towards right; a rebounding, a returning, in nature to her +usual functions, as first ordained by her all, wise Creator; and our +part, is carefully to watch those movements. And when the elasticity of +any power is impaired by the forcible, or long continued pressure of +adventitious circumstances; first, to remove the weight of such, and +then, by gentle stimulants, to restore buoyancy to the injured spring; +thus, madam--thus, I ever doff my cap to Nature!" + +The doctor having arrived at what seemed a pause, at least, if not +a conclusion, Frances had some hopes of being heard; and, by way of +exordium, said, + +"Your system, sir, is as judicious as it is pious." + +"I am not presumptuous, madam!" again interrupted the doctor; "I am not +presumptuous--" + +"And I should like," persisted Frances, "to have the opinion of one so +skilful, respecting the bruises of this poor child." + +The doctor's ear at length caught the word. "The bruises, madam! the +bruises! They have been inflicted by a cruel and most unsparing hand! +No doubt of it, madam--no doubt of it! Who was it that beat you in this +shocking manner, my little dear?" he continued, stroking the child's +head good-naturedly. + +Edmund looked alarmed, but made no attempt at reply. + +"There are, I hope, no inward bruises," resumed the doctor: "some +of these outward ones are attended with a degree of inflammation, +doubtless; but it is very slight and quite local, and may, I hope, be +even beneficial: inasmuch as it may divert the attention of the system, +and prevent any more vital part becoming the seat of disease; but it is +not such as to require any general reduction of a patient already so +low." + +"I am delighted to hear you say so, sir!" exclaimed Frances; "for I +wish so much to give him every thing good, when I think, poor fellow, +that perhaps he never had a comfortable meal in his life, before last +night! And I long so, too," she added, looking at Edmund, "to see the +little creature quite fat and rosy." + +"No roses here, madam! doubtless none, nor rotundity of limb, that is +most certain. I do not know that I have ever met with a more decided +case of emaciation in the whole course of my practice! Look at his +fingers, madam! do look at his fingers! Nor do I think that his pulse +would warrant me in bleeding him at present, as I should, doubtless, +any other patient, labouring under contusions of this nature. I will, +therefore, send an emolient and cooling mixture, with which, Mrs. +Smyth, you will bathe the parts frequently. Nutriment and quiet will do +the rest," he added, turning again to Frances, "for his fever proceeds +entirely from irritation of the nervous system, not from general +fulness; therefore, as I said before, cannot require general reduction. +General opposed to general, you see, madam, in the healing, as well +as in the wounding profession! Heigh! heigh! You don't admire puns, +I know; but come, that's rather a good one, is it not? Good morning +to you." And so saying, though on the wrong side of sixty, the doctor +performed an active pirouette at the door, as was his custom; and, +with the lightness of a lad of sixteen, made good his retreat, being +in great haste to leave the impression of the last good thing he had +said fresh on the minds of his hearers. Notwithstanding these little +innocent peculiarities, Mr. Dixon was a truly worthy, a kind-hearted, +and a skilful man, charitable to the poor, and solicitously attentive +to his patients; and, with all, he had not a mercenary thought! Mrs. +Montgomery had employed him for many years; and such was her confidence +in his abilities, that she would have judged those she regarded, less +safe in any other hands. + +Frances flew after Mr. Dixon, to entreat his aid for Fairy, her +beautiful Italian greyhound, that she had left very ill in the arms of +Lord L--. But, alas! the poor little dog was no more: it had expired +in convulsions; and the group which presented itself, on entering the +breakfast-room, appeared holding a sort of coroner's inquest over +the body. Lord L., still faithful to his charge, held the motionless +favourite on his knee; Mrs. Montgomery sat near, with a countenance +which seemed to say, "all is over!" Frances' maid and the butler stood, +one with a saucer of milk, the other with a plate of water, both now +become useless; while Henry pinched, first a foot, then the tail, then +an ear, to ascertain, as he said, whether the thing were quite dead. +Frances gently put his hand aside, and looked in the doctor's face. The +doctor shook his head. He was asked if he could say, from the symptoms, +what had caused the creature's death? + +"Poison, madam! poison!" he replied, without hesitation. + +Henry reddened. "It does not admit of a doubt, madam!" continued the +doctor, "the animal has died by poison." The servants had their own +opinion, as to who had given the poison, but were silent.--Such are the +beginnings of crime. + +Poor Edmund had now been some days an inmate of Lodore House, but, as +yet, no one had been able to discover who or what he was: while from +himself no replies could be obtained, but sobs and terrified looks. + +One morning Frances sent for him to the breakfast-room, and, after +giving him many good things, began a kind of questioning, which she +hoped might draw some information from the child, without alarming +him: such as, Where was his home? Where was the place where he used +always to be? He replied, "No where." Was there any one that used to +love him? "Yes," he said. She now thought she had found a clue to some +useful discovery, and asked him, who it was that loved him? "You do," +he replied. Frances took him on her knee, and put her questions in low +whispers; upon which, when she asked him particularly about the large +bruise on the side of his leg, he stole his little arms round her +neck, and breathed softly in her ear, "She wanted to break it off." +"Who, my dear, wanted to break it off?" "My mother." Then, alarmed at +the great effort he had made, he became more silent than ever, and +looked so much distressed, that at last, for his own relief, he was +dismissed in charge of good Mrs. Smyth. While Frances, inspired by the +same sentiment which had guided the righteous judgment of Solomon, +felt convinced that the woman, whoever she might be, who could treat +a child so barbarously, was not its real mother. Mrs. Montgomery was +herself disposed to entertain the same opinion; she, however, laughed +at the romantic deduction attempted to be made by Frances, that Edmund +therefore must be the child of parents in an exalted rank in life. + +While the ladies were discussing this point, Mr. Lauson, an attorney +resident at Keswick, came in to pay his respects: for he was agent to +the Cumberland and Westmoreland estates, as well as general man of +business to the family. Lauson had passed Mrs. Smyth and Edmund in the +hall, and had looked rather hard at the child. As soon as the morning +salutations were ended, and he had taken his seat, he pointed with his +thumb over his shoulder towards the door, which was behind him, saying, +"What child's that?" And, without waiting for a reply, he added, "I'd +be sworn but it's the boy that was begging about at the regatta with +one leg." + +"With one leg!" interrupted Frances. + +"Ay, ay," said Lauson; "but I saw him myself find the other, so there +is nothing so surprising in his having the two now." + +The ladies requested an explanation, and Mr. Lauson gave the best he +could, by recounting as much as he had witnessed of the scene which +opens our history. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "Of snowy white the dress, the buskin white, + And purest white, the graceful waving plume." + + +In about six weeks the marriage of Frances and Lord L-- took place, +and the happy couple set off for Beech Park, his lordship's seat, near +London. Within the following ten days Mrs. Montgomery made all her +home arrangements, paid her pensioners, gave orders for the Christmas +dinner of the neighbouring poor, placed Edmund in the peculiar care +of Mrs. Smyth; and, finally, the day before she set out to join her +daughter and son-in-law, dispatched Henry, under escort of the butler, +back to S-- B-- school. The school, as we have before observed, was +an excellent, though a cheap one; but the lodging was such as Mrs. +Montgomery certainly would not have selected for her nephew, nor indeed +suffered him to occupy, could she have known the scenes and society +into which it threw him. + +Henry arrived at the village of S-- B--, and jumped out of the carriage +at the door of a butcher's house. While the servant was taking out the +luggage, Henry addressed, very familiarly, a woman who stood with her +back to him; and accommodating his language, as was his custom, to his +company, said, "Weel, Katty, and whoo is't wee aw wee you?" "No mickle +the better for yeer axin!" she replied, continuing her washing. The +next moment Henry was engaged in a game of romps with a fine girl of +fourteen, who just then came in from the garden: all the flowers which +had lately bloomed there collected in her apron, to be tied up in penny +bunches for the ensuing day's market. On receiving, though not, it must +be confessed, without richly deserving it, a smart slap on the ear from +his fair antagonist, the young gentleman closed with her, and commenced +an absolute boxing-match. At this juncture the butcher himself entered. + +"What's aw this? what's aw this?" he exclaimed. The angry voice of +David Park (such was the butcher's name) ended the scuffle. + +"Mr. Henry and me was no' but larking, fether," replied his daughter, +adjusting her disordered hair and drapery, and gathering up her +scattered flowers. + +"Mr. Henry! Mr. Deevil!" said the man, recognising Henry with a scowl. +"Bonny larking truly!" he continued; "bonny larking truly! And what +business had you, wife, to aloo of ony sic work?" And he sat down +sullenly, deterred from taking signal vengeance on the laughing young +gentleman, by the dread of losing his lodger. "Bonny larking truly!" he +resumed, as, without looking round, he poked the fire before which he +had seated himself, and began to light his pipe. "Ye'll soon be oure +aul', te lark afther that gate wi' the scholar lads, I can tell yee!" +Here he glanced at his daughter, and added, "Git awaw wi' ye, and don +yeer sel', lass! yeer na fit till stand afoor a man body noo, tho' he +be thee fether! Yeer aw ribbands!" + +We shall here leave Henry to keep such society, and to follow such +pursuits unmolested, and give our attention again to other and more +amiable personages of our history. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "Yes, sweet boy, Clara will be thy mother. + Thou hast thus her first of mother's feelings; + Even should there rise, to claim her fondness, + Other beings like to thee: innocents, + Helpless innocents." + + +Months had rolled away. It was a beautiful evening in the middle +of July; and Lodore House, which had been deserted by most of its +inhabitants about the latter end of last October, when the trees were +almost leafless, and the voice of the fall loud with the swell of +wintry torrents, now looked with a cheerful aspect from amid embowering +verdure. The lofty head of Skiddaw arose with great majesty above the +woods immediately behind the house, and the calm lake spread abroad in +front, and bounded by the wide amphitheatre of the Keswick mountains, +filled the mind with pleasing ideas of peace and retirement. The +building, in its own outline, was picturesque; running along in light +corridors, connecting its principal parts. Numerous glass doors, or +French windows, leading out on the lawn, were all standing open. A +table, covered with fruit and other refreshments, might be just peeped +at through one of these; musical instruments, freed from their cases, +appeared through others, and through more might be discerned, sofas, +book-stands, work-tables, Turkey carpets, reposé chairs, Italian vases, +bronze lamps, cut-glass lustres, hothouse plants, French beds, swing +mirrors, &c.: while the intervention of silk and muslin draperies, +permitting each object to be but imperfectly seen, left imagination +free to deck the whole with the charms of fairy-land. Indeed, from +what did appear, it was evident that the sitting-rooms were numerous, +and richly furnished; that one corridor was a green house, another +a conservatory; and that the wings contained library, music-room, +billiard-room, and several sleeping and dressing-rooms, all on the +ground floor, all opening on the smooth turf, and displaying, or +rather betraying, enough of their arrangements to show that, not only +convenience, but luxury had been studied in their fitting up. + +On the outside, ever-blowing roses, with jessamine, honeysuckle and +clematis, bloomed in abundance, climbing around the casements, and +creeping along the palings: while a gay assemblage of the choicest and +sweetest flowers occupied plots, scattered irregularly on the velvet +green. + +The evening song of myriads of birds was pouring from the deep woods +with every wild variety of note, rendered the more remarkable by the +monotonous sound of the now subdued murmur of the fall, which still +went on, on, like the studied sameness of a judicious accompaniment, +selected to give effect to the varied excursions of the singer's voice. + +Though the sun was still above the horizon, many bonfires were already +lit at various distances along the road. The immediate approach was +crouded with people, looking full of expectation. Detached groups were +advancing in different directions; and, here and there, individuals had +climbed trees, or elevated portions of rock, and seemed looking out +for something. Every now and then, Mrs. Smyth, dressed in a holiday +suit, came forth from some one or other of the many open doors, held +up her hand to shade the glare of light from her eyes, looked towards +the lake for a few moments, and returned in again. Then, would some +beautiful exotic be seen to change its position on some flower-stand; +next a drapery would be let down from the golden pin which had held it, +and hung again, we suppose, with more grace, at least in the opinion +of good Mrs. Smyth, whose form glided on through long corridors, from +time to time appearing, disappearing, and re-appearing; and generally +followed by that of a child that seemed, at every step, to leap and +gambol for very glee. + +At length, a carriage was seen driving, at a rapid pace, along the +borders of Derwent-water. Every thing bright about it sparkled in the +rays of the setting sun. A universal shout arose, and all became +hurry and motion. The carriage approached: it was a barouche thrown +open, and, seated in it, were Mrs. Montgomery and Lord and Lady L. +They bowed, smiled, and waved their hands on every side. But soon the +attention of the latter lady was entirely engrossed by the appearance +of a lovely little boy, whom Mrs. Smyth, as she descended the lawn, +led by the hand; and in whom, but for one touching expression, +imperceptible perhaps to any other eye than Frances', no one could have +recognized poor Edmund. The rich dark locks, the profusion of which +had formerly added the look of wild neglect to that of misery, now +flew back as he ran against the wind, displaying and giving contrast +to a forehead white and open. The late hollow cheeks were now rounded, +dimpled, and glowing, at once with exercise and delight. His mouth, +always beautiful in its form, and so very sweet in its movements, had +now all the advantages of rosy lips and happy smiles. While his eyes, +which from their being large, and adorned by peculiarly long lashes, +had once seemed to occupy the chief part of his face, now but served to +give soul to the more earthly beauties, which the good cheer of Mrs. +Smyth had supplied. + +Edmund had got a few paces before his conductress. He stretched +forward both hands, and leaped up with a bound towards the door, as +he reached the side of the carriage. Lady L. pulled the check-string. +The carriage stopped, and Edmund, whom by its rapid motion it had +already passed some yards, was brought back by a servant, and lifted +in. Such was his joy, that the poor little creature could not speak! +He trembled excessively, and, for a moment or two, his features +were almost convulsed by his struggles not to cry: he thought it +would seem as if he were not glad, and he knew he was very glad. A +few tears, however, forced their way; but they only hung in the long +lashes, shining like early dew-drops, while happiness sparkled through +them: for now, encouraged and caressed, he sat on Lady L.'s knee, and +hugged one of her hands. Yet, when he looked up in her face and tried +to speak, his little lip trembled again, and his little countenance +assumed an expression of feeling beyond his years, which early sorrow +had taught the infant features. Lady L. kissed his forehead and passed +her hand over it, to wipe away, as it were, the trace of care; while +an ardent desire swelled in her heart to screen this object of her +tender compassion from every painful vicissitude of life, accompanied, +however, by a sigh to think how vain the wish! This sigh was followed +by yet another, as, from association, the very natural idea presented +itself, that it must be also impossible for her effectually to shelter +from the changes and chances of mortal existence, even the babe, that +destined to be born under auspices so different, would, in a few +months, make her really a mother. + +Mrs. Montgomery rallied, and Lord L. complimented her on her +discernment; declaring that they never had seen any thing half so +beautiful as her unpromising favourite had turned out. + +"Do not think me illiberal," said Lady L.; "but I cannot imagine this +the child of coarse, vulgar parents--a creature that seems all soul! +See, with what an intelligent countenance he listens to every thing +that is said!" + +Mrs. Montgomery smiled; and Lord L., anxious to please a wife with whom +he was still in love, was about to express himself quite of her opinion. + +The discussion was, however, for the present broken off by the stopping +of the carriage amid shouts of joyous welcome. While the merry groups +around the bonfires drank the healths of our family party, its members +seated themselves at a most inviting looking table, which we have long +half seen from behind a muslin curtain. + +The agreeable summer supper they here found prepared for their +entertainment, consisted chiefly of fruit, of which little Edmund, +placed between Lady L. and Mrs. Montgomery, was permitted to partake. + +"You see," remarked her partial ladyship, after observing the child for +a time, "with all the gentleness of his nature, there is no slavish +awe of superiors about him. Do you know, I almost fancy I can discern +an innate consciousness of being in his right place when he is with us: +it would seem as though, however long he had been in the hands of those +wretches, the impressions of absolute infancy, and of the caresses +and tender treatment experienced, (if my conjecture is correct,) +during that period, were never entirely effaced; for, that though they +were not within the reach of memory to recall with any thing like +distinctness, association possessed a mysterious power of bringing +every thing similar to them home to the feelings. Can you imagine so +nice a distinction? I can," she added, turning to Lord L. + +"There are few," replied his lordship, "who have not, I should think, +experienced the feeling of which you speak. Of this class are all the +sensations of pleasure or of pain, occasioned by sounds or sights +possessing in their own natures no corresponding qualities. How often, +for instance, do we hear people say of an air, by no means solemn. +'That tune always makes me melancholy: it reminds me of something, +though I cannot remember what.'" + +This sort of conversation naturally led to the subject of Edmund's +future prospects. It seemed tacitly yielded to the evident wishes of +Lady L., that his profession should be that of a gentleman. + +"I think," said Lord L., "it will be the best way to give the boy a +liberal education: and when he is of an age to judge for himself, let +him choose for himself." + +Mrs. Montgomery expressed the same opinion. + +"Nothing can be kinder, I am sure!" said Lady L., giving a hand to +each, and seeming to take the obligation entirely to herself: then +looking at Edmund, she added, after a moment's pause, "I dare say, he +will choose to be a clergyman, the benevolent duties of that sacred +office will suit so well with his gentle temper. Should you not like +to be a clergyman, my dear--like the gentleman who reads in the church +every Sunday." + +"I'd like to be a sailor boy," said Edmund. + +"A sailor boy!" repeated Lady L. "Poor child!" + +"That's right, my brave fellow!" exclaimed Lord L. "You see, Frances, +he will not be so very gentle after all! Less than a year of good +feeding and kind treatment have already brought out his English spirit. +If he continue of this opinion, I can obtain his admittance into the +naval college at Portsmouth; after which, I shall put him forward in +his profession with all the interest I can command." + +Things being thus arranged, so much to Lady L.'s satisfaction, the +family retired for the night. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "Thou wilt see him." + + +Mrs. Montgomery received an account, in the morning, from Mrs. Smyth, +of how good Edmund had been, and of his having become so great a +favourite, not only with the good doctor, but also with the clergyman, +that both had had him to dine and play with their children more than +once. She also reported, with great self gratulation, the very uncommon +progress he had made in learning, under her tuition; and then proceeded +to relate an adventure she had met with one evening, when walking with +Edmund. + +"We were just returning," said Mrs. Smyth, "from Keswick, where I had +been taking a cup of tea wee a vara discreet neighbour. I carried +the boy wee me, for I niver like to let a child that is in my care +oot o' my sight; it's a thing I nivir did, and Edmund is ne trouble; +tack him whar ye will, he awways behaves himsel so prettily. So just +as we were walking quietly up the hill, before ye git under the +shade o' the trees, hearing voices, I happened to look ehint me, +when I saw following us a dacent, vara gentleman looking man, in +earnest conversation with a woman, wha from her rags, and the whiff +o' spirituous liquor I found as she passed, seemed a beggar o' the +maist disreputable kind. They keep't looking, looking, still at little +Edmund, as they spoke; and though, when I think upon it, it seems as +though ony body might look at his bonny face, heaven love him! yet at +the time I felt within myself parfact sure 'at they were no looking at +him for the sake o' looking at him. As they cam' past I heard the man +say, 'Well, I suppose she'll be satisfied, now that I have seen him +myself.' I am quite sure o' these words, but they went on, and I could +hear no more. It seemed so strange like, I thought, to follow and speak +wee them, when I felt the bairn pull me by the hand; I looked round, +and he was trembling aw over, and as pale as death. By the time I had +speered at him what ailed him, and spoken him a word o' comfort, the +man and the woman were bathe gane, and the peur thing talt me, that yon +graceless wretch was his mother." + +Much commenting followed, on the part of Mrs. Smyth, which it is +unnecessary to repeat; while Mrs. Montgomery could not refrain from +expressing great regret, that so favourable an opportunity had been +lost for compelling the vagrant to give some account of herself, and of +the child. The subject was, of course, discussed in the breakfast-room, +but nothing could be made of it, except that it would seem there did +exist some one who took an interest in Edmund, and who might yet claim +him, when their reasons for mystery were at an end. But then, their +choice of such an agent as the drunken beggar, was quite unaccountable; +for, had she stolen the child, why should she be in the confidence of +the decent man, who, it seems, was to satisfy the child's friends, +by being able to say that he had seen him himself. The most diligent +search was made in the neighbourhood, but neither man nor woman could +be heard of. + +Mrs. Montgomery and Lady L. now undertook the instruction of Edmund +themselves, till proper arrangements should be made respecting that +point, lest he should acquire too much of good Mrs. Smyth's accent; yet +that discreet lady was far from thinking any such precaution necessary, +as she prided herself on reading English with great precision, and +indulging in her native idiom only in familiar conversation, for the +sake, as she averred, of "Auld lang syne." + +This plan of the lessons brought Edmund much into the sitting-rooms, +till, by degrees, it passed into a custom for him to remain all the +morning with the ladies. Then, when particularly good, he was indulged +with a sort of second dinner at the table: and he was always good, so +that there was no opportunity to withdraw an indulgence once granted, +and, very shortly, a chair and plate were set for him at every meal, +as a matter of course; while every one grew so fond of him, that +it seemed forgotten he was not a child of the family, and even the +servants, of their own accord, all began to call him Master Edmund. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "This is thy + Birth-day, and thou must be the little idol + Of the festival." + + +In the mean time preparations of every kind were making for Lady L.'s +expected confinement. The doctor had an apartment assigned him, and +now lived at Lodore House, lest his attendance should be a moment too +late. A respectable woman, of approved abilities, arrived all the way +from Edinburgh. She was provided with an assistant under-nurse from +Keswick, and both established at Lodore. Offerings too, at the shrine +of the expected stranger, made their appearance every day. A splendid +set of caudle-cups, of very curious china, was sent from London by Lady +Theodosia R., a sister of Lord L. A set of baby-linen, of needle-work +the most exquisite, arrived from Scotland, sent by Major Morven, +a rather elderly bachelor-brother of Mrs. Montgomery's. The major +mentioned in his letter, that, as he did not understand those things +himself, he had had them chosen by a committee of ladies, the best +judges in Edinburgh. + +Many, indeed, were the little, very little things, which came from +various quarters, more than we entirely understand ourselves; but every +band-box that was opened produced something little, so that it seemed +a sort of importation from the Liliputian world. Little hats of white +beaver, like snow-balls, in which, however, little plumes were not +forgotten. Little caps, little bonnets, and even little shoes, wrapped +in silver paper. In short, there was nothing big, but the good woman +from Edinburgh, and Major Morven. The major came to be in time for the +christening, as he was to be one of the sponsors. + +At length another little arrival took place, and a beautiful little +girl commenced her earthly pilgrimage. Quickly was the young stranger +dressed in the raiment of needle-work, and carried by its grandmamma, +and followed by its nurse, to the drawing-room, there to receive the +caresses, and claim the admiration of its happy papa. There also was +Edmund, wondering much at the bustle, and at his lessons having been +entirely omitted. His ecstacies of delight and astonishment on seeing +the baby were so great, and his entreaties so eager, first to be +allowed to look at, then to touch this quite new object of wonder, +all the time trying each expedient to add to his height, now leaping +straight up, now climbing the chair nearest to Lord L., then the arm of +the sofa, and, finally, the sofa-table itself, to the imminent danger +of his neck, that Mrs. Montgomery was at length induced, after making +him sit down on the said table, to hold the infant, for a second or +two, across his knees. + +During those seconds it was, we have good reason to believe, that the +first idea of self-importance ever entertained by our hero, entered +his mind: it accompanied the proud consciousness of fancying that he +afforded support to a creature more helpless than himself. He touched +its soft cheek, then its miniature hand, which soon began to close +itself round his finger, in the manner that infants do. It seemed to +Edmund, as though his caresses were kindly returned. His little heart +overflowed with fondness. He looked up, his face beaming with delight, +and asked if he might kiss the darling little baby. + +"A pretty bold request indeed!" said Lord L., laughing, "kiss my eldest +daughter, you urchin." + +Mrs. Montgomery, laughing also, told him he might, and Edmund +accordingly approached his rosy lips to those of his precious charge, +with, however, the greatest gentleness, lest, as he said, he should +hurt it. + +Mrs. Montgomery, on her return back from the drawing-room, was much +surprised to hear the cry of an infant inside her daughter's apartment, +while she herself, if she were not dreaming, held the baby in her own +arms, outside the door. The fact was, an occurrence had taken place, +which, with all their preparation, they were not at all prepared +for. A second little girl had made her appearance. Two dress caps, +certainly, had been provided, one with a cockade for a boy, the other +with a suitable rosette for a girl, in case of such a contingency +(and bad enough in all conscience) as that of the child being a girl, +after doctor, nurse, servants, tenants, and indeed every one knowing +perfectly well that it would be a boy, but two girls never had been so +much as thought of. The elder young lady, therefore, by three-quarters +of an hour, being already in possession of the girl's rosette, the +younger was obliged to make her first public appearance in this world +of vanities, figuring in a boy's cockade. + +To prevent, however, a serious disappointment on the part of Lord L., +an explanatory message was sent to him before she was permitted to +enter the drawing-room. There was but one child's nurse, too; but what +with grandmamma's help, and good Mrs. Smyth's assistance, and Edmund's, +which he judicially afforded, by running under every body's feet who +carried a baby, they contrived to manage till a second nurse could be +procured. + +We speak of nurses under certain limitations; for Lady L. had been too +well instructed by her mother, in every right sentiment, to meditate +for a moment depriving her infants of the nutriment nature had ordained +for them. + +The doctor, as soon as he thought he could venture to assert that there +would be no more, either boys or girls, frisked into the drawing-room, +rubbing his hands, and smiling with perfect satisfaction. + +"I give your lordship," he said, "joy, twice told! twice told! I +believe I am justified in so doing on the present twofold occasion. +Twofold, heigh? twofold it certainly is, literally so, and twofold +should be our rejoicing; else are we ungrateful for the bounty of +Providence, and the liberality of nature! Liberality of nature, heigh?" + +"But--," said his lordship, with a countenance of some anxiety. + +"We did not anticipate this, sir," continued the doctor, "this is a +contingency that we did not anticipate." + +"Pray--," recommenced Lord L., making a fresh effort to be heard; but +the doctor proceeded. + +"Two beautiful girls, upon my life--beautiful! I already see future +conquests sparkling in their eyes!" + +"Are you sure, doctor," asked the major, "there won't be any more? A +boy now, eh? Girls first: all right that--_Place aux dames_." + +"The next," proceeded the doctor, still addressing Lord L., "shall be a +boy. At present two _belles_ have been sent us, and we should make them +joy _belles_! eh? Come, that's rather good, a'n't it?" And with his +usual pirouette, he flung himself on the sofa beside the major, threw +one leg across