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diff --git a/4499.txt b/4499.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1e3c29 --- /dev/null +++ b/4499.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19571 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Entire Short Works of George Meredith +by George Meredith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Short Works of George Meredith + +Author: George Meredith + +Last Updated: March 7, 2009 +Release Date: October 13, 2006 [EBook #4499] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHORT WORKS OF MEREDITH *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE ENTIRE SHORT WORKS OF GEORGE MEREDITH + + + +CONTENTS: + + Farina + Case of General Ople + The Tale of Chloe + The House on the Beach + The Gentleman of Fifty + The Sentimentalists + Miscellaneous Prose + + + + + +FARINA + +By George Meredith + + + + +THE WHITE ROSE CLUB + +In those lusty ages when the Kaisers lifted high the golden goblet of +Aachen, and drank, elbow upward, the green-eyed wine of old romance, +there lived, a bow-shot from the bones of the Eleven Thousand Virgins +and the Three Holy Kings, a prosperous Rhinelander, by name Gottlieb +Groschen, or, as it was sometimes ennobled, Gottlieb von Groschen; +than whom no wealthier merchant bartered for the glory of his ancient +mother-city, nor more honoured burgess swallowed impartially red juice +and white under the shadow of his own fig-tree. + +Vine-hills, among the hottest sun-bibbers of the Rheingau, glistened +in the roll of Gottlieb's possessions; corn-acres below Cologne; +basalt-quarries about Linz; mineral-springs in Nassau, a legacy of the +Romans to the genius and enterprise of the first of German traders. He +could have bought up every hawking crag, owner and all, from Hatto's +Tower to Rheineck. Lore-ley, combing her yellow locks against the +night-cloud, beheld old Gottlieb's rafts endlessly stealing on the +moonlight through the iron pass she peoples above St. Goar. A wailful +host were the wives of his raftsmen widowed there by her watery music! + +This worthy citizen of Cologne held vasty manuscript letters of the +Kaiser addressed to him: + +'Dear Well-born son and Subject of mine, Gottlieb!' and he was easy +with the proudest princes of the Holy German Realm. For Gottlieb was +a money-lender and an honest man in one body. He laid out for the +plenteous harvests of usury, not pressing the seasons with too much +rigour. 'I sow my seed in winter,' said he, 'and hope to reap good +profit in autumn; but if the crop be scanty, better let it lie and +fatten the soil.' + +'Old earth's the wisest creditor,' he would add; 'she never squeezes the +sun, but just takes what he can give her year by year, and so makes sure +of good annual interest.' + +Therefore when people asked Gottlieb how he had risen to such a pinnacle +of fortune, the old merchant screwed his eye into its wisest corner, +and answered slyly, 'Because I 've always been a student of the heavenly +bodies'; a communication which failed not to make the orbs and systems +objects of ardent popular worship in Cologne, where the science was long +since considered alchymic, and still may be. + +Seldom could the Kaiser go to war on Welschland without first taking +earnest counsel of his Well-born son and Subject Gottlieb, and +lightening his chests. Indeed the imperial pastime must have ceased, and +the Kaiser had languished but for him. Cologne counted its illustrious +citizen something more than man. The burghers doffed when he passed; and +scampish leather-draggled urchins gazed after him with praeternatural +respect on their hanging chins, as if a gold-mine of great girth had +walked through the awe-struck game. + +But, for the young men of Cologne he had a higher claim to reverence as +father of the fair Margarita, the White Rose of Germany; a noble maiden, +peerless, and a jewel for princes. + +The devotion of these youths should give them a name in chivalry. In her +honour, daily and nightly, they earned among themselves black bruises +and paraded discoloured countenances, with the humble hope to find it +pleasing in her sight. The tender fanatics went in bands up and down +Rhineland, challenging wayfarers and the peasantry with staff and beaker +to acknowledge the supremacy of their mistress. Whoso of them journeyed +into foreign parts, wrote home boasting how many times his head had been +broken on behalf of the fair Margarita; and if this happened very often, +a spirit of envy was created, which compelled him, when he returned, to +verify his prowess on no less than a score of his rivals. Not to possess +a beauty-scar, as the wounds received in these endless combats were +called, became the sign of inferiority, so that much voluntary maiming +was conjectured to be going on; and to obviate this piece of treachery, +minutes of fights were taken and attested, setting forth that a +certain glorious cut or crack was honourably won in fair field; on what +occasion; and from whom; every member of the White Rose Club keeping +his particular scroll, and, on days of festival and holiday, wearing it +haughtily in his helm. Strangers entering Cologne were astonished at +the hideous appearance of the striplings, and thought they never +had observed so ugly a race; but they were forced to admit the fine +influence of beauty on commerce, seeing that the consumption of beer +increased almost hourly. All Bavaria could not equal Cologne for +quantity made away with. + +The chief members of the White Rose Club were Berthold Schmidt, the rich +goldsmith's son; Dietrich Schill, son of the imperial saddler; Heinrich +Abt, Franz Endermann, and Ernst Geller, sons of chief burghers, each of +whom carried a yard-long scroll in his cap, and was too disfigured +in person for men to require an inspection of the document. They were +dangerous youths to meet, for the oaths, ceremonies, and recantations +they demanded from every wayfarer, under the rank of baron, were what +few might satisfactorily perform, if lovers of woman other than the +fair Margarita, or loyal husbands; and what none save trained heads and +stomachs could withstand, however naturally manful. The captain of the +Club was he who could drink most beer without intermediate sighing, +and whose face reckoned the proudest number of slices and mixture of +colours. The captaincy was most in dispute between Dietrich Schill and +Berthold Schmidt, who, in the heat and constancy of contention, were +gradually losing likeness to man. 'Good coin,' they gloried to reflect, +'needs no stamp.' + +One youth in Cologne held out against the standing tyranny, and chose to +do beauty homage in his own fashion, and at his leisure. It was Farina, +and oaths were registered against him over empty beer-barrels. An axiom +of the White Rose Club laid it down that everybody must be enamoured of +Margarita, and the conscience of the Club made them trebly suspicious +of those who were not members. They had the consolation of knowing that +Farina was poor, but then he was affirmed a student of Black Arts, and +from such a one the worst might reasonably be feared. He might bewitch +Margarita! + +Dietrich Schill was deputed by the Club to sound the White Rose herself +on the subject of Farina, and one afternoon in the vintage season, +when she sat under the hot vine-poles among maiden friends, eating ripe +grapes, up sauntered Dietrich, smirking, cap in hand, with his scroll +trailed behind him. + +'Wilt thou?' said Margarita, offering him a bunch. + +'Unhappy villain that I am!' replied Dietrich, gesticulating fox-like +refusal; 'if I but accept a favour, I break faith with the Club.' + +'Break it to pleasure me,' said Margarita, smiling wickedly. + +Dietrich gasped. He stood on tiptoe to see if any of the Club were by, +and half-stretched out his hand. A mocking laugh caused him to draw +it back as if stung. The grapes fell. Farina was at Margarita's feet +offering them in return. + +'Wilt thou?' said Margarita, with softer stress, and slight excess of +bloom in her cheeks. + +Farina put the purple cluster to his breast, and clutched them hard on +his heart, still kneeling. + +Margarita's brow and bosom seemed to be reflections of the streaming +crimson there. She shook her face to the sky, and affected laughter at +the symbol. Her companions clapped hands. Farina's eyes yearned to her +once, and then he rose and joined in the pleasantry. + +Fury helped Dietrich to forget his awkwardness. He touched Farina on the +shoulder with two fingers, and muttered huskily: 'The Club never allow +that.' + +Farina bowed, as to thank him deeply for the rules of the Club. 'I +am not a member, you know,' said he, and strolled to a seat close by +Margarita. + +Dietrich glared after him. As head of a Club he understood the use of +symbols. He had lost a splendid opportunity, and Farina had seized it. +Farina had robbed him. + +'May I speak with Mistress Margarita?' inquired the White Rose chief, in +a ragged voice. + +'Surely, Dietrich! do speak,' said Margarita. + +'Alone?' he continued. + +'Is that allowed by the Club?' said one of the young girls, with a saucy +glance. + +Dietrich deigned no reply, but awaited Margarita's decision. She +hesitated a second; then stood up her full height before him; faced him +steadily, and beckoned him some steps up the vine-path. Dietrich bowed, +and passing Farina, informed him that the Club would wring satisfaction +out of him for the insult. + +Farina laughed, but answered, 'Look, you of the Club! beer-swilling has +improved your manners as much as fighting has beautified your faces. Go +on; drink and fight! but remember that the Kaiser's coming, and fellows +with him who will not be bullied.' + +'What mean you?' cried Dietrich, lurching round on his enemy. + +'Not so loud, friend,' returned Farina. 'Or do you wish to frighten the +maidens? I mean this, that the Club had better give as little offence as +possible, and keep their eyes as wide as they can, if they want to be of +service to Mistress Margarita.' + +Dietrich turned off with a grunt. + +'Now!' said Margarita. + +She was tapping her foot. Dietrich grew unfaithful to the Club, and +looked at her longer than his mission warranted. She was bright as the +sunset gardens of the Golden Apples. The braids of her yellow hair were +bound in wreaths, and on one side of her head a saffron crocus was +stuck with the bell downward. Sweetness, song, and wit hung like dews of +morning on her grape-stained lips. She wore a scarlet corset with bands +of black velvet across her shoulders. The girlish gown was thin blue +stuff, and fell short over her firm-set feet, neatly cased in white +leather with buckles. There was witness in her limbs and the way +she carried her neck of an amiable, but capable, dragon, ready, when +aroused, to bristle up and guard the Golden Apples against all save the +rightful claimant. Yet her nether lip and little white chin-ball had a +dreamy droop; her frank blue eyes went straight into the speaker: the +dragon slept. It was a dangerous charm. 'For,' says the minnesinger, +'what ornament more enchants us on a young beauty than the soft slumber +of a strength never yet called forth, and that herself knows not of! +It sings double things to the heart of knighthood; lures, and warns us; +woos, and threatens. 'Tis as nature, shining peace, yet the mother of +storm.' + +'There is no man,' rapturously exclaims Heinrich von der Jungferweide, +'can resist the desire to win a sweet treasure before which lies a +dragon sleeping. The very danger prattles promise.' + +But the dragon must really sleep, as with Margarita. + +'A sham dragon, shamming sleep, has destroyed more virgins than all the +heathen emperors,' says old Hans Aepfelmann of Duesseldorf. + +Margarita's foot was tapping quicker. + +'Speak, Dietrich!' she said. + +Dietrich declared to the Club that at this point he muttered, 'We love +you.' Margarita was glad to believe he had not spoken of himself. He +then informed her of the fears entertained by the Club, sworn to watch +over and protect her, regarding Farina's arts. + +'And what fear you?' said Margarita. + +'We fear, sweet mistress, he may be in league with Sathanas,' replied +Dietrich. + +'Truly, then,' said Margarita, 'of all the youths in Cologne he is the +least like his confederate.' + +Dietrich gulped and winked, like a patient recovering wry-faced from an +abhorred potion. + +'We have warned you, Fraulein Groschen!' he exclaimed. 'It now becomes +our duty to see that you are not snared.' + +Margarita reddened, and returned: 'You are kind. But I am a Christian +maiden and not a Pagan soldan, and I do not require a body of tawny +guards at my heels.' + +Thereat she flung back to her companions, and began staining her pretty +mouth with grapes anew. + + + + +THE TAPESTRY WORD + +Fair maids will have their hero in history. Siegfried was Margarita's +chosen. She sang of Siegfried all over the house. 'O the old days of +Germany, when such a hero walked!' she sang. + +'And who wins Margarita,' mused Farina, 'happier than Siegfried, has in +his arms Brunhild and Chrimhild together!' + +Crowning the young girl's breast was a cameo, and the skill of some +cunning artist out of Welschland had wrought on it the story of the +Drachenfels. Her bosom heaved the battle up and down. + +This cameo was a north star to German manhood, but caused many chaste +expressions of abhorrence from Aunt Lisbeth, Gottlieb's unmarried +sister, who seemed instinctively to take part with the Dragon. She was a +frail-fashioned little lady, with a face betokening the perpetual smack +of lemon, and who reigned in her brother's household when the good wife +was gone. Margarita's robustness was beginning to alarm and shock Aunt +Lisbeth's sealed stock of virtue. + +'She must be watched, such a madl as that,' said Aunt Lisbeth. 'Ursula! +what limbs she has!' + +Margarita was watched; but the spy being neither foe nor friend, nothing +was discovered against her. This did not satisfy Aunt Lisbeth, whose own +suspicion was her best witness. She allowed that Margarita dissembled +well. + +'But,' said she to her niece, 'though it is good in a girl not to +flaunt these naughtinesses in effrontery, I care for you too much not to +say--Be what you seem, my little one!' + +'And that am I!' exclaimed Margarita, starting up and towering. + +'Right good, my niece,' Lisbeth squealed; 'but now Frau Groschen lies in +God's acre, you owe your duty to me, mind! Did you confess last week?' + +'From beginning to end,' replied Margarita. + +Aunt Lisbeth fixed pious reproach on Margarita's cameo. + +'And still you wear that thing?' + +'Why not?' said Margarita. + +'Girl! who would bid you set it in such a place save Satan? Oh, thou +poor lost child! that the eyes of the idle youths may be drawn there! +and thou become his snare to others, Margarita! What was that Welsh +wandering juggler but the foul fiend himself, mayhap, thou maiden of +sin! They say he has been seen in Cologne lately. He was swarthy as +Satan and limped of one leg. Good Master in heaven, protect us! it was +Satan himself I could swear!' + +Aunt Lisbeth crossed brow and breast. + +Margarita had commenced fingering the cameo, as if to tear it away; but +Aunt Lisbeth's finish made her laugh outright. + +'Where I see no harm, aunty, I shall think the good God is,' she +answered; 'and where I see there's harm, I shall think Satan lurks.' + +A simper of sour despair passed over Aunt Lisbeth. She sighed, and was +silent, being one of those very weak reeds who are easily vanquished and +never overcome. + +'Let us go on with the Tapestry, child,' said she. + +Now, Margarita was ambitious of completing a certain Tapestry for +presentation to Kaiser Heinrich on his entry into Cologne after his +last campaign on the turbaned Danube. The subject was again her beloved +Siegfried slaying the Dragon on Drachenfels. Whenever Aunt Lisbeth +indulged in any bitter virginity, and was overmatched by Margarita's +frank maidenhood, she hung out this tapestry as a flag of truce. They +were working it in bits, not having contrivances to do it in a piece. +Margarita took Siegfried and Aunt Lisbeth the Dragon. They shared the +crag between them. A roguish gleam of the Rhine toward Nonnenwerth could +be already made out, Roland's Corner hanging like a sentinel across the +chanting island, as one top-heavy with long watch. + +Aunt Lisbeth was a great proficient in the art, and had taught +Margarita. The little lady learnt it, with many other gruesome matters, +in the Palatine of Bohemia's family. She usually talked of the spectres +of Hollenbogenblitz Castle in the passing of the threads. Those were +dismal spectres in Bohemia, smelling of murder and the charnel-breath +of midnight. They uttered noises that wintered the blood, and revealed +sights that stiffened hair three feet long; ay, and kept it stiff! + +Margarita placed herself on a settle by the low-arched window, and Aunt +Lisbeth sat facing her. An evening sun blazoned the buttresses of the +Cathedral, and shadowed the workframes of the peaceful couple to a +temperate light. Margarita unrolled a sampler sheathed with twists of +divers coloured threads, and was soon busy silver-threading Siegfried's +helm and horns. + +'I told you of the steward, poor Kraut, did I not, child?' inquired Aunt +Lisbeth, quietly clearing her throat. + +'Many times!' said Margarita, and went on humming over her knee + + 'Her love was a Baron, + A Baron so bold; + She loved him for love, + He loved her for gold.' + +'He must see for himself, and be satisfied,' continued Aunt Lisbeth; +'and Holy Thomas to warn him for an example! Poor Kraut!' + +'Poor Kraut!' echoed Margarita. + + 'The King loved wine, and the Knight loved wine, + And they loved the summer weather: + They might have loved each other well, + But for one they loved together.' + +'You may say, poor Kraut, child!' said Aunt Lisbeth. 'Well! his face was +before that as red as this dragon's jaw, and ever after he went about as +white as a pullet's egg. That was something wonderful!' 'That was it!' +chimed Margarita. + + 'O the King he loved his lawful wife, + The Knight a lawless lady: + And ten on one-made ringing strife, + Beneath the forest shady.' + +'Fifty to one, child!' said Aunt Lisbeth: 'You forget the story. They +made Kraut sit with them at the jabbering feast, the only mortal there. +The walls were full of eye-sockets without eyes, but phosphorus instead, +burning blue and damp.' + +'Not to-night, aunty dear! It frightens me so,' pleaded Margarita, for +she saw the dolor coming. + +'Night! when it's broad mid-day, thou timid one! Good heaven take pity +on such as thou! The dish was seven feet in length by four broad. +Kraut measured it with his eye, and never forgot it. Not he! When the +dish-cover was lifted, there he saw himself lying, boiled! + +"'I did not feel uncomfortable then," Kraut told us. "It seemed +natural." + +'His face, as it lay there, he says, was quite calm, only a little +wrinkled, and piggish-looking-like. There was the mole on his chin, and +the pucker under his left eyelid. Well! the Baron carved. All the guests +were greedy for a piece of him. Some cried out for breast; some for +toes. It was shuddering cold to sit and hear that! The Baroness said, +"Cheek!"' + +'Ah!' shrieked Margarita, 'that can I not bear! I will not hear it, +aunt; I will not!' + +'Cheek!' Aunt Lisbeth reiterated, nodding to the floor. + +Margarita put her fingers to her ears. + +'Still, Kraut says, even then he felt nothing odd. Of course he was +horrified to be sitting with spectres as you and I should be; but the +first tremble of it was over. He had plunged into the bath of horrors, +and there he was. I 've heard that you must pronounce the names of the +Virgin and Trinity, sprinkling water round you all the while for three +minutes; and if you do this without interruption, everything shall +disappear. So they say. "Oh! dear heaven of mercy!" says Kraut, "what I +felt when the Baron laid his long hunting-knife across my left cheek!"' + +Here Aunt Lisbeth lifted her eyes to dote upon Margarita's fright. She +was very displeased to find her niece, with elbows on the window-sill +and hands round her head, quietly gazing into the street. + +She said severely, 'Where did you learn that song you were last singing, +Margarita? Speak, thou girl!' + +Margarita laughed. + + 'The thrush, and the lark, and the blackbird, + They taught me how to sing: + And O that the hawk would lend his eye, + And the eagle lend his wing.' + +'I will not hear these shameless songs,' exclaimed Aunt Lisbeth. + + 'For I would view the lands they view, + And be where they have been: + It is not enough to be singing + For ever in dells unseen!' + +A voice was heard applauding her. 'Good! right good! Carol again, +Gretelchen! my birdie!' + +Margarita turned, and beheld her father in the doorway. She tripped +toward him, and heartily gave him their kiss of meeting. Gottlieb +glanced at the helm of Siegfried. + +'Guessed the work was going well; you sing so lightsomely to-day, Grete! +Very pretty! And that's Drachenfels? Bones of the Virgins! what a +bold fellow was Siegfried, and a lucky, to have the neatest lass in +Deutschland in love with him. Well, we must marry her to Siegfried after +all, I believe! Aha? or somebody as good as Siegfried. So chirrup on, my +darling!' + +'Aunt Lisbeth does not approve of my songs,' replied Margarita, +untwisting some silver threads. + +'Do thy father's command, girl!' said Aunt Lisbeth. + + 'And doing his command, + Should I do a thing of ill, + I'd rather die to his lovely face, + Than wanton at his will.' + +'There--there,' said Aunt Lisbeth, straining out her fingers; 'you +see, Gottlieb, what over-indulgence brings her to. Not another girl in +blessed Rhineland, and Bohemia to boot, dared say such words!--than--I +can't repeat them!--don't ask me!--She's becoming a Frankish girl!' + +'What ballad's that?' said Gottlieb, smiling. + +'The Ballad of Holy Ottilia; and her lover was sold to darkness. And she +loved him--loved him----' + +'As you love Siegfried, you little one?' + +'More, my father; for she saw Winkried, and I never saw Siegfried. Ah! +if I had seen Siegfried! Never mind. She loved him; but she loved Virtue +more. And Virtue is the child of God, and the good God forgave her for +loving Winkried, the Devil's son, because she loved Virtue more, and +He rescued her as she was being dragged down--down--down, and was half +fainting with the smell of brimstone--rescued her and had her carried +into His Glory, head and feet, on the wings of angels, before all men, +as a hope to little maidens. + + 'And when I thought that I was lost + I found that I was saved, + And I was borne through blessed clouds, + Where the banners of bliss were waved.' + +'And so you think you, too, may fall in, love with Devils' sons, girl?' +was Aunt Lisbeth's comment. + +'Do look at Lisbeth's Dragon, little Heart! it's so like!' said +Margarita to her father. + +Old Gottlieb twitted his hose, and chuckled. + +'She's my girl! that may be seen,' said he, patting her, and wheezed up +from his chair to waddle across to the Dragon. But Aunt Lisbeth tartly +turned the Dragon to the wall. + +'It is not yet finished, Gottlieb, and must not be looked at,' she +interposed. 'I will call for wood, and see to a fire: these evenings of +Spring wax cold': and away whimpered Aunt Lisbeth. + +Margarita sang: + + 'I with my playmates, + In riot and disorder, + Were gathering herb and blossom + Along the forest border.' + +'Thy mother's song, child of my heart!' said Gottlieb; 'but vex not good +Lisbeth: she loves thee!' + + 'And do you think she loves me? + And will you say 'tis true? + O, and will she have me, + When I come up to woo?' + +'Thou leaping doe! thou chattering pie!' said Gottlieb. + + 'She shall have ribbons and trinkets, + And shine like a morn of May, + When we are off to the little hill-church, + Our flowery bridal way.' + +'That she shall; and something more!' cried Gottlieb. 'But, hark thee, +Gretelchen; the Kaiser will be here in three days. Thou dear one! had +I not stored and hoarded all for thee, I should now have my feet on a +hearthstone where even he might warm his boot. So get thy best dresses +and jewels in order, and look thyself; proud as any in the land. A +simple burgher's daughter now, Grete; but so shalt thou not end, my +butterfly, or there's neither worth nor wit in Gottlieb Groschen!' + +'Three days!' Margarita exclaimed; 'and the helm not finished, and the +tapestry-pieces not sewed and joined, and the water not shaded off.--Oh! +I must work night and day.' + +'Child! I'll have no working at night! Your rosy cheeks will soon be +sucked out by oil-light, and you look no better than poor tallow Court +beauties--to say nothing of the danger. This old house saw Charles the +Great embracing the chief magistrate of his liege city yonder. Some +swear he slept in it. He did not sneeze at smaller chambers than our +Kaisers abide. No gold ceilings with cornice carvings, but plain wooden +beams.' + + 'Know that the men of great renown, + Were men of simple needs: + Bare to the Lord they laid them down, + And slept on mighty deeds.' + +'God wot, there's no emptying thy store of ballads, Grete: so much shall +be said of thee. Yes; times are changeing: We're growing degenerate. +Look at the men of Linz now to what they were! Would they have let the +lads of Andernach float down cabbage-stalks to them without a shy back? +And why? All because they funk that brigand-beast Werner, who gets +redemption from Laach, hard by his hold, whenever he commits a crime +worth paying for. As for me, my timber and stuffs must come down +stream, and are too good for the nixen under Rhine, or think you I would +acknowledge him with a toll, the hell-dog? Thunder and lightning! if old +scores could be rubbed out on his hide!' + +Gottlieb whirled a thong-lashing arm in air, and groaned of law and +justice. What were they coming to! + +Margarita softened the theme with a verse: + + 'And tho' to sting his enemy, + Is sweetness to the angry bee, + The angry bee must busy be, + Ere sweet of sweetness hiveth he. + +The arch thrill of his daughter's voice tickled Gottlieb. 'That's it, +birdie! You and the proverb are right. I don't know which is best, + + 'Better hive + And keep alive + Than vengeance wake + With that you take.' + +A clatter in the cathedral square brought Gottlieb on his legs to the +window. It was a company of horsemen sparkling in harness. One trumpeter +rode at the side of the troop, and in front a standard-bearer, matted +down the chest with ochre beard, displayed aloft to the good citizens +of Cologne, three brown hawks, with birds in their beaks, on an azure +stardotted field. + +'Holy Cross!' exclaimed Gottlieb, low in his throat; 'the arms of +Werner! Where got he money to mount his men? Why, this is daring all +Cologne in our very teeth! 'Fend that he visit me now! Ruin smokes in +that ruffian's track. I 've felt hot and cold by turns all day.' + +The horsemen came jingling carelessly along the street in scattered +twos and threes, laughing together, and singling out the maidens at the +gable-shadowed windows with hawking eyes. The good citizens of Cologne +did not look on them favourably. Some showed their backs and gruffly +banged their doors: others scowled and pocketed their fists: not a few +slunk into the side alleys like well-licked curs, and scurried off +with forebent knees. They were in truth ferocious-looking fellows these +trusty servants of the robber Baron Werner, of Werner's Eck, behind +Andernach. Leather, steel, and dust, clad them from head to foot; big +and black as bears; wolf-eyed, fox-nosed. They glistened bravely in the +falling beams of the sun, and Margarita thrust her fair braided yellow +head a little forward over her father's shoulder to catch the whole +length of the grim cavalcade. One of the troop was not long in +discerning the young beauty. He pointed her boldly out to a comrade, who +approved his appetite, and referred her to a third. The rest followed +lead, and Margarita was as one spell-struck when she became aware that +all those hungry eyes were preying on hers. Old Gottlieb was too full +of his own fears to think for her, and when he drew in his head rather +suddenly, it was with a dismal foreboding that Werner's destination in +Cologne was direct to the house of Gottlieb Groschen, for purposes only +too well to be divined. + +'Devil's breeches!' muttered Gottlieb; 'look again, Grete, and see if +that hell-troop stop the way outside.' + +Margarita's cheeks were overflowing with the offended rose. + +'I will not look at them again, father.' + +Gottlieb stared, and then patted her. + +'I would I were a man, father!' + +Gottlieb smiled, and stroked his beard. + +'Oh! how I burn!' + +And the girl shivered visibly. + +'Grete! mind to be as much of a woman as you can, and soon such raff as +this you may sweep away, like cobwebs, and no harm done.' + +He was startled by a violent thumping at the streetdoor, and as brazen +a blast as if the dead were being summoned. Aunt Lisbeth entered, and +flitted duskily round the room, crying: + +'We are lost: they are upon us! better death with a bodkin! Never shall +it be said of me; never! the monsters!' + +Then admonishing them to lock, bar, bolt, and block up every room in the +house, Aunt Lisbeth perched herself on the edge of a chair, and reversed +the habits of the screech-owl, by being silent when stationary. + +'There's nothing to fear for you, Lisbeth,' said Gottlieb, with +discourteous emphasis. + +'Gottlieb! do you remember what happened at the siege of Mainz? and +poor Marthe Herbstblum, who had hoped to die as she was; and Dame +Altknopfchen, and Frau Kaltblut, and the old baker, Hans Topf's sister, +all of them as holy as abbesses, and that did not save them! and nothing +will from such godless devourers.' + +Gottlieb was gone, having often before heard mention of the calamity +experienced by these fated women. + +'Comfort thee, good heart, on my breast,' said Margarita, taking Lisbeth +to that sweet nest of peace and fortitude. + +'Margarita! 'tis your doing! have I not said--lure them not, for they +swarm too early upon us! And here they are! and, perhaps, in five +minutes all will be over! + +Herr Je!--What, you are laughing! Heavens of goodness, the girl is +delighted!' + +Here a mocking ha-ha! accompanied by a thundering snack at the door, +shook the whole house, and again the trumpet burst the ears with fury. + +This summons, which seemed to Aunt Lisbeth final, wrought a strange +composure in her countenance. She was very pale, but spread her dress +decently, as if fear had departed, and clasped her hands on her knees. + +'The will of the Lord above must be done,' said she; 'it is impious to +complain when we are given into the hand of the Philistines. Others have +been martyred, and were yet acceptable.' + +To this heroic speech she added, with cold energy: 'Let them come!' + +'Aunt,' cried Margarita, 'I hear my father's voice with those men. +Aunty! I will not let him be alone. I must go down to him. You will be +safe here. I shall come to you if there's cause for alarm.' + +And in spite of Aunt Lisbeth's astonished shriek of remonstrance, she +hurried off to rejoin Gottlieb. + + + + +THE WAGER + +Ere Margarita had reached the landing of the stairs, she repented her +haste and shrank back. Wrapt in a thunder of oaths, she distinguished: +''Tis the little maiden we want; let's salute her and begone! or cap +your skull with something thicker than you've on it now, if you want a +whole one, happy father!' + +'Gottlieb von Groschen I am,' answered her father, 'and the Kaiser----' + +''S as fond of a pretty girl as we are! Down with her, and no more +drivelling! It's only for a moment, old Measure and Scales!' + +'I tell you, rascals, I know your master, and if you're not punished for +this, may I die a beggar!' exclaimed Gottlieb, jumping with rage. + +'May you die as rich as an abbot! And so you will, if you don't bring +her down, for I've sworn to see her; there 's the end of it, man!' + +'I'll see, too, if the laws allow this villany!' cried Gottlieb. +'Insulting a peaceful citizen! in his own house! a friend of your +emperor! Gottlieb von Groschen!' + +'Groschen? We're cousins, then! You wouldn't shut out your nearest kin? +Devil's lightning! Don't you know me? Pfennig? Von Pfennig! This +here's Heller: that's Zwanziger: all of us Vons, every soul! You're not +decided? This'll sharpen you, my jolly King Paunch!' + +And Margarita heard the ruffian step as if to get swing for a blow. She +hurried into the passage, and slipping in front of her father, said to +his assailant: + +'You have asked for me! I am here!' + +Her face was colourless, and her voice seemed to issue from between a +tightened cord. She stood with her left foot a little in advance, and +her whole body heaving and quivering: her arms folded and pressed hard +below her bosom: her eyes dilated to a strong blue: her mouth ashy +white. A strange lustre, as of suppressed internal fire, flickered over +her. + +'My name 's Schwartz Thier, and so 's my nature!' said the fellow with +a grin; 'but may I never smack lips with a pretty girl again, if I harm +such a young beauty as this! Friendly dealing's my plan o' life.' + +'Clear out of my house, then, fellow, and here's money for you,' said +Gottlieb, displaying a wrathfully-trembling handful of coin. + +'Pish! money! forty times that wouldn't cover my bet! And if it did? +Shouldn't I be disgraced? jeered at for a sheep-heart? No, I'm no ninny, +and not to be diddled. I'll talk to the young lady! Silence, out there! +all's going proper': this to his comrades through the door. 'So, my +beautiful maiden! thus it stands: We saw you at the window, looking +like a fresh rose with a gold crown on. Here are we poor fellows come +to welcome the Kaiser. I began to glorify you. "Schwartz Thier!" says +Henker Rothhals to me, "I'll wager you odds you don't have a kiss of +that fine girl within twenty minutes, counting from the hand-smack!" +Done! was my word, and we clapped our fists together. Now, you see, +that's straightforward! All I want is, not to lose my money and be made +a fool of--leaving alone that sugary mouth which makes mine water'; and +he drew the back of his hand along his stubbled jaws: 'So, come! don't +hesitate! no harm to you, my beauty, but a compliment, and Schwartz +Thier's your friend and anything else you like for ever after. Come, +time's up, pretty well.' + +Margarita leaned to her father a moment as if mortal sickness had seized +her. Then cramping her hands and feet, she said in his ear, 'Leave me +to my own care; go, get the men to protect thee'; and ordered Schwartz +Thier to open the door wide. + +Seeing Gottlieb would not leave her, she joined her hands, and begged +him. 'The good God will protect me! I will overmatch these men. Look, +my father! they dare not strike me in the street: you they would fell +without pity. Go! what they dare in a house, they dare not in the +street.' + +Schwartz Thier had opened the door. At sight of Margarita, the troop +gave a shout. + +'Now! on the doorstep, full in view, my beauteous one! that they may see +what a lucky devil I am--and have no doubts about the handing over.' + +Margarita looked behind. Gottlieb was still there, every member of him +quaking like a bog under a heavy heel. She ran to him. 'My father! I +have a device wilt thou spoil it, and give me to this beast? You can do +nothing, nothing! protect yourself and save me!' + +'Cologne! broad day!' muttered Gottlieb, as if the enormity had +prostrated his belief in facts; and moved slowly back. + +Margarita strode to the door-step. Schwartz Thier was awaiting her, +his arm circled out, and his leering face ducked to a level with his +victim's. This rough show of gallantry proved costly to him. As he was +gently closing his iron hold about her, enjoying before hand with grim +mouthridges the flatteries of triumph, Margarita shot past him through +the door, and was already twenty paces beyond the troop before either +of them thought of pursuing her. At the first sound of a hoof, Henker +Rothhals seized the rider's bridle-rein, and roared: 'Fair play for a +fair bet! leave all to the Thier!' The Thier, when he had recovered +from his amazement, sought for old Gottlieb to give him a back-hit, as +Margarita foresaw that he would. Not finding him at hand, out lumbered +the fellow as swiftly as his harness would allow, and caught a glimpse +of Margarita rapidly fleeting up the cathedral square. + +'Only five minutes, Schwartz Thier!' some of the troop sung out. + +'The devil can do his business in one,' was the retort, and Schwartz +Thier swung himself on his broad-backed charger, and gored the fine +beast till she rattled out a blast of sparkles from the flint. + +In a minute he drew up in front of Margarita. + +'So! you prefer settling this business in the square. + +Good! my choice sweetheart!' and he sprang to her side. + +The act of flight had touched the young girl's heart with the spirit of +flight. She crouched like a winded hare under the nose of the hound, and +covered her face with her two hands. Margarita was no wisp in weight, +but Schwartz Thier had her aloft in his arm as easily as if he had +tossed up a kerchief. + +'Look all, and witness!' he shouted, lifting the other arm. + +Henker Rothhals and the rest of the troop looked, as they came trotting +to the scene, with the coolness of umpires: but they witnessed something +other than what Schwartz Thier proposed. This was the sight of a +formidable staff, whirling an unfriendly halo over the head of the +Thier, and descending on it with such honest intent to confound and +overthrow him, that the Thier succumbed to its force without argument, +and the square echoed blow and fall simultaneously. At the same time +the wielder of this sound piece of logic seized Margarita, and raised +a shout in the square for all true men to stand by him in rescuing +a maiden from the clutch of brigands and ravishers. A crowd was +collecting, but seemed to consider the circle now formed by the horsemen +as in a manner charmed, for only one, a fair slender youth, came forward +and ranged himself beside the stranger. + +'Take thou the maiden: I'll keep to the staff,' said this latter, +stumbling over his speech as if he was in a foreign land among old roots +and wolfpits which had already shaken out a few of his teeth, and made +him cautious about the remainder. + +'Can it be Margarita!' exclaimed the youth, bending to her, and calling +to her: 'Margarita! Fraulein Groschen!' + +She opened her eyes, shuddered, and said: 'I was not afraid! Am I safe?' + +'Safe while I have life, and this good friend.' + +'Where is my father?' + +'I have not seen him.' + +'And you--who are you? Do I owe this to you?' + +'Oh! no! no! Me you owe nothing.' + +Margarita gazed hurriedly round, and at her feet there lay the Thier +with his steel-cap shining in dints, and three rivulets of blood +coursing down his mottled forehead. She looked again at the youth, and a +blush of recognition gave life to her cheeks. + +'I did not know you. Pardon me. Farina! what thanks can reward such +courage! Tell me! shall we go?' + +'The youth eyed her an instant, but recovering himself, took a rapid +survey, and called to the stranger to follow and help give the young +maiden safe conduct home. + +'Just then Henker Rothhals bellowed, 'Time's up!' He was answered by a +chorus of agreement from the troop. They had hitherto patiently acted +their parts as spectators, immovable on their horses. The assault on +the Thier was all in the play, and a visible interference of fortune in +favour of Henker Rothhals. Now general commotion shuttled them, and the +stranger's keen hazel eyes read their intentions rightly when he lifted +his redoubtable staff in preparation for another mighty swoop, this time +defensive. Rothhals, and half a dozen others, with a war-cry of curses, +spurred their steeds at once to ride him down. They had not reckoned the +length and good-will of their antagonist's weapon. Scarce were they in +motion, when round it whizzed, grazing the nostrils of their horses +with a precision that argued practice in the feat, and unhorsing two, +Rothhals among the number. He dropped heavily on his head, and showed +signs of being as incapable of combat as the Thier. A cheer burst from +the crowd, but fell short. + +The foremost of their number was struck flat to the earth by a fellow of +the troop. + +Calling on St. George, his patron saint, the stranger began +systematically to make a clear ring in his path forward. Several of the +horsemen essayed a cut at his arm with their long double-handed swords, +but the horses could not be brought a second time to the edge of the +magic circle; and the blood of these warriors being thoroughly up, they +now came at him on foot. In their rage they would have made short work +with the three, in spite of the magistracy of Cologne, had they not been +arrested by cries of 'Werner! Werner!' + +At the South-west end of the square, looking Rhinewards, rode the +marauder Baron, in full armour, helm and hauberk, with a single retainer +in his rear. He had apparently caught sight of the brawl, and, either +because he distinguished his own men, or was seeking his natural +element, hastened up for his share in it, which was usually that of the +king of beasts. His first call was for Schwartz Thier. The men made way, +and he beheld his man in no condition to make military responses. +He shouted for Henker Rothhals, and again the men opened their ranks +mutely, exhibiting the two stretched out in diverse directions, with +their feet slanting to a common point. The Baron glared; then caught off +his mailed glove, and thrust it between his teeth. A rasping gurgle of +oaths was all they heard, and presently surged up, + +'Who was it?' + +Margarita's eyes were shut. She opened them fascinated with horror. +There was an unearthly awful and comic mixture of sounds in Werner's +querulous fury, that was like the noise of a complaining bear, rolling +up from hollow-chested menace to yawning lament. Never in her life had +Margarita such a shock of fear. The half gasp of a laugh broke on her +trembling lips. She stared at Werner, and was falling; but Farina's arm +clung instantly round her waist. The stranger caught up her laugh, loud +and hearty. + +'As for who did it, Sir Baron,' he cried, is a cheery tone, 'I am the +man! As you may like to know why--and that's due to you and me both of +us--all I can say is, the Black Muzzle yonder lying got his settler for +merry-making with this peaceful maiden here, without her consent--an +offence in my green island they reckon a crack o' the sconce light +basting for, I warrant all company present,' and he nodded sharply +about. 'As for the other there, who looks as if a rope had been round +his neck once and shirked its duty, he counts his wages for helping the +devil in his business, as will any other lad here who likes to come on +and try.' + +Werner himself, probably, would have given him the work he wanted; but +his eye had sidled a moment over Margarita, and the hardly-suppressed +applause of the crowd at the stranger's speech failed to bring his ire +into action this solitary time. + +'Who is the maiden?' he asked aloud. + +'Fraulein von Groschen,' replied Farina. + +'Von Groschen! Von Groschen! the daughter of Gottlieb +Groschen?--Rascals!' roared the Baron, turning on his men, and out +poured a mud-spring of filthy oaths and threats, which caused Henker +Rothhals, who had opened his eyes, to close them again, as if he had +already gone to the place of heat. + +'Only lend me thy staff, friend,' cried Werner. + +'Not I! thwack 'em with your own wood,' replied the stranger, and fell +back a leg. + +Werner knotted his stringy brows, and seemed torn to pieces with the +different pulling tides of his wrath. He grasped the mane of his horse +and flung abroad handfuls, till the splendid animal reared in agony. + +'You shall none of you live over this night, villains! I 'll hang +you, every hag's son! My last orders were,--Keep quiet in the city, ye +devil's brood. Take that! and that!' laying at them with his bare sword. +'Off with you, and carry these two pigs out of sight quickly, or I'll +have their heads, and make sure o' them.' + +The latter injunction sprang from policy, for at the head of the chief +street there was a glitter of the city guard, marching with shouldered +spears. + +'Maiden,' said Werner, with a bull's bow, 'let me conduct thee to thy +father.' + +Margarita did not reply; but gave her hand to Farina, and took a step +closer to the stranger. + +Werner's brows grew black. + +'Enough to have saved you, fair maid,' he muttered hoarsely. 'Gratitude +never was a woman's gift. Say to your father that I shall make excuses +to him for the conduct of my men.' + +Whereupon, casting a look of leisurely scorn toward the guard coming up +in the last beams of day, the Baron shrugged his huge shoulders to an +altitude expressing the various contemptuous shades of feudal coxcombry, +stuck one leather-ruffled arm in his side, and jolted off at an easy +pace. + +'Amen!' ejaculated the stranger, leaning on his staff. 'There are Barons +in my old land; but never a brute beast in harness.' + +Margarita stood before him, and took his two hands. + +'You will come with me to my father! He will thank you. I cannot. You +will come?' + +Tears and a sob of relief started from her. + +The city guard, on seeing Werner's redoubtable back turned, had adopted +double time, and now came panting up, while the stranger bent smiling +under a fresh overflow of innocent caresses. Margarita was caught to her +father's breast. + +'You shall have vengeance for this, sweet chuck,' cried old Gottlieb in +the intervals of his hugs. + +'Fear not, my father; they are punished': and Margarita related the +story of the stranger's prowess, elevating him into a second Siegfried. +The guard huzzaed him, but did not pursue the Baron. + +Old Gottlieb, without hesitation, saluted the astonished champion with a +kiss on either cheek. + +'My best friend! You have saved my daughter from indignity! Come with +us home, if you can believe that a home where the wolves come daring us, +dragging our dear ones from our very doorsteps. Come, that we may thank +you under a roof at least. My little daughter! Is she not a brave lass?' + +'She's nothing less than the white rose of Germany,' said the stranger, +with a good bend of the shoulders to Margarita. + +'So she's called,' exclaimed Gottlieb; 'she 's worthy to be a man!' + +'Men would be the losers, then, more than they could afford,' replied +the stranger, with a ringing laugh. + +'Come, good friend,' said Gottlieb; 'you must need refreshment. Prove +you are a true hero by your appetite. As Charles the Great said to +Archbishop Turpin, "I conquered the world because Nature gave me a +gizzard; for everywhere the badge of subjection is a poor stomach." +Come, all! A day well ended, notwithstanding!' + + + + +THE SILVER ARROW + +At the threshold of Gottlieb's house a number of the chief burgesses +of Cologne had corporated spontaneously to condole with him. As he came +near, they raised a hubbub of gratulation. Strong were the expressions +of abhorrence and disgust of Werner's troop in which these excellent +citizens clothed their outraged feelings; for the insult to Gottlieb +was the insult of all. The Rhinestream taxes were provoking enough to +endure; but that the licence of these free-booting bands should extend +to the homes of free and peaceful men, loyal subjects of the Emperor, +was a sign that the evil had reached from pricks to pokes, as the saying +went, and must now be met as became burgesses of ancient Cologne, and by +joint action destroyed. + +'In! in, all of you!' said Gottlieb, broadening his smile to suit the +many. 'We 'll talk about that in-doors. Meantime, I've got a hero to +introduce to you: flesh and blood! no old woman's coin and young girl's +dream-o'day: the honest thing, and a rarity, my masters. All that over +some good Rhine-juice from above Bacharach. In, and welcome, friends!' + +Gottlieb drew the stranger along with him under the carved old oak-wood +portals, and the rest paired, and reverentially entered in his wake. +Margarita, to make up for this want of courtesy, formed herself the +last of the procession. She may have had another motive, for she took +occasion there to whisper something to Farina, bringing sun and cloud +over his countenance in rapid flushes. He seemed to remonstrate in dumb +show; but she, with an attitude of silence, signified her wish to seal +the conversation, and he drooped again. On the door step she paused a +moment, and hung her head pensively, as if moved by a reminiscence. The +youth had hurried away some strides. Margarita looked after him. His +arms were straightened to his flanks, his hands clenched, and straining +out from the wrist. He had the aspect of one tugging against the +restraint of a chain that suddenly let out link by link to his whole +force. + +'Farina!' she called; and wound him back with a run. 'Farina! You do not +think me ungrateful? I could not tell my father in the crowd what you +did for me. He shall know. He will thank you. He does not understand +you now, Farina. He will. Look not so sorrowful. So much I would say to +you.' + +So much was rushing on her mind, that her maidenly heart became unruly, +and warned her to beware. + +The youth stood as if listening to a nightingale of the old woods, after +the first sweet stress of her voice was in his ear. When she ceased, +he gazed into her eyes. They were no longer deep and calm like forest +lakes; the tender-glowing blue quivered, as with a spark of the young +girl's soul, in the beams of the moon then rising. + +'Oh, Margarita!' said the youth, in tones that sank to sighs: 'what am I +to win your thanks, though it were my life for such a boon!' + +He took her hand, and she did not withdraw it. Twice his lips dwelt upon +those pure fingers. + +'Margarita: you forgive me: I have been so long without hope. I have +kissed your hand, dearest of God's angels!' + +She gently restrained the full white hand in his pressure. + +'Margarita! I have thought never before death to have had this sacred +bliss. I am guerdoned in advance for every grief coming before death.' + +She dropped on him one look of a confiding softness that was to the +youth like the opened gate of the innocent garden of her heart. + +'You pardon me, Margarita? I may call you my beloved? strive, wait, +pray, hope, for you, my star of life?' + +Her face was so sweet a charity! + +'Dear love! one word!--or say nothing, but remain, and move not. So +beautiful you are! Oh, might I kneel to you here; dote on you; worship +this white hand for ever.' + +The colour had passed out of her cheeks like a blissful western red +leaving rich paleness in the sky; and with her clear brows levelled at +him, her bosom lifting more and more rapidly, she struggled against the +charm that was on her, and at last released her hand. + +'I must go. I cannot stay. Pardon you? Who might not be proud of your +love!--Farewell!' + +She turned to move away, but lingered a step from him, hastily touching +her bosom and either hand, as if to feel for a brooch or a ring. Then +she blushed, drew the silver arrow from the gathered gold-shot braids +above her neck, held it out to him, and was gone. + +Farina clutched the treasure, and reeled into the street. Half a dozen +neighbours were grouped by the door. + +'What 's the matter in Master Groschen's house now?' one asked, as he +plunged into the midst of them. + +'Matter?' quoth the joy-drunken youth, catching at the word, and mused +off into raptures; 'There never was such happiness! 'Tis paradise +within, exile without. But what exile! A star ever in the heavens +to lighten the road and cheer the path of the banished one'; and he +loosened his vest and hugged the cold shaft on his breast. + +'What are you talking and capering at, fellow?' exclaimed another: +'Can't you answer about those shrieks, like a Christian, you that have +just come out of the house? Why, there's shrieking now! It 's a woman. +Thousand thunders! it sounds like the Frau Lisbeth's voice. What can be +happening to her?' + +'Perhaps she's on fire,' was coolly suggested between two or three. + +'Pity to see the old house burnt,' remarked one. + +'House! The woman, man! the woman!' + +'Ah!' replied the other, an ancient inhabitant of Cologne, shaking his +head, 'the house is oldest!' + +Farina, now recovering his senses, heard shrieks that he recognized +as possible in the case of Aunt Lisbeth dreading the wickedness of +an opposing sex, and alarmed by the inrush of old Gottlieb's numerous +guests. To confirm him, she soon appeared, and hung herself halfway out +of one of the upper windows, calling desperately to St. Ursula for aid. +He thanked the old lady in his heart for giving him a pretext to enter +Paradise again; but before even love could speed him, Frau Lisbeth was +seized and dragged remorselessly out of sight, and he and the rosy room +darkened together. + +Farina twice strode off to the Rhine-stream; as many times he returned. +It was hard to be away from her. It was harder to be near and not close. +His heart flamed into jealousy of the stranger. Everything threatened to +overturn his slight but lofty structure of bliss so suddenly shot into +the heavens. He had but to remember that his hand was on the silver +arrow, and a radiance broke upon his countenance, and a calm fell upon +his breast. 'It was a plight of her troth to me,' mused the youth. 'She +loves me! She would not trust her frank heart to speak. Oh, generous +young girl! what am I to dare hope for such a prize? for I never can +be worthy. And she is one who, giving her heart, gives it all. Do I not +know her? How lovely she looked thanking the stranger! The blue of her +eyes, the warm-lighted blue, seemed to grow full on the closing lids, +like heaven's gratitude. Her beauty is wonderful. What wonder, then, +if he loves her? I should think him a squire in his degree. There are +squires of high birth and low.' + +So mused Farina with his arms folded and his legs crossed in the shadow +of Margarita's chamber. Gradually he fell into a kind of hazy doze. The +houses became branded with silver arrows. All up the Cathedral stone was +a glitter, and dance, and quiver of them. In the sky mazed confusion of +arrowy flights and falls. Farina beheld himself in the service of the +Emperor watching these signs, and expecting on the morrow to win glory +and a name for Margarita. Glory and the name now won, old Gottlieb was +just on the point of paternally blessing them, when a rude pat aroused +him from the delicious moon-dream. + +'Hero by day! house-guard by night! That tells a tale,' said a cheerful +voice. + +The moon was shining down the Cathedral square and street, and Farina +saw the stranger standing solid and ruddy before him. He was at first +prompted to resent such familiar handling, but the stranger's face was +of that bland honest nature which, like the sun, wins everywhere back a +reflection of its own kindliness. + +'You are right,' replied Farina; 'so it is!' + +'Pretty wines inside there, and a rare young maiden. She has a throat +like a nightingale, and more ballads at command than a piper's wallet. +Now, if I hadn't a wife at home.' + +'You're married?' cried Farina, seizing the stranger's hand. + +'Surely; and my lass can say something for herself on the score of brave +looks, as well as the best of your German maids here, trust me.' + +Farina repressed an inclination to perform a few of those antics which +violent joy excites, and after rushing away and back, determined to give +his secret to the stranger. + +'Look,' said he in a whisper, that opens the private doors of a +confidence. + +But the stranger repeated the same word still more earnestly, and +brought Farina's eyes on a couple of dark figures moving under the +Cathedral. + +'Some lamb's at stake when the wolves are prowling,' he added: ''Tis +now two hours to the midnight. I doubt if our day's work be over till we +hear the chime, friend.' + +'What interest do you take in the people of this house that you watch +over them thus?' asked Farina. + +The stranger muffled a laugh in his beard. + +'An odd question, good sooth. Why, in the first place, we like well +whatso we have done good work for. That goes for something. In the +second, I've broken bread in this house. Put down that in the reckoning. +In the third; well! in the third, add up all together, and the sum +total's at your service, young sir.' + +Farina marked him closely. There was not a spot on his face for guile to +lurk in, or suspicion to fasten on. He caught the stranger's hand. + +'You called me friend just now. Make me your friend. Look, I was going +to say: I love this maiden! I would die for her. I have loved her long. +This night she has given me a witness that my love is not vain. I am +poor. She is rich. I am poor, I said, and feel richer than the Kaiser +with this she has given me! Look, it is what our German girls slide in +their back-hair, this silver arrow!' + +'A very pretty piece of heathenish wear!' exclaimed the stranger. + +'Then, I was going to say--tell me, friend, of a way to win honour and +wealth quickly; I care not at how rare a risk. Only to wealth, or high +baronry, will her father give her!' + +The stranger buzzed on his moustache in a pause of cool pity, such as +elders assume when young men talk of conquering the world for their +mistresses: and in truth it is a calm of mind well won! + +'Things look so brisk at home here in the matter of the maiden, that +I should say, wait a while and watch your chance. But you're a boy of +pluck: I serve in the Kaiser's army, under my lord: the Kaiser will be +here in three days. If you 're of that mind then, I doubt little you may +get posted well: but, look again! there's a ripe brew yonder. Marry, you +may win your spurs this night even; who knows?--'S life! there's a tall +fellow joining those two lurkers.' + +'Can you see into the murk shadow, Sir Squire?' + +'Ay! thanks to your Styrian dungeons, where I passed a year's +apprenticeship: + + "I learnt to watch the rats and mice + At play, with never a candle-end. + They play'd so well; they sang so nice; + They dubb'd me comrade; called me friend!" + +So says the ballad of our red-beard king's captivity. All evil has a +good: + + "When our toes and chins are up, + Poison plants make sweetest cup" + +as the old wives mumble to us when we're sick. Heigho! would I were in +the little island well home again, though that were just their song of +welcome to me, as I am a Christian.' + +'Tell me your name, friend,' said Farina. + +'Guy's my name, young man: Goshawk's my title. Guy the Goshawk! so they +called me in my merry land. The cap sticks when it no longer fits. +Then I drove the arrow, and was down on my enemy ere he could ruffle a +feather. Now, what would be my nickname? + + "A change so sad, and a change so bad, + Might set both Christian and heathen a sighing: + Change is a curse, for it's all for the worse: + Age creeps up, and youth is flying!" + +and so on, with the old song. But here am I, and yonder's a game that +wants harrying; so we'll just begin to nose about them a bit.' + +He crossed to the other side of the street, and Farina followed out +of the moonlight. The two figures and the taller one were evidently +observing them; for they also changed their position and passed behind +an angle of the Cathedral. + +'Tell me how the streets cross all round the Cathedral you know the +city,' said the stranger, holding out his hand. + +Farina traced with his finger a rough map of the streets on the +stranger's hand. + +'Good! that's how my lord always marks the battlefield, and makes me +show him the enemy's posts. Forward, this way!' + +He turned from the Cathedral, and both slid along close under the eaves +and front hangings of the houses. Neither spoke. Farina felt that he +was in the hands of a skilful captain, and only regretted the want of a +weapon to make harvest of the intended surprise; for he judged clearly +that those were fellows of Werner's band on the look-out. They wound +down numberless intersections of narrow streets with irregular-built +houses standing or leaning wry-faced in row, here a quaint-beamed +cottage, there almost a mansion with gilt arms, brackets, and devices. +Oil-lamps unlit hung at intervals by the corners, near a pale Christ on +crucifix. Across the passages they hung alight. The passages and +alleys were too dusky and close for the moon in her brightest ardour to +penetrate; down the streets a slender lane of white beams could steal: +'In all conscience,' as the good citizens of Cologne declared, 'enough +for those heathen hounds and sons of the sinful who are abroad when +God's own blessed lamp is out.' So, when there was a moon, the expense +of oil was saved to the Cologne treasury, thereby satisfying the +virtuous. + +After incessant doubling here and there, listening to footfalls, and +themselves eluding a chase which their suspicious movements aroused, +they came upon the Rhine. A full flood of moonlight burnished the +knightly river in glittering scales, and plates, and rings, as headlong +it rolled seaward on from under crag and banner of old chivalry and +rapine. Both greeted the scene with a burst of pleasure. The grey mist +of flats on the south side glimmered delightful to their sight, coming +from that drowsy crowd and press of habitations; but the solemn glory +of the river, delaying not, heedless, impassioned-pouring on in some +sublime conference between it and heaven to the great marriage of +waters, deeply shook Farina's enamoured heart. The youth could not +restrain his tears, as if a magic wand had touched him. He trembled with +love; and that delicate bliss which maiden hope first showers upon us +like a silver rain when she has taken the shape of some young beauty and +plighted us her fair fleeting hand, tenderly embraced him. + +As they were emerging into the spaces of the moon, a cheer from the +stranger arrested Farina. + +'Seest thou? on the wharf there! that is the very one, the tallest of +the three. Lakin! but we shall have him.' + +Wrapt in a long cloak, with low pointed cap and feather, stood the +person indicated. He appeared to be meditating on the flow of the water, +unaware of hostile presences, or quite regardless of them. There was a +majesty in his height and air, which made the advance of the two upon +him more wary and respectful than their first impulse had counselled. +They could not read his features, which were mantled behind voluminous +folds: all save a pair of very strange eyes, that, even as they gazed +directly downward, seemed charged with restless fiery liquid. + +The two were close behind him: Guy the Goshawk prepared for one of those +fatal pounces on the foe that had won him his title. He consulted Farina +mutely, who Nodded readiness; but the instant after, a cry of anguish +escaped from the youth: + +'Lost! gone! lost! Where is it? where! the arrow! The Silver Arrow! My +Margarita!' + +Ere the echoes of his voice had ceased lamenting into the distance, they +found themselves alone on the wharf. + + + + +THE LILIES OF THE VALLEY + +'He opened like a bat!' said the stranger. + +'His shadow was red!' said Farina. + +'He was off like an arrow!' said the stranger. + +'Oh! pledge of my young love, how could I lose thee!' exclaimed the +youth, and his eyes were misted with tears. + +Guy the Goshawk shook his brown locks gravely. + +'Bring me a man, and I 'll stand up against him, whoever he be, like a +man; but this fellow has an ill scent and foreign ways about him, +that he has! His eye boils all down my backbone and tingles at my +finger-tips. Jesu, save us!' + +'Save us!' repeated Farina, with the echo of a deadened soul. + +They made the sign of the Cross, and purified the place with holy +ejaculations. + +'I 've seen him at last; grant it be for the last time! That's my +prayer, in the name of the Virgin and Trinity,' said Guy. 'And now let's +retrace our steps: perchance we shall hunt up that bauble of yours, but +I'm not fit for mortal work this night longer.' + +Burdened by their black encounter, the two passed again behind the +Cathedral. Farina's hungry glances devoured each footmark of their +track. Where the moon held no lantern for him, he went on his knees, +and groped for his lost treasure with a miser's eager patience of agony, +drawing his hand slowly over the stony kerb and between the interstices +of the thick-sown flints, like an acute-feeling worm. Despair grew heavy +in his breast. At every turning he invoked some good new saint to aid +him, and ran over all the propitiations his fancy could suggest and his +religious lore inspire. By-and-by they reached the head of the street +where Margarita dwelt. The moon was dipping down, and paler, as if +touched with a warning of dawn. Chill sighs from the open land +passed through the spaces of the city. On certain coloured gables and +wood-crossed fronts, the white light lingered; but mostly the houses +were veiled in dusk, and Gottlieb's house was confused in the twilight +with those of his neighbours, notwithstanding its greater stateliness +and the old grandeur of its timbered bulk. They determined to take up +their position there again, and paced on, Farina with his head below his +shoulders, and Guy nostril in air, as if uneasy in his sense of smell. + +On the window-ledge of a fair-fitted domicile stood a flower-pot, a rude +earthen construction in the form of a river-barge, wherein grew some +valley lilies that drooped their white bells over the sides. + +The Goshawk eyed them wistfully. + +'I must smell those blessed flowers if I wish to be saved!' and he +stamped resolve with his staff. + +Moved by this exclamation, Farina gazed up at them. + +'How like a company of maidens they look floating in the vessel of +life!' he said. + +Guy curiously inspected Farina and the flower-pot, shrugged, and with +his comrade's aid, mounted to a level with it, seized the prize and +redescended. + +'There,' he cried, between long luxurious sniffs, 'that chases him out +of the nostril sooner than aught else, the breath of a fresh lass-like +flower! I was tormented till now by the reek of the damned rising from +under me. This is heaven's own incense, I think!' + +And Guy inhaled the flowers and spake prettily to them. + +'They have a melancholy sweetness, friend,' said Farina. 'I think of +whispering Fays, and Elf, and Erl, when their odour steals through me. +Do not you?' + +'Nay, nor hope to till my wits are clean gone,' was the Goshawk's reply. +'To my mind, 'tis an honest flower, and could I do good service by the +young maiden who there set it, I should be rendering back good service +done; for if that flower has not battled the devil in my nose this +night, and beaten him, my head's a medlar!' + +'I scarce know whether as a devout Christian I should listen to that, +friend,' Farina mildly remonstrated. 'Lilies are indeed emblems of the +saints; but then they are not poor flowers of earth, being transfigured, +lustrous unfadingly. Oh, Cross and Passion! with what silver serenity +thy glory enwraps me, gazing on these fair bells! I look on the white +sea of the saints. I am enamoured of fleshly anguish and martyrdom. All +beauty is that worn by wan-smiling faces wherein Hope sits as a crown +on Sorrow, and the pale ebb of mortal life is the twilight of joy +everlasting. Colourless peace! Oh, my beloved! So walkest thou for my +soul on the white sea ever at night, clad in the straight fall of thy +spotless virgin linen; bearing in thy hand the lily, and leaning thy +cheek to it, where the human rose is softened to a milky bloom of red, +the espousals of heaven with earth; over thee, moving with thee, a +wreath of sapphire stars, and the solitude of purity around!' + +'Ah!' sighed the Goshawk, dandling his flower-pot; 'the moon gives +strokes as well's the sun. I' faith, moon-struck and maid-struck in +one! He'll be asking for his head soon. This dash of the monk and the +minstrel is a sure sign. That 's their way of loving in this land: they +all go mad, straight off. I never heard such talk.' + +Guy accompanied these remarks with a pitiful glance at his companion. + +'Come, Sir Lover! lend me a help to give back what we've borrowed to its +rightful owner. 'S blood! but I feel an appetite. This night-air takes +me in the wind like a battering ram. I thought I had laid in a stout +four-and-twenty hours' stock of Westphalian Wurst at Master Groschen's +supper-table. Good stuff, washed down with superior Rhine wine; say your +Liebfrauenmilch for my taste; though, when I first tried it, I grimaced +like a Merry-Andrew, and remembered roast beef and Glo'ster ale in my +prayers.' + +The Goshawk was in the act of replacing the pot of lilies, when a blow +from a short truncheon, skilfully flung, struck him on the neck and +brought him to the ground. With him fell the lilies. He glared to the +right and left, and grasped the broken flower-pot for a return missile; +but no enemy was in view to test his accuracy of aim. + +The deep-arched doorways showed their empty recesses the windows slept. + +'Has that youth played me false?' thought the discomfited squire, as he +leaned quietly on his arm. Farina was nowhere near. + +Guy was quickly reassured. + +'By my fay, now! that's a fine thing! and a fine fellow! and a fleet +foot! That lad 'll rise! He'll be a squire some day. Look at him. Bowels +of a'Becket! 'tis a sight! I'd rather see that, now, than old Groschen +'s supper-table groaning with Wurst again, and running a river of +Rudesheimer! Tussle on! I'll lend a hand if there's occasion; but you +shall have the honour, boy, an you can win it.' + +This crying on of the hound was called forth by a chase up the street, +in which the Goshawk beheld Farina pursue and capture a stalwart +runaway, who refused with all his might to be brought back, striving +every two and three of his tiptoe steps to turn against the impulse +Farina had got on his neck and nether garments. + +'Who 'd have thought the lad was so wiry and mettlesome, with his soft +face, blue eyes, and lank locks? but a green mead has more in it than +many a black mountain. Hail, and well done! if I could dub you knight, I +would: trust me!' and he shook Farina by the hand. + +Farina modestly stood aside, and allowed the Goshawk to confront his +prisoner. + +'So, Sir Shy-i'the-dark! gallant Stick-i'the-back! Squire Truncheon, and +Knight of the noble order of Quicksilver Legs! just take your stand at +the distance you were off me when you discharged this instrument at my +head. By 'r lady! I smart a scratch to pay you in coin, and it's lucky +for you the coin is small, or you might reckon on it the same, trust me. +Now, back!' + +The Goshawk lunged out with the truncheon, but the prisoner displayed no +hesitation in complying, and fell back about a space of fifteen yards. + +'I suppose he guesses I've never done the stupid trick before,' mused +Guy, 'or he would not be so sharp.' Observing that Farina had also +fallen back in a line as guard, Guy motioned him to edge off to the +right more, bawling, 'Never mind why!' + +'Now,' thought Guy, 'if I were sure of notching him, I'd do the speech +part first; but as I'm not--throwing truncheons being no honourable +profession anywhere--I'll reserve that. The rascal don't quail. We'll +see how long he stands firm.' + +The Goshawk cleared his wrist, fixed his eye, and swung the truncheon +meditatively to and fro by one end. He then launched off the shoulder +a mighty down-fling, calmly, watching it strike the prisoner to earth, +like an ox under the hammer. + +'A hit!' said he, and smoothed his wrist. + +Farina knelt by the body, and lifted the head on his breast. 'Berthold! +Berthold!' he cried; 'no further harm shall hap to you, man! Speak!' + +'You ken the scapegrace?' said Guy, sauntering up. + +''Tis Berthold Schmidt, son of old Schmidt, the great goldsmith of +Cologne.' + +'St. Dunstan was not at his elbow this time!' + +'A rival of mine,' whispered Farina. + +'Oho!' and the Goshawk wound a low hiss at his tongue's tip. 'Well! as +I should have spoken if his ears had been open: Justice struck the blow; +and a gentle one. This comes of taking a flying shot, and not standing +up fair. And that seems all that can be said. Where lives he?' + +Farina pointed to the house of the Lilies. + +'Beshrew me! the dog has some right on his side. Whew! yonder he lives? +He took us for some night-prowlers. Why not come up fairly, and ask my +business? + +Smelling a flower is not worth a broken neck, nor defending your +premises quite deserving a hole in the pate. Now, my lad, you see what +comes of dealing with cut and run blows; and let this be a warning to +you.' + +They took the body by head and feet, and laid him at the door of his +father's house. Here the colour came to his cheek, and they wiped off +the streaks of blood that stained him. Guy proved he could be tender +with a fallen foe, and Farina with an ill-fated rival. It was who could +suggest the soundest remedies, or easiest postures. One lent a kerchief +and nursed him; another ran to the city fountain and fetched him water. +Meantime the moon had dropped, and morning, grey and beamless, looked on +the house-peaks and along the streets with steadier eye. They now both +discerned a body of men, far down, fronting Gottlieb's house, and drawn +up in some degree of order. All their charity forsook them at once. + +'Possess thyself of the truncheon,' said Guy: 'You see it can damage. +More work before breakfast, and a fine account I must give of myself to +my hostess of the Three Holy Kings!' + +Farina recovered the destructive little instrument. + +'I am ready,' said he. 'But hark! there's little work for us there, I +fancy. Those be lads of Cologne, no grunters of the wild. 'Tis the White +Rose Club. Always too late for service.' + +Voices singing a hunting glee, popular in that age, swelled up the clear +morning air; and gradually the words became distinct. + + The Kaiser went a-hunting, + A-hunting, tra-ra: + With his bugle-horn at springing morn, + The Kaiser trampled bud and thorn: + Tra-ra! + + And the dew shakes green as the horsemen rear, + And a thousand feathers they flutter with fear; + And a pang drives quick to the heart of the deer; + For the Kaiser's out a-hunting, + Tra-ra! + Ta, ta, ta, ta, + Tra-ra, tra-ra, + Ta-ta, tra-ra, tra-ra! + +the owner of the truncheon awoke to these reviving tones, and uttered a +faint responsive 'Tra-ra!' + +'Hark again!' said Farina, in reply to the commendation of the Goshawk, +whose face was dimpled over with the harmony. + + The wild boar lay a-grunting, + A-grunting, tra-ra! + And, boom! comes the Kaiser to hunt up me? + Or, queak! the small birdie that hops on the tree? + Tra-ra! + O birdie, and boar, and deer, lie tame! + For a maiden in bloom, or a full-blown dame, + Are the daintiest prey, and the windingest game, + When Kaisers go a-hunting, + Tra-ra! + Ha, ha, ha, ha, + Tra-ra, tra-ra, + Ha-ha, tra-ra, tra-ra! + +The voices held long on the last note, and let it die in a forest +cadence. + +''Fore Gad! well done. Hurrah! Tra-ra, ha-ha, tra-ra! That's a trick +we're not half alive to at home,' said Guy. 'I feel friendly with these +German lads.' + +The Goshawk's disposition toward German lads was that moment harshly +tested by a smart rap on the shoulder from an end of German oak, and a +proclamation that he was prisoner of the hand that gave the greeting, in +the name of the White Rose Club. Following that, his staff was wrested +from him by a dozen stout young fellows, who gave him no time to get +his famous distance for defence against numbers; and he and Farina were +marched forthwith to the chorusing body in front of Gottlieb Groschen's +house. + + + + +THE MISSIVES + +Of all the inmates, Gottlieb had slept most with the day on his eyelids, +for Werner hung like a nightmare over him. Margarita lay and dreamed +in rose-colour, and if she thrilled on her pillowed silken couch like a +tense-strung harp, and fretted drowsily in little leaps and starts, it +was that a bird lay in her bosom, panting and singing through the +night, and that he was not to be stilled, but would musically utter the +sweetest secret thoughts of a love-bewitched maiden. Farina's devotion +she knew his tenderness she divined: his courage she had that day +witnessed. The young girl no sooner felt that she could love worthily, +than she loved with her whole strength. Muffed and remote came the +hunting-song under her pillow, and awoke dreamy delicate curves in her +fair face, as it thinned but did not banish her dream. Aunt Lisbeth also +heard the song, and burst out of her bed to see that the door and window +were secured against the wanton Kaiser. Despite her trials, she had +taken her spell of sleep; but being possessed of some mystic maiden +belief that in cases of apprehended peril from man, bed was a rock of +refuge and fortified defence, she crept back there, and allowed the +sun to rise without her. Gottlieb's voice could not awaken her to the +household duties she loved to perform with such a doleful visage. She +heard him open his window, and parley in angry tones with the musicians +below. + +'Decoys!' muttered Aunt Lisbeth; 'be thou alive to them, Gottlieb!' + +He went downstairs and opened the street door, whereupon the scolding +and railing commenced anew. + +'Thou hast given them vantage, Gottlieb, brother mine,' she complained; +'and the good heavens only can say what may result from such +indiscreetness.' + +A silence, combustible with shuffling of feet in the passage and on the +stairs, dinned horrors into Aunt Lisbeth's head. + +'It was just that sound in the left wing of Hollenbogenblitz,' she said: +'only then it was night and not morning. Ursula preserve me!' + +'Why, Lisbeth! Lisbeth!' cried Gottlieb from below. 'Come down! 'tis +full five o' the morning. Here's company; and what are we to do without +the woman?' + +'Ah, Gottlieb! that is like men! They do not consider how different it +is for us!' which mysterious sentence being uttered to herself alone, +enjoyed a meaning it would elsewhere have been denied. + +Aunt Lisbeth dressed, and met Margarita descending. They exchanged the +good-morning of young maiden and old. + +'Go thou first,' said Aunt Lisbeth. + +Margarita gaily tripped ahead. + +'Girl!' cried Aunt Lisbeth, 'what's that thing in thy back hair?' + +'I have borrowed Lieschen's arrow, aunt. Mine has had an accident.' + +'Lieschen's arrow! An accident! Now I will see to that after breakfast, +Margarita.' + +'Tra-ra, ta-ta, tra-ra, tra-ra,' sang Margarita. + + 'The wild boar lay a-grunting, + A-grunting, tra-ra.' + +'A maiden's true and proper ornament! Look at mine, child! I have worn +it fifty years. May I deserve to wear it till I am called! O Margarita! +trifle not with that symbol.' + + '"O birdie, and boar, and deer, lie tame!" + +I am so happy, aunty.' + +'Nice times to be happy in, Margarita.' + + "Be happy in Spring, sweet maidens all, + For Autumn's chill will early fall." + +So sings the Minnesinger, aunty; and + + '"A maiden in the wintry leaf + Will spread her own disease of grief." + +I love the Minnesingers! Dear, sweet-mannered men they are! Such lovers! +And men of deeds as well as song: sword on one side and harp on the +other. They fight till set of sun, and then slacken their armour to waft +a ballad to their beloved by moonlight, covered with stains of battle as +they are, and weary!' + +'What a girl! Minnesingers! Yes; I know stories of those Minnesingers. +They came to the castle--Margarita, a bead of thy cross is broken. I +will attend to it. Wear the pearl one till I mend this. May'st thou +never fall in the way of Minnesingers. They are not like Werner's troop. +They do not batter at doors: they slide into the house like snakes.' + +'Lisbeth! Lisbeth!' they heard Gottlieb calling impatiently. + +'We come, Gottlieb!' and in a low murmur Margarita heard her say: 'May +this day pass without trouble and shame to the pious and the chaste.' + +Margarita knew the voice of the stranger before she had opened the door, +and on presenting herself, the hero gave her a guardian-like salute. + +'One may see,' he said, 'that it requires better men than those of +Werner to drive away the rose from that cheek.' + +Gottlieb pressed the rosy cheek to his shoulder and patted her. + +'What do you think, Grete? You have now forty of the best lads in +Cologne enrolled to protect you, and keep guard over the house night +and day. There! What more could a Pfalzgrafin ask, now? And voluntary +service; all to be paid with a smile, which I daresay my lady won't +refuse them. Lisbeth, you know our friend. Fear him not, good Lisbeth, +and give us breakfast. Well, sweet chuck, you're to have royal honours +paid you. I warrant they've begun good work already in locking up that +idle moony vagabond, Farina--' + +'Him? What for, my father? How dared they! What has he done?' + +'O, start not, my fairy maid! A small matter of breakage, pet! He +tried to enter Cunigonde Schmidt's chamber, and knocked down her pot +of lilies: for which Berthold Schmidt knocked him down, and our friend +here, out of good fellowship, knocked down Berthold. However, the chief +offender is marched off to prison by your trusty guard, and there let +him cool himself. Berthold shall tell you the tale himself: he'll +be here to breakfast, and receive your orders, mistress +commander-in-chief.' + +The Goshawk had his eye on Margarita. Her teeth were tight down on her +nether lip, and her whole figure had a strange look of awkwardness, she +was so divided with anger. + +'As witness of the affair, I think I shall make a clearer statement, +fair maiden,' he interposed. 'In the first place, I am the offender. We +passed under the window of the Fraulein Schmidt, and 'twas I mounted +to greet the lilies. One shoot of them is in my helm, and here let me +present them to a worthier holder.' + +He offered the flowers with a smile, and Margarita took them, radiant +with gratitude. + +'Our friend Berthold,' he continued, 'thought proper to aim a blow at me +behind my back, and then ran for his comrades. He was caught, and by +my gallant young hero, Farina; concerning whose character I regret that +your respected father and I differ: for, on the faith of a soldier +and true man, he's the finest among the fine fellows I've yet met in +Germany, trust me. So, to cut the story short, execution was done upon +Berthold by my hand, for an act of treachery. He appears to be a sort of +captain of one of the troops, and not affectionately disposed to Farina; +for the version of the affair you have heard from your father is a +little invention of Master Berthold's own. To do him justice, he seemed +equally willing to get me under the cold stone; but a word from your +good father changed the current; and as I thought I could serve our +friend better free than behind bars, I accepted liberty. Pshaw! I should +have accepted it any way, to tell the truth, for your German dungeons +are mortal shivering ratty places. So rank me no hero, fair Mistress +Margarita, though the temptation to seem one in such sweet eyes was +beginning to lead me astray. And now, as to our business in the streets +at this hour, believe the best of us.' + +'I will! I do!' said Margarita. + +'Lisbeth! Lisbeth!' called Gottlieb. 'Breakfast, little sister! our +champion is starving. He asks for wurst, milk-loaves, wine, and all thy +rarest conserves. Haste, then, for the honour of Cologne is at stake.' + +Aunt Lisbeth jingled her keys in and out, and soon that harmony drew a +number of domestics with platters of swine flesh, rolls of white wheaten +bread, the perpetual worst, milk, wine, barley-bread, and household +stores of dainties in profusion, all sparkling on silver, relieved by +spotless white cloth. Gottlieb beheld such a sunny twinkle across the +Goshawk's face at this hospitable array, that he gave the word of onset +without waiting for Berthold, and his guest immediately fell to, and did +not relax in his exertions for a full half-hour by the Cathedral clock, +eschewing the beer with a wry look made up of scorn and ruefulness, and +drinking a well-brimmed health in Rhine wine all round. Margarita was +pensive: Aunt Lisbeth on her guard. Gottlieb remembered Charles the +Great's counsel to Archbishop Turpin, and did his best to remain on +earth one of its lords dominant. + +'Poor Berthold!' said he. ''Tis a good lad, and deserves his seat at my +table oftener. I suppose the flower-pot business has detained him. We'll +drink to him: eh, Grete?' + +'Drink to him, dear father!--but here he is to thank you in person.' + +Margarita felt a twinge of pity as Berthold entered. The livid stains +of his bruise deepened about his eyes, and gave them a wicked light +whenever they were fixed intently; but they looked earnest; and spoke +of a combat in which he could say that he proved no coward and was used +with some cruelty. She turned on the Goshawk a mute reproach; yet smiled +and loved him well when she beheld him stretch a hand of welcome and +proffer a brotherly glass to Berthold. The rich goldsmith's son was +occupied in studying the horoscope of his fortunes in Margarita's eyes; +but when Margarita directed his attention to Guy, he turned to him with +a glance of astonishment that yielded to cordial greeting. + +'Well done, Berthold, my brave boy! All are friends who sit at table,' +said Gottlieb. 'In any case, at my table: + + "'Tis a worthy foe + Forgives the blow + Was dealt him full and fairly," + +says the song; and the proverb takes it up with, "A generous enemy is a +friend on the wrong side"; and no one's to blame for that, save old Dame +Fortune. So now a bumper to this jovial make-up between you. Lisbeth! +you must drink it.' + +The little woman bowed melancholy obedience. + +'Why did you fling and run?' whispered Guy to Berthold. + +'Because you were two against one.' + +'Two against one, man! Why, have you no such thing as fair play in this +land of yours? Did you think I should have taken advantage of that?' + +'How could I tell who you were, or what you would do?' muttered +Berthold, somewhat sullenly. + +'Truly no, friend! So you ran to make yourself twenty to two? But don't +be down on the subject. I was going to say, that though I treated you in +a manner upright, 'twas perhaps a trifle severe, considering your youth: +but an example's everything; and I must let you know in confidence, that +no rascal truncheon had I flung in my life before; so, you see, I gave +you all the chances.' + +Berthold moved his lips in reply; but thinking of the figure of defeat +he was exhibiting before Margarita, caused him to estimate unfavourably +what chances had stood in his favour. + +The health was drunk. Aunt Lisbeth touched the smoky yellow glass with a +mincing lip, and beckoned Margarita to withdraw. + +'The tapestry, child!' she said. 'Dangerous things are uttered after the +third glass, I know, Margarita.' + +'Do you call my champion handsome, aunt?' + +'I was going to speak to you about him, Margarita. If I remember, he has +rough, good looks, as far as they go. Yes: but thou, maiden, art thou +thinking of him? I have thrice watched him wink; and that, as we +know, is a habit of them that have sold themselves. And what is frail +womankind to expect from such a brawny animal?' + + 'And oh! to lace his armour up, + And speed him to the field; + To pledge him in a kissing-cup, + The knight that will not yield! + +I am sure he is tender, aunt. Notice how gentle he looks now and then.' + +'Thou girl! Yes, I believe she is madly in love with him. Tender, +and gentle! So is the bear when you're outside his den; but enter it, +maiden, and try! Thou good Ursula, preserve me from such a fate.' + +'Fear not, dear aunt! Have not a fear of it! Besides, it is not always +the men that are bad. You must not forget Dalilah, and Lot's wife, and +Pfalzgrafin Jutta, and the Baroness who asked for a piece of poor Kraut. +But, let us work, let us work!' + +Margarita sat down before Siegfried, and contemplated the hero. For the +first time, she marked a resemblance in his features to Farina: the same +long yellow hair scattered over his shoulders as that flowing from under +Siegfried's helm; the blue eyes, square brows, and regular outlines. +'This is a marvel,' thought Margarita. 'And Farina! it was to watch +over me that he roamed the street last night, my best one! Is he not +beautiful?' and she looked closer at Siegfried. + +Aunt Lisbeth had begun upon the dragon with her usual method, and was +soon wandering through skeleton halls of the old palatial castle in +Bohemia. The woolly tongue of the monster suggested fresh horrors to +her, and if Margarita had listened, she might have had fair excuses +to forget her lover's condition; but her voice only did service like a +piece of clock-work, and her mind was in the prison with Farina. She +was long debating how to win his release; and meditated so deeply, and +exclaimed in so many bursts of impatience, that Aunt Lisbeth found her +heart melting to the maiden. 'Now,' said she, 'that is a well-known +story about the Electress Dowager of Bavaria, when she came on a visit +to the castle; and, my dear child, be it a warning. Terrible, too!' and +the little woman shivered pleasantly. 'She had--I may tell you +this, Margarita--yes, she had been false to her wedded husband.--You +understand, maiden; or, no! you do not understand: I understand it only +partly, mind. False, I say----' + +'False--not true: go on, dear aunty,' said Margarita, catching the word. + +'I believe she knows as much as I do!' ejaculated Aunt Lisbeth; 'such +are girls nowadays. When I was young-oh! for a maiden to know anything +then--oh! it was general reprobation. No one thought of confessing it. +We blushed and held down our eyes at the very idea. Well, the Electress! +she was--you must guess. So she called for her caudle at eleven o'clock +at night. What do you think that was? Well, there was spirit in it: not +to say nutmeg, and lemon, and peach kernels. She wanted me to sit with +her, but I begged my mistress to keep me from the naughty woman: and no +friend of Hilda of Bayern was Bertha of Bohmen, you may be sure. Oh! the +things she talked while she was drinking her caudle. + +Isentrude sat with her,'and said it was fearful!--beyond blasphemy! and +that she looked like a Bible witch, sitting up drinking and swearing +and glaring in her nightclothes and nightcap. She was on a journey into +Hungary, and claimed the hospitality of the castle on her way there. +Both were widows. Well, it was a quarter to twelve. The Electress +dropped back on her pillow, as she always did when she had finished the +candle. Isentrude covered her over, heaped up logs on the fire, wrapped +her dressing-gown about her, and prepared to sleep. It was Winter, and +the wind howled at the doors, and rattled the windows, and shook the +arras--Lord help us! Outside was all snow, and nothing but forest; as +you saw when you came to me there, Gretelchen. Twelve struck. Isentrude +was dozing; but she says that after the last stroke she woke with cold. +A foggy chill hung in the room. She looked at the Electress, who had not +moved. The fire burned feebly, and seemed weighed upon: Herr Je!--she +thought she heard a noise. No. Quite quiet! As heaven preserve her, says +slip, the smell in that room grew like an open grave, clammily putrid. +Holy Virgin! This time she was certain she heard a noise; but it seemed +on both sides of her. There was the great door leading to the first +landing and state-room; and opposite exactly there was the panel of the +secret passage. The noises seemed to advance as if step by step, and +grew louder in each ear as she stood horrified on the marble of the +hearth. She looked at the Electress again, and her eyes were wide open; +but for all Isentrude's calling, she would not wake. Only think! Now the +noise increased, and was a regular tramp-grate, tramp-screw sound-coming +nearer and nearer: Saints of mercy! The apartment was choking with +vapours. Isentrude made a dart, and robed herself behind a curtain of +the bed just as the two doors opened. She could see through a slit in +the woven work, and winked her eyes which she had shut close on hearing +the scream of the door-hinges--winked her eyes to catch a sight for +moment--we are such sinful, curious creatures!--What she saw then, she +says she shall never forget; nor I! As she was a living woman, there she +saw the two dead princes, the Prince Palatine of Bohemia and the Elector +of Bavaria, standing front to front at the foot of the bed, all in white +armour, with drawn swords, and attendants holding pine-torches. Neither +of them spoke. Their vizors were down; but she knew them by their arms +and bearing: both tall, stately presences, good knights in their day, +and had fought against the Infidel! So one of them pointed to the bed, +and then a torch was lowered, and the fight commenced. Isentrude saw the +sparks fly, and the steel struck till it was shattered; but they fought +on, not caring for wounds, and snorting with fury as they grew hotter. +They fought a whole hour. The poor girl was so eaten up with looking on, +that she let go the curtain and stood quite exposed among them. So, to +steady herself, she rested her hand on the bed-side; and--think what she +felt--a hand as cold as ice locked hers, and get from it she could not! +That instant one of the princes fell. It was Bohmen. Bayern sheathed his +sword, and waved his hand, and the attendants took up the slaughtered +ghost, feet and shoulders, and bore him to the door of the secret +passage, while Bayern strode after--' + +'Shameful!' exclaimed Margarita. 'I will speak to Berthold as he +descends. I hear him coming. He shall do what I wish.' + +'Call it dreadful, Grete! Dreadful it was. If Berthold would like to +sit and hear--Ah! she is gone. A good girl! and of a levity only on the +surface.' + +Aunt Lisbeth heard Margarita's voice rapidly addressing Berthold. His +reply was low and brief. 'Refuses to listen to anything of the sort,' +Aunt Lisbeth interpreted it. Then he seemed to be pleading, and +Margarita uttering short answers. 'I trust 'tis nothing a maiden should +not hear,' the little lady exclaimed with a sigh. + +The door opened, and Lieschen stood at the entrance. + +'For Fraulein Margarita,' she said, holding a letter halfway out. + +'Give it,' Aunt Lisbeth commanded. + +The woman hesitated--''Tis for the Fraulein.' + +'Give it, I tell thee!' and Aunt Lisbeth eagerly seized the missive, +and subjected it to the ordeal of touch. It was heavy, and contained +something hard. Long pensive pressures revealed its shape on the paper. +It was an arrow. 'Go!' said she to the woman, and, once alone, began, +bee-like, to buzz all over it, and finally entered. It contained +Margarita's Silver Arrow. 'The art of that girl!' And the writing said: + + 'SWEETEST MAIDEN! + + 'By this arrow of our betrothal, I conjure thee to meet me in all + haste without the western gate, where, burning to reveal to thee + most urgent tidings that may not be confided to paper, now waits, + petitioning the saints, thy + + 'FARINA.' + +Aunt Lisbeth placed letter and arrow in a drawer; locked it; and 'always +thought so.' She ascended the stairs to consult with Gottlieb. Roars +of laughter greeted her just as she lifted the latch, and she retreated +abashed. + +There was no time to lose. Farina must be caught in the act of waiting +for Margarita, and by Gottlieb, or herself. Gottlieb was revelling. 'May +this be a warning to thee, Gottlieb,' murmured Lisbeth, as she hooded +her little body in Margarita's fur-cloak, and determined that she would +be the one to confound Farina. + +Five minutes later Margarita returned. Aunt Lisbeth was gone. The dragon +still lacked a tip to his forked tongue, and a stream of fiery threads +dangled from the jaws of the monster. Another letter was brought into +the room by Lieschen. + +'For Aunt Lisbeth,' said Margarita, reading the address. 'Who can it be +from?' + +'She does not stand pressing about your letters,' said the woman; and +informed Margarita of the foregoing missive. + +'You say she drew an arrow from it?' said Margarita, with burning face. +'Who brought this? tell me!' and just waiting to hear it was Farina's +mother, she tore the letter open, and read: + + 'DEAREST LISBETH! + + 'Thy old friend writes to thee; she that has scarce left eyes to see + the words she writes. Thou knowest we are a fallen house, through + the displeasure of the Emperor on my dead husband. My son, Farina, + is my only stay, and well returns to me the blessings I bestow upon + him. Some call him idle: some think him too wise. I swear to thee, + Lisbeth, he is only good. His hours are devoted to the extraction + of essences--to no black magic. Now he is in trouble-in prison. + The shadow that destroyed his dead father threatens him. Now, by + our old friendship, beloved Lisbeth! intercede with Gottlieb, that + he may plead for my son before the Emperor when he comes--' + +Margarita read no more. She went to the window, and saw her guard +marshalled outside. She threw a kerchief over her head, and left the +house by the garden gate. + + + + +THE MONK + +By this time the sun stood high over Cologne. The market-places were +crowded with buyers and sellers, mixed with a loitering swarm of +soldiery, for whose thirsty natures winestalls had been tumbled up. +Barons and knights of the empire, bravely mounted and thickly followed, +poured hourly into Cologne from South Germany and North. Here, staring +Suabians, and round-featured warriors of the East Kingdom, swaggered up +and down, patting what horses came across them, for lack of occupation +for their hands. Yonder, huge Pomeranians, with bosks of beard stiffened +out square from the chin, hurtled mountainous among the peaceable +inhabitants. Troopers dismounted went straddling, in tight hose and +loose, prepared to drink good-will to whomsoever would furnish the +best quality liquor for that solemn pledge, and equally ready to pick +a quarrel with them that would not. It was a scene of flaring feathers, +wide-flapped bonnets, flaunting hose, blue and battered steel plates, +slashed woollen haunch-bags, leather-leggings, ensigns, and imperious +boots and shoulders. Margarita was too hurried in her mind to +be conscious of an imprudence; but her limbs trembled, and she +instinctively quickened her steps. When she stood under the sign of +the Three Holy Kings, where dwelt Farina's mother, she put up a fervent +prayer of thanks, and breathed freely. + +'I had expected a message from Lisbeth,' said Frau Farina; 'but thou, +good heart! thou wilt help us?' + +'All that may be done by me I will do,' replied Margarita; 'but his +mother yearns to see him, and I have come to bear her company.' + +The old lady clasped her hands and wept. + +'Has he found so good a friend, my poor boy! And trust me, dear maiden, +he is not unworthy, for better son never lived, and good son, good all! +Surely we will go to him, but not as thou art. I will dress thee. +Such throngs are in the streets: I heard them clattering in early this +morning. Rest, dear heart, till I return.' + +Margarita had time to inspect the single sitting-room in which her lover +lived. It was planted with bottles, and vases, and pipes, and cylinders, +piling on floor, chair, and table. She could not suppress a slight +surprise of fear, for this display showed a dealing with hidden things, +and a summoning of scattered spirits. It was this that made his brow so +pale, and the round of his eye darker than youth should let it be! She +dismissed the feeling, and assumed her own bright face as Dame Farina +reappeared, bearing on her arm a convent garb, and other apparel. +Margarita suffered herself to be invested in the white and black robes +of the denial of life. + +'There!' said the Frau Farina, 'and to seal assurance, I have engaged +a guard to accompany us. He was sorely bruised in a street combat +yesterday, and was billeted below, where I nursed and tended him, and he +is grateful, as man should be-though I did little, doing my utmost--and +with him near us we have nought to fear.' + +'Good,' said Margarita, and they kissed and departed. The guard was +awaiting them outside. + +'Come, my little lady, and with thee the holy sister! 'Tis no step +from here, and I gage to bring ye safe, as sure as my name's Schwartz +Thier!--Hey? The good sister's dropping. Look, now! I'll carry her.' + +Margarita recovered her self-command before he could make good this +offer. + +'Only let us hasten there,' she gasped. + +The Thier strode on, and gave them safe-conduct to the prison where +Farina was confined, being near one of the outer forts of the city. + +'Thank and dismiss him,' whispered Margarita. + +'Nay! he will wait-wilt thou not, friend! We shall not be long, though +it is my son I visit here,' said Frau Farina. + +'Till to-morrow morning, my little lady! The lion thanked him that +plucked the thorn from his foot, and the Thier may be black, but he's +not ungrateful, nor a worse beast than the lion.' + +They entered the walls and left him. + +For the first five minutes Schwartz Thier found employment for +his faculties by staring at the shaky, small-paned windows of the +neighbourhood. He persevered in this, after all novelty had been +exhausted, from an intuitive dread of weariness. There was nothing to +see. An old woman once bobbed out of an attic, and doused the flints +with water. Harassed by increasing dread of the foul nightmare of +nothing-to-do, the Thier endeavoured to establish amorous intelligence +with her. She responded with an indignant projection of the underjaw, +evanishing rapidly. There was no resource left him but to curse her with +extreme heartiness. The Thier stamped his right leg, and then his left, +and remembered the old woman as a grievance five minutes longer. When +she was clean forgotten, he yawned. Another spouse of the moment was +wanted, to be wooed, objurgated, and regretted. The prison-gate was in +a secluded street. Few passengers went by, and those who did edged away +from the ponderous, wanton-eyed figure of lazy mischief lounging there, +as neatly as they well could. The Thier hailed two or three. One took +to his legs, another bowed, smirked, gave him a kindly good-day, and +affected to hear no more, having urgent business in prospect. The Thier +was a faithful dog, but the temptation to betray his trust and pursue +them was mighty. He began to experience an equal disposition to cry and +roar. He hummed a ballad-- + + 'I swore of her I'd have my will, + And with him I'd have my way: + I learn'd my cross-bow over the hill: + Now what does my lady say? + +Give me the good old cross-bow, after all, and none of these lumbering +puff-and-bangs that knock you down oftener than your man! + + 'A cross stands in the forest still, + And a cross in the churchyard grey: + My curse on him who had his will, + And on him who had his way! + +Good beginning, bad ending! 'Tisn't so always. "Many a cross has the +cross-bow built," they say. I wish I had mine, now, to peg off that old +woman, or somebody. I'd swear she's peeping at me over the gable, or +behind some cranny. They're curious, the old women, curse 'em! And the +young, for that matter. Devil a young one here. + + 'When I'm in for the sack of a town, + What, think ye, I poke after, up and down? + Silver and gold I pocket in plenty, + But the sweet tit-bit is my lass under twenty. + +I should like to be in for the sack of this Cologne. I'd nose out that +pretty girl I was cheated of yesterday. Take the gold and silver, and +give me the maiden! Her neck's silver, and her hair gold. Ah! and her +cheeks roses, and her mouth-say no more! I'm half thinking Werner, the +hungry animal, has cast wolf's eyes on her. They say he spoke of her +last night. Don't let him thwart me. Thunderblast him! I owe him a +grudge. He's beginning to forget my plan o' life.' + +A flight of pigeons across the blue top of the street abstracted the +Thier from these reflections. He gaped after them in despair, and fell +to stretching and shaking himself, rattling his lungs with loud reports. +As he threw his eyes round again, they encountered those of a monk +opposite fastened on him in penetrating silence. The Thier hated monks +as a wild beast shuns fire; but now even a monk was welcome. + +'Halloo!' he sung out. + +The monk crossed over to him. + +'Friend!' said he, 'weariness is teaching thee wantonness. Wilt thou +take service for a night's work, where the danger is little, the reward +lasting?' + +'As for that,' replied the Thier, 'danger comes to me like greenwood to +the deer, and good pay never yet was given in promises. But I'm bound +for the next hour to womankind within there. They're my masters; as +they've been of tough fellows before me.' + +'I will seek them, and win their consent,' said the monk, and so left +him. + +'Quick dealing!' thought the Thier, and grew brisker. 'The Baron won't +want me to-night: and what if he does? Let him hang himself--though, if +he should, 'twill be a pity I'm not by to help him.' + +He paced under the wall to its farthest course. Turning back, he +perceived the monk at the gateway. + +'A sharp hand!' thought the Thier. + +'Intrude no question on me,' the monk began; 'but hold thy peace and +follow: the women release thee, and gladly.' + +'That's not my plan o' life, now! Money down, and then command me': and +Schwartz Thier stood with one foot forward, and hand stretched out. + +A curl of scorn darkened the cold features of the monk. + +He slid one hand into a side of his frock above the girdle, and tossed a +bag of coin. + +'Take it, if 'tis in thee to forfeit the greater blessing,' he cried +contemptuously. + +The Thier peeped into the bag, and appeared satisfied. + +'I follow,' said he; 'lead on, good father, and I'll be in the track of +holiness for the first time since my mother was quit of me.' + +The monk hurried up the street and into the marketplace, oblivious of +the postures and reverences of the people, who stopped to stare at him +and his gaunt attendant. As they crossed the square, Schwartz Thier +spied Henker Rothhals starting from a wine-stall on horseback, and could +not forbear hailing him. Before the monk had time to utter a reproach, +they were deep together in a double-shot of query and reply. + +'Whirr!' cried the Thier, breaking on some communication. 'Got her, have +they? and swung her across stream? I'm one with ye for my share, or call +me sheep!' + +He waved his hand to the monk, and taking hold of the horse's rein, ran +off beside his mounted confederate, heavily shod as he was. + +The monk frowned after him, and swelled with a hard sigh. + +'Gone!' he exclaimed, 'and the accursed gold with him! Well did a voice +warn me that such service was never to be bought!' + +He did not pause to bewail or repent, but returned toward the prison +with rapid footsteps, muttering: 'I with the prison-pass for two; why +was I beguiled by that bandit? Saw I not the very youth given into my +hands there, he that was with the damsel and the aged woman?' + + + + +THE RIDE AND THE RACE + +Late in the noon a horseman, in the livery of the Kaiser's body-guard, +rode dry and dusty into Cologne, with tidings that the Kaiser was at +Hammerstein Castle, and commanding all convocated knights, barons, +counts, and princes, to assemble and prepare for his coming, on a +certain bare space of ground within two leagues of Cologne, thence to +swell the train of his triumphal entry into the ancient city of his +empire. + +Guy the Goshawk, broad-set on a Flemish mare, and a pack-horse beside +him, shortly afterward left the hotel of the Three Holy Kings, and +trotted up to Gottlieb's door. + +'Tent-pitching is now my trade,' said he, as Gottlieb came down to him. +'My lord is with the Kaiser. I must say farewell for the nonce. Is the +young lady visible?' + +'Nor young, nor old, good friend,' replied Gottlieb, with a countenance +somewhat ruffled. 'I dined alone for lack of your company. Secret +missives came, I hear, to each of them, and both are gadding. Now what +think you of this, after the scene of yesterday?--Lisbeth too!' + +'Preaches from the old text, Master Groschen; "Never reckon on womankind +for a wise act." But farewell! and tell Mistress Margarita that I take +it ill of her not giving me her maiden hand to salute before parting. My +gravest respects to Frau Lisbeth. I shall soon be sitting with you over +that prime vintage of yours, or fortune's dead against me.' + +So, with a wring of the hand, Guy put the spur to his round-flanked +beast, and was quickly out of Cologne on the rough roadway. + +He was neither the first nor the last of the men-at-arms hastening to +obey the Kaiser's mandate. A string of horse and foot in serpentine +knots stretched along the flat land, flashing colours livelier than the +spring-meadows bordering their line of passage. Guy, with a nod for all, +and a greeting for the best-disposed, pushed on toward the van, till the +gathering block compelled him to adopt the snail's pace of the advance +party, and gave him work enough to keep his two horses from being jammed +with the mass. Now and then he cast a weather-eye on the heavens, and +was soon confirmed in an opinion he had repeatedly ejaculated, that 'the +first night's camping would be a drencher.' In the West a black bank +of cloud was blotting out the sun before his time. Northeast shone bare +fields of blue lightly touched with loosefloating strips and flakes of +crimson vapour. The furrows were growing purple-dark, and gradually a +low moaning obscurity enwrapped the whole line, and mufed the noise of +hoof, oath, and waggon-wheel in one sullen murmur. + +Guy felt very much like a chopped worm, as he wriggled his way onward +in the dusk, impelled from the rear, and reduced to grope after the main +body. Frequent and deep counsel he took with a trusty flask suspended +at his belt. It was no pleasant reflection that the rain would be down +before he could build up anything like shelter for horse and man. Still +sadder the necessity of selecting his post on strange ground, and in +darkness. He kept an anxious look-out for the moon, and was presently +rejoiced to behold a broad fire that twinkled branchy beams through an +east-hill orchard. + +'My lord calls her Goddess,' said Guy, wistfully. 'The title's +outlandish, and more the style of these foreigners but she may have it +to-night, an she 'll just keep the storm from shrouding her bright eye a +matter of two hours.' + +She rose with a boding lustre. Drifts of thin pale upper-cloud leaned +down ladders, pure as virgin silver, for her to climb to her highest +seat on the unrebellious half-circle of heaven. + +'My mind's made up!' quoth Guy to the listening part of himself. 'Out of +this I'll get.' + +By the clearer ray he had discerned a narrow track running a white +parallel with the general route. At the expense of dislocating a mile +of the cavalcade, he struck into it. A dyke had to be taken, some heavy +fallows crossed, and the way was straight before him. He began to sneer +at the slow jog-trot and absence of enterprise which made the fellows he +had left shine so poorly in comparison with the Goshawk, but a sight of +two cavaliers in advance checked his vanity, and now to overtake them he +tasked his fat Flemish mare with unwonted pricks of the heel, that made +her fling out and show more mettle than speed. + +The objects of this fiery chase did not at first awake to a sense of +being pursued. Both rode with mantled visages, and appeared profoundly +inattentive to the world outside their meditations. But the Goshawk +was not to be denied, and by dint of alternately roaring at them and +upbraiding his two stumping beasts, he at last roused the younger of the +cavaliers, who called to his companion loudly: without effect it seemed, +for he had to repeat the warning. Guy was close up with them, when the +youth exclaimed: + +'Father! holy father! 'Tis Sathanas in person!' + +The other rose and pointed trembling to a dark point in the distance as +he vociferated: + +'Not here! not here; but yonder!' + +Guy recognized the voice of the first speaker, and cried: + +'Stay! halt a second! Have you forgotten the Goshawk?' + +'Never!' came the reply, 'and forget not Farina!' + +Spur and fleeter steeds carried them out of hearing ere Guy could throw +in another syllable. Farina gazed back on him remorsefully, but the Monk +now rated his assistant with indignation. + +'Thou weak one! nothing less than fool! to betray thy name on such an +adventure as this to soul save the saints!' + +Farina tossed back his locks, and held his forehead to the moon. All the +Monk's ghostly wrath was foiled by the one little last sweet word of his +beloved, which made music in his ears whenever annoyance sounded. + +'And herein,' say the old writers, 'are lovers, who love truly, truly +recompensed for their toils and pains; in that love, for which they +suffer, is ever present to ward away suffering not sprung of love: but +the disloyal, who serve not love faithfully, are a race given over +to whatso this base world can wreak upon them, without consolation or +comfort of their mistress, Love; whom sacrificing not all to, they know +not to delight in.' + +The soul of a lover lives through every member of him in the joy of a +moonlight ride. Sorrow and grief are slow distempers that crouch from +the breeze, and nourish their natures far from swift-moving things. A +true lover is not one of those melancholy flies that shoot and maze over +muddy stagnant pools. He must be up in the great air. He must strike +all the strings of life. Swiftness is his rapture. In his wide arms +he embraces the whole form of beauty. Eagle-like are his instincts; +dove-like his desires. Then the fair moon is the very presence of his +betrothed in heaven. So for hours rode Farina in a silver-fleeting +glory; while the Monk as a shadow, galloped stern and silent beside +him. So, crowning them in the sky, one half was all love and light; one, +blackness and fell purpose. + + + + +THE COMBAT ON DRACHENFELS + +Not to earth was vouchsafed the honour of commencing the great battle of +that night. By an expiring blue-shot beam of moonlight, Farina beheld +a vast realm of gloom filling the hollow of the West, and the moon was +soon extinguished behind sluggish scraps of iron scud detached from the +swinging bulk of ruin, as heavily it ground on the atmosphere in the +first thunder-launch of motion. + +The heart of the youth was strong, but he could not view without quicker +fawning throbs this manifestation of immeasurable power, which seemed as +if with a stroke it was capable of destroying creation and the works of +man. The bare aspect of the tempest lent terrors to the adventure he +was engaged in, and of which he knew not the aim, nor might forecast +the issue. Now there was nothing to illumine their path but such forked +flashes as lightning threw them at intervals, touching here a hill with +clustered cottages, striking into day there a May-blossom, a patch of +weed, a single tree by the wayside. Suddenly a more vivid and continuous +quiver of violet fire met its reflection on the landscape, and Farina +saw the Rhine-stream beneath him. + +'On such a night,' thought he, 'Siegfried fought and slew the dragon!' + +A blast of light, as from the jaws of the defeated dragon in his throes, +made known to him the country he traversed. Crimsoned above the water +glimmered the monster-haunted rock itself, and mid-channel beyond, flat +and black to the stream, stretched the Nuns' Isle in cloistral peace. + +'Halt!' cried the Monk, and signalled with a peculiar whistle, to +which he seemed breathlessly awaiting an answer. They were immediately +surrounded by longrobed veiled figures. + +'Not too late?' the Monk hoarsely asked of them. + +'Yet an hour!' was the reply, in soft clear tones of a woman's voice. + +'Great strength and valour more than human be mine,' exclaimed the Monk, +dismounting. + +He passed apart from them; and they drew in a circle, while he prayed, +kneeling. + +Presently he returned, and led Farina to a bank, drawing from some +hiding-place a book and a bell, which he gave into the hands of the +youth. + +'For thy soul, no word!' said the Monk, speaking down his throat as he +took in breath. 'Nay! not in answer to me! Be faithful, and more than +earthly fortune is thine; for I say unto thee, I shall not fail, having +grace to sustain this combat.' + +Thereupon he commenced the ascent of Drachenfels. + +Farina followed. He had no hint of the Monk's mission, nor of the +part himself was to play in it. Such a load of silence gathered on +his questioning spirit, that the outcry of the rageing elements alone +prevented him from arresting the Monk and demanding the end of his +service there. That outcry was enough to freeze speech on the very lips +of a mortal. For scarce had they got footing on the winding path of +the crags, when the whole vengeance of the storm was hurled against the +mountain. Huge boulders were loosened and came bowling from above: trees +torn by their roots from the fissures whizzed on the eddies of the wind: +torrents of rain foamed down the iron flanks of rock, and flew off in +hoar feathers against the short pauses of darkness: the mountain heaved, +and quaked, and yawned a succession of hideous chasms. + +'There's a devil in this,' thought Farina. He looked back and marked the +river imaging lurid abysses of cloud above the mountain-summit--yea! and +on the summit a flaming shape was mirrored. + +Two nervous hands stayed the cry on his mouth. + +'Have I not warned thee?' said the husky voice of the Monk. 'I may well +watch, and think for thee as for a dog. Be thou as faithful!' + +He handed a flask to the youth, and bade him drink. Farina drank and +felt richly invigorated. The Monk then took bell and book. + +'But half an hour,' he muttered, 'for this combat that is to ring +through centuries.' + +Crossing himself, he strode wildly upward. Farina saw him beckon back +once, and the next instant he was lost round an incline of the highest +peak. + +The wind that had just screamed a thousand death-screams, was now +awfully dumb, albeit Farina could feel it lifting hood and hair. In the +unnatural stillness his ear received tones of a hymn chanted below; now +sinking, now swelling; as though the voices faltered between prayer and +inspiration. Farina caught on a projection of crag, and fixed his eyes +on what was passing on the height. + +There was the Monk in his brown hood and wrapper, confronting--if he +might trust his balls of sight--the red-hot figure of the Prince of +Darkness. + +As yet no mortal tussle had taken place between them. They were arguing: +angrily, it was true: yet with the first mutual deference of practised +logicians. Latin and German was alternately employed by both. It +thrilled Farina's fervid love of fatherland to hear the German Satan +spoke: but his Latin was good, and his command over that tongue +remarkable; for, getting the worst of the argument, as usual, he +revenged himself by parodying one of the Church canticles with a point +that discomposed his adversary, and caused him to retreat a step, +claiming support against such shrewd assault. + +'The use of an unexpected weapon in warfare is in itself half a victory. +Induce your antagonist to employ it as a match for you, and reckon on +completely routing him...' says the old military chronicle. + +'Come!' said the Demon with easy raillery. 'You know your game--I +mine! I really want the good people to be happy; dancing, kissing, +propagating, what you will. We quite agree. You can have no objection to +me, but a foolish old prejudice--not personal, but class; an antipathy +of the cowl, for which I pardon you! What I should find in you to +complain of--I have only to mention it, I am sure--is, that perhaps you +do speak a little too much through your nose.' + +The Monk did not fall into the jocular trap by retorting in the same +strain. + +'Laugh with the Devil, and you won't laugh longest,' says the proverb. + +Keeping to his own arms, the holy man frowned. + +'Avaunt, Fiend!' he cried. 'To thy kingdom below! Thou halt raged over +earth a month, causing blights, hurricanes, and epidemics of the deadly +sins. Parley no more! Begone!' + +The Demon smiled: the corners of his mouth ran up to his ears, and his +eyes slid down almost into one. + +'Still through the nose!' said he reproachfully. + +'I give thee Five Minutes!' cried the Monk. + +'I had hoped for a longer colloquy,' sighed the Demon, jogging his left +leg and trifling with his tail. + +'One Minute!' exclaimed the Monk. + +'Truly so!' said the Demon. 'I know old Time and his habits better than +you really can. We meet every Saturday night, and communicate our best +jokes. I keep a book of them Down There!' + +And as if he had reason to remember the pavement of his Halls, he stood +tiptoe and whipped up his legs. + +'Two Minutes!' + +The Demon waved perfect acquiescence, and continued: + +'We understand each other, he and I. All Old Ones do. As long as he +lasts, I shall. The thing that surprises me is, that you and I cannot +agree, similar as we are in temperament, and playing for the long odds, +both of us. My failure is, perhaps, too great a passion for sport, aha! +Well, 'tis a pity you won't try and live on the benevolent principle. +I am indeed kind to them who commiserate my condition. I give them all +they want, aha! Hem! Try and not believe in me now, aha! Ho!... Can't +you? What are eyes? Persuade yourself you're dreaming. You can do +anything with a mind like yours, Father Gregory! And consider the luxury +of getting me out of the way so easily, as many do. It is my finest +suggestion, aha! Generally I myself nudge their ribs with the capital +idea--You're above bribes? I was going to observe--' + +'Three!' + +'Observe, that if you care for worldly honours, I can smother you with +that kind of thing. Several of your first-rate people made a bargain +with me when they were in the fog, and owe me a trifle. Patronage they +call it. I hook the high and the low. Too-little and too-much serve +me better than Beelzebub. A weak stomach is certainly more carnally +virtuous than a full one. Consequently my kingdom is becoming too +respectable. They've all got titles, and object to being asked to poke +the fire without--Honourable-and-with-Exceeding-Brightness-Beaming +Baroness This! Admirably-Benignant-Down-looking Highness That! +Interrupts business, especially when you have to ask them to fry +themselves, according to the rules... Would you like Mainz and the +Rheingau?... You don't care for Beauty--Puella, Puellae? I have plenty +of them, too, below. The Historical Beauties warmed up at a moment's +notice. Modern ones made famous between morning and night--Fame is the +sauce of Beauty. Or, no--eh?' + +'Four!' + +'Not quite so fast, if you please. You want me gone. Now, where's +your charity? Do you ask me to be always raking up those poor devils +underneath? While I'm here, they've a respite. They cannot think +you kind, Father Gregory! As for the harm, you see, I'm not the more +agreeable by being face to face with you--though some fair dames do take +to my person monstrously. The secret is, the quantity of small talk +I can command: that makes them forget my smell, which is, I confess, +abominable, displeasing to myself, and my worst curse. Your sort, Father +Gregory, are somewhat unpleasant in that particular--if I may judge by +their Legate here. Well, try small talk. They would fall desperately in +love with polecats and skunks if endowed with small talk. Why, they +have become enamoured of monks before now! If skunks, why not monks? And +again--' + +'Five!' + +Having solemnly bellowed this tremendous number, the holy man lifted his +arms to begin the combat. + +Farina felt his nerves prick with admiration of the ghostly warrior +daring the Second Power of Creation on that lonely mountain-top. He +expected, and shuddered at thought of the most awful fight ever yet +chronicled of those that have taken place between heroes and the hounds +of evil: but his astonishment was great to hear the Demon, while Bell +was in air and Book aloft, retreat, shouting, 'Hold!' + +'I surrender,' said he sullenly. 'What terms?' + +'Instantaneous riddance of thee from face of earth.' + +'Good!--Now,' said the Demon, 'did you suppose I was to be trapped into +a fight? No doubt you wish to become a saint, and have everybody talking +of my last defeat.... Pictures, poems, processions, with the Devil +downmost! No. You're more than a match for me.' + +'Silence, Darkness!' thundered the Monk, 'and think not to vanquish thy +victor by flatteries. Begone!' + +And again he towered in his wrath. + +The Demon drew his tail between his legs, and threw the forked, fleshy, +quivering end over his shoulder. He then nodded cheerfully, pointed +his feet, and finicked a few steps away, saying: 'I hope we shall meet +again.' + +Upon that he shot out his wings, that were like the fins of the +wyver-fish, sharpened in venomous points. + +'Commands for your people below?' he inquired, leering with chin +awry. 'Desperate ruffians some of those cowls. You are right not to +acknowledge them.' + +Farina beheld the holy man in no mood to let the Enemy tamper with him +longer. + +The Demon was influenced by a like reflection; for, saying, 'Cologne is +the city your Holiness inhabits, I think?' he shot up rocket-like +over Rhineland, striking the entire length of the stream, and its +rough-bearded castle-crests, slate-ledges, bramble-clefts, vine-slopes, +and haunted valleys, with one brimstone flash. Frankfort and the far +Main saw him and reddened. Ancient Trier and Mosel; Heidelberg and +Neckar; Limberg and Lahn, ran guilty of him. And the swift artery of +these shining veins, Rhine, from his snow cradle to his salt decease, +glimmered Stygian horrors as the Infernal Comet, sprung over Bonn, +sparkled a fiery minute along the face of the stream, and vanished, +leaving a seam of ragged flame trailed on the midnight heavens. + +Farina breathed hard through his teeth. + +'The last of him was awful,' said he, coming forward to where the Monk +knelt and grasped his breviary, 'but he was vanquished easily.' + +'Easily?' exclaimed the holy man, gasping satisfaction: 'thou weakling! +is it for thee to measure difficulties, or estimate powers? Easily? thou +worldling! and so are great deeds judged when the danger's past! And +what am I but the humble instrument that brought about this wondrous +conquest! the poor tool of this astounding triumph! Shall the sword say, +This is the battle I won! Yonder the enemy I overthrow! Bow to me, ye +lords of earth, and worshippers of mighty acts? Not so! Nay, but the +sword is honoured in the hero's grasp, and if it break not, it is +accounted trusty. This, then, this little I may claim, that I was +trusty! Trusty in a heroic encounter! Trusty in a battle with earth's +terror! Oh! but this must not be said. This is to think too much! This +is to be more than aught yet achieved by man!' + +The holy warrior crossed his arms, and gently bowed his head. + +'Take me to the Sisters,' he said. 'The spirit has gone out of me! I am +faint, and as a child!' + +Farina asked, and had, his blessing. + +'And with it my thanks!' said the Monk. 'Thou hast witnessed how he can +be overcome! Thou hast looked upon a scene that will be the glory of +Christendom! Thou hast beheld the discomfiture of Darkness before the +voice of Light! Yet think not much of me: account me little in this +matter! I am but an instrument! but an instrument!--and again, but an +instrument!' + +Farina drew the arms of the holy combatant across his shoulders and +descended Drachenfels. + +The tempest was as a forgotten anguish. Bright with maiden splendour +shone the moon; and the old rocks, cherished in her beams, put up their +horns to blue heaven once more. All the leafage of the land shook as to +shake off a wicked dream, and shuddered from time to time, whispering +of old fears quieted, and present peace. The heart of the river fondled +with the image of the moon in its depths. + +'This is much to have won for earth,' murmured the Monk. 'And what is +life, or who would not risk all, to snatch such loveliness from the +talons of the Fiend, the Arch-foe? Yet, not I! not I! say not, 'twas I +did this!' + +Soft praises of melody ascended to them on the moist fragrance of air. +It was the hymn of the Sisters. + +'How sweet!' murmured the Monk. 'Put it from me! away with it!' + +Rising on Farina's back, and stirruping his feet on the thighs of the +youth, he cried aloud: 'I charge ye, whoso ye be, sing not this deed +before the emperor! By the breath of your nostrils; pause! ere ye +whisper aught of the combat of Saint Gregory with Satan, and his +victory, and the marvel of it, while he liveth; for he would die the +humble monk he is.' + +He resumed his seat, and Farina brought him into the circle of the +Sisters. Those pure women took him, and smoothed him, lamenting, and +filling the night with triumphing tones. + +Farina stood apart. + +'The breeze tells of dawn,' said the Monk; 'we must be in Cologne before +broad day.' + +They mounted horse, and the Sisters grouped and reverenced under the +blessings of the Monk. + +'No word of it!' said the Monk warningly. 'We are silent, Father!' they +answered. 'Cologne-ward!' was then his cry, and away he and Farina, +flew. + + + + +THE GOSHAWK LEADS + +Morning was among the grey eastern clouds as they rode upon the +camp hastily formed to meet the Kaiser. All there was in a wallow +of confusion. Fierce struggles for precedence still went on in the +neighbourhood of the imperial tent ground, where, under the standard of +Germany, lounged some veterans of the Kaiser's guard, calmly watching +the scramble. Up to the edge of the cultivated land nothing was to be +seen but brawling clumps of warriors asserting the superior claims of +their respective lords. Variously and hotly disputed were these claims, +as many red coxcombs testified. Across that point where the green field +flourished, not a foot was set, for the Kaiser's care of the farmer, and +affection for good harvests, made itself respected even in the heat of +those jealous rivalries. It was said of him, that he would have camped +in a bog, or taken quarters in a cathedral, rather than trample down a +green blade of wheat, or turn over one vine-pole in the empire. Hence +the presence of Kaiser Heinrich was never hailed as Egypt's plague by +the peasantry, but welcome as the May month wherever he went. + +Father Gregory and Farina found themselves in the centre of a group ere +they drew rein, and a cry rose, 'The good father shall decide, and all's +fair,' followed by, 'Agreed! Hail and tempest! he's dropped down o' +purpose.' + +'Father,' said one, 'here it is! I say I saw the Devil himself fly off +Drachenfels, and flop into Cologne. Fritz here, and Frankenbauch, saw +him too. They'll swear to him: so 'll I. Hell's thunder! will we. Yonder +fellows will have it 'twas a flash o' lightning, as if I didn't see him, +horns, tail, and claws, and a mighty sight 'twas, as I'm a sinner.' + +A clash of voices, for the Devil and against him, burst on this accurate +description of the Evil spirit. The Monk sank his neck into his chest. + +'Gladly would I hold silence on this, my sons,' said he, in a +supplicating voice. + +'Speak, Father,' cried the first spokesman, gathering courage from the +looks of the Monk. + +Father Gregory appeared to commune with himself deeply. At last, lifting +his head, and murmuring, 'It must be,' he said aloud: + +''Twas verily Satan, O my sons! Him this night in mortal combat I +encountered and overcame on the summit of Drachenfels, before the eyes +of this youth; and from Satan I this night deliver ye! an instrument +herein as in all other.' + +Shouts, and a far-spreading buzz resounded in the camp. Hundreds had now +seen Satan flying off the Drachenstein. Father Gregory could no +longer hope to escape from the importunate crowds that beset him for +particulars. The much-contested point now was, as to the exact position +of Satan's tail during his airy circuit, before descending into Cologne. +It lashed like a lion's. 'Twas cocked, for certain! He sneaked it +between his legs like a lurcher! He made it stumpy as a brown bear's! He +carried it upright as a pike! + +'O my sons! have I sown dissension? Have I not given ye peace?' +exclaimed the Monk. + +But they continued to discuss it with increasing frenzy. + +Farina cast a glance over the tumult, and beheld his friend Guy +beckoning earnestly. He had no difficulty in getting away to him, as the +fetters of all eyes were on the Monk alone. + +The Goshawk was stamping with excitement. + +'Not a moment to be lost, my lad,' said Guy, catching his arm. 