the other, and with his head a little back, and on one +side, looked up and smiled with entire self-complacency. + +Mrs. Montgomery now appeared at the door, to give Lord L. the +long-wished-for summons; which he obeyed on tip-toe. + +"From Scotland, I presume, sir?" said the doctor to his neighbour on +the sofa. + +"Ee noo, sir," replied the major; "bit hoo did ye ken I cam frae +Scotland? No by my speech, I reckon." + +"Oh, sir, the name--the name," returned the doctor, a little +disconcerted. + +"Morven is a weel kent name, dootless," rejoined the man of war; "and +for my speech, I should tack ney sham that it savoured o' the land o' +my nativity, provided sic was the case; bit it fell oot, that being +much wee my regiment, on the sarvice o' his Majesty, I ha' been full +saxteen year o' my life oot o' Scotland; se that noo, when I gang to +Lunnon, ne body kens me till be a Scotchman: that is, by my speech. Bit +ne' doot--" + +Here the doctor, who had kept silence unusually long (perhaps from +admiration of the major's pure English), interrupted his companion, to +descant on use or custom being second nature, &c. And the major being +one of the many who never listen to anybody's speeches but their own, +leaned back on the sofa, and fell asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "But not less pious was the ardent pray'r + That rose spontaneously." + + "Look at him! Is he not a beauteous boy?" + + +The christening was quite a splendid festival. A number of friends and +relations, among whom was Lady Theodosia R., became inmates of Lodore +House for the occasion. All the neighbourhood was invited to join their +party for the day; and the tenantry and poor people entertained on the +lawn and borders of the lake; while the inhabitants of the town of +Keswick illuminated their houses to show their respect and affection +for the family. + +The names of Julia and Frances were given to the little girls. The +ceremony was over, and Edmund, who had been dressed very sprucely for +the great occasion, was standing near one of the nurses, endeavouring +to pacify his baby, as he invariably called the eldest of the twins. +The young lady was evincing her displeasure at the drops of cold water +which had visited, so suddenly, the nice warm glow produced on her +cheek by the full lace border of her cap, and the sheltering shawl of +her nurse. + +Mrs. Montgomery, who was looking on much amused at the little +manoeuvres of Edmund, naturally recollected (the whole business being +about names) that he, poor fellow, had but one appellation, and though +that did very well now, the case would be altered when he began to +go among strangers, when some sort of surname would become quite +indispensable. She chanced to express her thoughts on the subject (in +an under tone of course) to Lady L. and Mr. Jackson, who were standing +near her, adding, that as there was no name over which she had so good +a right as her own, she thought he had better in future be called +Montgomery. + +"Are you quite determined, madam?" asked Mr. Jackson. + +"Yes, quite," she replied. + +"Come here, then, my dear little fellow!" proceeded the worthy +clergyman, addressing Edmund in an elevated tone. + +Edmund obeyed timidly, but immediately. + +Mr. Jackson still stood opposite to the font, though, his sacred duties +being ended, he had descended the steps previous to the foregoing +conversation, which took place while the congregation were moving out +of church. + +The figure and countenance of Mr. Jackson were fine and impressive, +and his air and carriage lent to them all the dignity which the Ruler +of nature intended man to derive from his upright form, when the mind +is upright too. The infantine figure at his knee seemed, by contrast, +to add nobleness to his stature. His eyes were raised to heaven, those +of the child to his face, as laying one hand on Edmund's head, and +extending the other, he pronounced with solemnity the following words: + +"May the Almighty Father of the fatherless, and Defender of the +orphan's cause, bless, guide, and protect you, under the name of Edmund +Montgomery, till your claim (if you have such) to any other shall be +known and acknowledged." + +The tones of his voice were fine; and, on this occasion, a tenderness +was blended with their depth, supplied by the growing partiality he +had for some time felt for poor Edmund; while his naturally grave and +almost severe deportment, borrowed, when, as now, he had been recently +engaged in divine service, a grace from his piety, a humility which yet +elevated: it was a consciousness, visible, of standing in the presence +of his Maker. + +When our party had come out of church, and were waiting under some +trees in the little green that surrounded the building, for the +carriages to come up in convenient order, Mr. Jackson, who still +held Edmund by the hand, turned to Mrs. Montgomery, and, with an +enthusiasm peculiar to himself, and the very glow of which prevented +his perceiving that he not unfrequently produced a smile on the lips of +those who were not capable of entering into his feelings, said, "This +child, madam, is a more perfect personification of my ideas of what +the angels must be, than any thing I have ever before met with, or even +read of." + +"You except the ladies, I hope," said Lady Theodosia, "or, at least, +those of the present company." + +"I make no exceptions, madam," replied Mr. Jackson, with but little +gallantry of voice or manner. Then turning again to Mrs. Montgomery, he +was about to proceed; but Lady Theodosia ran on thus:-- + +"It is certainly customary to say of any fine fat child, that it is +quite a cherub; but I cannot see why a perfection so earthly, should +lay exclusive claim to the attribute of angels! The Edinburgh sick +nurse, in that case, would be the most angelic creature among us, for +she must measure, as Sir John Falstaff says of himself, at least three +yards round the waist." + +Lady Theodosia was very thin. + +"My premises, madam, led to no such monstrous conclusion!" replied Mr. +Jackson, with much more severity of tone than the occasion called for. + +"Monstrous conclusion!" echoed the doctor. "Come, that's very good! +The person your ladyship has just mentioned, is somewhat monstrous, it +cannot be denied." + +Mr. Jackson, meanwhile, with a gravity not to be shaken, proceeded +addressing Mrs. Montgomery as follows:--"In my mental visions, I have +often indulged in speculations on the possible appearance of angels. +I have, 'tis true, always pictured them to myself decked in that +freshness of beauty peculiar to extreme youth; yet, on the brow, I have +imagined an expression resembling what may be traced here!" and he +passed his hand over the forehead of Edmund. Then taking off the little +plumed Scotch bonnet, and viewing him as he spoke, he continued: "That +look, I had almost said of thought, that touch of sentiment, scarcely +corresponding with the dimpled and infantine loveliness of the cheek: +that smile too, of perfect happiness, emanating from the blissful +consciousness of never even wishing wrong! No seeds of jarring passions +there, madam! no contentions of spirit: but that absolute harmony of +soul, so rarely to be met with on earth, when every impulse of the +native will is in unison with the sense of right implanted in all, by +the great Author and Source of good!" + +Lady Theodosia was dying to laugh, but dare not, Mr. Jackson's face was +so perfectly serious. Edmund looked up at the moment, conscious that he +was spoken of, though, of course, not comprehending what was said. + +"The eye," continued Mr. Jackson, "when it meets yours, certainly +conveys a tender appeal, a silent claim on protection, that we scarcely +expect in that of a superior intelligence." + +Lady Theodosia philosophically observed, that the child's hair was +black, and that angels were always depicted with golden locks. (Her +ladyship's were auburn, bordering on red.) "And as to supposing," +continued the lady, "that angels must invariably be children," (Lady +Theodosia was no child,) "it is quite an erroneous idea. Milton's +angels were of all ages." + +"But there were no ladies among them, Theodosia!" said Lord L., just +coming up. "Lovers call you angels, but brothers and married men may +speak the truth; and, it must be confessed, that all the angels upon +record are either children or young men." + +"Oh fie! my lord," ventured the doctor; "is it not recorded every day +before our eyes, in the fairest characters," bowing and smiling to +Lady Theodosia, "that the ladies are angels! Fair characters! fair +characters! Come, that's fair, very fair, a'n't?" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "There is nothing great, + Which religion does not teach; nothing good, + Of which she is not the eternal source; + At once the motive and the recompense." + + +From the evening of the birth of Lady L.'s babies, it was evident that +our hero, though not yet seven years old, no longer thought himself +little. He assumed a manly air and carriage, and could not bear the +idea of being suspected of wanting assistance or protection. He, +indeed, was always ready to give his assistance, if one of the babies +stretched a little hand for any thing, or his protection, if the +bark of a dog, the sight of a stranger, or any such awful occurrence, +alarmed either of them; or his soothings, if they cried. + +He would no longer hold by any one's hand in walking, but would step +out in front of the nursery party, with quite a proud air, looking over +his shoulder, from time to time, and telling the nurses that he was +going first, to see that there was nothing there to hurt the babies. +He often asked if they would ever be as big as he was; and always kept +alive, by perpetual inquiries, and additional caresses, a perfect +recollection of the identity of the eldest baby--the one that had been +held across his arms, the evening it was born; and which, at the moment +it seemed to clasp his finger, had awakened in his little breast the +first emotion of tenderness, that was not accompanied by that almost +awe-inspiring feeling--a grateful looking up, as from an immeasurable +distance, to beings, in whose love and protection he himself sought +shelter. + +The partiality evinced by Mr. Jackson for our hero, on the day of the +christening, encouraged Mrs. Montgomery to put in immediate execution +a plan which Lady L. and herself had been for some time meditating; +namely, to request that gentleman to undertake the education of Edmund, +till he was of an age to be sent to the Naval College. + +Mr. Jackson was eminently fitted for the task of instructing youth. He +had been a fellow of one of the universities, and distinguished both +for his learning and his talents. + +Since his retirement from college on his present living, he had enjoyed +much leisure, and had devoted it to elegant studies: modern classics, +modern languages, the fine arts, late discoveries in science, &c. &c. +In short, to use his own words, he had, since that period, wandered +daily through the pleasure-grounds of literature; not suffering his +mind to sink into utter indolence, yet giving it no more than the +healthful stimulus of gentle exercise. He was born a poet, but had, +through life, indulged more in poetical feelings than in poetical +effusions; unless, indeed, we admit as such, the energetic overflowing +of his spontaneous eloquence in conversation; for his sermons, he took +care, should be plain and practical. He was not a shepherd, who, at the +instigation of vanity, would turn the green pasture-lands of his flock +into beds of tulips. Yet did not the pure and perspicuous style, which +good taste, as well as good feeling, taught him to adopt on sacred +subjects, want for that true sublime which is derived from simplicity, +when the grandeur of the thought itself leaves laboured language far +behind. + +The topic on which he was unwearied was, the inseparable connexion +between right faith and right practice, and between both and +happiness. He proved, by the most beautiful and feeling arguments and +illustrations, that, like the root, the blossom, and the fruit, they +grew out of, necessarily produced, and, as necessarily, could not exist +without each other. He then proceeded to show, that the whole chain of +natural causes and effects formed one unbroken, practical revelation +of the Almighty will, ordaining virtue and forbidding vice; inasmuch +as not only is virtue necessary to make us capable of happiness even +here, but out of vice invariably grows suffering, not only moral, but +generally physical also, lest the lowest capacity should be slow to +comprehend this manifestation of the sovereign purpose of him who +called us into being, but bestows upon us that felicity, towards which, +his all-wise government is constituted to lead us; of him who, had it +been possible even to infinite power, to bestow a consciousness of +individuality of spiritual being, without an equal consciousness of +freedom of will, would have rendered it impossible for his creatures +to err; or, in other words, to forfeit that bliss which "eye hath not +seen, ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to +conceive." + +"For," our Christian philosopher would add, as he drew his arguments +to their close, "had that emanation of the divinity which is the +soul of man, been without choice between good and evil; or, in other +words, necessitated to act by no other impulse than that of its great +source, the Almighty had created but a material world, all spiritual +intelligence, the whole soul of the universe, had still been God +himself!" + +Mr. Jackson's imaginings, especially when he walked alone amid the +majestic scenery that surrounded his dwelling, certainly were poetry; +but he seldom interrupted his pleasing reveries, or checked his nights +of fancy, to place them on paper, or even to arrange them in any +precise order of words. Indeed, it was one of his favourite positions, +(and he was famous for theories of his own,) that a man might be a +poet, without possessing one word of any language whatsoever, in which +to express his poetic ideas. + +In judging a new work, too, he seldom descended to verbal criticism; +but, taking an enlarged view of the spirit in which the thing was +written, pronounced it, at once, to want, or to possess, that poetical +spark, that vivifying principle, which must, he maintained, breathe a +soul into every composition, whether prose or verse, worth the trouble +of reading. + +To complete Mr. Jackson's qualifications for a preceptor, he himself +found a sensible pleasure in imparting knowledge. Let others prove the +wonders, the properties, the virtues of all that the material world +affords; and, admired be their curious, and respected their useful +labours; but the natural philosophy in which he delighted, was the +development of the young mind. In his mode, too, of communicating +instruction, there was a peculiar felicity. He never required of a +pupil an arbitrary act of mere memory: "indeed," he would say, "there +is no such a power as mere memory." What is commonly called having a +good memory, he considered as nothing more than the natural result +of fixing the attention, awaking the feelings, and forming the +associations. These last, he termed the roots, by which remembrances +entwine themselves with our whole constitution, till the very heart +vibrates to a sound, a colour, or but the scent of a flower, plucked +in the day of joy, or of sorrow. He, therefore, always endeavoured to +lead the understanding to facts, through their causes; and, again, to +interest the feelings in the consequences of those facts: thus were +the lessons he taught never to be effaced. Above all things, he hasted +to supply the infant mind with salutary associations, on every subject +tending to implant principles and form character; considering every +avenue of the soul, not thus timely fortified, as laid open to the +incursions of wrong, perhaps, fatal opinions. For instance, whilst +others railed, with common-place argument, against bribing children, as +they termed it, into goodness; he maintained that the lowest animal +gratification of the infant, (that is, before it can understand any +other,) may be so judiciously bestowed, as to become the first seed of +that grand principle, a thorough conviction that the virtuous only can +enjoy happiness. If the child's daily and hourly experience prove to +it, that when it is good it has all from which it knows how to derive +pleasure; and that when it is not good, the reverse is the case; must +it not soon learn to connect, so thoroughly, goodness with happiness, +that, through after-life, the ideas can never present themselves apart. +"As mind is developed," he would say, "let the sources of the child's +happiness be ennobled: teach it to prize, as its best reward, the +love and approval of its parent; to dread, as its greatest punishment, +the withholding such. And, to acquire this power, let your tenderest +indulgence, the perpetual sunshine of your countenance, be the very +atmosphere in which your child is reared; and soon, the sight of +features on which no smile appears, will be chastisement sufficient, +and you be spared the brutalizing and alienating your offspring, by +beating it into forced obedience, and spontaneous hatred." + +That such a man as we have described, was ever found, in the fulfilment +of his active duties as a pastor, the conscientious and benevolent +Christian, we need scarcely add. + +The income arising from Mr. Jackson's living was considerable; and, +as he had also private property, he was quite independent; it was, +therefore, entirely as a favour; that Mrs. Montgomery meditated +requesting him to take charge of Edmund's education. He, on his part, +came into all her plans and wishes, with as much readiness and warmth, +as his enthusiastic praises of our hero had led her to hope. + +The parsonage, to which Mr. Jackson had built very elegant additions, +stands within a short walk of Lodore House. Its own situation is +beautiful. Indeed, it is scarcely possible to choose a spot in this +immediate neighbourhood which is not so. Every distance is terminated +by magnificent mountains. More or less ample views of the lake, +are almost everywhere to be descried through trees that grow with +luxuriance to the water's-edge; the long vista of each opening, +carpeted with a velvet sod of the tenderest green; while, where the +wooding climbs the feet of the hills, bare rocks, like the sides and +turrets of ruined castles, protrude in many parts, giving much beauty +and variety to the scenery. One of the highest of these lifts itself +conspicuously above the grove which embowers Mr. Jackson's dwelling, +and stands just in view of his study-windows. It is crowned by a rent +and blasted oak, the outer branches of which still bud forth every +spring, displaying a partial verdure, while the naked roots are bound +around the rock's hard brow, with a grasp which has maintained its hold +from age to age, against the winds and rains of countless winters. +Beyond the woods, stupendous Skiddaw rears its lofty head, enveloped +in perpetual clouds, in much the same manner, that it backs the view +of Lodore House; for in this wild region, that mountain holds so +conspicuous a place in every scene, that it may almost be said to be +omnipresent. + +A window to the south presents some slight traces of human existence, +not discernible from any of the others: a curious bridge, roughly +constructed, its date unknown, and crossing a spot where there is +now no water; and a single chimney, with its blue smoke, peeping from +the cleft of a rock, within which is concealed the little habitation +to which it belongs. The study itself, from which these prospects are +enjoyed, contains an excellent library: it opens with French windows +on the lawn, and communicates with the drawing-room by means of a +green-house in the corridor form, in imitation of that at Lodore, from +which it had been stored with choice plants. Beyond the drawing-room, +in the old part of the building, is situated a comfortable dining-room. +To this literary Eden, our hero each day repaired, reaping from his +visits all the advantages which might be expected. Thus did matters +proceed for about four years, except that we omitted to mention that +he spent all periods of Mrs. Montgomery's absence from Lodore House +entirely at Mr. Jackson's dwelling, by that gentleman's particular +request. Edmund had become the consolation of his worthy preceptor's +lonely hours, the centre of his affections. Those had, indeed, no other +object. Within the first three years of Mr. Jackson's marriage, he had +lost a wife to whom he had been attached from early youth; and, more +recently, the measles had robbed him of both the boys she had left him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "Did jealous hate inspire thee?" + + +Meanwhile the unamiable Henry, every time he returned from his school +for the vacations, was filled with fresh envy and hatred on beholding +Edmund more and more established in the rank of a child of the family, +and more and more beloved by every one; while he, Henry, felt as if at +enmity with the whole world, merely because his own unworthy nature +could not divest itself of an instinctive consciousness, that he did +not deserve to be loved. He, however, explained the business very +differently: he persuaded himself that the beggar-brat (as he called +Edmund in his own thoughts, for Mrs. Montgomery would not suffer him to +do so to be heard) had got into his place, and deprived him of every +body's regard. + +As soon as Mrs. Montgomery had been aware of her nephew's lodging, she +had had him removed to one more eligible; but his low habits were too +strongly confirmed to be much amended by this salutary change. He still +spent his leisure hours at the butcher's house, and carried thither the +fruits of all his depredations, namely, the spoils of robbed orchards, +and scaled poultry-yards. There the wife and daughter would first cook +for him, and then, joining in the carousal, help to demolish. His +rompings too, with Miss Betsy Park, for so was the butcher's daughter +named, grew daily more frequent. + +The sagacious mother did not choose to interfere, observing, that +though Betsy had become very saucy to Mr. Henry, and sometimes even +gave him a smart slap in the face, he, instead of threatening to beat, +and not unfrequently to kick her, as he used to do, was now often heard +to menace her with a good kissing if she did not behave herself. The +damsel, however, by no means alarmed, would most generally repeat her +offence, and, snapping her fingers, tell him she defied him; upon which +he would pursue her round the house, back yard, or garden, to put his +threat into execution. On such occasions, however, he could not so +entirely get rid of his old habits, as to let Miss Betsy off, without +following up his new species of vengeance, by some of those cruel +pinches which, in childhood, had so often diversified the snowy surface +of the young lady's skin, with the various tints of black, blue, and +green. + +Yet Miss Betsy was, by this time, become a very fine girl: she was +fair, had a glowing colour, a quantity of light auburn hair, laughing +blue eyes, a saucy nose, full pouting lips, good white teeth, and was +tall and well made, though, if any thing, a little too fat; but, in +consequence of her youth, this, at present, rather gave luxuriance to +her beauty, than coarseness to her appearance. + +It may be asked, why any thing in the shape of a mother sanctioned +such scenes as we have alluded to. But too many S-- B-- mothers, in +Mrs. Park's way, speculated on marrying their daughters to scholar +lads, as the boys and young men are indiscriminately termed; and the +questionable means employed by Mrs. Park were not only, in her opinion, +the best to obtain her end, but those sanctioned by the customs of the +village, time immemorial. + +By such mothers, while their daughters were permitted--we had almost +said counselled--to cast off all delicacy, a sort of worldly prudence +was taught, by which the necessity of not forfeiting their chance of +marrying a gentleman was duly impressed on young creatures, whose +habitual manners, from childhood, had early deprived them of the +natural guard of modesty. Thus, a girl who was forsaken (before +marriage we mean) by a scholar-lad, incurred direful suspicions in the +village; while one who had so successfully balanced her blandishments, +as to decoy one into marriage, was ever after held up as a pattern +of virtue! This was the more easily managed, when we consider the +respective ages of the parties. + +When once these lads left the school, their brides saw no more of them. +The ladies, however, as soon as the schoolmaster's authority was at an +end, proclaimed their marriage in the village, called themselves by the +gentleman's name, had some allowance, particularly if there was a child +in the case, and considered themselves a step higher in the ranks of +society. + +Henry was not yet seventeen, but he would be older before he finally +quitted the school; and most of the S-- B-- weddings took place between +mere boys and girls a few years their seniors. + +A custom too prevailed in this village, and its vicinity, very +favourable to suitors--we mean among the elevated rank of which we +are now speaking. All received sweethearts, as they are called, were +permitted to sit the whole of the night by the embers of the kitchen +fire, without witness or candle, beside the damsel to whom they wished +to plead their cause. This indulgence was granted, whether scholar +lad or labourer, on the plea of the swain, in either case, having no +leisure for love-making by day. It was a custom, however, which David +Park never permitted in his house, though he had himself been so +favoured when courting Betsy's mother. + +It is reported in the village, that great confusion exists in the +parish register, respecting the christenings and weddings of many +families, including the butchers. We think, however, that it must be by +a mistake of the old clerk, when a christening appears actually upon +record before the wedding, the circumstance being quite out of the +course of nature. + +Betsy's father, to do him justice, though he joined in wishing to +see his daughter married to a gentleman, and though he was sturdily +determined, if such a thing should ever happen, to have her publicly +acknowledged; yet would he have disapproved of all the methods pursued +by his wife for forwarding such views, had he been aware of them; nor +did he permit the slightest familiarity in his presence, from the time +that Betsy began to assume at all the appearance of a woman. Indeed he +often took her seriously to task; and one memorable day, in particular, +as he sat before his house fire, he drew his pipe, which he had been +smoking for some time in moody silence, from his mouth, and addressed +his daughter thus:-- + +"If thoo has a mind tle be a gintleman's woife, or an honest man's +outher, kep thee sell' to thee sell', and behave theesell' decently." +Turning half round, with both hands resting on his knees, he seemed +to measure her height and form with his eyes, and then said, "Thoo's +gitting up, Bess! dinna let the lads owr nigh thee!" She blushed and +smiled. "Coome," he continued, "thoo may kiss thee fayther tho'!" + +After a rough caress, he recommenced, still looking at her, "Thoo's a +fine lass thoo! It wad be a pity ti--a, that thoo shouldst coome tle +ney bitter end, than tle mac devartion for scholar lads!