'Here, +I've had half-a-dozen fights already for this bit of ground. Do you know +that fellow squatting there?' + +Farina beheld the Thier at the entrance of a tumbledown tent. He was +ruefully rubbing a broken head. + +'Now,' continued Guy, 'to mount him is the thing; and then after the +wolves of Werner as fast as horse-flesh can carry us. No questions! +Bound, are you? And what am I? But this is life and death, lad! Hark!' + +The Goshawk whispered something that sucked the blood out of Farina's +cheek. + +'Look you--what's your lockjaw name? Keep good faith with me, and you +shall have your revenge, and the shiners I promise, besides my lord's +interest for a better master: but, sharp! we won't mount till we're out +of sight o' the hell-scum you horde with.' + +The Thier stood up and staggered after them through the camp. There was +no difficulty in mounting him horses were loose, and scampering about +the country, not yet delivered from their terrors of the last night's +tempest. + +'Here be we, three good men!' exclaimed Guy, when they were started, and +Farina had hurriedly given him the heads of his adventure with the Monk. +'Three good men! One has helped to kick the devil: one has served an +apprenticeship to his limb: and one is ready to meet him foot to foot +any day, which last should be myself. Not a man more do we want, though +it were to fish up that treasure you talk of being under the Rhine +there, and guarded by I don't know how many tricksy little villains. +Horses can be ferried across at Linz, you say?' + +'Ay, thereabout,' grunted the Thier. + +'We 're on the right road, then!' said Guy. 'Thanks to you both, I've +had no sleep for two nights--not a wink, and must snatch it going--not +the first time.' + +The Goshawk bent his body, and spoke no more. Farina could not get a +word further from him. By the mastery he still had over his rein, the +Goshawk alone proved that he was of the world of the living. Schwartz +Thier, rendered either sullen or stunned by the latest cracked crown he +had received, held his jaws close as if they had been nailed. + +At Linz the horses were well breathed. The Goshawk, who had been snoring +an instant before, examined them keenly, and shook his calculating head. + +'Punch that beast of yours in the ribs,' said he to Farina. 'Ah! not +a yard of wind in him. And there's the coming back, when we shall have +more to carry. Well: this is my lord's money; but i' faith, it's going +in a good cause, and Master Groschen will make it all right, no doubt; +not a doubt of it.' + +The Goshawk had seen some excellent beasts in the stables of the +Kaiser's Krone; but the landlord would make no exchange without an +advance of silver. This done, the arrangement was prompt. + +'Schwartz Thier!--I've got your name now,' said Guy, as they were +ferrying across, 'you're stiff certain they left Cologne with the maiden +yesternoon, now?' + +'Ah, did they! and she's at the Eck safe enow by this time.' + +'And away from the Eck this night she shall come, trust me!' + +'Or there will I die with her!' cried Farina. + +'Fifteen men at most, he has, you said,' continued Guy. + +'Two not sound, five true as steel, and the rest shillyshally. 'Slife, +one lock loose serves us; but two saves us: five we're a match for, +throwing in bluff Baron; the remainder go with victory.' + +'Can we trust this fellow?' whispered Farina. + +'Trust him!' roared Guy. 'Why, I've thumped him, lad; pegged and +pardoned him. Trust him? trust me! If Werner catches a sight of that +snout of his within half-a-mile of his hold, he'll roast him alive.' + +He lowered his voice: 'Trust him? We can do nothing without him. I +knocked the devil out of him early this morning. No chance for his +Highness anywhere now. This Eck of Werner's would stand a siege from the +Kaiser in person, I hear. We must into it like weasels; and out as we +can.' + +Dismissing the ferry-barge with stern injunctions to be in waiting from +noon to noon, the three leapt on their fresh nags. + +'Stop at the first village,' said Guy; 'we must lay in provision. +As Master Groschen says, "Nothing's to be done, Turpin, without +provender."' + +'Goshawk!' cried Farina; 'you have time; tell me how this business was +done.' + +The only reply was a soft but decided snore, that spoke, like a +voluptuous trumpet, of dreamland and its visions. + +At Sinzig, the Thier laid his hand on Guy's bridle, with the words, +'Feed here,' a brief, but effective, form of signal, which aroused the +Goshawk completely. The sign of the Trauben received them. Here, wurst +reeking with garlic, eggs, black bread, and sour wine, was all they +could procure. Farina refused to eat, and maintained his resolution, in +spite of Guy's sarcastic chiding. + +'Rub down the beasts, then, and water them,' said the latter. 'Made a +vow, I suppose,' muttered Guy. + +'That's the way of those fellows. No upright manly +take-the-thing-as-it-comes; but fly-sky-high whenever there's a dash on +their heaven. What has his belly done to offend him? It will be crying +out just when we want all quiet. I wouldn't pay Werner such a compliment +as go without a breakfast for him. Not I! Would you, Schwartz Thier?' + +'Henker! not I!' growled the Thier. 'He'll lose one sooner.' + +'First snatch his prey, or he'll be making, God save us! a meal for a +Kaiser, the brute.' + +Guy called in the landlady, clapped down the score, and abused the wine. + +'Sir,' said the landlady, 'ours is but a poor inn, and we do our best.' + +'So you do,' replied the Goshawk, softened; 'and I say that a civil +tongue and rosy smiles sweeten even sour wine.' + +The landlady, a summer widow, blushed, and as he was stepping from the +room, called him aside. + +'I thought you were one of that dreadful Werner's band, and I hate him.' + +Guy undeceived her. + +'He took my sister,' she went on, 'and his cruelty killed her. He +persecuted me even in the lifetime of my good man. Last night he came +here in the middle of the storm with a young creature bright as an +angel, and sorrowful--' + +'He's gone, you're sure?' broke in Guy. + +'Gone! Oh, yes! Soon as the storm abated he dragged her on. Oh! the way +that young thing looked at me, and I able to do nothing for her.' + +'Now, the Lord bless you for a rosy Christian!' cried Guy, and, in his +admiration, he flung his arm round her and sealed a ringing kiss on each +cheek. + +'No good man defrauded by that! and let me see the fellow that thinks +evil of it. If I ever told a woman a secret, I 'd tell you one now, +trust me. But I never do, so farewell! Not another?' + +Hasty times keep the feelings in a ferment, and the landlady was +extremely angry with Guy and heartily forgave him, all within a minute. + +'No more,' said she, laughing: 'but wait; I have something for you.' + +The Goshawk lingered on a fretting heel. She was quickly under his elbow +again with two flasks leaning from her bosom to her arms. + +'There! I seldom meet a man like you; and, when I do, I like to be +remembered. This is a true good wine, real Liebfrauenmilch, which I only +give to choice customers.' + +'Welcome it is!' sang Guy to her arch looks; 'but I must pay for it.' + +'Not a pfennig!' said the landlady. + +'Not one?' + +'Not one!' she repeated, with a stamp of the foot. + +'In other coin, then,' quoth Guy; and folding her waist, which did not +this time back away, the favoured Goshawk registered rosy payment on a +very fresh red mouth, receiving in return such lively discount, that he +felt himself bound in conscience to make up the full sum a second time. + +'What a man!' sighed the landlady, as she watched the Goshawk lead off +along the banks; 'courtly as a knight, open as a squire, and gentle as a +page!' + + + + +WERNER'S ECK + +A league behind Andernach, and more in the wintry circle of the sun than +Laach, its convenient monastic neighbour, stood the castle of Werner, +the Robber Baron. Far into the South, hazy with afternoon light, a +yellow succession of sandhills stretched away, spouting fire against the +blue sky of an elder world, but now dead and barren of herbage. Around +is a dusty plain, where the green blades of spring no sooner peep than +they become grimed with sand and take an aged look, in accordance with +the ungenerous harvests they promise. The aridity of the prospect is +relieved on one side by the lofty woods of Laach, through which the sun +setting burns golden-red, and on the other by the silver sparkle of a +narrow winding stream, bordered with poplars, and seen but a glistening +mile of its length by all the thirsty hills. The Eck, or Corner, itself, +is thick-set with wood, but of a stunted growth, and lying like a dark +patch on the landscape. It served, however, entirely to conceal the +castle, and mask every movement of the wary and terrible master. A +trained eye advancing on the copse would hardly mark the glimmer of the +turrets over the topmost leaves, but to every loophole of the walls +lies bare the circuit of the land. Werner could rule with a glance the +Rhine's course down from the broad rock over Coblentz to the white tower +of Andernach. He claimed that march as his right; but the Mosel was no +hard ride's distance, and he gratified his thirst for rapine chiefly on +that river, delighting in it, consequently, as much as his robber nature +boiled over the bound of his feudal privileges. + +Often had the Baron held his own against sieges and restrictions, bans +and impositions of all kinds. He boasted that there was never a knight +within twenty miles of him that he had not beaten, nor monk of the same +limit not in his pay. This braggadocio received some warrant from his +yearly increase of licence; and his craft and his castle combined, +made him a notable pest of the region, a scandal to the abbey whose +countenance he had, and a frightful infliction on the poorer farmers and +peasantry. + +The sun was beginning to slope over Laach, and threw the shadows of the +abbey towers half-way across the blue lake-waters, as two men in the +garb of husbandmen emerged from the wood. Their feet plunged heavily and +their heads hung down, as they strode beside a wain mounted with straw, +whistling an air of stupid unconcern; but a close listener might have +heard that the lumbering vehicle carried a human voice giving them +directions as to the road they were to take, and what sort of behaviour +to observe under certain events. The land was solitary. A boor passing +asked whether toll or tribute they were conveying to Werner. Tribute, +they were advised to reply, which caused him to shrug and curse as he +jogged on. Hearing him, the voice in the wain chuckled grimly. Their +next speech was with a trooper, who overtook them, and wanted to know +what they had in the wain for Werner. Tribute, they replied, and won the +title of 'brave pigs' for their trouble. + +'But what's the dish made of?' said the trooper, stirring the straw with +his sword-point. + +'Tribute,' came the answer. + +'Ha! You've not been to Werner's school,' and the trooper swung a +sword-stroke at the taller of the two, sending a tremendous shudder +throughout his frame; but he held his head to the ground, and only +seemed to betray animal consciousness in leaning his ear closer to the +wain. + +'Blood and storm! Will ye speak?' cried the trooper. + +'Never talk much; but an ye say nothing to the Baron,'--thrusting his +hand into the straw--'here's what's better than speaking.' + +'Well said!--Eh? Liebfrauenmilch? Ho, ho! a rare bleed!' + +Striking the neck of the flask on a wheel, the trooper applied it to his +mouth, and ceased not deeply ingurgitating till his face was broad to +the sky and the bottle reversed. He then dashed it down, sighed, and +shook himself. + +'Rare news! the Kaiser's come: he'll be in Cologne by night; but first +he must see the Baron, and I'm post with the order. That's to show you +how high he stands in the Kaiser's grace. Don't be thinking of upsetting +Werner yet, any of you; mind, now!' + +'That's Blass-Gesell,' said the voice in the wain, as the trooper +trotted on: adding, ''gainst us.' + +'Makes six,' responded the driver. + +Within sight of the Eck, they descried another trooper coming toward +them. This time the driver was first to speak. + +'Tribute! Provender! Bread and wine for the high Baron Werner from his +vassals over Tonnistein.' + +'And I'm out of it! fasting like a winter wolf,' howled the fellow. + +He was in the act of addressing himself to an inspection of the +wain's contents, when a second flask lifted in air, gave a sop to his +curiosity. This flask suffered the fate of the former. + +'A Swabian blockhead, aren't you?' + +'Ay, that country,' said the driver. 'May be, Henker Rothhals happens to +be with the Baron?' + +'To hell with him! I wish he had my job, and I his, of watching the +yellow-bird in her new cage, till she's taken out to-night, and then a +jolly bumper to the Baron all round.' + +The driver wished him a fortunate journey, strongly recommending him +to skirt the abbey westward, and go by the Ahr valley, as there was +something stirring that way, and mumbling, 'Makes five again,' as he put +the wheels in motion. + +'Goshawk!' said his visible companion; 'what do you say now?' + +'I say, bless that widow!' + +'Oh! bring me face to face with this accursed Werner quickly, my God!' +gasped the youth. + +'Tusk! 'tis not Werner we want--there's the Thier speaking. No, no, +Schwartz Thier! I trust you, no doubt; but the badger smells at a hole, +before he goes inside it. We're strangers, and are allowed to miss our +way.' + +Leaving the wain in Farina's charge, he pushed through a dense growth +of shrub and underwood, and came crouching on a precipitous edge of +shrouded crag, which commanded a view of the stronghold, extending round +it, as if scooped clean by some natural action, about a stone'sthrow +distant, and nearly level with the look-out tower. Sheer from a deep +circular basin clothed with wood, and bottomed with grass and bubbling +water, rose a naked moss-stained rock, on whose peak the castle firmly +perched, like a spying hawk. The only means of access was by a narrow +natural bridge of rock flung from this insulated pinnacle across to the +mainland. One man, well disposed, might have held it against forty. + +'Our way's the best,' thought Guy, as he meditated every mode of gaining +admission. 'A hundred men an hour might be lost cutting steps up that +steep slate; and once at the top we should only have to be shoved down +again.' + +While thus engaged, he heard a summons sounded from the castle, and +scrambled back to Farina. + +'The Thier leads now,' said he, 'and who leads is captain. It seems +easier to get out of that than in. There's a square tower, and a round. +I guess the maiden to be in the round. Now, lad, no crying out--You +don't come in with us; but back you go for the horses, and have them +ready and fresh in yon watered meadow under the castle. The path down +winds easy.' + +'Man!' cried Farina, 'what do you take me for?--go you for the horses.' + +'Not for a fool,' Guy rejoined, tightening his lip; 'but now is your +time to prove yourself one.' + +'With you, or without you, I enter that castle!' + +'Oh! if you want to be served up hot for the Baron's supper-mess, by all +means.' + +'Thunder!' growled Schwartz Thier, 'aren't ye moving?' + +The Goshawk beckoned Farina aside. + +'Act as I tell you, or I'm for Cologne.' + +'Traitor!' muttered the youth. + +'Swearing this, that if we fail, the Baron shall need a leech sooner +than a bride.' + +'That stroke must be mine!' + +The Goshawk griped the muscle of Farina's arm till the youth was +compelled to slacken it with pain. + +'Could you drive a knife through a six-inch wood-wall? I doubt this wild +boar wants a harder hit than many a best man could give. 'Sblood! obey, +sirrah. How shall we keep yon fellow true, if he sees we're at points?' + +'I yield,' exclaimed Farina with a fall of the chest; 'but hear I +nothing of you by midnight--Oh! then think not I shall leave another +minute to chance. Farewell! haste! Heaven prosper you! You will see her, +and die under her eyes. That may be denied to me. What have I done to be +refused that last boon?' + +'Gone without breakfast and dinner,' said Guy in abhorrent tones. + +A whistle from the wain, following a noise of the castlegates being +flung open, called the Goshawk away, and he slouched his shoulders and +strode to do his part, without another word. Farina gazed after him, and +dropped into the covert. + + + + +THE WATER-LADY + +'Bird of lovers! Voice of the passion of love! Sweet, deep, +disaster-toning nightingale!' sings the old minnesinger; 'who that has +not loved, hearing thee is touched with the wand of love's mysteries, +and yearneth to he knoweth not whom, humbled by overfulness of heart; +but who, listening, already loveth, heareth the language he would speak, +yet faileth in; feeleth the great tongueless sea of his infinite desires +stirred beyond his narrow bosom; is as one stript of wings whom the +angels beckon to their silver homes: and he leaneth forward to ascend to +them, and is mocked by his effort: then is he of the fallen, and of +the fallen would he remain, but that tears lighten him, and through the +tears stream jewelled shafts dropt down to him from the sky, precious +ladders inlaid with amethyst, sapphire, blended jasper, beryl, +rose-ruby, ether of heaven flushed with softened bloom of the +insufferable Presences: and lo, the ladders dance, and quiver, and +waylay his eyelids, and a second time he is mocked, aspiring: and after +the third swoon standeth Hope before him with folded arms, and eyes dry +of the delusions of tears, saying, Thou hast seen! thou hast felt! thy +strength hath reached in thee so far! now shall I never die in thee!' + +'For surely,' says the minstrel, 'Hope is not born of earth, or it were +perishable. Rather know her the offspring of that embrace strong +love straineth the heavens with. This owe we to thy music, bridal +nightingale! And the difference of this celestial spirit from the +smirking phantasy of whom all stand soon or late forsaken, is the +difference between painted day with its poor ambitious snares, and night +lifting its myriad tapers round the throne of the eternal, the prophet +stars of everlasting time! And the one dieth, and the other liveth; and +the one is unregretted, and the other walketh in thought-spun raiment of +divine melancholy; her ears crowded with the pale surges that wrap this +shifting shore; in her eyes a shape of beauty floating dimly, that she +will not attain this side the water, but broodeth on evermore. + +'Therefore, hold on thy cherished four long notes, which are as the very +edge where exultation and anguish melt, meet, and are sharpened to one +ecstasy, death-dividing bird! Fill the woods with passionate chuckle and +sob, sweet chaplain of the marriage service of a soul with heaven! Pour +out thy holy wine of song upon the soft-footed darkness, till, like a +priest of the inmost temple, 'tis drunken with fair intelligences!' + +Thus the old minstrels and minnesingers. + +Strong and full sang the nightingales that night Farina held watch by +the guilty castle that entombed his living beloved. The castle looked +itself a denser shade among the moonthrown shadows of rock and tree. +The meadow spread like a green courtyard at the castle's foot. It was of +lush deep emerald grass, softly mixed with grey in the moon's light, and +showing like jasper. Where the shadows fell thickest, there was yet a +mist of colour. All about ran a brook, and babbled to itself. The spring +crocus lifted its head in moist midgrasses of the meadow, rejoiced with +freshness. The rugged heights seemed to clasp this one innocent spot as +their only garden-treasure; and a bank of hazels hid it from the castle +with a lover's arm. + +'The moon will tell me,' mused Farina; 'the moon will signal me the +hour! When the moon hangs over the round tower, I shall know 'tis time +to strike.' + +The song of the nightingales was a full unceasing throb. + +It went like the outcry of one heart from branch to branch. The four +long notes, and the short fifth which leads off to that hurried gush of +music, gurgling rich with passion, came thick and constant from under +the tremulous leaves. + +At first Farina had been deaf to them. His heart was in the dungeon +with Margarita, or with the Goshawk in his dangers, forming a thousand +desperate plans, among the red-hot ploughshares of desperate action. +Finally, without a sense of being wooed, it was won. The tenderness of +his love then mastered him. + +'God will not suffer that fair head to come to harm!' he thought, and +with the thought a load fell off his breast. + +He paced the meadows, and patted the three pasturing steeds. +Involuntarily his sight grew on the moon. She went so slowly. She +seemed not to move at all. A little wing of vapour flew toward her; +it whitened, passed, and the moon was slower than before. Oh! were the +heavens delaying their march to look on this iniquity? Again and again +he cried, 'Patience, it is not time!' He flung himself on the grass. The +next moment he climbed the heights, and was peering at the mass of gloom +that fronted the sky. It reared such a mailed head of menace, that his +heart was seized with a quivering, as though it had been struck. Behind +lay scattered some small faint-winkling stars on sapphire fields, and a +stain of yellow light was in a breach of one wall. + +He descended. What was the Goshawk doing? Was he betrayed? It was surely +now time? No; the moon had not yet smitten the face of the castle. +He made his way through the hazel-bank among flitting nightmoths, and +glanced up to measure the moon's distance. As he did so, a first touch +of silver fell on the hoary flint. + +'Oh, young bird of heaven in that Devil's clutch!' + +Sounds like the baying of boar-hounds alarmed him. They whined into +silence. + +He fell back. The meadow breathed peace, and more and more the +nightingales volumed their notes. As in a charmed circle of palpitating +song, he succumbed to languor. The brook rolled beside him fresh as +an infant, toying with the moonlight. He leaned over it, and thrice +waywardly dipped his hand in the clear translucence. + +Was it his own face imaged there? + +Farina bent close above an eddy of the water. It whirled with a strange +tumult, breaking into lines and lights a face not his own, nor the +moon's; nor was it a reflection. The agitation increased. Now a wreath +of bubbles crowned the pool, and a pure water-lily, but larger, ascended +wavering. + +He started aside; and under him a bright head, garlanded with gemmed +roses, appeared. No fairer figure of woman had Farina seen. Her visage +had the lustrous white of moonlight, and all her shape undulated in a +dress of flashing silver-white, wonderful to see. The Lady of the Water +smiled on him, and ran over with ripples and dimples of limpid beauty. +Then, as he retreated on the meadow grass, she swam toward him, and +taking his hand, pressed it to her. After her touch the youth no longer +feared. She curved her finger, and beckoned him on. All that she did was +done flowingly. The youth was a shadow in her silver track as she passed +like a harmless wave over the closed crocuses; but the crocuses shivered +and swelled their throats of streaked purple and argent as at delicious +rare sips of a wine. Breath of violet, and ladysmock, and valley-lily, +mingled and fluttered about her. Farina was as a man working the day's +intent in a dream. He could see the heart in her translucent, hanging +like a cold dingy ruby. By the purity of his nature he felt that such +a presence must have come but to help. It might be Margarita's guardian +fairy! + +They passed the hazel-bank, and rounded the castlecrag, washed by the +brook and, beneath the advancing moon, standing in a ring of brawling +silver. The youth with his fervid eyes marked the old weather-stains and +scars of long defiance coming into colour. That mystery of wickedness +which the towers had worn in the dusk, was dissolved, and he endured no +more the almost abashed sensation of competing littleness that made him +think there was nought to do, save die, combating single-handed such +massive power. The moon shone calmly superior, like the prowess of +maiden knights; and now the harsh frown of the walls struck resolution +to his spirit, and nerved him with hate and the contempt true courage +feels when matched against fraud and villany. + +On a fallen block of slate, cushioned with rich brown moss and rusted +weather-stains, the Water-Lady sat, and pointed to Farina the path of +the moon toward the round tower. She did not speak, and if his lips +parted, put her cold finger across them. Then she began to hum a soft +sweet monotony of song, vague and careless, very witching to hear. +Farina caught no words, nor whether the song was of days in dust or in +flower, but his mind bloomed with legends and sad splendours of story, +while she sang on the slate-block under sprinkled shadows by the water. + +He had listened long in trance, when the Water-Lady hushed, and +stretched forth a slender forefinger to the moon. It stood like a dot +over the round tower. Farina rose in haste. She did not leave him to ask +her aid, but took his hand and led him up the steep ascent. Halfway to +the castle, she rested. There, concealed by bramble-tufts, she disclosed +the low portal of a secret passage, and pushed it open without effort. +She paused at the entrance, and he could see her trembling, seeming to +wax taller, till she was like a fountain glittering in the cold light. +Then she dropped, as drops a dying bet, and cowered into the passage. + +Darkness, thick with earth-dews, oppressed his senses. He felt the +clammy walls scraping close on him. Not the dimmest lamp, or guiding +sound, was near; but the lady went on as one who knew her way. Passing +a low-vaulted dungeon-room, they wound up stairs hewn in the rock, and +came to a door, obedient to her touch, which displayed a chamber faintly +misted by a solitary bar of moonlight. Farina perceived they were above +the foundation of the castle. The walls gleamed pale with knightly +harness, habergeons gaping for heads, breastplates of blue steel, +halbert, and hand-axe, greaves, glaives, boar-spears, and polished +spur-fixed heel-pieces. He seized a falchion hanging apart, but the lady +stayed his arm, and led to another flight of stone ending in a kind of +corridor. Noises of laughter and high feasting beset him at this point. +The Lady of the Water sidled her head, as to note a familiar voice; and +then drew him to a looped aperture. + +Farina beheld a scene that first dazzled, but, as it grew into shape, +sank him with dismay. Below, and level with the chamber he had left, a +rude banqueting-hall glowed, under the light of a dozen flambeaux, with +smoking boar's flesh, deer's flesh, stone-flagons, and horn-beakers. At +the head of this board sat Werner, scarlet with furious feasting, and on +his right hand, Margarita, bloodless as a beautiful martyr bound to the +fire. Retainers of Werner occupied the length of the hall, chorusing the +Baron's speeches, and drinking their own healths when there was no call +for another. Farina saw his beloved alone. She was dressed as when he +parted with her last. The dear cameo lay on her bosom, but not heaving +proudly as of old. Her shoulders were drooped forward, and contracted +her bosom in its heaving. She would have had a humbled look, but for the +marble sternness of her eyes. They were fixed as eyes that see the way +of death through all earthly objects. + +'Now, dogs!' cried the Baron, 'the health of the night! and swell your +lungs, for I'll have no cat's cry when Werner's bride is the toast. +Monk or no monk's leave, she's mine. Ay, my pretty one! it shall be made +right in the morning, if I lead all the Laach rats here by the nose. +Thunder! no disrespect to Werner's bride from Pope or abbot. Now, sing +out!--or wait! these fellows shall drink it first.' + +He stretched and threw a beaker of wine right and left behind him, and +Farina's despair stiffened his limbs as he recognized the Goshawk and +Schwartz Thier strapped to the floor. Their beards were already moist +with previous libations similarly bestowed, and they received this +in sullen stillness; but Farina thought he observed a rapid glance of +encouragement dart from beneath the Goshawk's bent brows, as Margarita +momentarily turned her head half-way on him. + +'Lick your chaps, ye beasts, and don't say Werner stints vermin good +cheer his nuptial-night. Now,' continued the Baron, growing huskier as +he talked louder: 'Short and ringing, my devil's pups:--Werner and his +Bride! and may she soon give you a young baron to keep you in better +order than I can, as, if she does her duty, she will.' + +The Baron stood up, and lifted his huge arm to lead the toast. + +'Werner and his Bride!' + +Not a voice followed him. There was a sudden intimation of the call +being echoed; but it snapped, and ended in shuffling tones, as if the +hall-door had closed on the response. + +'What 's this?' roared the Baron, in that caged wild beast voice +Margarita remembered she had heard in the Cathedral Square. + +No one replied. + +'Speak! or I'll rot you a fathom in the rock, curs!' + +'Herr Baron!' said Henker Rothhals impressively; 'the matter is, that +there's something unholy among us.' + +The Baron's goblet flew at his head before the words were uttered. + +'I'll make an unholy thing of him that says it,' and Werner lowered at +them one by one. + +'Then I say it, Herr Baron!' pursued Henker Rothhals, wiping his +frontispiece: 'The Devil has turned against you at last. Look up +there--Ah, it's gone now; but where's the man sitting this side saw it +not?' + +The Baron made one spring, and stood on the board. + +'Now! will any rascal here please to say so?' + +Something in the cruel hang of his threatening hatchet jaw silenced many +in the act of confirming the assertion. + +'Stand out, Henker Rotthals!' + +Rotthals slid a hunting-knife up his wrist, and stepped back from the +board. + +'Beast!' roared the Baron, 'I said I wouldn't shed blood to-night. I +spared a traitor, and an enemy----' + +'Look again!' said Rothhals; 'will any fellow say he saw nothing there.' + +While all heads, including Werner's, were directed to the aperture which +surveyed them, Rothhals tossed his knife to the Goshawk unperceived. + +This time answers came to his challenge, but not in confirmation. The +Baron spoke with a gasping gentleness. + +'So you trifle with me? I'm dangerous for that game. Mind you of +Blass-Gesell? I made a better beast of him by sending him three-quarters +of the road to hell for trial.' Bellowing, 'Take that!' he discharged a +broad blade, hitherto concealed in his right hand, straight at Rothhals. +It fixed in his cheek and jaw, wringing an awful breath of pain from him +as he fell against the wall. + +'There's a lesson for you not to cross me, children!' said Werner, +striding his stumpy legs up and down the crashing board, and puffing +his monstrous girth of chest and midriff. 'Let him stop there awhile, to +show what comes of thwarting Werner!--Fire-devils! before the baroness, +too!--Something unholy is there? Something unholy in his jaw, I +think!--Leave it sticking! He's against meat last, is he? I'll teach you +who he's for!--Who speaks?' + +All hung silent. These men were animals dominated by a mightier brute. + +He clasped his throat, and shook the board with a jump, as he squeaked, +rather than called, a second time 'Who spoke?' + +He had not again to ask. In this pause, as the Baron glared for his +victim, a song, so softly sung that it sounded remote, but of which +every syllable was clearly rounded, swelled into his ears, and froze him +in his angry posture. + + 'The blood of the barons shall turn to ice, + And their castle fall to wreck, + When a true lover dips in the water thrice, + That runs round Werner's Eck. + + 'Round Werner's Eck the water runs; + The hazels shiver and shake: + The walls that have blotted such happy suns, + Are seized with the ruin-quake. + + 'And quake with the ruin, and quake with rue, + Thou last of Werner's race! + The hearts of the barons were cold that knew + The Water-Dame's embrace. + + 'For a sin was done, and a shame was wrought, + That water went to hide: + And those who thought to make it nought, + They did but spread it wide. + + 'Hold ready, hold ready to pay the price, + And keep thy bridal cheer: + A hand has dipped in the water thrice, + And the Water-Dame is here.' + + + + +THE RESCUE + +The Goshawk was on his feet. 'Now, lass,' said he to Margarita, 'now +is the time!' He took her hand, and led her to the door. Schwartz Thier +closed up behind her. Not a man in the hall interposed. Werner's head +moved round after them, like a dog on the watch; but he was dumb. The +door opened, and Farina entered. He bore a sheaf of weapons under his +arm. The familiar sight relieved Werner's senses from the charm. He +shouted to bar the prisoners' passage. His men were ranged like statues +in the hall. There was a start among them, as if that terrible noise +communicated an instinct of obedience, but no more. They glanced at each +other, and remained quiet. + +The Goshawk had his eye on Werner. 'Stand back, lass!' he said to +Margarita. She took a sword from Farina, and answered, with white lips +and flashing eyes, 'I can fight, Goshawk!' + +'And shall, if need be; but leave it to me now, returned Guy. + +His eye never left the Baron. Suddenly a shriek of steel rang. All fell +aside, and the combatants stood opposed on clear ground. Farina, took +Margarita's left hand, and placed her against the wall between the Thier +and himself. Werner's men were well content to let their master fight +it out. The words spoken by Henker Rothhals, that the Devil had forsaken +him, seemed in their minds confirmed by the weird song which every one +present could swear he heard with his ears. 'Let him take his chance, +and try his own luck,' they said, and shrugged. The battle was between +Guy, as Margarita's champion, and Werner. + +In Schwartz Thier's judgement, the two were well matched, and he +estimated their diverse qualities from sharp experience. 'For short work +the Baron, and my new mate for tough standing to 't!' Farina's summary +in favour of the Goshawk was, 'A stouter heart, harder sinews, and a +good cause. The combat was generally regarded with a professional eye, +and few prayers. Margarita solely there asked aid from above, and knelt +to the Virgin; but her, too, the clash of arms and dire earnest of +mortal fight aroused to eager eyes. She had not dallied with heroes in +her dreams. She was as ready to second Siegfried on the crimson field as +tend him in the silken chamber. + +It was well that a woman's heart was there to mark the grace and glory +of manhood in upright foot-to-foot encounter. For the others, it was a +mere calculation of lucky hits. Even Farina, in his anxiety for her, +saw but the brightening and darkening of the prospect of escape in every +attitude and hard-ringing blow. Margarita was possessed with a painful +exaltation. In her eyes the bestial Baron now took a nobler form and +countenance; but the Goshawk assumed the sovereign aspect of old heroes, +who, whether persecuted or favoured of heaven, still maintained their +stand, remembering of what stuff they were, and who made them. + +'Never,' say the old writers, with a fervour honourable to their +knowledge of the elements that compose our being, 'never may this bright +privilege of fair fight depart from us, nor advantage of it fail to be +taken! Man against man, or beast, singly keeping his ground, is as fine +rapture to the breast as Beauty in her softest hour affordeth. For if +woman taketh loveliness to her when she languisheth, so surely doth man +in these fierce moods, when steel and iron sparkle opposed, and their +breath is fire, and their lips white with the lock of resolution; all +their faculties knotted to a point, and their energies alive as the +daylight to prove themselves superior, according to the laws and under +the blessing of chivalry.' + +'For all,' they go on to improve the comparison, 'may admire and delight +in fair blossoming dales under the blue dome of peace; but 'tis the +rare lofty heart alone comprehendeth, and is heightened by, terrific +splendours of tempest, when cloud meets cloud in skies black as the +sepulchre, and Glory sits like a flame on the helm of Ruin' + +For a while the combatants aired their dexterity, contenting themselves +with cunning cuts and flicks of the sword-edge, in which Werner first +drew blood by a keen sweep along the forehead of the Goshawk. Guy had +allowed him to keep his position on the board, and still fought at his +face and neck. He now jerked back his body from the hip, and swung a +round stroke at Werner's knee, sending him in retreat with a snort of +pain. Before the Baron could make good his ground, Guy was level with +him on the board. + +Werner turned an upbraiding howl at his men. They were not disposed to +second him yet. They one and all approved his personal battle with +Fate, and never more admired him and felt his power; but the affair was +exciting, and they were not the pillars to prop a falling house. + +Werner clenched his two hands to his ponderous glaive, and fell upon +Guy with heavier fury. He was becoming not unworth the little womanly +appreciation Margarita was brought to bestow on him. The voice of the +Water-Lady whispered at her heart that the Baron warred on his destiny, +and that ennobles all living souls. + +Bare-headed the combatants engaged, and the headpiece was the chief +point of attack. No swerving from blows was possible for either: ward, +or take; a false step would have ensured defeat. This also induced +caution. Many a double stamp of the foot was heard, as each had to +retire in turn. + +'Not at his head so much, he'll bear battering there all night long,' +said Henker Rothhals in a breathing interval. Knocks had been pretty +equally exchanged, but the Baron's head certainly looked the least +vulnerable, whereas Guy exhibited several dints that streamed freely. +Yet he looked, eye and bearing, as fresh as when they began, and the +calm, regular heave of his chest contrasted with Werner's quick gasps. +His smile, too, renewed each time the Baron paused for breath, gave +Margarita heart. It was not a taunting smile, but one of entire +confidence, and told all the more on his adversary. As Werner led off +again, and the choice was always left him, every expression of the +Goshawk's face passed to full light in his broad eyes. + +The Baron's play was a reckless fury. There was nothing to study in it. +Guy became the chief object of speculation. He was evidently trying to +wind his man. + +He struck wildly, some thought. Others judged that he was a random +hitter, and had no mortal point in aim. Schwartz Thier's opinion was +frequently vented. 'Too round a stroke--down on him! Chop-not slice!' + +Guy persevered in his own fashion. According to Schwartz Thier, he +brought down by his wilfulness the blow that took him on the left +shoulder, and nigh broke him. It was a weighty blow, followed by a thump +of sound. The sword-edge swerved on his shoulder-blade, or he must have +been disabled. But Werner's crow was short, and he had no time to push +success. One of the Goshawk's swooping under-hits half severed his right +wrist, and the blood spirted across the board. He gasped and seemed +to succumb, but held to it still, though with slackened force. Guy now +attacked. Holding to his round strokes, he accustomed Werner to guard +the body, and stood to it so briskly right and left, that Werner grew +bewildered, lost his caution, and gave ground. Suddenly the Goshawk's +glaive flashed in air, and chopped sheer down on Werner's head. So +shrewd a blow it was against a half-formed defence, that the Baron +dropped without a word right on the edge of the board, and there hung, +feebly grasping with his fingers. + +'Who bars the way now?' sang out Guy. + +No one accepted the challenge. Success clothed him with terrors, and +gave him giant size. + +'Then fare you well, my merry men all,' said Guy. 'Bear me no ill-will +for this. A little doctoring will right the bold Baron.' + +He strode jauntily to the verge of the board, and held his finger for +Margarita to follow. She stepped forward. The men put their beards +together, muttering. She could not advance. Farina doubled his elbow, +and presented sword-point. Three of the ruffians now disputed the way +with bare steel. Margarita looked at the Goshawk. He was smiling calmly +curious as he leaned over his sword, and gave her an encouraging nod. +She made another step in defiance. One fellow stretched his hand to +arrest her. All her maidenly pride stood up at once. 'What a glorious +girl!' murmured the Goshawk, as he saw her face suddenly flash, and +she retreated a pace and swung a sharp cut across the knuckles of +her assailant, daring him, or one of them, with hard, bright eyes, +beautifully vindictive, to lay hand on a pure maiden. + +'You have it, Barenleib!' cried the others, and then to Margarita: +'Look, young mistress! we are poor fellows, and ask a trifle of ransom, +and then part friends.' + +'Not an ace!' the Goshawk pronounced from his post. + +'Two to one, remember.' + +'The odds are ours,' replied the Goshawk confidently. + +They ranged themselves in front of the hall-door. Instead of accepting +this challenge, Guy stepped to Werner, and laid his moaning foe +length-wise in an easier posture. He then lifted Margarita on the board, +and summoned them with cry of 'Free passage!' They answered by a sullen +shrug and taunt. + +'Schwartz Thier! Rothhals! Farina! buckle up, and make ready then,' sang +Guy. + +He measured the length, of his sword, and raised it. The Goshawk had not +underrated his enemies. He was tempted to despise them when he marked +their gradually lengthening chaps and eyeballs. + +Not one of them moved. All gazed at him as if their marrows were +freezing with horror. + +'What's this?' cried Guy. + +They knew as little as he, but a force was behind them irresistible +against their efforts. The groaning oak slipped open, pushing them +forward, and an apparition glided past, soft as the pallid silver of +the moon. She slid to the Baron, and put her arms about him, and sang +to him. Had the Water-Lady laid an iron hand on all those ruffians, she +could not have held them faster bound than did the fear of her presence. +The Goshawk drew his fair charge through them, followed by Farina, the +Thier, and Rothhals. A last glimpse of the hall showed them still as +old cathedral sculpture staring at white light on a fluted pillar of the +wall. + + + + +THE PASSAGE OF THE RHINE + +Low among the swarthy sandhills behind the Abbey of Laach dropped the +round red moon. Soft lengths of misty yellow stole through the glens of +Rhineland. The nightingales still sang. Closer and closer the moon came +into the hushed valleys. + +There is a dell behind Hammerstein Castle, a ring of basking sward, +girdled by a silver slate-brook, and guarded by four high-peaked hills +that slope down four long wooded corners to the grassy base. Here, it is +said, the elves and earthmen play, dancing in circles with laughing feet +that fatten the mushroom. They would have been fulfilling the tradition +now, but that the place was occupied by a sturdy group of mortals, armed +with staves. The intruders were sleepy, and lay about on the inclines. +Now and then two got up, and there rang hard echoes of oak. Again all +were calm as cud-chewing cattle, and the white water ran pleased with +quiet. + +It may be that the elves brewed mischief among them; for the oaken blows +were becoming more frequent. One complained of a kick: another demanded +satisfaction for a pinch. 'Go to,' drawled the accused drowsily in both +cases, 'too much beer last night!' Within three minutes, the company +counted a pair of broken heads. The East was winning on the West in +heaven, and the dusk was thinning. They began to mark, each, whom he +had cudgelled. A noise of something swiftly in motion made them alert. +A roebuck rushed down one of the hills, and scampered across the sward. +The fine beast went stretching so rapidly away as to be hardly distinct. + +'Sathanas once more!' they murmured, and drew together. + +The name passed through them like a watchword. + +'Not he this time,' cried the two new-comers, emerging from the foliage. +'He's safe under Cologne--the worse for all good men who live there! But +come! follow to the Rhine! there 's work for us on the yonder side, and +sharp work.' + +'Why,' answered several, 'we 've our challenge with the lads of +Leutesdorf and Wied to-day.' + +'D' ye see this?' said the foremost of the others, pointing to a carved +ivory white rose in his cap. + +'Brothers!' he swelled his voice, 'follow with a will, for the White +Rose is in danger!' + +Immediately they ranked, and followed zealously through the buds +of young bushes, and over heaps of damp dead leaves, a half-hour's +scramble, when they defiled under Hammerstein, and stood before the +Rhine. Their leader led up the river, and after a hasty walk, stopped, +loosened his hood, and stripped. + +'Now,' said he, strapping the bundle to his back, 'let me know the hound +that refuses to follow his leader when the White Rose is in danger.' + +'Long live Dietrich!' they shouted. He dropped from the bank, and waded +in. He was soon supported by the remainder of the striplings, and all +struck out boldly into mid-stream. + +Never heard history of a nobler Passage of the Rhine than this made +between Andernach and Hammerstein by members of the White Rose Club, +bundle on back, to relieve the White Rose of Germany from thrall and +shame! + +They were taken far down by the rapid current, and arrived panting to +land. The dressing done, they marched up the pass of Tonnistein, and +took a deep draught at the spring of pleasant waters there open to +wayfarers. Arrived at the skirts of Laach, they beheld two farmer +peasants lashed back to back against a hazel. They released them, but +could gain no word of information, as the fellows, after a yawn and a +wink, started off, all heels, to make sure of liberty. On the shores of +the lake the brotherhood descried a body of youths, whom they hailed, +and were welcomed to companionship. + +'Where's Berthold?' asked Dietrich. + +He was not present. + +'The more glory for us, then,' Dietrich said. + +It was here seriously put to the captain, whether they should not halt +at the abbey, and reflect, seeing that great work was in prospect. + +'Truly,' quoth Dietrich, 'dying on an empty stomach is heathenish, and +cold blood makes a green wound gape. Kaiser Conrad should be hospitable, +and the monks honour numbers. Here be we, thirty and nine; let us go!' + +The West was dark blue with fallen light. The lakewaters were growing +grey with twilight. The abbey stood muffled in shadows. Already the +youths had commenced battering at the convent doors, when they were +summoned by the voice of the Goshawk on horseback. To their confusion +they beheld the White Rose herself on his right hand. Chapfallen +Dietrich bowed to his sweet mistress. + +'We were coming to the rescue,' he stammered. + +A laugh broke from the Goshawk. 'You thought the lady was locked up in +the ghostly larder; eh!' + +Dietrich seized his sword, and tightened his belt. + +'The Club allows no jesting with the White Rose, Sir Stranger.' + +Margarita made peace. 'I thank you all, good friends. But quarrel not, I +pray you, with them that save me at the risk of their lives.' + +'Our service is equal,' said the Goshawk, flourishing, 'Only we happen +to be beforehand with the Club, for which Farina and myself heartily beg +pardon of the entire brotherhood.' + +'Farina!' exclaimed Dietrich. 'Then we make a prisoner instead of +uncaging a captive.' + +'What 's this?' said Guy. + +'So much,' responded Dietrich. 'Yonder's a runaway from two masters: the +law of Cologne, and the conqueror of Satan; and all good citizens are +empowered to bring him back, dead or alive.' + +'Dietrich! Dietrich! dare you talk thus of the man who saved me?' cried +Margarita. + +Dietrich sullenly persisted. + +'Then, look!' said the White Rose, reddening under the pale dawn; 'he +shall not, he shall not go with you.' + +One of the Club was here on the point of speaking to the White Rose,--a +breach of the captain's privilege. Dietrich felled him unresisting to +earth, and resumed: + +'It must be done, Beauty of Cologne! the monk, Father Gregory, is now +enduring shame and scorn for lack of this truant witness.' + +'Enough! I go!' said Farina. + +'You leave me?' Margarita looked tender reproach. Weariness and fierce +excitement had given a liquid flame to her eyes and an endearing +darkness round their circles that matched strangely with her plump +youth. Her features had a soft white flush. She was less radiant, but +never looked so bewitching. An aspect of sweet human languor caught at +the heart of love, and raised tumults. + +'It is a duty,' said Farina. + +'Then go,' she beckoned, and held her hand for him to kiss. He raised it +to his lips. This was seen of all the Club. + +As they were departing with Farina, and Guy prepared to demand +admittance into the convent, Dietrich chanced to ask how fared Dame +Lisbeth. Schwartz Thier was by, and answered, with a laugh, that he had +quite forgotten the little lady. + +'We took her in mistake for you, mistress! She was a one to scream! The +moment she was kissed--mum as a cloister. We kissed her, all of us, +for the fun of it. No harm--no harm! We should have dropped her when we +found we had the old bird 'stead of the young one, but reckoned ransom, +ye see. She's at the Eck, rattling, I's wager, like last year's nut in +the shell!' + +'Lisbeth! Lisbeth! poor Lisbeth; we will return to her. Instantly,' +cried Margarita. + +'Not you,' said Guy. + +'Yes! I!' + +'No!' said Guy. + +'Gallant Goshawk! best of birds, let me go!' + +'Without me or Farina, never! I see I shall have no chance with my lord +now. Come, then, come, fair Irresistible! come, lads. Farina can journey +back alone. You shall have the renown of rescuing Dame Lisbeth.' + +'Farina! forget not to comfort my father,' said Margarita. + +Between Margarita's society and Farina's, there was little dispute in +the captain's mind which choice to make. Farina was allowed to travel +single to Cologne; and Dietrich, petted by Margarita, and gently jeered +by Guy, headed the Club from Laach waters to the castle of the Robber +Baron. + + + + +THE BACK-BLOWS OF SATHANAS + +Monk Gregory was pacing the high road between the Imperial camp and +suffering Cologne. The sun had risen through interminable distances +of cloud that held him remote in a succession of receding mounds and +thinner veils, realm beyond realm, till he showed fireless, like a +phantom king in a phantom land. The lark was in the breast of morning. +The field-mouse ran along the furrows. Dews hung red and grey on the +weedy banks and wayside trees. At times the nostril of the good +father was lifted, and he beat his breast, relapsing into sorrowful +contemplation. Passed-any citizen of Cologne, the ghostly head sunk into +its cowl. 'There's a black raven!' said many. Monk Gregory heard them, +and murmured, 'Thou hast me, Evil one! thou hast me!' + +It was noon when Farina came clattering down from the camp. + +'Father,' said he, 'I have sought thee.' + +'My son!' exclaimed Monk Gregory with silencing hand, 'thou didst not +well to leave me contending against the tongues of doubt. Answer me +not. The maiden! and what weighed she in such a scale?--No more! I am +punished. Well speaks the ancient proverb: + + "Beware the back-blows of Sathanas!" + +I, that thought to have vanquished him! Vanity has wrecked me, in this +world and the next. I am the victim of self-incense. I hear the demons +shouting their chorus--"Here comes Monk Gregory, who called himself +Conqueror of Darkness!" In the camp I am discredited and a scoff; in +the city I am spat upon, abhorred. Satan, my son, fights not with his +fore-claws. 'Tis with his tail he fights, O Farina!--Listen, my son! he +entered to his kingdom below through Cologne, even under the stones +of the Cathedral Square, and the stench of him abominably remaineth, +challenging the nostrils of holy and unholy alike. The Kaiser cannot +approach for him; the citizens are outraged. Oh! had I held my peace in +humbleness, I had truly conquered him. But he gave me easy victory, to +inflate me. I shall not last. Now this only is left, my son; that thou +bear living testimony to the truth of my statement, as I bear it to the +folly!' + +Farina promised, in the face of all, he would proclaim and witness to +his victory on Drachenfels. + +'That I may not be ranked an impostor!' continued the Monk. 'And how +great must be the virtue of them that encounter that dark spirit! Valour +availeth nought. But if virtue be not in' ye, soon will ye be puffed to +bursting with that devil's poison, self-incense. Surely, my son, thou +art faithful; and for this service I can reward thee. Follow me yet +again.' + +On the road they met Gottlieb Groschen, hastening to the camp. Dismay +rumpled the old merchant's honest jowl. Farina drew rein before him. + +'Your daughter is safe, worthy Master Groschen,' said he. + +'Safe?' cried Gottlieb; 'where is she, my Grete?' + +Farina briefly explained. Gottlieb spread out his arms, and was going +to thank the youth. He saw Father Gregory, and his whole frame narrowed +with disgust. + +'Are you in company with that pestilent animal, that curse of Cologne!' + +'The good Monk--,' said Farina. + +'You are leagued with him, then, sirrah! Expect no thanks from me. +Cologne, I say, is cursed! Meddling wretches! could ye not leave Satan +alone? He hurt us not. We were free of him. Cologne, I say, is cursed! +The enemy of mankind is brought by you to be the deadly foe of Cologne.' + +So saying, Gottlieb departed. + +'Seest thou, my son,' quoth the Monk, 'they reason not!' + +Farina was dejected. Willingly would he, for his part, have left the +soul of Evil a loose rover for the sake of some brighter horizon to his +hope. + +No twinge of remorse accompanied Gottlieb. The Kaiser had allotted him +an encampment and a guard of honour for his household while the foulness +raged, and there Gottlieb welcomed back Margarita and Aunt Lisbeth on +the noon after his meeting with Farina. The White Rose had rested at +Laach, and was blooming again. She and the Goshawk came trotting in +advance of the Club through the woods of Laach, startling the deer +with laughter, and sending the hare with her ears laid back all across +country. In vain Dietrich menaced Guy with the terrors of the Club: Aunt +Lisbeth begged of Margarita not to leave her with the footmen in vain. +The joyous couple galloped over the country, and sprang the ditches, and +leapt the dykes, up and down the banks, glad as morning hawks, entering +Andernach at a round pace; where they rested at a hostel as capable of +producing good Rhine and Mosel wine then as now. Here they had mid-day's +meal laid out in the garden for the angry Club, and somewhat appeased +them on their arrival with bumpers of the best Scharzhofberger. After a +refreshing halt, three boats were hired. On their passage to the river, +they encountered a procession of monks headed by the Archbishop of +Andernach, bearing a small figure of Christ carved in blackthorn and +varnished: said to work miracles, and a present to the good town from +two Hungarian pilgrims. + +'Are ye for Cologne?' the monks inquired of them. + +'Direct down stream!' they answered. + +'Send, then, hither to us Gregory, the conqueror of Darkness, that he +may know there is gratitude on earth and gratulation for great deeds,' +said the monks. + +So with genuflexions the travellers proceeded, and entered the boats +by the Archbishop's White Tower. Hammerstein Castle and Rheineck +they floated under; Salzig and the Ahr confluence; Rolandseck and +Nonnenwerth; Drachenfels and Bonn; hills green with young vines; dells +waving fresh foliage. Margarita sang as they floated. Ancient ballads +she sang that made the Goshawk sigh for home, and affected the Club with +delirious love for the grand old water that was speeding them onward. +Aunt Lisbeth was not to be moved. She alone held down her head. +She looked not Gottlieb in the face as he embraced her. Nor to any +questioning would she vouchsafe reply. From that time forth, she was +charity to woman; and the exuberant cheerfulness and familiarity of +the men toward her soon grew kindly and respectful. The dragon in Aunt +Lisbeth was destroyed. She objected no more to Margarita's cameo. + +The Goshawk quickly made peace with his lord, and enjoyed the +commendation of the Kaiser. Dietrich Schill thought of challenging +him; but the Club had graver business: and this was to pass sentence +on Berthold Schmidt for the crime of betraying the White Rose into the +hands of Werner. They had found Berthold at the Eck, and there consented +to let him remain until ransom was paid for his traitorous body. +Berthold in his mad passion was tricked by Werner, and on his release, +by payment of the ransom, submitted to the judgement of the Club, which +condemned him to fight them all in turn, and then endure banishment +from Rhineland; the Goshawk, for his sister's sake, interceding before a +harsher tribunal. + + + + +THE ENTRY INTO COLOGNE + +Seven days Kaiser Heinrich remained camped outside Cologne. Six times +in six successive days the Kaiser attempted to enter the city, and was +foiled. + +'Beard of Barbarossa!' said the Kaiser, 'this is the first stronghold +that ever resisted me.' + +The warrior bishops, electors, pfalzgrafs, and knights of the Empire, +all swore it was no shame not to be a match for the Demon. + +'If,' said the reflective Kaiser, 'we are to suffer below what poor +Cologne is doomed to undergo now, let us, by all that is savoury, reform +and do penance.' + +The wind just then setting on them dead from Cologne made the courtiers +serious. Many thought of their souls for the first time. + +This is recorded to the honour of Monk Gregory. + +On the seventh morning, the Kaiser announced his determination to make a +last trial. + +It was dawn, and a youth stood before the Kaiser's tent, praying an +audience. + +Conducted into the presence of the Kaiser, the youth, they say, +succeeded in arousing him from his depression, for, brave as he was, +Kaiser Heinrich dreaded the issue. Forthwith order was given for +the cavalcade to set out according to the rescript, Kaiser Heinrich +retaining the youth at his right hand. But the youth had found occasion +to visit Gottlieb and Margarita, each of whom he furnished with a flash, +[flask?] curiously shaped, and charged with a distillation. + +As the head of the procession reached the gates of Cologne, symptoms of +wavering were manifest. + +Kaiser Heinrich commanded an advance, at all cost. + +Pfalzgraf Nase, as the old chronicles call him in their humour, but +assuredly a great noble, led the van, and pushed across the draw-bridge. + +Hesitation and signs of horror were manifest in the assemblage round the +Kaiser's person. The Kaiser and the youth at his right hand were cheery. +Not a whit drooped they! Several of the heroic knights begged the +Kaiser's permission to fall back. + +'Follow Pfalzgraf Nase!' the Kaiser is reported to have said. + +Great was the wonderment of the people of Cologne to behold Kaiser +Heinrich riding in perfect stateliness up the main street toward +the Cathedral, while right and left of him bishops and electors were +dropping incapable. + +The Kaiser advanced till by his side the youth rode sole. + +'Thy name?' said the Kaiser. + +He answered: 'A poor youth, unconquerable Kaiser! Farina I am called.' + +'Thy recompense?' said the Kaiser. + +He answered: 'The hand of a maiden of Cologne, most gracious Kaiser and +master!' + +'She is thine!' said the Kaiser. + +Kaiser Heinrich looked behind him, and among a host grasping the pommels +of their saddles, and reeling vanquished, were but two erect, a maiden +and an old man. + +'That is she, unconquerable Kaiser!' Farina continued, bowing low. + +'It shall be arranged on the spot,' said the Kaiser. + +A word from Kaiser Heinrich sealed Gottlieb's compliance. + +Said he: 'Gracious Kaiser and master! though such a youth could of +himself never have aspired to the possession of a Groschen, yet when the +Kaiser pleads for him, objection is as the rock of Moses, and streams +consent. Truly he has done Cologne good service, and if Margarita, my +daughter, can be persuaded--' + +The Kaiser addressed her with his blazing brows. + +Margarita blushed a ready autumn of rosy-ripe acquiescence. + +'A marriage registered yonder!' said the Kaiser, pointing upward. + +'I am thine, murmured Margarita, as Farina drew near her. + +'Seal it! seal it!' quoth the Kaiser, in hearty good humour; 'take no +consent from man or maid without a seal.' + +Farina tossed the contents of a flask in air, and saluted his beloved on +the lips. + +This scene took place near the charred round of earth where the Foulest +descended to his kingdom below. + +Men now pervaded Cologne with flasks, purifying the atmosphere. It +became possible to breathe freely. + +'We Germans,' said Kaiser Heinrich, when he was again surrounded by his +courtiers, 'may go wrong if we always follow Pfalzgraf Nase; but this +time we have been well led.' Whereat there was obsequious laughter. + +The Pfalzgraf pleaded a susceptible nostril. + +'Thou art, I fear, but a timid mortal,' said the Kaiser. + +'Never have I been found so on the German Field, Imperial Majesty!' +returned the Pfalzgraf. 'I take glory to myself that this Nether reek +overcomes me.' + +'Even that we must combat, you see!' exclaimed Kaiser Heinrich; 'but +come all to a marriage this night, and take brides as soon as you will, +all of you. Increase, and give us loyal subjects in plenty. I count +prosperity by the number of marriages in my empire!' + +The White Rose Club were invited by Gottlieb to the wedding, and took it +in vast wrath until they saw the Kaiser, and such excellent stout German +fare present, when immediately a battle raged as to who should do the +event most honour, and was in dispute till dawn: Dietrich Schill being +the man, he having consumed wurst the length of his arm, and wine +sufficient to have floated a St. Goar salmon; which was long proudly +chronicled in his family, and is now unearthed from among the ancient +honourable records of Cologne. + +The Goshawk was Farina's bridesman, and a very spiriting bridesman was +he! Aunt Lisbeth sat in a corner, faintly smiling. + +'Child!' said the little lady to Margarita when they kissed at parting, +'your courage amazes me. Do you think? Do you know? Poor, sweet bird, +delivered over hand and foot!' + +'I love him! I love him, aunty! that's all I know,' said Margarita: +'love, love, love him!' + +'Heaven help you!' ejaculated Aunt Lisbeth. + +'Pray with me,' said Margarita. + +The two knelt at the foot of the bride-bed, and prayed very different +prayers, but to the same end. That done, Aunt Lisbeth helped undress the +White Rose, and trembled, and told a sad nuptial anecdote of the Castle, +and put her little shrivelled hand on Margarita's heart, and shrieked. + +'Child! it gallops!' she cried. + +''Tis happiness,' said Margarita, standing in her hair. + +'May it last only!' exclaimed Aunt Lisbeth. + +'It will, aunty! I am humble: I am true'; and the fair girl gathered the +frill of her nightgown. + +'Look not in the glass,' said Lisbeth; 'not to-night! Look, if you can, +to-morrow.' + +She smoothed the White Rose in her bed, tucked her up, and kissed her, +leaving her as a bud that waits for sunshine. + + + + +CONCLUSION + +The shadow of Monk Gregory was seen no more in Cologne. He entered the +Calendar, and ranks next St. Anthony. For three successive centuries the +towns of Rhineland boasted his visits in the flesh, and the conqueror of +Darkness caused dire Rhenish feuds. + +The Tailed Infernal repeated his famous Back-blow on Farina. The youth +awoke one morning and beheld warehouses the exact pattern of his own, +displaying flasks shaped even as his own, and a Farina to right and +left of him. In a week, they were doubled. A month quadrupled them. They +increased. + +'Fame and Fortune,' mused Farina, 'come from man and the world: Love +is from heaven. We may be worthy, and lose the first. We lose not love +unless unworthy. Would ye know the true Farina? Look for him who walks +under the seal of bliss; whose darling is for ever his young sweet +bride, leading him from snares, priming his soul with celestial +freshness. There is no hypocrisy can ape that aspect. Least of all, the +creatures of the Damned! By this I may be known.' + +Seven years after, when the Goshawk came into Cologne to see old +friends, and drink some of Gottlieb's oldest Rudesheimer, he was waylaid +by false Farinas; and only discovered the true one at last, by chance, +in the music-gardens near the Rhine, where Farina sat, having on one +hand Margarita, and at his feet three boys and one girl, over whom both +bent lovingly, like the parent vine fondling its grape bunches in summer +light. + + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + A generous enemy is a friend on the wrong side + All are friends who sit at table + Be what you seem, my little one + Bed was a rock of refuge and fortified defence + Civil tongue and rosy smiles sweeten even sour wine + Dangerous things are uttered after the third glass + Everywhere the badge of subjection is a poor stomach + Face betokening the perpetual smack of lemon + Gratitude never was a woman's gift + It was harder to be near and not close + Loving in this land: they all go mad, straight off + Never reckon on womankind for a wise act + Self-incense + Sign that the evil had reached from pricks to pokes + So are great deeds judged when the danger's past (as easy) + Soft slumber of a strength never yet called forth + Suspicion was her best witness + Sweet treasure before which lies a dragon sleeping + We like well whatso we have done good work for + Weak reeds who are easily vanquished and never overcome + Weak stomach is certainly more carnally virtuous than a full one + Wins everywhere back a reflection of its own kindliness + + + + + +THE CASE OF GENERAL OPLE AND LADY CAMPER + +By George Meredith + + + + +CHAPTER I + +An excursion beyond the immediate suburbs of London, projected long +before his pony-carriage was hired to conduct him, in fact ever since +his retirement from active service, led General Ople across a famous +common, with which he fell in love at once, to a lofty highway along +the borders of a park, for which he promptly exchanged his heart, and +so gradually within a stone's-throw or so of the river-side, where he +determined not solely to bestow his affections but to settle for life. +It may be seen that he was of an adventurous temperament, though he had +thought fit to loosen his sword-belt. The pony-carriage, however, had +been hired for the very special purpose of helping him to pass in review +the lines of what he called country houses, cottages, or even sites for +building, not too remote from sweet London: and as when Coelebs goes +forth intending to pursue and obtain, there is no doubt of his bringing +home a wife, the circumstance that there stood a house to let, in an +airy situation, at a certain distance in hail of the metropolis he +worshipped, was enough to kindle the General's enthusiasm. He would +have taken the first he saw, had it not been for his daughter, who +accompanied him, and at the age of eighteen was about to undertake +the management of his house. Fortune, under Elizabeth Ople's guiding +restraint, directed him to an epitome of the comforts. The place he fell +upon is only to be described in the tongue of auctioneers, and for +the first week after taking it he modestly followed them by terming +it bijou. In time, when his own imagination, instigated by a state of +something more than mere contentment, had been at work on it, he chose +the happy phrase, 'a gentlemanly residence.' For it was, he declared, +a small estate. There was a lodge to it, resembling two sentry-boxes +forced into union, where in one half an old couple sat bent, in the +other half lay compressed; there was a backdrive to discoverable +stables; there was a bit of grass that would have appeared a meadow if +magnified; and there was a wall round the kitchen-garden and a strip +of wood round the flower-garden. The prying of the outside world was +impossible. Comfort, fortification; and gentlemanliness made the place, +as the General said, an ideal English home. + +The compass of the estate was half an acre, and perhaps a perch or two, +just the size for the hugging love General Ople was happiest in giving. +He wisely decided to retain the old couple at the lodge, whose members +were used to restriction, and also not to purchase a cow, that would +have wanted pasture. With the old man, while the old woman attended to +the bell at the handsome front entrance with its gilt-spiked gates, he +undertook to do the gardening; a business he delighted in, so long as he +could perform it in a gentlemanly manner, that is to say, so long as he +was not overlooked. He was perfectly concealed from the road. Only one +house, and curiously indeed, only one window of the house, and further +to show the protection extended to Douro Lodge, that window an attic, +overlooked him. And the house was empty. + +The house (for who can hope, and who should desire a commodious house, +with conservatories, aviaries, pond and boat-shed, and other joys of +wealth, to remain unoccupied) was taken two seasons later by a lady, +of whom Fame, rolling like a dust-cloud from the place she had left, +reported that she was eccentric. The word is uninstructive: it does not +frighten. In a lady of a certain age, it is rather a characteristic of +aristocracy in retirement. And at least it implies wealth. + +General Ople was very anxious to see her. He had the sentiment of humble +respectfulness toward aristocracy, and there was that in riches which +aroused his admiration. London, for instance, he was not afraid to say +he thought the wonder of the world. He remarked, in addition, that the +sacking of London would suffice to make every common soldier of the +foreign army of occupation an independent gentleman for the term of his +natural days. But this is a nightmare! said he, startling himself with +an abhorrent dream of envy of those enriched invading officers: for +Booty is the one lovely thing which the military mind can contemplate +in the abstract. His habit was to go off in an explosion of heavy sighs +when he had delivered himself so far, like a man at war with himself. + +The lady arrived in time: she received the cards of the neighbourhood, +and signalized her eccentricity by paying no attention to them, +excepting the card of a Mrs. Baerens, who had audience of her at once. +By express arrangement, the card of General Wilson Ople, as her nearest +neighbour, followed the card of the rector, the social head of the +district; and the rector was granted an interview, but Lady Camper was +not at home to General Ople. She is of superior station to me, and may +not wish to associate with me, the General modestly said. Nevertheless +he was wounded: for in spite of himself, and without the slightest wish +to obtrude his own person, as he explained the meaning that he had in +him, his rank in the British army forced him to be the representative +of it, in the absence of any one of a superior rank. So that he was +professionally hurt, and his heart being in his profession, it may be +honestly stated that he was wounded in his feelings, though he said no, +and insisted on the distinction. Once a day his walk for constitutional +exercise compelled him to pass before Lady Camper's windows, which were +not bashfully withdrawn, as he said humorously of Douro Lodge, in the +seclusion of half-pay, but bowed out imperiously, militarily, like a +generalissimo on horseback, and had full command of the road and levels +up to the swelling park-foliage. He went by at a smart stride, with a +delicate depression of his upright bearing, as though hastening to greet +a friend in view, whose hand was getting ready for the shake. This much +would have been observed by a housemaid; and considering his fine figure +and the peculiar shining silveriness of his hair, the acceleration of +his gait was noticeable. When he drove by, the pony's right ear was +flicked, to the extreme indignation of a mettlesome little animal. It +ensued in consequence that the General was borne flying under the eyes +of Lady Camper, and such pace displeasing him, he reduced it invariably +at a step or two beyond the corner of her grounds. + +But neither he nor his daughter Elizabeth attached importance to so +trivial a circumstance. The General punctiliously avoided glancing at +the windows during the passage past them, whether in his wild career +or on foot. Elizabeth took a side-shot, as one looks at a wayside tree. +Their speech concerning Lady Camper was an exchange of commonplaces over +her loneliness: and this condition of hers was the more perplexing to +General Ople on his hearing from his daughter that the lady was very +fine-looking, and not so very old, as he had fancied eccentric ladies +must be. The rector's account of her, too, excited the mind. She had +informed him bluntly, that she now and then went to church to save +appearances, but was not a church-goer, finding it impossible to support +the length of the service; might, however, be reckoned in subscriptions +for all the charities, and left her pew open to poor people, and none +but the poor. She had travelled over Europe, and knew the East. Sketches +in watercolours of the scenes she had visited adorned her walls, and +a pair of pistols, that she had found useful, she affirmed, lay on the +writing-desk in her drawing-room. General Ople gathered from the rector +that she had a great contempt for men: yet it was curiously varied with +lamentations over the weakness of women. 'Really she cannot possibly be +an example of that,' said the General, thinking of the pistols. + +Now, we learn from those who have studied women on the chess-board, and +know what ebony or ivory will do along particular lines, or hopping, +that men much talked about will take possession of their thoughts; and +certainly the fact may be accepted for one of their moves. But the whole +fabric of our knowledge of them, which we are taught to build on this +originally acute perception, is shattered when we hear, that it is +exactly the same, in the same degree, in proportion to the amount of +work they have to do, exactly the same with men and their thoughts in +the case of women much talked about. So it was with General Ople, and +nothing is left for me to say except, that there is broader ground +than the chessboard. I am earnest in protesting the similarity of the +singular couples on common earth, because otherwise the General is in +peril of the accusation that he is a feminine character; and not simply +was he a gallant officer, and a veteran in gunpowder strife, he was +also (and it is an extraordinary thing that a genuine humility did not +prevent it, and did survive it) a lord and conqueror of the sex. He had +done his pretty bit of mischief, all in the way of honour, of course, +but hearts had knocked. And now, with his bright white hair, his +close-brushed white whiskers on a face burnt brown, his clear-cut +features, and a winning droop of his eyelids, there was powder in him +still, if not shot. + +There was a lamentable susceptibility to ladies' charms. On the other +hand, for the protection of the sex, a remainder of shyness kept +him from active enterprise and in the state of suffering, so long as +indications of encouragement were wanting. He had killed the soft ones, +who came to him, attracted by the softness in him, to be killed: but +clever women alarmed and paralyzed him. Their aptness to question and +require immediate sparkling answers; their demand for fresh wit, of a +kind that is not furnished by publications which strike it into heads +with a hammer, and supply it wholesale; their various reading; their +power of ridicule too; made them awful in his contemplation. + +Supposing (for the inflammable officer was now thinking, and deeply +thinking, of a clever woman), supposing that Lady Camper's pistols were +needed in her defence one night: at the first report proclaiming her +extremity, valour might gain an introduction to her upon easy terms, +and would not be expected to be witty. She would, perhaps, after the +excitement, admit his masculine superiority, in the beautiful old +fashion, by fainting in his arms. Such was the reverie he passingly +indulged, and only so could he venture to hope for an acquaintance with +the formidable lady who was his next neighbour. But the proud society of +the burglarious denied him opportunity. + +Meanwhile, he learnt that Lady Camper had a nephew, and the young +gentleman was in a cavalry regiment. General Ople met him outside his +gates, received and returned a polite salute, liked his appearance and +manners and talked of him to Elizabeth, asking her if by chance she +had seen him. She replied that she believed she had, and praised his +horsemanship. The General discovered that he was an excellent sculler. +His daughter was rowing him up the river when the young gentleman +shot by, with a splendid stroke, in an outrigger, backed, and floating +alongside presumed to enter into conversation, during which he managed +to express regrets at his aunt's turn for solitariness. As they belonged +to sister branches of the same Service, the General and Mr. Reginald +Roller had a theme in common, and a passion. Elizabeth told her father +that nothing afforded her so much pleasure as to hear him talk with Mr. +Roller on military matters. General Ople assured her that it pleased +him likewise. He began to spy about for Mr. Roller, and it sometimes +occurred that they conversed across the wall; it could hardly be +avoided. A hint or two, an undefinable flying allusion, gave the General +to understand that Lady Camper had not been happy in her marriage. He +was pained to think of her misfortune; but as she was not over forty, +the disaster was, perhaps, not irremediable; that is to say, if she +could be taught to extend her forgiveness to men, and abandon her +solitude. 'If,' he said to his daughter, 'Lady Camper should by any +chance be induced to contract a second alliance, she would, one might +expect, be humanized, and we should have highly agreeable neighbours.' +Elizabeth artlessly hoped for such an event to take place. + +She rarely differed with her father, up to whom, taking example from the +world around him, she looked as the pattern of a man of wise conduct. + +And he was one; and though modest, he was in good humour with himself, +approved himself, and could say, that without boasting of success, he +was a satisfied man, until he met his touchstone in Lady Camper. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +This is the pathetic matter of my story, and it requires pointing out, +because he never could explain what it was that seemed to him so +cruel in it, for he was no brilliant son of fortune, he was no great +pretender, none of those who are logically displaced from the heights +they have been raised to, manifestly created to show the moral in +Providence. He was modest, retiring, humbly contented; a gentlemanly +residence appeased his ambition. Popular, he could own that he was, but +not meteorically; rather by reason of his willingness to receive light +than his desire to shed it. Why, then, was the terrible test brought +to bear upon him, of all men? He was one of us; no worse, and not +strikingly or perilously better; and he could not but feel, in the +bitterness of his reflections upon an inexplicable destiny, that the +punishment befalling him, unmerited as it was, looked like absence of +Design in the scheme of things, Above. It looked as if the blow had been +dealt him by reckless chance. And to believe that, was for the mind of +General Ople the having to return to his alphabet and recommence the +ascent of the laborious mountain of understanding. + +To proceed, the General's introduction to Lady Camper was owing to a +message she sent him by her gardener, with a request that he would cut +down a branch of a wychelm, obscuring her view across his grounds toward +the river. The General consulted with his daughter, and came to the +conclusion, that as he could hardly despatch a written reply to a verbal +message, yet greatly wished to subscribe to the wishes of Lady Camper, +the best thing for him to do was to apply for an interview. He sent +word that he would wait on Lady Camper immediately, and betook himself +forthwith to his toilette. She was the niece of an earl. + +Elizabeth commended his appearance, 'passed him,' as he would have +said; and well she might, for his hat, surtout, trousers and boots, were +worthy of an introduction to Royalty. A touch of scarlet silk round the +neck gave him bloom, and better than that, the blooming consciousness of +it. + +'You are not to be nervous, papa,' Elizabeth said. + +'Not at all,' replied the General. 'I say, not at all, my dear,' he +repeated, and so betrayed that he had fallen into the nervous mood. 'I +was saying, I have known worse mornings than this.' He turned to her and +smiled brightly, nodded, and set his face to meet the future. + +He was absent an hour and a half. + +He came back with his radiance a little subdued, by no means eclipsed; +as, when experience has afforded us matter for thought, we cease to +shine dazzlingly, yet are not clouded; the rays have merely grown +serener. The sum of his impressions was conveyed in the reflective +utterance--'It only shows, my dear, how different the reality is from +our anticipation of it!' + +Lady Camper had been charming; full of condescension, neighbourly, +friendly, willing to be satisfied with the sacrifice of the smallest +branch of the wych-elm, and only requiring that much for complimentary +reasons. + +Elizabeth wished to hear what they were, and she thought the request +rather singular; but the General begged her to bear in mind, that they +were dealing with a very extraordinary woman; 'highly accomplished, +really exceedingly handsome,' he said to himself, aloud. + +The reasons were, her liking for air and view, and desire to see into +her neighbour's grounds without having to mount to the attic. + +Elizabeth gave a slight exclamation, and blushed. + +'So, my dear, we are objects of interest to her ladyship,' said the +General. + +He assured her that Lady Camper's manners were delightful. Strange to +tell, she knew a great deal of his antecedent history, things he had +not supposed were known; 'little matters,' he remarked, by which his +daughter faintly conceived a reference to the conquests of his dashing +days. Lady Camper had deigned to impart some of her own, incidentally; +that she was of Welsh blood, and born among the mountains. 'She has a +romantic look,' was the General's comment; and that her husband had been +an insatiable traveller before he became an invalid, and had never cared +for Art. 'Quite an extraordinary circumstance, with such a wife!' the +General said. + +He fell upon the wych-elm with his own hands, under cover of the +leafage, and the next day he paid his respects to Lady Camper, to +inquire if her ladyship saw any further obstruction to the view. + +'None,' she replied. 'And now we shall see what the two birds will do.' + +Apparently, then, she entertained an animosity to a pair of birds in the +tree. + +'Yes, yes; I say they chirp early in the morning,' said General Ople. + +'At all hours.' + +'The song of birds...?' he pleaded softly for nature. + +'If the nest is provided for them; but I don't like vagabond chirping.' + +The General perfectly acquiesced. This, in an engagement with a clever +woman, is what you should do, or else you are likely to find yourself +planted unawares in a high wind, your hat blown off, and your +coat-tails anywhere; in other words, you will stand ridiculous in your +bewilderment; and General Ople ever footed with the utmost caution +to avoid that quagmire of the ridiculous. The extremer quags he had +hitherto escaped; the smaller, into which he fell in his agile evasions +of the big, he had hitherto been blest in finding none to notice. + +He requested her ladyship's permission to present his daughter. Lady +Camper sent in her card. + +Elizabeth Ople beheld a tall, handsomely-mannered lady, with good +features and penetrating dark eyes, an easy carriage of her person and +an agreeable voice, but (the vision of her age flashed out under the +compelling eyes of youth) fifty if a day. The rich colouring confessed +to it. But she was very pleasing, and Elizabeth's perception dwelt on it +only because her father's manly chivalry had defended the lady against +one year more than forty. + +The richness of the colouring, Elizabeth feared, was artificial, and +it caused her ingenuous young blood a shudder. For we are so devoted to +nature when the dame is flattering us with her gifts, that we loathe the +substitute omitting to think how much less it is an imposition than a +form of practical adoration of the genuine. + +Our young detective, however, concealed her emotion of childish horror. + +Lady Camper remarked of her, 'She seems honest, and that is the most we +can hope of girls.' + +'She is a jewel for an honest man,' the General sighed, 'some day!' + +'Let us hope it will be a distant day.' + +'Yet,' said the General, 'girls expect to marry.' + +Lady Camper fixed her black eyes on him, but did not speak. + +He told Elizabeth that her ladyship's eyes were exceedingly searching: +'Only,' said he, 'as I have nothing to hide, I am able to submit to +inspection'; and he laughed slightly up to an arresting cough, and made +the mantelpiece ornaments pass muster. + +General Ople was the hero to champion a lady whose airs of haughtiness +caused her to be somewhat backbitten. He assured everybody, that Lady +Camper was much misunderstood; she was a most remarkable woman; she was +a most affable and highly intelligent lady. Building up her attributes +on a splendid climax, he declared she was pious, charitable, witty, +and really an extraordinary artist. He laid particular stress on +her artistic qualities, describing her power with the brush, her +water-colour sketches, and also some immensely clever caricatures. As he +talked of no one else, his friends heard enough of Lady Camper, who was +anything but a favourite. The Pollingtons, the Wilders, the Wardens, the +Baerens, the Goslings, and others of his acquaintance, talked of Lady +Camper and General Ople rather maliciously. They were all City people, +and they admired the General, but mourned that he should so abjectly +have fallen at the feet of a lady as red with rouge as a railway +bill. His not seeing it showed the state he was in. The sister of Mrs. +Pollington, an amiable widow, relict of a large City warehouse, named +Barcop, was chilled by a falling off in his attentions. His apology for +not appearing at garden parties was, that he was engaged to wait on Lady +Camper. + +And at one time, her not condescending to exchange visits with the +obsequious General was a topic fertile in irony. But she did condescend. +Lady Camper came to his gate unexpectedly, rang the bell, and was let +in like an ordinary visitor. It happened that the General was +gardening--not the pretty occupation of pruning--he was digging--and of +necessity his coat was off, and he was hot, dusty, unpresentable. +From adoring earth as the mother of roses, you may pass into a lady's +presence without purification; you cannot (or so the General thought) +when you are caught in the act of adoring the mother of cabbages. And +though he himself loved the cabbage equally with the rose, in his heart +respected the vegetable yet more than he esteemed the flower, for he +gloried in his kitchen garden, this was not a secret for the world to +know, and he almost heeled over on his beam ends when word was brought +of the extreme honour Lady Camper had done him. He worked his arms +hurriedly into his fatigue jacket, trusting to get away to the house and +spend a couple of minutes on his adornment; and with any other visitor +it might have been accomplished, but Lady Camper disliked sitting alone +in a room. She was on the square of lawn as the General stole along the +walk. Had she kept her back to him, he might have rounded her like the +shadow of a dial, undetected. She was frightfully acute of hearing. She +turned while he was in the agony of hesitation, in a queer attitude, one +leg on the march, projected by a frenzied tip-toe of the hinder leg, +the very fatallest moment she could possibly have selected for unveiling +him. + +Of course there was no choice but to surrender on the spot. + +He began to squander his dizzy wits in profuse apologies. Lady Camper +simply spoke of the nice little nest of a garden, smelt the flowers, +accepted a Niel rose and a Rohan, a Cline, a Falcot, and La France. + +'A beautiful rose indeed,' she said of the latter, 'only it smells of +macassar oil.' + +'Really, it never struck me, I say it never struck me before,' rejoined +the General, smelling it as at a pinch of snuff. 'I was saying, I always +....' And he tacitly, with the absurdest of smiles, begged permission to +leave unterminated a sentence not in itself particularly difficult + +'I have a nose,' observed Lady Camper. + +Like the nobly-bred person she was, according to General Ople's +version of the interview on his estate, when he stood before her in his +gardening costume, she put him at his ease, or she exerted herself to +do so; and if he underwent considerable anguish, it was the fault of his +excessive scrupulousness regarding dress, propriety, appearance. + +He conducted her at her request to the kitchen garden and the handful of +paddock, the stables and coach-house, then back to the lawn. + +'It is the home for a young couple,' she said. + +'I am no longer young,' the General bowed, with the sigh peculiar to +this confession. 'I say, I am no longer young, but I call the place a +gentlemanly residence. I was saying, I...' + +'Yes, yes!' Lady Camper tossed her head, half closing her eyes, with a +contraction of the brows, as if in pain. + +He perceived a similar expression whenever he spoke of his residence. + +Perhaps it recalled happier days to enter such a nest. Perhaps it had +been such a home for a young couple that she had entered on her marriage +with Sir Scrope Camper, before he inherited his title and estates. + +The General was at a loss to conceive what it was. + +It recurred at another mention of his idea of the nature of the +residence. It was almost a paroxysm. He determined not to vex her +reminiscences again; and as this resolution directed his mind to his +residence, thinking it pre-eminently gentlemanly, his tongue committed +the error of repeating it, with 'gentleman-like' for a variation. + +Elizabeth was out--he knew not where. The housemaid informed him, that +Miss Elizabeth was out rowing on the water. + +'Is she alone?' Lady Camper inquired of him. + +'I fancy so,' the General replied. + +'The poor child has no mother.' + +'It has been a sad loss to us both, Lady Camper.' + +'No doubt. She is too pretty to go out alone.' + +'I can trust her.' + +'Girls!' + +'She has the spirit of a man.' + +'That is well. She has a spirit; it will be tried.' + +The General modestly furnished an instance or two of her spiritedness. + +Lady Camper seemed to like this theme; she looked graciously interested. + +'Still, you should not suffer her to go out alone,' she said. + +'I place implicit confidence in her,' said the General; and Lady Camper +gave it up. + +She proposed to walk down the lanes to the river-side, to meet Elizabeth +returning. + +The General manifested alacrity checked by reluctance. Lady Camper had +told him she objected to sit in a strange room by herself; after that, +he could hardly leave her to dash upstairs to change his clothes; yet +how, attired as he was, in a fatigue jacket, that warned him not to +imagine his back view, and held him constantly a little to the rear of +Lady Camper, lest she should be troubled by it;--and he knew the habit +of the second rank to criticise the front--how consent to face the outer +world in such style side by side with the lady he admired? + +'Come,' said she; and he shot forward a step, looking as if he had +missed fire. + +'Are you not coming, General?' + +He advanced mechanically. + +Not a soul met them down the lanes, except a little one, to whom Lady +Camper gave a small silver-piece, because she was a picture. + +The act of charity sank into the General's heart, as any pretty +performance will do upon a warm waxen bed. + +Lady Camper surprised him by answering his thoughts. 'No; it's for my +own pleasure.' + +Presently she said, 'Here they are.' + +General Ople beheld his daughter by the river-side at the end of the +lane, under escort of Mr. Reginald Rolles. + +It was another picture, and a pleasing one. The young lady and the +young gentleman wore boating hats, and were both dressed in white, and +standing by or just turning from the outrigger and light skiff they were +about to leave in charge of a waterman. Elizabeth stretched a finger at +arm's-length, issuing directions, which Mr. Rolles took up and worded +further to the man, for the sake of emphasis; and he, rather than +Elizabeth, was guilty of the half-start at sight of the persons who were +approaching. + +'My nephew, you should know, is intended for a working soldier,' said +Lady Camper; 'I like that sort of soldier best.' + +General Ople drooped his shoulders at the personal compliment. + +She resumed. 'His pay is a matter of importance to him. You are aware of +the smallness of a subaltern's pay. + +'I,' said the General, 'I say I feel my poor half-pay, having always +been a working soldier myself, very important, I was saying, very +important to me!' + +'Why did you retire?' + +Her interest in him seemed promising. He replied conscientiously, +'Beyond the duties of General of Brigade, I could not, I say I could +not, dare to aspire; I can accept and execute orders; I shrink from +responsibility!' + +'It is a pity,' said she, 'that you were not, like my nephew Reginald, +entirely dependent on your profession.' + +She laid such stress on her remark, that the General, who had just +expressed a very modest estimate of his abilities, was unable to +reject the flattery of her assuming him to be a man of some fortune. He +coughed, and said, 'Very little.' The thought came to him that he might +have to make a statement to her in time, and he emphasized, 'Very little +indeed. Sufficient,' he assured her, 'for a gentlemanly appearance.' + +'I have given you your warning,' was her inscrutable rejoinder, uttered +within earshot of the young people, to whom, especially to Elizabeth, +she was gracious. The damsel's boating uniform was praised, and her +sunny flush of exercise and exposure. + +Lady Camper regretted that she could not abandon her parasol: 'I freckle +so easily.' + +The General, puzzling over her strange words about a warning, gazed at +the red rose of art on her cheek with an air of profound abstraction. + +'I freckle so easily,' she repeated, dropping her parasol to defend her +face from the calculating scrutiny. + +'I burn brown,' said Elizabeth. + +Lady Camper laid the bud of a Falcot rose against the young girl's +cheek, but fetched streams of colour, that overwhelmed the momentary +comparison of the sunswarthed skin with the rich dusky yellow of the +rose in its deepening inward to soft brown. + +Reginald stretched his hand for the privileged flower, and she let him +take it; then she looked at the General; but the General was looking, +with his usual air of satisfaction, nowhere. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +'Lady Camper is no common enigma,' General Ople observed to his +daughter. + +Elizabeth inclined to be pleased with her, for at her suggestion the +General had bought a couple of horses, that she might ride in the park, +accompanied by her father or the little groom. Still, the great lady +was hard to read. She tested the resources of his income by all sorts of +instigation to expenditure, which his gallantry could not withstand; she +encouraged him to talk of his deeds in arms; she was friendly, almost +affectionate, and most bountiful in the presents of fruit, peaches, +nectarines, grapes, and hot-house wonders, that she showered on his +table; but she was an enigma in her evident dissatisfaction with him for +something he seemed to have left unsaid. And what could that be? + +At their last interview she had asked him, 'Are you sure, General, you +have nothing more to tell me?' + +And as he remarked, when relating it to Elizabeth, 'One might really be +tempted to misapprehend her ladyship's... I say one might commit oneself +beyond recovery. Now, my dear, what do you think she intended?' + +Elizabeth was 'burning brown,' or darkly blushing, as her manner was. + +She answered, 'I am certain you know of nothing that would interest her; +nothing, unless...' + +'Well?' the General urged her. + +'How can I speak it, papa?' + +'You really can't mean...' + +'Papa, what could I mean?' + +'If I were fool enough!' he murmured. 'No, no, I am an old man. I was +saying, I am past the age of folly.' + +One day Elizabeth came home from her ride in a thoughtful mood. She had +not, further than has been mentioned, incited her father to think of the +age of folly; but voluntarily or not, Lady Camper had, by an excess +of graciousness amounting to downright invitation; as thus, 'Will you +persist in withholding your confidence from me, General?' She added, 'I +am not so difficult a person.' These prompting speeches occurred on the +morning of the day when Elizabeth sat at his table, after a long ride +into the country, profoundly meditative. + +A note was handed to General Ople, with the request that he would step +in to speak with Lady Camper in the course of the evening, or next +morning. Elizabeth waited till his hat was on, then said, 'Papa, on my +ride to-day, I met Mr. Rolles.' + +'I am glad you had an agreeable escort, my dear.' + +'I could not refuse his company.' + +'Certainly not. And where did you ride?' + +'To a beautiful valley; and there we met.... ' + +'Her ladyship?' + +'Yes.' + +'She always admires you on horseback.' + +'So you know it, papa, if she should speak of it.' + +'And I am bound to tell you, my child,' said the General, 'that this +morning Lady Camper's manner to me was... if I were a fool... I say, +this morning I beat a retreat, but apparently she... I see no way out of +it, supposing she...' + +'I am sure she esteems you, dear papa,' said Elizabeth. 'You take to +her, my dear?' the General inquired anxiously; 'a little?--a little +afraid of her?' + +'A little,' Elizabeth replied, 'only a little.' + +'Don't be agitated about me.' + +'No, papa; you are sure to do right.' + +'But you are trembling.' + +'Oh! no. I wish you success.' + +General Ople was overjoyed to be reinforced by his daughter's good +wishes. He kissed her to thank her. He turned back to her to kiss her +again. She had greatly lightened the difficulty at least of a delicate +position. + +It was just like the imperious nature of Lady Camper to summon him +in the evening to terminate the conversation of the morning, from the +visible pitfall of which he had beaten a rather precipitate retreat. But +if his daughter cordially wished him success, and Lady Camper offered +him the crown of it, why then he had only to pluck up spirit, like a +good commander who has to pass a fordable river in the enemy's +presence; a dash, a splash, a rattling volley or two, and you are over, +established on the opposite bank. But you must be positive of victory, +otherwise, with the river behind you, your new position is likely to +be ticklish. So the General entered Lady Camper's drawing-room warily, +watching the fair enemy. He knew he was captivating, his old conquests +whispered in his ears, and her reception of him all but pointed to a +footstool at her feet. He might have fallen there at once, had he not +remembered a hint that Mr. Reginald Rolles had dropped concerning Lady +Camper's amazing variability. + +Lady Camper began. + +'General, you ran away from me this morning. Let me speak. And, by the +way, I must reproach you; you should not have left it to me. Things have +now gone so far that I cannot pretend to be blind. I know your feelings +as a father. Your daughter's happiness...' + +'My lady,' the General interposed, 'I have her distinct assurance that +it is, I say it is wrapt up in mine.' + +'Let me speak. Young people will say anything. Well, they have a certain +excuse for selfishness; we have not. I am in some degree bound to my +nephew; he is my sister's son.' + +'Assuredly, my lady. I would not stand in his light, be quite assured. +If I am, I was saying if I am not mistaken, I... and he is, or has +the making of an excellent soldier in him, and is likely to be a +distinguished cavalry officer.' + +'He has to carve his own way in the world, General.' + +'All good soldiers have, my lady. And if my position is not, after a +considerable term of service, I say if...' + +'To continue,' said Lady Camper: 'I never have liked early marriages. +I was married in my teens before I knew men. Now I do know them, and +now....' + +The General plunged forward: 'The honour you do us now:--a mature +experience is worth:--my dear Lady Camper, I have admired you:--and your +objection to early marriages cannot apply to... indeed, madam, vigour, +they say... though youth, of course... yet young people, as you +observe... and I have, though perhaps my reputation is against it, I was +saying I have a natural timidity with your sex, and I am grey-headed, +white-headed, but happily without a single malady.' + +Lady Camper's brows showed a trifling bewilderment. 'I am speaking of +these young people, General Ople.' + +'I consent to everything beforehand, my dear lady. He should be, I say +Mr. Rolles should be provided for.' + +'So should she, General, so should Elizabeth.' + +'She shall be, she will, dear madam. What I have, with your permission, +if--good heaven! Lady Camper, I scarcely know where I am. She would +.... I shall not like to lose her: you would not wish it. In time she +will.... she has every quality of a good wife.' + +'There, stay there, and be intelligible,' said Lady Camper. 'She has +every quality. Money should be one of them. Has she money?' + +'Oh! my lady,' the General exclaimed, 'we shall not come upon your purse +when her time comes.' + +'Has she ten thousand pounds?' + +'Elizabeth? She will have, at her father's death... but as for my +income, it is moderate, and only sufficient to maintain a gentlemanly +appearance in proper self-respect. I make no show. I say I make no show. +A wealthy marriage is the last thing on earth I should have aimed at. +I prefer quiet and retirement. Personally, I mean. That is my personal +taste. But if the lady... I say if it should happen that the lady ... +and indeed I am not one to press a suit: but if she who distinguishes +and honours me should chance to be wealthy, all I can do is to leave her +wealth at her disposal, and that I do: I do that unreservedly. I feel +I am very confused, alarmingly confused. Your ladyship merits a +superior... I trust I have not... I am entirely at your ladyship's +mercy.' + +'Are you prepared, if your daughter is asked in marriage, to settle ten +thousand pounds on her, General Ople?' + +The General collected himself. In his heart he thoroughly appreciated +the moral beauty of Lady Camper's extreme solicitude on behalf of his +daughter's provision; but he would have desired a postponement of that +and other material questions belonging to a distant future until his own +fate was decided. + +So he said: 'Your ladyship's generosity is very marked. I say it is very +marked.' + +'How, my good General Ople! how is it marked in any degree?' cried Lady +Camper. 'I am not generous. I don't pretend to be; and certainly I don't +want the young people to think me so. I want to be just. I have assumed +that you intend to be the same. Then will you do me the favour to reply +to me?' + +The General smiled winningly and intently, to show her that he prized +her, and would not let her escape his eulogies. + +'Marked, in this way, dear madam, that you think of my daughter's future +more than I. I say, more than her father himself does. I know I ought +to speak more warmly, I feel warmly. I was never an eloquent man, and if +you take me as a soldier, I am, as, I have ever been in the service, I +was saying I am Wilson Ople, of the grade of General, to be relied on +for executing orders; and, madam, you are Lady Camper, and you command +me. I cannot be more precise. In fact, it is the feeling of the +necessity for keeping close to the business that destroys what I would +say. I am in fact lamentably incompetent to conduct my own case.' + +Lady Camper left her chair. + +'Dear me, this is very strange, unless I am singularly in error,' she +said. + +The General now faintly guessed that he might be in error, for his part. + +But he had burned his ships, blown up his bridges; retreat could not be +thought of. + +He stood, his head bent and appealing to her sideface, like one +pleadingly in pursuit, and very deferentially, with a courteous +vehemence, he entreated first her ladyship's pardon for his presumption, +and then the gift of her ladyship's hand. + +As for his language, it was the tongue of General Ople. But his bearing +was fine. If his clipped white silken hair spoke of age, his figure +breathed manliness. He was a picture, and she loved pictures. + +For his own sake, she begged him to cease. She dreaded to hear of +something 'gentlemanly.' + +'This is a new idea to me, my dear General,' she said. 'You must give me +time. People at our age have to think of fitness. Of course, in a sense, +we are both free to do as we like. Perhaps I may be of some aid to you. +My preference is for absolute independence. And I wished to talk of a +different affair. Come to me tomorrow. Do not be hurt if I decide that +we had better remain as we are.' + +The General bowed. His efforts, and the wavering of the fair enemy's +flag, had inspired him with a positive re-awakening of masculine passion +to gain this fortress. He said well: 'I have, then, the happiness, +madam, of being allowed to hope until to-morrrow?' + +She replied, 'I would not deprive you of a moment of happiness. Bring +good sense with you when you do come.' + +The General asked eagerly, 'I have your ladyship's permission to come +early?' + +'Consult your happiness,' she answered; and if to his mind she seemed +returning to the state of enigma, it was on the whole deliciously. She +restored him his youth. He told Elizabeth that night; he really must +begin to think of marrying her to some worthy young fellow. 'Though,' +said he, with an air of frank intoxication, 'my opinion is, the young +ones are not so lively as the old in these days, or I should have been +besieged before now.' + +The exact substance of the interview he forbore to relate to his +inquisitive daughter, with a very honourable discretion. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Elizabeth came riding home to breakfast from a gallop round the park, +and passing Lady Camper's gates, received the salutation of her parasol. +Lady Camper talked with her through the bars. There was not a sign to +tell of a change or twist in her neighbourly affability. She remarked +simply enough, that it was her nephew's habit to take early gallops, and +possibly Elizabeth might have seen him, for his quarters were proximate; +but she did not demand an answer. She had passed a rather restless +night, she said. 'How is the General?' + +'Papa must have slept soundly, for he usually calls to me through his +door when he hears I am up,' said Elizabeth. + +Lady Camper nodded kindly and walked on. + +Early in the morning General Ople was ready for battle. His forces +were, the anticipation of victory, a carefully arranged toilet, and an +unaccustomed spirit of enterprise in the realms of speech; for he was no +longer in such awe of Lady Camper. + +'You have slept well?' she inquired. + +'Excellently, my lady: + +'Yes, your daughter tells me she heard you, as she went by your door +in the morning for a ride to meet my nephew. You are, I shall assume, +prepared for business.' + +'Elizabeth?... to meet...?' General Ople's impression of anything +extraneous to his emotion was feeble and passed instantly. 'Prepared! +Oh, certainly'; and he struck in a compliment on her ladyship's fresh +morning bloom. + +'It can hardly be visible,' she responded; 'I have not painted yet.' + +'Does your ladyship proceed to your painting in the very early morning?' + +'Rouge. I rouge.' + +'Dear me! I should not have supposed it.' + +'You have speculated on it very openly, General. I remember your +trying to see a freckle through the rouge; but the truth is, I am of +a supernatural paleness if I do not rouge, so I do. You understand, +therefore, I have a false complexion. Now to business.' + +'If your ladyship insists on calling it business. I have little to +offer--myself!' + +'You have a gentlemanly residence.' + +'It is, my lady, it is. It is a bijou.' + +'Ah!' Lady Camper sighed dejectedly. + +'It is a perfect bijou!' + +'Oblige me, General, by not pronouncing the French word as if you were +swearing by something in English, like a trooper.' + +General Ople started, admitted that the word was French, and apologized +for his pronunciation. Her variability was now visible over a corner of +the battlefield like a thunder-cloud. + +'The business we have to discuss concerns the young people, General.' + +'Yes,' brightened by this, he assented: 'Yes, dear Lady Camper; it is a +part of the business; it is a secondary part; it has to be discussed; I +say I subscribe beforehand. I may say, that honouring, esteeming you as +I do, and hoping ardently for your consent.... + +'They must have a home and an income, General.' + +'I presume, dearest lady, that Elizabeth will be welcome in your home. I +certainly shall never chase Reginald out of mine.' + +Lady Camper threw back her head. 'Then you are not yet awake, or you +practice the art of sleeping with open eyes! Now listen to me. I rouge, +I have told you. I like colour, and I do not like to see wrinkles or +have them seen. Therefore I rouge. I do not expect to deceive the world +so flagrantly as to my age, and you I would not deceive for a moment. I +am seventy.' + +The effect of this noble frankness on the General, was to raise him from +his chair in a sitting posture as if he had been blown up. + +Her countenance was inexorably imperturbable under his alternate +blinking and gazing that drew her close and shot her distant, like a +mysterious toy. + +'But,' said she, 'I am an artist; I dislike the look of extreme age, +so I conceal it as well as I can. You are very kind to fall in with the +deception: an innocent and, I think, a proper one, before the world, +though not to the gentleman who does me the honour to propose to me +for my hand. You desire to settle our business first. You esteem me; I +suppose you mean as much as young people mean when they say they love. +Do you? Let us come to an understanding.' + +'I can,' the melancholy General gasped, 'I say I can--I cannot--I cannot +credit your ladyship's...' + +'You are at liberty to call me Angela.' + +'Ange...' he tried it, and in shame relapsed. 'Madam, yes. Thanks.' + +'Ah,' cried Lady Camper, 'do not use these vulgar contractions of +decent speech in my presence. I abhor the word "thanks." It is fit for +fribbles.' + +'Dear me, I have used it all my life,' groaned the General. + +'Then, for the remainder, be it understood that you renounce it. To +continue, my age is...' + +'Oh, impossible, impossible,' the General almost wailed; there was +really a crack in his voice. + +'Advancing to seventy. But, like you, I am happy to say I have not +a malady. I bring no invalid frame to a union that necessitates the +leaving of the front door open day and night to the doctor. My belief +is, I could follow my husband still on a campaign, if he were a warrior +instead of a pensioner.' + +General Ople winced. + +He was about to say humbly, 'As General of Brigade...' + +'Yes, yes, you want a commanding officer, and that I have seen, and that +has caused me to meditate on your proposal,' she interrupted him; while +he, studying her countenance hard, with the painful aspect of a youth +who lashes a donkey memory in an examination by word of mouth, attempted +to marshal her signs of younger years against her awful confession of +the extremely ancient, the witheringly ancient. But for the manifest +rouge, manifest in spite of her declaration that she had not yet that +morning proceeded to her paintbrush, he would have thrown down his glove +to challenge her on the subject of her age. She had actually charms. Her +mouth had a charm; her eyes were lively; her figure, mature if you like, +was at least full and good; she stood upright, she had a queenly seat. +His mental ejaculation was, 'What a wonderful constitution!' + +By a lapse of politeness, he repeated it to himself half aloud; he was +shockingly nervous. + +'Yes, I have finer health than many a younger woman,' she said. 'An +ordinary calculation would give me twenty good years to come. I am a +widow, as you know. And, by the way, you have a leaning for widows. Have +you not? I thought I had heard of a widow Barcop in this parish. Do not +protest. I assure you I am a stranger to jealousy. My income...' + +The General raised his hands. + +'Well, then,' said the cool and self-contained lady, 'before I go +farther, I may ask you, knowing what you have forced me to confess, are +you still of the same mind as to marriage? And one moment, General. I +promise you most sincerely that your withdrawing a step shall not, as +far as it touches me, affect my neighbourly and friendly sentiments; not +in any degree. Shall we be as we were?' + +Lady Camper extended her delicate hand to him. + +He took it respectfully, inspected the aristocratic and unshrunken +fingers, and kissing them, said, 'I never withdraw from a position, +unless I am beaten back. Lady Camper, I...' + +'My name is Angela.' + +The General tried again: he could not utter the name. + +To call a lady of seventy Angela is difficult in itself. It is, it +seems, thrice difficult in the way of courtship. + +'Angela!' said she. + +'Yes. I say, there is not a more beautiful female name, dear Lady +Camper.' + +'Spare me that word "female" as long as you live. Address me by that +name, if you please.' + +The General smiled. The smile was meant for propitiation and sweetness. +It became a brazen smile. + +'Unless you wish to step back,' said she. + +'Indeed, no. I am happy, Lady Camper. My life is yours. I say, my life +is devoted to you, dear madam.' + +'Angela!' + +General Ople was blushingly delivered of the name. + +'That will do,' said she. 'And as I think it possible one may be admired +too much as an artist, I must request you to keep my number of years a +secret.' + +'To the death, madam,' said the General. + +'And now we will take a turn in the garden, Wilson Ople. And beware of +one thing, for a commencement, for you are full of weeds, and I mean +to pluck out a few: never call any place a gentlemanly residence in my +hearing, nor let it come to my ears that you have been using the phrase +elsewhere. Don't express astonishment. At present it is enough that I +dislike it. But this only,' Lady Camper added, 'this only if it is not +your intention to withdraw from your position.' + +'Madam, my lady, I was saying--hem!--Angela, I could not wish to +withdraw.' + +Lady Camper leaned with some pressure on his arm, observing, 'You have a +curious attachment to antiquities.' + +'My dear lady, it is your mind; I say, it is your mind: I was saying, I +am in love with your mind,' the General endeavoured to assure her, and +himself too. + +'Or is it my powers as an artist?' + +'Your mind, your extraordinary powers of mind.' + +'Well,' said Lady Camper, 'a veteran General of Brigade is as good a +crutch as a childless old grannam can have.' + +And as a crutch, General Ople, parading her grounds with the aged woman, +found himself used and treated. + +The accuracy of his perceptions might be questioned. He was like a man +stunned by some great tropical fruit, which responds to the longing +of his eyes by falling on his head; but it appeared to him, that she +increased in bitterness at every step they took, as if determined to +make him realize her wrinkles. + +He was even so inconsequent, or so little recognized his position, as to +object in his heart to hear himself called Wilson. + +It is true that she uttered Wilsonople as if the names formed one word. +And on a second occasion (when he inclined to feel hurt) she remarked, +'I fear me, Wilsonople, if we are to speak plainly, thou art but a +fool.' He, perhaps, naturally objected to that. He was, however, giddy, +and barely knew. + +Yet once more the magical woman changed. All semblance of harshness, and +harridan-like spike-tonguedness vanished when she said adieu. + +The astronomer, looking at the crusty jag and scoria of the magnified +moon through his telescope, and again with naked eyes at +the soft-beaming moon, when the crater-ridges are faint as +eyebrow-pencillings, has a similar sharp alternation of prospect to that +which mystified General Ople. + +But between watching an orb that is only variable at our caprice, and +contemplating a woman who shifts and quivers ever with her own, how vast +the difference! + +And consider that this woman is about to be one's wife! He could have +believed (if he had not known full surely that such things are not) he +was in the hands of a witch. + +Lady Camper's 'adieu' was perfectly beautiful--a kind, cordial, +intimate, above all, to satisfy his present craving, it was a lady-like +adieu--the adieu of a delicate and elegant woman, who had hardly left +her anchorage by forty to sail into the fifties. + +Alas! he had her word for it, that she was not less than seventy. And, +worse, she had betrayed most melancholy signs of sourness and agedness +as soon as he had sworn himself to her fast and fixed. + +'The road is open to you to retreat,' were her last words. + +'My road,' he answered gallantly, 'is forward.' + +He was drawing backward as he said it, and something provoked her to +smile. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +It is a noble thing to say that your road is forward, and it befits a +man of battles. General Ople was too loyal a gentleman to think of any +other road. Still, albeit not gifted with imagination, he could not +avoid the feeling that he had set his face to Winter. He found himself +suddenly walking straight into the heart of Winter, and a nipping +Winter. For her ladyship had proved acutely nipping. His little +customary phrases, to which Lady Camper objected, he could see no harm +in whatever. Conversing with her in the privacy of domestic life would +never be the flowing business that it is for other men. It would demand +perpetual vigilance, hop, skip, jump, flounderings, and apologies. + +This was not a pleasing prospect. + +On the other hand, she was the niece of an earl. She was wealthy. She +might be an excellent friend to Elizabeth; and she could be, when she +liked, both commandingly and bewitchingly ladylike. + +Good! But he was a General Officer of not more than fifty-five, in his +full vigour, and she a woman of seventy! + +The prospect was bleak. It resembled an outlook on the steppes. In +point of the discipline he was to expect, he might be compared to a raw +recruit, and in his own home! + +However, she was a woman of mind. One would be proud of her. + +But did he know the worst of her? A dreadful presentiment, that he did +not know the worst of her, rolled an ocean of gloom upon General Ople, +striking out one solitary thought in the obscurity, namely, that he was +about to receive punishment for retiring from active service to a life +of ease at a comparatively early age, when still in marching trim. And +the shadow of the thought was, that he deserved the punishment! + +He was in his garden with the dawn. Hard exercise is the best of opiates +for dismal reflections. The General discomposed his daughter by offering +to accompany her on her morning ride before breakfast. She considered +that it would fatigue him. 'I am not a man of eighty!' he cried. He +could have wished he had been. + +He led the way to the park, where they soon had sight of young Rolles, +who checked his horse and spied them like a vedette, but, perceiving +that he had been seen, came cantering, and hailing the General with +hearty wonderment. + +'And what's this the world says, General?' said he. 'But we all applaud +your taste. My aunt Angela was the handsomest woman of her time.' + +The General murmured in confusion, 'Dear me!' and looked at the young +man, thinking that he could not have known the time. + +'Is all arranged, my dear General?' + +'Nothing is arranged, and I beg--I say I beg... I came out for fresh air +and pace.'.. + +The General rode frantically. + +In spite of the fresh air, he was unable to eat at breakfast. He was +bound, of course, to present himself to Lady Camper, in common civility, +immediately after it. + +And first, what were the phrases he had to avoid uttering in her +presence? He could remember only the 'gentlemanly residence.' And it was +a gentlemanly residence, he thought as he took leave of it. It was one, +neatly named to fit the place. Lady Camper is indeed a most eccentric +person! he decided from his experience of her. + +He was rather astonished that young Rolles should have spoken so coolly +of his aunt's leaning to matrimony; but perhaps her exact age was +unknown to the younger members of her family. + +This idea refreshed him by suggesting the extremely honourable nature of +Lady Camper's uncomfortable confession. + +He himself had an uncomfortable confession to make. He would have to +speak of his income. He was living up to the edges of it. + +She is an upright woman, and I must be the same! he said, fortunately +not in her hearing. + +The subject was disagreeable to a man sensitive on the topic of money, +and feeling that his prudence had recently been misled to keep up +appearances. + +Lady Camper was in her garden, reclining under her parasol. A chair was +beside her, to which, acknowledging the salutation of her suitor, she +waved him. + +'You have met my nephew Reginald this morning, General?' + +'Curiously, in the park, this morning, before breakfast, I did, yes. +Hem! I, I say I did meet him. Has your ladyship seen him?' + +'No. The park is very pretty in the early morning.' + +'Sweetly pretty.' + +Lady Camper raised her head, and with the mildness of assured +dictatorship, pronounced: 'Never say that before me.' + +'I submit, my lady,' said the poor scourged man. + +'Why, naturally you do. Vulgar phrases have to be endured, except when +our intimates are guilty, and then we are not merely offended, we are +compromised by them. You are still of the mind in which you left me +yesterday? You are one day older. But I warn you, so am I.' + +'Yes, my lady, we cannot, I say we cannot check time. Decidedly of the +same mind. Quite so.' + +'Oblige me by never saying "Quite so." My lawyer says it. It reeks of +the City of London. And do not look so miserable.' + +'I, madam? my dear lady!' the General flashed out in a radiance that +dulled instantly. + +'Well,' said she cheerfully, 'and you're for the old woman?' + +'For Lady Camper.' + +'You are seductive in your flatteries, General. Well, then, we have to +speak of business.' + +'My affairs----' General Ople was beginning, with perturbed forehead; +but Lady Camper held up her finger. + +'We will touch on your affairs incidentally. Now listen to me, and do +not exclaim until I have finished. You know that these two young ones +have been whispering over the wall for some months. They have been +meeting on the river and in the park habitually, apparently with your +consent.' + +'My lady!' + +'I did not say with your connivance.' + +'You mean my daughter Elizabeth?' + +'And my nephew Reginald. We have named them, if that advances us. Now, +the end of such meetings is marriage, and the sooner the better, if they +are to continue. I would rather they should not; I do not hold it good +for young soldiers to marry. But if they do, it is very certain that +their pay will not support a family; and in a marriage of two healthy +young people, we have to assume the existence of the family. You have +allowed matters to go so far that the boy is hot in love; I suppose the +girl is, too. She is a nice girl. I do not object to her personally. But +I insist that a settlement be made on her before I give my nephew one +penny. Hear me out, for I am not fond of business, and shall be glad to +have done with these explanations. Reginald has nothing of his own. He +is my sister's son, and I loved her, and rather like the boy. He has at +present four hundred a year from me. I will double it, on the condition +that you at once make over ten thousand--not less; and let it be yes or +no!--to be settled on your daughter and go to her children, independent +of the husband--cela va sans dire. Now you may speak, General.' + +The General spoke, with breath fetched from the deeps: + +'Ten thousand pounds! Hem! Ten! Hem, frankly--ten, my lady! One's +income--I am quite taken by surprise. I say Elizabeth's conduct--though, +poor child! it is natural to her to seek a mate, I mean, to accept a +mate and an establishment, and Reginald is a very hopeful fellow--I +was saying, they jump on me out of an ambush, and I wish them every +happiness. And she is an ardent soldier, and a soldier she must marry. +But ten thousand!' + +'It is to secure the happiness of your daughter, General.' + +'Pounds! my lady. It would rather cripple me.' + +'You would have my house, General; you would have the moiety, as the +lawyers say, of my purse; you would have horses, carriages, servants; I +do not divine what more you would wish to have.' + +'But, madam--a pensioner on the Government! I can look back on past +services, I say old services, and I accept my position. But, madam, a +pensioner on my wife, bringing next to nothing to the common estate! I +fear my self-respect would, I say would...' + +'Well, and what would it do, General Ople?' + +'I was saying, my self-respect as my wife's pensioner, my lady. I could +not come to her empty-handed.' + +'Do you expect that I should be the person to settle money on your +daughter, to save her from mischances? A rakish husband, for example; +for Reginald is young, and no one can guess what will be made of him.' + +'Undoubtedly your ladyship is correct. We might try absence for the poor +girl. I have no female relation, but I could send her to the sea-side to +a lady-friend.' + +'General Ople, I forbid you, as you value my esteem, ever--and I repeat, +I forbid you ever--to afflict my ears with that phrase, "lady-friend!"' + +The General blinked in a state of insurgent humility. + +These incessant whippings could not but sting the humblest of men; and +'lady-friend,' he was sure, was a very common term, used, he was sure, +in the very best society. He had never heard Her Majesty speak at levees +of a lady-friend, but he was quite sure that she had one; and if so, +what could be the objection to her subjects mentioning it as a term to +suit their own circumstances? + +He was harassed and perplexed by old Lady Camper's treatment of him, and +he resolved not to call her Angela even upon supplication--not that day, +at least. + +She said, 'You will not need to bring property of any kind to the common +estate; I neither look for it nor desire it. The generous thing for you +to do would be to give your daughter all you have, and come to me.' + +'But, Lady Camper, if I denude myself or curtail my income--a man at his +wife's discretion, I was saying a man at his wife's mercy...!' + +General Ople was really forced, by his manly dignity, to make this +protest on its behalf. He did not see how he could have escaped doing +so; he was more an agent than a principal. 'My wife's mercy,' he said +again, but simply as a herald proclaiming superior orders. + +Lady Camper's brows were wrathful. A deep blood-crimson overcame the +rouge, and gave her a terrible stormy look. + +'The congress now ceases to sit, and the treaty is not concluded,' was +all she said. + +She rose, bowed to him, 'Good morning, General,' and turned her back. + +He sighed. He was a free man. But this could not be denied--whatever +the lady's age, she was a grand woman in her carriage, and when looking +angry, she had a queenlike aspect that raised her out of the reckoning +of time. + +So now he knew there was a worse behind what he had previously known. He +was precipitate in calling it the worst. 'Now,' said he to himself, 'I +know the worst!' + +No man should ever say it. Least of all, one who has entered into +relations with an eccentric lady. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Politeness required that General Ople should not appear to rejoice in +his dismissal as a suitor, and should at least make some show of holding +himself at the beck of a reconsidering mind. He was guilty of running up +to London early next day, and remaining absent until nightfall; and he +did the same on the two following days. When he presented himself +at Lady Camper's lodge-gates, the astonishing intelligence, that her +ladyship had departed for the Continent and Egypt gave him qualms of +remorse, which assumed a more definite shape in something like awe of +her triumphant constitution. He forbore to mention her age, for he +was the most honourable of men, but a habit of tea-table talkativeness +impelled him to say and repeat an idea that had visited him, to the +effect, that Lady Camper was one of those wonderful women who are +comparable to brilliant generals, and defend themselves from the +siege of Time by various aggressive movements. Fearful of not being +understood, owing to the rarity of the occasions when the squat plain +squad of honest Saxon regulars at his command were called upon to +explain an idea, he re-cast the sentence. But, as it happened that the +regulars of his vocabulary were not numerous, and not accustomed to work +upon thoughts and images, his repetitions rather succeeded in exposing +the piece of knowledge he had recently acquired than in making his +meaning plainer. So we need not marvel that his acquaintances should +suppose him to be secretly aware of an extreme degree in which Lady +Camper was a veteran. + +General Ople entered into the gaieties of the neighbourhood once more, +and passed through the Winter cheerfully. In justice to him, however, it +should be said that to the intent dwelling of his mind upon Lady Camper, +and not to the festive life he led, was due his entire ignorance of +his daughter's unhappiness. She lived with him, and yet it was in other +houses he learnt that she was unhappy. After his last interview with +Lady Camper, he had informed Elizabeth of the ruinous and preposterous +amount of money demanded of him for a settlement upon her and Elizabeth, +like the girl of good sense that she was, had replied immediately, 'It +could not be thought of, papa.' + +He had spoken to Reginald likewise. The young man fell into a dramatic +tearing-of-hair and long-stride fury, not ill becoming an enamoured +dragoon. But he maintained that his aunt, though an eccentric, was a +cordially kind woman. He seemed to feel, if he did not partly hint, that +the General might have accepted Lady Camper's terms. The young officer +could no longer be welcome at Douro Lodge, so the General paid him +a morning call at his quarters, and was distressed to find him +breakfasting very late, tapping eggs that he forgot to open--one of the +surest signs of a young man downright and deep in love, as the General +knew from experience--and surrounded by uncut sporting journals of +past weeks, which dated from the day when his blow had struck him, as +accurately as the watch of the drowned man marks his minute. Lady Camper +had gone to Italy, and was in communication with her nephew: Reginald +was not further explicit. His legs were very prominent in his +despair, and his fingers frequently performed the part of blunt combs; +consequently the General was impressed by his passion for Elizabeth. The +girl who, if she was often meditative, always met his eyes with a smile, +and quietly said 'Yes, papa,' and 'No, papa,' gave him little concern +as to the state of her feelings. Yet everybody said now that she was +unhappy. Mrs. Barcop, the widow, raised her voice above the rest. So +attentive was she to Elizabeth that the General had it kindly suggested +to him, that some one was courting him through his daughter. He gazed +at the widow. Now she was not much past thirty; and it was really +singular--he could have laughed--thinking of Mrs. Barcop set him +persistently thinking of Lady Camper. That is to say, his mad fancy +reverted from the lady of perhaps thirty-five to the lady of seventy. + +Such, thought he, is genius in a woman! Of his neighbours generally, +Mrs. Baerens, the wife of a German merchant, an exquisite player on the +pianoforte, was the most inclined to lead him to speak of Lady Camper. +She was a kind prattling woman, and was known to have been a governess +before her charms withdrew the gastronomic Gottfried Baerens from his +devotion to the well-served City club, where, as he exclaimed (ever +turning fondly to his wife as he vocalized the compliment), he had found +every necessity, every luxury, in life, 'as you cannot have dem out +of London--all save de female!' Mrs. Baerens, a lady of Teutonic +extraction, was distinguishable as of that sex; at least, she was not +masculine. She spoke with great respect of Lady Camper and her +family, and seemed to agree in the General's eulogies of Lady Camper's +constitution. Still he thought she eyed him strangely. + +One April morning the General received a letter with the Italian +postmark. Opening it with his usual calm and happy curiosity, he +perceived that it was composed of pen-and-ink drawings. And suddenly +his heart sank like a scuttled ship. He saw himself the victim of a +caricature. + +The first sketch had merely seemed picturesque, and he supposed it a +clever play of fancy by some travelling friend, or perhaps an actual +scene slightly exaggerated. Even on reading, 'A distant view of the city +of Wilsonople,' he was only slightly enlightened. His heart beat +still with befitting regularity. But the second and the third sketches +betrayed the terrible hand. The distant view of the city of Wilsonople +was fair with glittering domes, which, in the succeeding near view, +proved to have been soap-bubbles, for a place of extreme flatness, +begirt with crazy old-fashioned fortifications, was shown; and in +the third view, representing the interior, stood for sole place of +habitation, a sentry-box. + +Most minutely drawn, and, alas! with fearful accuracy, a military +gentleman in undress occupied the box. Not a doubt could exist as to the +person it was meant to be. + +The General tried hard to remain incredulous. He remembered too well who +had called him Wilsonople. + +But here was the extraordinary thing that sent him over the +neighbourhood canvassing for exclamations: on the fourth page was the +outline of a lovely feminine hand, holding a pen, as in the act of +shading, and under it these words: 'What I say is, I say I think it +exceedingly unladylike.' + +Now consider the General's feelings when, turning to this fourth page, +having these very words in his mouth, as the accurate expression of his +thoughts, he discovered them written! + +An enemy who anticipates the actions of our mind, has a quality of the +malignant divine that may well inspire terror. The senses of General +Ople were struck by the aspect of a lurid Goddess, who penetrated him, +read him through, and had both power and will to expose and make him +ridiculous for ever. + +The loveliness of the hand, too, in a perplexing manner contested his +denunciation of her conduct. It was ladylike eminently, and it involved +him in a confused mixture of the moral and material, as great as young +people are known to feel when they make the attempt to separate them, in +one of their frenzies. + +With a petty bitter laugh he folded the letter, put it in his +breast-pocket, and sallied forth for a walk, chiefly to talk to himself +about it. But as it absorbed him entirely, he showed it to the rector, +whom he met, and what the rector said is of no consequence, for General +Ople listened to no remarks, calling in succession on the Pollingtons, +the Goslings, the Baerens, and others, early though it was, and +the lords of those houses absent amassing hoards; and to the ladies +everywhere he displayed the sketches he had received, observing, that +Wilsonople meant himself; and there he was, he said, pointing at the +capped fellow in the sentry-box, done unmistakably. The likeness indeed +was remarkable. 'She is a woman of genius,' he ejaculated, with utter +melancholy. Mrs. Baerens, by the aid of a magnifying glass, assisted +him to read a line under the sentry-box, that he had taken for a mere +trembling dash; it ran, A gentlemanly residence. + +'What eyes she has!' the General exclaimed; 'I say it is miraculous what +eyes she has at her time of... I was saying, I should never have known +it was writing.' + +He sighed heavily. His shuddering sensitiveness to caricature was +increased by a certain evident dread of the hand which struck; the +knowing that he was absolutely bare to this woman, defenceless, open to +exposure in his little whims, foibles, tricks, incompetencies, in what +lay in his heart, and the words that would come to his tongue. He felt +like a man haunted. + +So deeply did he feel the blow, that people asked how it was that he +could be so foolish as to dance about assisting Lady Camper in her +efforts to make him ridiculous; he acted the parts of publisher and +agent for the fearful caricaturist. In truth, there was a strangely +double reason for his conduct; he danced about for sympathy, he had the +intensest craving for sympathy, but more than this, or quite as much, he +desired to have the powers of his enemy widely appreciated; in the first +place, that he might be excused to himself for wincing under them, and +secondly, because an awful admiration of her, that should be deepened +by a corresponding sentiment around him, helped him to enjoy luxurious +recollections of an hour when he was near making her his own--his own, +in the holy abstract contemplation of marriage, without realizing their +probable relative conditions after the ceremony. + +'I say, that is the very image of her ladyship's hand,' he was +especially fond of remarking, 'I say it is a beautiful hand.' + +He carried the letter in his pocket-book; and beginning to fancy that +she had done her worst, for he could not imagine an inventive malignity +capable of pursuing the theme, he spoke of her treatment of him with +compassionate regret, not badly assumed from being partly sincere. + +Two letters dated in France, the one Dijon, the other Fontainebleau, +arrived together; and as the General knew Lady Camper to be returning to +England, he expected that she was anxious to excuse herself to him. His +fingers were not so confident, for he tore one of the letters to open +it. + +The City of Wilsonople was recognizable immediately. So likewise was the +sole inhabitant. + +General Ople's petty bitter laugh recurred, like a weak-chested +patient's cough in the shifting of our winds eastward. + +A faceless woman's shadow kneels on the ground near the sentry-box, +weeping. A faceless shadow of a young man on horseback is beheld +galloping toward a gulf. The sole inhabitant contemplates his largely +substantial full fleshed face and figure in a glass. + +Next, we see the standard of Great Britain furled; next, unfurled and +borne by a troop of shadows to the sentry-box. The officer within +says, 'I say I should be very happy to carry it, but I cannot quit this +gentlemanly residence.' + +Next, the standard is shown assailed by popguns. Several of the shadows +are prostrate. 'I was saying, I assure you that nothing but this +gentlemanly residence prevents me from heading you,' says the gallant +officer. + +General Ople trembled with protestant indignation when he saw himself +reclining in a magnified sentry-box, while detachments of shadows hurry +to him to show him the standard of his country trailing in the dust; and +he is maliciously made to say, 'I dislike responsibility. I say I am +a fervent patriot, and very fond of my comforts, but I shun +responsibility.' + +The second letter contained scenes between Wilsonople and the Moon. + +He addresses her as his neighbour, and tells her of his triumphs over +the sex. + +He requests her to inform him whether she is a 'female,' that she may be +triumphed over. + +He hastens past her window on foot, with his head bent, just as the +General had been in the habit of walking. + +He drives a mouse-pony furiously by. + +He cuts down a tree, that she may peep through. + +Then, from the Moon's point of view, Wilsonople, a Silenus, is discerned +in an arm-chair winking at a couple too plainly pouting their lips for a +doubt of their intentions to be entertained. + +A fourth letter arrived, bearing date of Paris. This one illustrated +Wilsonople's courtship of the Moon, and ended with his 'saying,' in his +peculiar manner, 'In spite of her paint I could not have conceived her +age to be so enormous.' + +How break off his engagement with the Lady Moon? Consent to none of her +terms! + +Little used as he was to read behind a veil, acuteness of suffering +sharpened the General's intelligence to a degree that sustained him +in animated dialogue with each succeeding sketch, or poisoned arrow +whirring at him from the moment his eyes rested on it; and here are a +few samples: + +'Wilsonople informs the Moon that she is "sweetly pretty." + +'He thanks her with "thanks" for a handsome piece of lunar green cheese. + +'He points to her, apparently telling some one, "my lady-friend." + +'He sneezes "Bijou! bijou! bijou!"' + +They were trifles, but they attacked his habits of speech; and he began +to grow more and more alarmingly absurd in each fresh caricature of his +person. + +He looked at himself as the malicious woman's hand had shaped him. It +was unjust; it was no resemblance--and yet it was! There was a corner +of likeness left that leavened the lump; henceforth he must walk abroad +with this distressing image of himself before his eyes, instead of the +satisfactory reflex of the man who had, and was happy in thinking that +he had, done mischief in his time. Such an end for a conquering man was +too pathetic. + +The General surprised himself talking to himself in something louder +than a hum at neighbours' dinner-tables. He looked about and noticed +that people were silently watching him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Lady Camper's return was the subject of speculation in the +neighbourhood, for most people thought she would cease to persecute the +General with her preposterous and unwarrantable pen-and-ink sketches +when living so closely proximate; and how he would behave was the +question. Those who made a hero of him were sure he would treat her +with disdain. Others were uncertain. He had been so severely hit that it +seemed possible he would not show much spirit. + +He, for his part, had come to entertain such dread of the post, that +Lady Camper's return relieved him of his morning apprehensions; and he +would have forgiven her, though he feared to see her, if only she had +promised to leave him in peace for the future. He feared to see +her, because of the too probable furnishing of fresh matter for her +ladyship's hand. Of course he could not avoid being seen by her, and +that was a particular misery. A gentlemanly humility, or demureness +of aspect, when seen, would, he hoped, disarm his enemy. It should, +he thought. He had borne unheard-of things. No one of his friends and +acquaintances knew, they could not know, what he had endured. It has +caused him fits of stammering. It had destroyed the composure of his +gait. Elizabeth had informed him that he talked to himself incessantly, +and aloud. She, poor child, looked pale too. She was evidently anxious +about him. + +Young Rolles, whom he had met now and then, persisted in praising his +aunt's good heart. So, perhaps, having satiated her revenge, she might +now be inclined for peace, on the terms of distant civility. + +'Yes! poor Elizabeth!' sighed the General, in pity of the poor girl's +disappointment; 'poor Elizabeth! she little guesses what her father has +gone through. Poor child! I say, she hasn't an idea of my sufferings.' + +General Ople delivered his card at Lady Camper's lodgegates and escaped +to his residence in a state of prickly heat that required the brushing +of his hair with hard brushes for several minutes to comfort and +re-establish him. + +He had fallen to working in his garden, when Lady Camper's card was +brought to him an hour after the delivery of his own; a pleasing +promptitude, showing signs of repentance, and suggesting to the General +instantly some sharp sarcasms upon women, which he had come upon +in quotations in the papers and the pulpit, his two main sources of +information. + +Instead of handing back the card to the maid, he stuck it in his hat and +went on digging. + +The first of a series of letters containing shameless realistic +caricatures was handed to him the afternoon following. They came fast +and thick. Not a day's interval of grace was allowed. Niobe under the +shafts of Diana was hardly less violently and mortally assailed. The +deadliness of the attack lay in the ridicule of the daily habits of one +of the most sensitive of men, as to his personal appearance, and the +opinion of the world. He might have concealed the sketches, but he could +not have concealed the bruises, and people were perpetually asking the +unhappy General what he was saying, for he spoke to himself as if he +were repeating something to them for the tenth time. + +'I say,' said he, 'I say that for a lady, really an educated lady, to +sit, as she must--I was saying, she must have sat in an attic to have +the right view of me. And there you see--this is what she has done. +This is the last, this is the afternoon's delivery. Her ladyship has +me correctly as to costume, but I could not exhibit such a sketch to +ladies.' + +A back view of the General was displayed in his act of digging. + +'I say I could not allow ladies to see it,' he informed the gentlemen, +who were suffered to inspect it freely. + +'But you see, I have no means of escape; I am at her mercy from morning +to night,' the General said, with a quivering tongue, 'unless I stay at +home inside the house; and that is death to me, or unless I abandon the +place, and my lease; and I shall--I say, I shall find nowhere in England +for anything like the money or conveniences such a gent--a residence +you would call fit for a gentleman. I call it a bi... it is, in short, a +gem. But I shall have to go.' + +Young Rolles offered to expostulate with his aunt Angela. + +The General said, 'Tha... I thank you very much. I would not have her +ladyship suppose I am so susceptible. I hardly know,' he confessed +pitiably, 'what it is right to say, and what not--what not. I-I-I never +know when I am not looking a fool. I hurry from tree to tree to shun the +light. I am seriously affected in my appetite. I say, I shall have to +go.' + +Reginald gave him to understand that if he flew, the shafts would follow +him, for Lady Camper would never forgive his running away, and was quite +equal to publishing a book of the adventures of Wilsonople. + +Sunday afternoon, walking in the park with his daughter on his arm, +General Ople met Mr. Rolles. He saw that the young man and Elizabeth +were mortally pale, and as the very idea of wretchedness directed his +attention to himself, he addressed them conjointly on the subject of his +persecution, giving neither of them a chance of speaking until they were +constrained to part. + +A sketch was the consequence, in which a withered Cupid and a fading +Psyche were seen divided by Wilsonople, who keeps them forcibly asunder +with policeman's fists, while courteously and elegantly entreating +them to hear him. 'Meet,' he tells them, 'as often as you like, in my +company, so long as you listen to me'; and the pathos of his aspect +makes hungry demand for a sympathetic audience. + +Now, this, and not the series representing the martyrdom of the old +couple at Douro Lodge Gates, whose rigid frames bore witness to the +close packing of a gentlemanly residence, this was the sketch General +Ople, in his madness from the pursuing bite of the gadfly, handed about +at Mrs. Pollington's lawn-party. Some have said, that he should not have +betrayed his daughter; but it is reasonable to suppose he had no idea of +his daughter's being the Psyche. Or if he had, it was indistinct, owing +to the violence of his personal emotion. Assuming this to have been the +very sketch; he handed it to two or three ladies in turn, and was heard +to deliver himself at intervals in the following snatches: 'As you like, +my lady, as you like; strike, I say strike; I bear it; I say I bear it. +... If her ladyship is unforgiving, I say I am enduring.... I may go, +I was saying I may go mad, but while I have my reason I walk upright, I +walk upright.' + +Mr. Pollington and certain City gentlemen hearing the poor General's +renewed soliloquies, were seized with disgust of Lady Camper's conduct, +and stoutly advised an application to the Law Courts. + +He gave ear to them abstractedly, but after pulling out the whole +chapter of the caricatures (which it seemed that he kept in a case of +morocco leather in his breast-pocket), showing them, with comments on +them, and observing, 'There will be more, there must be more, I say I am +sure there are things I do that her ladyship will discover and expose,' +he declined to seek redress or simple protection; and the miserable +spectacle was exhibited soon after of this courtly man listening to Mrs. +Barcop on the weather, and replying in acquiescence: 'It is hot.--If +your ladyship will only abstain from colours. Very hot as you say, +madam,--I do not complain of pen and ink, but I would rather escape +colours. And I dare say you find it hot too?' + +Mrs. Barcop shut her eyes and sighed over the wreck of a handsome +military officer. + +She asked him: 'What is your objection to colours?' + +His hand was at his breast-pocket immediately, as he said: 'Have you not +seen?'--though but a few minutes back he had shown her the contents of +the packet, including a hurried glance of the famous digging scene. + +By this time the entire district was in fervid sympathy with General +Ople. The ladies did not, as their lords did, proclaim astonishment that +a man should suffer a woman to goad him to a state of semi-lunacy; +but one or two confessed to their husbands, that it required a +great admiration of General Ople not to despise him, both for his +susceptibility and his patience. As for the men, they knew him to +have faced the balls in bellowing battle-strife; they knew him to +have endured privation, not only cold but downright want of food and +drink--an almost unimaginable horror to these brave daily feasters; so +they could not quite look on him in contempt; but his want of sense was +offensive, and still more so his submission to a scourging by a woman. +Not one of them would have deigned to feel it. Would they have allowed +her to see that she could sting them? They would have laughed at her. Or +they would have dragged her before a magistrate. + +It was a Sunday in early Summer when General Ople walked to morning +service, unaccompanied by Elizabeth, who was unwell. The church was of +the considerate old-fashioned order, with deaf square pews, permitting +the mind to abstract itself from the sermon, or wrestle at leisure with +the difficulties presented by the preacher, as General Ople often +did, feeling not a little in love with his sincere attentiveness for +grappling with the knotty point and partially allowing the struggle to +be seen. + +The Church was, besides, a sanctuary for him. Hither his enemy did not +come. He had this one place of refuge, and he almost looked a happy man +again. + +He had passed into his hat and out of it, which he habitually did +standing, when who should walk up to within a couple of yards of him +but Lady Camper. Her pew was full of poor people, who made signs of +retiring. She signified to them that they were to sit, then quietly took +her seat among them, fronting the General across the aisle. + +During the sermon a low voice, sharp in contradistinction to the +monotone of the preacher's, was heard to repeat these words: 'I say I am +not sure I shall survive it.' Considerable muttering in the same quarter +was heard besides. + +After the customary ceremonious game, when all were free to move, of +nobody liking to move first, Lady Camper and a charity boy were the +persons who took the lead. But Lady Camper could not quit her pew, owing +to the sticking of the door. She smiled as with her pretty hand she +twice or thrice essayed to shake it open. General Ople strode to her +aid. He pulled the door, gave the shadow of a respectful bow, and no +doubt he would have withdrawn, had not Lady Camper, while acknowledging +the civility, placed her prayer-book in his hands to carry at her heels. +There was no choice for him. He made a sort of slipping dance back for +his hat, and followed her ladyship. All present being eager to witness +the spectacle, the passage of Lady Camper dragging the victim General +behind her was observed without a stir of the well-dressed members of +the congregation, until a desire overcame them to see how Lady Camper +would behave to her fish when she had him outside the sacred edifice. + +None could have imagined such a scene. Lady Camper was in her carriage; +General Ople was holding her prayer-book, hat in hand, at the carriage +step, and he looked as if he were toasting before the bars of a furnace; +for while he stood there, Lady Camper was rapidly pencilling outlines in +a small pocket sketchbook. There are dogs whose shyness is put to it to +endure human observation and a direct address to them, even on the part +of their masters; and these dear simple dogs wag tail and turn their +heads aside waveringly, as though to entreat you not to eye them and +talk to them so. General Ople, in the presence of the sketchbook, was +much like the nervous animal. He would fain have run away. He glanced at +it, and round about, and again at it, and at the heavens. Her ladyship's +cruelty, and his inexplicable submission to it, were witnessed of the +multitude. + +The General's friends walked very slowly. Lady Camper's carriage whirled +by, and the General came up with them, accosting them and himself +alternately. They asked him where Elizabeth was, and he replied, +'Poor child, yes! I am told she is pale, but I cannot, believe I am so +perfectly, I say so perfectly ridiculous, when I join the responses.' +He drew forth half a dozen sheets, and showed them sketches that Lady +Camper had taken in church, caricaturing him in the sitting down and the +standing up. She had torn them out of the book, and presented them to +him when driving off. 'I was saying, worship in the ordinary sense will +be interdicted to me if her ladyship...,' said the General, woefully +shuffling the sketch-paper sheets in which he figured. + +He made the following odd confession to Mr. and Mrs. Gosling on the +road:--that he had gone to his chest, and taken out his sword-belt +to measure his girth, and found himself thinner than when he left the +service, which had not been the case before his attendance at the last +levee of the foregoing season. So the deduction was obvious, that +Lady Camper had reduced him. She had reduced him as effectually as a +harassing siege. + +'But why do you pay attention to her? Why...!' exclaimed Mr. Gosling, a +gentleman of the City, whose roundness would have turned a rifle-shot. + +'To allow her to wound you so seriously!' exclaimed Mrs. Gosling. + +'Madam, if she were my wife,' the General explained, 'I should feel +it. I say it is the fact of it; I feel it, if I appear so extremely +ridiculous to a human eye, to any one eye.' + +'To Lady Camper's eye.' + +He admitted it might be that. He had not thought of ascribing the +acuteness of his pain to the miserable image he presented in this +particular lady's eye. No; it really was true, curiously true: another +lady's eye might have transformed him to a pumpkin shape, exaggerated +all his foibles fifty-fold, and he, though not liking it, of course not, +would yet have preserved a certain manly equanimity. How was it Lady +Camper had such power over him?--a lady concealing seventy years with a +rouge-box or paint-pot! It was witchcraft in its worst character. He had +for six months at her bidding been actually living the life of a beast, +degraded in his own esteem; scorched by every laugh he heard; running, +pursued, overtaken, and as it were scored or branded, and then let go +for the process to be repeated. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Our young barbarians have it all their own way with us when they fall +into love-liking; they lead us whither they please, and interest us +in their wishings, their weepings, and that fine performance, their +kissings. But when we see our veterans tottering to their fall, we +scarcely consent to their having a wish; as for a kiss, we halloo at +them if we discover them on a byway to the sacred grove where such +things are supposed to be done by the venerable. And this piece of rank +injustice, not to say impoliteness, is entirely because of an unsound +opinion that Nature is not in it, as though it were our esteem for +Nature which caused us to disrespect them. They, in truth, show her to +us discreet, civilized, in a decent moral aspect: vistas of real life, +views of the mind's eye, are opened by their touching little emotions; +whereas those bully youngsters who come bellowing at us and catch us by +the senses plainly prove either that we are no better than they, or that +we give our attention to Nature only when she makes us afraid of her. +If we cared for her, we should be up and after her reverentially in her +sedater steps, deeply studying her in her slower paces. She teaches +them nothing when they are whirling. Our closest instructors, the true +philosophers--the story-tellers, in short-will learn in time that Nature +is not of necessity always roaring, and as soon as they do, the world +may be said to be enlightened. Meantime, in the contemplation of a pair +of white whiskers fluttering round a pair of manifestly painted cheeks, +be assured that Nature is in it: not that hectoring wanton--but let the +young have their fun. Let the superior interest of the passions of the +aged be conceded, and not a word shall be said against the young. + +If, then, Nature is in it, how has she been made active? The reason +of her launch upon this last adventure is, that she has perceived +the person who can supply the virtue known to her by experience to be +wanting. Thus, in the broader instance, many who have journeyed far down +the road, turn back to the worship of youth, which they have lost. Some +are for the graceful worldliness of wit, of which they have just share +enough to admire it. Some are captivated by hands that can wield the +rod, which in earlier days they escaped to their cost. In the case +of General Ople, it was partly her whippings of him, partly her +penetration; her ability, that sat so finely on a wealthy woman, her +indifference to conventional manners, that so well beseemed a nobly-born +one, and more than all, her correction of his little weaknesses and +incompetencies, in spite of his dislike of it, won him. He began to feel +a sort of nibbling pleasure in her grotesque sketches of his person; a +tendency to recur to the old ones while dreading the arrival of new. You +hear old gentlemen speak fondly of the swish; and they are not attached +to pain, but the instrument revives their feeling of youth; and General +Ople half enjoyed, while shrinking, Lady Camper's foregone outlines of +him. For in the distance, the whip's-end may look like a clinging caress +instead of a stinging flick. But this craven melting in his heart was +rebuked by a very worthy pride, that flew for support to the injury she +had done to his devotions, and the offence to the sacred edifice. After +thinking over it, he decided that he must quit his residence; and as +it appeared to him in the light of duty, he, with an unspoken anguish, +commissioned the house-agent of his town to sell his lease or let the +house furnished, without further parley. + +From the house-agent's shop he turned into the chemist's, for a tonic--a +foolish proceeding, for he had received bracing enough in the blow he +had just dealt himself, but he had been cogitating on tonics recently, +imagining certain valiant effects of them, with visions of a former +careless happiness that they were likely to restore. So he requested to +have the tonic strong, and he took one glass of it over the counter. + +Fifteen minutes after the draught, he came in sight of his house, and +beholding it, he could have called it a gentlemanly residence aloud +under Lady Camper's windows, his insurgency was of such violence. He +talked of it incessantly, but forbore to tell Elizabeth, as she was +looking pale, the reason why its modest merits touched him so. He longed +for the hour of his next dose, and for a caricature to follow, that he +might drink and defy it. A caricature was really due to him, he thought; +otherwise why had he abandoned his bijou dwelling? Lady Camper, however, +sent none. He had to wait a fortnight before one came, and that was +rather a likeness, and a handsome likeness, except as regarded a certain +disorderliness in his dress, which he knew to be very unlike him. Still +it despatched him to the looking-glass, to bring that verifier of +facts in evidence against the sketch. While sitting there he heard the +housemaid's knock at the door, and the strange intelligence that his +daughter was with Lady Camper, and had left word that she hoped he would +not forget his engagement to go to Mrs. Baerens' lawn-party. + +The General jumped away from the glass, shouting at the absent Elizabeth +in a fit of wrath so foreign to him, that he returned hurriedly to have +another look at himself, and exclaimed at the pitch of his voice, 'I +say I attribute it to an indigestion of that tonic. Do you hear?' The +housemaid faintly answered outside the door that she did, alarming him, +for there seemed to be confusion somewhere. His hope was that no one +would mention Lady Camper's name, for the mere thought of her caused a +rush to his head. 'I believe I am in for a touch of apoplexy,' he +said to the rector, who greeted him, in advance of the ladies, on Mr. +Baerens' lawn. He said it smilingly, but wanting some show of sympathy, +instead of the whisper and meaningless hand at his clerical band, with +which the rector responded, he cried, 'Apoplexy,' and his friend seemed +then to understand, and disappeared among the ladies. + +Several of them surrounded the General, and one inquired whether the +series was being continued. He drew forth his pocket-book, handed +her the latest, and remarked on the gross injustice of it; for, as he +requested them to take note, her ladyship now sketched him as a person +inattentive to his dress, and he begged them to observe that she had +drawn him with his necktie hanging loose. 'And that, I say that has +never been known of me since I first entered society.' + +The ladies exchanged looks of profound concern; for the fact was, the +General had come without any necktie and any collar, and he appeared to +be unaware of the circumstance. The rector had told them, that in +answer to a hint he had dropped on the subject of neckties, General Ople +expressed a slight apprehension of apoplexy; but his careless or merely +partial observance of the laws of buttonment could have nothing to do +with such fears. They signified rather a disorder of the intelligence. +Elizabeth was condemned for leaving him to go about alone. The situation +was really most painful, for a word to so sensitive a man would drive +him away in shame and for good; and still, to let him parade the ground +in the state, compared with his natural self, of scarecrow, and with +the dreadful habit of talking to himself quite rageing, was a horrible +alternative. Mrs. Baerens at last directed her husband upon the General, +trembling as though she watched for the operations of a fish torpedo; +and other ladies shared her excessive anxiousness, for Mr. Baerens had +the manner and the look of artillery, and on this occasion carried a +surcharge of powder. + +The General bent his ear to Mr. Baerens, whose German-English and +repeated remark, 'I am to do it wid delicassy,' did not assist his +comprehension; and when he might have been enlightened, he was petrified +by seeing Lady Camper walk on the lawn with Elizabeth. The great lady +stood a moment beside Mrs. Baerens; she came straight over to him, +contemplating him in silence. + +Then she said, 'Your arm, General Ople,' and she made one circuit of the +lawn with him, barely speaking. + +At her request, he conducted her to her carriage. He took a seat beside +her, obediently. He felt that he was being sketched, and comported +himself like a child's flat man, that jumps at the pulling of a string. + +'Where have you left your girl, General?' + +Before he could rally his wits to answer the question, he was asked: + +'And what have you done with your necktie and collar?' + +He touched his throat. + +'I am rather nervous to-day, I forgot Elizabeth,' he said, sending his +fingers in a dotting run of wonderment round his neck. + +Lady Camper smiled with a triumphing humour on her close-drawn lips. + +The verified absence of necktie and collar seemed to be choking him. + +'Never mind, you have been abroad without them,' said Lady Camper, 'and +that is a victory for me. And you thought of Elizabeth first when I drew +your attention to it, and that is a victory for you. It is a very +great victory. Pray, do not be dismayed, General. You have a handsome +campaigning air. And no apologies, if you please; I like you well enough +as you are. There is my hand.' + +General Ople understood her last remark. He pressed the lady's hand in +silence, very nervously. + +'But do not shrug your head into your shoulders as if there were any +possibility of concealing the thunderingly evident,' said Lady Camper, +electrifying him, what with her cordial squeeze, her kind eyes, and her +singular language. 'You have omitted the collar. Well? The collar is +the fatal finishing touch in men's dress; it would make Apollo look +bourgeois.' + +Her hand was in his: and watching the play of her features, a spark +entered General Ople's brain, causing him, in forgetfulness of collar +and caricatures, to ejaculate, 'Seventy? Did your ladyship say seventy? +Utterly impossible! You trifle with me.' + +'We will talk when we are free of this accompaniment of carriage-wheels, +General,' said Lady Camper. + +'I will beg permission to go and fetch Elizabeth, madam.' + +'Rightly thought of. Fetch her in my carriage. And, by the way, Mrs. +Baerens was my old music-mistress, and is, I think, one year older than +I. She can tell you on which side of seventy I am.' + +'I shall not require to ask, my lady,' he said, sighing. + +'Then we will send the carriage for Elizabeth, and have it out +together at once. I am impatient; yes, General, impatient: for +what?--forgiveness.' + +'Of me, my lady?' The General breathed profoundly. + +'Of whom else? Do you know what it is?-I don't think you do. You English +have the smallest experience of humanity. I mean this: to strike so hard +that, in the end, you soften your heart to the victim. Well, that is my +weakness. And we of our blood put no restraint on the blows we strike +when we think them wanted, so we are always overdoing it.' + +General Ople assisted Lady Camper to alight from the carriage, which was +forthwith despatched for Elizabeth. + +He prepared to listen to her with a disconnected smile of acute +attentiveness. + +She had changed. She spoke of money. Ten thousand pounds must be settled +on his daughter. 'And now,' said she, 'you will remember that you are +wanting a collar.' + +He acquiesced. He craved permission to retire for ten minutes. + +'Simplest of men! what will cover you?' she exclaimed, and peremptorily +bidding him sit down in the drawing-room, she took one of the famous +pair of pistols in her hand, and said, 'If I put myself in a similar +position, and make myself decodletee too, will that satisfy you? You see +these murderous weapons. Well, I am a coward. I dread fire-arms. They +are laid there to impose on the world, and I believe they do. They have +imposed on you. Now, you would never think of pretending to a moral +quality you do not possess. But, silly, simple man that you are! You can +give yourself the airs of wealth, buy horses to conceal your nakedness, +and when you are taken upon the standard of your apparent income, you +would rather seem to be beating a miserly retreat than behave frankly +and honestly. I have a little overstated it, but I am near the mark.' + +'Your ladyship wanting courage!' cried the General. + +'Refresh yourself by meditating on it,' said she. 'And to prove it to +you, I was glad to take this house when I knew I was to have a gallant +gentleman for a neighbour. No visitors will be admitted, General Ople, +so you are bare-throated only to me: sit quietly. One day you speculated +on the paint in my cheeks for the space of a minute and a half:--I had +said that I freckled easily. Your look signified that you really could +not detect a single freckle for the paint. I forgave you, or I did not. +But when I found you, on closer acquaintance, as indifferent to your +daughter's happiness as you had been to her reputation...' + +'My daughter! her reputation! her happiness!' + +General Ople raised his eyes under a wave, half uttering the outcries. + +'So indifferent to her reputation, that you allowed a young man to talk +with her over the wall, and meet her by appointment: so reckless of the +girl's happiness, that when I tried to bring you to a treaty, on her +behalf, you could not be dragged from thinking of yourself and your own +affair. When I found that, perhaps I was predisposed to give you some of +what my sisters used to call my spice. You would not honestly state the +proportions of your income, and you affected to be faithful to the woman +of seventy. Most preposterous! Could any caricature of mine exceed in +grotesqueness your sketch of yourself? You are a brave and a generous +man all the same: and I suspect it is more hoodwinking than egotism--or +extreme egotism--that blinds you. A certain amount you must have to be +a man. You did not like my paint, still less did you like my sincerity; +you were annoyed by my corrections of your habits of speech; you were +horrified by the age of seventy, and you were credulous--General +Ople, listen to me, and remember that you have no collar on--you were +credulous of my statement of my great age, or you chose to be so, or +chose to seem so, because I had brushed your cat's coat against the fur. +And then, full of yourself, not thinking of Elizabeth, but to withdraw +in the chivalrous attitude of the man true to his word to the old woman, +only stickling to bring a certain independence to the common stock, +because--I quote you! and you have no collar on, mind--"you could not +be at your wife's mercy," you broke from your proposal on the money +question. Where was your consideration for Elizabeth then? + +'Well, General, you were fond of thinking of yourself, and I thought I +would assist you. I gave you plenty of subject matter. I will not say +I meant to work a homoeopathic cure. But if I drive you to forget your +collar, is it or is it not a triumph? + +'No,' added Lady Camper, 'it is no triumph for me, but it is one for +you, if you like to make the most of it. Your fault has been to quit +active service, General, and love your ease too well. It is the fault +of your countrymen. You must get a militia regiment, or inspectorship of +militia. You are ten times the man in exercise. Why, do you mean to tell +me that you would have cared for those drawings of mine when marching?' + +'I think so, I say I think so,' remarked the General seriously. + +'I doubt it,' said she. 'But to the point; here comes Elizabeth. If +you have not much money to spare for her, according to your prudent +calculation, reflect how this money has enfeebled you and reduced you to +the level of the people round about us here--who are, what? Inhabitants +of gentlemanly residences, yes! But what kind of creature? They have +no mental standard, no moral aim, no native chivalry. You were rapidly +becoming one of them, only, fortunately for you, you were sensitive to +ridicule.' + +'Elizabeth shall have half my money settled on her,' said the General; +'though I fear it is not much. And if I can find occupation, my lady...' + +'Something worthier than that,' said Lady Camper, pencilling outlines +rapidly on the margin of a book, and he saw himself lashing a pony; 'or +that,' and he was plucking at a cabbage; 'or that,' and he was bowing to +three petticoated posts. + +'The likeness is exact,' General Ople groaned. + +'So you may suppose I have studied you,' said she. 'But there is no +real likeness. Slight exaggerations do more harm to truth than reckless +violations of it. + +You would not have cared one bit for a caricature, if you had not nursed +the absurd idea of being one of our conquerors. It is the very tragedy +of modesty for a man like you to have such notions, my poor dear good +friend. The modest are the most easily intoxicated when they sip at +vanity. And reflect whether you have not been intoxicated, for these +young people have been wretched, and you have not observed it, though +one of them was living with you, and is the child you love. There, I +have done. Pray show a good face to Elizabeth.' + +The General obeyed as well as he could. He felt very like a sheep that +has come from a shearing, and when released he wished to run away. But +hardly had he escaped before he had a desire for the renewal of the +operation. 'She sees me through, she sees me through,' he was heard +saying to himself, and in the end he taught himself, to say it with a +secret exultation, for as it was on her part an extraordinary piece +of insight to see him through, it struck him that in acknowledging the +truth of it, he made a discovery of new powers in human nature. + +General Ople studied Lady Camper diligently for fresh proofs of her +penetration of the mysteries in his bosom; by which means, as it +happened that she was diligently observing the two betrothed young ones, +he began to watch them likewise, and took a pleasure in the sight. Their +meetings, their partings, their rides out and home furnished him themes +of converse. He soon had enough to talk of, and previously, as he +remembered, he had never sustained a conversation of any length with +composure and the beneficent sense of fulness. Five thousand pounds, to +which sum Lady Camper reduced her stipulation for Elizabeth's dowry, he +signed over to his dear girl gladly, and came out with the confession to +her ladyship that a well-invested twelve thousand comprised his fortune. +She shrugged she had left off pulling him this way and that, so his +chains were enjoyable, and he said to himself: 'If ever she should +in the dead of night want a man to defend her!' He mentioned it to +Reginald, who had been the repository of Elizabeth's lamentations about +her father being left alone, forsaken, and the young man conceived a +scheme for causing his aunt's great bell to be rung at midnight, +which would certainly have led to a dramatic issue and the happy +re-establishment of our masculine ascendancy at the close of this +history. But he forgot it in his bridegroom's delight, until he was +making his miserable official speech at the wedding-breakfast, and set +Elizabeth winking over a tear. As she stood in the hall ready to depart, +a great van was observed in the road at the gates of Douro Lodge; and +this, the men in custody declared to contain the goods and knick-knacks +of the people who had taken the house furnished for a year, and were +coming in that very afternoon. + +'I remember, I say now I remember, I had a notice,' the General said +cheerily to his troubled daughter. + +'But where are you to go, papa?' the poor girl cried, close on sobbing. + +'I shall get employment of some sort,' said he. 'I was saying I want it, +I need it, I require it.' + +'You are saying three times what once would have sufficed for,' said +Lady Camper, and she asked him a few questions, frowned with a smile, +and offered him a lodgement in his neighbour's house. + +'Really, dearest Aunt Angela?' said Elizabeth. + +'What else can I do, child? I have, it seems, driven him out of a +gentlemanly residence, and I must give him a ladylike one. True, I would +rather have had him at call, but as I have always wished for a policeman +in the house, I may as well be satisfied with a soldier.' + +'But if you lose your character, my lady?' said Reginald. + +'Then I must look to the General to restore it.' + +General Ople immediately bowed his head over Lady Camper's fingers. + +'An odd thing to happen to a woman of forty-one!' she said to her great +people, and they submitted with the best grace in the world, while the +General's ears tingled till he felt younger than Reginald. This, his +reflections ran, or it would be more correct to say waltzed, this is the +result of painting!--that you can believe a woman to be any age when her +cheeks are tinted! + +As for Lady Camper, she had been floated accidentally over the ridicule +of the bruit of a marriage at a time of life as terrible to her as her +fiction of seventy had been to General Ople; she resigned herself to +let things go with the tide. She had not been blissful in her first +marriage, she had abandoned the chase of an ideal man, and she had found +one who was tunable so as not to offend her ears, likely ever to be a +fund of amusement for her humour, good, impressible, and above all, very +picturesque. There is the secret of her, and of how it came to pass +that a simple man and a complex woman fell to union after the strangest +division. + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + Can believe a woman to be any age when her cheeks are tinted + Modest are the most easily intoxicated when they sip at vanity + Nature is not of necessity always roaring + Only to be described in the tongue of auctioneers + Respected the vegetable yet more than he esteemed the flower + She seems honest, and that is the most we can hope of girls + Spare me that word "female" as long as you live + The mildness of assured dictatorship + When we see our veterans tottering to their fall + + + + +THE TALE OF CHLOE AN EPISODE IN THE HISTORY OF BEAU BEAMISH + +By George Meredith + + 'Fair Chloe, we toasted of old, + As the Queen of our festival meeting; + Now Chloe is lifeless and cold; + You must go to the grave for her greeting. + Her beauty and talents were framed + To enkindle the proudest to win her; + Then let not the mem'ry be blamed + Of the purest that e'er was a sinner!' + + Captain Chanter's Collection. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A proper tenderness for the Peerage will continue to pass current the +illustrious gentleman who was inflamed by Cupid's darts to espouse the +milkmaid, or dairymaid, under his ballad title of Duke of Dewlap: nor +was it the smallest of the services rendered him by Beau Beamish, that +he clapped the name upon her rustic Grace, the young duchess, the very +first day of her arrival at the Wells. This happy inspiration of a wit +never failing at a pinch has rescued one of our princeliest houses from +the assaults of the vulgar, who are ever too rejoiced to bespatter and +disfigure a brilliant coat-of-arms; insomuch that the ballad, to which +we are indebted for the narrative of the meeting and marriage of the +ducal pair, speaks of Dewlap in good faith-- + + O the ninth Duke of Dewlap I am, Susie dear! + +without a hint of a domino title. So likewise the pictorial historian is +merry over 'Dewlap alliances' in his description of the society of that +period. He has read the ballad, but disregarded the memoirs of the beau. +Writers of pretension would seem to have an animus against individuals +of the character of Mr. Beamish. They will treat of the habits and +manners of highwaymen, and quote obscure broadsheets and songs of the +people to colour their story, yet decline to bestow more than a passing +remark upon our domestic kings: because they are not hereditary, we +may suppose. The ballad of 'The Duke and the Dairymaid,' ascribed with +questionable authority to the pen of Mr. Beamish himself in a freak +of his gaiety, was once popular enough to provoke the moralist to +animadversions upon an order of composition that 'tempted every bouncing +country lass to sidle an eye in a blowsy cheek' in expectation of a +coronet for her pains--and a wet ditch as the result! We may doubt it to +have been such an occasion of mischief. But that mischief may have been +done by it to a nobility-loving people, even to the love of our nobility +among the people, must be granted; and for the particular reason, +that the hero of the ballad behaved so handsomely. We perceive a +susceptibility to adulteration in their worship at the sight of one of +their number, a young maid, suddenly snatched up to the gaping heights +of Luxury and Fashion through sheer good looks. Remembering that they +are accustomed to a totally reverse effect from that possession, it is +very perceptible how a breach in their reverence may come of the change. + +Otherwise the ballad is innocent; certainly it is innocent in design. +A fresher national song of a beautiful incident of our country life has +never been written. The sentiments are natural, the imagery is apt and +redolent of the soil, the music of the verse appeals to the dullest ear. +It has no smell of the lamp, nothing foreign and far-fetched about it, +but is just what it pretends to be, the carol of the native bird. A +sample will show, for the ballad is much too long to be given entire: + + Sweet Susie she tripped on a shiny May morn, + As blithe as the lark from the green-springing corn, + When, hard by a stile, 'twas her luck to behold + A wonderful gentleman covered with gold! + + There was gold on his breeches and gold on his coat, + His shirt-frill was grand as a fifty-pound note; + The diamonds glittered all up him so bright, + She thought him the Milky Way clothing a Sprite! + + 'Fear not, pretty maiden,' he said with a smile; + 'And, pray, let me help you in crossing the stile. + She bobbed him a curtsey so lovely and smart, + It shot like an arrow and fixed in his heart. + + As light as a robin she hopped to the stone, + But fast was her hand in the gentleman's own; + And guess how she stared, nor her senses could trust, + When this creamy gentleman knelt in the dust! + +With a rhapsody upon her beauty, he informs her of his rank, for a +flourish to the proposal of honourable and immediate marriage. He +cannot wait. This is the fatal condition of his love: apparently a +characteristic of amorous dukes. We read them in the signs extended +to us. The minds of these august and solitary men have not yet been +sounded; they are too distant. Standing upon their lofty pinnacles, they +are as legible to the rabble below as a line of cuneiform writing in +a page of old copybook roundhand. By their deeds we know them, as +heathendom knows of its gods; and it is repeatedly on record that the +moment they have taken fire they must wed, though the lady's finger +be circled with nothing closer fitting than a ring of the bed-curtain. +Vainly, as becomes a candid country lass, blue-eyed Susan tells him that +she is but a poor dairymaid. He has been a student of women at Courts, +in which furnace the sex becomes a transparency, so he recounts to her +the catalogue of material advantages he has to offer. Finally, after +his assurances that she is to be married by the parson, really by the +parson, and a real parson-- + + Sweet Susie is off for her parents' consent, + And long must the old folk debate what it meant. + She left them the eve of that happy May morn, + To shine like the blossom that hangs from the thorn! + +Apart from its historical value, the ballad is an example to poets +of our day, who fly to mythological Greece, or a fanciful and morbid +mediaevalism, or--save the mark!--abstract ideas, for themes of song, +of what may be done to make our English life poetically interesting, if +they would but pluck the treasures presented them by the wayside; +and Nature being now as then the passport to popularity, they have +themselves to thank for their little hold on the heart of the people. A +living native duke is worth fifty Phoebus Apollos to Englishmen, and +a buxom young lass of the fields mounting from a pair of pails to the +estate of duchess, a more romantic object than troops of your visionary +Yseults and Guineveres. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A certain time after the marriage, his Grace alighted at the Wells, +and did himself the honour to call on Mr. Beamish. Addressing that +gentleman, to whom he was no stranger, he communicated the purport of +his visit. + +'Sir, and my very good friend,' he said, 'first let me beg you to abate +the severity of your countenance, for if I am here in breach of your +prohibition, I shall presently depart in compliance with it. I could +indeed deplore the loss of the passion for play of which you effectually +cured me. I was then armed against a crueller, that allows of no +interval for a man to make his vow to recover!' + +'The disease which is all crisis, I apprehend,' Mr. Beamish remarked. + +'Which, sir, when it takes hold of dry wood, burns to the last splinter. +It is now'--the duke fetched a tender groan--'three years ago that I had +a caprice to marry a grandchild!' + +'Of Adam's,' Mr. Beamish said cheerfully. 'There was no legitimate bar +to the union.' + +'Unhappily none. Yet you are not to suppose I regret it. A most +admirable creature, Mr. Beamish, a real divinity! And the better known, +the more adored. There is the misfortune. At my season of life, when the +greater and the minor organs are in a conspiracy to tell me I am mortal, +the passion of love must be welcomed as a calamity, though one would not +be free of it for the renewal of youth. You are to understand, that with +a little awakening taste for dissipation, she is the most innocent of +angels. Hitherto we have lived... To her it has been a new world. But +she is beginning to find it a narrow one. No, no, she is not tired of my +society. Very far from that. But in her present station an inclination +for such gatherings as you have here, for example, is like a desire to +take the air: and the healthy habits of my duchess have not accustomed +her to be immured. And in fine, devote ourselves as we will, a term +approaches when the enthusiasm for serving as your wife's playfellow all +day, running round tables and flying along corridors before a knotted +handkerchief, is mightily relaxed. Yet the dread of a separation from +her has kept me at these pastimes for a considerable period beyond my +relish of them. Not that I acknowledge fatigue. I have, it seems, a +taste for reflection; I am now much disposed to read and meditate, which +cannot be done without repose. I settle myself, and I receive a worsted +ball in my face, and I am expected to return it. I comply; and then you +would say a nursery in arms. It would else be the deplorable spectacle +of a beautiful young woman yawning.' + +'Earthquake and saltpetre threaten us less terribly,' said Mr. Beamish. + +'In fine, she has extracted a promise that 'this summer she shall visit +the Wells for a month, and I fear I cannot break my pledge of my word; I +fear I cannot.' + +'Very certainly I would not,' said Mr. Beamish. + +The duke heaved a sigh. 'There are reasons, family reasons, why my +company and protection must be denied to her here. I have no wish... +indeed my name, for the present, until such time as she shall have +found her feet... and there is ever a penalty to pay for that. Ah, Mr. +Beamish, pictures are ours, when we have bought them and hung them up; +but who insures us possession of a beautiful work of Nature? I have +latterly betaken me to reflect much and seriously. I am tempted to side +with the Divines in the sermons I have read; the flesh is the habitation +of a rebellious devil.' + +'To whom we object in proportion as we ourselves become quit of him,' +Mr. Beamish acquiesced. + +'But this mania of young people for pleasure, eternal pleasure, is one +of the wonders. It does not pall on them; they are insatiate.' + +'There is the cataract, and there is the cliff. Potentate to potentate, +duke--so long as you are on my territory, be it understood. Upon my way +to a place of worship once, I passed a Puritan, who was complaining of +a butterfly that fluttered prettily abroad in desecration of the Day of +Rest. "Friend," said I to him, "conclusively you prove to me that you +are not a butterfly." Surly did no more than favour me with the anathema +of his countenance.' + +'Cousin Beamish, my complaint of these young people is, that they miss +their pleasure in pursuing it. I have lectured my duchess--' + +'Ha!' + +'Foolish, I own,' said the duke. 'But suppose, now, you had caught your +butterfly, and you could neither let it go nor consent to follow its +vagaries. That poses you.' + +'Young people,' said Mr. Beamish, 'come under my observation in this +poor realm of mine--young and old. I find them prodigiously alike in +their love of pleasure, differing mainly in their capacity to satisfy +it. That is no uncommon observation. The young, have an edge which they +are desirous of blunting; the old contrariwise. The cry of the young for +pleasure is actually--I have studied their language--a cry for burdens. +Curious! And the old ones cry for having too many on their shoulders: +which is not astonishing. Between them they make an agreeable concert +both to charm the ears and guide the steps of the philosopher, whose +wisdom it is to avoid their tracks.' + +'Good. But I have asked you for practical advice, and you give me an +essay.' + +'For the reason, duke, that you propose a case that suggests hanging. +You mention two things impossible to be done. The alternative is, a +garter and the bedpost. When we have come upon crossways, and we can +decide neither to take the right hand nor the left, neither forward nor +back, the index of the board which would direct us points to itself, and +emphatically says, Gallows.' + +'Beamish, I am distracted. If I refuse her the visit, I foresee +dissensions, tears, games at ball, romps, not one day of rest remaining +to me. I could be of a mind with your Puritan, positively. If I allow +it, so innocent a creature in the atmosphere of a place like this must +suffer some corruption. You should know that the station I took her from +was ... it was modest. She was absolutely a buttercup of the fields. She +has had various masters. She dances... she dances prettily, I could say +bewitchingly. And so she is now for airing her accomplishments: such are +women!' + +'Have you heard of Chloe?' said Mr. Beamish. 'There you have an example +of a young lady uncorrupted by this place--of which I would only remark +that it is best unvisited, but better tasted than longed for.' + +'Chloe? A lady who squandered her fortune to redeem some ill-requiting +rascal: I remember to have heard of her. She is here still? And ruined, +of course?' + +'In purse.' + +'That cannot be without the loss of reputation.' + +'Chloe's champion will grant that she is exposed to the evils of +improvidence. The more brightly shine her native purity, her goodness +of heart, her trustfulness. She is a lady whose exaltation glows in her +abasement.' + +'She has, I see, preserved her comeliness,' observed the duke, with a +smile. + +'Despite the flying of the roses, which had not her heart's patience. +'Tis now the lily that reigns. So, then, Chloe shall be attached to the +duchess during her stay, and unless the devil himself should interfere, +I guarantee her Grace against any worse harm than experience; and that,' +Mr. Beamish added, as the duke raised his arms at the fearful word, +'that shall be mild. Play she will; she is sure to play. Put it down +at a thousand. We map her out a course of permissible follies, and she +plays to lose the thousand by degrees, with as telling an effect upon a +connubial conscience as we can produce.' + +'A thousand,' said the duke, 'will be cheap indeed. I think now I have +had a description of this fair Chloe, and from an enthusiast; a brune? +elegantly mannered and of a good landed family; though she has thought +proper to conceal her name. And that will be our difficulty, cousin +Beamish.' + +'She was, under my dominion, Miss Martinsward,' Mr. Beamish pursued. +'She came here very young, and at once her suitors were legion. In the +way of women, she chose the worst among them; and for the fellow Caseldy +she sacrificed the fortune she had inherited of a maternal uncle. To +release him from prison, she paid all his debts; a mountain of bills, +with the lawyers piled above--Pelion upon Ossa, to quote our poets. +In fact, obeying the dictates of a soul steeped in generosity, she +committed the indiscretion to strip herself, scandalizing propriety. +This was immediately on her coming of age; and it was the death-blow to +her relations with her family. Since then, honoured even by rakes, she +has lived impoverished at the Wells. I dubbed her Chloe, and man +or woman disrespectful to Chloe packs. From being the victim of her +generous disposition, I could not save her; I can protect her from the +shafts of malice.' + +'She has no passion for play?' inquired the duke. + +'She nourishes a passion for the man for whom she bled, to the exclusion +of the other passions. She lives, and I believe I may say that it is the +motive of her rising and dressing daily, in expectation of his advent.' + +'He may be dead.' + +'The dog is alive. And he has not ceased to be Handsome Caseldy, they +say. Between ourselves, duke, there is matter to break her heart. He has +been the Count Caseldy of Continental gaming tables, and he is recently +Sir Martin Caseldy, settled on the estate she made him free to take up +intact on his father's decease.' + +'Pah! a villain!' + +'With a blacker brand upon him every morning that he looks forth across +his property, and leaves her to languish! She still--I say it to the +redemption of our sex--has offers. Her incomparable attractions of mind +and person exercise the natural empire of beauty. But she will none of +them. I call her the Fair Suicide. She has died for love; and she is a +ghost, a good ghost, and a pleasing ghost, but an apparition, a taper. + +The duke fidgeted, and expressed a hope to hear that she was not of +melancholy conversation; and again, that the subject of her discourse +was not confined to love and lovers, happy or unhappy. He wished his +duchess, he said, to be entertained upon gayer topics: love being +a theme he desired to reserve to himself. 'This month!' he said, +prognostically shaking and moaning. 'I would this month were over, and +that we were well purged of it.' + +Mr. Beamish reassured him. The wit and sprightliness of Chloe were so +famous as to be considered medical, he affirmed; she was besieged for +her company; she composed and sang impromptu verses, she played harp and +harpsichord divinely, and touched the guitar, and danced, danced like +the silvery moon on the waters of the mill pool. He concluded by saying +that she was both humane and wise, humble-minded and amusing, virtuous +yet not a Tartar; the best of companions for her Grace the young +duchess. Moreover, he boldly engaged to carry the duchess through the +term of her visit under a name that should be as good as a masquerade +for concealing his Grace's, while giving her all the honours due to her +rank. + +'You strictly interpret my wishes,' said the duke; 'all honours, the +foremost place, and my wrath upon man or woman gainsaying them!' + +'Mine! if you please, duke,' said Mr. Beamish. + +'A thousand pardons! I leave it to you, cousin. I could not be in safer +hands. I am heartily bounders to you. Chloe, then. By the way, she has a +decent respect for age?' + +'She is reverentially inclined.' + +'Not that. She is, I would ask, no wanton prattler of the charms and +advantages of youth?' + +'She has a young adorer that I have dubbed Alonzo, whom she scarce +notices.' + +'Nothing could be better. Alonzo: h'm! A faithful swain?' + +'Life is his tree, upon which unceasingly he carves his mistress's +initials.' + +'She should not be too cruel. I recollect myself formerly: I was... +Young men will, when long slighted, transfer their affections, and be +warmer to the second flame than to the first. I put you on your guard. +He follows her much? These lovers' paintings and puffings in the +neighbourhood of the most innocent of women are contagious.' + +'Her Grace will be running home all the sooner.' + +'Or off!--may she forgive me! I am like a King John's Jew, forced to +lend his treasure without security. What a world is ours! Nothing, +Beamish, nothing desirable will you have which is not coveted! Catch a +prize, and you will find you are at war with your species. You have +to be on the defensive from that moment. There is no such thing as +peaceable procession on earth. Let it be a beautiful young woman!--Ah!' + +Mr. Beamish replied bracingly, 'The champion wrestler challenges all +comers while he wears the belt.' + +The duke dejectedly assented. 