--And sham to +thee fayther!" he subjoined, after a pause, and in an altered tone. + +After another pause he proceeded thus:--"Bonny devartion truly! bonny +devartion! Nay, nay, Betsy, thoo's worthy to be sum'ot bether nor that, +my barne! If thoo sould niver be a gintleman's woife, thoo may be a +farmer's woife, and ha' plenty and decency roond thee aw thee days, +and bonny bairns, like what thoo was thee sell, aboot thee. And when +I's tired wee killing swine," he added, pleased with the picture he had +drawn, "I can coome to thee chimney corner, and tack the wee things +on my knee, and gee thee good-man sum'ot be the week for my leeving. +I think I sould like that bether, after aw Betsy, nor yon gentleman +hunting!" + +"A weel, fayther," said Betsy, affected, "and I'll dee whativer thoo +wilt. Bit Mr. Henry's a nice enough lad, tee--a! and civiler grown nor +he used to be." + +"Weel, weel, lass! Bit tack care o' thee sell: the civiler the war, may +be." + +That evening Henry brought one of his suppers to be cooked; and, among +other good things, a jar of smuggled spirits, a delicacy which he +had latterly contrived, by some secret means, to add to his feasts. +On this occasion he seemed already to have taken himself a foretaste +of the potent beverage. He found Betsy unusually distant. He kept +following her about and deranging all her culinary proceedings, in the +hope of provoking a game of romps. At last he got her up into a corner +and kept teasing her, and coming up so close that it was impossible +to get by without a struggle, which was just what he wanted. At this +moment her father came in. + +"Kep off the lass!" he cried; "kep off the lass!" And, pushing Henry +roughly aside, he stood between him and his daughter. "I tell you what, +Mr. Henry St. Aubin," he said, "I been't a gintleman, to be sure; bit +she is my flesh and blood for au' that, and the best gintleman in the +land shan't coome nigh hand her, withoot he gangs to church wee her +first! She's a fine lass, and a bonny lass, and a good lass; and +worthy till be an honest man's wife, and the mother o' bonny bairns; +and she sha'n't be sport for scholar lads, as long as her fayther has +twa hands tle knock him doon that mislests her!" + +Henry laughed coarsely, and muttered some reply which did not seem to +coincide exactly with David's notions of delicacy; for he continued +thus: + +"Hoo durst yee tle spack in that undecent fashion afoor the lass? And +what for do you look at her e that gate?" + +Henry, whose usually slender stock of good manners had not received +much addition from his late intercourse with the spirit jar, was +getting provoked. He could think, at the moment, of no readier mode of +venting his anger than that which the immediate power of insulting +offered. He seized Betsy, therefore, in pretended jest, and began to +pull her about rudely, in open defiance of David and decency. The +father's ire, at this, so got the better of him, that he forgot all his +speculations. + +"Git oot o' my hoose!" he cried; and seizing Henry by the shoulders, he +thrust him into the street, flinging the preparations for the supper at +his heels, and exclaiming, "I'll gar ye! ye greet gapping fiery-faced +deevil! I'll gar ye!" + +Henry's countenance, at the time, flushed with intoxication, rage, and +insolence, at once suggested and justified the epithet of 'fiery-faced +deevil,' bestowed by honest David. + +The next time Henry found Betsy alone (though, fortunately for her, her +father came in almost immediately) there was so much of ferocity in his +manner; and the determined advances of the urchin, in despite of grave +looks, partook so much more of revenge than of love, that Betsy was +instinctively disgusted, and determined, though with tears, to think no +more of him, and please fayther by marrying John Dixon. + +Dixon was a young farmer in the neighbourhood, who could not help +showing a partiality for Betsy, though he did not much like her +intimacy with the scholar lads, nor the thoughts of her having romped +so often with Mr. Henry. He got over all this, however, being a +gentle-tempered, kind-hearted, rather simple young man; and, since he +first fancied Betsy, disposed to melancholy. + +The day was accordingly fixed for their wedding, when Henry, who had +been forbid the house, contrived, by the mother's means, to get an +interview with the bride elect. He affected repentance for his late +rudeness, pleaded excessive love by way of an excuse, and, rather +than be ousted by the farmer, proposed marriage. Betsy shed tears of +reconciliation, and poor John Dixon was dismissed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "No green star trembles + On its top, no moonbeam on its side." + + "The blast of the desert comes, + It howls in thy empty courts." + + +There happened to be a young man at this time expected in the village, +who had received his early education at S-- B-- school, and who had +been, for many years, the mate in mischief of Henry St. Aubin. + +The young man, of whom we are speaking, was the only child of a lone +woman who kept the bakehouse of the village. His father, whom he had +never seen, had been, in the youthful days of his mother, a scholar +lad. The mother was determined that her son should be, as his father +had been, a gentleman! She devoted, therefore, the fruits of a life's +industry to educate him for the church. After such an exertion, +however, she had no pocket-money left to give her darling, who, +consequently, often wanted cash. He was selfish, and had no principles. +His habits were low, yet, in their own petty way, expensive. His +present return to the village was after a considerable absence. Henry +hastened to the bakehouse at the moment of his arrival, and, taking him +aside, asked him if he was yet ordained, "because," continued Henry, +without waiting for a reply, "if you are not, tell David you are, and +pretend to marry me to Betsy. We'll have rare fun and carousing at the +wedding: and the next time my aunt fills my purse, I'll go halves with +you." + +Now, the young man was in orders already; but so good an offer as +a carouse and even half a purse, was not to be cast away without +consideration. Besides which, it might be 'very convenient' to have +St. Aubin in his power; for though it was perfectly well known that +Henry did not inherit any thing from his father, his future prospects +from his aunt were equally well known not to be despicable; and, at +any rate, she behaved so handsomely to him at present, that as a +scholar-lad his purse was always tolerably well lined; it was not +likely, therefore, that she would ever let him be without money, when +he went into the world as a man. The conscientious young divine, +accordingly, without more time for his calculations than whilst Henry +spoke, told his friend that he was not yet ordained, and, at the same +time, undertook that his mother should tell David (as well she might) +that her son was in orders. "Indeed, for that matter," he added, "it +will be the safest way to make her think so herself." + +After this, it was easily arranged, with all parties, that Greyson +(such was our hopeful churchman's name) should perform the ceremony. It +was to take place among the roofless ruins of S-- B-- Abbey, poor David +having a prejudice in favour of his child being married in church, and +the repaired part of the building, which is the present church, being +of course locked. The little party, in contempt of canonical hours, +left David's house after midnight. They passed down the street, and all +was silent. As they approached the little bridge, situated half-way +between the village and the abbey, Betsy saw a man leaning over the +battlements, seemingly looking on the water as it glided from beneath +the one low arch. She was sure, doubtful as was the light, for the moon +was much obscured, that the figure was that of the young farmer. When +they came to the gate which divides the road and school-house from the +wide-spread ruins, they found it fastened, and were obliged to get over +the stile. When elevated on the upper step of this, Betsy gave one look +towards the bridge. The figure had left its position there. She passed +her eye along the road, and could still discern it following at some +distance. + +"Make haste!" whispered Henry, hurrying her down the steps rather +roughly. "You're not going to change your mind again, are you?" he +added, sneeringly. + +Betsy's heart misgave her, and she answered, with a heavy sigh, "If I +have changed it ance, Henry, it's no you 'at sould reproach me!" + +"Hoot! if it is such a sighing matter," he replied, "don't break your +heart to oblige me." + +"Tack care yee dinna brack it, Henry, nor my honest fayther's nowther," +was Betsy's answer. Then, mentally she added, "There's ane 'at must be +bracken, and that's enew." + +At this moment a shadow passed along a moonlit wall beside them, and +sunk in a dark archway before them. They soon entered the same archway; +proceeded along the flags in front of the great western entrance; +mounted some steps; walked on the northern high gravelled terrace, +some way; then, leaving it, climbed over graves, and stumbled over +tombstones, till, descending a rugged path, among nettles and long +grass, they entered a part of the ruin which was without any roof. The +walls, however, still rose to their full original height, till the +starry sky seemed a canopy that closed them in; while, through a row +of long, narrow, well-preserved arches, the moonlight streamed with an +adventitious brightness, borrowed from contrast with the dark shadows +in every other part. The entrance of our party, however, seemed the +signal for all that had been bright to disappear. The moon, which had +struggled for some time with the vapours of a hazy night, almost at the +instant dropped behind a range of thick clouds near the horizon. She +set a few moments after, and the haze thickening to a mizzling rain, +the very stars became extinguished. It was slowly, therefore, and with +difficulty, that the feet of our wanderers now advanced to the further +or eastern end, where the altar is said to have once stood. + +Our reverend divine here took a small dark lantern from his breast, +unfastened its door, and opened before it a pocket prayer-book. By +this time the darkness of all around was total, and added much to the +strange effect of the partial gleam that lit up the book, the one +hand that held it, and a part only of the one arm, the back of the +lantern itself throwing a powerful shadow on the rest of the figure; +so that the waving hand seemed a floating vision unconnected with any +form, and the voice that arose out of the darkness behind it, almost +supernatural! At the moment of its first sound, which, after the +silence that had preceded it, seemed to startle every thing, an owl +on the top of the ruins screamed. Betsy shuddered: the owl fluttered +downwards, fell, as it happened, actually on the lantern, and, striking +it out of the hand that held it, extinguished its light; then, having +panted a moment at the feet of the astounded group, rose, and screaming +again, brushed by their faces. A minute after, its cry was heard +repeated, but fainter from the distance, for it now came from the +highest point of the steeple. + +"It's no to be, fayther!" said Betsy, in a low voice, "it's no to be!" + +"Hoot!" said Henry, gruffly. + +Betsy felt her hand, on the other side, taken in one that seemed to +tremble. She thought, at first, it was her father's; but just then she +heard his voice on the far side of Henry, saying to the clergyman, +"What's to be done noo?" + +"He kens it off book," said Henry. + +Greyson, who had engaged to swear whatever Henry said, alleged that, +while he held the book in his hand, and repeated the words, it was the +same thing as if he read them. Accordingly, with particular solemnity +of tone, as if to compensate for the want of other requisites, he +recommenced the ceremony. + +Betsy felt the hand suddenly dropped, which had been all this time held +against the throbbing heart of some one, whose laboured breathing she +had distinguished close to her; not by sounds, those were apparently +suppressed, but she had felt each warm sigh steal over that side of her +neck and cheek. A moment after her hand had been dropped, she heard +a slight movement among some loose stones at a little distance. The +darkness was such, that she could not see any of the figures present. + +David gave away his daughter: the ceremony was concluded, and they all +began to make the best of their rugged way homeward. With much ado they +got from among tombstones, and fragments of ruins. They passed the +stile at the gate, even the bridge, and Betsy could see no traces of +any one; but it was still very dark. At length they arrived at David +Park's door; it was opened, and a strong stream of light, pouring from +it, crossed the street. David, the clergyman, and a friend of David's, +who had been taken as a witness, went in. + +The bride and bridegroom, happening to be a little behind the rest, +were following, when, just as Betsy put her foot on the threshold, she +heard in the direction of the bridge a plunge, which, though distant, +was distinct, from the perfect stillness of the night. She staggered +back a few paces, drawing Henry with her. + +"Oh, run! run!" she cried, pointing to the bridge, which was in a +straight line from where they stood, so that any one who had been upon +it might have seen the light of David's open door, and the figures +entering. + +"Run where?" asked Henry. + +"Yonder! yonder! Didna ye hear yon? I's amaist sure its John, gane o'ur +the brig for love o' me!" + +"And if it be," replied Henry, "he may go. He shall have no help of +mine!" + +At this tender and considerate speech from the bridegroom, his young +bride fainted away. She was carried into the house, without any one but +Henry knowing the cause of her illness. + +"My peur bairn's doon-hearted wid yon darkling wedding, and that ne'er +do weel o'a Jenny Owlet," said David. + +When Betsy recovered, which was not for a considerable time, she told +her father her fears, and entreated him to go to the bridge. + +"It was aw nonsense," he said, "and no but fancy! The lad had na mickle +to say for his sel, to be sure, bit he was no sic a feul as aw that; +and if there had been ony body faud i' the water, of a mischance, it +wad be owr late tle help them noo." + +However, to satisfy his daughter, he walked down the road; but +returned, saying, he could see nout. "It was no but yon Jenny Owlet +again, or may be a wild duck; there plenty o' them i' the Senbee vale. +And, what's mare," he added, "I wadend care an' we had twa on them noo, +twirling afoor this rouser." + +So saying, he placed himself in his own large chair before the said +rouser, which he roused still more, with a gigantic poker, as was his +invariable custom; while his wife laid on the board smoking dishes, one +of which was graced, if not by two wild ducks, by two good tame geese. +Henry, mean time, was preparing, scientifically, a large bowl of punch; +to which was added, on the present occasion, several bottles of choice +wine, purloined from the cellars of Lodore House. + +In the morning, the miller who lives near to where the river ----, +after wandering through the vale of S-- B--, and passing under the +bridge of which we have spoken, empties itself into the sea, found, +stopped in its course, as it floated towards the ocean, by his +mill-dam, the body of poor John Dixon. And Betsy was long before she +could get it out of her mind, how his heart had beat against her hand +so short a time before it lay still, and cold, in the mill-stream. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + "My soul is tormented + With fear! Ah, they are dead!" + + +Lady L. had not increased her family since the birth of the twins, and +they were, by this time, between four and five years old. Her ladyship +now, however, expected to do so, and the event was to take place at +Lodore. + +Dr. Dixon, too, such was the almost superstitious confidence placed in +him by Mrs. Montgomery, was to be again employed, which was matter of +no small pride, as well as delight of heart, to the good old man. + +He did not fail, as may be believed, to mention in every house in +Keswick, and that before he felt a pulse, or even contemplated the hue +of a tongue, that an humble individual like himself, had been selected +to usher into this eventful life the future Earl of L. "For it would be +a boy, no doubt," ran on the Doctor, "as there are already two girls; +lovely little creatures!--the Ladies Julia and Frances L. Both the +future brides of noble earls, doubtless. But, respecting the seniority +of the Lady Julia L.," continued the Doctor, proud of having it in his +power to give little people so much information about great people, +"the circumstances are very remarkable--very remarkable, indeed! And +if her little ladyship makes as good use of her time through life, +as she did for the first three quarters of an hour, she will be +fortunate--very fortunate--no doubt of it! Three quarters of an hour +only, the elder of her fair sister; yet, by that short space, is her +ladyship entitled to the sum of three thousand pounds per annum; to +which fine property, situated in the shire of ----, her ladyship is, by +the will of the late Major Morven, of age on the day that she completes +her eighteenth year. The property has on it, the Earl tells me, a fine +old family-seat, called the Craigs, with wood, they say, worth forty +thousand pounds! The mansion, too, I understand, contains a gallery of +invaluable pictures, a fine library, with service of plate, &c." + +The old gentleman made a very curious will, leaving the young lady +entirely her own mistress, independent of father, mother, or guardian. +"For," said the good major, "I had not been an old bachelor, had they +let me follow my own way in my youth." "I was one of the witnesses +myself," continued the doctor, "and heard him say these words. The +major was gallant, you see, as all soldiers should be, and was +determined that his will, should not thwart the will of a lady! The +will! the will! Well, come, that's very fair, a'n't it?" + +About this time, Mrs. Montgomery received a letter from the master +of the S-- B-- school, stating, that he had been obliged, however +reluctantly, to expel Mr. St. Aubin from his establishment, for the +following offences, namely,--many scandalous irregularities, respecting +the young women of the village; holding intercourse with the crew of a +smuggling vessel, laying off S-- B-- head; absenting himself for days +and nights, it is supposed on board the said vessel; and re-appearing +in a shameful state of intoxication. + +Soon after this epistle had been read, and before its contents had +been half talked over, Henry himself arrived. Some charges he denied, +others scoffed at; but did not succeed in satisfying Mrs. Montgomery. + +He was sitting with her and Lady L. in the breakfast-room, which opens +on the lawn. Speaking in answer to the account of his being supposed +to have formed an unjustifiable intimacy, at least, if not a marriage, +with Betsy Park, he said: "You must know, ma'am, the people of that +village are always getting some one to swear that their daughters +are married to every gentleman's son in the school, just to extort +money. They consider it quite a trade, I assure you," he added; seeing +that what he had said had made some impression. At this moment, a +tradesman-like looking man appeared on the lawn. + +On perceiving Henry, instead of directing his steps to the regular +entrance, he came up to the French window, or glass-door, which was +standing open. Stopping a moment, he said, respectfully, to Mrs. +Montgomery: "May I comeb ene, madam?" His dress and manner were so +decent, and he seemed so much heated and fatigued, that, without +hesitation, she said: "Certainly, sir." He put the lifted foot, which +had waited in that position for her reply, over the threshold, and, +turning to Henry, said, in a determined manner: "Where is my Bess, sir? +Where is my bairn?" + +"You needn't ask me," replied Henry, turning pale, and speaking as +though a lock-jaw were coming on; "the last I saw of her was in your +own house." + +"Oh, doon't say so, Mr. Henry!" exclaimed the poor man, clasping his +hands entreatingly. + +"It's very true though," said Henry, gaining courage. + +"It's not true!" returned David, with sudden fierceness, "or, if it +is," he added, changing again to accents of despair; "there's nay body +in this warld that kens whare she is!" He paused; then, with forced +composure subjoined, "She gade oot o' the hoose, the morn after yee +gade away, and she's niver cam back syne." + +"She is gone off with some sweetheart, I suppose," replied Henry, +affecting carelessness. + +"For sham o' yeersel!" cried David, "for sham o' yeersel; and she at +the doon-lying wid yeer bairn! Wha was she gang wid bit wid you? Ye ken +weel enew, she was nane o' that sort, or ye wad niver have been forced +til mack her yeer wife." + +"She's no wife of mine, man," interrupted Henry, "and don't dare to say +so!" + +"I will dare," returned David, "til spack the truth." Henry switched +his boots with his whip, and whistled a tune. David continued--"She +is your wife, Mr. St. Aubin; and your lawfu' wife, afoor heaven, and +lawfu' witnesses beside." + +"Neither you, nor your false witnesses, can say that you saw us +married," said Henry, with a sort of laugh. + +"If we didna, we heard yee," replied poor David. + +"Then it would seem, by your own confession, that you have nothing but +hear-say to found your story upon," wittily retorted master Henry. +"You had better send the fellow away, ma'am," he added; turning, as he +hurried out of the room, to Mrs. Montgomery; who, together with Lady +L., had hitherto listened in mute astonishment. + +"Look yee theere!" cried David: "oh, madam, if my heart was na breaking +within my body, I wad knock that young man doon at my feet." + +Mrs. Montgomery was about to speak, probably to reprove such violence. + +"Hear me, madam!" he continued with solemn earnestness; "Yee're a +Christian woman, and a mother, I dar say. She was doon-lying, (as +yon lady may be,) the neighbours aw kent she was wid bairn, and kent +she was wedded and need na' sham; then, whare wad she gang from her +fayther, and her fayther's hoose, in sic a straight, if she didna gang +we him, whose wedded wife she was? Sweetheart, indeed! An the lass had +been withoot sham hersel, whare's the sweetheart at wad tack her awa, +an she gone wid another man's bairn?--Not his wife!--not his wife! An' +he thinks then, does he, to tack a vantage of yon darkling wedding? +But I'll tell you aw aboot it, madam," he continued, gasping for +breath. Then, with the utmost simplicity, he recounted every minute +particular of Betsy's wedding; the roofless ruin, the midnight hour, +the fall of the owl, the consequent darkness, &c. &c.; and finding that +his relation was listened to with interest, and evident compassion, +he advanced a step nearer, grasped Mrs. Montgomery's arm, with a hand +that almost scorched her skin, and, lowering his voice, continued: "Oh, +madam! bit what's to come, is war than all; I went to Whiten like one +distract, when Bess was missing; and theere, the ostler folk at ane +o' the Inn-yards, talt me sic a tale aboot a lady and a gentleman, at +had been seen late at evening, walking ootby o' the sands, a lang way +aff. And hoo the gentleman, at darkling, cam back by his sel'; and cam +'intle the inn-yard, looking affeared like, and caw'd for a carriage; +and hoo he walked up and doon, up and doon, on a bit o' flag, nay +longer nor yon table, aw the time the cattle war putting too; (the folk +showed me the bit o' flag;) and hoo, when ane on them asked him to +remember t'ostler, hoo he looked at him, and never spack; and when he +asked him again to remember t'ostler, hoo he started like a body at was +wakened, and talt him te gang te hell; and gave him nout, and bad the +driver drive on. I trembled fray head to foot," continued David, "and I +asked them--but, oh, I feard te hear what they should say in reply--I +asked them, if the lass was na wid bairn; and--and--they answered----" +Here the poor man became dreadfully agitated; threw up his arms and +eyes a moment, then flung himself forward with violence on a table +that stood before him, laid his face down on it, and sobbed audibly, +uttering, in broken accents, the concluding words:--"They answered, +she was wid bairn--it was why they notished her." + +"But what would you infer?" asked Mrs. Montgomery. + +"Wha wad it be but Bess!" he replied, still sobbing. "And she did-na +cam back," he recommenced, raising his streaming eyes and clasped hands +to heaven, as he joined complaint to complaint thus:--"And she'll niver +cam back! and she was aw I had! and I'll niver see her bonny face more! +nor her bairn, that I could ha' loved for being Betsy's bairn, if the +deevil had been the fayther on't! He has murdered her i' the sands!" +he added, sternly and suddenly, and he faced round as he spoke, "to be +clean rid bathe o' her and the bairn!" + +"Silence! silence, man!" exclaimed Mrs. Montgomery, in a voice of +authority. Then, too much shocked and affected to experience, in full, +the indignation she must otherwise have felt on hearing Henry thus +accused, she added, "For heaven's sake compose yourself! The horrible +suspicion which agitates you in this dreadful manner, it is quite +impossible should have any foundation! My nephew, however imprudent he +may have been, is much too young a creature to have even thought of an +enormity such as this!" + +"Then where is Betsy?" said the poor man, looking up in her face. + +"I shall insist on Henry's declaring all he knows about her," replied +Mrs. Montgomery. "Depend upon it, she is perfectly safe in some lodging +in Whitehaven, or some cottage in this neighbourhood, perhaps." + +The poor father smiled. It was a ghastly and a momentary smile. "Heaven +grant it!" he ejaculated. + +"Henry has behaved most imprudently," continued Mrs. Montgomery, +"in marrying, as you assure me he has done: and very wickedly, in +endeavouring to deny it, when done; and I shall see that he does your +daughter, if she be a modest girl, every justice, however ruinous to +his prospects, ill-fated being! But you ought, indeed, my good man, +you ought to take care, how you accuse any one, lightly, of such a +crime as you have ventured to name! Were it not that I see your own +internal sufferings are so dreadful, that you scarcely know what you +say, and that it all proceeds from parental affection, in which I can +sympathise, I should, indeed, be very much, and very justly offended!" + +But there was no severity in Mrs. Montgomery's tone: she looked, while +she spoke, at her own daughter, and her mind glanced at what was, and +what was not, parallel in situation, and she could have pardoned +almost any extravagance in poor David. + +"Weel, weel," he replied, and forgetting ceremony, he sat down on a +chair, and leaned back quite exhausted. + +Lady L., who had felt for his extreme agitation, and had ordered wine +to be brought in, now charitably offered him some, helping him herself. +At this mark of condescension he attempted to stand up; but she saw +he was unable, and would not let him. He took the glass from her; in +doing so, a finger came in contact with the hand of Lady L.; its touch +was like that of an icicle! He brought the wine near his lips; then, +pausing, laid it on the table untasted, and said, "Bit wha could yon +ha' been, 'at went oot wid a young gintleman, and niver cam' back, and +was big wid bairn!" + +"Possibly," replied Mrs. Montgomery, "some lady, whose friends live in +that direction, and who had no intention of returning." + +David took up the glass again; but it dropped from his hand, and he +fell to the floor with a fatally heavy sound. + +Mrs. Montgomery rang, called, begged Lady L. to sit down quietly in the +next room, and not suffer herself to be agitated; then rang, and called +again. Servants appeared, the doctor was sent for, bleeding, and every +other method of restoring animation, resorted to, but in vain--poor +David was no more! It was the doctor's opinion, that his long and +hurried journeys on foot, the frightful agitation of his mind, and the +heat of the weather, had all together occasioned apoplexy. + +Henry, when, a few days after this melancholy catastrophe, the subject +was renewed, persisted in his assertions, that he had never thought of +marrying the girl; that she was a perfectly good-for-nothing creature, +and, most probably, gone off with some fellow, whoever, perhaps, she +had been most intimate with; though it was not a week since the father +had had the insolence to threaten him, because he had spoken to the +girl two or three times, with legal proceedings, forsooth. + +Mrs. Montgomery was staggered, and puzzled, and knew not what to think. +She wrote, however, to the master of S-- B-- school, but received, in +reply, no more satisfactory information than the certainty that Betsy +Park was missing. As to her character, she had always been considered +dressy, and fond of the company of scholar lads. + +If there was any truth in David's having thought of taking legal +proceedings, his sudden death seemed to have silenced his intended +witnesses, for no person came forward. All, therefore, on which Mrs. +Montgomery could decide was, that Henry's profession should not be the +church, as had been intended; and that she would settle some little +pension on David Park's widow. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + "Fruits, abundant as the southern vintage, + O'erspread the board, and please the wand'ring eye, + As each, from its moist and globular side, + Reflects a ray, varied by its native hue; + And all, through shelt'ring foliage shine, so placed, + To give them tempting freshness: while Flora, + Dispensing fragrance in the gayest forms, + And brightest tints, that once fair Paradise + Adorned, flings all the loveliness of spring + O'er autumn's ripen'd richness." + + +A social party of relatives, friends, and neighbours, were seated +round the dinner-table at Lodore House. They have, it would seem, just +dispatched the first two courses, and all important business thus +concluded, they appear to be, at the present moment, trifling most +agreeably with a summer dessert, consisting of clustering grapes, +golden pines, velvet-cheeked peaches, &c. &c. These, crowning costly +dishes, and decked with fresh leaves and gay flowers, resembled, +as the shining surface of the board reflected each inverted heap, +so many isles of plenty, scattered on a glassy sea. While, to keep +up our simile, we may add, that cruising fleets of wine decanters +sailed smoothly round and round, dispensing, wherever they passed, +the sparkling juice of the foreign grape, with wit and gaiety as +sparkling. The busy hum of voices still went on, some in the low murmur +of flirtation, some in the loud debate of politics; while others, in +medium tones, discussed the merits of the last new novel, opera, or +play. + +Mr. Jackson, who sat next to Mrs. Montgomery, addressing Henry, +said--"Pray, Mr. St. Aubin, if the question is not an impertinent one, +who might the man be, whom I saw part from you last evening, at the end +of the wood leading into the shrubbery walks between this and my little +place? I was much struck with his figure, and the insolence, I had +almost said, of his step and carriage." + +Henry, at first, affected not to hear; but, on the question being +repeated, answered, with over-acted indifference--"The fellow has been, +I believe, a sailor. Begging, I fancy, is his present calling." + +"He doubted then," rejoined Mr. Jackson, "either my ability, or my will +to be charitable; for he did not beg of me. Indeed, he seemed disposed +to get out of my way as fast as he could." + +"Possibly," said Henry, "he feared that, as a magistrate, you might +put into force the laws against vagrants." + +"There was something very remarkable in the countenance of the man," +persisted Mr. Jackson: "handsome, certainly; but the expression +sinister in the extreme!" + +"Expression," repeated Henry with a sneer, "the man is deranged! You +must have heard of a mad beggar about Whitehaven, who calls himself Sir +Sydney Smyth: this is the fellow. I have been foolish enough to give +him money, more than once, I believe; and, consequently, he now does me +the favour to consider me in the light of an old acquaintance." + +"I thought," said Mr. Jackson, "the man spoke in a strangely loud and +dictatorial tone.--And so, he is a mad beggar! Well, I have dignified +him amazingly: for he presented to my fancy, why, I scarcely know, the +poetical idea of Milton's devil, walking in paradise. The spot where I +first observed him certainly is equal to any garden of Eden I have ever +been able to imagine!" + +"The parson is always in the heroics!" whispered Lady Theodosia to her +next neighbour, Colonel B--: "the last time I was down here, he could +talk of nothing but angels, I remember." + +At this moment, the beautiful little twins, now between four and five +years old, were ushered in. After speaking to mamma, papa, grandmamma, +&c. they took up their usual station, one at each side of Edmund, who +helped them to fruit, ice, &c. Indeed he had so many requisitions of +attention from both young ladies, and generally at one and the same +moment, that he proved himself to have no mean talent for gallantry, in +being able to turn with sufficient quickness from one to the other. + +"Why, my little pupil will learn to be quite an accomplished ladies' +man," observed Mr. Jackson, aside to Mrs. Montgomery. + +"Then will the list of his accomplishments be complete!" said our old +friend the doctor, who happened to catch the words, though across the +table; "for I understand you are teaching him everything--absolutely +everything! In short, erecting, on the substratum of ancient +literature, an elegant structure, adorned with all the modern additions +lately made to science, and inhabited by the muses!" + +"Why," said Mr. Jackson, who always answered seriously, however +foolish the speech addressed to him; "I could not feel satisfied in +communicating to a mind like Edmund's, mere dry learning: he already +shows a sensibility to what I call the poetry of nature, and indeed of +everything, which quite delights me." + +A young lady, beside whom Henry sat speaking at the same time to her +neighbour, observed, that the little beau had quite enough to do. "It +is not every gentleman who can take as good care of even one lady," she +added, with a laugh. + +Henry's attention thus aroused, (for something had thrown him into +a reverie,) he perceived that the lady's plate was quite vacant. He +started, apologized, and now heaped upon it every kind of fruit; +making, at the same time, so many pretty speeches, that the young lady +began to suspect that love, and that for herself, must have caused +his absence of manner. Henry now appeared determined to be quite gay, +and even full of frolic: and the young lady, restored to perfect +good-humour, seemed highly amused by his efforts. + +Edmund, and his two little ladies, were on the other side of Henry; +Julia the nearest to him: whenever she looked away, he stole the fruit +off her plate; and laughed much, in unison with his young lady, at +her look of innocent astonishment, when she turned about; and at her +instant application to Edmund, to get her more fruit; which, at the +next opportunity, Henry would again steal. At length he was discovered; +and Julia, without condescending to remonstrate, turned her shoulder as +much as possible to him, and took better care of her plate; which she +pushed with both hands quite close to Edmund's. + +Henry's young lady, now seized with a strong veneration for justice, +insisted on her swain's making restitution of the heap of fruit, by +this time collected before her. He, accordingly, slipped his hand over +Julia's head, and emptied the young lady's plate on hers. Julia turned +round; hustled back from off her own chair, and on to Edmund's knee, +supporting herself with one arm over his shoulder; and now, facing the +enemy, she took up her plate in her other hand, slid off its whole +contents on the table near Henry, still without speaking to him, and +asked Edmund to give her more fruit; which he did. + +"That is not polite, my dear," observed Lady L.; "why should you throw +Henry's fruit away, and take the same kind from Edmund?" + +"Because," answered Julia, speaking distinctly, and with an air of +importance and decision which amused every one, "I don't love Henry, +and I do love Edmund!" + +"Explicit, upon my word!" said a gentleman at the other side of the +table, who had been all day receiving alternate smiles and frowns from +an heiress, to whom he was paying his devotions. + +"You love poor Henry, then, I suppose," said that gentleman's fair +neighbour to Frances. + +"No, indeed!" said Frances; "I hate Henry!" + +"And so do I!" said Julia. + +The twins always made it a point to be exactly of the same opinion. + +"You must not hate any one, my dears," said Lady L., looking grave. + +Frances was busily engaged arranging the grey hair of the doctor; and +the better to effect her purpose, she was standing on tip-toe on the +seat of her chair, with her little arms stretched eagerly across the +wrinkled, smiling countenance of the good old man. While Julia, having +kept the strong position she had at first taken up on Edmund's knee, +was sitting perfectly still. + +"How marked at this moment," observed Mr. Jackson, aside to Mrs. +Montgomery, "are the distinguishing characteristics of the two little +girls! Quiescent," he proceeded, "I should hardly know one from the +other: the size, the fairness of the skin, the brilliancy of the red in +the cheek, but especially the remarkable quantity of curling, floating, +flaxen hair, is so exactly the same in both." + +"The eyes," interrupted Mrs. Montgomery, "are a different colour." + +"Oh, yes; and in my opinion," said Mr. Jackson, "the dark hazel is +the most beautiful eye in the world! Yet, Frances', it must be owned, +have many of the poets on their side. Do look," he added, "at the +elastic spring of all her movements, and the picturesque air of her +every attitude; while Julia's grace is always that of repose, except +at the moment of some immediate excitement--I mean, of the feelings, +when the colour mounts, the eyes sparkle, and all becomes energetic +expression. That little creature will require the greatest nicety of +management: her very warmth of heart may lead to a too great vehemence +of character." + +"She has certainly a most affectionate disposition," said Mrs. +Montgomery. + +"And her gratitude," pursued Mr. Jackson, "is quite a passion!" + +"Well, gratitude can never degenerate into a fault!" resumed Mrs. +Montgomery, "and the child is not in the least selfish; indeed, it is +always in the cause of something oppressed or injured, that her little +spirit rises: a bird, a fly, or I have seen her, after trying to beat +Henry, sit down and cry over a crushed worm, that he had refused to +step aside to spare." + +"She may require the stricter guard," rejoined Mr. Jackson; "for, under +the guise, and in the cause of generous feelings, we sometimes permit +a warmth of temper to grow upon us, which we should have early subdued, +had it appeared with a bare-faced front, and offered to fight our own +battles." + +The rising of the ladies to retire, here put an end to the conversation. + +In a day or two, Lady L.'s expected confinement took place. What were +the rejoicings, bonfires, and illuminations, may be imagined, when we +say, that the child was, as the doctor had prophesied, a son. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + "Thinkest thou, that he but sleeps? + Long shalt thou wait his awaking." + + +The sick nurse ought not to have been asleep. Yet it appears that she +certainly must have slept; for when the sound of something like a +door shutting made her start forward from the deep, high back, of her +easy-chair, she found, not only that her eyes had been shut, but that +she had dreamed, what she considered a most remarkable dream. She was +our old acquaintance from Edinburgh, and was very superstitious. The +dream, and the particulars attending it, were as follows. We shall +give them in her own words, as she ventured, nearly thirteen years +after, to relate them, under a promise of secrecy, to her countrywoman, +Mrs. Smyth, while they sat together at their tea in the housekeeper's +room. + +"The peur lady," said the nurse, "had fall'n intle a sweet sleep, wi' +the baby at her breast. The chamber was dark, exceptin' a dull bit +lamp, that was blinking doon on the hearth-stane; for being summer +time, there was nae fire. I mysell' was sitting quietly e the great +chair; every thing e the hoose was se still, that I amaste thought +'at I could hear the far-aff voises o' the folk, 'at was making +rejoicing around the bonfires. My ane mind, you see, being quite easy +like; for, nor mother, nor child, could be doing better nor they were +doing; I must just ha' dozed a bit; for I begun a-dreaming, tho' I +canna' say precisely the purport of my dreams, until I thought I saw +Mr. Henry, as plain as I see you, slip on tip-toe, and stop half-way +e the middle e the floor. And then, I was se parfect certain, that I +heard him ask, in a whisper, hoo Lady L. was; that I meant to reply, +'As weel as can be expected, Sir;' bit tho' I begun working my jaw +frae side to side, to strive to get the words oot, it was se stiff it +wad na move. I can remember naething maer, till I thought I heard a +soond like a watchman's rattle; and then, I thought it was naething +bit the crumpling o' a piece o' paper, 'at I dreamed the doctor was +taking aff o' a bottle o' medicine. I was sure 'at I saw him quite +plain, standing wi' the bottle in his hand, near the table. Nor was I +that far gane, but that I kent weel enough, through aw my sleep, 'at +I ought tle rise and reach him a glass; bit I had na poor tle stir a +limb. I could nae ha' been weell mysell', for it was mere like tle a +trance, woman, nor tle common sleep. And then, I thought, 'at to my +great surprise, the doctor had the vara face o' Mr. Henry, bit oulder +like; and while I was wondering at this, and looking at the doctor, and +the doctor, I thought, looking hard at me, the doctor, and the bottle, +and the table, and the foot o' the bed-curtain, aw disappeared; and I +can remember naething mere, bit a deal o' confusion about being hame +again in Edinburgh; until I was wakened ootright, by what I thought at +the time, was the shutting o' the door frae the dressing-room intle +the gareden. Bit it must ha' been the doctor's rap, for he cam' in +amaste immediately. What was vara remarkable was, that after I should +ha' dreamed o' seeing yon bottle in the doctor's hand, that there +should hae been se mickle said and done about yon vara bottle; and +that it should ha' been yon bottle, that I mysell' blamed for every +thing! Weel! the doctor he could na get the bit tie undoone; and he +sais to me, 'Mrs. Mowbray, will you favour me weth a pin?' I remember +it as weel as it was but yesterday. And he said, at the same time, +that he never had afore, in aw the hale course o' his practice, used +a double knot wi' tying down a bottle, but a'y a single ane, wi' the +ends twisted. And then he said, in his curious way, ye ken, as he shook +the bottle afoor he poured the medicine intle the glass, that the +good lady need na to be afeared to tack it, for that he aye mixed his +medicines afoor dinner. And then, he pleased his sell', honest man, wi' +laughing a bit at his ane joke. And then he geed the lady the glass; +bit yeer mistress, wha had come in soon after the doctor did, and wha +was standing at the bedside, just eased the lily-white hand o' the +weight, for a moment or twa, while she observed, that as her daughter +had had some refreshing sleep, it might no be necessary to gie her a +composing draught. Weel, the doctor, he alood his sell', that there was +naething like natural rest; bit tho' he was amang the best o' them, he +was like them aw, in that particular, he wad hae his ane ill-savoured +trash swallowed, right or wrong--and wrong enough it proved. However, +the doctor said, that they might depend upon it, it was a maste benign +and salubrious mixture; and that having slept se much a'ready, the lady +might the mere likely be wakefu' in the night-time, if she did na tack +her sleeping-draught. And se, her peur mither, she was over-ruled, and +geed her back the glass. And she swallowed the draught sure enough, +and slept sure enough, and lang enough, for she never waked more!" + +Mrs. Smyth made no reply, for she was rocking herself from side to +side, with the tears rolling down her face. + +"The doctor, peur old man, he is dead and gane," resumed the nurse, "or +I wad na say what I am going to say, even to yoursell', Mrs. Smyth; +but I have often thought syne," and here she lowered her voice, "that +yon sleeping-draught was stronger nor the hold o' life in her that +drank it." Mrs. Smyth only shook her head. "My dream," added the old +nurse, after a short silence, "certainly cam' oot, about the bottle; +and that's what I blame mysell' for: I should ha' spoken up, and talt +the vision; for never did I, nor ony belanging to me, dream o' seeing +ony thing, so distinct as I saw yon bottle, that some harm did na come +o' 't. And the doctor, too, he was na long for this warld, after I +dreamed o' seeing his face changed. It's never good to dream o' seeing +ony body wi' another body's face." + +"Bonfires, indeed!" murmured Mrs. Smyth to herself, as if thinking +aloud. "Aye," she added, in a spiritless tone, when aroused to +attention by the ceasing of nurse's voice, "it was a particular dream, +to be sure. And some of the folk was saying, too, that there was ane +seen oot by that night, that keeped be his sell', like the angel o' +death. He went near nowther bonfires nor drink, and was seen ne more, +when aw was over wi' them within." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + "He lies beside the dead; at frantic starts, + Kisses the cold lips of Julius." + + "At such a moment, piety becomes + The only passion of the soul!" + + +Although the conversation related in our last chapter, was not, as we +have already hinted, held between the parties till thirteen years after +the present era, owing to the nurse's unwillingness to confess that she +had slept when she should have watched; yet, as the subjects of which +it treats, belong strictly to this epoch of our history, we do not +consider that we anticipate unjustifiably, in giving the conversation +itself the place it now fills. + +The melancholy events to which it alludes, divested only of the +additions made by superstition, did indeed but too truly, too surely, +take place at this period. Lady L.'s infant died at her breast, soon +after the closing in of evening had rendered the illuminations for its +birth conspicuous; and in less than half an hour she herself expired. + +When once the termination of the miserable scene had separated the +remaining members of the family, Lord L. could not be prevailed on to +see again, even for a moment, Mrs. Montgomery or the children. He lay, +day and night, without retiring, on the sofa in his dressing-room, till +the funeral was over, and then fled to the continent in a state of mind +the most alarming. + +Henry, now destined to a naval life, went with him as far as the port +where both embarked, though on board different vessels. + +Henry, usually so unamiable, had, on the present occasion, greatly +endeared himself both to Mrs. Montgomery and Lord L. by the excessive +grief he had evinced. Indeed, his countenance appeared haggard, and +expressive not only of sorrow, but almost of despair. + +Mr. Jackson was the only person who had conducted any thing like +business; not only the family, but the very servants, were in +consternation; and even the doctor had been quite unable to give +the slightest assistance. He, indeed, from the time that Lady L.'s +unfavourable symptoms had appeared, had behaved as if seized with +sudden insanity; while life remained, he had continued in the sick +room, in a state of uncontrollable perturbation; he had drained or +tasted every bottle from which the patient had taken medicine; his hand +had trembled to that degree, that he had broken almost every thing he +had attempted to take up; he had repeated incessantly the word "No, no, +no," beginning with low murmurs, and increasing gradually in quickness +and loudness, and again declining into whispers; till, finally, the +moment Lady L. had expired, he rushed from the house without hat or +cane, and ran till he reached home, while his horse stood in the +stables at Lodore. + +It was Mr. Jackson too, who had put all the household in mourning, +and who had made the arrangements for the funeral: at which, what +was remarkable, was the concourse of the poor, and, perhaps, the +unpremeditated part taken by our hero in the solemn pageant; for, +when the hearse arrived at its destination, and the body was about +to be lifted out, poor Edmund, to the astonishment of every one, was +discovered lying across the coffin. He had not fainted; for, when +brought into the light, he looked all round him vacantly, and, with a +sudden movement, hid his face again. + +Mrs. Smyth had, it seems, some days before shown him the chamber of +death, with all its awful circumstances; and on this morning, when +dressing him, she had, inconsiderately, given vent to the petulance +which often accompanies sorrow, in the following words:--"And its her +ain sel 'at brought ye in aff the cald stanes, boy, and tak the wet +rags aff ye, and put the warm clothing on ye, and geed ye bread when ye +were hungry, boy; its hersel' they're goin' to carry oot the day, and +leave her by hersel', in the cald church-yard!" + +Edmund made no reply; but soon after this he stole from the nursery, +and lingered about the halls. Presently the bearers brought out the +coffin; he followed at their feet, and when they lifted it into the +hearse, he too clambered up unheeded. But here, no sooner was the +hearse closed, and the consequent darkness complete, than the situation +into which an impulse of grateful affection had led the poor child, +proved too much for his strength. A strange sensation of awe, and worse +than loneliness, at once silenced the sobs which had hitherto shaken +his frame; the tears, which had been streaming over his cheeks, ceased +to flow; his forehead became covered with the cold dew of superstitious +terror; he was motionless; his very breathing was suspended; while +still the wretched consciousness remained, that his little heart was +breaking. And had the funeral not arrived at the church door at the +moment it did, most probably either life or reason must have yielded +to a combination of feelings so overwhelming. + +Mr. Jackson also preached the funeral sermon. All he was able to +deliver were a few broken sentences of passionate admiration and +pathetic regret, mingled with the tender hopes of piety, for the +triumphant ones he could not reach. + +And now it was painful to witness, even on the outside, the appearance +of the late gay Lodore House. All was silent; the very bells were taken +off the necks of the sheep that fed on the lawn; no sound was heard, +but the uninterrupted murmur of the fall; every window was closed by +a blind or shutter; and when any symptom of remaining life was seen, +it was, at times, the figure of Mr. Jackson, in deep mourning, both of +habit and attitude, leaning against the paling, and looking fixedly +at the two little girls, in their little black frocks, walking, one +on each side of Edmund, also dressed in black, up and down the gravel +before the door, without speaking a word, or deviating from the direct +path. If a meal of the children happened to be ready, Mrs. Smyth would +come to the door, and preserving silence, beckon them in; then letting +them pass her, and following them, look at them, and shake her head +mournfully. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + "Am I indeed the cause of this?" + + +In one of the streets of Keswick stood an old, gloomy, but respectable +house. In this house was a small back parlour, receiving light from a +back lane, and surrounded with shelves, covered with bottles and jars; +while ranged beneath the shelves were small drawers, on the outsides +of which appeared, labelled, the names of every medicine in use. In +the midst of this parlour stood a table; on the table stood a number +of bottles, with the apparatus for various chemical experiments; +and before the table, wrapped in a loose dressing-gown, slippers on +his feet, his grey hair uncombed, stood Doctor Dixon. On his face +a haggard expression of fear, inverted the lines of harmless mirth +which had so often mingled, gleefully, with those of age, on the poor +man's features. His step was uncertain, and his hand trembled, as he +selected another and another bottle from a shelf, or another paper +from a drawer. His whole frame seemed to have undergone a species of +dissolution; and all the infirmities of old age, which he had hitherto, +with so much gaiety, warded off, seemed to have been suddenly let in +upon him. In short, his heart was broken! + +A terrible suspicion had for some days pressed upon his mind; his +experiments, his researches, had failed to throw any light upon the +subject; he had not dared to communicate his thoughts to any one. He +sat down. At length he exclaimed, "I--I, who should have healed, have I +destroyed?" Tears came to his relief. "I am an old man," he said, in a +faltering tone, "I cannot live long: would I had died before this had +happened!" After a long silence, during which he moved his lips often, +and seemed to undergo a powerful inward struggle, he pronounced, with +the air of one refusing an importunate request, "Never! never! never!" + +The cruel thoughts which so agonized the poor man's mind were these. +From Lady L.'s symptoms, he suspected that her death had been +occasioned by poison; every medicine she had taken had been mixed by +himself, and here was the distracting thought! Some ingredients in his +dispensary must then, he feared, have come to him wrong labelled; and, +in mixing these, he must have formed some combination, hitherto unknown +in chemistry, which had produced a deadly poison. To decide this point, +he made numerous experiments. When every mixture proved wholesome, or +at least innocent, and every label seemed rightly placed, he would say +to himself. "But, they are dead!" Then, after pausing, and wearying +his mind with vain conjectures, he would break forth again: "And the +symptoms of both were those of poison, which the babe, doubtless, +imbibed with its mother's milk. And I mixed every medicine myself; my +own servant took them over; they lay on the table in Lady L.'s own +bedroom, till I, with my own hands, administered them, taking care to +see that my own labels were upon them! Yet," he added, shuddering, +"the dregs in one of the bottles had neither exactly the colour, nor +exactly the taste, that I should have anticipated." And whenever this +conviction forced itself upon him, he turned cold, and the pulsations +of his heart ceased for some seconds. + +We have seen the doctor completing the last of his experiments. He had +reflected for a short time, in dreadful agitation, whether he were not +in duty bound to declare his belief respecting the cause of Lady L.'s +death to the family. He had decided that the information could only add +to their affliction; while the confession, to himself, would be worse +than ten thousand deaths! It was at this conclusion he had arrived, +when we heard him exclaim, "Never! never! never!" + +He destroyed the whole contents of his dispensary, never more +prescribed for any one, or mixed another medicine. All observed a +general decay, a total failure both of strength and faculties, in +their friend, the good doctor. He never smiled again, nor made another +pun; and in a few weeks he died, carrying with him to the grave, the +dreadful secret, or rather surmise, which was the occasion of his +death. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + "He spoke of thee, but not by name." + + +About six months after the death of Lady L., Mrs. Montgomery, in +looking over papers of all descriptions, which had accumulated on her +dressing-table, while she had been unable to attend to any thing, found +one, folded and wafered, which had the appearance of a petition. On +being opened, however, it proved to be a sort of letter, but vulgarly +written, badly spelt, and without signature. It was also without date +of time or place. It bore, notwithstanding, in its simplicity, strong +marks of truth. + +It professed to be from a person, calling herself Edmund's nurse. Yet +it gave him no name but that of the "young masther; or, be rights, the +young lord, sure; only he was too young, the crathur, to be calling +him any thing, barring the misthress's child." In like manner, it +called Edmund's father "the lord," and his mother "the lady," but did +not mention the title of the family. The writer asserted, that having +laid the child down for a moment, on the grass of the lawn, at a time +when the family were from home, it was stolen by a strolling beggar, +for the sake of the fine clothes it had on; for, that the "lord and +the lady" were, that very day, expected at the castle. That afraid of +blame, she had substituted her own infant. That it had been received +without suspicion by the parents, who, having been "mostly in London +town and other foreign parts," had seen but little of their boy. It +then went on as follows:--"A little while after, sure, I seen the poor +child, with hardly a tack on him, of a winter's day, in the arms of +the divil's own wife, at laste, if it was'nt the divil himself, the +strolling woman, I mane, in the big town, hard by. I went up to her, +and abused her all to nothing, and offered to take the child from her. +And glad enough he was, the crathur, to see me, and stretched out his +poor arms to come to me. But the woman, she hits him a thump, and +houlds down both his little hands with one of her great big fists, and +turns to me, and says, smelling strong wid spirits all the while, (but +for a drunkard as she was, she had cunning enough left,) and she says, +spakin' low, and winking her eye, like, 'And whose young master is +that, dressed up at the castle, yonder?' says she. 'And it's my boy, +to be sure,' says I, 'and small blame to me, when you didn't lave me +the right one.' 'And are you going to send the right one there now, +if you get him?' says she. 'And what's that to you?' says I. And with +that, she gives a whistle like, and snaps her fingers afore my face, +and thrusts her tongue in her cheek, and begins jogging off. 'And' +says I, following of her, 'and what do you want o' the child?' says I; +'and haven't you got the clothes? and can't yee be satisfied? I'm not +going, sure, to ax them of yee, and can't yee give me the child! when +it's I that 'ill kape him warm, any how, and fade him well too; I that +gave him the strame o' life from my own breast,' says I; 'and what 'ud +I be grudging of him afther that?' says I. 'Then nothing at all sure, +but jist what belongs to him!' says she, 'But the divil a bit of him +you'll get, any how; for there's not a day since I've carried him, that +I haven't got the price of a dram, at laste, by the pitiful face of +him!' says she. 'And for that mather,' says she, 'if any one takes him +to the castle,' says she, 'it'll be myself that'll do it,' says she, +'and git the reward too.' 'You the reward!' says I; 'is it for stailing +him? It's the gaol's the reward you'll get, my madam!' says I. 'It's +the resaver's as bad as the thafe,' says she. 'And it's you, and yours, +that'll git more by the job than iver I will. But it's I that'll make +my young gintleman up at the castle yonder, pay for his sate in the +coach, and his sate in the parler, too, one o' these days,' says she, +wagging her head, and looking cunning like. And so it was, to make a +long story short, the divil tempted me; and I couldn't think te take +my own boy out o' the snug birth he had got safe into; and the divil a +bit o' her 'at was worse nor the divil, that 'ud give up the mistress's +boy quietly, at all, at all; and so, I was forced, without I'd a mind +to tell the whole truth, to say no more why about it, and let her take +the poor child away wid her, tho' my heart bled for him. Well, sure, +twis every year, she came to the big town, begging, and brought him +with her, sure enough; but looking miserable like, and starved like; +for it was less of him there was every time, instead o' more. And be +the time he was near hand five years ould, she brought him, at last, +sure, lainin' up on crutches, and only one leg on him! I flewd upon +her like a tiger, to be sure, and just fastening every nail o' me in +the face of her, I axed her where the rest o' the boy was. And she +tould me, but not till she was tired bateing me for what my nails had +done, that the leg o' him was safe enough in the bag. And a dirty rag +of a bag there was, sure enough, hanging where the tother leg should +be. And jist then, cums by the coach and six from the castle! And up +she makes to the side of it, with the brazen face of her, driving the +poor cripple before her. And, sure, I see my mistress throw money out +to him, little thinking it was her own child, with the one bare foot +of him over the instip in mud, and them crutches, pushing his little +shoulders a'most as high as his head, and his poor teeth chattering +with the could, and the tears streaming from his eyes, (for she'd given +him a divil of a pinch, to make him look pitiful.) And there was my boy +sitting laughing on the mistress's knee. But he looked quite sorry +like, when the little cripple said he was hungry, and he throw'd him +out a cake he was ateing. 'Well!' says I, (quite low to myself,) 'that +you should be throwing a mouthful of bread to the mistress's child!' +And it was for dropping on my knees I was, and telling all, to the +mistress herself; but just then, they brought her out a sight o' toys +she was waiting for, and she drawd up the winder, and the coach druv +off. And the next time the woman cum, she cum'd without him, at all, at +all! 'And,' says I, 'the last time you cum'd, you brought but a piece +of him, and now you've brought none at all of him!' But she tould me, +sure, his fortune was made, and that he was with grand people that 'ud +do for him. But I wouldn't believe her, you see, and gave her no pace, +any way, but threat'nin' te hav' her hanged at the 'sizes, if I was +hanged myself along with her, till she took'd my husband with her over +seas, and let him see the boy. And he seen him, sure enough, walking +with a nice ould lady, that's been your ladyship, I suppose. And he had +his two legs, my husband said, which I was particular glad to hear. +And he was getting fat, too, and rosy-like, and was dressed, as the +mistress's child (heaven love the boy) should be. And this made my mind +a dale asier, for now there was little wrong dun him. + +"But, by and bye, troubles came upon me, and my husband died; but, +before he died, he thought, and I thought about our sin in regard to +the child, and so I made him write down the way to get a letter to +your ladyship's hands; and it was a thing that my husband, as he was a +dying, seemed to hear to. Well, when I buried my husband, sure, I fell +sick myself, and then I begun to think the hand of Heaven was upon me, +and I sat up in my bed, and wrote this long letter to your ladyship; +which, becourse of what my husband set down for me before he died, I +give to one that's going over seas to the harvest, to give to your +ladyship's own hand. He'll tell your ladyship all my husband thought +it best not to put down in the letter. But just ax him that takes it +what is nurse's name, and he'll tell you fast enough, and all about the +great folk at the castle. And it's he that can tell that too, for its +he that ought to know it, for his father, and grandfather before him, +got bread under them, and he might have got bread under them himself, +only for his tricks. But no matter for that. He knows no more o' what's +inside the letter, than one that never seen the outside of it; and he's +sworn too, before the praist, at the bedside of the sick, and may be +of the dying, to deliver it safe, for the ase of the conscience of the +living, and the rest of the soul of him that's dead. + +"And now I have no more to add, but that the young masther (that's him +that's with your ladyship this present time,) when he has all, should +take it to heart to do for his foster-brother, that's innocent of all +harm, and that has larned to lie on a soft bed, without fault o' his, +and that throwd him the cake he was aiting in the coach, poor boy, when +he thought it was his own, and that may be too.--But no matter for that +now: the penance has been done for that, and the absolution has been +given for that, and the priest has had his dues. And it's not like the +sin that satisfaction can be done for, and that it must be done for +too, before the absolution can serve the soul: sich as giving back +to the owner his own, or the likes of that; or the setting up of the +misthress's child again in his own place, and the pulling down of him +that a mother's heart blades for, but that has no business where he is; +though it would be hard, for all that, if his father's child should +want. But don't be frightening yourself with the thoughts of that, +Molly. The young masther, after all that cum and gone, will surely do +for him that's his foster-brother, any way; and may be do something for +his foster-sister too. + +"Why I trouble your ladyship I forgot to mintion, but thim that +it concarns most are not to the fore, and, besides, you have the +boy.--Your sarvent till death: and that, I think, won't be long now. + +"I'm jist thinking, that may be your ladyship would'nt be happy without +you'd a boy to be doing for: and there's him, sure, that's up at the +castle now, my poor boy, and there isn't a finer boy in the wide world; +and if I thought that your ladyship would jist take him in place of the +misthress's child, and do for him, I would die quite aisy." + +Thus ended the nurse's epistle. + +"I should certainly," observed Mrs. Montgomery to Mr. Jackson, "believe +this strange letter to be genuine, from the perfect simplicity of the +style, but that the writer appears to be too illiterate to have been +any thing so decent as a nurse in such a family as is here described." + +"That," replied Mr. Jackson, "does not at all invalidate the evidence +of this extraordinary document; for, nurses intended merely to +supply the nutriment denied by unnatural mothers to their offspring, +must be chosen with reference chiefly to their youth, health, and +wholesomeness of constitution; and, in great country families, they +are naturally selected from among the simplest of the surrounding +peasantry." + +The letter, bearing, as we have said, no date of time or place, the +first and most obvious step seemed to be, to inquire very particularly +where, and by whom, it had been brought to the house. The outside of +the mysterious dispatch was shown to, and examined, by most of the +servants, without other effect than a disclaiming shake of the head, +although each turned it upside down, and downside up, and viewed it, +not only before the light, but through the light, as with the light +through, is generally expressed. + +Mrs. Smyth, indeed, allowed that, as the bit of a scrawl was vara like +a petition, it was no impossible that she hersel' meud ha' just laid it +o' the mistress's table; for the mistress, to be sure, never refused +tle read ony peur body's bit o' paper, however unlarned or dirty it +meud be. + +At length John, the under-footman, made his appearance, and after +examining the shape, hue, and dimensions of the folded paper, said, +that it was not unlike one which he had taken about six months since +from a strange looking man, who had come to the door, requesting to see +his mistress, on the very day that ----, and he hesitated--that every +body was in so much trouble, he added. + +Mr. Jackson, seeing Mrs. Montgomery turn pale, took up the questioning +of John. And here, lest the said John's powers of description should +not do justice to his subject, we shall give the scene between him and +the nurse's messenger, exactly as it occurred. + +The stranger was tall and well made, with a countenance, the leading +characteristic of which was, now drollery, and now defiance; +whilst its secondary, and more stationary expression, was equally +contradictory, being made up of shrewdness and simplicity, most oddly +blended. He carried a reaping-hook in one hand, and, with the other, +held over his shoulder a large knotted stick, with a bundle slung on +the end of it. + +This personage, on the melancholy day alluded to, arrived at the +closed and silent entrance of Lodore House. Disdaining to use the +still muffled, and therefore, in his opinion, noneffective knocker, he +substituted the thick end of his own stick. This strange summons was +answered by John. + +"And is it affeard of a bit of a noise you are?" was the first question +asked by the stranger. Without, however, waiting for reply, he was +about to pass in, saying, "Just show us which is the mistress, will +yee?" + +The powdered lackey, astonished at such want of etiquette, placed +an opposing hand against the breast of the intruder; upon which the +stranger, after a momentary look of unfeigned surprise, very quietly +laid down his reaping-hook, bundle, and stick, behind him, (for +the latter he would not deign to use against an unarmed foe,) then +planting his heels as firmly together as though he had grown out of +the spot whereon he stood, he cocked his hat (none of the newest) on +three hairs, put his arms a-kimbo, and his head on one side; and, his +preparations thus completed, with a knowing wink, said, "Now I'll tell +you what, my friend, I'd as soon crack the scull of yee, as look at +yee!" + +John, even by his own account, stepped back a little, while saying, +"You had better not raise a hand to me: for if you do, there are half a +dozen more of us within, to carry you to Carlisle gaol." + +"Half a dozen!" cried our unknown hero, in a voice of contempt, and +snapping his fingers as he spoke, "the divil a much I'd mind half +a dozen of you, Englishers, with your gingerbread coats, and your +floured pates, for all the world as if you had been out in the snow +of a Christmas day, with never a hat on; that is, if I had you onest +in my own dacent country, where one can knock a man down in pace and +quietness if he desarve it, without bothering wid yeer law for every +bit of a hand's turn." + +During the latter part of this speech he turned to his bundle, and +kneeling on one knee, untied it, took a small parcel out of it, +unrolled a long bandage of unbleached linen cloth from about the +parcel, next a covering of old leather, that seemed to have once formed +a part of a shamoy for cleaning plate, then several pieces of torn +and worn paper, and at length, from out the inmost fold, he produced +a letter, which, as he concluded, he held up between his thumb and +finger, saying, "There it is now! I mane no harm at all at all, to the +misthress; nothing but to give her this small bit of paper, that the +dying woman put into my hands, in presence of the priest, and that +hasn't seen the light o' day since till now." + +John told him, that if that was all, he might be quite easy, as his +delivering the letter at the house was the same thing as if he handed +it to his lady herself; for that all his lady's letters were carried in +by the servants. + +"And is she so great a lady as all that," said the stranger, "that a +poor man can't have spache of her? But I've had spache, before now, of +the great lady up at the castle, sure, and its twiste, aye, three times +as big as that house." + +After some more parleying, in the course of which John disclosed the +peculiar circumstances in which his mistress then was, our faithful +messenger, after ejaculating, with a countenance of true commiseration, +"And has she, the crathur?" at length seemed to feel the necessity of +consenting to what he considered a very irregular proceeding, namely, +the sending in of the letter; not, however, till he had first compelled +John to kiss the back of it, and, in despite of the evidence of his +own senses, to call it a blessed book, and holding one end, while our +pertinacious friend held the other, to repeat after him the words of a +long oath, to deliver it in safety. This, John proceeded to say, he did +immediately, by giving the letter to one of the women to carry into his +mistress's room. + +"I suppose," said Mrs. Montgomery, with a sigh, "I must have laid it +down without opening, and forgotten it." + +Mr. Jackson observed, that from the expression, "over seas to the +harvest," and also the man's appearance, it was very evident he must +be one of those poor creatures who come over in shiploads from the +north of Ireland to Whitehaven, during the reaping season; and that +this fact, once admitted, seemed to render it more than probable, that +the noble family spoken of were Irish. As to the important particulars +of names and titles, there seemed but one chance of obtaining them; +which was, to institute an immediate search after the young man who had +brought the letter. Every inquiry was accordingly made, but in vain. + +After some months, Mr. Jackson himself, in the warmth of his zeal, +undertook a journey to Ireland; but returned, without having been able +to discover any clue to the business. Advertisements were next resorted +to, but no one claimed Edmund. The letter had said, that "those it +concerned most were," in the nurse's phraseology, "not to the fore." +Whether death, or absence from the kingdom was meant, it was impossible +to say. + +The harvest season of the next year came and went, but the wandering +knight of the reaping-hook was heard of no more; and Mrs. Montgomery, +while her better judgment condemned the feeling, could not conceal +from herself, that she experienced a sensation of reprieve, on finding +that she was not immediately to be called upon to resign her little +charge. Poor Edmund had now become to her a kind of sacred pledge; +every thought and feeling that regarded him, was associated with the +memory of her dear departed child, who had taken so benevolent a +delight in protecting and cherishing the helpless being she had rescued +from misery, and almost certain death. Could the mourning mother then +leave undone any thing that that dear child, had she lived, would have +done? The absolute seclusion too, in which grief for the loss of her +daughter, induced Mrs. Montgomery to live, gave all that concerned this +object, of an interest thus connected with the feelings of the time, +an importance in her eyes, which, under any other circumstances, would +scarcely, perhaps, have been natural. + +Gradually, however, the prospect of discovering who Edmund's parents +were, faded almost entirely away; but the conviction that they must be +noble was, from the period of the receipt of the nurse's packet, firmly +fixed on the mind, both of his benefactress and of Mr. Jackson. The +style, indeed, of the letter itself, left no doubt of the veracity of +the writer; while the manners of him who had been the bearer of the +strange epistle, the conversation of the man and woman on the Keswick +road, nay, the very state in which the poor child was first found--were +all corroborating evidences. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + "Thy fame, like the growing tree of the vale, + Shall arise in its season, and thy deeds + Shine like those of thy fathers. But go not + Yet to the bloody strife; for thy young arm + scarce can draw the heavy sword of Artho, + Or lift Temora's spear." + + "The blue arms of the lovely boy + Invest him, as grey clouds the rising sun." + + +Lord L. remembered, and even experienced, something of a consolatory +feeling, in faithfully performing the promise which, within the first +happy year of his marriage, he had made to his beloved wife, and which +had seemed to give her so much pleasure: we mean that which respected +placing and advancing Edmund in the navy. His lordship accordingly +wrote from abroad to his friend, Lord Fitz Ullin, and Edmund, at the +age of twelve, was received into the naval college at Portsmouth. + +This was, no doubt, a very wise and proper arrangement; yet there +were those to whom it caused infinite grief: we speak of the twins, +who, though they had never been expressly told that Edmund was their +brother, had learned to love him as such; and whether they really +thought he was so, or never thought about the matter, were in the +habit, in all their little plays and pastimes, of calling him brother +Edmund, and fancying that nothing could be done without him. + +His vacations, however, were all spent at Lodore House, and were +joyful in proportion to the sorrows of parting. On the first of those +memorable occasions, Mrs. Montgomery absolutely wept over him; Frances +frolicked round him, as if obliged to exhaust herself by fatigue, to +moderate her transports; while little Julia stood silently, and with a +pensive expression, quite close to him; and when, after performing any +extraordinary new feat for the amusement of Frances, he would stoop, +and ask of his little favourite what he should do for her, she would +answer, with a glow of enthusiasm, "Stay always with me!" + +He generally brought some tasks home, which were to be learned before +his return to college. When he sat at these, Frances would fidget +round the table, in visible discontent--stop straight opposite to him, +put her head on one side, watch to meet his eye, and make him laugh; +failing in this, try to play alone; and finding this also dreadfully +stupid, return to the charge; while Julia would get on a part of +his chair, hold his hand and remain perfectly still, till the hand +was borrowed to turn over a leaf, when she would follow it with an +appealing look, which look, being repaid by a fond caress, she would +retake the hand, and sit again as motionless as before. At length, +poor Lady Frances, infected by the dullness of her companions, would +sometimes bring a chair on the other side, and insist on having the +other hand, which would reduce Edmund to the necessity of fastening his +book open on the table with another book; after which arrangement, we +must confess, that, however unjust the proceeding, and notwithstanding +the remonstrances of the injured party, it was always the hand which +Frances held, which was borrowed to turn over leaves, &c. &c. + +But there was something in little Julia's enthusiastic manner of +showing attachment, which won upon the affections in an extraordinary +degree, and made her almost unjustly the favourite; poor Frances, +considering her lively temper, loved brother Edmund full as well, in +her own way. + +Thus passed two years; and at fourteen, Edmund was appointed to the +same ship on board which Henry then happened to be. The vessel was +ready for sea, and going on a foreign station, on which it was to +remain for three years. Our hero, after joining, obtained a few days' +leave, that he might pay a farewell visit to Lodore. Arrived at the +last stage of his journey, he stopped at the little inn, and put on his +midshipman's dress, which he had brought with him, from a boyish wish +to surprise his two little sisters, as he called the twins, now about +seven years old. Accordingly, he entered the domestic circle fully +equipped, and produced, at least, as great a sensation as his beating +heart, while jumping out of the carriage, and hastening across the +lawn, had anticipated. + +As soon as the first clamorous joy of meeting, as well as the first +public examination of every part of his dress was over, Frances +possessed herself of his cocked-hat, dirk, and belt, and began arraying +herself in the spoils. While Mrs. Montgomery, drawing him near her +chair, began to question him as to how long he could now remain with +them, and when he thought he should be able to return. Little Julia +stood close at the other side of her grandmother, her eyes raised, and +passing from one countenance to the other, watching every word. When +Edmund answering, that he must leave them early in the morning, and +that it would be, at least, three years before he could hope to see +them again. + +"Three years!" exclaimed Julia, turning as red as crimson for one +moment, and the next as pale as death! Edmund took her on his knee, +kissed her little forehead, and remonstrated fondly. At length, showers +of tears came to her relief; and amid reiterated sobs, she articulated, +in broken accents, "No! I cannot bear the thoughts of summer coming +three times without Edmund! Oh! I'll hate summer, that I used to love +so much!" + +"But, Julia! my darling Julia!" said Edmund, "why should you hate +summer? You know, I must be far away in the winter also." + +"Then I must only hate winter too!" said Julia, as well as her +continued sobs would permit; "but you used to come back in the summer." + +Meanwhile, the little Lady Frances, quite unconscious of the tragic +scene, was standing before a large mirror, at the far end of the +room, contemplating her tiny form, surmounted by the cocked-hat, tried +on in all the varieties of fore and aft, athwart ships, &c. &c. Now, +perfectly satisfied with her own appearance, she advanced on tip-toe, +that her height, as well as her dress, might, as much as possible, +resemble Edmund's. But perceiving Julia's tears, and being informed of +their cause, she flung away hat and dirk, and threw herself into her +sister's arms, and joined in her sobs--with a violence proportioned to +the sudden transition of her feelings. Nothing could console the little +girls, and it being late in the evening, they were obliged to be sent +to bed; to which measure, after some demurring, and many last words, +they consented, for the purpose of being up very early, as they could +not think of an over-night farewell. Locked in each other's arms, and +planning to stay awake all night, lest they should not be called in +time, they cried themselves to sleep; and, alas! ere their eyes started +open in the morning, early as that was, the unconscious cheek of each +had received Edmund's parting kiss, and he was already some way on his +journey. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + "The billows lift their white heads above me!" + + +A few days more, and our hero's ship, the Glorious, was on the +high seas. It was night. Edmund had had the early watch--had been +relieved--had retired to his hammock--had fallen into a sound sleep, +and was dreaming of Lodore. Suddenly, his pleasing vision became +troubled. A thunder-storm arose; the loud peal rolled, and resounded +from mountain to mountain: the little girls shrieked. He started +awake! and found the scene indeed different; but the noises which +had occasioned his dream, real. The drum was beating to quarters; +signal-guns were firing; and all hands hastening on deck. He jumped out +of his hammock. The officers were all getting up; the men were casting +the great guns loose, knocking away the bulk-heads, and tumbling them, +as well as all the furniture of the cabins--trunks, tables, chairs, &c. +&c.--pell-mell together, down into the hold, with a tremendous clatter. +In short, the ship was clearing for action. She was also tacking +to close with the enemy, and her deck, in consequence, was greatly +crowded: blue lights burning, rockets going off, sails flapping, yards +swinging, ropes rattling, and the tramping of feet excessive; while +the voice of the officer giving orders was heard, from time to time, +resounding through all. The vessel they were approaching, carried two +stern-lights, indicating that a vice-admiral was on board. While all +eyes were fixed upon her, she drew near slowly, and on coming up, +opened at once all the ports of her three decks, displaying a blaze +of lights which, amid the surrounding darkness, had much grandeur of +effect, not only dazzling by its sudden brightness, but exhibiting, as +it were, in proud defiance, the strength of the broadside, which was +thus ready to salute a foe. The vessels now hailed each other, and lo! +proved to be both English! The supposed enemy was the Erina, Admiral +Lord Fitz Ullin, returning from Gibraltar. All hopes of fighting thus +at an end, both men and officers were, to use their own expression, +"confoundedly disappointed." + +They soon, however, had fighting enough; so much, that to give any +account of the various actions they were in, would, we fear, be +tedious; and, to those unacquainted with naval affairs, uninteresting; +we shall not, therefore, attempt it, but passing over about four years +of our hero's life, proceed at once to his return to Old England, +a fine, promising lad, of nineteen--a great favourite with all the +officers, and in high estimation with the captain, having already given +many proofs of spirit, and being always remarkable for regularity and +good conduct. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + "From ocean's mist, the white-sailed fleet arose! + First, a ridge of clouds it seemed; but brighter + Shone the sun--and the distant ships stood forth, + Their wet sides glittering in all his beams!" + + "Heavens! + Must I renounce honour, reputation?" + + +As the Glorious anchored in Cawsand Bay, in company with a numerous +fleet, the animated prospect which presented itself, especially in +its combined effect with the state of the atmosphere, uniting a +bright sunny glow with a fog, consequently, of a peculiar whiteness, +possessed a degree and style of beauty not easily imagined by any one +unaccustomed to harbour scenery. + +It was the noon of a frosty day: the sun which, as we have observed, +shone brightly, gave to the face of the waters the appearance of a +sheet of light. The heights around, and all other distant objects, +were covered with the smoky veil of white fog, already noticed, which +reduced them to shades of the neutral tint; while, on the side of +the nearest hill, the clumps of wood and undulations of ground were +plainly visible, and along its topmost line some scattered trees stood +curiously and beautifully traced against the pale, even mistiness of +all behind. In the bay, too, the nearest range of ships, with all the +varied and still varying forms of their floating canvass, (for almost +all the fleet at this time were employed in furling their sails,) every +mast, every cord, each figure standing beneath the picturesque canopy +of a sail-boat, or stretching to the oars of a row-boat, were all +strongly defined, and appeared, from contrast with the snowy whiteness +of the fog behind them, black as ebony; while the more distant vessels, +being deeper and deeper sunk in the shrouding atmosphere, were more +and more faintly shown, till the farthest seemed but one degree more +palpable than the mist itself. The wind, soon after the fleet anchored, +died away entirely, and all that had been activity and bustle, changed +to the most peculiar repose; as though the beautiful picture, once +completed, was left to delight posterity; for nothing now moved as +far as the eye could reach, except that, from time to time, a gleam +reflected from the flat, wet oar of some row-boat, plying between ship +and ship, shot, like a flash of summer lightning, across the still and +shadowy scene. + +During the anchoring of the fleet, one of the ships, by some +mischance, got aground, and all the others were ordered to send +boats immediately to her assistance. The task was laborious, and +much disorder occurred in the tiers of the stranded vessel, where +the sailors, taking advantage of the confusion which prevailed, had +broken into the spirit-room, and were regaling themselves with rum. +Towards evening, however, with the help of the tide, she was got off +the rocks, and the signal being given for the boats which had been +sent to her assistance to return alongside their respective ships, +Edmund and Henry, with their boats and crews, did not obey the signal +with their usual promptitude. Edmund, meanwhile, after going through +great exertion the whole day, was still on board the vessel so lately +got off, commanding his men in the most peremptory manner into his +boat, when Henry observing that he appeared heated and fatigued, and +thinking that, at such a time, a very little would overcome one not +accustomed to excess, drew towards him a second glass, (for he had +been drinking freely,) and filling both that and his own, said, "How +heated you are, Montgomery! you will kill yourself, if you don't take +something!" at the same time offering him one of the glasses. Edmund +answered instantly, and with indignation, that were it but water, and +were he expiring with fatigue, it should not, in such a place, and +at such a time, approach his lips! Henry stared at him, lifted the +glass to his head, and, with a laugh, swallowed its contents. Edmund +again remonstrated, and taking Henry, who was by this time very much +intoxicated, by the arm, endeavoured to draw him away. Henry staggered, +fell, dragged Edmund with him, and at the same time, seizing the +handle of a can of spirits, which stood on the cask, trailed it after +him, emptying its odoriferous contents on our hero's breast and face, +as he rolled with him on the floor. + +At this unfortunate moment, a lieutenant, sent in search of the boats +and midshipmen, which were missing, entered, and seeing both officers +on the deck drenched in rum, two glasses on the barrel-head beside +them, the spirit-can in their arms, and, apparently, the object of +contention, as they struggled together on the floor while their men +stood round them drinking, laughing, and swearing, he very naturally +drew most unfavourable conclusions. Edmund, as soon as he could +release himself from Henry's grasp, arose; but so much heated, and so +thoroughly ashamed of the situation in which he had been found, that he +looked quite confused. He attempted to speak, but was silenced, and +very harshly repulsed by the lieutenant to whom he addressed himself, +who told him, with an air of the utmost contempt, at the same time +holding a handkerchief to his nose, that while he smelt of spirits in +so disgusting a manner, it was impossible to listen to him. + +Our hero reddened with indignation, and repaired to his boat without +further attempt at explanation, not doubting, however, that he should +be able to justify himself ultimately. Henry was obliged to be carried +to his boat, and thus did all return to the ship. The necessary report +being made to Captain B., he was so much incensed, that he sent an +order for both young men to quit the ship in half an hour, directing +that, with their sea-chests beside them, they should be left on the +nearest beach, to find their way home as they might. + +Edmund begged to be heard. The captain refused, sending him word that +it was impossible for him to permit gentlemen to remain in his ship, +who had disgraced themselves by carousing among the common sailors. +There was then no longer a hope! He must get into the boat. He did +so; and, as they pushed off, another boat, in which sat a midshipman, +(a stranger to Edmund,) passed them, and then ran alongside the ship, +taking up the position they had just quitted. + +The sun, a moment before, had dropped below the horizon. Edmund folded +his arms, sighed, and resigned himself to his fate; then rested his +eyes almost unconsciously on the scene before him. The water in the +bay was still as a frozen lake, its face one sheet of cold transparent +light, marking, by contrast, the pitchy darkness which twilight had +already imparted to the hills that rose around it, and to every opaque +object laying or moving on its peaceful surface. Perpetual, though +imperceptibly wrought changes were each moment taking place in every +thing around. The clouds near the horizon breaking, the still illumined +western sky shed awhile a brilliant ray: the clouds closed again, and +left all darker than before. The trees on the western hill stood for a +few seconds strongly defined by the parting beam; then faded with the +fading light. Some of the larger vessels, more lately arrived than the +rest of the fleet, with majestic progress passed slowly to their places +of anchorage. Single-masted boats, (warned by the approach of evening,) +one by one drew smoothly towards the shore, changing, as they did so, +at each moment, the disposition of their sails; and, finally, taking +all down as they came to for the night under shelter of a projecting +point. Alongside the same point, numerous row-boats, having shipped +their oars as they drew near, fell silently; while the single figure +that had guided each, might shortly after be traced wandering homeward +along the extended beach. + +When the boat in which our hero sat had gone about twenty yards, they +were hailed from their own ship, and desired by the officer of the +watch to lay on their oars till further orders. Some time of anxious +suspense followed, during which the approaches of night were as rapid +as they were silent, and all objects were visibly shrouding themselves +in that mysterious gloom which imagination loves to people with shadowy +forms, when the flash of the evening gun was seen from the admiral's +ship, followed by a report which, with startling effect, broke upon +the universal stillness, then rolled along like distant thunder up +the harbour. As the last sound died away, they were hailed again, +ordered to come alongside, and Mr. Montgomery to come on board. Our +hero obeyed the order, and was not a little surprised, on reaching +the deck, to find all the ship's company assembled there. In a few +minutes, the captain and officers, preceded by lights, and accompanied +by the strange midshipman who had passed the boat on its first quitting +the ship, ascended the hatchway, and arranged themselves on the +quarter-deck. Edmund was ordered to draw near. He did so; when the +captain, addressing the stranger, in a tone which showed he wished to +be heard by all present, said, "Lord Ormond, will you have the goodness +to repeat, in the hearing of my officers and the whole ship's company, +the deposition you have made to me respecting Mr. Montgomery." + +The stranger, a mild-looking lad, about Edmund's own age, came forward +and said, that he had been in the tiers of the stranded vessel, calling +off his own men, when Mr. Montgomery came in to collect his; that his +attention had been fixed by that gentleman's very proper conduct, which +he here explained minutely, dwelling on our hero's effort to rescue +Henry; and his declaration, that were the beverage but water, he would +not, for example sake, suffer a glass to be seen approach his lips, +&c., till he came to where Edmund was pulled to the ground by the fall +of Henry. He then proceeded to say, that he himself was about to go to +his assistance, when, seeing the officer who came in search of both +young men enter, he had hurried to his own boat, it being late. + +Here the captain again spoke, saying, that as all had had reason +to believe Mr. Montgomery's conduct disgraceful, he had deemed it +necessary that all should be thus publicly informed of his innocence, +as well as made sensible of his, the captain's, sufficient reasons +for so sudden a change of measures towards him. He then turned to our +hero, and expressed himself as highly gratified, to find the favourable +opinion he had formed of his character thus justified. Captain B. here +renewed the order to have Mr. St. Aubin immediately sent a-shore. + +The stranger, Lord Ormond, who was the son of Admiral Lord Fitz-Ullin, +got himself presented to Mr. Montgomery; and Edmund, anxious to express +his gratitude, requested his new acquaintance to tell him by what +fortunate circumstance he had become his deliverer. + +"If any one deserves that title," answered Ormond, "it is my father. +I fear I was rather negligent in not remaining to assist you; but I +had been already detained much too late. In my own justification, I +described the scene I had just witnessed, and the consequent interest +I could not avoid taking in what was passing; when, happening to say +that the other gentleman called you Montgomery, my father repeated the +name, and, after considering for a moment, exclaimed, 'Why, that is +the name of Lord L.'s young friend! If it be the same, he must be in +the Glorious, Captain B., which came in this morning with the Cadiz +fleet.' I mentioned about what age you appeared to be; upon which my +father started up, saying, 'I could almost venture to affirm, that that +young man has got into a serious scrape! You had better, Ormond,' he +continued, 'go instantly on board the Glorious, present my compliments +to Captain B., and recount all you witnessed of the business.'" + +Before the young men parted, Ormond gave a message, of which he was the +bearer, inviting Mr. Montgomery to dine with Lord Fitz-Ullin on the +following day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + "A vision came in on the moon-beam." + + +Henry, left on the beach, with his chest beside him, slept heavily for +some hours. When he awoke it was night. He lay on the shingles. He +felt the fresh breath of the breeze, as, from time to time, it lifted +the hair on his fevered temples. He heard the dash of each billow as +it struck the shore, and the rattle of the loose stones, as each wave +retired again, down the extended sloping bank of smooth pebbles, on +which his head was pillowed. Thinking it all a dream, he remained for +some moments motionless; when, becoming more clearly awake, he sat up, +and passed his hand across his eyes, as it were to rectify their vision. + +The moon had risen over the expanse of waters before him. He gazed on +the sparkling of her myriad beams, mingling in fairy dance o'er all the +solitary waste, for not a sail or mast appeared. He looked on his right +hand, and on his left; here too all was loneliness! + +His ideas still bewildered, he rested his eyes on the pillar of light, +which the bright orb exactly opposite to him, and still near the +horizon, had flung across the whole ocean, planting its base at his +very feet. On a sudden this dazzling object became obscured, and he +beheld, standing over him, and intercepting its refulgence, the same +remarkable figure which, it may be remembered, Mr. Jackson had seen +walking with him, about eight years since, in the shrubbery at Lodore +House. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + "The darts of death, + Are but hail to me, so oft they've bounded + From my shield!" + + "No boy's staff his spear!" + "No harmless beam + Of light, his sword." + + +The next day, according to appointment, Edmund went to dine on board +the Erina. Arriving rather early, he found Lord Fitz-Ullin alone in his +cabin, reading a newspaper. + +His lordship received our hero with the greatest cordiality, saying, +he was happy to have it in his power to show any mark of attention, +however trifling, to the young friend of Lord L.; "particularly," he +added, smiling, "as my office of patron is, I understand, to be quite a +sinecure, I am the more called upon to discover minor modes of proving +my friendship. You have already, I am informed, Mr. Montgomery," he +continued, "by your gallant conduct, so far cut your own way, that you +are to receive your commission immediately, without any interference +on my part. But, remember, my interest is only laid up for the first +occasion on which it may be required, when you shall command it in a +double proportion." + +Edmund was commencing a speech of thanks, but was prevented by Lord +Fitz-Ullin, who said, "By the bye, Ormond is going up to the next +examination, which will take place in a day or two. Had you not better +go with him? You can then pass, and be made, without any unnecessary +delays; and, if you have no objection to sail with me, we can have you +appointed to the Erina on your promotion." + +Edmund was delighted with this arrangement; and, as he smiled, and +made his grateful acknowledgments, and even when he had concluded, +he observed Lord Fitz-Ullin's eyes resting on his features with a +lingering expression of interest which surprised him, and therefore +made him look grave. For a moment or two Lord Fitz-Ullin continued to +gaze at him, as if waiting for something; and then, with an air of +disappointment, sat down, and resumed his newspaper. + +Ormond entering, and joining Edmund, the young people conversed with +animation, but apart, that they might not interrupt the admiral's +reading. Edmund, however, saw that the newspaper was little regarded, +and that Lord Fitz-Ullin's eyes were generally turned on his +countenance. He felt rather embarrassed by so strict a scrutiny, but +contrived to maintain the appearance of not noticing it, except that he +coloured a little. + +Lord Fitz-Ullin rose, came forward, and joining them, asked Edmund if +he thought Ormond like him. + +"I have scarcely ever seen a likeness so strong as that of Lord Ormond +to your lordship," answered Edmund. + +"Such is the general opinion," said Lord Fitz-Ullin; "but it is a +stationary likeness, consisting in feature. What a fascination there is +about that gleam of resemblance, found only in expression, which comes +and goes with a smile, particularly when the likeness is to one who has +been dear to us, and who no longer exists! We wait for it, we watch for +it! and, when it comes, it brings momentary sunshine to the heart, +and is gone again, with all the freshness of its charm entire, the eye +not having had time to satisfy itself with a full examination into its +nature or degree." + +Letters were at this moment brought in, and the admiral opened one, +which he excused himself for reading, saying, it was from Lady +Fitz-Ullin. The entrance of the rest of the company now diversified the +scene, and dinner soon followed. + +During the remainder of the day and evening, the intimacy between our +hero and his young friend, Oscar Ormond, such was Lord Ormond's name, +made rapid progress; and both the lads looked forward, with equal +pleasure, to the prospect of Edmund's being appointed to the Erina. + +There was an innocent openness about the manners of Oscar Ormond, +proceeding from perfectly harmless intentions, which, to one so young +as Edmund, and, himself of a disposition peculiarly frank, was very +attractive. In Oscar, however, this winning quality, never having +been cultivated into a virtue, had remained a mere instinct, and +was even in danger of degenerating into a weakness--we mean that of +idle egotism. While Edmund's native candour, equally, in the first +instance, springing from an honest consciousness of having no motive +to conceal a thought, had, during that earliest period of education, +so vitally important, been trained and sustained by the skilful hand +of Mr. Jackson; and, therefore, already was accompanied by undeviating +veracity on principle, and a consequent firmness of mind, worthy of +riper years. This gave our hero an ascendancy over his young friend, +which might be said to have commenced at their very first interview; +and which, in their after lives, frequently influenced the conduct of +both, though neither, perhaps, was conscious of its existence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + "Pleasant to the ear is the praise of kings; + But, Carril, forget not the lowly." + + +At this time there was no passing in any sea-port, but before three +captains. Oscar and Edmund, therefore, proceeded to town. The anxious +hour, big with the fate of many a middy, arrived. The friends, +accordingly, having already got through their first examination with +success, now wended their way to the great centre of naval hopes and +fears, to answer such final queries as it might be judged necessary to +put to them. Entering an ante-room, they approached a standing group +of youngsters, who, probably, had not much interest to smooth their +path, for their conversation chiefly turned on subjects of discontent. +One, whose name was Bullen, and who had once been a messmate of +Ormond's, seemed to be chief spokesman. He was growling at the +additional difficulty which, he asserted, there was now every day in +passing. "A young man might know it all well enough aboard," he said, +"but to have a parcel of old-wigs staring a fellow in the face, and +asking him puzzlers, why, it was enough to scatter the brains of any +one of common modesty!" + +"If that is all," said one of his companions, for middies are not +ceremonious, "there is no fear of you, Bullen: your modesty will never +stand in your way!" + +"I hope not," answered Bullen, "nor any thing else, if I can help it. +At any rate, I should be sorry to be quite so soft a one as Armstrong! +Only think," he continued, turning to Ormond, "only think of that +foolish fellow Armstrong! One of the old-wigs asked him (saw he was +soft, I suppose) the simplest question in the world, just to try him. +Well, old-wig stares him in the face, and looking devilish knowing, +says, 'Suppose yourself, Sir, in a gale of wind on a lee shore, the +ship in great danger of going on the rocks, when, the wind suddenly +shifting, you are taken all aback, what, Sir, would you do in this +critical juncture?' Instead of answering, 'Clap on sail, and put out to +sea,' poor Armstrong took it for granted he should not have been asked +the question if it were not a puzzler, and was so confounded, that +he looked like a fool, and had not a word to say, till the old-wigs +themselves were all obliged to laugh out." + +At this moment Bullen was sent for to attend the said old-wigs, as he +called them; and though he still tried to bluster, he coloured to the +very roots of his hair at the awful summons. On his return, however, he +came laughing and swaggering, and bolting into the midst of the still +standing group, he seized a button of Ormond's coat with one hand, and +of Edmund's with the other, and began to tell his story. + +"Have you passed? have you passed?" cried many voices. + +"Have I passed!" repeated Bullen. "There is no difficulty in passing." + +"I thought it was very difficult, a short time since," observed Ormond. + +"Well, well--so it may be to some: I found no difficulty, however. +But listen till I tell you the fun. They thought they had got another +Armstrong to deal with, I suppose; for one of the old fellows, looking +as wise as Solomon, and as pompous as the grand Mogul, turned his +eyes full on me, and began. I felt mine inclined to take a peep at my +shoe-buckles; but, mustering all my courage, I raised them, stared +straight in his face, clenched my teeth, drew my heels together, thus, +and stood firm. + +"'Well, Sir!' said old-wig, 'hitherto you have answered well.'--This +was encouraging. 'Now,' he continued, 'suppose yourself on a lee shore, +under a heavy press of sail, the wind blowing such a gale that, in +short, it is impossible to save the ship, what, Sir, would you do?' + +"'Why, let her go ashore and be d----d!' I replied. Then, thinking I +had been too rough, I added, with a bow, that I should never take the +liberty of saving a ship which his lordship judged it impossible to +save. He smiled, and said I had a fine bold spirit, just fit for a +brave British tar! So I sailed out of port with flying colours, but no +pennant, faith: I heard nothing of my commission. + +"After all," he continued, "what is the use of passing, when, if a +man has not the devil and all of Scotch interest, and all that stuff, +he don't know when he'll get made; but may, in all probability, be a +_youngster_ at _forty_! a middy in the cockpit, when he is as grey as +a badger! There's a fellow aboard of us now, who jumped over three +times,--no less,--to save boys who fell over the ship's side, and +couldn't swim; (he swims like a fish himself;) but he's not Scotch! +Well, the captain wrote word to the Admiralty; and what reward do +you think they gave him? Why, employed one of their sneaking under +_scratchatories_ to write an official line and a half, importing, that +'their lordships were pleased to approve of his conduct.'" + +"You may depend upon it," replied Ormond, to whom Bullen chiefly +addressed himself, "that his name is marked for promotion, as soon as a +convenient opportunity offers." + +"Convenient!" interrupted Bullen: "it would be devilish convenient to +me, I know, to be made just now." + +"And in the meantime," continued Ormond, "what can be more gratifying +than the approbation of the respectable heads of the department, under +which he serves his country?" + +"I think," said our hero, whose opinions, like himself, were young, and +therefore unsophisticated, "the lords of the admiralty do but justice +to the motives of British officers, when they deem approbation the +first of rewards! I mean, of course, in a public sense; considering +their lordships, in pronouncing that approbation, as the organs, not +only of government, but also of the nation, on naval affairs; of which +they are constituted the judges." + +"Besides," said Ormond, "you forget how many men, in the British navy, +have risen to the highest rank, without any interest whatever, entirely +in consequence of meritorious conduct." + +"That was long ago," replied Bullen sulkily. "But it's very easy for +you to talk! You, the son of Admiral Lord Fitz-Ullin; sure of whatever +you want, and want nothing neither! Aye, aye, that's the way of the +world! I wish you'd make your father get me my commission, I know!" + +The other young men looked at each other, and smiled. + +"Well," said Ormond, laughing; "do something very brilliant to deserve +it; and if the Admiralty give you approbation only, I pledge myself +you shall not want interest. Here is my friend, Montgomery," he added, +turning to Edmund, "saying not a word; and yet, so just a sense have +their lordships of his merits, that he has no use for interest, though +he possesses it in the greatest profusion." + +"Does he faith?" exclaimed Bullen, "I wish he'd give it to me, then!" + +Here all laughed out. And now Lord Ormond was summoned. He went; and, +in due time, returned with rather a conscious smile on his countenance. + +"Well!" cried Bullen. "Well!" echoed a dozen voices at once. "Well!" +repeated Ormond; but proceeded no further. + +Edmund began to question his amused-looking friend somewhat anxiously, +as to how matters stood; and whether there was really any difficulty, +to one who knew what he was about. + +"Why, to tell you the truth," said Ormond, laughing out at last, "the +only question they asked me, was--But I'll not tell you--guess!--all +guess!--I give you fifty guesses!" + +Every puzzler which had been conned by any of the party, was now +proposed and rejected, in turn; at first, with much of loud merriment; +subsiding, finally, however, into grave wonder; for unguessed riddles +are apt to grow dull. + +"I am sure I can guess no more," said Edmund at last. "Tell!" cried +one. "Tell!" cried another. "Can't you tell!" vociferated Bullen. + +"Well," said Ormond, "do you all give it up?" + +"Yes!" "Yes!" "We all give it up!" "We all give it up!" answered many +voices eagerly. And the circle drew itself closer round him. + +"Well, then," proceeded Ormond, "they asked me how"--and here he +hesitated and laughed again. + +"How what?" cried Bullen. "How what?" "How what?" "How what?" cried all. + +"How my father was!!!" concluded his lordship, trying to look grave. + +"No!" exclaimed every voice at once. + +"I told you how it would be with you," cried Bullen. + +"But you are not serious?" demanded Edmund. + +"But I am, faith!" answered his friend. + +"And they asked you nothing else?" pursued Edmund. + +"No," said Ormond--"but, yes, they did, by the bye; they asked me to +take a glass of wine, and a bit of cake." + +"And you passed?" demanded Bullen. + +"I did," replied Ormond. + +"And are to have your commission, I suppose?" + +His lordship answered in the affirmative. + +Our hero was now summoned. He met with a very flattering reception; +and, after a respectable examination, was informed, that his commission +should be made out immediately. He had also the satisfaction of +being expressly told, that he was thus early promoted, to mark their +lordship's approbation of his gallant and meritorious conduct, as +reported by Captain B. How different this from being turned out of the +ship in disgrace! thought Edmund. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + "Behold! the red stars silently descend + High Cromla's head of clouds is grey." + + "Towards Temora's groves rolls the lofty car + Of Cormac." + + +We next find our hero, wrapped in a large boat cloak of blue camlet, +lined with scarlet plush, and seated on the top of a mail coach; which, +with more regard to expedition than to comfort, travels night and day +towards the north. His anticipations were all of unmixed delight. + +With what fixed attention would his darling Julia, and even the +restless Frances, listen to all he had to recount! + +How much gratified would both Mrs. Montgomery and Mr. Jackson be, +to find, that by endeavouring to follow their wise counsels, he had +obtained the approbation of those best entitled to judge of his +conduct. And this, to Edmund, was no trifling source of happiness. + +Then, what an important personage must his promotion render him in the +eyes of every one! What joy would Mrs. Smyth evince, on seeing him +return safe, and grown to be a man too! for such, at little more than +nineteen, he already thought himself. Even one glimpse of the gleeful +countenance of the old bargeman, who had the care of the pleasure-boat +on the lake, appeared in the far perspective of busy fancy. Or, +perhaps, this was a sort of vision; for it was one of the last things +he could remember to have seen pass in review before his mind's eye, +when, over night, he had begun to nod on his perilous throne. The hour +was early, the morning bright, when the mail set him down where the +road turns off to Lodore House. + +He almost ran the rest of the way, and quite breathless entered the +dear haven of all his wishes, not by the common approach, but, as had +ever been the custom of his childhood, by one of the glass doors which +open on the lawn. + +Breakfast was laid; the urn and hot rolls, evidently but just brought +in, were smoking on the table: yet, a general stillness prevailed, and +the room seemed without inhabitant. Edmund's heart, which had been +beating with violence, stopped suddenly: he drew a longer breath, and +felt even a kind of relief; for the intensity of expectation had arisen +to almost a painful height while he crossed the green and stepped over +the threshold. + +Advancing a few paces into the apartment he cast an eager look all +round; and, in a far window, descried his darling little Julia sitting +alone; her eyes fixed on a book--her lips moving, apparently learning +a task. She looked up, and, not quite recognising the intruder, the +first expression of her countenance was alarm. He spoke. Her colour +mounted till a universal glow spread itself over neck, face, and arms; +not from bashfulness, for she was not quite thirteen, therefore too +young for such a feeling; but from that extreme emotion peculiar to the +enthusiasm of her temper. + +Edmund forgot to throw off his boat-cloak, and enveloped the elastic +fairy form of his little favourite in its uncouth folds; while she +clung round his neck and sobbed for a considerable time before she +could speak to tell him how glad she was to see him, and how much she +loved him still--though he had staid such a long, long time away! + +Mrs. Montgomery, preceded by Frances performing pirouettes, now +entered. They had heard nothing of Edmund's arrival: the old lady, +therefore, was much overcome. She embraced him, and wept over him; +for his idea was ever associated in her feelings with that of her +lost child. Frances, after a momentary pause, sprung into his arms, +exclaiming, + +"It's brother Edmund! it's brother Edmund!" + +Our hero, meanwhile, swinging about in his boat-cloak, looked rather an +unwieldy monster amongst them. + +"My dear boy," said Mrs. Montgomery, "why don't you take off that great +frightful muffle? I want to see what you are like!" + +Edmund looked down at himself, laughed, and flung off the cloak, +declaring he had quite forgotten it. Mrs. Montgomery now contemplated, +with visible pleasure, his figure, become, from its height and +proportions, almost manly, without losing any of that air of elegance, +which, from childhood, had been animate grace of Edmund's: then, +pointing to an ottoman close beside her chair, she bade him sit down; +and, putting on her spectacles, for the shedding of many tears had +dimmed her sight, she kindly stroked back the hair from his forehead, +and examined his features. Julia stood close at her other side, +holding her other hand. Frances was off to publish the joyful tidings +to good Mrs. Smyth and the rest of the household; by singing at every +bound, "News! news! news!--Brother Edmund is come! brother Edmund is +come!--News! news! news!" + +After dropping a few large tears in silence, Mrs. Montgomery said, +mournfully, + +"My poor child was quite right. She always prophesied how handsome you +would be, when I used to say you were all eyes and eyelashes. Now, +I am sure, they are just in good proportion. She used to admire the +forehead, too; and the form of the mouth; and the sweetness of the +expression. Yes, yes! she was certainly right." + +And she looked at him as though he had been a picture, without the +slightest compassion for his blushes. + +Edmund, willing to turn the conversation from himself, said, + +"Pray, ma'am, is it not generally thought that Julia will be very +beautiful? Did you ever see any thing like the brilliancy of her +colour?" + +"Yes, it is very bright," said the old lady, "a sign of health, I hope." + +"And as to her smile," proceeded Edmund, "I have always thought it the +sweetest thing in nature! even in her nurse's arms I can remember being +delighted with it; when the darling used to stretch out its little +hands to come to me!" + +And he looked, as he spoke, into the full, uplifted, liquid eyes of +his little, listening favourite, with a thrill of tenderness, but too +prophetic of the future. + +"There! look how she blushes!" he continued, collecting the quantity of +fair hair which hung around her neck, and playfully strewing it again +over her shoulders. + +"I think her beautiful, of course, my dear," answered Mrs. Montgomery; +"but I am partial, you know: and so indeed are you. You began to love +her, I believe, on the very evening she was born! I shall never forget +how carefully you supported the baby's head on your little arm as you +sat on this very table, I think it was, and asked leave to kiss her." + +"And was my presumptuous request granted, ma'am?" asked Edmund, +laughing, and drawing little Julia kindly towards him, as though he +had some thought of repeating the presumption of which he spoke; but +she now began to twist her head away, blush, and look half angry: for +little girls of her age, though, as we before observed, too young to be +bashful, are very apt to be furiously modest. + +"Certainly, my dear," replied Mrs. Montgomery: "you were but six years +of age, you know, and poor Julia there, not an hour old at the time." + +Her voice here faltered, her tears began to flow again, and her head +shook a little; an infirmity she was able to suppress, except when +much moved. Julia, who knew the symptom well, stole her arms round +her grandmamma's neck, and tried all the little coaxing ways which +she had long found the most effectual on such occasions of mournful +recollection. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + "What tho' + No chiefs were they; their hands were strong in fight: + They were our rock in danger; in triumph, + The mountain whence we spread our eagle wing!" + + +Let those who are fond of dramatizing their ideas, picture to +themselves the scene opening, and displaying the wardroom of the Erina; +its centre occupied by a long breakfast-table, at which a number of the +officers are already ranged. + +Our hero enters, and takes his seat among them for the first time, +having joined but the night before, just as the ship was getting under +way. + +Thus situated, he feels a very natural curiosity to observe what his +new messmates are like. He looks around him accordingly; and every face +being equally strange to him, he begins to amuse himself, by wondering +at the manifold and ingenious contrivances of nature, to make such +variety out of the old materials, of eyes, nose, and mouth. + +One gentleman sat eating an egg with great solemnity; his elongated +countenance, resembling one seen on the back of a table-spoon, held up +the long way; while his next neighbour smiled on a roll, with a face +that seemed reflected from the same part of the same utensil, turned +the cross way. The next, a portly gentleman, looked as though he had +stowed away, preparatory to the long voyage, good sea-store of claret +in his cheeks, nose, and double chin. The next to him, as spare as +Don Quixote, had a countenance the colour of a blanket; while the +hollow of his cheeks, which he had ingeniously endeavoured to fill, +by encouraging the growth of his whiskers, resembled excavations in +a disused quarry, where tangled brambles had long been permitted to +flourish undisturbed. One of the good-looking sat next; and the eye +that was going the circle of the table, found agreeable rest, for a +moment, on his oval countenance, adorned by a healthful complexion, +fine eyes, and chesnut-brown hair. Next to him appeared a bluff-looking +fellow; his face deeply pitted with the small-pox, and of a dark-red +colour, relieved only by the sooty black of beard, hair, eye-brows, +eye-lashes, eyes and whiskers. His neighbour had a merry face, of a +lighter and brighter red, with the exception of the forehead, which was +high, open, and brilliantly white, skirted by a thick forest of red +hair; while a vigorous growth of whiskers, of the same colour, stood on +each plump cheek, like underwood on the side of a hill. + +Nearest him, sat a tall gentleman, whom our hero, on a further +acquaintance, considered handsome; for he had a fine fresh skin and +colour, a well-set mouth, good teeth, a high nose, and large blue +eyes; but the rise on the nose was placed so much too high up, that +it gave a ludicrous air of mock pomp to the whole countenance; while +the eyes, peculiarly round, opened with that species of stare, which +looks as though the cravat were tied too tight; and the cheeks, that +seemed to have been plumped by practising the trumpet, wanting, alas! +the sheltering grace of whiskers, but too much resembled, save in their +hue, very large apple dumplings. + +After thus scanning the faces of so many good fellows, brave and +jovial, though not, at first sight, perfect beauties; our hero's +wandering eye arrived, at length, at a vacant seat, before which was +placed a plate, carefully covered. At this seat and plate, he observed +many of the party looking, from time to time, with various knowing +winks and smiles, accompanied by glances directed towards a door, +leading from one of the cabins. The said door opening shortly, admitted +a perfect personification of Sir John Falstaff. + +"Mr. Barns, our chaplain," whispered Edmund's neighbour. Our hero felt +uneasy: he saw, at a glance, that Barns was the butt of the mess; and +it was not accordant with his habits, to make a jest of the sacred +office, be it held by whom it might. + +Mr. Barns rolled towards his seat; placed himself upon it, and as he +settled in it, seemed to spread with his own weight. He made a sort of +grunt, intended for the morning salutation; then, stretching forward +his arms, a certain protuberance of chest and abdomen, not permitting +a nearer approach of the rest of the person to the table, he touched +lightly, with the fore-finger and thumb of both hands, the cover; when, +finding that he was in no danger of burning himself, he raised it. His +countenance had begun to fall a little on finding the cover cold; but +now, aghast, his under jaw hung on his double chin; while the tongue, +spread and slighted protruded, rested on the under-lip; for, lo!--the +plate contained but atmospheric air, and Mr. Barns was not used to feed +on the camelion. + +He clapped down the cover, which, during his first astonishment, he +had held suspended; and, leaning back in his chair, said, in a surly +tone;--"Come, come, gentlemen; this making a jest of your chaplain, and +that on Sunday morning too, is not very becoming, let me tell you! What +must this gentleman, who is a stranger, think of such behaviour? I am +very good-natured, sir, you must know," he added, looking towards our +hero, "and these gentlemen presume upon it." Edmund bowed assent. + +"I hope, Mr. Barns," said the claret-faced gentleman, by name +Warburton, "you mean to make your sermon to-day at least one minute the +shorter, for this extempore lecture. Ten minutes, you know--we never +listen after ten minutes; but promise, on the faith of a true divine, +that you will not this day exceed nine minutes, and you shall have +the real broil, that the steward is keeping hot without." Mr. Barns' +countenance became less severe, when he heard that there actually was a +real broil! + +"Nonsense! nonsense!" he said; "but, there, call for the broil, or it +will be too much done: a broil is not worth a farthing without the red +gravy in it!" + +The broil was called for accordingly. + +"You are a man of honour, Barns," continued Warburton; "remember the +conditions: the sermon is not to exceed nine minutes this morning, or +ten on any future occasion." + +"I don't know that I shall preach at all to-day," said Barns. + +"Not preach at all!" echoed the gentleman with the high nose, making +his eyes rounder than before. + +"But, why? but, why?" demanded various voices. + +"I don't think the day will suit," said Barns, taking his eye from the +door for a moment, to glance it at the windows. + +"You are always too timid of the weather, Mr. Barns," observed Mr. +Elliot, the long-faced gentleman: "a moderate sermon, such as Warburton +spoke of, no man can object to. Those things, in my opinion, should +not be entirely neglected, were it but for the sake of example to the +youngsters and ship's company." + +"Example!" repeated Barns; "that's all very proper ashore, sir; and no +man set a better example to his flock, when on terra firma, than I did; +but I have no idea of being made an example of myself, in the fullest +sense of the word, by having my pulpit blown over board, as might be +the case, were it erected on deck without due regard to the weather, +Mr. Elliot." + +"Nay, nay, Barns!" interrupted Warburton, "there can be no danger of +that, when you are in it!" + +"I don't sail without ballast, I grant you, sir. But here comes the +broil!" said Barns. + +The bluff gentleman, Mr. Thomson, asked the steward, as he entered, how +the day was on deck. + +"Very fine, sir." + +"Will it do for the pulpit?" asked Mr. Jones, the red-haired gentleman. + +"The pulpit is erected already, sir, by order of the captain," replied +the steward. + +"I thought," said Jones, aside, "this no preaching was too good news to +be true." + +"Why," asked Edmund, aside also, for Jones sat next to him, "is Mr. +Barns's preaching so very bad?" + +"No--yes--I don't know, faith!" answered Jones. + +"Have you never heard Mr. Barns, then?" again asked Edmund. + +"Oh, a thousand times!--That is--but you see, I never listen to +prosing: it's a bad sort of thing, I think. In short, I generally box +the compass, or something of the sort, to amuse myself. It's the best +way, in my opinion," he added, "never to think at all!" + +"There you are quite wrong, sir," observed Mr. Barns, catching the last +words as he wiped his mouth, having finished his broil; "for spiritual +food is as needful to the soul, as our common nutriment is to the body: +and inasmuch as that body thrives best, which is best nurtured, so will +that soul, which is best instructed!" + +"That argument, from Mr. Barns, is certainly conclusive," observed Mr. +White, the thin gentleman. + +"White," whispered Jones to Edmund, "thin as he is, eats more than +Barns does!" + +All now repaired on deck, where, it is reported, that Mr. Barns's +presentiment proved but too well-founded; for, that while he was +preaching, a most unexpected squall came on a sudden--took hold of the +ship--gave her one thorough shake--and laid her on her beam-ends; and, +that all being in confusion, the men in crowds running forward with the +ropes to shorten sail, &c. &c., it was some time before he, Mr. Barns, +was missed, and that when he was missed, while one talked of lowering +a boat down, and another ran to look over the ship's side, it was Mr. +Montgomery, who at length discovered him, feet uppermost, in the lee +scuppers, where the first reel of the vessel had tumbled him, with the +heavy cannonade slides, and what not else besides, heaped on top of him. + +Edmund very soon perceived, that this unbecoming levity of his +messmates on sacred subjects, had much of its origin in the character +of the admiral himself: for Lord Fitz-Ullin, though a man of so much +personal dignity, that in his own manners he never offended against +outward decorum, had, unfortunately, no settled principle on religious +subjects--no happy conviction, that moral obligations, with all +the thousand blessings that flow from them, have but one pure and +inexhaustible source, in that simple, practical religion, which the +universal Father gave his children to promote their happiness, temporal +as well as eternal; that religion which saith, "Do unto others, as you +would that they should do unto you;" that religion, which for every +possible duty, hath a plain, practicable precept, which if followed by +all, would realize the bliss of heaven even upon earth. + +But Lord Fitz-Ullin had been disgusted, by frequently, during a +considerable portion of very early life, being compelled to hear +the irrational railing of a fanatical preacher against good works. +The man might have meant right, but he knew not how to express +himself; and Lord Fitz-Ullin, unable to adopt his doctrine, such as +it met the ear, without further examination, rejected, or at least +thenceforward neglected, all religion. Something of this was felt, if +not seen, by those who looked up to the admiral, as to a man older +than themselves--a man at the head of the honourable profession to +which they had devoted themselves--and a man, as eminent in brilliancy +of courage and talent, as in rank, both hereditary and acquired. The +mischief done, therefore, bore proportion to the extensive influence +which those shining qualities and exalted circumstances bestowed on +their possessor. + +With respect to his lordship's choice of a chaplain, being blameably +indifferent on the subject, he had appointed Mr. Barns, on the +application of a friend, without any regard whatever to his fitness or +unfitness to fill the situation. Our hero, notwithstanding, found his +patron both a kind and most agreeable friend; and one, whose partiality +to him daily increased. Lord Fitz-Ullin had been, all his life, in +love with glory; in Edmund he recognized much of the same spirit, +accompanied, too, by all that romance and enthusiasm of youth, so +delightful to those, who, having retained such feelings longer than the +usual period, find little that is congenial in the minds of people of +their own age. + +"I wish, Montgomery," said the Earl, one day that Edmund dined with +his lordship, "I wish you could inspire Ormond by your example--he is +so indolent. I fear," he continued, "I have given him bad habits: he +has always, in fact, been sure of whatever he wished for, without the +slightest exertion on his own part." + +"Why, yes," said Ormond, playfully; "you know, sir, I am aware that I +shall be an admiral one of those days, without taking any trouble about +the matter." + +"Oscar," said his father, "remember, that though you may attain to rank +by interest, you can never obtain glory, but by deserving it!" + +"Have I not the glory of being your son, sir!" replied Oscar, smiling. + +"I have not even a name by inheritance!" thought Edmund; "I, therefore, +must endeavour to earn one." + +As intercourse continued, and friendship grew, Edmund saw in his young +friend daily evidences of a heart overflowing with every amiable and +generous sentiment; also, a high sense of honour--worldly honour, we +mean, which had been carefully inculcated by his father. + +Of any other standard of right, Oscar Ormond had little or no idea. The +predominant weakness of his character, was an idle degree of vanity +about his rank--the consequence of the early lessons of his nurse. This +uneducated and ill-judging woman, with whom he was too much left, used +carefully to give him his title from infancy, always telling him what +a grand thing it was for him to be a lord already, when there were so +many big men, who would never be lords! Yet, strange to say, Oscar was, +as we have seen, devoid of ambition in his profession, to the infinite +regret of his father; but he had got it into his head, that his own +hereditary rank was something much greater than any thing that could +be acquired, and also, that all future steps would come, as all past +ones had done--as mere matters of course. The natural consequences of +his exalted birth! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + "Doest thou not know me?" + + +A few days after the fleet under the command of Lord Fitz-Ullin had +arrived on its station, the Glorious, Edmund's old ship, joined, and +making the usual signal for a lieutenant from each vessel at anchor, +our hero, as officer from the Erina, went on board. While receiving the +salutations of his former friends, his attention, as well as theirs, +was arrested by the appearance of a boat, which was falling alongside, +and in which, if they could believe their own eyes, they beheld, in +the shape of a lieutenant, Mr. St. Aubin. + +Henry came on board. All his old messmates collecting round him, +demanded clamourously how he had got out of the scrape in which they +had left him. + +"Scrape!" repeated Henry, in a contemptuous tone. "The best thing that +ever happened to me; I might have been a poor devil of a middy, down +there in your confounded cockpit yet, but for it!" + +"Why, d-- it," said Walton, "if I thought they would make me a +post-captain for it, I would get drunk to night! but tell us how you +got made, man, after our throwing you out, like spare ballast, on that +rascally beach at Plymouth?" + +"Why," answered Henry, "I waited upon the first lord of the Admiralty, +and informed him that I should prefer being a lieutenant to remaining +a midshipman: upon which his lordship very politely gave me the +commission I now have the honour to hold." + +"Yier taste was sae vara uncommon, sir!" observed the Scot, "that his +lordship did na care te balk ye?" + +"Precisely so, sir," said Henry, with a bow. + +"But, joking apart, Henry," said Edmund, "do tell us how it happened." + +In fact, the friend Henry had met with at Plymouth, but whom he did not +name even to Edmund, had informed him that Lord L. was just returned to +England on business connected with his diplomacy, and was at that time +actually in London. Henry had set out that night for London, waited +on Lord L., and, without any mention of his being in disgrace, said +that his time being served, he had hastened to town to secure, if +possible, his promotion while his lordship was on the spot. Lord L., +accordingly, taking Henry with him, made his application in person. The +commission was granted so immediately, that the business was concluded +before Captain B.'s report, respecting Mr. St. Aubin's unofficer-like +conduct, had reached the Admiralty. Lord L., however, highly resented +the trick thus put upon him, and declared himself determined never +again to use any interest of his on Henry's behalf. And in this resolve +he persevered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + "Through the wide heaving of the strife, + Are the strides of Fingall, like some strong ship + Cutting through wintry seas. The dark tumbling + Of death, the gleams of broken steel, mingle + Round him; the waves of war part before him + And roll along the field." + + +Now followed that most brilliant era of our naval history, which +confirmed to the British flag its supremacy on the world of waters! +Lord Fitz-Ullin had the good fortune to command in some of the +greatest, and, in their results, the most glorious engagements of the +period: and, in each of these, Edmund distinguished himself. Lord +Fitz-Ullin consequently made such creditable mention of our hero's name +in every account he sent home, that, after being about two years in the +Erina, he was appointed to fill an Admiralty vacancy, as commander of +the Desdemona, a sloop-of-war, on the same station. + +Shortly after, another general, and to the English successful, +engagement took place. On this occasion the services of the vessel +commanded by our hero proved so important, that when the glorious +affair was drawing to a close, Lord Fitz-Ullin appointed Edmund to the +command of a post-ship, the Euphrasia, a very fine frigate which had +that day lost her captain. + +"The vacancy is one which I am entitled to fill," said his lordship, +as he signed dispatches in which the name of Captain Montgomery again +stood conspicuous: "and were this not the case," he continued, "I +could have no doubt of the Admiralty confirming such an officer. +Oscar," he then said, turning kindly to his son, "I am sorry to leave +you behind, my boy; but I cannot, even in a public point of view, pass +over merit so distinguished as Montgomery's: and, you know, Oscar, you +have never taken the trouble of doing more than the mere routine of +duty required. In short, I have never been able to make you fond of +the service. Yet you shall have the very next ship, though it is thus +I have ever spoiled you. I have made every step too easy," he added, +after a moment of silence. + +"I know it, sir," replied Oscar: "you have always been kind and +indulgent." Then turning to Edmund, and shaking hands with him, he +continued, "Montgomery well deserves his promotion, and I am the first +to give him joy of it." + +"Well, Oscar," said the earl, "you certainly have a good heart; and +that, after all, is, perhaps, the first of good qualities." + +In the next three years, every newspaper was emblazoned with the +brilliant deeds of the gallant Captain Montgomery! We need scarcely +add, that each such newspaper was, with proud enthusiasm, read aloud +by Mr. Jackson at Lodore House; and, by the quiet home circle there, +listened to with the liveliest interest. An immensity of prize-money +also had, from time to time, been shared by the fleet; and Edmund +having been one year a commander, and nearly two a post captain, +his proportion of the various sums so shared was very considerable, +amounting, in all, to upwards of fifteen thousand pounds. + +Henry, whose advancement had, as we have seen, received a check, +happened to be lieutenant in the Euphrasia, when our hero was appointed +her captain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + "Their eyes roll in search of the foe." + + +The Euphrasia was detached from the fleet, with instructions to cruise +in the Archipelago, and look out for, capture, sink, or otherwise +destroy, a formidable Turkish corsair, which had lately committed great +depredations. On making the little island of Patras, every speck which +the face of the water presented was accordingly examined with more than +usual eagerness. In a few hours the words, "A sail! a sail!" were heard +from aloft, and echoed throughout the ship. All hands were summoned, +and the vessel crouded with canvass. + +About six o'clock, it being then sun-set, they had approached near +enough to the stranger for Edmund, with the assistance of his glass, +to ascertain that she was a frigate of the largest description, +standing towards them under a press of sail. He gave orders accordingly +to clear for action; but the wind decreasing, and the night closing +in, they lost sight of the enemy for a considerable time. About nine +o'clock, however, they beheld much nearer, but imperfectly seen in +consequence of the darkness, a vessel evidently manoeuvering to gain +the weather-gauge of them. They soon found that she had failed in +this attempt; upon which they observed her stand off a little, and +show great indecision, making signals, burning blue lights, and, at +intervals, firing guns. About ten o'clock a flash, which preceded its +report longer than usual, was observed in a different direction; and, +immediately after, a second large sail was discovered bearing down, as +if to join the first. + +Edmund and his officers, having no doubt that this was the consort +of the ship with which they had been about to engage, held a short +consultation, as to the propriety of giving battle to so unequal a +force. It was, however, unanimously decided, that they should confide +in the superior courage and seamanship of British sailors, and commence +the attack forthwith. + +The plan to be pursued was, if possible, to separate the enemy, in such +a manner as to be subject to the fire of one only of their vessels at +a time; but this was very shortly discovered to be impracticable, for +at the moment the moon, which had lately risen, shining out from behind +a range of thick clouds, near the horizon, with sudden splendour, +the expanse of waters, the distance, nature, and movements of the +enemy--all, in short, which had been obscure or doubtful, was at once +presented to the view; and the two strangers were seen to close with +each other, and shorten sail, at the same time displaying their sable +flags and crescents. + +All this was clearly discernible with the naked eye from the deck +of the Euphrasia, and placed it beyond a doubt, that the vessels in +question were Algerine corsairs. + +Edmund gave orders to run his ship in between the two Turkish frigates, +that he might thus, if he must receive two broadsides, at least have +one for each in return. Having succeeded in gaining this position, and +being within pistol-shot of both ships, he opened his two broadsides +at once, with a fire so destructive, and so much better sustained than +that of the enemy, that, in less than an hour, one of the Turks had +lost her main and mizen masts, and the other, being much shattered +in the hull, put her helm up, for the purpose of boarding. Our hero, +perceiving this, had the guns on the quarter-deck loaded with grape +shot and musket balls, in place of the usual charge; and thus +prepared, waited, with perfect coolness, till the Musselmen, armed +with battle-axes and cymetars, and uttering hideous yells, had nearly +filled the lower rigging, into which they had leaped from that of their +own ship, and whence, in another second, they would have descended +in hordes on the forecastle and gangway, when, giving the signal, +the whole of the thus loaded ordnance was discharged full upon the +barbarians, and with such effect, that multitudes of bodies fell at +one and the same instant; while turbans rolled along, appearing, in +the partial light of the moon, like so many heads severed at the same +moment from so many trunks. Such as descended alive, were instantly +charged by the pikemen and marines; while the few who escaped, being +cut down, fell over the ship's side into the water, in attempting to +regain their own vessel. + +The Euphrasia herself, having by this time lost all her masts, and in +other particulars sustained much injury, the three ships ceased firing, +as if by general consent; the Turks making every effort their crippled +condition would permit, to get clear of the English frigate. + +Hostilities were now therefore suspended for some hours, which hours +were employed by our hero, in causing all hands to work with such +unexampled diligence in making temporary repairs, especially erecting +jury masts, that, in that short time, they had effected so much, as to +be again able to work the ship, and once more to attack the enemy. + +The two Turkish frigates lay at a little distance, like logs on the +face of the water; unable to move from the relative situations into +which they had drifted during the cessation of the battle, and too much +separated to afford each other any assistance. It was therefore with +as much dismay as astonishment, that they beheld the Euphrasia approach +one of them, take up a raking position within pistol shot of her, and +open a well-directed fire. This was but feebly answered by the Turks, +who, little expecting a renewal of the combat before daylight, were not +prepared to fire more than one or two of their stern chasers with any +effect. Stubborn, however, and desperate to the last, they continued to +fight with musketry, till their decks were heaped with dead and dying; +when, their captain, losing all hope of escape, snatched up a lighted +match, and brandishing it in a species of mad triumph, ran with it to +fire the magazine. At this point the frantic valour of this remnant of +a crew forsook them: they cut down their captain ere he could effect +his desperate purpose, cried for quarter, and struck their colours. + +Edmund now made sail towards the other frigate. She had already lost +the greater part of her crew, being the vessel which had boarded: she +could therefore make scarcely any resistance; and, seeing the fate of +her consort, she struck her colours, after firing but one or two guns. + +The object for which Edmund had been detached being thus happily +accomplished, he rejoined Lord Fitz-Ullin as quickly as possible, +taking with him his two disabled prizes; both, notwithstanding, +valuable frigates. He was received, as may well be imagined, with loud +cheers from the crews of all the vessels in the fleet. + +Thus did our hero, in less than five years from the date of his +last visit to his friends at Lodore, see himself, at the early age +of four-and-twenty, risen to the rank of post-captain, possessed of +prize-money to a large amount, and crowned with laurels so gallantly +won, as to render his name known and respected in every part of the +world to which a newspaper could find its way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + "The feast is smoking wide." + + +"Here, Alice, bairn, here, tack it fray me; and mind ye, mack it light +and flecky, like to the leaves o' a reading buke," cried our old +friend, Mrs. Smyth; who stood up to her elbows in flour, and up to her +eyes in business, in the housekeeper's room at Lodore House; "and mind +ye dinna pit the raspberry in 'till the puffs be mair nor half baked; +or it 'ill be bubbling o'er, and spoiling the edges o' the pastry. +Bless me weel, sich a fuss! Ye mun mind a' the'e thing soon bairn. I'm +no used till them noo, and, indeed, I'm getting auld. Nell, woman! rin, +will ye, till the ice-hoose, there's a canny wife! and see if yon jelly +will turn oot yet. What will come o' me, if the jelly will no turn oot +affoor dinner-time! Maister Donald," said she, to the butler, who had +just entered, and who was a countryman of her own, being one of the old +Scotch establishment, "hoo cum ye on? As for my auld head, it's fairly +bothered: we are no used to such doings o' late years, Maister Donald!" + +"Vara true, Mrs. Smyth," said the butler, "it's thirteen years, I +believe, sin we have had to say, reg'lar coompany in this hoose." + +"Aye, thirteen years," rejoined Mrs. Smyth, "and some three or four +weeks, it is noo sin that awfu' neght, (and here she turned to Lady +Arandale's woman, who sat beside her,) when the hale country roond was +shining wi' bonfires and illuminations; for every ane at had a pane +o' glass, woman, pit a candle in't, till the bonny smooth lake yonder +fairly glittered! I mind it as weel, as it had been but yestereen--bit, +affoor the lights o' joy were put oot, him, for the birth o' whom they +were lighted, and her, wha gave him birth, baith lay dead! Aye, cauld +corses they were, afoor ever the embers o' the bonfires had ceased to +reek!" Here a few tears fell from the eyes of poor Mrs. Smyth; for the +present bustle had brought that which preceded the melancholy event to +which she alluded, fresh to her mind. + +"It was a sair blow, in truth!" said the butler; "and sairly did the +mistress take it to heart; and wha could blame her?" + +"It's time, however," replied Mrs. Smyth, "that the peur lasses, wha +were o'er young to ken ony thing about the loss o' their mither, +peur things, should see a little o' the warl, and ha'e some youthfu' +divartions. They are baith i' their eighteenth year noo," she added, +again addressing the stranger; "and if they dina ha'e their sport, peur +things, a wee while, afoor they git a gliff o' the ills o' this mortal +life, they'l set little count by dancing, and the like, by and bye! +Bit here comes Nell wi' the jelly! That's right--my mind's easy noo! +Come awa, will ye, Maister Donald, and look o'er the things wi' me: I's +feard for my life, at I shall forgit someot at's maist material." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + "Like sounds that are no more, past is Erin's + Strife; and Ingall is returned with his fame." + + +Lord Arandale, the eldest brother of Mrs. Montgomery; his lady; their +daughter, Lady Susan Morven; their son, Lord Morven; and a nephew, +Colonel Morven, had all come from Scotland, on a visit to their +relative, and a tour to the lakes. + +Mrs. Montgomery, in compliment to these friends, and also for the +purpose of affording some little society to her hitherto secluded +grand-daughters, had determined, though she never would herself go +out again, to see company at home, as before the death of Lady L. +In pursuance of this plan, a large and gay party was now assembled +in the drawing-room of Lodore House, awaiting the important summons +to that very dinner which we have just seen Mrs. Smyth so anxiously +preparing. There was also to be a dance in the evening, to which all +the neighbouring families for many miles round were invited. + +Julia, now about eighteen, according to the account given us in the +last chapter by Mrs. Smyth, was endeavouring, for the whim of the +thing, to learn from Lady Susan Morven, the Scotch pronunciation of the +words of "Auld Lang Syne," of which she was playing the accompaniment +on the harp; Mrs. Montgomery and Lady Arandale were seated on a sofa, +engaged in conversation; Lord Arandale was talking politics in a window +with Mr. Jackson; Frances, Lord Morven, and Colonel Morven, were +standing near the harp, laughing at Julia's attempts at Scotch; and the +rest, in various groupes, were exerting their patience, or their wit, +to pass away the time till dinner. + +"That is not right," said Lady Susan, "can't you say it as I do? We twa +ha'e climed aboot the hills." + +Julia recommenced accordingly; "We twa ha'e climed"---- The unfinished +sentence died away on her lips, her hands ceased to move on the +strings, she arose slowly from her seat, stood some seconds motionless +as a statue, her colour mounting gradually, then darted past Frances +and the gentlemen. They turned to look after her, and beheld her +standing in the centre of the room; her hand in that of an extremely +handsome young man, in a travelling dress. The stranger appeared to be +about four-and-twenty, but was strikingly like the picture of a lad, +some three or four years younger, which hung over the chimney-piece. + +In short, it was Edmund. The fleet had returned to England; the +Euphrasia wanted repairs, that must require some months for their +completion; and our hero had availed himself of the opportunity thus +afforded him of visiting Lodore House--setting out without even +delaying to write; and while the carriage in which he had arrived, was +driving round, he had entered the drawing-room, according to his old +custom, from the lawn, by one of the open glass doors. He had been +dazzled by the unexpected sight of a large company in rooms so long +devoted to mourning and quiet affections, while the first distinct +object which had fixed his eyes, (guided possibly by certain sweet +sounds,) was the glittering pillar of a harp, the chords of which, +were vibrating at the moment in harmony with the tones of a mellow, +yet almost infantine voice. A step more, and he beheld, seated at the +said harp ---- impossible!--it cannot be!--yet it must be, his darling +little Julia that was, but transformed from the child she had been +when he last saw her, into a seeming woman of perfect beauty, nay, +almost majesty; for Julia was not only tall of her age, but as fully +rounded as symmetry would permit. She was dressed too, preparatory to +the ball of the evening, in a much too fashionable full-dress (she +had not yet arrived at choosing for herself) sent from town by a +fashionable milliner, who wished to send also a long bill. + +It was this artificial costume, in fact, though Edmund was not aware of +its power, which had, at first sight, added years to Julia's apparent +age, and inspired our amazed hero with absolute awe of his former +playfellow. In the crayon drawing he had of both sisters in one frame, +(full-length, age thirteen,) they wore each a frock, without flounce or +tucker, and their fair hair loose on their shoulders. + +While lost in astonishment, he gazed, yet saw in the well-remembered +expression of the soft hazel eyes, so often raised to his in the +undisguised fondness of childhood; but it was indeed the same Julia; +a vivid recollection of their last meeting in that room, on that very +spot, and of the boat-cloak, in the folds of which he had then, without +hesitation, wrapped his little favourite, as he clasped her to his +heart, presented itself most inopportunely, to his imagination. Now the +very retrospect seemed presumption; yet the years that had intervened, +were to memory but as hours; while the pressure of the soft hand, which +kindly returned that of his, did not at all tend to the regulation of +his already confused ideas. Nor, indeed, had he any leisure whatever +afforded him for such an undertaking; for Frances, as soon as she +had turned and seen the cause of Julia's emotion, had flown towards +him; and Mrs. Montgomery, on hearing Frances' exclamation of--"Oh, +grandmamma, here's Edmund!" had called him to her; and Mr. Jackson, on +catching the same sounds, had left Lord Arandale and his politics, and +hastened to greet his young friend. In short, he was surrounded in a +moment, and overwhelmed with rejoicings, questionings, congratulations, +and, finally, introductions; being presented, in due form, to Lord and +Lady Arandale, and all the family party. + +The low growl of the gong, preceding its fearful bellowings, was now +heard; and Mrs. Montgomery reminded our hero, that the ten minutes it +usually sounded was all the time he would have to make his preparations +for dinner. He retired accordingly, and changed his travelling dress +for one more suitable to the occasion. + +On his return to the drawing-room, Julia was still engaged playing +Scotch airs, and learning the pronunciation of the words. Without +being conscious of the direction he gave his steps, he went as directly +towards her, as though he had been the bearer of a message which he +was about to deliver. He stopped short, however, when arrived within a +pace or two of the harp, where he remained standing. Julia continued +playing, but performed very badly; for she was wishing to speak to +Edmund in the kind manner that every recollection of her habitual +feelings towards him dictated. She had never, on any former occasion, +found the least difficulty in expressing those feelings. What an +awkward thing it is, she thought, to meet an old friend, after a long +absence, before so many strangers! + +She returned in a playful manner to the song of "Auld lang syne," for +the sake of the reference the words have to old times, and old friends; +but, when she looked up, very innocently, intending, as a sort of +friendly welcome, to enforce the application by a kind smile, and met +the eyes of Edmund fixed upon her, she looked down, blushed, felt an +undefined uneasiness as if she had done something wrong, and did not +venture to look up again; though she said to herself, "It is only +Edmund!" + +Edmund's gaze was so continued, that Mrs. Montgomery asked him if Julia +was much more grown than he expected. + +"Yes, ma'am--oh, no!" answered Edmund. "That is, I always thought--that +Julia--but--but"---- He coloured and stammered. + +"I always thought, myself, she would be tall," said Mrs. Montgomery; +"but you think her more grown than you could have supposed, perhaps?" + +"Yes--ma'am--yes--I do," he replied, glad to be spared the task of +translating himself. + +Dinner was at this moment announced; and, the next, Edmund heard +the words:--"Lady Julia L., allow me----" pronounced by Lord Morven, +who, at the same time, presented his arm to Julia. She accepted it, +and the couple fell into the rear of the battalion, marching towards +the dining-room. Edmund felt an odd sort of sensation, which he did +not wait to define, but, offering his arm to Frances, who was busy, +declaring that she wanted but half an inch of Julia's height; he +followed with her, and, on taking his seat at the table, between her +ladyship and Lady Susan Morven, found himself placed opposite to Julia +and Lord Morven. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + "Thou, fairer than the spirit of the hills, + And blooming as the bow of the shower, + With thy soft hair, floating round thy beauty + Thus, like the bright curling mist of Cona, + Hast thou no welcome for Fingall?" + + +The likeness between the twins had nearly disappeared. The uncommon +colour of the hair, indeed, blended of flaxen and light brown, with +the luxuriance of its growth, and the peculiar golden lustre received +by the curls when the light shone on them, was still the same in both +sisters. The fairness of the skin, too, was much the same; but the rest +will require separate portraits. + +Frances' colour was not quite so brilliant as her sister's; yet it was, +at once, lively and delicate, and came and went, in a slight degree, +at every movement. Her blue eyes sparkled, almost continually, with +unmixed delight. Her mouth was small, pretty, and peculiarly flexible, +every moment escaping from any attempt at gravity, into smiles and +laughs of various degrees, displaying the white, small, regular, pearly +teeth. Her figure was slight and light, to a sylph-like degree, and so +frequently seen in the active pursuit of some medium of pleasure, or +means of mirth, that had her picture been taken in any attitude that +did not indicate passing, that did not keep the beholder in constant +dread of its disappearance, it would not have been like. + +Julia's figure was perfectly formed, taller than her sister's, and, as +we have before observed, as fully rounded as symmetry would permit; her +neck and shoulders particularly fine. Her characteristic attitudes were +those of graceful quiescence; yet, when she did move, it was with a +freedom from effort, that preserved unbroken that dignity of carriage, +for which, young as she was, she was already remarkable. She had an +air too of quiet composure, equally beyond her years; though in this +Julia was, unintentionally, a hypocrite, her seeming stillness of +manner being the result of a conscious depth of enthusiastic feeling, +sedulously concealed by extreme timidity, yet so pre-occupying her +entire nature, that trifles had no power to excite, even in their +due proportion. Her colour, as well as Frances', came and went, but +seldomer, and on greater occasions; and then its rising was more +gradual, as if a silent effort to avoid the exposure of emotion had +delayed, though it could not prevent, the blush. Nay, from the moment +it did dawn on the cheek, it continued heightening, till it arrived +at a painful degree of intensity, and then was as slow in retiring. +Her mouth was perfectly formed, the lips fuller than her sister's, but +only sufficiently so, to give an additional luxuriance to her beauty; +while her smile had a witchery about it, that no man whatever could +behold with entire composure. Her nose was straight, her eyes hazel, +their habitual expression softness; but, when she listened to any +thing that interested her much, they assumed an eagerness of look, so +enthusiastic, so natural, that it was at such moments her character was +best understood. + +At the dinner table, around which we left our party placing themselves, +Edmund happened to be, as we have already noticed, seated facing +Julia and Lord Morven. Thus situated, our ill-starred hero felt a +fatal desire to watch the countenances and movements of his opposite +neighbours. He did so, as closely as politeness would permit. + +Lord Morven, in the course of conversation, observed (aside) to his +companion, that Captain Montgomery was a very handsome fellow; and then +talked (but still in an under tone, to avoid being heard by him who was +the subject of his remarks,) of how gallantly he, the said captain, +had behaved in his professional character; how highly he was esteemed +by Lord Fitz-Ullin, &c. + +A gradually spreading smile lit up every feature of Julia's, as she +listened. + +Edmund, it may be remembered, had long ago said, that he had always +thought Julia's smile the thing in all nature the most beautiful to +look on! He now thought so with more fervour than ever, but with less +pleasure; for he now envied Lord Morven, each of whose supposed soft +whispers seemed to be welcomed by the growing brightness of that smile, +and by the corresponding glow that grew with it on the cheek, where +sparkling dimples momentarily came, and went, and came again. And then, +without distinctly determining why, he suddenly began to think of the +vast disparity of birth, and consequent place in society, between +himself and Julia; while some busy fiends seemed to press on his notice +the exact suitability of Lord Morven's rank and circumstances, in +every particular. + +Julia made some observation to his lordship. + +Edmund's eyes rested on the motions of her lips while she spoke; and +(strange flight of fancy!) he, at this critical moment, called to +mind an ancient family legend, which asserted, that eighteen years +since he had actually kissed those lips--those very lips! Eighteen +years! nay, five years since, could he not himself perfectly remember +having, as a matter of course, on his arrival, kissed little Julia +most affectionately; while those white arms, which now dazzled his +sight across the table, had hung around his neck. He wondered if she +remembered it, and what she thought about it, if she did. He supposed +such a salutation would now be considered very strange--indeed quite +improper, quite impertinent, even had they not met before so large +a company. He wondered too, how little consequence he had attached +to the circumstance at the time, though he had always idolized her +as a child, from the enthusiastic fondness she had always shown for +him. Did any of that feeling still exist? How well he could remember +her insisting on sitting close beside him, with a hand of his in +both of hers, and her full eyes raised to his, to watch his every +look. Unlucky recollections! for, in efforts of the imagination to +identify the Julia so remembered, with the Julia now before him, he +nearly lost his dinner. He rejected and accepted, in the same breath, +whatever was offered him; allowed the plates that had each, for a +limited time, stood before him in due succession, to go away almost +untouched; and when rallied by Lord Arandale on his want of appetite, +and asked whether he had left his heart with some foreign fair one, +or eat luncheon, he replied, that he had made an excellent dinner. +When, however, convicted of having scarcely tasted any thing, by the +united testimony both of Frances and Lady Susan, who had hitherto only +suppressed their laughter, for fear of awaking him from his reverie, he +changed his ground of defence, said he was too much fatigued to eat, +and called for wine and water. + +Mrs. Montgomery feared he was ill. He declared he was perfectly well, +and helped himself largely from a fluted shape of jelly just set down +before him; the elegant form of which he thus cruelly defaced, without +the slightest consideration for all the anxiety it had cost good Mrs. +Smyth. + +On the gentlemen