'True; or he is challenged, say. Is there +any tale we could tell her of this Alonzo? You could deport him for the +month, my dear Beamish.' + +'I commit no injustice unless with sufficient reason. It is an estimable +youth, as shown by his devotion to a peerless woman. To endow her with +his name and fortune is his only thought.' + +'I perceive; an excellent young fellow! I have an incipient liking +for this young Alonzo. You must not permit my duchess to laugh at him. +Encourage her rather to advance his suit. The silliness of a young man +will be no bad spectacle. Chloe, then. You have set my mind at rest, +Beamish, and it is but another obligation added to the heap; so, if I +do not speak of payment, the reason is that I know you would not have me +bankrupt.' + +The remainder of the colloquy of the duke and Mr. Beamish referred to +the date of her Grace's coming to the Wells, the lodgement she was +to receive, and other minor arrangements bearing upon her state and +comfort; the duke perpetually observing, 'But I leave it all to you, +Beamish,' when he had laid down precise instructions in these respects, +even to the specification of the shopkeepers, the confectioner and the +apothecary, who were to balance or cancel one another in the opposite +nature of their supplies, and the haberdasher and the jeweller, with +whom she was to make her purchases. For the duke had a recollection of +giddy shops, and of giddy shopmen too; and it was by serving as one for +a day that a certain great nobleman came to victory with a jealously +guarded dame beautiful as Venus. 'I would have challenged the goddess!' +he cried, and subsided from his enthusiasm plaintively, like a weak wind +instrument. 'So there you see the prudence of a choice of shops. But +I leave it to you, Beamish.' Similarly the great military commander, +having done whatsoever a careful prevision may suggest to insure him +victory, casts himself upon Providence, with the hope of propitiating +the unanticipated and darkly possible. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The splendid equipage of a coach and six, with footmen in scarlet and +green, carried Beau Beamish five miles along the road on a sunny day to +meet the young duchess at the boundary of his territory, and conduct +her in state to the Wells. Chloe sat beside him, receiving counsel with +regard to her prospective duties. He was this day the consummate beau, +suave, but monarchical, and his manner of speech partook of his +external grandeur. 'Spy me the horizon, and apprise me if somewhere you +distinguish a chariot,' he said, as they drew up on the rise of a hill +of long descent, where the dusty roadway sank between its brown hedges, +and crawled mounting from dry rush-spotted hollows to corn fields on +a companion height directly facing them, at a remove of about +three-quarters of a mile. Chloe looked forth, while the beau passingly +raised his hat for coolness, and murmured, with a glance down the sultry +track: 'It sweats the eye to see!' + +Presently Chloe said, 'Now a dust blows. Something approaches. Now I +discern horses, now a vehicle; and it is a chariot!' + +Orders were issued to the outriders for horns to be sounded. + +Both Chloe and Beau Beamish wrinkled their foreheads at the disorderly +notes of triple horns, whose pealing made an acid in the air instead of +sweetness. + +'You would say, kennel dogs that bay the moon!' said the wincing beau. +'Yet, as you know, these fellows have been exercised. I have had them +out in a meadow for hours, baked and drenched, to get them rid of their +native cacophony. But they love it, as they love bacon and beans. The +musical taste of our people is in the stage of the primitive appetite +for noise, and for that they are gluttons.' + +'It will be pleasant to hear in the distance,' Chloe replied. + +'Ay, the extremer the distance, the pleasanter to hear. Are they +advancing?' + +'They stop. There is a cavalier at the window. Now he doffs his hat.' + +'Sweepingly?' + +Chloe described a semicircle in the grand manner. + +The beau's eyebrows rose. 'Powers divine!' he muttered. 'She is let +loose from hand to hand, and midway comes a cavalier. We did not count +on the hawks. So I have to deal with a cavalier! It signifies, my dear +Chloe, that I must incontinently affect the passion if I am to be his +match: nothing less.' + +'He has flown,' said Chloe. + +'Whom she encounters after meeting me, I care not,' quoth the beau, +snapping a finger. 'But there has been an interval for damage with a +lady innocent as Eve. Is she advancing?' + +'The chariot is trotting down the hill. He has ridden back. She has no +attendant horseman.' + +'They were dismissed at my injunction ten miles off particularly to +the benefit of the cavaliering horde, it would appear. In the case of a +woman, Chloe, one blink of the eyelids is an omission of watchfulness.' + +'That is an axiom fit for the harem of the Grand Signior.' + +'The Grand Signior might give us profitable lessons for dealing with the +sex.' + +'Distrust us, and it is a declaration of war!' + +'Trust you, and the stopper is out of the smelling-bottle.' + +'Mr. Beamish, we are women, but we have souls.' + +'The pip in the apple whose ruddy cheek allures little Tommy to rob the +orchard is as good a preservative.' + +'You admit that men are our enemies?' + +'I maintain that they carry the banner of virtue.' + +'Oh, Mr. Beamish, I shall expire.' + +'I forbid it in my lifetime, Chloe, for I wish to die believing in one +woman.' + +'No flattery for me at the expense of my sisters!' + +'Then fly to a hermitage; for all flattery is at somebody's expense, +child. 'Tis an essence-extract of humanity! To live on it, in the +fashion of some people, is bad--it is downright cannibal. But we may +sprinkle our handkerchiefs with it, and we should, if we would caress +our noses with an air. Society, my Chloe, is a recommencement upon an +upper level of the savage system; we must have our sacrifices. As, for +instance, what say you of myself beside our booted bumpkin squires?' + +'Hundreds of them, Mr. Beamish!' + +'That is a holocaust of squires reduced to make an incense for me, +though you have not performed Druid rites and packed them in gigantic +osier ribs. Be philosophical, but accept your personal dues. Grant us +ours too. I have a serious intention to preserve this young duchess, and +I expect my task to be severe. I carry the banner aforesaid; verily and +penitentially I do. It is an error of the vulgar to suppose that all is +dragon in the dragon's jaws.' + +'Men are his fangs and claws.' + +'Ay, but the passion for his fiery breath is in woman. She will take her +leap and have her jump, will and will! And at the point where she will +and she won't, the dragon gulps and down she goes! However, the business +is to keep our buttercup duchess from that same point. Is she near?' + +'I can see her,' said Chloe. + +Beau Beamish requested a sketch of her, and Chloe began: 'She is +ravishing.' + +Upon which he commented, 'Every woman is ravishing at forty paces, and +still more so in imagination.' + +'Beautiful auburn hair, and a dazzling red and white complexion, set in +a blue coif.' + +'Her eyes?' + +'Melting blue.' + +''Tis an English witch!' exclaimed the beau, and he compassionately +invoked her absent lord. + +Chloe's optics were no longer tasked to discern the fair lady's +lineaments, for the chariot windows came flush with those of the beau +on the broad plateau of the hill. His coach door was opened. He sat +upright, levelling his privileged stare at Duchess Susan until she +blushed. + +'Ay, madam,' quoth he, 'I am not the first.' + +'La, sir!' said she; 'who are you?' + +The beau deliberately raised his hat and bowed. 'He, madam, of whose +approach the gentleman who took his leave of you on yonder elevation +informed you.' + +She looked artlessly over her shoulder, and at the beau alighting from +his carriage. 'A gentleman?' + +'On horseback.' + +The duchess popped her head through the window on an impulse to measure +the distance between the two hills. + +'Never!' she cried. + +'Why, madam, did he deliver no message to announce me?' said the beau, +ruffling. + +'Goodness gracious! You must be Mr. Beamish,' she replied. + +He laid his hat on his bosom, and invited her to quit her carriage for +a seat beside him. She stipulated, 'If you are really Mr. Beamish?' +He frowned, and raised his head to convince her; but she would not be +impressed, and he applied to Chloe to establish his identity. Hearing +Chloe's name, the duchess called out, 'Oh! there, now, that's enough, +for Chloe's my maid here, and I know she's a lady born, and we're going +to be friends. Hand me to Chloe. And you are Chloe?' she said, after a +frank stride from step to step of the carriages. 'And don't mind being +my maid? You do look a nice, kind creature. And I see you're a lady +born; I know in a minute. You're dark, I'm fair; we shall suit. And tell +me--hush!--what dreadful long eyes he has! I shall ask you presently +what you think of me. I was never at the Wells before. Dear me! the +coach has turned. How far off shall we hear the bells to say I'm coming? +I know I'm to have bells. Mr. Beamish, Mr. Beamish! I must have a +chatter with a woman, and I'm in awe of you, sir, that I am, but men and +men I see to talk to for a lift of my finger, by the dozen, in my duke's +palace--though they're old ones, that's true--but a woman who's a lady, +and kind enough to be my maid, I haven't met yet since I had the right +to wear a coronet. There, I'll hold Chloe's hand, and that'll do. You +would tell me at once, Chloe, if I was not dressed to your taste; now, +wouldn't you? As for talkative, that's a sign with me of my liking +people. I really don't know what to say to my duke sometimes. I sit and +think it so funny to be having a duke instead of a husband. You're off!' + +The duchess laughed at Chloe's laughter. Chloe excused herself, but was +informed by her mistress that it was what she liked. + +'For the first two years,' she resumed, 'I could hardly speak a +syllable. I stammered, I reddened, I longed to be up in my room brushing +and curling my hair, and was ready to curtsey to everybody. Now I'm +quite at home, for I've plenty of courage--except about death, and I'm +worse about death than I was when I was a simple body with a gawk's +"lawks!" in her round eyes and mouth for an egg. I wonder why that is? +But isn't death horrible? And skeletons!' The duchess shuddered. + +'It depends upon the skeleton,' said Beau Beamish, who had joined the +conversation. 'Yours, madam, I would rather not meet, because she would +precipitate me into transports of regret for the loss of the flesh. I +have, however, met mine own and had reason for satisfaction with the +interview.' + +'Your own skeleton, sir!' said the duchess wonderingly and appalled. + +'Unmistakably mine. I will call you to witness by an account of him.' + +Duchess Susan gaped, and, 'Oh, don't!' she cried out; but added, 'It +'s broad day, and I've got some one to sleep anigh me after dark'; with +which she smiled on Chloe, who promised her there was no matter for +alarm. + +'I encountered my gentleman as I was proceeding to my room at night,' +said the beau, 'along a narrow corridor, where it was imperative that +one of us should yield the 'pas;' and, I must confess it, we are all so +amazingly alike in our bones, that I stood prepared to demand place of +him. For indubitably the fellow was an obstruction, and at the first +glance repulsive. I took him for anybody's skeleton, Death's +ensign, with his cachinnatory skull, and the numbered ribs, and +the extraordinary splay feet--in fact, the whole ungainly and shaky +hobbledehoy which man is built on, and by whose image in his weaker +moments he is haunted. I had, to be frank, been dancing on a supper with +certain of our choicest Wits and Beauties. It is a recipe for conjuring +apparitions. Now, then, thinks I, my fine fellow, I will bounce you; and +without a salutation I pressed forward. Madam, I give you my word, he +behaved to the full pitch as I myself should have done under similar +circumstances. Retiring upon an inclination of his structure, he draws +up and fetches me a bow of the exact middle nick between dignity +and service. I advance, he withdraws, and again the bow, devoid of +obsequiousness, majestically condescending. These, thinks I, be royal +manners. I could have taken him for the Sable King in person, stripped +of his mantle. On my soul, he put me to the blush.' + +'And is that all?' asked the duchess, relieving herself with a sigh. + +'Why, madam,' quoth the beau, 'do you not see that he could have been +none other than mine own, who could comport himself with that grand air +and gracefulness when wounded by his closest relative? Upon his opening +my door for me, and accepting the 'pas,' which I now right heartily +accorded him, I recognized at once both him and the reproof he had +designedly dealt me--or the wine supper I had danced on, perhaps +I should say' and I protest that by such a display of supreme good +breeding he managed to convey the highest compliment ever received by +man, namely the assurance, that after the withering away of this mortal +garb, I shall still be noted for urbanity and elegancy. Nay, and more, +immortally, without the slip I was guilty of when I carried the bag of +wine.' + +Duchess Susan fanned herself to assist her digestion of the anecdote. + +'Well, it's not so frightful a story, and I know you are the great Mr. +Beamish;' she said. + +He questioned her whether the gentleman had signalled him to her on the +hill. + +'What can he mean about a gentleman?' she turned to Chloe. 'My duke told +me you would meet me, sir. And you are to protect me. And if anything +happens, it is to be your fault.' + +'Entirely,' said the beau. 'I shall therefore maintain a vigilant +guard.' + +'Except leaving me free. Oof! I've been boxed up so long. I declare, +Chloe, I feel like a best dress out for a holiday, and a bit afraid of +spoiling. I'm a real child, more than I was when my duke married me. I +seemed to go in and grow up again, after I was raised to fortune. And +nobody to tell of it! Fancy that! For you can't talk to old gentlemen +about what's going on in your heart.' + +'How of young gentlemen?' she was asked by the beau. + +And she replied, 'They find it out.' + +'Not if you do not assist them,' said he. + +Duchess Susan let her eyelids and her underlie half drop, as she looked +at him with the simple shyness of one of nature's thoughts in her head +at peep on the pastures of the world. The melting blue eyes and the +cherry lip made an exceedingly quickening picture. 'Now, I wonder if +that is true?' she transferred her slyness to speech. + +'Beware the middle-aged!' he exclaimed. + +She appealed to Chloe. 'And I'm sure they're the nicest.' + +Chloe agreed that they were. + +The duchess measured Chloe and the beau together, with a mind swift in +apprehending all that it hungered for. + +She would have pursued the pleasing theme had she not been directed to +gaze below upon the towers and roofs of the Wells, shining sleepily in a +siesta of afternoon Summer sunlight. + +With a spread of her silken robe, she touched the edifice of her hair, +murmuring to Chloe, 'I can't abide that powder. You shall see me walk +in a hoop. I can. I've done it to slow music till my duke clapped hands. +I'm nothing sitting to what I am on my feet. That's because I haven't +got fine language yet. I shall. It seems to come last. So, there 's the +place. And whereabouts do all the great people meet and prommy--?' + +'They promenade where you see the trees, madam,' said Chloe. + +'And where is it where the ladies sit and eat jam tarts with whipped +cream on 'em, while the gentlemen stand and pay compliments?' + +Chloe said it was at a shop near the pump room. + +Duchess Susan looked out over the house-tops, beyond the dusty hedges. + +'Oh, and that powder!' she cried. 'I hate to be out of the fashion and a +spectacle. But I do love my own hair, and I have such a lot, and I like +the colour, and so does my duke. Only, don't let me be fingered at. +If once I begin to blush before people, my courage is gone; my singing +inside me is choked; and I've a real lark going on in me all day long, +rain or sunshine--hush, all about love and amusement.' + +Chloe smiled, and Duchess Susan said, 'Just like a bird, for I don't +know what it is.' + +She looked for Chloe to say that she did. + +At the moment a pair of mounted squires rode up, and the coach stopped, +while Beau Beamish gave orders for the church bells to be set ringing, +and the band to meet and precede his equipage at the head of the bath +avenue: 'in honour of the arrival of her Grace the Duchess of Dewlap.' + +He delivered these words loudly to his men, and turned an effulgent gaze +upon the duchess, so that for a minute she was fascinated and did not +consult her hearing; but presently she fell into an uneasiness; the +signs increased, she bit her lip, and after breathing short once or +twice, 'Was it meaning me, Mr. Beamish?' she said. + +'You, madam, are the person whom we 'delight to honour,' he replied. + +'Duchess of what?' she screwed uneasy features to hear. + +'Duchess of Dewlap,' said he. + +'It's not my title, sir.' + +'It is your title on my territory, madam.' + +She made her pretty nose and upper lip ugly with a sneer of 'Dew--! +And enter that town before all those people as Duchess of... Oh, no, +I won't; I just won't! Call back those men now, please; now, if you +please. Pray, Mr. Beamish! You'll offend me, sir. I'm not going to be a +mock. You'll offend my duke, sir. He'd die rather than have my feelings +hurt. Here's all my pleasure spoilt. I won't and I sha'n't enter the +town as duchess of that stupid name, so call 'em back, call 'em back +this instant. I know who I am and what I am, and I know what's due to +me, I do.' + +Beau Beamish rejoined, 'I too. Chloe will tell you I am lord here.' + +'Then I'll go home, I will. I won't be laughed at for a great lady +ninny. I'm a real lady of high rank, and such I'll appear. What 's a +Duchess of Dewlap? One might as well be Duchess of Cowstail, Duchess of +Mopsend. And those people! But I won't be that. I won't be played with. +I see them staring! No, I can make up my mind, and I beg you to call +back your men, or I'll go back home.' She muttered, 'Be made fun +of--made a fool of!' + +'Your Grace's chariot is behind,' said the beau. + +His despotic coolness provoked her to an outcry and weeping: she +repeated, 'Dewlap! Dewlap!' in sobs; she shook her shoulders and hid her +face. + +'You are proud of your title, are you, madam?' said he. + +'I am.' She came out of her hands to answer him proudly. 'That I am!' +she meant for a stronger affirmation. + +'Then mark me,' he said impressively; 'I am your duke's friend, and you +are under my charge here. I am your guardian and you are my ward, and +you can enter the town only on the condition of obedience to me. Now, +mark me, madam; no one can rob you of your real name and title saving +yourself. But you are entering a place where you will encounter a +thousand temptations to tarnish, and haply forfeit it. Be warned do +nothing that will.' + +'Then I'm to have my own title?' said she, clearing up. + +'For the month of your visit you are Duchess of Dewlap.' + +'I say I sha'n't!' + +'You shall.' + +'Never, sir!' + +'I command it.' + +She flung herself forward, with a wail, upon Chloe's bosom. 'Can't you +do something for me?' she whimpered. + +'It is impossible to move Mr. Beamish,' Chloe said. + +Out of a pause, composed of sobs and sighs, the duchess let loose in a +broken voice: 'Then I 'm sure I think--I think I'd rather have met--have +met his skeleton!' + +Her sincerity was equal to wit. + +Beau Beamish shouted. He cordially applauded her, and in the genuine +kindness of an admiration that surprised him, he permitted himself +the liberty of taking and saluting her fingers. She fancied there was +another chance for her, but he frowned at the mention of it. + +Upon these proceedings the exhilarating sound of the band was heard; +simultaneously a festival peal of bells burst forth; and an admonishment +of the necessity for concealing her chagrin and exhibiting both station +and a countenance to the people, combined with the excitement of the +new scenes and the marching music to banish the acuter sense of +disappointment from Duchess Susan's mind; so she very soon held herself +erect, and wore a face open to every wonder, impressionable as the blue +lake-surface, crisped here and there by fitful breezes against a level +sun. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +It was an axiom with Mr. Beamish, our first, if not our only +philosophical beau and a gentleman of some thoughtfulness, that the +social English require tyrannical government as much as the political +are able to dispense with it: and this he explained by an exposition of +the character of a race possessed of the eminent virtue of individual +self-assertion, which causes them to insist on good elbowroom wherever +they gather together. Society, however, not being tolerable where the +smoothness of intercourse is disturbed by a perpetual punching of sides, +the merits of the free citizen in them become their demerits when a +fraternal circle is established, and they who have shown an example of +civilization too notable in one sphere to call for eulogy, are often to +be seen elbowing on the ragged edge of barbarism in the other. They must +therefore be reduced to accept laws not of their own making, and of an +extreme rigidity. + +Here too is a further peril; for the gallant spirits distinguishing them +in the state of independence may (he foresaw the melancholy experience +of a later age) abandon them utterly in subjection, and the glorious +boisterousness befitting the village green forsake them even in their +haunts of liberal association, should they once be thoroughly tamed +by authority. Our 'merrie England' will then be long-faced England, an +England of fallen chaps, like a boar's head, bearing for speech a lemon +in the mouth: good to feast on, mayhap; not with! + +Mr. Beamish would actually seem to have foreseen the danger of a +transition that he could watch over only in his time; and, as he said, +'I go, as I came, on a flash'; he had neither ancestry nor descendants: +he was a genius, he knew himself a solitary, therefore, in spite of his +efforts to create his like. Within his district he did effect something, +enough to give him fame as one of the princely fathers of our domestic +civilization, though we now appear to have lost by it more than formerly +we gained. The chasing of the natural is ever fraught with dubious +hazards. If it gallops back, according to the proverb, it will do so at +the charge: commonly it gallops off, quite off; and then for any kind of +animation our precarious dependence is upon brains: we have to live on +our wits, which are ordinarily less productive than land, and cannot be +remitted in entail. + +Rightly or wrongly (there are differences of opinion about it) Mr. +Beamish repressed the chthonic natural with a rod of iron beneath his +rule. The hoyden and the bumpkin had no peace until they had given +public imitations of the lady and the gentleman; nor were the lady and +the gentleman privileged to be what he called 'free flags.' He could be +charitable to the passion, but he bellowed the very word itself (hauled +up smoking from the brimstone lake) against them that pretended to be +shamelessly guilty of the peccadilloes of gallantry. His famous accost +of a lady threatening to sink, and already performing like a vessel in +that situation: 'So, madam, I hear you are preparing to enrol yourself +in the very ancient order?'... (he named it) was a piece of insolence +that involved him in some discord with the lady's husband and 'the +rascal steward,' as he chose to term the third party in these affairs: +yet it is reputed to have saved the lady. + +Furthermore, he attacked the vulgarity of persons of quality, and he has +told a fashionable dame who was indulging herself in a marked sneer of +disdain, not improving to her features, 'that he would be pleased +to have her assurance it was her face she presented to mankind': a +thing--thanks perhaps to him chiefly--no longer possible of utterance. +One of the sex asking him why he addressed his persecutions particularly +to women: 'Because I fight your battles,' says he, 'and I find you in +the ranks of the enemy.' He treated them as traitors. + +He was nevertheless well supported by a sex that compensates for dislike +of its friend before a certain age by a cordial recognition of him when +it has touched the period. A phalanx of great dames gave him the terrors +of Olympus for all except the natively audacious, the truculent and the +insufferably obtuse; and from the midst of them he launched decree and +bolt to good effect: not, of course, without receiving return missiles, +and not without subsequent question whether the work of that man was +beneficial to the country, who indeed tamed the bumpkin squire and his +brood, but at the cost of their animal spirits and their gift of speech; +viz. by making petrifactions of them. In the surgical operation of +tracheotomy, a successful treatment of the patient hangs, we believe, on +the promptness and skill of the introduction of the artificial windpipe; +and it may be that our unhappy countrymen when cut off from the source +of their breath were not neatly handled; or else that there is a +physical opposition in them to anything artificial, and it must be +nature or nothing. The dispute shall be left where it stands. + +Now, to venture upon parading a beautiful young Duchess of Dewlap, with +an odour of the shepherdess about her notwithstanding her acquired art +of stepping conformably in a hoop, and to demand full homage of respect +for a lady bearing such a title, who had the intoxicating attractions +of the ruddy orchard apple on the tree next the roadside wall, when the +owner is absent, was bold in Mr. Beamish, passing temerity; nor would +even he have attempted it had he not been assured of the support of his +phalanx of great ladies. They indeed, after being taken into the +secret, had stipulated that first they must have an inspection of the +transformed dairymaid; and the review was not unfavourable. Duchess +Susan came out of it more scatheless than her duke. She was tongue-tied, +and her tutored walking and really admirable stature helped her to +appease, the critics of her sex; by whom her too readily blushful +innocence was praised, with a reserve, expressed in the remark, that she +was a monstrous fine toy for a duke's second childhood, and should never +have been let fly from his nursery. Her milliner was approved. The duke +was a notorious connoisseur of female charms, and would see, of course, +to the decorous adornment of her person by the best of modistes. Her +smiling was pretty, her eyes were soft; she might turn out good, if well +guarded for a time; but these merits of the woman are not those of the +great lady, and her title was too strong a beam on her character to give +it a fair chance with her critics. They one and all recommended +powder for her hair and cheeks. That odour of the shepherdess could be +exorcised by no other means, they declared. Her blushing was indecent. + +Truly the critics of the foeman sex behaved in a way to cause the +blushes to swarm rosy as the troops of young Loves round Cytherea in her +sea-birth, when, some soaring, and sinking some, they flutter like her +loosened zone, and breast the air thick as flower petals on the summer's +breath, weaving her net for the world. Duchess Susan might protest +her inability to keep her blushes down; that the wrong was done by the +insolent eyes, and not by her artless cheeks. Ay, but nature, if we +are to tame these men, must be swathed and concealed, partly stifled, +absolutely stifled upon occasion. The natural woman does not move a +foot without striking earth to conjure up the horrid apparition of the +natural man, who is not as she, but a cannibal savage. To be the light +which leads, it is her business to don the misty vesture of an idea, +that she may dwell as an idea in men's minds, very dim, very powerful, +but abstruse, unseizable. Much wisdom was imparted to her on the +subject, and she understood a little, and echoed hollow to the +remainder, willing to show entire docility as far as her intelligence +consented to be awake. She was in that stage of the dainty, faintly +tinged innocence of the amorousness of themselves when beautiful young +women who have not been caught for schooling in infancy deem it a +defilement to be made to appear other than the blessed nature has made +them, which has made them beautiful, and surely therefore deserves to be +worshipped. The lectures of the great ladies and Chloe's counsels failed +to persuade her to use the powder puff-ball. Perhaps too, as timidity +quitted her, she enjoyed her distinctiveness in their midst. + +But the distinctiveness of a Duchess of Dewlap with the hair and cheeks +of our native fields, was fraught with troubles outrunning Mr. Beamish's +calculations. He had perceived that she would be attractive; he had +not reckoned on the homogeneousness of her particular English charms. +A beauty in red, white, and blue is our goddess Venus with the apple +of Paris in her hand; and after two visits to the Pump Room, and one +promenade in the walks about the Assembly House, she had as completely +divided the ordinary guests of the Wells into male and female in opinion +as her mother Nature had done in it sex. And the men would not be +silenced; they had gazed on their divinest, and it was for the women +to succumb to that unwholesome state, so full of thunder. Knights and +squires, military and rural, threw up their allegiance right and left +to devote themselves to this robust new vision, and in their peculiar +manner, with a general View-halloo, and Yoicks, Tally-ho, and away we +go, pelt ahead! Unexampled as it is in England for Beauty to kindle the +ardours of the scent of the fox, Duchess Susan did more--she turned all +her followers into hounds; they were madmen: within a very few days of +her entrance bets raged about her, and there were brawls, jolly flings +at her character in the form of lusty encomium, givings of the lie, and +upon one occasion a knock-down blow in public, as though the place had +never known the polishing touch of Mr. Beamish. + +He was thrown into great perplexity by that blow. Discountenancing the +duel as much as he could, an affair of the sword was nevertheless more +tolerable than the brutal fist: and of all men to be guilty of it, who +would have anticipated the young Alonzo, Chloe's quiet, modest lover! +He it was. The case came before Mr. Beamish for his decision; he had +to pronounce an impartial judgement, and for some time, during the +examination of evidence, he suffered, as he assures us in his Memoirs, a +royal agony. To have to strike with the glaive of Justice them whom they +most esteem, is the greatest affliction known to kings. He would +have done it: he deserved to reign. Happily the evidence against the +gentleman who was tumbled, Mr. Ralph Shepster, excused Mr. Augustus +Camwell, otherwise Alonzo, for dealing with him promptly to shut his +mouth. + +This Shepster, a raw young squire, 'reeking,' Beau Beamish writes of +him, 'one half of the soil, and t' other half of the town,' had involved +Chloe in his familiar remarks upon the Duchess of Dewlap; and the +personal respect entertained by Mr. Beamish for Chloe so strongly +approved Alonzo's championship of her, that in giving judgement he +laid stress on young Alonzo's passion for Chloe, to prove at once the +disinterestedness of the assailant, and the judicial nature of the +sentence: which was, that Mr. Ralph Shepster should undergo banishment, +and had the right to demand reparation. The latter part of this decree +assisted in effecting the execution of the former. Shepster declined +cold steel, calling it murder, and was effusive of nature's logic on the +subject. + +'Because a man comes and knocks me down, I'm to go up to him and ask him +to run me through!' + +His shake of the head signified that he was not such a noodle. Voluble +and prolific of illustration, as is no one so much as a son of nature +inspired to speak her words of wisdom, he defied the mandate, and +refused himself satisfaction, until in the strangest manner possible +flights of white feathers beset him, and he became a mark for +persecution too trying for the friendship of his friends. He fled, +repeating his tale, that he had seen 'Beamish's Duchess,' and Chloe +attending her, at an assignation in the South Grove, where a gentleman, +unknown to the Wells, presented himself to the adventurous ladies, and +they walked together--a tale ending with nods. + +Shepster's banishment was one of those victories of justice upon which +mankind might be congratulated if they left no commotion behind. But, +as when a boy has been horsed before his comrades, dread may visit them, +yet is there likewise devilry in the school; and everywhere over earth +a summary punishment that does not sweep the place clear is likely to +infect whom it leaves remaining. The great law-givers, Lycurgus, Draco, +Solon, Beamish, sorrowfully acknowledge that they have had recourse +to infernal agents, after they have thus purified their circle of an +offender. Doctors confess to the same of their physic. The expelling +agency has next to be expelled, and it is a subtle poison, affecting our +spirits. Duchess Susan had now the incense of a victim to heighten her +charms; like the treasure-laden Spanish galleon for whom, on her voyage +home from South American waters, our enterprising light-craft privateers +lay in wait, she had the double attraction of being desirable and an +enemy. To watch above her conscientiously was a harassing business. + +Mr. Beamish sent for Chloe, and she came to him at once. Her look +was curious; he studied it while they conversed. So looks one who is +watching the sure flight of an arrow, or the happy combinations of an +intrigue. Saying, 'I am no inquisitor, child,' he ventured upon two or +three modest inquisitions with regard to her mistress. The title he +had disguised Duchess Susan in, he confessed to rueing as the principal +cause of the agitation of his principality. 'She is courted,' he said, +'less like a citadel waving a flag than a hostelry where the demand is +for sitting room and a tankard! These be our manners. Yet, I must own, +a Duchess of Dewlap is a provocation, and my exclusive desire to protect +the name of my lord stands corrected by the perils environing his lady. +She is other than I supposed her; she is, we will hope, an excellent +good creature, but too attractive for most and drawbridge and the +customary defences to be neglected. + +Chloe met his interrogatory with a ready report of the young duchess's +innocence and good nature that pacified Mr. Beamish. + +'And you?' said he. + +She smiled for answer. + +That smile was not the common smile; it was one of an eager +exultingness, producing as he gazed the twitch of an inquisitive +reflection of it on his lips. Such a smile bids us guess and quickens us +to guess, warns us we burn and speeds our burning, and so, like an angel +wafting us to some heaven-feasting promontory, lifts us out of ourselves +to see in the universe of colour what the mouth has but pallid speech +to tell. That is the very heart's language; the years are in a look, as +mount and vale of the dark land spring up in lightning. + +He checked himself: he scarce dared to say it. + +She nodded. + +'You have seen the man, Chloe?' + +Her smiling broke up in the hard lines of an ecstasy neighbouring pain. +'He has come; he is here; he is faithful; he has not forgotten me. I was +right. I knew! I knew!' + +'Caseldy has come?' + +'He has come. Do not ask. To have him! to see him! Mr. Beamish, he is +here.' + +'At last!' + +'Cruel!' + +'Well, Caseldy has come, then! But now, friend Chloe, you should be made +aware that the man--' + +She stopped her ears. As she did so, Mr. Beamish observed a thick silken +skein dangling from one hand. Part of it was plaited, and at the upper +end there was a knot. It resembled the commencement of her manufactory +of a whip: she swayed it to and fro, allowing him to catch and lift the +threads on his fingers for the purpose of examining her work. There was +no special compliment to pay, so he dropped it without remark. + +Their faces had expressed her wish to hear nothing from him of Caseldy +and his submission to say nothing. Her happiness was too big; she +appeared to beg to lie down with it on her bosom, in the manner of an +outworn, young mother who has now first received her infant in her arms +from the nurse. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Humouring Chloe with his usual considerateness, Mr. Beamish forbore to +cast a shadow on her new-born joy, and even within himself to doubt the +security of its foundation. Caseldy's return to the Wells was at least +some assurance of his constancy, seeing that here they appointed to +meet when he and Chloe last parted. All might be well, though it was +unexplained why he had not presented himself earlier. To the lightest +inquiry Chloe's reply was a shiver of happiness. + +Moreover, Mr. Beamish calculated that Caseldy would be a serviceable +ally in commanding a proper respect for her Grace the Duchess of Dewlap. +So he betook himself cheerfully to Caseldy's lodgings to deliver a +message of welcome, meeting, on his way thither, Mr. Augustus Camwell, +with whom he had a short conversation, greatly to his admiration of the +enamoured young gentleman's goodness and self-compression in speaking of +Caseldy and Chloe's better fortune. Mr. Camwell seemed hurried. + +Caseldy was not at home, and Mr. Beamish proceeded to the lodgings of +the duchess. Chloe had found her absent. The two consulted. Mr. Beamish +put on a serious air, until Chloe mentioned the pastrycook's shop, for +Duchess Susan had a sweet tooth; she loved a visit to the pastrycook's, +whose jam tarts were dearer to her than his more famous hot mutton pies. +The pastry cook informed Mr. Beamish that her Grace had been in +his shop, earlier than usual, as it happened, and accompanied by a +foreign-looking gentleman wearing moustachois. Her Grace, the pastrycook +said, had partaken of several tarts, in common with the gentleman, who +complimented him upon his excelling the Continental confectioner. Mr. +Beamish glanced at Chloe. He pursued his researches down at the Pump +Room, while she looked round the ladies' coffee house. Encountering +again, they walked back to the duchess's lodgings, where a band stood +playing in the road, by order of her Grace; but the duchess was away, +and had not been seen since her morning's departure. + +'What sort of character would you give mistress Susan of Dewlap, from +your personal acquaintance with it?' said Mr. Beamish to Chloe, as they +stepped from the door. + +Chloe mused and said, 'I would add "good" to the unkindest comparison +you could find for her.' + +'But accepting the comparison!' Mr. Beamish nodded, and revolved upon +the circumstance of their being very much in nature's hands with Duchess +Susan, of whom it might be said that her character was good, yet all +the more alive to the temptations besetting the Spring season. He allied +Chloe's adjective to a number of epithets equally applicable to nature +and to women, according to current ideas, concluding: 'Count, they call +your Caseldy at his lodgings. "The Count he is out for an airing." He is +counted out. Ah! you will make him drop that "Count" when he takes you +from here.' + +'Do not speak of the time beyond the month,' said Chloe, so urgently on +a rapid breath as to cause Mr. Beamish to cast an inquiring look at her. + +She answered it, 'Is not one month of brightness as much as we can ask +for?' + +The beau clapped his elbows complacently to his sides in philosophical +concord with her sentiment. + +In the afternoon, on the parade, they were joined by Mr. Camwell, among +groups of fashionable ladies and their escorts, pacing serenely, by +medical prescription, for an appetite. As he did not comment on the +absence of the duchess, Mr. Beamish alluded to it; whereupon he was +informed that she was about the meadows, and had been there for some +hours. + +'Not unguarded,' he replied to Mr. Beamish. + +'Aha!' quoth the latter; 'we have an Argus!' and as the duchess was not +on the heights, and the sun's rays were mild in cloud, he agreed to +his young friend's proposal that they should advance to meet her. Chloe +walked with them, but her face was disdainful; at the stiles she gave +her hand to Mr. Beamish; she did not address a word to Mr. Camwell, +and he knew the reason. Nevertheless he maintained his air of soldierly +resignation to the performance of duty, and held his head like a +gentleman unable to conceive the ignominy of having played spy. Chloe +shrank from him. + +Duchess Susan was distinguished coming across a broad uncut meadow, +tirra-lirraing beneath a lark, Caseldy in attendance on her. She stopped +short and spoke to him; then came forward, crying ingenuously. 'Oh, Mr. +Beamish, isn't this just what you wanted me to do?' + +'No, madam,' said he, 'you had my injunctions to the contrary.' + +'La!' she exclaimed, 'I thought I was to run about in the fields now and +then to preserve my simplicity. I know I was told so, and who told me!' + +Mr. Beamish bowed effusively to the introduction of Caseldy, whose +fingers he touched in sign of the renewal of acquaintance, and with a +laugh addressed the duchess: + +'Madam, you remind me of a tale of my infancy. I had a juvenile comrade +of the tenderest age, by name Tommy Plumston, and he enjoyed the +privilege of intimacy with a component urchin yclept Jimmy Clungeon, +with which adventurous roamer, in defiance of his mother's interdict +against his leaving the house for a minute during her absence from +home, he departed on a tour of the district, resulting, perhaps as a +consequence of its completeness, in this, that at a distance computed at +four miles from the maternal mansion, he perceived his beloved mama with +sufficient clearness to feel sure that she likewise had seen him. +Tommy consulted with Jimmy, and then he sprang forward on a run to his +frowning mama, and delivered himself in these artless words, which I +repeat as they were uttered, to give you the flavour of the innocent +babe: he said, "I frink I frought I hear you call me, ma! and Jimmy +Clungeon, he frought he frink so too!" So, you see, the pair of them +were under the impression that they were doing right. There is a +delicate distinction in the tenses of each frinking where the other +frought, enough in itself to stamp sincerity upon the statement.' + +Caseldy said, 'The veracity of a boy possessing a friend named Clungeon +is beyond contest.' + +Duchess Susan opened her eyes. 'Four miles from home! And what did his +mother do to him?' + +'Tommy's mama,' said Mr. Beamish, and with the resplendent licence of +the period which continued still upon tolerable terms with nature under +the compromise of decorous 'Oh-fie!' flatly declared the thing she did. + +'I fancy, sir, that I caught sight of your figure on the hill yonder +about an hour or so earlier,' said Caseldy to Mr. Camwell. + +'If it was at the time when you were issuing from that wood, sir, your +surmise is correct,' said the young gentleman. + +'You are long-sighted, sir!' + +'I am, sir.' + +'And so am I.' + +'And I,' said Chloe. + +'Our Chloe will distinguish you accurately at a mile, and has done it,' +observed Mr. Beamish. + +'One guesses tiptoe on a suspicion, and if one is wrong it passes, and +if one is right it is a miracle,' she said, and raised her voice on a +song to quit the subject. + +'Ay, ay, Chloe; so then you had a suspicion, you rogue, the day we had +the pleasure of meeting the duchess, had you?' Mr. Beamish persisted. + +Duchess Susan interposed. 'Such a pretty song! and you to stop her, +sir!' + +Caseldy took up the air. + +'Oh, you two together!' she cried. 'I do love hearing music in the +fields; it is heavenly. Bands in the town and voices in the green +fields, I say! Couldn't you join Chloe, Mr.... Count, sir, before we +come among the people, here where it 's all so nice and still. Music! +and my heart does begin so to pit-a-pat. Do you sing, Mr. Alonzo?' + +'Poorly,' the young gentleman replied. + +'But the Count can sing, and Chloe's a real angel when she sings; +and won't you, dear?' she implored Chloe, to whom Caseldy addressed a +prelude with a bow and a flourish of the hand. + +Chloe's voice flew forth. Caseldy's rich masculine matched it. The song +was gay; he snapped his finger at intervals in foreign style, singing +big-chested, with full notes and a fine abandonment, and the quickest +susceptibility to his fair companion's cunning modulations, and an eye +for Duchess Susan's rapture. + +Mr. Beamish and Mr. Camwell applauded them. + +'I never can tell what to say when I'm brimming'; the duchess let fall +a sigh. 'And he can play the flute, Mr. Beamish. He promised me he +would go into the orchestra and play a bit at one of your nice evening +delicious concerts, and that will be nice--Oh!' + +'He promised you, madam, did he so?' said the beau. 'Was it on your way +to the Wells that he promised you?' + +'On my way to the Wells!' she exclaimed softly. 'Why, how could anybody +promise me a thing before ever he saw me? I call that a strange thing to +ask a person. No, to-day, while we were promenading; and I should hear +him sing, he said. He does admire his Chloe so. Why, no wonder, is it, +now? She can do everything; knit, sew, sing, dance--and talk! She's +never uneasy for a word. She makes whole scenes of things go round you, +like a picture peep-show, I tell her. And always cheerful. She hasn't +a minute of grumps; and I'm sometimes a dish of stale milk fit only for +pigs. + +With your late hours here, I'm sure I want tickling in the morning, and +Chloe carols me one of her songs, and I say, "There's my bird!"' + +Mr. Beamish added, 'And you will remember she has a heart.' + +'I should think so!' said the duchess. + +'A heart, madam!' + +'Why, what else?' + +Nothing other, the beau, by his aspect, was constrained to admit. + +He appeared puzzled by this daughter of nature in a coronet; and more on +her remarking, 'You know about her heart, Mr. Beamish.' + +He acquiesced, for of course he knew of her life-long devotion to +Caseldy; but there was archness in her tone. However, he did not expect +a woman of her education to have the tone perfectly concordant with +the circumstances. Speaking tentatively of Caseldy's handsome face and +figure, he was pleased to hear the duchess say, 'So I tell Chloe.' + +'Well,' said he, 'we must consider them united; they are one.' + +Duchess Susan replied, 'That's what I tell him; she will do anything you +wish.' + +He repeated these words with an interjection, and decided in his mind +that they were merely silly. She was a real shepherdess by birth and +nature, requiring a strong guard over her attractions on account of her +simplicity; such was his reading of the problem; he had conceived it at +the first sight of her, and always recurred to it under the influence +of her artless eyes, though his theories upon men and women were astute, +and that cavalier perceived by long-sighted Chloe at Duchess Susan's +coach window perturbed him at whiles. Habitually to be anticipating the +simpleton in a particular person is the sure way of being sometimes +the dupe, as he would not have been the last to warn a neophyte; but +abstract wisdom is in need of an unappeased suspicion of much keenness +of edge, if we would have it alive to cope with artless eyes and our +prepossessed fancy of their artlessness. + +'You talk of Chloe to him?' he said. + +She answered. 'Yes, that I do. And he does love her! I like to hear him. +He is one of the gentlemen who don't make me feel timid with them.' + +She received a short lecture on the virtues of timidity in preserving +the sex from danger; after which, considering that the lady who does not +feel timid with a particular cavalier has had no sentiment awakened, he +relinquished his place to Mr. Camwell, and proceeded to administer the +probe to Caseldy. + +That gentleman was communicatively candid. Chloe had left him, and he +related how, summoned home to England and compelled to settle a dispute +threatening a lawsuit, he had regretfully to abstain from visiting +the Wells for a season, not because of any fear of the attractions of +play--he had subdued the frailty of the desire to play--but because +he deemed it due to his Chloe to bring her an untroubled face, and he +wished first to be the better of the serious annoyances besetting him. +For some similar reason he had not written; he wished to feast on her +surprise. 'And I had my reward,' he said, as if he had been the person +principally to suffer through that abstinence. 'I found--I may say it to +you, Mr. Beamish love in her eyes. Divine by nature, she is one of the +immortals, both in appearance and in steadfastness.' + +They referred to Duchess Susan. Caseldy reluctantly owned that it would +be an unkindness to remove Chloe from attendance on her during the short +remaining term of her stay at the Wells; and so he had not proposed it, +he said, for the duchess was a child, an innocent, not stupid by any +means; but, of course, her transplanting from an inferior to an exalted +position put her under disadvantages. + +Mr. Beamish spoke of the difficulties of his post as guardian, and also +of the strange cavalier seen at her carriage window by Chloe. + +Caseldy smiled and said, 'If there was one--and Chloe is rather +long--sighted--we can hardly expect her to confess it.' + +'Why not, sir, if she be this piece of innocence?' Mr. Beamish was led +to inquire. + +'She fears you, sir,' Caseldy answered. 'You have inspired her with an +extraordinary fear of you.' + +'I have?' said the beau: it had been his endeavour to inspire it, and he +swelled somewhat, rather with relief at the thought of his possessing a +power to control his delicate charge, than with our vanity; yet would +it be audacious to say that there was not a dose of the latter. He was a +very human man; and he had, as we have seen, his ideas of the effect of +the impression of fear upon the hearts of women. Something, in any case, +caused him to forget the cavalier. + +They were drawn to the three preceding them, by a lively dissension +between Chloe and Mr. Camwell. + +Duchess Susan explained it in her blunt style: 'She wants him to go away +home, and he says he will, if she'll give him that double skein of silk +she swings about, and she says she won't, let him ask as long as he +pleases; so he says he sha'n't go, and I'm sure I don't see why he +should; and she says he may stay, but he sha'n't have her necklace, she +calls it. So Mr. Camwell snatches, and Chloe fires up. Gracious, can't +she frown!--at him. She never frowns at anybody but him.' + +Caseldy attempted persuasion on Mr. Camwell's behalf. With his mouth at +Chloe's ear, he said, 'Give it; let the poor fellow have his memento; +despatch him with it.' + +'I can hear! and that is really kind,' exclaimed Duchess Susan. + +'Rather a missy-missy schoolgirl sort of necklace,' Mr. Beamish +observed; 'but he might have it, without the dismissal, for I cannot +consent to lose Alonzo. No, madam,' he nodded at the duchess. + +Caseldy continued his whisper: 'You can't think of wearing a thing like +that about your neck?' + +'Indeed,' said Chloe, 'I think of it.' + +'Why, what fashion have you over here?' + +'It is not yet a fashion,' she said. + +'A silken circlet will not well become any precious pendant that I know +of.' + +'A bag of dust is not a very precious pendant,' she said. + +'Oh, a memento mori!' cried he. + +And she answered, 'Yes.' + +He rallied her for her superstition, pursuing, 'Surely, my love, 'tis a +cheap riddance of a pestilent, intrusive jaloux. Whip it into his hands +for a mittimus.' + +'Does his presence distress you?' she asked. + +'I will own that to be always having the fellow dogging us, with his +dejected leer, is not agreeable. He watches us now, because my lips are +close by your cheek. He should be absent; he is one too many. Speed him +on his voyage with the souvenir he asks for.' + +'I keep it for a journey of my own, which I may have to take,' said +Chloe. + +'With me?' + +'You will follow; you cannot help following me, Caseldy.' + +He speculated on her front. She was tenderly smiling. 'You are happy, +Chloe?' + +'I have never known such happiness,' she said. The brilliancy of her +eyes confirmed it. + +He glanced over at Duchess Susan, who was like a sunflower in the sun. +His glance lingered a moment. Her abundant and glowing young charms were +the richest fascination an eye like his could dwell on. 'That is right,' +said he. 'We will be perfectly happy till the month ends. And after it? +But get us rid of Monsieur le Jeune; toss him that trifle; I spare him +that. 'Twill be bliss to him, at the cost of a bit of silk thread to us. +Besides, if we keep him to cure him of his passion here, might it not +be--these boys veer suddenly, like the winds of Albion, from one fair +object to t' other--at the cost of the precious and simple lady you +are guarding? I merely hint. These two affect one another, as though +it could be. She speaks of him. It shall be as you please, but a trifle +like that, my Chloe, to be rid of a green eye!' + +'You much wish him gone?' she said. + +He shrugged. 'The fellow is in our way.' + +'You think him a little perilous for my innocent lady?' + +'Candidly, I do.' + +She stretched the half-plaited silken rope in her two hands to try the +strength of it, made a second knot, and consigned it to her pocket. + +At once she wore her liveliest playfellow air, in which character no one +was so enchanting as Chloe could be, for she became the comrade of men +without forfeit of her station among sage sweet ladies, and was like a +well-mannered sparkling boy, to whom his admiring seniors have given the +lead in sallies, whims, and fights; but pleasanter than a boy, the soft +hues of her sex toned her frolic spirit; she seemed her sex's deputy, to +tell the coarser where they could meet, as on a bridge above the torrent +separating them, gaily for interchange of the best of either, unfired +and untempted by fire, yet with all the elements which make fire burn to +animate their hearts. + +'Lucky the man who wins for himself that life-long cordial!' Mr. Beamish +said to Duchess Susan. + +She had small comprehension of metaphorical phrases, but she was quick +at reading faces; and comparing the enthusiasm on the face of the beau +with Caseldy's look of troubled wonderment and regret, she pitied +the lover conscious of not having the larger share of his mistress's +affections. When presently he looked at her, the tender-hearted woman +could have cried for very compassion, so sensible did he show himself of +Chloe's preference of the other. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +That evening Duchess Susan played at the Pharaoh table and lost eight +hundred pounds, through desperation at the loss of twenty. After +encouraging her to proceed to this extremity, Caseldy checked her. He +was conducting her out of the Play room when a couple of young squires +of the Shepster order, and primed with wine, intercepted her to present +their condolences, which they performed with exaggerated gestures, +intended for broad mimicry of the courtliness imported from the +Continent, and a very dulcet harping on the popular variations of her +Christian name, not forgetting her singular title, 'my lovely, lovely +Dewlap!' + +She was excited and stunned by her immediate experience in the transfer +of money, and she said, 'I 'm sure I don't know what you want.' + +'Yes!' cried they, striking their bosoms as guitars, and attempting the +posture of the thrummer on the instrument; 'she knows. She does know. +Handsome Susie knows what we want.' And one ejaculated, mellifluously, +'Oh!' and the other 'Ah!' in flagrant derision of the foreign ways they +produced in boorish burlesque--a self-consolatory and a common trick of +the boor. + +Caseldy was behind. He pushed forward and bowed to them. 'Sirs, will you +mention to me what you want?' + +He said it with a look that meant steel. It cooled them sufficiently to +let him place the duchess under the protectorship of Mr. Beamish, then +entering from another room with Chloe; whereupon the pair of rustic +bucks retired to reinvigorate their valiant blood. + +Mr. Beamish had seen that there was cause for gratitude to Caseldy, to +whom he said, 'She has lost?' and he seemed satisfied on hearing the +amount of the loss, and commissioned Caseldy to escort the ladies to +their lodgings at once, observing, 'Adieu, Count!' + +'You will find my foreign title of use to you here, after a bout or +two,' was the reply. + +'No bouts, if possibly to be avoided; though I perceive how the flavour +of your countship may spread a wholesome alarm among our rurals, who +will readily have at you with fists, but relish not the tricky cold +weapon.' + +Mr. Beamish haughtily bowed the duchess away. + +Caseldy seized the opportunity while handing her into her sedan to say, +'We will try the fortune-teller for a lucky day to have our revenge.' + +She answered: 'Oh, don't talk to me about playing again ever; I'm nigh +on a clean pocket, and never knew such a sinful place as this. I feel +I've tumbled into a ditch. And there's Mr. Beamish, all top when he bows +to me. You're keeping Chloe waiting, sir.' + +'Where was she while we were at the table?' + +'Sure she was with Mr. Beamish.' + +'Ah!' he groaned. + +'The poor soul is in despair over her losses to-night,' he turned from +the boxed-up duchess to remark to Chloe. 'Give her a comfortable cry and +a few moral maxims.' + +'I will,' she said. 'You love me, Caseldy?' + +'Love you? I? Your own? What assurance would you have?' + +'None, dear friend.' + +Here was a woman easily deceived. + +In the hearts of certain men, owing to an intellectual contempt of easy +dupes, compunction in deceiving is diminished by the lightness of their +task; and that soft confidence which will often, if but passingly, bid +betrayers reconsider the charms of the fair soul they are abandoning, +commends these armoured knights to pursue with redoubled earnest the +fruitful ways of treachery. Their feelings are warm for their prey, +moreover; and choosing to judge their victim by the present warmth of +their feelings, they can at will be hurt, even to being scandalized, +by a coldness that does not waken one suspicion of them. Jealousy would +have a chance of arresting, for it is not impossible to tease them back +to avowed allegiance; but sheer indifference also has a stronger hold on +them than a, dull, blind trustfulness. They hate the burden it imposes; +the blind aspect is only touching enough to remind them of the burden, +and they hate if for that, and for the enormous presumption of the +belief that they are everlastingly bound to such an imbecile. She walks +about with her eyes shut, expecting not to stumble, and when she does, +am I to blame? The injured man asks it in the course of his reasoning. + +He recurs to his victim's merits, but only compassionately, and the +compassion is chilled by the thought that she may in the end start +across his path to thwart him. Thereat he is drawn to think of the prize +she may rob him of; and when one woman is an obstacle, the other shines +desirable as life beyond death; he must have her; he sees her in the +hue of his desire for her, and the obstacle in that of his repulsion. +Cruelty is no more than the man's effort to win the wished object. + +She should not leave it to his imagination to conceive that in the end +the blind may awaken to thwart him. Better for her to cast him hence, +or let him know that she will do battle to keep him. But the pride of a +love that has hardened in the faithfulness of love cannot always be wise +on trial. + +Caseldy walked considerably in the rear of the couple of chairs. He saw +on his way what was coming. His two young squires were posted at Duchess +Susan's door when she arrived, and he received a blow from one of them +in clearing a way for her. She plucked at his hand. 'Have they hurt +you?' she asked. + +'Think of me to-night thanking them and heaven for this, my darling,' he +replied, with a pressure that lit the flying moment to kindle the after +hours. + +Chloe had taken help of one of her bearers to jump out. She stretched +a finger at the unruly intruders, crying sternly, 'There is blood on +you--come not nigh me!' The loftiest harangue would not have been so +cunning to touch their wits. They stared at one another in the clear +moonlight. Which of them had blood on him? As they had not been for +blood, but for rough fun, and something to boast of next day, they +gesticulated according to the first instructions of the dancing master, +by way of gallantry, and were out of Caseldy's path when he placed +himself at his liege lady's service. 'Take no notice of them, dear,' she +said. + +'No, no,' said he; and 'What is it?' and his hoarse accent and shaking +clasp of her arm sickened her to the sensation of approaching death. + +Upstairs Duchess Susan made a show of embracing her. Both were +trembling. The duchess ascribed her condition to those dreadful men. +'What makes them be at me so?' she said. + +And Chloe said, 'Because you are beautiful.' + +'Am I?' + +'You are.' + +'I am?' + +'Very beautiful; young and beautiful; beautiful in the bud. You will +learn to excuse them, madam.' + +'But, Chloe--' The duchess shut her mouth. Out of a languid reverie, she +sighed: 'I suppose I must be! My duke--oh, don't talk of him. Dear man! +he's in bed and fast asleep long before this. I wonder how he came to +let me come here. + +I did bother him, I know. Am I very, very beautiful, Chloe, so that men +can't help themselves?' + +'Very, madam.' + +'There, good-night. I want to be in bed, and I can't kiss you because +you keep calling me madam, and freeze me to icicles; but I do love you, +Chloe.' + +'I am sure you do.' + +'I'm quite certain I do. I know I never mean harm. But how are we women +expected to behave, then? Oh, I'm unhappy, I am.' + +'You must abstain from playing.' + +'It's that! I've lost my money--I forgot. And I shall have to confess it +to my duke, though he warned me. Old men hold their fingers up--so! +One finger: and you never forget the sight of it, never. It's a round +finger, like the handle of a jug, and won't point at you when they're +lecturing, and the skin's like an old coat on gaffer's shoulders--or, +Chloe! just like, when you look at the nail, a rumpled counterpane up to +the face of a corpse. I declare, it's just like! I feel as if I didn't +a bit mind talking of corpses tonight. And my money's gone, and I don't +much mind. I'm a wild girl again, handsomer than when that----he is +a dear, kind, good old nobleman, with his funny old finger: "Susan! +Susan!" I'm no worse than others. Everybody plays here; everybody +superior. Why, you have played, Chloe.' + +'Never!' + +'I've heard you say you played once, and a bigger stake it was, you +said, than anybody ever did play.' + +'Not money.' + +'What then?' + +'My life.' + +'Goodness--yes! I understand. I understand everything to-night-men too. +So you did!--They're not so shamefully wicked, Chloe. Because I can't +see the wrong of human nature--if we're discreet, I mean. Now and then a +country dance and a game, and home to bed and dreams. There's no harm +in that, I vow. And that's why you stayed at this place. You like it, +Chloe?' + +'I am used to it.' + +'But when you're married to Count Caseldy you'll go?' + +'Yes, then.' + +She uttered it so joylessly that Duchess Susan added, with intense +affectionateness, 'You're not obliged to marry him, dear Chloe.' + +'Nor he me, madam.' + +The duchess caught at her impulsively to kiss her, and said she would +undress herself, as she wished to be alone. + +From that night she was a creature inflamed. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The total disappearance of the pair of heroes who had been the latest +in the conspiracy to vex his delicate charge, gave Mr. Beamish a high +opinion of Caseldy as an assistant in such an office as he held. They +had gone, and nothing more was heard of them. Caseldy confined his +observations on the subject to the remark that he had employed the best +means to be rid of that kind of worthies; and whether their souls had +fled, or only their bodies, was unknown. But the duchess had quiet +promenades with Caseldy to guard her, while Mr. Beamish counted the +remaining days of her visit with the impatience of a man having cause to +cast eye on a clock. For Duchess Susan was not very manageable now; she +had fits of insurgency, and plainly said that her time was short, and +she meant to do as she liked, go where she liked, play when she liked, +and be an independent woman--if she was so soon to be taken away and +boxed in a castle that was only a bigger sedan. + +Caseldy protested he was as helpless as the beau. He described the +annoyance of his incessant running about at her heels in all directions +amusingly, and suggested that she must be beating the district to +recover her 'strange cavalier,' of whom, or of one that had ridden +beside her carriage half a day on her journey to the Wells, he said she +had dropped a sort of hint. He complained of the impossibility of his +getting an hour in privacy with his Chloe. + +'And I, accustomed to consult with her, see too little of her,' said Mr. +Beamish. 'I shall presently be seeing nothing, and already I am sensible +of my loss.' + +He represented his case to Duchess Susan:--that she was for ever driving +out long distances and taking Chloe from him, when his occupation +precluded his accompanying them; and as Chloe soon was to be lost to him +for good, he deeply felt her absence. + +The duchess flung him enigmatical rejoinders: 'You can change all that, +Mr. Beamish, if you like, and you know you can. Oh, yes, you can. But +you like being a butterfly, and when you've made ladies pale you're +happy: and there they're to stick and wither for you. Never!--I've that +pride. I may be worried, but I'll never sink to green and melancholy for +a man.' + +She bridled at herself in a mirror, wherein not a sign of paleness was +reflected. + +Mr. Beamish meditated, and he thought it prudent to speak to Caseldy +manfully of her childish suspicions, lest she should perchance in like +manner perturb the lover's mind. + +'Oh, make your mind easy, my dear sir, as far as I am concerned,' said +Caseldy. 