repairing to the drawing-room, Edmund, who entered +the apartment immediately after Lord Morven, saw his lordship go +forward and take up a lover-like position, leaning on the back of +Julia's chair. Frances and Lady Susan were at the pianoforte, singing +a duet. Our hero, who thought that under the circumstances he must not +approach Julia, as, after his so recent return, had else been natural, +possessed himself of a sort of neutral ground between the parties, +where he stood listening to, or intending to listen to, the music. His +attention, however, was much disturbed by observing the confidential +manner of Julia and Lord Morven, and the interest with which they +seemed to converse. He had certainly no intention of becoming a +listener; nor, for some time, did a single word alarm his sense of +honour by reaching his sense of hearing. + +At length, during a diminuendo passage in the singing, he distinctly +heard Lord Morven say, + +"We can spend a couple of years abroad while the building of our new +house is completing." + +And Julia's sweet voice reply, with perfect complacency, + +"That will be rather agreeable than otherwise." + +Edmund's heart beat to such an excess that he could scarcely breathe; +but he resolutely moved to a greater distance: the duet, too, having +just concluded, the final symphony began to thunder away, drowning all +other sounds, so that, for the present, he heard no more. + +When the music had ended, however, Frances sent him (for by that time +he was standing by the pianoforte) to request that Julia would sing. He +went towards her accordingly; but before he could draw her attention, +her head being turned back over her shoulder speaking to Lord Morven, +he was in a manner compelled to hear her say: + +"Remember, the promise I have given is only conditional; my father's +consent, of course, must be obtained, before I can be considered to +have formed an engagement of so serious a nature." + +Edmund, confounded, uncertain whether he ought to retreat or speak +immediately, stammered out her name. She looked round with a sort +of start, and blushed. He hastened to relieve her embarrassment by +delivering his message; but so confused were his own ideas, that he +could scarcely find words in which to make himself understood. When at +length he succeeded in doing so, Julia declined singing: her alleged +reason was, that dancing, she believed, was about to commence. Music, +at the same time, striking up in an adjoining apartment, the company, +in general, directed their steps towards the inspiring sounds. + +"She is going to marry him!" thought Edmund, as he moved unconsciously +in the same direction with those around him. + +He next began to think, would there be any use in asking Julia to +dance, and to fear that, of course, Lord Morven had already done so, +when he heard a stranger behind him say: + +"I suppose Lady Julia L. will commence the dancing with Lord +Borrowdale;" and at the same moment he saw a young man of very +fashionable appearance go towards Julia, and lead her to the head of +the room. He turned towards Frances, whom next to Julia he loved; but, +just as he reached her, she took the arm of Lord Morven, and moved on. +Edmund now gave up all thoughts of dancing, and stood with his arms +folded, watching every movement of Julia's. His thoughts adverted, with +strong emotion, to his boyish days, when he had ever found Lodore House +in quiet seclusion; when his return thither seemed to be considered +as an event; when neither of his little sisters, as he called them +then, seemed to have a thought, a wish, an amusement, or a happiness, +that was not found in his society. But the scene was changed; his +play-fellows were become women, were surrounded by men of their own +rank in life; while the affection, which he had hitherto freely +declared for them, and which he, who had no other friends, still fondly +felt for them, now seemed, even to himself, a sort of presumption. + +The sisters, with their respective partners, stood opposite couples. +Lord Borrowdale took Julia's hand, and, leading her forward, left her +beside Lord Morven, and returned to his place. Lord Morven took her +hand: Edmund thought lords very disagreeable sort of people. Lord +Morven proceeded to lead both sisters forward, then all three fell back +to the position they had left: and Lord Borrowdale, coming forward +alone, figured before them, laughing and talking carelessly; then +joining all hands round, led Julia back to her place, (Edmund thought,) +with an air of triumph that seemed to say, "this is my share;" at the +same time, his lordship, stooping towards her and whispering something, +she looked up and smiled as she replied. Edmund thought Lord Borrowdale +an insolent, conceited-looking puppy. Lord Morven then led Frances +forward, and, while leaving her on the further hand of Lord Borrowdale, +bent across and said something to Julia: she answered with another +smile, and Edmund came to the sage conclusion that exalted rank and +sounding titles were quite indispensable to happiness. + +"While I," he mentally continued, "have not even a name, but a borrowed +one, for the use of which I am indebted to the compassionate kindness +of her grandmother." + +Julia, at this moment, looked towards Edmund, and perceiving that he +seemed grave and was not dancing, she smiled, and made a signal with +her fan for him to approach. He was at her elbow in a moment, his heart +beating, and his hatred to lords considerably diminished. + +"Why are you not dancing, Edmund?" asked Julia. + +"You were engaged," he replied, "and so was Frances; and I, you know, +have been scarcely ashore since I was a boy, and am, therefore, quite a +stranger. But--the next dance--perhaps--you--" + +"Unfortunately," she replied, "I have just promised Lord Morven to +dance with him: and Frances too, I know, is engaged to Lord Borrowdale." + +"The deuce take those lords!" thought Edmund. + +"Unfortunately for me, certainly!" he replied aloud; the smile, with +which Julia's summons had lit up his features, fading quite away. + +"But Lady Susan," continued Julia, "perhaps she is not engaged: or, if +she is, grandmamma, I am sure, can get you a partner." + +"You, then, are engaged for the whole evening, I suppose?" said Edmund. + +"Oh, no! only for the next set." + +"Then, will you dance the one after with me?" + +"Certainly! and Frances the one after that. But I am so sorry," she +added, "that you have not been dancing all the time." + +At this instant, Lord Borrowdale snatched up her hand, as the music +indicated the moment, and led her forward again to perform some new +evolution of the dance. When the music ceased, Julia said something +to Lady Susan: and, on receiving her reply and smile, looked towards +Edmund, and telegraphed the smile with the yes it implied. Our hero was +accustomed in his own profession to understanding and obeying signals; +he, therefore, stepped forward, requested the honour of Lady Susan's +hand for the next set, and received a ready assent. + +The music now commenced a waltz tune, and Lord Morven immediately began +to wheel himself round and round, and holding up his arms in a circular +position, to approach Julia. + +"Just one round of the room!" he cried; "pray do!" + +Edmund's heart stopped beating to await her reply, while one foot was +unconsciously advanced at the moment, as if to avert the apprehended +catastrophe. Julia laughed at the many entreating attitudes Lord +Morven thought fit to assume, but shook her head, and answered, "No! +no!" on which his lordship seized his sister, Lady Susan, in his arms, +and whirled her round and round the room. + +"It would, I fear," said Lord Borrowdale, addressing our heroine, with +affected humility, "be too great presumption in me, after Morven's +discomfiture, to think of changing your ladyship's determination?" +Julia declined. "Morven," proceeded his lordship, "certainly has +no right to esteem himself quite irresistible, notwithstanding the +present favourable juncture of his stars. In a day or two, at farthest, +this gay monopolizer of all that is brightest and loveliest, must, I +understand, withdraw from Cupid's lists, and confess himself a mere +married man!" + +Edmund, though he heard not a word of what Frances was very kindly +saying to him about not having danced, yet heard every word of Lord +Borrowdale's speech. All the blood in his system seemed to rush to his +face, it suffused even his forehead, and mounted to the very roots of +his hair. "In a day or two! In a day or two!" he repeated to himself. +"So public, so ascertained a thing, that other men think themselves +at liberty to speak to her on the subject in this free and careless +manner!" + +Lady Susan, whirling over at the moment, almost fell against Edmund's +arm, on which, laughing at the reeling of her head, she rested a finger +to steady herself. Her ladyship was all fair, all soft, and without +much form; but, being young, she was by no means forbidding; and her +countenance exhibited such a ceaseless sunshine of smiles, and was so +much adorned by the undulating movement of its dimples, now deepening, +now spreading on rosy cheeks, or playing around ruby lips, that the +beholder had no leisure to observe its dumpling contour, or criticise +its want of feature. + +"How fond my brother is of being a beau!" observed Lady Susan to her +partner, as Julia and Lord Morven took their places opposite. + +"His lordship must resign that character shortly, I understand," said +Edmund, with effort. + +"In a day or two, I suppose," replied her ladyship. "You have observed, +I dare say, what an admirer he is of his cousin, Lady Julia?" + +"It is very apparent, certainly," replied Edmund. + +"There!" exclaimed her ladyship, "so I tell him! I don't know what his +wife will say to all this, when she comes!" + +"His wife!" exclaimed Edmund, unable to trust his ears. + +"She has no right to complain, to be sure!" continued Lady Susan, "for +she is an unconscionable flirt herself!" + +"His wife!" again reiterated Edmund. + +"Yes, his wife," she repeated. + +"So, then, Lord Morven is a married man!" said Edmund. + +"Is there any thing so very astonishing in that?" demanded her ladyship. + +"No--oh no," he stammered out. + +"Lady Morven is expected here in a few days,--that is, if she does not +disappoint, as usual," continued Lady Susan. + +"In a few days!" repeated Edmund. + +"Did you then think my brother so very disagreeable, or ugly, or what, +that he could not get a wife?" she asked, laughing. + +"Ugly! disagreeable!" repeated Edmund, glancing a complacent look at +Lord Morven, (for his own good-humour was fast returning,) "quite the +contrary; your brother is extremely handsome!" and he might have added, +"so is your ladyship," had he spoken all he thought: for Lady Susan's +smiling countenance, just then, appeared the most charming in the +world, Julia's only excepted, at which, from an involuntary impulse, he +at the instant stole a glance. He met her eyes--she smiled--a kind of +intoxication came over his spirits--he danced as if on air, and talked +an immensity. His partner thought him quite fascinating. When the dance +was over, Frances and several other ladies congratulated Lady Susan, +with much laughing, on her sudden conquest, telling her she had already +made quite another being of Captain Montgomery! Frances said she should +resign any claims she might have on the score of old acquaintanceship, +for she thought Edmund quite spoiled, he was grown so affected. + +He, for his part, had flown to avail himself of Julia's promise. He +had forgotten disparity of rank, want of fortune, mystery of birth, +everything, but that she was not going to be married to Lord Morven! He +could now feel only, that he was near to, dancing with, looking upon a +being altogether captivating; and experiencing, in so doing, a delight +he had never known before; while blending itself with, and lending an +additional interest to, the natural admiration of personal loveliness, +there was, as he gazed, an unexamined, yet endearing consciousness, +that this was indeed the self-same being, not only whom he had all +his life tenderly loved, but, still more, who had always shown the +strongest, the most enthusiastic affection for him. It was as a child, +certainly--but it was delightful to remember it! And as she sat at the +supper-table, trying with now downcast, now averted eyes, to laugh off +the blushes which Edmund's extravagant compliments on her growth and +improvement had called up; and that he, turning towards her, his arm +leaning on the table before her, forgetting all present but herself, +the moments flew in a delirium of absolute happiness, till all but the +thus engrossed couple having risen from their seats, they too were +reminded that it was time to move: and the gay scene closed for the +night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + "The bright vision lasted not." + + +When Edmund retired to rest, all his ideas were in such a state of +confusion, that sleep was absolutely out of the question. He found +it equally impossible to arrange his thoughts. All came and went in +a constant whirl, over which he seemed to have no controul. Yet, +at first, all were blissful: fond recollections again and again +presented themselves, of the endearing attachment which Julia had in +childhood evinced for him; and these again and again blended themselves +with intoxicating visions of her present loveliness, and while the +tenderness he had ever cherished for her, was all at once converted +into an overwhelming passion; so entirely was every reasoning faculty +subdued, that with no better foundation than these same recollections, +a delightful feeling, almost approaching a sense of mutual affection, +glowed at his heart, and unconsciously strengthened his own infatuation. + +When it so happens, that the same object which has engrossed the +tenderest affections of the child; and which, if we may be allowed the +expression, is, as it were, at home in the heart, associated with all +its best, its purest feelings, becomes also the first object to awaken +passion, the feeling, so produced, is as rare as the combination of +circumstances out of which it arises. This is _First Love_, indeed, +with all its own luxuriance of blossom, yet as deep-rooted as the ties +of kindred: how unlike the surface-sown plant, _Love at First Sight_. + +As, however, the delightful sensations derived from seeing and speaking +to Julia, from receiving her smiles, and listening to the sweet accents +of her voice; as these, we say, began to subside, other, and less +pleasing thoughts, like spectres, arose and crossed his imagination: +at first singly, and at a great distance, and causing only momentary +panics; afterwards, nearer and nearer; till, at length, they collected +around him, closed in upon him, awoke him from his dream of unfounded, +unjustifiable happiness, and compelled him to look on the realities of +his situation. + +"Though," said he to himself, "she is not to be, thank heaven!--cannot +be married to Lord Morven, I am not the less altogether unworthy of +her! It would not be the less of presumption, the less of ingratitude, +the less of baseness in me, to indulge for a moment in such a thought. +Though Lord Morven happens to be a married man, it is to some one of +rank and fortune equal to his, that Lord L. will think of uniting his +daughter. That Lord Borrowdale!--he is not married, and it was with +him she danced the first set--and they are neighbours too. But of what +avail is it for me to torture myself with conjectures?--it is enough +for me, that she can never, never--no, never be----" He paused--then +recommenced--"I must fly her presence! I must return to the wild waves +which have long been my home, and make them my home still! There I have +earned a sort of claim; elsewhere I have none! On no one spot of earth +can the wretched Edmund place the wanderer's foot, and say, 'This is my +native soil!'--and for a name----!" Here the painful thought pressed +upon him, that he had no actual right to any. He then remembered, +with a sigh, the many useless efforts which had been made to discover +his birth. Then a burning blush tingled on his cheek, as the sudden +thought struck him, and for the first time, that he might possibly be +the child of shame, and that therefore it was that no one would claim +him. He strove to shake off the idea; then, as if to drown an intruding +voice, which seemed to whisper that the suggestion was probable, he +thus continued:--"Wrapped in mystery, as every thing concerning me is, +I must, all my life, remain an isolated, a miserable being! A home +of joy--sweet domestic affections--all, in short, that renders life +desirable, is forbidden to me! Under what name dare I present myself +before heaven's holy altar? What appellation dare I offer to that woman +who would share my fortunes?" + +Engaged in reflections such as these, every delightful vision +vanished, the tumultuous beatings of each pulse subsided; and, under +the sobering, yet soporific influence of sadness, he at length +fell asleep--a long and tremulous sigh, as his eye-lids closed, +breaking, for the last time, the regulated breathing which nature was +endeavouring to establish. His dreams, however, by an extraordinary +contradiction, took their colour from his first feelings. Julia seemed +to be before him; to smile sweetly upon him; to raise her full eyes to +his. Their expression carried absolute conviction to his heart that he +was beloved: the impression was irresistible: he thought he declared +his own mad passion; he thought he saw her covered with blushes indeed, +but there was no reproof in her manner, and all his own scruples, +too, had somehow vanished! He thought he held her soft hand; (for he +remembered, particularly when he awoke, how soft it had felt;) she did +not withdraw it; nay, it seemed to return the pressure of his! Then +he thought, with all the strange and sudden inconsistency of dreams, +that he had actually been married to Julia for some time, though he +could not remember how or where the ceremony had taken place; yet he +saw her so distinctly that he was sure he was awake. Her appearance +was what it had been the evening before at the supper table; but her +manners, what they had used to be in childhood: the same endearing, +enthusiastic, unreserved affection; manifesting itself, with all the +happy confidence of mutual and habitual fondness. + +But the feelings such visions excited were not calm enough for +undisturbed repose: he heard the beating of his own heart, through his +sleep; he began to fear he was dreaming; he tried not to awake--but +it would not do: his eyes opened; he saw the sun shining through his +window-curtains; he started upright in his bed. A tide of contradictory +recollections poured in upon him; but, alas! where were those so full +of bliss?--They were in his dream!--they were not to be recalled; +yet, while he could contrive to discourage all thought, a vaguely +pleasing impression remained, as though something very delightful +had lately happened! He dressed mechanically; when, crossing his +apartment to step forth by a glass door, which opened on the lawn, +he caught a glimpse of Julia, turning into one of the walks of the +shrubbery. His heart began again to beat audibly, as it had done in +his dream; he stumbled against his valet, who stood offering him his +hat, and, going out without it, flew across the green to join her. +She, too, had had her reflections: she had reproached herself for +having treated Edmund quite like a stranger. "And without any fault +of his," said she to herself--for Julia was a great respecter of +justice, and, on the present occasion, fancied herself guided entirely +by its dictates. There was not one hour of her whole existence, (that +she could remember,) when Edmund had not shared with Frances her +sisterly affection; and he had not done any thing wrong, she argued +with herself--any thing unkind, any thing to forfeit any one's regard; +then would it not be very wrong, very unjust of her, if she did not +still love--that is to say, still consider him as her brother. Had +not grandmamma and Mr. Jackson always loved him as much as if he was +really so; and, of course, they did so still, and so ought Frances and +herself. + +Had she been aware how very complimentary to Edmund were the causes +which had unconsciously operated upon her manner, in producing the +unusual restraint of which she was so painfully conscious, she would +have acquitted herself of unkindness to an old friend, and want of +generous feeling towards the friendless; for we can venture to assert, +upon our own knowledge of her warm-hearted character, that had Edmund +not been tall or handsome; had his figure and carriage had no air, no +look of consequence, no dignity, no grace; had there been no expression +in his eyes, particularly when he looked at her; no glow on his +cheek, especially when he spoke to her; nothing at all dangerous in +his smile, or persuasive in the tones of his voice, particularly when +he spoke to her; had she never heard his gallant actions and high +character extolled; had she never known Mr. Jackson, as he laid down +the newspaper, exclaim, "There is true nobility for you! Pray what is +it that you titled people inherit from your ancestors, but the distant +reflection of some great exploit performed by some one of them, for +which he was ennobled! Then, is not that man, in whom the splendour +of noble deeds is self-existent, in whom it shines independent of +reflection, greater than any of you? And yet," would he add, with that +glaring inconsistency of which the wisest of us are often guilty, "I +have not a doubt that my Edmund, my boy, will yet prove the descendant +of a line of ancestry as exalted as his own merits, and I need say +no more!" Had nothing, we say, of all this been the case; on the +contrary, had all this been reversed--had Edmund been, as indeed he +might have been, and yet have been a very worthy personage, a little, +insignificant-looking, diminutive-faced, bandy-legged fellow, with +a grey freckled skin, light red hair, and green-gooseberry eyes, who +had never done any thing remarkable in his life, of whom nobody spoke, +whose entrance into a room created no sensation,--in this case, we +maintain that Julia would have felt, forcibly, his situation as the +protegé of her family; that she would have dreaded the thoughts of his +feeling himself little among so many great people; and that, therefore, +she would have shown him, particularly on his return home, the most +marked attention, and bestowed, too, with the utmost frankness. + +This morning, however, she had not yet seen him, to remind her of the +tall and awful hero he now appeared in her eyes; and she had been +studiously bringing to her recollection what he had been, when Frances +and herself used to vie with each other in declarations of how much +they loved him, and ask him, again and again, which he loved best; and +she well remembered (but, of course, as the nonsense of children) +that he used to tell her, when Frances would get tired of the subject, +and run away to play, that it was her he loved best; that she was his +favourite, his darling Julia! &c. &c. + +Finally, she came to the valiant resolve, to shake off the artificial +manner, made up of too much, perhaps sometimes, and, certainly, often +too little courtesy, which she felt she had had a part, at least, of +yesterday, and to be, what she had ever been, towards one, who had no +friends but those at Lodore House. "I don't mean," said she to herself, +"flying into his arms at meetings and partings, as I used to do, when I +was a foolish child;" and here she blushed, and felt astounded, at the +recollection; "but I mean to show him frank and unaffected kindness, +always the same." + +As she arrived at this sage conclusion, Edmund stood before her, +looking not the worse for the want of his hat, the careless +arrangement the breeze had thought fit to make of his hair, and the +heightened colour caused by running; to say nothing of a certain +beaming light, which thoughts, that lovers' lips dare not confess, +sometimes shed through lovers' eyes. In short, his dream had given +a most dangerous, delighted, bridegroom-like expression to his +countenance! + +On first seeing him Julia blushed, as though, in her late conference +with herself, she had been speaking, instead of only thinking, and +might have been overheard. In pursuance, however, of her resolve, she +extended towards him the open palm of welcome, as she bade him good +morning. + +When he felt her hand within his, soft as it had been in his dream; +when he saw her cheek glowing, and in her eyes, as she lifted them to +his, beheld the blended expression of kindness and timidity, called up +by the yet unsubdued current of such reflexions as had just passed +through her mind; he could not help thinking how like she, at that +moment, looked, to what she had appeared in the too delightful vision, +from which he had so lately and so unwillingly awakened. + +He was so much absorbed by this idea, that his eyes dwelt on her face, +till hers were bent on the ground: her blush, too, deepened. She wished +to speak, but felt there was something in his manner, which made it +impossible for her to keep her resolution of behaving with perfect +ease; both remained silent, and she withdrew her hand. + +Edmund, who had continued gazing, till aroused by this movement, now +felt that some apology was necessary. He stammered out one about +her being so much grown, and about trying to trace, in her present +appearance, the little favourite of his boyish days. "After the first +surprise is over," he added, encouraged by a gentle look, and playfully +lowering his tone, and smiling, as he drew her hand over his arm, and +walked slowly on, his head turned towards his companion--"after the +first surprise is over, of finding her, whom I can remember carrying +about in my arms through these very woods, become,--while I was so busy +ploughing the wide ocean, that I observed not the lapse of time,--a +full-grown, fashionable, awe-inspiring woman!--when this surprise is +over, I say, you will find that I shall learn to behave myself with all +due propriety, and not stare grownup young ladies out of countenance, +as if they were still children." + +Julia, remembering her resolution, seized this opening, and said, "I +hope, Edmund, I shall never prove so much the woman of fashion, as to +be capricious or unsisterly, in my manners or conduct. Perhaps you +think I have been so?" + +"You quite mistake my meaning, Julia," said Edmund. + +"But,"--she continued, hesitating, "I trust you will find that the +regard which Frances and I have felt for you, from our earliest +childhood, will prove, through life, an unshaken friendship!" + +This was valiantly said of Julia; and the speech took all the breath, +of which she was mistress, to bring it to so handsome a conclusion. + +"If your friendship," he replied, with sudden depression of manner, +"and that of your family were withdrawn, what would be left to the +desolate Edmund!" A short silence ensued. "Promise me, Julia," he +recommenced, taking again the hand that leaned on his arm, and +trembling as he reflected that he might yet lose all share in her +regard, if his rash passion should ever be discovered; "promise me, +that you never will, under any circumstances, withdraw your friendship +from me." + +Julia, after hesitating a little, said--"I may, I think, make that +promise, Edmund, for I am sure you never will deserve to lose it, +and--even--" She stopped as if uncertain whether or not she ought to +proceed. + +"Do not check that kind sentence, Julia!" he exclaimed, in a tone of +entreaty. "You were going to say, that you would still regard and pity +the unfortunate Edmund, even if he were in fault, and condemned by +strangers!" + +"Well, I am sure I would, Edmund," she replied, after a moment's pause; +"and so would Frances, and so would grandmamma," she added, eagerly, as +Edmund pressed the hand which leaned on his arm against his heart, to +express his gratitude. + +At this moment, Henry, who had been sent to call them in to breakfast, +came up. He curled his lip as he observed Edmund let go the hand of +Julia, and all three walked towards the house in silence. + +"That won't do, Captain Montgomery," whispered Henry, as they entered, +affecting a laugh. + +Edmund reddened, and turning on him with a frown, said, "I request, +sir, that you will spare yourself the trouble of thinking for me." + +Julia was a few steps in advance. + +"On the quarter-deck, sir," said Henry, with mock deference, "I bow to +your opinions; but here, I too must request the liberty of thinking for +myself, as well as feeling solicitude for a lady, towards whom I stand +somewhat, though not absolutely, I am happy to say, in the situation of +a brother, being one of her nearest male relatives." + +"Sir!" said Edmund, "till I request your confidence on the subject +of your solicitudes, I beg I may not be troubled with the recital of +them." + +This short scene passed while the various morning salutations +which Julia's appearance had called forth were going round the +breakfast-table, and, consequently, entirely escaped her notice. Lord +Borrowdale, starting up, on her first entrance, had given her his seat, +and found, or rather made room for himself beside her. + +Lady Susan, whom Frances had laughed into a belief that she had +achieved a first-sight conquest of Captain Montgomery, now made room +for Edmund near herself, and all the time of breakfast, simpered, +dimpled, laughed, and talked to him, while he thought only of how +he could, with most propriety, resent the insolence of Henry. Lord +Borrowdale composed and delivered elaborate compliments to Julia on +the roses she had collected during her morning ramble, directing, from +time to time, rather inquisitive, and not very well-satisfied glances, +towards the much too handsome companion of her walk. Lord Morven +mentioned to Mrs. Montgomery how much he wished Julia and Frances to +accompany Lady Morven and himself in the Italian trip they proposed +making, while their new house was finishing; and added, that Julia had +half-promised him, in case Lord L. gave his consent. Mrs. Montgomery +shook her head, and Edmund almost smiled to think how much unnecessary +misery this subject had caused him only the evening before. + +The smile, however, was but languid, for of what avail was it that +this source of uneasiness was removed; was not Lord Borrowdale's +admiration declared? and was it not probable that he would be approved +of by all her friends? Or, if Lord Borrowdale were not in existence, +he himself, at least, had no pretentions--worse than none! he was +peculiarly bound by honour, gratitude, every good feeling, not even to +stand the competition, had he the egregious vanity to hope that such +treachery could avail him. Henry's interference, indeed, he despised +as much as he resented; and had he been capable of doing wrong, from +a feeling of false pride, he would, from that moment, have paid Julia +pointed attention; but his own sense of right was too strong to permit +such a line of conduct. The impulse, indeed, was felt, but instantly +rejected; for now that reason, which his dream for a time had banished, +was restored, by seeing Julia join the circle of the proud, the gay, +the titled, (which was surely her natural sphere,) honour and duty +predominated even over passion. He still, however, resented the liberty +Henry had taken, and immediately after breakfast sought an interview +with him, which ended in that gentleman finding himself compelled to +make an ample apology, though with a very bad grace. + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + +LONDON: + +IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistent + spelling and hyphenation in the original document have been + preserved. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's First Love Vol. 1 of 3, by Margracia Loudon + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44018 *** |