'But, to tell you the truth, I think I can interpret her creamy +ladyship's innuendos a little differently and quite as clearly. For +my part, I prefer the pale to the blowsy, and I stake my right hand +on Chloe's fidelity. Whatever harm I may have the senseless +cruelty--misfortune, I may rather call it--to do that heavenly-minded +woman in our days to come, none shall say of me that I was ever for an +instant guilty of the baseness of doubting her purity and constancy. +And, sir, I will add that I could perfectly rely also on your honour.' + +Mr. Beamish bowed. 'You do but do me justice. But, say, what +interpretation?' + +'She began by fearing you,' said Caseldy, creating a stare that was +followed by a frown. 'She fancies you neglect her. Perhaps she has a +woman's suspicion that you do it to try her.' + +Mr. Beamish frenetically cited his many occupations. 'How can I be ever +dancing attendance on her?' Then he said, 'Pooh,' and tenderly fingered +the ruffles of his wrist. 'Tush, tush,' said he, 'no, no: though if +it came to a struggle between us, I might in the interests of my old +friend, her lord, whom I have reasons for esteeming, interpose an +influence that would make the exercise of my authority agreeable. +Hitherto I have seen no actual need of it, and I watch keenly. Her eye +has been on Colonel Poltermore once or twice his on her. The woman is +a rose in June, sir, and I forgive the whole world for looking--and for +longing too. But I have observed nothing serious.' + +'He is of our party to the beacon-head to-morrow,' said Caseldy. 'She +insisted that she would have him; and at least it will grant me furlough +for an hour.' + +'Do me the service to report to me,' said Mr. Beamish. + +In this fashion he engaged Caseldy to supply him with inventions, and +prepared himself to swallow them. It was Poltermore and Poltermore, the +Colonel here, the Colonel there until the chase grew so hot that Mr. +Beamish could no longer listen to young Mr. Camwell's fatiguing drone +upon his one theme of the double-dealing of Chloe's betrothed. He became +of her way of thinking, and treated the young gentleman almost as coldly +as she. In time he was ready to guess of his own acuteness that the +'strange cavalier' could have been no other than Colonel Poltermore. +When Caseldy hinted it, Mr. Beamish said, 'I have marked him.' He added, +in highly self-satisfied style, 'With all your foreign training, my +friend, you will learn that we English are not so far behind you in the +art of unravelling an intrigue in the dark.' To which Caseldy replied, +that the Continental world had little to teach Mr. Beamish. + +Poor Colonel Poltermore, as he came to be called, was clearly a victim +of the sudden affability of Duchess Susan. The transformation of a stiff +military officer into a nimble Puck, a runner of errands and a sprightly +attendant, could not pass without notice. The first effect of her +discriminating condescension on this unfortunate gentleman was to make +him the champion of her claims to breeding. She had it by nature, she +was Nature's great lady, he would protest to the noble dames of the +circle he moved in; and they admitted that she was different in every +way from a bourgeoise elevated by marriage to lofty rank: she was not +vulgar. But they remained doubtful of the perfect simplicity of a young +woman who worked such changes in men as to render one of the famous +conquerors of the day her agitated humble servant. By rapid degrees the +Colonel had fallen to that. When not by her side, he was ever marching +with sharp strides, hurrying through rooms and down alleys and groves +until he had discovered and attached himself to her skirts. And, +curiously, the object of his jealousy was the devoted Alonzo! Mr. +Beamish laughed when he heard of it. The lady's excitement and giddy +mien, however, accused Poltermore of a stage of success requiring to be +combated immediately. There was mention of Duchess Susan's mighty wish +to pay a visit to the popular fortune-teller of the hut on the heath, +and Mr. Beamish put his veto on the expedition. She had obeyed him by +abstaining from play of late, so he fully expected, that his interdict +would be obeyed; and besides the fortune-teller was a rogue of a sham +astrologer known to have foretold to certain tender ladies things +they were only too desirous to imagine predestined by an extraordinary +indication of the course of planets through the zodiac, thus causing +them to sin by the example of celestial conjunctions--a piece of wanton +impiety. The beau took high ground in his objections to the adventure. +Nevertheless, Duchess Susan did go. She drove to the heath at an early +hour of the morning, attended by Chloe, Colonel Poltermore, and Caseldy. +They subsequently breakfasted at an inn where gipsy repasts were +occasionally served to the fashion, and they were back at the wells as +soon as the world was abroad. Their surprise then was prodigious when +Mr. Beamish, accosting them full in assembly, inquired whether they +were satisfied with the report of their fortunes, and yet more when he +positively proved himself acquainted with the fortunes which had been +recounted to each of them in privacy. + +'You, Colonel Poltermore, are to be in luck's way up to the tenth +milestone,--where your chariot will overset and you will be lamed for +life.' + +'Not quite so bad,' said the Colonel cheerfully, he having been informed +of much better. + +'And you, Count Caseldy, are to have it all your own way with good +luck, after committing a deed of slaughter, with the solitary penalty of +undergoing a visit every night from the corpse.' + +'Ghost,' Caseldy smilingly corrected him. + +'And Chloe would not have her fortune told, because she knew it!' Mr. +Beamish cast a paternal glance at her. 'And you, madam,' he bent his +brows on the duchess, 'received the communication that "All for Love" +will sink you as it raised you, put you down as it took you up, furnish +the feast to the raven gentleman which belongs of right to the golden +eagle?' + +'Nothing of the sort! And I don't believe in any of their stories,' +cried the duchess, with a burning face. + +'You deny it, madam?' + +'I do. There was never a word of a raven or an eagle, that I'll swear, +now.' + +'You deny that there was ever a word of "All for Love"? Speak, madam.' + +'Their conjuror's rigmarole!' she murmured, huffing. 'As if I listened +to their nonsense!' + +'Does the Duchess of Dewlap dare to give me the lie?' said Mr. Beamish. + +'That's not my title, and you know it,' she retorted. + +'What's this?' the angry beau sang out. 'What stuff is this you wear?' +He towered and laid hand on a border of lace of her morning dress, tore +it furiously and swung a length of it round him: and while the duchess +panted and trembled at an outrage that won for her the sympathy of every +lady present as well as the championship of the gentlemen, he tossed the +lace to the floor and trampled on it, making his big voice intelligible +over the uproar: 'Hear what she does! 'Tis a felony! She wears the stuff +with Betty Worcester's yellow starch on it for mock antique! And let +who else wears it strip it off before the town shall say we are +disgraced--when I tell you that Betty Worcester was hanged at Tyburn +yesterday morning for murder!' + +There were shrieks. + +Hardly had he finished speaking before the assembly began to melt; he +stood in the centre like a pole unwinding streamers, amid a confusion of +hurrying dresses, the sound and whirl and drift whereof was as that of +the autumnal strewn leaves on a wind rising in November. The troops of +ladies were off to bereave themselves of their fashionable imitation +old lace adornment, which denounced them in some sort abettors and +associates of the sanguinary loathed wretch, Mrs. Elizabeth Worcester, +their benefactress of the previous day, now hanged and dangling on the +gallows-tree. + +Those ladies who wore not imitation lace or any lace in the morning, +were scarcely displeased with the beau for his exposure of them that +did. The gentlemen were confounded by his exhibition of audacious power. +The two gentlemen nighest upon violently resenting his brutality to +Duchess Susan, led her from the room in company with Chloe. + +'The woman shall fear me to good purpose,' Mr. Beamish said to himself. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Mr. Camwell was in the ante-room as Chloe passed out behind the two +incensed supporters of Duchess Susan. + +'I shall be by the fir-trees on the Mount at eight this evening,' she +said. + +'I will be there,' he replied. + +'Drive Mr. Beamish into the country, that these gentlemen may have time +to cool.' + +He promised her it should be done. + +Close on the hour of her appointment, he stood under the fir-trees, +admiring the sunset along the western line of hills, and when Chloe +joined him he spoke of the beauty of the scene. + +'Though nothing seems more eloquently to say farewell,' he added, with a +sinking voice. + +'We could say it now, and be friends,' she answered. + +'Later than now, you think it unlikely that you could forgive me, +Chloe.' + +'In truth, sir, you are making it hard for me.' + +'I have stayed here to keep watch; for no pleasure of my own,' said he. + +'Mr. Beamish is an excellent protector of the duchess.' + +'Excellent; and he is cleverly taught to suppose she fears him greatly; +and when she offends him, he makes a display of his Jupiter's awfulness, +with the effect on woman of natural spirit which you have seen, and +others had foreseen, that she is exasperated and grows reckless. Tie +another knot in your string, Chloe.' + +She looked away, saying, 'Were you not the cause? You were in collusion +with that charlatan of the heath, who told them their fortunes this +morning. I see far, both in the dark and in the light.' + +'But not through a curtain. I was present.' + +'Hateful, hateful business of the spy! You have worked a great mischief +Mr. Camwell. And how can you reconcile it to, your conscience that you +should play so base a part?' + +'I have but performed my duty, dear madam.' + +'You pretend that it is your devotion to me! I might be flattered if I +saw not so abject a figure in my service. Now have I but four days of +my month of happiness remaining, and my request to you is, leave me to +enjoy them. I beseech you to go. Very humbly, most earnestly, I beg your +departure. Grant it to me, and do not stay to poison my last days here. +Leave us to-morrow. I will admit your good intentions. I give you my +hand in gratitude. Adieu, Mr. Camwell.' + +He took her hand. 'Adieu. I foresee an early separation, and this dear +hand is mine while I have it in mine. Adieu. It is a word to be repeated +at a parting like ours. We do not blow out our light with one breath: we +let it fade gradually, like yonder sunset.' + +'Speak so,' said she. + +'Ah, Chloe, to give one's life! And it is your happiness I have sought +more than your favor.' + +'I believe it; but I have not liked the means. You leave us to-morrow?' + +'It seems to me that to-morrow is the term.' + +Her face clouded. 'That tells me a very uncertain promise.' + +'You looked forth to a month of happiness--meaning a month of delusion. +The delusion expires to-night. You will awaken to see your end of it in +the morning. You have never looked beyond the month since the day of his +arrival.' + +'Let him not be named, I supplicate you.' + +'Then you consent that another shall be sacrificed for you to enjoy your +state of deception an hour longer?' + +'I am not deceived, sir. I wish for peace, and crave it, and that is all +I would have.' + +'And you make her your peace-offering, whom you have engaged to serve! +Too surely your eyes have been open as well as mine. Knot by knot--I +have watched you--where is it?--you have marked the points in that +silken string where the confirmation of a just suspicion was too strong +for you.' + +'I did it, and still I continued merry?' She subsided from her +scornfulness on an involuntary 'Ah!' that was a shudder. + +'You acted Light Heart, madam, and too well to hoodwink me. Meanwhile +you allowed that mischief to proceed, rather than have your crazy +lullaby disturbed.' + +'Indeed, Mr. Camwell, you presume.' + +'The time, and my knowledge of what it is fraught with, demand it and +excuse it. You and I, my dear and one only love on earth, stand outside +of ordinary rules. We are between life and death.' + +'We are so always.' + +'Listen further to the preacher: We have them close on us, with the +question, Which it shall be to-morrow. You are for sleeping on, but I +say no; nor shall that iniquity of double treachery be committed because +of your desire to be rocked in a cradle. Hear me out. The drug you +have swallowed to cheat yourself will not bear the shock awaiting you +tomorrow with the first light. Hear these birds! When next they sing, +you will be broad awake, and of me, and the worship and service I would +have dedicated to you, I do not... it is a spectral sunset of a day +that was never to be!--awake, and looking on what? Back from a monstrous +villainy to the forlorn wretch who winked at it with knots in a string. +Count them then, and where will be your answer to heaven? I begged it of +you, to save you from those blows of remorse; yes, terrible!' + +'Oh, no!' + +'Terrible, I say!' + +'You are mistaken, Mr. Camwell. It is my soother. I tell my beads on +it.' + +'See how a persistent residence in this place has made a Pagan of the +purest soul among us! Had you... but that day was not to lighten me! +More adorable in your errors that you are than others by their virtues, +you have sinned through excess of the qualities men prize. Oh, you have +a boundless generosity, unhappily enwound with a pride as great. There +is your fault, that is the cause of your misery. Too generous! too +proud! You have trusted, and you will not cease to trust; you have vowed +yourself to love, never to remonstrate, never to seem to doubt; it +is too much your religion, rare verily. But bethink you of that +inexperienced and most silly good creature who is on the rapids to her +destruction. Is she not--you will cry it aloud to-morrow--your victim? +You hear it within you now.' + +'Friend, my dear, true friend,' Chloe said in her deeper voice of +melody, 'set your mind at ease about to-morrow and her. Her safety is +assured. I stake my life on it. She shall not be a victim. At the worst +she will but have learnt a lesson. So, then, adieu! The West hangs like +a garland of unwatered flowers, neglected by the mistress they adorned. +Remember the scene, and that here we parted, and that Chloe wished you +the happiness it was out of her power to bestow, because she was of +another world, with her history written out to the last red streak +before ever you knew her. Adieu; this time adieu for good! + +Mr. Camwell stood in her path. 'Blind eyes, if you like,' he said, 'but +you shall not hear blind language. I forfeit the poor consideration +for me that I have treasured; hate me; better hated by you than shun my +duty! Your duchess is away at the first dawn this next morning; it has +come to that. I speak with full knowledge. Question her.' + +Chloe threw a faltering scorn of him into her voice, as much as her +heart's sharp throbs would allow. 'I question you, sir, how you came to +this full knowledge you boast of?' + +'I have it; let that suffice. Nay, I will be particular; his coach is +ordered for the time I name to you; her maid is already at a station on +the road of the flight.' + +'You have their servants in your pay?' + +'For the mine--the countermine. We must grub dirt to match deceivers. +You, madam, have chosen to be delicate to excess, and have thrown it +upon me to be gross, and if you please, abominable, in my means of +defending you. It is not too late for you to save the lady, nor too late +to bring him to the sense of honour.' + +'I cannot think Colonel Poltermore so dishonourable.' + +'Poor Colonel Poltermore! The office he is made to fill is an old one. +Are you not ashamed, Chloe?' + +'I have listened too long,' she replied. + +'Then, if it is your pleasure, depart.' + +He made way for her. She passed him. Taking two hurried steps in the +gloom of the twilight, she stopped, held at her heart, and painfully +turning to him, threw her arms out, and let herself be seized and +kissed. + +On his asking pardon of her, which his long habit of respect forced him +to do in the thick of rapture and repetitions, she said, 'You rob no +one.' + +'Oh,' he cried, 'there is a reward, then, for faithful love. But am I +the man I was a minute back? I have you; I embrace you; and I doubt that +I am I. Or is it Chloe's ghost?' + +'She has died and visits you.' + +'And will again?' + +Chloe could not speak for languor. + +The intensity of the happiness she gave by resting mutely where she was, +charmed her senses. But so long had the frost been on them that their +awakening to warmth was haunted by speculations on the sweet taste of +this reward of faithfulness to him, and the strange taste of her own +unfaithfulness to her. And reflecting on the cold act of speculation +while strong arm and glowing mouth were pressing her, she thought her +senses might really be dead, and she a ghost visiting the good youth for +his comfort. So feel ghosts, she thought, and what we call happiness +in love is a match between ecstasy and compliance. Another thought flew +through her like a mortal shot: 'Not so with those two! with them it +will be ecstasy meeting ecstasy; they will take and give happiness in +equal portions.' A pang of jealousy traversed her frame. She made the +shrewdness of it help to nerve her fervour in a last strain of him to +her bosom, and gently releasing herself, she said, 'No one is robbed. +And now, dear friend, promise me that you will not disturb Mr. Beamish.' + +'Chloe,' said he, 'have you bribed me?' + +'I do not wish him to be troubled.' + +'The duchess, I have told you--' + +'I know. But you have Chloe's word that she will watch over the duchess +and die to save her. It is an oath. You have heard of some arrangements. +I say they shall lead to nothing: it shall not take place. Indeed, my +friend, I am awake; I see as much as you see. And those... after being +where I have been, can you suppose I have a regret? But she is my dear +and peculiar charge, and if she runs a risk, trust to me that there +shall be no catastrophe; I swear it; so, now, adieu. We sup in company +to-night. They will be expecting some of Chloe's verses, and she must +sing to herself for a few minutes to stir the bed her songs take wing +from; therefore, we will part, and for her sake avoid her; do not be +present at our table, or in the room, or anywhere there. Yes, you rob +no one,' she said, in a voice that curled through him deliciously by +wavering; but I think I may blush at recollections, and I would rather +have you absent. Adieu! I will not ask for obedience from you beyond +to-night. Your word?' + +He gave it in a stupor of felicity, and she fled. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Chloe drew the silken string from her bosom, as she descended the dim +pathway through the furies, and set her fingers travelling along it for +the number of the knots. 'I have no right to be living,' she said. Seven +was the number; seven years she had awaited her lover's return; she +counted her age and completed it in sevens. Fatalism had sustained her +during her lover's absence; it had fast hold of her now. Thereby had +she been enabled to say, 'He will come'; and saying, 'He has come,' +her touch rested on the first knot in the string. She had no power +to displace her fingers, and the cause of the tying of the knot stood +across her brain marked in dull red characters, legible neither to her +eye nor to her understanding, but a reviving of the hour that brought it +on her spirit with human distinctness, except of the light of day: she +had a sense of having forfeited light, and seeing perhaps more clearly. +Everything assured her that she saw more clearly than others; she saw +too when it was good to cease to live. + +Hers was the unhappy lot of one gifted with poet-imagination to throb +with the woman supplanting her and share the fascination of the man who +deceived. At their first meeting, in her presence, she had seen that +they were not strangers; she pitied them for speaking falsely, and when +she vowed to thwart this course of evil it to save a younger creature of +her sex, not in rivalry. She treated them both with a proud generosity +surpassing gentleness. All that there was of selfishness in her bosom +resolved to the enjoyment of her one month of strongly willed delusion. + +The kiss she had sunk to robbed no one, not even her body's purity, for +when this knot was tied she consigned herself to her end, and had become +a bag of dust. The other knots in the string pointed to verifications; +this first one was a suspicion, and it was the more precious, she felt +it to be more a certainty; it had come from the dark world beyond us, +where all is known. Her belief that it had come thence was nourished +by testimony, the space of blackness wherein she had lived since, +exhausting her last vitality in a simulation of infantile happiness, +which was nothing other than the carrying on of her emotion of the +moment of sharp sour sweet--such as it may be, the doomed below attain +for their knowledge of joy--when, at the first meeting with her lover, +the perception of his treachery to the soul confiding in him, told her +she had lived, and opened out the cherishable kingdom of insensibility +to her for her heritage. + +She made her tragic humility speak thankfully to the wound that slew +her. 'Had it not been so, I should not have seen him,' she said:--Her +lover would not have come to her but for his pursuit of another woman. + +She pardoned him for being attracted by that beautiful transplant of the +fields: pardoned her likewise. 'He when I saw him first was as beautiful +to me. For him I might have done as much.' + +Far away in a lighted hall of the West, her family raised hands of +reproach. They were minute objects, keenly discerned as diminished +figures cut in steel. Feeling could not be very warm for them, they were +so small, and a sea that had drowned her ran between; and looking +that way she had scarce any warmth of feeling save for a white rhaiadr +leaping out of broken cloud through branched rocks, where she had +climbed and dreamed when a child. The dream was then of the coloured +days to come; now she was more infant in her mind, and she watched the +scattered water broaden, and tasted the spray, sat there drinking the +scene, untroubled by hopes as a lamb, different only from an infant in +knowing that she had thrown off life to travel back to her home and be +refreshed. She heard her people talk; they were unending babblers in the +waterfall. Truth was with them, and wisdom. How, then, could she pretend +to any right to live? Already she had no name; she was less living than +a tombstone. For who was Chloe? Her family might pass the grave of Chloe +without weeping, without moralizing. They had foreseen her ruin, they +had foretold it, they noised it in the waters, and on they sped to the +plains, telling the world of their prophecy, and making what was untold +as yet a lighter thing to do. + +The lamps in an irregularly dotted line underneath the hill beckoned her +to her task of appearing as the gayest of them that draw their breath +for the day and have pulses for the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +At midnight the great supper party to celebrate the reconciliation of +Mr. Beamish and Duchess Susan broke up, and beneath a soft fair sky the +ladies, with their silvery chatter of gratitude for amusement, caught +Chloe in their arms to kiss her, rendering it natural for their +cavaliers to exclaim that Chloe was blest above mortals. The duchess +preferred to walk. Her spirits were excited, and her language smelt of +her origin, but the superb fleshly beauty of the woman was aglow, and +crying, 'I declare I should burst in one of those boxes--just as if +you'd stalled me!' she fanned a wind on her face, and sumptuously spread +her spherical skirts, attended by the vanquished and captive Colonel +Poltermore, a gentleman manifestly bent on insinuating sly slips of +speech to serve for here a pinch of powder, there a match. 'Am I?' she +was heard to say. She blew prodigious deep-chested sighs of a coquette +that has taken to roaring. + +Presently her voice tossed out: 'As if I would!' These vivid +illuminations of the Colonel's proceedings were a pasture to the +rearward groups, composed of two very grand ladies, Caseldy, Mr. +Beamish, a lord, and Chloe. + +'You man! Oh!' sprang from the duchess. 'What do I hear? I won't listen; +I can't, I mustn't, I oughtn't.' + +So she said, but her head careened, she gave him her coy reluctant ear, +with total abandonment to the seductions of his whispers, and the lord +let fly a peal of laughter. It had been a supper of copious wine, and +the songs which rise from wine. Nature was excused by our midnight +naturalists. + +The two great dames, admonished by the violence of the nobleman's +laughter, laid claim on Mr. Beamish to accompany them at their parting +with Chloe and Duchess Susan. + +In the momentary shuffling of couples incident to adieux among a +company, the duchess murmured to Caseldy: + +'Have I done it well.' + +He praised her for perfection in her acting. 'I am at your door at +three, remember.' + +'My heart's in my mouth,' said she. + +Colonel Poltermore still had the privilege of conducting her the few +farther steps to her lodgings. + +Caseldy walked beside Chloe, and silently, until he said, 'If I have not +yet mentioned the subject--' + +'If it is an allusion to money let me not hear it to-night,' she +replied. + +'I can only say that my lawyers have instructions. But my lawyers cannot +pay you in gratitude. Do not think me in your hardest review of my +misconduct ungrateful. I have ever esteemed you above all women; I do, +and I shall; you are too much above me. I am afraid I am a composition +of bad stuff; I did not win a very particularly good name on the +Continent; I begin to know myself, and in comparison with you, dear +Catherine----' + +'You speak to Chloe,' she said. 'Catherine is a buried person. She died +without pain. She is by this time dust.' + +The man heaved his breast. 'Women have not an idea of our temptations.' + +'You are excused by me for all your errors, Caseldy. Always remember +that.' + +He sighed profoundly. 'Ay, you have a Christian's heart.' + +She answered, 'I have come to the conclusion that it is a Pagan's.' + +'As for me,' he rejoined, 'I am a fatalist. Through life I have seen my +destiny. What is to be, will be; we can do nothing.' + +'I have heard of one who expired of a surfeit that he anticipated, nay +proclaimed, when indulging in the last desired morsel,' said Chloe. + +'He was driven to it.' + +'From within.' + +Caseldy acquiesced; his wits were clouded, and an illustration even +coarser and more grotesque would have won a serious nod and a sigh from +him. 'Yes, we are moved by other hands!' + +'It is pleasant to think so: and think it of me tomorrow. Will you!' +said Chloe. + +He promised it heartily, to induce her to think the same of him. + +Their separation was in no way remarkable. The pretty formalities were +executed at the door, and the pair of gentlemen departed. + +'It's quite dark still,' Duchess Susan said, looking up at the sky, and +she ran upstairs, and sank, complaining of the weakness of her legs, in +a chair of the ante-chamber of her bedroom, where Chloe slept. Then she +asked the time of the night. She could not suppress her hushed 'Oh!' +of heavy throbbing from minute to minute. Suddenly she started off at +a quick stride to her own room, saying that it must be sleepiness which +affected her so. + +Her bedroom had a door to the sitting-room, and thence, as also from +Chloe's room, the landing on the stairs was reached, for the room ran +parallel with both bed-chambers. She walked in it and threw the window +open, but closed it immediately; opened and shut the door, and returned +and called for Chloe. She wanted to be read to. Chloe named certain +composing books. The duchess chose a book of sermons. 'But we're all +such dreadful sinners, it's better not to bother ourselves late at +night.' She dismissed that suggestion. Chloe proposed books of poetry. +'Only I don't understand them except about larks, and buttercups, and +hayfields, and that's no comfort to a woman burning,' was the answer. + +'Are you feverish, madam?' said Chloe. And the duchess was sharp on her: +'Yes, madam, I am.' + +She reproved herself in a change of tone: 'No, Chloe, not feverish, only +this air of yours here is such an exciting air, as the doctor says; and +they made me drink wine, and I played before supper--Oh! my money; I +used to say I could get more, but now!' she sighed--'but there's better +in the world than money. You know that, don't you, you dear? Tell me. +And I want you to be happy; that you'll find. I do wish we could all +be!' She wept, and spoke of requiring a little music to compose her. + +Chloe stretched a hand for her guitar. Duchess Susan listened to some +notes, and cried that it went to her heart and hurt her. 'Everything we +like a lot has a fence and a board against trespassers, because of such +a lot of people in the world,' she moaned. 'Don't play, put down that +thing, please, dear. You're the cleverest creature anybody has ever met; +they all say so. I wish I----Lovely women catch men, and clever women +keep them: I've heard that said in this wretched place, and it 's a nice +prospect for me, next door to a fool! I know I am.' + +'The duke adores you, madam.' + +'Poor duke! Do let him be--sleeping so woebegone with his mouth so, +and that chin of a baby, like as if he dreamed of a penny whistle. He +shouldn't have let me come here. Talk of Mr. Beamish. How he will miss +you, Chloe!' + +'He will,' Chloe said sadly. + +'If you go, dear.' + +'I am going.' + +'Why should you leave him, Chloe?' + +'I must.' + +'And there, the thought of it makes you miserable!' + +'It does.' + +'You needn't, I'm sure.' + +Chloe looked at her. + +The duchess turned her head. 'Why can't you be gay, as you were at the +supper-table, Chloe? You're out to him like a flower when the sun jumps +over the hill; you're up like a lark in the dews; as I used to be when I +thought of nothing. Oh, the early morning; and I'm sleepy. What a beast +I feel, with my grandeur, and the time in an hour or two for the birds +to sing, and me ready to drop. I must go and undress.' + +She rushed on Chloe, kissed her hastily, declaring that she was quite +dead of fatigue, and dismissed her. 'I don't want help, I can undress +myself. As if Susan Barley couldn't do that for herself! and you may +shut your door, I sha'n't have any frights to-night, I'm so tired out.' + +'Another kiss,' Chloe said tenderly. + +'Yes, take it'--the duchess leaned her cheek--'but I'm so tired I don't +know what I'm doing.' + +'It will not be on your conscience,' Chloe answered, kissing her warmly. + +Will those words she withdrew, and the duchess closed the door. She ran +a bolt in it immediately. + +'I'm too tired to know anything I'm doing,' she said to herself, +and stood with shut eyes to hug certain thoughts which set her bosom +heaving. + +There was the bed, there was the clock. She had the option of lying down +and floating quietly into the day, all peril past. It seemed sweet for a +minute. But it soon seemed an old, a worn, an end-of-autumn life, chill, +without aim, like a something that was hungry and toothless. The bed +proposing innocent sleep repelled her and drove her to the clock. The +clock was awful: the hand at the hour, the finger following the minute, +commanded her to stir actively, and drove her to gentle meditations on +the bed. She lay down dressed, after setting her light beside the clock, +that she might see it at will, and considering it necessary for the bed +to appear to have been lain on. Considering also that she ought to be +heard moving about in the process of undressing, she rose from the bed +to make sure of her reading of the guilty clock. An hour and twenty +minutes! she had no more time than that: and it was not enough for her +various preparations, though it was true that her maid had packed and +taken a box of the things chiefly needful; but the duchess had to change +her shoes and her dress, and run at bo-peep with the changes of +her mind, a sedative preface to any fatal step among women of her +complexion, for so they invite indecision to exhaust their scruples, and +they let the blood have its way. Having so short a space of time, she +thought the matter decided, and with some relief she flung despairing on +the bed, and lay down for good with her duke. In a little while her head +was at work reviewing him sternly, estimating him not less accurately +than the male moralist charitable to her sex would do. She quitted the +bed, with a spring to escape her imagined lord; and as if she had +felt him to be there, she lay down no more. A quiet life like that was +flatter to her idea than a handsomely bound big book without any print +on the pages, and without a picture. Her contemplation of it, contrasted +with the life waved to her view by the timepiece, set her whole system +rageing; she burned to fly. Providently, nevertheless, she thumped a +pillow, and threw the bedclothes into proper disorder, to inform the +world that her limbs had warmed them, and that all had been impulse with +her. She then proceeded to disrobe, murmuring to herself that she could +stop now, and could stop now, at each stage of the advance to a fresh +dressing of her person, and moralizing on her singular fate, in the +mouth of an observer. 'She was shot up suddenly over everybody's head, +and suddenly down she went.' Susan whispered to herself: 'But it was +for love!' Possessed by the rosiness of love, she finished her business, +with an attention to everything needed that was equal to perfect +serenity of mind. After which there was nothing to do, save to sit +humped in a chair, cover her face and count the clock-tickings, that +said, Yes--no; do--don't; fly--stay; fly--fly! It seemed to her she +heard a moving. Well she might with that dreadful heart of hers! + +Chloe was asleep, at peace by this time, she thought; and how she envied +Chloe! She might be as happy, if she pleased. Why not? But what kind of +happiness was it? She likened it to that of the corpse underground, and +shrank distastefully. + +Susan stood at her glass to have a look at the creature about whom there +was all this disturbance, and she threw up her arms high for a languid, +not unlovely yawn, that closed in blissful shuddering with the sensation +of her lover's arms having wormed round her waist and taken her while +she was defenceless. For surely they would. She took a jewelled ring, +his gift, from her purse, and kissed it, and drew it on and off her +finger, leaving it on. Now she might wear it without fear of inquiries +and virtuous eyebrows. O heavenly now--if only it were an hour hence; +and going behind galloping horses! + +The clock was at the terrible moment. She hesitated internally and +hastened; once her feet stuck fast, and firmly she said, 'No'; but the +clock was her lord. The clock was her lover and her lord; and obeying +it, she managed to get into the sitting-room, on the pretext that she +merely wished to see through the front window whether daylight was +coming. + +How well she knew that half-light of the ebb of the wave of darkness. + +Strange enough it was to see it showing houses regaining their solidity +of the foregone day, instead of still fields, black hedges, familiar +shapes of trees. The houses had no wakefulness, they were but seen to +stand, and the light was a revelation of emptiness. Susan's heart was +cunning to reproach her duke for the difference of the scene she beheld +from that of the innocent open-breasted land. Yes, it was dawn in a +wicked place that she never should have been allowed to visit. But where +was he whom she looked for? There! The cloaked figure of a man was at +the corner of the street. It was he. Her heart froze; but her limbs +were strung to throw off the house, and reach air, breathe, and (as her +thoughts ran) swoon, well-protected. To her senses the house was a house +on fire, and crying to her to escape. + +Yet she stepped deliberately, to be sure-footed in a dusky room; she +touched along the wall and came to the door, where a foot-stool nearly +tripped her. Here her touch was at fault, for though she knew she must +be close by the door, she was met by an obstruction unlike wood, and +the door seemed neither shut nor open. She could not find the handle; +something hung over it. Thinking coolly, she fancied the thing must be a +gown or dressing-gown; it hung heavily. Her fingers were sensible of the +touch of silk; she distinguished a depending bulk, and she felt at it +very carefully and mechanically, saying within herself, in her anxiety +to pass it without noise, 'If I should awake poor Chloe, of all people!' +Her alarm was that the door might creak. Before any other alarm had +struck her brain, the hand she felt with was in a palsy, her mouth +gaped, her throat thickened, the dust-ball rose in her throat, and the +effort to swallow it down and get breath kept her from acute speculation +while she felt again, pinched, plucked at the thing, ready to laugh, +ready to shriek. Above her head, all on one side, the thing had a round +white top. Could it be a hand that her touch had slid across? An arm +too! this was an arm! She clutched it, imagining that it clung to her. +She pulled it to release herself from it, desperately she pulled, and a +lump descended, and a flash of all the torn nerves of her body told her +that a dead human body was upon her. + +At a quarter to four o'clock of a midsummer morning, as Mr. Beamish +relates of his last share in the Tale of Chloe, a woman's voice, in +piercing notes of anguish, rang out three shrieks consecutively, which +were heard by him at the instant of his quitting his front doorstep, +in obedience to the summons of young Mr. Camwell, delivered ten minutes +previously, with great urgency, by that gentleman's lacquey. On +his reaching the street of the house inhabited by Duchess Susan, he +perceived many night-capped heads at windows, and one window of the +house in question lifted but vacant. His first impression accused the +pair of gentlemen, whom he saw bearing drawn swords in no friendly +attitude of an ugly brawl that had probably affrighted her Grace, or +her personal attendant, a woman capable of screaming, for he was well +assured that it could not have been Chloe, the least likely of her sex +to abandon herself to the use of their weapons either in terror or in +jeopardy. The antagonists were Mr. Camwell and Count Caseldy. On his +approaching them, Mr. Camwell sheathed his sword, saying that his work +was done. Caseldy was convulsed with wrath, to such a degree as to make +the part of an intermediary perilous. There had been passes between +them, and Caseldy cried aloud that he would have his enemy's blood. +The night-watch was nowhere. Soon, however, certain shopmen and their +apprentices assisted Mr. Beamish to preserve the peace, despite the +fury of Caseldy and the provocations--'not easy to withstand,' says +the chronicler--offered by him to young Camwell. The latter said to Mr. +Beamish: 'I knew I should be no match, so I sent for you,' causing his +friend astonishment, inasmuch as he was assured of the youth's natural +valour. + +Mr. Beamish was about to deliver an allocution of reproof to them in +equal shares, being entirely unsuspicious of any other reason for the +alarum than this palpable outbreak of a rivalry that he would have +inclined to attribute to the charms of Chloe, when the house-door swung +wide for them to enter, and the landlady of the house, holding clasped +hands at full stretch, implored them to run up to the poor lady: 'Oh, +she's dead; she's dead, dead!' + +Caseldy rushed past her. + +'How, dead! good woman?' Mr. Beamish questioned her most incredulously, +half-smiling. + +She answered among her moans: 'Dead by the neck; off the door--Oh!' + +Young Camwell pressed his forehead, with a call on his Maker's name. As +they reached the landing upstairs, Caseldy came out of the sitting-room. + +'Which?' said Camwell to the speaking of his face. + +'She!' said the other. + +'The duchess?' Mr. Beamish exclaimed. + +But Camwell walked into the room. He had nothing to ask after that +reply. + +The figure stretched along the floor was covered with a sheet. The young +man fell at his length beside it, and his face was downward. + +Mr. Beamish relates: 'To this day, when I write at an interval of +fifteen years, I have the tragic ague of that hour in my blood, and I +behold the shrouded form of the most admirable of women, whose heart was +broken by a faithless man ere she devoted her wreck of life to arrest +one weaker than herself on the descent to perdition. Therein it was +beneficently granted her to be of the service she prayed to be +through her death. She died to save. In a last letter, found upon her +pincushion, addressed to me under seal of secrecy toward the parties +principally concerned, she anticipates the whole confession of the +unhappy duchess. Nay, she prophesies: "The duchess will tell you truly +she has had enough of love!" Those actual words were reiterated to me +by the poor lady daily until her lord arrived to head the funeral +procession, and assist in nursing back the shattered health of his wife +to a state that should fit her for travelling. To me, at least, she was +constant in repeating, "No more of love!" By her behaviour to her duke, +I can judge her to have been sincere. She spoke of feeling Chloe's eyes +go through her with every word of hers that she recollected. Nor was the +end of Chloe less effective upon the traitor. He was in the procession +to her grave. He spoke to none. There is a line of the verse bearing +the superscription, "My Reasons for Dying," that shows her to have been +apprehensive to secure the safety of Mr. Camwell: + + I die because my heart is dead + To warn a soul from sin I die: + I die that blood may not be shed, etc. + +She feared he would be somewhere on the road to mar the fugitives, and +she knew him, as indeed he knew himself, no match for one trained in the +foreign tricks of steel, ready though he was to dispute the traitor's +way. She remembers Mr. Camwell's petition for the knotted silken string +in her request that it shall be cut from her throat and given to him.' + +Mr. Beamish indulges in verses above the grave of Chloe. They are of a +character to cool emotion. But when we find a man, who is commonly of +the quickest susceptibility to ridicule as well as to what is befitting, +careless of exposure, we may reflect on the truthfulness of feeling by +which he is drawn to pass his own guard and come forth in his nakedness; +something of the poet's tongue may breathe to us through his mortal +stammering, even if we have to acknowledge that a quotation would +scatter pathos. + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + All flattery is at somebody's expense + Be philosophical, but accept your personal dues + But I leave it to you + Distrust us, and it is a declaration of war + Happiness in love is a match between ecstasy and compliance + If I do not speak of payment + Intellectual contempt of easy dupes + Invite indecision to exhaust their scruples + Is not one month of brightness as much as we can ask for? + No flattery for me at the expense of my sisters + Nothing desirable will you have which is not coveted + Primitive appetite for noise + She might turn out good, if well guarded for a time + The alternative is, a garter and the bedpost + They miss their pleasure in pursuing it + This mania of young people for pleasure, eternal pleasure + Wits, which are ordinarily less productive than land + + + + +THE HOUSE ON THE BEACH + +By George Meredith A REALISTIC TALE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +The experience of great officials who have laid down their dignities +before death, or have had the philosophic mind to review themselves +while still wielding the deputy sceptre, teaches them that in the +exercise of authority over men an eccentric behaviour in trifles has +most exposed them to hostile criticism and gone farthest to jeopardize +their popularity. It is their Achilles' heel; the place where +their mother Nature holds them as she dips them in our waters. The +eccentricity of common persons is the entertainment of the multitude, +and the maternal hand is perceived for a cherishing and endearing sign +upon them; but rarely can this be found suitable for the august in +station; only, indeed, when their sceptre is no more fearful than a +grandmother's birch; and these must learn from it sooner or later that +they are uncomfortably mortal. + +When herrings are at auction on a beach, for example, the man of chief +distinction in the town should not step in among a poor fraternity to +take advantage of an occasion of cheapness, though it be done, as he +may protest, to relieve the fishermen of a burden; nor should such +a dignitary as the bailiff of a Cinque Port carry home the spoil of +victorious bargaining on his arm in a basket. It is not that his +conduct is in itself objectionable, so much as that it causes him to be +popularly weighed; and during life, until the best of all advocates can +plead before our fellow Englishmen that we are out of their way, it is +prudent to avoid the process. + +Mr. Tinman, however, this high-stepping person in question, happened to +have come of a marketing mother. She had started him from a small shop +to a big one. He, by the practice of her virtues, had been enabled to +start himself as a gentleman. He was a man of this ambition, and prouder +behind it. But having started himself precipitately, he took rank among +independent incomes, as they are called, only to take fright at the +perils of starvation besetting one who has been tempted to abandon the +source of fifty per cent. So, if noble imagery were allowable in our +time in prose, might alarms and partial regrets be assumed to animate +the splendid pumpkin cut loose from the suckers. Deprived of that +prodigious nourishment of the shop in the fashionable seaport of +Helmstone, he retired upon his native town, the Cinque Port of +Crikswich, where he rented the cheapest residence he could discover for +his habitation, the House on the Beach, and lived imposingly, though not +in total disaccord with his old mother's principles. His income, as he +observed to his widowed sister and solitary companion almost daily in +their privacy, was respectable. The descent from an altitude of fifty +to five per cent. cannot but be felt. Nevertheless it was a comforting +midnight bolster reflection for a man, turning over to the other side +between a dream and a wink, that he was making no bad debts, and one +must pay to be addressed as esquire. Once an esquire, you are off the +ground in England and on the ladder. An esquire can offer his hand +in marriage to a lady in her own right; plain esquires have married +duchesses; they marry baronets' daughters every day of the week. + +Thoughts of this kind were as the rise and fall of waves in the bosom of +the new esquire. How often in his Helmstone shop had he not heard titled +ladies disdaining to talk a whit more prettily than ordinary women; and +he had been a match for the subtlety of their pride--he understood it. +He knew well that at the hint of a proposal from him they would have +spoken out in a manner very different to that of ordinary women. The +lightning, only to be warded by an esquire, was in them. He quitted +business at the age of forty, that he might pretend to espousals with a +born lady; or at least it was one of the ideas in his mind. + +And here, I think, is the moment for the epitaph of anticipation over +him, and the exclamation, alas! I would not be premature, but it is +necessary to create some interest in him, and no one but a foreigner +could feel it at present for the Englishman who is bursting merely to do +like the rest of his countrymen, and rise above them to shake them class +by class as the dust from his heels. Alas! then an--undertaker's pathos +is better than none at all--he was not a single-minded aspirant to our +social honours. The old marketing mother; to whom he owed his fortunes, +was in his blood to confound his ambition; and so contradictory was the +man's nature, that in revenge for disappointments, there were times when +he turned against the saving spirit of parsimony. Readers deep in Greek +dramatic writings will see the fatal Sisters behind the chair of a man +who gives frequent and bigger dinners, that he may become important in +his neighbourhood, while decreasing the price he pays for his wine, that +he may miserably indemnify himself for the outlay. A sip of his wine +fetched the breath, as when men are in the presence of the tremendous +elements of nature. It sounded the constitution more darkly-awful, and +with a profounder testimony to stubborn health, than the physician's +instruments. Most of the guests at Mr. Tinman's table were so +constructed that they admired him for its powerful quality the more at +his announcement of the price of it; the combined strength and cheapness +probably flattering them, as by another mystic instance of the national +energy. It must have been so, since his townsmen rejoiced to hail him as +head of their town. Here and there a solitary esquire, fished out of the +bathing season to dine at the house on the beach, was guilty of raising +one of those clamours concerning subsequent headaches, which spread +an evil reputation as a pall. A resident esquire or two, in whom a +reminiscence of Tinman's table may be likened to the hook which some old +trout has borne away from the angler as the most vivid of warnings to +him to beware for the future, caught up the black report and propagated +it. + +The Lieutenant of the Coastguard, hearing the latest conscious victim, +or hearing of him, would nod his head and say he had never dined at +Tinman's table without a headache ensuing and a visit to the chemist's +shop; which, he was assured, was good for trade, and he acquiesced, as +it was right to do in a man devoted to his country. He dined with Tinman +again. We try our best to be social. For eight months in our year he +had little choice but to dine with Tinman or be a hermit attached to a +telescope. + +"Where are you going, Lieutenant?" His frank reply to the question +was, "I am going to be killed;" and it grew notorious that this meant +Tinman's table. We get on together as well as we can. Perhaps if we +were an acutely calculating people we should find it preferable both for +trade and our physical prosperity to turn and kill Tinman, in contempt +of consequences. But we are not, and so he does the business gradually +for us. A generous people we must be, for Tinman was not detested. The +recollection of "next morning" caused him to be dimly feared. + +Tinman, meanwhile, was awake only to the Circumstance that he made no +progress as an esquire, except on the envelopes of letters, and in his +own esteem. That broad region he began to occupy to the exclusion of +other inhabitants; and the result of such a state of princely isolation +was a plunge of his whole being into deep thoughts. From the hour of his +investiture as the town's chief man, thoughts which were long shots took +possession of him. He had his wits about him; he was alive to ridicule; +he knew he was not popular below, or on easy terms with people above +him, and he meditated a surpassing stroke as one of the Band of Esq., +that had nothing original about it to perplex and annoy the native mind, +yet was dazzling. Few members of the privileged Band dare even imagine +the thing. + +It will hardly be believed, but it is historical fact, that in the act +of carrying fresh herrings home on his arm, he entertained the idea of +a visit to the First Person and Head of the realm, and was indulging in +pleasing visions of the charms of a personal acquaintance. Nay, he had +already consulted with brother jurats. For you must know that one of +the princesses had recently suffered betrothal in the newspapers, and +supposing her to deign to ratify the engagement, what so reasonable +on the part of a Cinque Port chieftain as to congratulate his liege +mistress, her illustrious mother? These are thoughts and these are deeds +>which give emotional warmth and colour to the ejecter members of a +population wretchedly befogged. They are our sunlight, and our brighter +theme of conversation. They are necessary to the climate and the Saxon +mind; and it would be foolish to put them away, as it is foolish not to +do our utmost to be intimate with terrestrial splendours while we have +them--as it may be said of wardens, mayors, and bailiffs-at command. +Tinman was quite of this opinion. They are there to relieve our dulness. +We have them in the place of heavenly; and he would have argued that we +have a right to bother them too. He had a notion, up in the clouds, of +a Sailors' Convalescent Hospital at Crikswich to seduce a prince with, +hand him the trowel, make him "lay the stone," and then poor prince! +refresh him at table. But that was a matter for by and by. + +His purchase of herrings completed, Mr. Tinman walked across the mound +of shingle to the house on the beach. He was rather a fresh-faced man, +of the Saxon colouring, and at a distance looking good-humoured. That +he should have been able to make such an appearance while doing daily +battle with his wine, was a proof of great physical vigour. His pace +was leisurely, as it must needs be over pebbles, where half a step is +subtracted from each whole one in passing; and, besides, he was aware of +a general breath at his departure that betokened a censorious assembly. +Why should he not market for himself? He threw dignity into his +retreating figure in response to the internal interrogation. The moment +>was one when conscious rectitude =pliers man should have a tail for +its just display. Philosophers have drawn attention to the power of the +human face to express pure virtue, but no sooner has it passed on +than the spirit erect within would seem helpless. The breadth of our +shoulders is apparently presented for our critics to write on. Poor duty +is done by the simple sense of moral worth, to supplant that absence of +feature in the plain flat back. We are below the animals in this. How +charged with language behind him is a dog! Everybody has noticed it. Let +a dog turn away from a hostile circle, and his crisp and wary tail not +merely defends him, it menaces; it is a weapon. Man has no choice but to +surge and boil, or stiffen preposterously. Knowing the popular sentiment +about his marketing--for men can see behind their backs, though they may +have nothing to speak with--Tinman resembled those persons of +principle who decline to pay for a "Bless your honour!" from a voluble +beggar-woman, and obtain the reverse of it after they have gone by. He +was sufficiently sensitive to feel that his back was chalked as on a +slate. The only remark following him was, "There he goes!" + +He went to the seaward gate of the house on the beach, made practicable +in a low flint wall, where he was met by his sister Martha, to whom +he handed the basket. Apparently he named the cost of his purchase per +dozen. She touched the fish and pressed the bellies of the topmost, +it might be to question them tenderly concerning their roes. Then the +couple passed out of sight. Herrings were soon after this despatching +their odours through the chimneys of all Crikswich, and there was that +much of concord and festive union among the inhabitants. + +The house on the beach had been posted where it stood, one supposes, for +the sake of the sea-view, from which it turned right about to face the +town across a patch of grass and salt scurf, looking like a square and +scornful corporal engaged in the perpetual review of an awkward squad of +recruits. Sea delighted it not, nor land either. Marine Parade fronting +it to the left, shaded sickly eyes, under a worn green verandah, from +a sun that rarely appeared, as the traducers of spinsters pretend those +virgins are ever keenly on their guard against him that cometh not. +Belle Vue Terrace stared out of lank glass panes without reserve, +unashamed of its yellow complexion. A gaping public-house, calling +itself newly Hotel, fell backward a step. Villas with the titles of +royalty and bloody battles claimed five feet of garden, and swelled in +bowwindows beside other villas which drew up firmly, commending to the +attention a decent straightness and unintrusive decorum in preference. +On an elevated meadow to the right was the Crouch. The Hall of Elba +nestled among weather-beaten dwarf woods further toward the cliff. +Shavenness, featurelessness, emptiness, clamminess scurfiness, formed +the outward expression of a town to which people were reasonably glad to +come from London in summer-time, for there was nothing in Crikswich +to distract the naked pursuit of health. The sea tossed its renovating +brine to the determinedly sniffing animal, who went to his meals with an +appetite that rendered him cordially eulogistic of the place, in spite +of certain frank whiffs of sewerage coming off an open deposit on the +common to mingle with the brine. Tradition told of a French lady and +gentleman entering the town to take lodgings for a month, and that +on the morrow they took a boat from the shore, saying in their faint +English to a sailor veteran of the coastguard, whom they had consulted +about the weather, "It is better zis zan zat," as they shrugged between +rough sea and corpselike land. And they were not seen again. Their +meaning none knew. Having paid their bill at the lodging-house, their +conduct was ascribed to systematic madness. English people came to +Crikswich for the pure salt sea air, and they did not expect it to be +cooked and dressed and decorated for them. If these things are done to +nature, it is nature no longer that you have, but something Frenchified. +Those French are for trimming Neptune's beard! Only wait, and you are +sure to find variety in nature, more than you may like. You will find it +in Neptune. What say you to a breach of the sea-wall, and an inundation +of the aromatic grass-flat extending from the house on the beach to the +tottering terraces, villas, cottages: and public-house transformed by +its ensign to Hotel, along the frontage of the town? Such an event +had occurred of old, and had given the house on the beach the serious +shaking great Neptune in his wrath alone can give. But many years had +intervened. Groynes had been run down to intercept him and divert him. +He generally did his winter mischief on a mill and salt marshes lower +westward. Mr. Tinman had always been extremely zealous in promoting the +expenditure of what moneys the town had to spare upon the protection of +the shore, as it were for the propitiation or defiance of the sea-god. +There was a kindly joke against him an that subject among brother +jurats. He retorted with the joke, that the first thing for Englishmen +to look to were England's defences. + +But it will not do to be dwelling too fondly on our eras of peace, for +which we make such splendid sacrifices. Peace, saving for the advent of +a German band, which troubled the repose of the town at intervals, +had imparted to the inhabitants of Crikswich, within and without, the +likeness to its most perfect image, together, it must be confessed, with +a degree of nervousness that invested common events with some of the +terrors of the Last Trump, when one night, just upon the passing of the +vernal equinox, something happened. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A carriage Stopped short in the ray of candlelight that was fitfully +and feebly capering on the windy blackness outside the open workshop of +Crickledon, the carpenter, fronting the sea-beach. Mr. Tinnnan's house +was inquired for. Crickledon left off planing; at half-sprawl over the +board, he bawled out, "Turn to the right; right ahead; can't mistake +it." He nodded to one of the cronies intent on watching his labours: +"Not unless they mean to be bait for whiting-pout. Who's that for +Tinman, I wonder?" The speculations of Crickledon's friends were lost in +the scream of the plane. + +One cast an eye through the door and observed that the carriage was +there still. "Gentleman's got out and walked," said Crickledon. He was +informed that somebody was visible inside. "Gentleman's wife, mayhap," +he said. His friends indulged in their privilege of thinking what +they liked, and there was the usual silence of tongues in the shop. He +furnished them sound and motion for their amusement, and now and then a +scrap of conversation; and the sedater spirits dwelling in his immediate +neighbourhood were accustomed to step in and see him work up to +supper-time, instead of resorting to the more turbid and costly +excitement of the public-house. + +Crickledon looked up from the measurement of a thumb-line. In the +doorway stood a bearded gentleman, who announced himself with the +startling exclamation, "Here's a pretty pickle!" and bustled to make way +for a man well known to them as Ned Crummins, the upholsterer's man, on +whose back hung an article of furniture, the condition of which, with a +condensed brevity of humour worthy of literary admiration, he displayed +by mutely turning himself about as he entered. + +"Smashed!" was the general outcry. + +"I ran slap into him," said the gentleman. "Who the deuce!--no bones +broken, that's one thing. The fellow--there, look at him: he's like a +glass tortoise." + +"It's a chiwal glass," Crickledon remarked, and laid finger on the star +in the centre. + +"Gentleman ran slap into me," said Crummins, depositing the frame on the +floor of the shop. + +"Never had such a shock in my life," continued the gentleman. "Upon my +soul, I took him for a door: I did indeed. A kind of light flashed from +one of your houses here, and in the pitch dark I thought I was at the +door of old Mart Tinman's house, and dash me if I did n't go in--crash! +But what the deuce do you do, carrying that great big looking-glass at +night, man? And, look here tell me; how was it you happened to be going +glass foremost when you'd got the glass on your back?" + +"Well, 't ain't my fault, I knows that," rejoined Crummins. "I came +along as careful as a man could. I was just going to bawl out to Master +Tinman, 'I knows the way, never fear me'; for I thinks I hears him call +from his house, 'Do ye see the way?' and into me this gentleman runs all +his might, and smash goes the glass. I was just ten steps from Master +Tinman's gate, and that careful, I reckoned every foot I put down, that +I was; I knows I did, though." + +"Why, it was me calling, 'I'm sure I can't see the way.' + +"You heard me, you donkey!" retorted the bearded gentleman. "What was +the good of your turning that glass against me in the very nick when I +dashed on you?" + +"Well, 't ain't my fault, I swear," said Crummins. "The wind catches +voices so on a pitch dark night, you never can tell whether they be on +one shoulder or the other. And if I'm to go and lose my place through no +fault of mine----" + +"Have n't I told you, sir, I'm going to pay the damage? Here," said the +gentleman, fumbling at his waistcoat, "here, take this card. Read it." + +For the first time during the scene in the carpenter's shop, a certain +pomposity swelled the gentleman's tone. His delivery of the card +appeared to act on him like the flourish of a trumpet before great men. + +"Van Diemen Smith," he proclaimed himself for the assistance of Ned +Crummins in his task; the latter's look of sad concern on receiving the +card seeming to declare an unscholarly conscience. + +An anxious feminine voice was heard close beside Mr. Van Diemen Smith. + +"Oh, papa, has there been an accident? Are you hurt?" + +"Not a bit, Netty; not a bit. Walked into a big looking-glass in the +dark, that's all. A matter of eight or ten pound, and that won't stump +us. But these are what I call queer doings in Old England, when you +can't take a step in the dark, on the seashore without plunging bang +into a glass. And it looks like bad luck to my visit to old Mart +Tinman." + +"Can you," he addressed the company, "tell me of a clean, wholesome +lodging-house? I was thinking of flinging myself, body and baggage, on +your mayor, or whatever he is--my old schoolmate; but I don't so much +like this beginning. A couple of bed-rooms and sitting-room; clean +sheets, well aired; good food, well cooked; payment per week in +advance." + +The pebble dropped into deep water speaks of its depth by the tardy +arrival of bubbles on the surface, and, in like manner, the very simple +question put by Mr. Van Diemen Smith pursued its course of penetration +in the assembled mind in the carpenter's shop for a considerable period, +with no sign to show that it had reached the bottom. + +"Surely, papa, we can go to an inn? There must be some hotel," said his +daughter. + +"There's good accommodation at the Cliff Hotel hard by," said +Crickledon. + +"But," said one of his friends, "if you don't want to go so far, sir, +there's Master Crickledon's own house next door, and his wife lets +lodgings, and there's not a better cook along this coast." + +"Then why did n't the man mention it? Is he afraid of having me?" +asked Mr. Smith, a little thunderingly. "I may n't be known much yet +in England; but I'll tell you, you inquire the route to Mr. Van Diemen +Smith over there in Australia." + +"Yes, papa," interrupted his daughter, "only you must consider that it +may not be convenient to take us in at this hour--so late." + +"It's not that, miss, begging your pardon," said Crickledon. "I make a +point of never recommending my own house. That's where it is. Otherwise +you're welcome to try us." + +"I was thinking of falling bounce on my old schoolmate, and putting Old +English hospitality to the proof," Mr. Smith meditated. "But it's late. +Yes, and that confounded glass! No, we'll bide with you, Mr. Carpenter. +I'll send my card across to Mart Tinman to-morrow, and set him agog at +his breakfast." + +Mr. Van Diemen Smith waved his hand for Crickledon to lead the way. + +Hereupon Ned Crummins looked up from the card he had been turning over +and over, more and more like one arriving at a condemnatory judgment of +a fish. + +"I can't go and give my master a card instead of his glass," he +remarked. + +"Yes, that reminds me; and I should like to know what you meant by +bringing that glass away from Mr. Tinman's house at night," said Mr. +Smith. "If I'm to pay for it, I've a right to know. What's the meaning +of moving it at night? Eh, let's hear. Night's not the time for moving +big glasses like that. I'm not so sure I haven't got a case." + +"If you'll step round to my master along o' me, sir," said Crummins, +"perhaps he'll explain." + +Crummins was requested to state who his master was, and he replied, +"Phippun and Company;" but Mr. Smith positively refused to go with him. + +"But here," said he, "is a crown for you, for you're a civil fellow. +You'll know where to find me in the morning; and mind, I shall expect +Phippun and Company to give me a very good account of their reason for +moving a big looking-glass on a night like this. There, be off." + +The crown-piece in his hand effected a genial change in Crummins' +disposition to communicate. Crickledon spoke to him about the glass; two +or three of the others present jogged him. "What did Mr. Tinman want +by having the glass moved so late in the day, Ned? Your master wasn't +nervous about his property, was he?" + +"Not he," said Crummins, and began to suck down his upper lip and +agitate his eyelids and stand uneasily, glimmering signs of the setting +in of the tide of narration. + +He caught the eye of Mr. Smith, then looked abashed at Miss. + +Crickledon saw his dilemma. "Say what's uppermost, Ned; never mind how +you says it. English is English. Mr. Tinman sent for you to take the +glass away, now, did n't he?" + +"He did," said Crummins. + +"And you went to him." + +"Ay, that I did." + +"And he fastened the chiwal glass upon your back" + +"He did that." + +"That's all plain sailing. Had he bought the glass?" + +"No, he had n't bought it. He'd hired it." + +As when upon an enforced visit to the dentist, people have had one +tooth out, the remaining offenders are more willingly submitted to the +operation, insomuch that a poetical licence might hazard the statement +that they shed them like leaves of the tree, so Crummins, who had shrunk +from speech, now volunteered whole sentences in succession, and how +important they were deemed by his fellow-townsman, Mr. Smith, and +especially Miss Annette Smith, could perceive in their ejaculations, +before they themselves were drawn into the strong current of interest. + +And this was the matter: Tinman had hired the glass for three days. +Latish, on the very first day of the hiring, close upon dark, he had +despatched imperative orders to Phippun and Company to take the glass +out of his house on the spot. And why? Because, as he maintained, there +was a fault in the glass causing an incongruous and absurd reflection; +and he was at that moment awaiting the arrival of another chiwal-glass. + +"Cut along, Ned," said Crickledon. + +"What the deuce does he want with a chiwal-glass at all?" cried Mr. +Smith, endangering the flow of the story by suggesting to the narrator +that he must "hark back," which to him was equivalent to the jumping of +a chasm hindward. Happily his brain had seized a picture: + +"Mr. Tinman, he's a-standin' in his best Court suit." + +Mr. Tinmau's old schoolmate gave a jump; and no wonder. + +"Standing?" he cried; and as the act of standing was really not +extraordinary, he fixed upon the suit: "Court?" + +"So Mrs. Cavely told me, it was what he was standin' in, and as I found +'m I left 'm," said Crummins. + +"He's standing in it now?" said Mr. Van Diemen Smith, with a great gape. + +Crummins doggedly repeated the statement. Many would have ornamented it +in the repetition, but he was for bare flat truth. + +"He must be precious proud of having a Court suit," said Mr. Smith, +and gazed at his daughter so glassily that she smiled, though she was +impatient to proceed to Mrs. Crickledon's lodgings. + +"Oh! there's where it is?" interjected the carpenter, with a funny +frown at a low word from Ned Crummins. "Practicing, is he? Mr. Tinman's +practicing before the glass preparatory to his going to the palace in +London." + +"He gave me a shillin'," said Crummins. + +Crickledon comprehended him immediately. "We sha'n't speak about it, +Ned." + +What did you see? was thus cautiously suggested. + +The shilling was on Crummins' tongue to check his betrayal of the secret +scene. But remembering that he had only witnessed it by accident, and +that Mr. Tinman had not completely taken him into his confidence, he +thrust his hand down his pocket to finger the crown-piece lying in +fellowship with the coin it multiplied five times, and was inspired to +think himself at liberty to say: "All I saw was when the door opened. +Not the house-door. It was the parlour-door. I saw him walk up to the +glass, and walk back from the glass. And when he'd got up to the glass +he bowed, he did, and he went back'ards just so." + +Doubtless the presence of a lady was the active agent that prevented +Crummins from doubling his body entirely, and giving more than a rapid +indication of the posture of Mr. Tinman in his retreat before the glass. +But it was a glimpse of broad burlesque, and though it was received with +becoming sobriety by the men in the carpenter's shop, Annette plucked at +her father's arm. + +She could not get him to depart. That picture of his old schoolmate +Martin Tinman practicing before a chiwal glass to present himself at the +palace in his Court suit, seemed to stupefy his Australian intelligence. + +"What right has he got to go to Court?" Mr. Van Diemen Smith inquired, +like the foreigner he had become through exile. + +"Mr. Tinman's bailiff of the town," said Crickledon. + +"And what was his objection to that glass I smashed?" + +"He's rather an irritable gentleman," Crickledon murmured, and turned to +Crummins. + +Crummins growled: "He said it was misty, and gave him a twist." + +"What a big fool he must be! eh?" Mr. Smith glanced at Crickledon and +the other faces for the verdict of Tinman's townsmen upon his character. + +They had grounds for thinking differently of Tinman. + +"He's no fool," said Crickledon. + +Another shook his head. "Sharp at a bargain." + +"That he be," said the chorus. + +Mr. Smith was informed that Mr. Tinman would probably end by buying up +half the town. + +"Then," said Mr. Smith, "he can afford to pay half the money for that +glass, and pay he shall." + +A serious view of the recent catastrophe was presented by his +declaration. + +In the midst of a colloquy regarding the cost of the glass, during +which it began to be seen by Mr. Tinman's townsmen that there was +laughing-stuff for a year or so in the scene witnessed by Crummins, +if they postponed a bit their right to the laugh and took it in doses, +Annette induced her father to signal to Crickledon his readiness to go +and see the lodgings. No sooner had he done it than he said, "What +on earth made us wait all this time here? I'm hungry, my dear; I want +supper." + +"That is because you have had a disappointment. I know you, papa," said +Annette. + +"Yes, it's rather a damper about old Mart Tinman," her father assented. +"Or else I have n't recovered the shock of smashing that glass, and +visit it on him. But, upon my honour, he's my only friend in England, +I have n't a single relative that I know of, and to come and find your +only friend making a donkey of himself, is enough to make a man think of +eating and drinking." + +Annette murmured reproachfully: "We can hardly say he is our only friend +in England, papa, can we?" + +"Do you mean that young fellow? You'll take my appetite away if you talk +of him. He's a stranger. I don't believe he's worth a penny. He owns +he's what he calls a journalist." + +These latter remarks were hurriedly exchanged at the threshold of +Crickledon's house. + +"It don't look promising," said Mr. Smith. + +"I didn't recommend it," said Crickledon. + +"Why the deuce do you let your lodgings, then?" + +"People who have come once come again." + +"Oh! I am in England," Annette sighed joyfully, feeling at home in some +trait she had detected in Crickledon. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The story of the shattered chiwal-glass and the visit of Tinman's old +schoolmate fresh from Australia, was at many a breakfast-table before. +Tinman heard a word of it, and when he did he had no time to spare for +such incidents, for he was reading to his widowed sister Martha, in +an impressive tone, at a tolerably high pitch of the voice, and with a +suppressed excitement that shook away all things external from his mind +as violently as it agitated his body. Not the waves without but the +engine within it is which gives the shock and tremor to the crazy +steamer, forcing it to cut through the waves and scatter them to spray; +and so did Martin Tinman make light of the external attack of the card +of VAN DIEMEN SMITH, and its pencilled line: "An old chum of yours, +eh, matey?" Even the communication of Phippun & Co. concerning the +chiwal-glass, failed to divert him from his particular task. It was +indeed a public duty; and the chiwal-glass, though pertaining to it, was +a private business. He that has broken the glass, let that man pay for +it, he pronounced--no doubt in simpler fashion, being at his ease in his +home, but with the serenity of one uplifted. As to the name VAN DIEMEN +SMITH, he knew it not, and so he said to himself while accurately +recollecting the identity of the old chum who alone of men would have +thought of writing eh, matey? + +Mr. Van Diemen Smith did not present the card in person. "At +Crickledon's," he wrote, apparently expecting the bailiff of the town to +rush over to him before knowing who he was. + +Tinman was far too busy. Anybody can read plain penmanship or print, but +ask anybody not a Cabinet Minister or a Lord-in-Waiting to read out loud +and clear in a Palace, before a Throne. Oh! the nature of reading is +distorted in a trice, and as Tinman said to his worthy sister: "I can do +it, but I must lose no time in preparing myself." Again, at a reperusal, +he informed her: "I must habituate myself." For this purpose he had put +on the suit overnight. + +The articulation of faultless English was his object. His sister Martha +sat vice-regally to receive his loyal congratulations on the illustrious +marriage, and she was pensive, less nervous than her brother from not +having to speak continuously, yet somewhat perturbed. She also had her +task, and it was to avoid thinking herself the Person addressed by her +suppliant brother, while at the same time she took possession of +the scholarly training and perfect knowledge of diction and rules of +pronunciation which would infallibly be brought to bear on him in the +terrible hour of the delivery of the Address. It was no small task +moreover to be compelled to listen right through to the end of the +Address, before the very gentlest word of criticism was allowed. She did +not exactly complain of the renewal of the rehearsal: a fatigue can be +endured when it is a joy. What vexed her was her failing memory for the +points of objection, as in her imagined High Seat she conceived them; +for, in painful truth, the instant her brother had finished she entirely +lost her acuteness of ear, and with that her recollection: so there +was nothing to do but to say: "Excellent! Quite unobjectionable, dear +Martin, quite:" so she said, and emphatically; but the addition of the +word "only" was printed on her contracted brow, and every faculty +of Tinman's mind and nature being at strain just then, he asked her +testily: "What now? what's the fault now?" She assured him with languor +that there was not a fault. "It's not your way of talking," said he, and +what he said was true. His discernment was extraordinary; generally he +noticed nothing. + +Not only were his perceptions quickened by the preparations for the +day of great splendour: day of a great furnace to be passed through +likewise!--he, was learning English at an astonishing rate into the +bargain. A pronouncing Dictionary lay open on his table. To this he flew +at a hint of a contrary method, and disputes, verifications and triumphs +on one side and the other ensued between brother and sister. In his +heart the agitated man believed his sister to be a misleading guide. +He dared not say it, he thought it, and previous to his African travel +through the Dictionary he had thought his sister infallible on these +points. He dared not say it, because he knew no one else before whom he +could practice, and as it was confidence that he chiefly wanted--above +all things, confidence and confidence comes of practice, he preferred +the going on with his practice to an absolute certainty as to +correctness. + +At midday came another card from Mr. Van Diemen Smith bearing the +superscription: alias Phil R. + +"Can it be possible," Tinman asked his sister, "that Philip Ribstone has +had the audacity to return to this country? I think," he added, "I am +right in treating whoever sends me this card as a counterfeit." + +Martha's advice was, that he should take no notice of the card. + +"I am seriously engaged," said Tinman. With a "Now then, dear," he +resumed his labours. + +Messages had passed between Tinman and Phippun; and in the afternoon +Phippun appeared to broach the question of payment for the chiwal-glass. +He had seen Mr. Van Diemen Smith, had found him very strange, rather +impracticable. He was obliged to tell Tinman that he must hold him +responsible for the glass; nor could he send a second until payment was +made for the first. It really seemed as if Tinman would be compelled, by +the force of circumstances, to go and shake his old friend by the hand. +Otherwise one could clearly see the man might be off: he might be off +at any minute, leaving a legal contention behind him. On the other hand, +supposing he had come to Crikswich for assistance in money? Friendship +is a good thing, and so is hospitality, which is an essentially English +thing, and consequently one that it behoves an Englishman to think it +his duty to perform, but we do not extend it to paupers. But should a +pauper get so close to us as to lay hold of us, vowing he was once our +friend, how shake him loose? Tinman foresaw that it might be a matter of +five pounds thrown to the dogs, perhaps ten, counting the glass. He +put on his hat, full of melancholy presentiments; and it was exactly +half-past five o'clock of the spring afternoon when he knocked at +Crickledon's door. + +Had he looked into Crickledon's shop as he went by, he would have +perceived Van Diemen Smith astride a piece of timber, smoking a pipe. +Van Diemen saw Tinman. His eyes cocked and watered. It is a disgraceful +fact to record of him without periphrasis. In truth, the bearded fellow +was almost a woman at heart, and had come from the Antipodes throbbing +to slap Martin Tinman on the back, squeeze his hand, run over England +with him, treat him, and talk of old times in the presence of a trotting +regiment of champagne. That affair of the chiwal-glass had temporarily +damped his enthusiasm. The absence of a reply to his double transmission +of cards had wounded him; and something in the look of Tinman disgusted +his rough taste. But the well-known features recalled the days of +youth. Tinman was his one living link to the country he admired as the +conqueror of the world, and imaginatively delighted in as the seat of +pleasures, and he could not discard the feeling of some love for Tinman +without losing his grasp of the reason why, he had longed so fervently +and travelled so breathlessly to return hither. In the days of their +youth, Van Diemen had been Tinman's cordial spirit, at whom he sipped +for cheerful visions of life, and a good honest glow of emotion now and +then. Whether it was odd or not that the sipper should be oblivious, and +the cordial spirit heartily reminiscent of those times, we will not stay +to inquire. + +Their meeting took place in Crickledon's shop. Tinman was led in by Mrs. +Crickledon. His voice made a sound of metal in his throat, and his air +was that of a man buttoned up to the palate, as he read from the card, +glancing over his eyelids, "Mr. Van Diemen Smith, I believe." + +"Phil Ribstone, if you like," said the other, without rising. + +"Oh, ah, indeed!" Tinman temperately coughed. + +"Yes, dear me. So it is. It strikes you as odd?" + +"The change of name," said Tinman. + +"Not nature, though!" + +"Ah! Have you been long in England?" + +"Time to run to Helmstone, and on here. You've been lucky in business, I +hear." + +"Thank you; as things go. Do you think of remaining in England?" + +"I've got to settle about a glass I broke last night." + +"Ah! I have heard of it. Yes, I fear there will have to be a +settlement." + +"I shall pay half of the damage. You'll have to stump up your part." + +Van Diemen smiled roguishly. + +"We must discuss that," said Tinman, smiling too, as a patient in bed +may smile at a doctor's joke; for he was, as Crickledon had said of +him, no fool on practical points, and Van Diemen's mention of the +half-payment reassured him as to his old friend's position in the world, +and softly thawed him. "Will you dine with me to-day?" + +"I don't mind if I do. I've a girl. You remember little Netty? She's +walking out on the beach with a young fellow named Fellingham, whose +acquaintance we made on the voyage, and has n't left us long to +ourselves. Will you have her as well? And I suppose you must ask him. +He's a newspaper man; been round the world; seen a lot." + +Tinman hesitated. An electrical idea of putting sherry at fifteen +shillings per dozen on his table instead of the ceremonial wine at +twenty-five shillings, assisted him to say hospitably, "Oh! ah! yes; any +friend of yours." + +"And now perhaps you'll shake my fist," said Van Diemen. + +"With pleasure," said Tinman. "It was your change of name, you know, +Philip." + +"Look here, Martin. Van Diemen Smith was a convict, and my benefactor. +Why the deuce he was so fond of that name, I can't tell you; but +his dying wish was for me to take it and carry it on. He left me his +fortune, for Van Diemen Smith to enjoy life, as he never did, poor +fellow, when he was alive. The money was got honestly, by hard labour +at a store. He did evil once, and repented after. But, by Heaven!"--Van +Diemen jumped up and thundered out of a broad chest--"the man was one of +the finest hearts that ever beat. He was! and I'm proud of him. When he +died, I turned my thoughts home to Old England and you, Martin." + +"Oh!" said Tinman; and reminded by Van Diemen's way of speaking, that +cordiality was expected of him, he shook his limbs to some briskness, +and continued, "Well, yes, we must all die in our native land if we can. +I hope you're comfortable in your lodgings?" + +"I'll give you one of Mrs. Crickledon's dinners to try. You're as good +as mayor of this town, I hear?" + +"I am the bailiff of the town," said Mr. Tinman. + +"You're going to Court, I'm told." + +"The appointment," replied Mr. Tinman, "will soon be made. I have not +yet an appointed day." + +On the great highroad of life there is Expectation, and there is +Attainment, and also there is Envy. Mr. Tinman's posture stood for +Attainment shadowing Expectation, and sunning itself in the glass +of Envy, as he spoke of the appointed day. It was involuntary, and +naturally evanescent, a momentary view of the spirit. + +He unbent, and begged to be excused for the present, that he might go +and apprise his sister of guests coming. + +"All right. I daresay we shall see, enough of one another," said Van +Diemen. And almost before the creak of Tinman's heels was deadened on +the road outside the shop, he put the funny question to Crickledon, "Do +you box?" + +"I make 'em," Crickledon replied. + +"Because I should like to have a go in at something, my friend." + +Van Diemen stretched and yawned. + +Crickledon recommended the taking of a walk. + +"I think I will," said the other, and turned back abruptly. "How long do +you work in the day?" + +"Generally, all the hours of light," Crickledon replied; "and always up +to supper-time." + +"You're healthy and happy?" + +"Nothing to complain of." + +"Good appetite?" + +"Pretty regular." + +"You never take a holiday?" + +"Except Sundays." + +"You'd like to be working then?" + +"I won't say that." + +"But you're glad to be up Monday morning?" + +"It feels cheerfuller in the shop." + +"And carpentering's your joy?" + +"I think I may say so." + +Van Diemen slapped his thigh. "There's life in Old England yet!" + +Crickledon eyed him as he walked away to the beach to look for his +daughter, and conceived that there was a touch of the soldier in him. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Annette Smith's delight in her native England made her see beauty and +kindness everywhere around her; it put a halo about the house on the +beach, and thrilled her at Tinman's table when she heard the thunder of +the waves hard by. She fancied it had been a most agreeable dinner to +her father and Mr. Herbert Fellingham--especially to the latter, who had +laughed very much; and she was astonished to hear them at breakfast both +complaining of their evening. In answer to which, she exclaimed, "Oh, I +think the situation of the house is so romantic!" + +"The situation of the host is exceedingly so," said Mr. Fellingham; "but +I think his wine the most unromantic liquid I have ever tasted." + +"It must be that!" cried Van Diemen, puzzled by novel pains in the head. +"Old Martin woke up a little like his old self after dinner." + +"He drank sparingly," said Mr. Fellingham. + +"I am sure you were satirical last night," Annette said reproachfully. + +"On the contrary, I told him I thought he was in a romantic situation." + +"But I have had a French mademoiselle for my governess and an Oxford +gentleman for my tutor; and I know you accepted French and English from +Mr. Tinman and his sister that I should not have approved." + +"Netty," said Van Diemen, "has had the best instruction money could +procure; and if she says you were satirical, you may depend on it you +were." + +"Oh, in that case, of course!" Mr. Fellingham rejoined. "Who could help +it?" + +He thought himself warranted in giving the rein to his wicked satirical +spirit, and talked lightly of the accidental character of the letter H +in Tinman's pronunciation; of how, like somebody else's hat in a high +wind, it descended on somebody else's head, and of how his words walked +about asking one another who they were and what they were doing, danced +together madly, snapping their fingers at signification; and so forth. +He was flippant. + +Annette glanced at her father, and dropped her eyelids. + +Mr. Fellingham perceived that he was enjoined to be on his guard. + +He went one step farther in his fun; upon which Van Diemen said, with a +frown, "If you please!" + +Nothing could withstand that. + +"Hang old Mart Tinman's wine!" Van Diemen burst out in the dead pause. +"My head's a bullet. I'm in a shocking bad temper. I can hardly see. I'm +bilious." + +Mr. Fellingham counselled his lying down for an hour, and he went +grumbling, complaining of Mart Tinman's incredulity about the towering +beauty of a place in Australia called Gippsland. + +Annette confided to Mr. Fellingham, as soon as they were alone, +the chivalrous nature of her father in his friendships, and his +indisposition to hear a satirical remark upon his old schoolmate, the +moment he understood it to be satire. + +Fellingham pleaded: "The man's a perfect burlesque. He's as distinctly +made to be laughed at as a mask in a pantomime." + +"Papa will not think so," said Annette; "and papa has been told that he +is not to be laughed at as a man of business." + +"Do you prize him for that?" + +"I am no judge. I am too happy to be in England to be a judge of +anything." + +"You did not touch his wine!" + +"You men attach so much importance to wine!" + +"They do say that powders is a good thing after Mr. Tinman's wine," +observed Mrs. Crickledon, who had come into the sitting-room to take +away the breakfast things. + +Mr. Fellingham gave a peal of laughter; but Mrs Crickledon bade him be +hushed, for Mr. Van Diemen Smith had gone to lay down his poor aching +head on his pillow. Annette ran upstairs to speak to her father about a +doctor. + +During her absence, Mr. Fellingham received the popular portrait of Mr. +Tinman from the lips of Mrs. Crickledon. He subsequently strolled to the +carpenter's shop, and endeavoured to get a confirmation of it. + +"My wife talks too much," said Crickledon. + +When questioned by a gentleman, however, he was naturally bound to +answer to the extent of his knowledge. + +"What a funny old country it is!" Mr. Fellingham said to Annette, on +their walk to the beach. + +She implored him not to laugh at anything English. + +"I don't, I assure you," said he. "I love the country, too. But when +one comes back from abroad, and plunges into their daily life, it's +difficult to retain the real figure of the old country seen from +outside, and one has to remember half a dozen great names to right +oneself. And Englishmen are so funny! Your father comes here to see his +old friend, and begins boasting of the Gippsland he has left behind. +Tinman immediately brags of Helvellyn, and they fling mountains at one +another till, on their first evening together, there's earthquake and +rupture--they were nearly at fisticuffs at one time." + +"Oh! surely no," said Annette. "I did not hear them. They were good +friends when you came to the drawingroom. Perhaps the wine did affect +poor papa, if it was bad wine. I wish men would never drink any. How +much happier they would be." + +"But then there would cease to be social meetings in England. What +should we do?" + +"I know that is a sneer; and you were nearly as enthusiastic as I was on +board the vessel," Annette said, sadly. + +"Quite true. I was. But see what quaint creatures we have about us! +Tinman practicing in his Court suit before the chiwal-glass! And that +good fellow, the carpenter, Crickledon, who has lived with the sea +fronting him all his life, and has never been in a boat, and he +confesses he has only once gone inland, and has never seen an acorn!" + +"I wish I could see one--of a real English oak," said Annette. + +"And after being in England a few months you will be sighing for the +Continent." + +"Never!" + +"You think you will be quite contented here?" + +"I am sure I shall be. May papa and I never be exiles again! I did not +feel it when I was three years old, going out to Australia; but it would +be like death to me now. Oh!" Annette shivered, as with the exile's +chill. + +"On my honour," said Mr. Fellingham, as softly as he could with the wind +in his teeth, "I love the old country ten times more from your love of +it." + +"That is not how I want England to be loved," returned Annette. + +"The love is in your hands." + +She seemed indifferent on hearing it. + +He should have seen that the way to woo her was to humour her +prepossession by another passion. He could feel that it ennobled her in +the abstract, but a latent spite at Tinman on account of his wine, to +which he continued angrily to attribute as unwonted dizziness of the +head and slight irascibility, made him urgent in his desire that she +should separate herself from Tinman and his sister by the sharp division +of derision. + +Annette declined to laugh at the most risible caricatures of Tinman. In +her antagonism she forced her simplicity so far as to say that she did +not think him absurd. And supposing Mr. Tinman to have proposed to the +titled widow, Lady Ray, as she had heard, and to other ladies young and +middle-aged in the neighbourhood, why should he not, if he wished to +marry? If he was economical, surely he had a right to manage his own +affairs. Her dread was lest Mr. Tinman and her father should quarrel +over the payment for the broken chiwal-glass: that she honestly +admitted, and Fellingham was so indiscreet as to roar aloud, not so very +cordially. + +Annette thought him unkindly satirical; and his thoughts of her reduced +her to the condition of a commonplace girl with expressive eyes. + +She had to return to her father. Mr. Fellingham took a walk on the +springy turf along the cliffs; and "certainly she is a commonplace +girl," he began by reflecting; with a side eye at the fact that his +meditations were excited by Tinman's poisoning of his bile. "A girl +who can't see the absurdity of Tinman must be destitute of common +intelligence." After a while he sniffed the fine sharp air of mingled +earth and sea delightedly, and he strode back to the town late in the +afternoon, laughing at himself in scorn of his wretched susceptibility +to bilious impressions, and really all but hating Tinman as the cause +of his weakness--in the manner of the criminal hating the detective, +perhaps. He cast it altogether on Tinman that Annette's complexion +of character had become discoloured to his mind; for, in spite of +the physical freshness with which he returned to her society, he was +incapable of throwing off the idea of her being commonplace; and it +was with regret that he acknowledged he had gained from his walk only a +higher opinion of himself. + +Her father was the victim of a sick headache, [Migraine--D.W.]and lay, +a groaning man, on his bed, ministered to by Mrs. Crickledon chiefly. +Annette had to conduct the business with Mr. Phippun and Mr. Tinman as +to payment for the chiwal-glass. She was commissioned to offer half the +price for the glass on her father's part; more he would not pay. Tinman +and Phippun sat with her in Crickledon's cottage, and Mrs. Crickledon +brought down two messages from her invalid, each positive, to the effect +that he would fight with all the arms of English law rather than yield +his point. + +Tinman declared it to be quite out of the question that he should pay +a penny. Phippun vowed that from one or the other of them he would have +the money. + +Annette naturally was in deep distress, and Fellingham postponed the +discussion to the morrow. + +Even after such a taste of Tinman as that, Annette could not be induced +to join in deriding him privately. She looked pained by Mr. Fellingham's +cruel jests. It was monstrous, Fellingham considered, that he should +draw on himself a second reprimand from Van Diemen Smith, while they +were consulting in entire agreement upon the case of the chiwal-glass. + +"I must tell you this, mister sir," said Van Diemen, "I like you, but +I'll be straightforward and truthful, or I'm not worthy the name of +Englishman; and I do like you, or I should n't have given you leave to +come down here after us two. You must respect my friend if you care for +my respect. That's it. There it is. Now you know my conditions." + +"I 'm afraid I can't sign the treaty," said Fellingham. + +"Here's more," said Van Diemen. "I'm a chilly man myself if I hear a +laugh and think I know the aim of it. I'll meet what you like except +scorn. I can't stand contempt. So I feel for another. And now you know." + +"It puts a stopper on the play of fancy, and checks the throwing off of +steam," Fellingham remonstrated. "I promise to do my best, but of all +the men I've ever met in my life--Tinman!--the ridiculous! Pray pardon +me; but the donkey and his looking-glass! The glass was misty! He--as +particular about his reflection in the glass as a poet with his verses! +Advance, retire, bow; and such murder of the Queen's English in the very +presence! If I thought he was going to take his wine with him, I'd have +him arrested for high treason." + +"You've chosen, and you know what you best like," said Van Diemen, +pointing his accents--by which is produced the awkward pause, the +pitfall of conversation, and sometimes of amity. + +Thus it happened that Mr. Herbert Fellingham journeyed back to London +a day earlier than he had intended, and without saying what he meant to +say. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A month later, after a night of sharp frost on the verge of the warmer +days of spring, Mr. Fellingham entered Crikswich under a sky of perfect +blue that was in brilliant harmony with the green downs, the white +cliffs and sparkling sea, and no doubt it was the beauty before his +eyes which persuaded him of his delusion in having taken Annette for +a commonplace girl. He had come in a merely curious mood to discover +whether she was one or not. Who but a commonplace girl would care to +reside in Crikswich, he had asked himself; and now he was full sure that +no commonplace girl would ever have had the idea. Exquisitely simple, +she certainly was; but that may well be a distinction in a young lady +whose eyes are expressive. + +The sound of sawing attracted him to Crickledon's shop, and the +industrious carpenter soon put him on the tide of affairs. + +Crickledon pointed to the house on the beach as the place where Mr. Van +Diemen Smith and his daughter were staying. + +"Dear me! and how does he look?" said Fellingham. + +"Our town seems to agree with him, sir." + +"Well, I must not say any more, I suppose." Fellingham checked his +tongue. "How have they settled that dispute about the chiwal-glass?" + +"Mr. Tinman had to give way." + +"Really." + +"But," Crickledon stopped work, "Mr. Tinman sold him a meadow." + +"I see." + +"Mr. Smith has been buying a goodish bit of ground here. They tell me +he's about purchasing Elba. He has bought the Crouch. He and Mr. Tinman +are always out together. They're over at Helmstone now. They've been to +London." + +"Are they likely to be back to-day?" + +"Certain, I should think. Mr. Tinman has to be in London to-morrow." + +Crickledon looked. He was not the man to look artful, but there was a +lighted corner in his look that revived Fellingham's recollections, and +the latter burst out: + +"The Address? I 'd half forgotten it. That's not over yet? Has he been +practicing much?" + +"No more glasses ha' been broken." + +"And how is your wife, Crickledon?" + +"She's at home, sir, ready for a talk, if you've a mind to try her." + +Mrs. Crickledon proved to be very ready. "That Tinman," was her theme. +He had taken away her lodgers, and she knew his objects. Mr. Smith +repented of leaving her, she knew, though he dared not say it in plain +words. She knew Miss Smith was tired to death of constant companionship +with Mrs. Cavely, Tinman's sister. She generally came once in the day +just to escape from Mrs. Cavely, who would not, bless you! step into +a cottager's house where she was not allowed to patronize. Fortunately +Miss Smith had induced her father to get his own wine from the +merchants. + +"A happy resolution," said Fellingham; "and a saving one." + +He heard further that Mr. Smith would take possession of the Crouch next +month, and that Mrs. Cavely hung over Miss Smith like a kite. + +"And that old Tinman, old enough to be her father!" said Mrs. +Crickledon. + +She dealt in the flashes which connect ideas. Fellingham, though a man, +and an Englishman, was nervously wakeful enough to see the connection. + +"They'll have to consult the young lady first, ma'am." + +"If it's her father's nod she'll bow to it; now mark me," Mrs. +Crickledon said, with emphasis. "She's a young lady who thinks for +herself, but she takes her start from her father where it's feeling. And +he's gone stone-blind over that Tinman." + +While they were speaking, Annette appeared. + +"I saw you," she said to Fellingham; gladly and openly, in the most +commonplace manner. + +"Are you going to give me a walk along the beach?" said he. + +She proposed the country behind the town, and that was quite as much to +his taste. But it was not a happy walk. He had decided that he admired +her, and the notion of having Tinman for a rival annoyed him. He +overflowed with ridicule of Tinman, and this was distressing to Annette, +because not only did she see that he would not control himself before +her father, but he kindled her own satirical spirit in opposition to her +father's friendly sentiments toward his old schoolmate. + +"Mr. Tinman has been extremely hospitable to us," she said, a little +coldly. + +"May I ask you, has he consented to receive instruction in deportment +and pronunciation?" + +Annette did not answer. + +"If practice makes perfect, he must be near the mark by this time." + +She continued silent. + +"I dare say, in domestic life, he's as amiable as he is hospitable, and +it must be a daily gratification to see him in his Court suit." + +"I have not seen him in his Court suit." + +"That is his coyness." + +"People talk of those things." + +"The common people scandalize the great, about whom they know nothing, +you mean! I am sure that is true, and living in Courts one must be +keenly aware of it. But what a splendid sky and-sea!" + +"Is it not?" + +Annette echoed his false rapture with a candour that melted him. + +He was preparing to make up for lost time, when the wild waving of a +parasol down a road to the right, coming from the town, caused Annette +to stop and say, "I think that must be Mrs. Cavely. We ought to meet +her." + +Fellingham asked why. + +"She is so fond of walks," Anisette replied, with a tooth on her lip + +Fellingham thought she seemed fond of runs. + +Mrs. Cavely joined them, breathless. "My dear! the pace you go at!" she +shouted. "I saw you starting. I followed, I ran, I tore along. I feared +I never should catch you. And to lose such a morning of English scenery! + +"Is it not heavenly?" + +"One can't say more," Fellingham observed, bowing. + +"I am sure I am very glad to see you again, sir. You enjoy Crikswich?" + +"Once visited, always desired, like Venice, ma'am. May I venture to +inquire whether Mr. Tinman has presented his Address?" + +"The day after to-morrow. The appointment is made with him," said Mrs. +Cavely, more officially in manner, "for the day after to-morrow. He is +excited, as you may well believe. But Mr. Smith is an immense relief +to him--the very distraction he wanted. We have become one family, you +know." + +"Indeed, ma'am, I did not know it," said Fellingham. + +The communication imparted such satiric venom to his further remarks, +that Annette resolved to break her walk and dismiss him for the day. + +He called at the house on the beach after the dinner-hour, to see +Mr. Van Diemen Smith, when there was literally a duel between him and +Tinman; for Van Diemen's contribution to the table was champagne, and +that had been drunk, but Tinman's sherry remained. Tinman would insist +on Fellingham's taking a glass. Fellingham parried him with a sedate +gravity of irony that was painfully perceptible to Anisette. Van +Diemen at last backed Tinman's hospitable intent, and, to Fellingham's +astonishment, he found that he had been supposed by these two men to be +bashfully retreating from a seductive offer all the time that his tricks +of fence and transpiercings of one of them had been marvels of skill. + +Tinman pushed the glass into his hand. + +"You have spilt some," said Fellingham. + +"It won't hurt the carpet," said Tinman. + +"Won't it?" Fellingham gazed at the carpet, as if expecting a flame to +arise. + +He then related the tale of the magnanimous Alexander drinking off the +potion, in scorn of the slanderer, to show faith in his friend. + +"Alexander--Who was that?" said Tinman, foiled in his historical +recollections by the absence of the surname. + +"General Alexander," said Fellingham. "Alexander Philipson, or he +declared it was Joveson; and very fond of wine. But his sherry did for +him at last." + +"Ah! he drank too much, then," said Tinman. + +"Of his own!" + +Anisette admonished the vindictive young gentleman by saying, "How long +do you stay in Crikswich, Mr. Fellingham?" + +He had grossly misconducted himself. But an adversary at once offensive +and helpless provokes brutality. Anisette prudently avoided letting her +father understand that satire was in the air; and neither he nor Tinman +was conscious of it exactly: yet both shrank within themselves under the +sensation of a devilish blast blowing. Fellingham accompanied them and +certain jurats to London next day. + +Yes, if you like: when a mayor visits Majesty, it is an important +circumstance, and you are at liberty to argue at length that it means +more than a desire on his part to show his writing power and his reading +power: it is full of comfort the people, as an exhibition of their +majesty likewise; and it is an encouragement to men to strive to +become mayors, bailiffs, or prime men of any sort; but a stress in the +reporting of it--the making it appear too important a circumstance--will +surely breathe the intimation to a politically-minded people that satire +is in the air, and however dearly they cherish the privilege of knocking +at the first door of the kingdom, and walking ceremoniously in to read +their writings, they will, if they are not in one of their moods for +prostration, laugh. They will laugh at the report. + +All the greater reason is it that we should not indulge them at such +periods; and I say woe's me for any brother of the pen, and one in some +esteem, who dressed the report of that presentation of the Address of +congratulation by Mr. Bailiff Tinman, of Crikswich! Herbert Fellingham +wreaked his personal spite on Tinman. He should have bethought him that +it involved another than Tinman that is to say, an office--which the +fitful beast rejoices to paw and play with contemptuously now and then, +one may think, as a solace to his pride, and an indemnification for +those caprices of abject worship so strongly recalling the days we see +through Mr. Darwin's glasses. + +He should not have written the report. It sent a titter over England. +He was so unwise as to despatch a copy of the newspaper containing it +to Van Diemen Smith. Van Diemen perused it with satisfaction. So did +Tinman. Both of these praised the able young writer. But they handed the +paper to the Coastguard Lieutenant, who asked Tinman how he liked it; +and visitors were beginning to drop in to Crikswich, who made a point of +asking for a sight of the chief man; and then came a comic publication, +all in the Republican tone of the time, with Man's Dignity for the +standpoint, and the wheezy laughter residing in old puns to back it, in +eulogy of the satiric report of the famous Address of congratulation of +the Bailiff of Crikswich. + +"Annette," Van Diemen said to his daughter, "you'll not encourage that +newspaper fellow to come down here any more. He had his warning." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +One of the most difficult lessons for spirited young men to learn is, +that good jokes are not always good policy. They have to be paid for, +like good dinners, though dinner and joke shall seem to have been at +somebody else's expense. Young Fellingham was treated rudely by Van +Diemen Smith, and with some cold reserve by Annette: in consequence of +which he thought her more than ever commonplace. He wrote her a +letter of playful remonstrance, followed by one that appealed to her +sentiments. + +But she replied to neither of them. So his visits to Crikswich came to +an end. + +Shall a girl who has no appreciation of fun affect us? Her expressive +eyes, and her quaint simplicity, and her enthusiasm for England, haunted +Mr. Fellingham; being conjured up by contrast with what he met about +him. But shall a girl who would impose upon us the task of holding +in our laughter at Tinman be much regretted? There could be no +companionship between us, Fellingham thought. + +On an excursion to the English Lakes he saw the name of Van Diemen +Smith in a visitors' book, and changed his ideas on the subject of +companionship. Among mountains, or on the sea, or reading history, +Annette was one in a thousand. He happened to be at a public ball +at Helmstone in the Winter season, and who but Annette herself came +whirling before him on the arm of an officer! Fellingham did not miss +his chance of talking to her. She greeted him gaily, and speaking with +the excitement of the dance upon her, appeared a stranger to the serious +emotions he was willing to cherish. She had been to the Lakes and to +Scotland. Next summer she was going to Wales. All her experiences were +delicious. She was insatiable, but satisfied. + +"I wish I had been with you," said Fellingham. + +"I wish you had," said she. + +Mrs. Cavely was her chaperon at the ball, and he was not permitted to +enjoy a lengthened conversation sitting with Annette. What was he to +think of a girl who could be submissive to Mrs. Cavely, and danced with +any number of officers, and had no idea save of running incessantly +over England in the pursuit of pleasure? Her tone of saying, "I wish +you had," was that of the most ordinary of wishes, distinctly, if not +designedly different from his own melodious depth. + +She granted him one waltz, and he talked of her father and his whimsical +vagrancies and feeling he had a positive liking for Van Diemen, and he +sagaciously said so. + +Annette's eyes brightened. "Then why do you never go to see him? He has +bought Elba. We move into the Hall after Christmas. We are at the Crouch +at present. Papa will be sure to make you welcome. Do you not know that +he never forgets a friend or breaks a friendship?" + +"I do, and I love him for it," said Fellingham. + +If he was not greatly mistaken a gentle pressure on the fingers of his +left hand rewarded him. + +This determined him. It should here be observed that he was by birth the +superior of Annette's parentage, and such is the sentiment of a better +blood that the flattery of her warm touch was needed for him to overlook +the distinction. + +Two of his visits to Crikswich resulted simply in interviews and +conversations with Mrs. Crickledon. Van Diemen and his daughter were in +London with Tinman and Mrs. Cavely, purchasing furniture for Elba Hall. +Mrs. Crickledon had no scruple in saying, that Mrs. Cavely meant her +brother to inhabit the Hall, though Mr. Smith had outbid him in the +purchase. According to her, Tinman and Mr. Smith had their differences; +for Mr. Smith was a very outspoken gentleman, and had been known to call +Tinman names that no man of spirit would bear if he was not scheming. + +Fellingham returned to London, where he roamed the streets famous for +furniture warehouses, in the vain hope of encountering the new owner of +Elba. + +Failing in this endeavour, he wrote a love-letter to Annette. + +It was her first. She had liked him. Her manner of thinking she might +love him was through the reflection that no one stood in the way. The +letter opened a world to her, broader than Great Britain. + +Fellingham begged her, if she thought favourably of him, to prepare her +father for the purport of his visit. If otherwise, she was to interdict +the visit with as little delay as possible and cut him adrift. + +A decided line of conduct was imperative. Yet you have seen that she was +not in love. She was only not unwilling to be in love. And Fellingham +was just a trifle warmed. Now mark what events will do to light the +fires. + +Van Diemen and Tinman, old chums re-united, and both successful in +life, had nevertheless, as Mrs. Crickledon said, their differences. They +commenced with an opposition to Tinman's views regarding the expenditure +of town moneys. Tinman was ever for devoting them to the patriotic +defence of "our shores;" whereas Van Diemen, pointing in detestation +of the town sewerage reeking across the common under the beach, loudly +called on him to preserve our lives, by way of commencement. Then Van +Diemen precipitately purchased Elba at a high valuation, and Tinman had +expected by waiting to buy it at his own valuation, and sell it out +of friendly consideration to his friend afterwards, for a friendly +consideration. Van Diemen had joined the hunt. Tinman could not mount +a horse. They had not quarrelled, but they had snapped about these and +other affairs. Van Diemen fancied Tinman was jealous of his wealth. +Tinman shrewdly suspected Van Diemen to be contemptuous of his dignity. +He suffered a loss in a loan of money; and instead of pitying him, Van +Diemen had laughed him to scorn for expecting security for investments +at ten per cent. The bitterness of the pinch to Tinman made him +frightfully sensitive to strictures on his discretion. In his anguish he +told his sister he was ruined, and she advised him to marry before the +crash. She was aware that he exaggerated, but she repeated her advice. +She went so far as to name the person. This is known, because she +was overheard by her housemaid, a gossip of Mrs. Crickledon's, the +subsequently famous "Little Jane." + +Now, Annette had shyly intimated to her father the nature of Herbert +Fellingham's letter, at the same time professing a perfect readiness to +submit to his directions; and her father's perplexity was very great, +for Annette had rather fervently dramatized the young man's words at the +ball at Helmstone, which had pleasantly tickled him, and, besides, +he liked the young man. On the other hand, he did not at all like the +prospect of losing his daughter; and he would have desired her to be a +lady of title. He hinted at her right to claim a high position. Annette +shrank from the prospect, saying, "Never let me marry one who might be +ashamed of my father!" + +"I shouldn't stomach that," said Van Diemen, more disposed in favour of +the present suitor. + +Annette was now in a tremor. She had a lover; he was coming. And if he +did not come, did it matter? Not so very much, except to her pride. And +if he did, what was she to say to him? She felt like an actress who may +in a few minutes be called on the stage, without knowing her part. This +was painfully unlike love, and the poor girl feared it would be her +conscientious duty to dismiss him--most gently, of course; and perhaps, +should he be impetuous and picturesque, relent enough to let him hope, +and so bring about a happy postponement of the question. Her father had +been to a neighbouring town on business with Mr. Tinman. He knocked at +her door at midnight; and she, in dread of she knew not what--chiefly +that the Hour of the Scene had somehow struck--stepped out to him +trembling. He was alone. She thought herself the most childish of +mortals in supposing that she could have been summoned at midnight to +declare her sentiments, and hardly noticed his gloomy depression. He +asked her to give him five minutes; then asked her for a kiss, and told +her to go to bed and sleep. But Annette had seen that a great present +affliction was on him, and she would not be sent to sleep. She promised +to listen patiently, to bear anything, to be brave. "Is it bad news from +home?" she said, speaking of the old home where she had not left her +heart, and where his money was invested. + +"It's this, my dear Netty," said Van Diemen, suffering her to lead him +into her sitting-room; "we shall have to leave the shores of England." + +"Then we are ruined." + +"We're not; the rascal can't do that. We might be off to the Continent, +or we might go to America; we've money. But we can't stay here. I'll not +live at any man's mercy." + +"The Continent! America!" exclaimed the enthusiast for England. "Oh, +papa, you love living in England so!" + +"Not so much as all that, my dear. You do, that I know. But I don't see +how it's to be managed. Mart Tinman and I have been at tooth and claw +to-day and half the night; and he has thrown off the mask, or he's +dashed something from my sight, I don't know which. I knocked him down." + +"Papa!" + +"I picked him up." + +"Oh," cried Annette, "has Mr. Tinman been hurt?" + +"He called me a Deserter!" + +Anisette shuddered. + +She did not know what this thing was, but the name of it opened a +cabinet of horrors, and she touched her father timidly, to assure him of +her constant love, and a little to reassure herself of his substantial +identity. + +"And I am one," Van Diemen made the confession at the pitch of his +voice. "I am a Deserter; I'm liable to be branded on the back. And it's +in Mart Tinman's power to have me marched away to-morrow morning in the +sight of Crikswich, and all I can say for myself, as a man and a Briton, +is, I did not desert before the enemy. That I swear I never would have +done. Death, if death's in front; but your poor mother was a handsome +woman, my child, and there--I could not go on living in barracks and +leaving her unprotected. I can't tell a young woman the tale. A hundred +pounds came on me for a legacy, as plump in my hands out of open +heaven, and your poor mother and I saw our chance; we consulted, and we +determined to risk it, and I got on board with her and you, and over the +seas we went, first to shipwreck, ultimately to fortune." + +Van Diemen laughed miserably. "They noticed in the hunting-field here I +had a soldier-like seat. A soldier-like seat it'll be, with a brand +on it. I sha'n't be asked to take a soldier-like seat at any of their +tables again. I may at Mart Tinman's, out of pity, after I've undergone +my punishment. There's a year still to run out of the twenty of my term +of service due. He knows it; he's been reckoning; he has me. But the +worst cat-o'-nine-tails for me is the disgrace. To have myself pointed +at, 'There goes the Deserter' He was a private in the Carbineers, and +he deserted.' No one'll say, 'Ay, but he clung to the idea of his old +schoolmate when abroad, and came back loving him, and trusted him, and +was deceived." + +Van Diemen produced a spasmodic cough with a blow on his chest. Anisette +was weeping. + +"There, now go to bed," said he. "I wish you might have known no more +than you did of our flight when I got you on board the ship with your +poor mother; but you're a young woman now, and you must help me to think +of another cut and run, and what baggage we can scrape together in a +jiffy, for I won't live here at Mart Tinman's mercy." + +Drying her eyes to weep again, Annette said, when she could speak: "Will +nothing quiet him? I was going to bother you with all sorts of silly +questions, poor dear papa; but I see I can understand if I try. Will +nothing--Is he so very angry? Can we not do something to pacify him? He +is fond of money. He--oh, the thought of leaving England! Papa, it will +kill you; you set your whole heart on England. We could--I could--could +I not, do you not think?--step between you as a peacemaker. Mr. Tinman +is always very courteous to me." + +At these words of Annette's, Van Diemen burst into a short snap of +savage laughter. "But that's far away in the background, Mr. Mart +Tinman!" he said. "You stick to your game, I know that; but you'll find +me flown, though I leave a name to stink like your common behind +me. And," he added, as a chill reminder, "that name the name of my +benefactor. Poor old Van Diemen! He thought it a safe bequest to make." + +"It was; it is! We will stay; we will not be exiled," said Annette. "I +will do anything. What was the quarrel about, papa?" + +"The fact is, my dear, I just wanted to show him--and take down his +pride--I'm by my Australian education a shrewder hand than his old +country. I bought the house on the beach while he was chaffering, and +then I sold it him at a rise when the town was looking up--only to make +him see. Then he burst up about something I said of Australia. I will +have the common clean. Let him live at the Crouch as my tenant if he +finds the house on the beach in danger." + +"Papa, I am sure," Annette repeated--"sure I have influence with Mr. +Tinman." + +"There are those lips of yours shutting tight," said her father. "Just +listen, and they make a big O. The donkey! He owns you've got influence, +and he offers he'll be silent if you'll pledge your word to marry him. +I'm not sure he didn't say, within the year. I told him to look sharp +not to be knocked down again. Mart Tinman for my son-in-law! That's +an upside down of my expectations, as good as being at the antipodes +without a second voyage back! I let him know you were engaged." + +Annette gazed at her father open-mouthed, as he had predicted; now with +a little chilly dimple at one corner of the mouth, now at another--as a +breeze curves the leaden winter lake here and there. She could not +get his meaning into her sight, and she sought, by looking hard, to +understand it better; much as when some solitary maiden lady, passing +into her bedchamber in the hours of darkness, beholds--tradition telling +us she has absolutely beheld foot of burglar under bed; and lo! she +stares, and, cunningly to moderate her horror, doubts, yet cannot but +believe that there is a leg, and a trunk, and a head, and two terrible +arms, bearing pistols, to follow. Sick, she palpitates; she compresses +her trepidation; she coughs, perchance she sings a bar or two of an +aria. Glancing down again, thrice horrible to her is it to discover that +there is no foot! For had it remained, it might have been imagined a +harmless, empty boot. But the withdrawal has a deadly significance of +animal life.... + +In like manner our stricken Annette perceived the object; so did she +gradually apprehend the fact of her being asked for Tinman's bride, and +she could not think it credible. She half scented, she devised her +plan of escape from another single mention of it. But on her father's +remarking, with a shuffle, frightened by her countenance, "Don't listen +to what I said, Netty. I won't paint him blacker than he is"--then +Annette was sure she had been proposed for by Mr. Tinman, and she +fancied her father might have revolved it in his mind that there +was this means of keeping Tinman silent, silent for ever, in his own +interests. + +"It was not true, when you told Mr. Tinman I was engaged, papa," she +said. + +"No, I know that. Mart Tinman only half-kind of hinted. Come, I say! +Where's the unmarried man wouldn't like to have a girl like you, Netty! +They say he's been rejected all round a circuit of fifteen miles; and +he's not bad-looking, neither--he looks fresh and fair. But I thought +it as well to let him know he might get me at a disadvantage, but he +couldn't you. Now, don't think about it, my love." + +"Not if it is not necessary, papa," said Annette; and employed her +familiar sweetness in persuading him to go to bed, as though he were the +afflicted one requiring to be petted. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Round under the cliffs by the sea, facing South, are warm seats in +winter. The sun that shines there on a day of frost wraps you as in +a mantle. Here it was that Mr. Herbert Fellingham found Annette, a +chalk-block for her chair, and a mound of chalk-rubble defending her +from the keen-tipped breath of the east, now and then shadowing the +smooth blue water, faintly, like reflections of a flight of gulls. + +Infants are said to have their ideas, and why not young ladies? Those +who write of their perplexities in descriptions comical in their length +are unkind to them, by making them appear the simplest of the creatures +of fiction; and most of us, I am sure, would incline to believe in +them if they were only some bit more lightly touched. Those troubled +sentiments of our young lady of the comfortable classes are quite worthy +of mention. Her poor little eye poring as little fishlike as possible +upon the intricate, which she takes for the infinite, has its place in +our history, nor should we any of us miss the pathos of it were it not +that so large a space is claimed for the exposure. As it is, one has +almost to fight a battle to persuade the world that she has downright +thoughts and feelings, and really a superhuman delicacy is required +in presenting her that she may be credible. Even then--so much being +accomplished the thousands accustomed to chapters of her when she is in +the situation of Annette will be disappointed by short sentences, just +as of old the Continental eater of oysters would have been offended at +the offer of an exchange of two live for two dozen dead ones. Annette +was in the grand crucial position of English imaginative prose. I +recognize it, and that to this the streamlets flow, thence pours the +flood. But what was the plain truth? She had brought herself to think +she ought to sacrifice herself to Tinman, and her evasions with Herbert, +manifested in tricks of coldness alternating with tones of regret, +ended, as they had commenced, in a mysterious half-sullenness. She had +hardly a word to say. Let me step in again to observe that she had at +the moment no pointed intention of marrying Tinman. To her mind the +circumstances compelled her to embark on the idea of doing so, and +she saw the extremity in an extreme distance, as those who are taking +voyages may see death by drowning. Still she had embarked. + +"At all events, I have your word for it that you don't dislike me?" said +Herbert. + +"Oh! no," she sighed. She liked him as emigrants the land they are +leaving. + +"And you have not promised your hand?" + +"No," she said, but sighed in thinking that if she could be induced to +promise it, there would not be a word of leaving England. + +"Then, as you are not engaged, and don't hate me, I have a chance?" he +said, in the semi-wailful interrogative of an organ making a mere windy +conclusion. + +Ocean sent up a tiny wave at their feet. + +"A day like this in winter is rarer than a summer day," Herbert resumed +encouragingly. + +Annette was replying, "People abuse our climate--" + +But the thought of having to go out away from this climate in the +darkness of exile, with her father to suffer under it worse than +herself, overwhelmed her, and fetched the reality of her sorrow in +the form of Tinman swimming before her soul with the velocity of a +telegraph-pole to the window of the flying train. It was past as soon as +seen, but it gave her a desperate sensation of speed. + +She began to feel that this was life in earnest. + +And Herbert should have been more resolute, fierier. She needed a strong +will. + +But he was not on the rapids of the masterful passion. For though going +at a certain pace, it was by his own impulsion; and I am afraid I must, +with many apologies, compare him to the skater--to the skater on easy, +slippery ice, be it understood; but he could perform gyrations as he +went, and he rather sailed along than dashed; he was careful of his +figuring. Some lovers, right honest lovers, never get beyond this +quaint skating-stage; and some ladies, a right goodly number in a foggy +climate, deceived by their occasional runs ahead, take them for vessels +on the very torrent of love. Let them take them, and let the race +continue. Only we perceive that they are skating; they are careering +over a smooth icy floor, and they can stop at a signal, with just +half-a-yard of grating on the heel at the outside. Ice, and not fire nor +falling water, has been their medium of progression. + +Whether a man should unveil his own sex is quite another question. If +we are detected, not solely are we done for, but our love-tales too. +However, there is not much ground for anxiety on that head. Each member +of the other party is blind on her own account. + +To Annette the figuring of Herbert was graceful, but it did not catch +her up and carry her; it hardly touched her: He spoke well enough to +make her sorry for him, and not warmly enough to make her forget her +sorrow for herself. + +Herbert could obtain no explanation of the singularity of her conduct +from Annette, and he went straight to her father, who was nearly as +inexplicable for a time. At last he said: + +"If you are ready to quit the country with us, you may have my consent." + +"Why quit the country?" Herbert asked, in natural amazement. + +Van Diemen declined to tell him. + +But seeing the young man look stupefied and wretched he took a turn +about the room, and said: "I have n't robbed," and after more turns, +"I have n't murdered." He growled in his menagerie trot within the four +walls. "But I'm, in a man's power. Will that satisfy you? You'll tell +me, because I'm rich, to snap my fingers. I can't. I've got feelings. +I'm in his power to hurt me and disgrace me. It's the disgrace--to my +disgrace I say it--I dread most. You'd be up to my reason if you had +ever served in a regiment. I mean, discipline--if ever you'd known +discipline--in the police if you like--anything--anywhere where there's +what we used to call spiny de cor. I mean, at school. And I'm," said +Van Diemen, "a rank idiot double D. dolt, and flat as a pancake, and +transparent as a pane of glass. You see through me. Anybody could. I +can't talk of my botheration without betraying myself. What good am I +among you sharp fellows in England?" + +Language of this kind, by virtue of its unintelligibility, set Mr. +Herbert Fellingham's acute speculations at work. He was obliged to lean +on Van Diemen's assertion, that he had not robbed and had not murdered, +to be comforted by the belief that he was not once a notorious +bushranger, or a defaulting manager of mines, or any other thing that is +naughtily Australian and kangarooly. + +He sat at the dinner-table at Elba, eating like the rest of mankind, and +looking like a starved beggarman all the while. + +Annette, in pity of his bewilderment, would have had her father take him +into their confidence. She suggested it covertly, and next she spoke of +it to him as a prudent measure, seeing that Mr. Fellingham might find +out his exact degree of liability. Van Diemen shouted; he betrayed +himself in his weakness as she could not have imagined him. He was ready +to go, he said--go on the spot, give up Elba, fly from Old England: what +he could not do was to let his countrymen know what he was, and live +among them afterwards. He declared that the fact had eternally been +present to his mind, devouring him; and Annette remembered his kindness +to the artillerymen posted along the shore westward of Crikswich, though +she could recall no sign of remorse. Van Diemen said: "We have to do +with Martin Tinman; that's one who has a hold on me, and one's enough. +Leak out my secret to a second fellow, you double my risks." He would +not be taught to see how the second might counteract the first. The +singularity of the action of his character on her position was, that +though she knew not a soul to whom she could unburden her wretchedness, +and stood far more isolated than in her Australian home, fever and chill +struck her blood in contemplation of the necessity of quitting England. + +Deep, then, was her gratitude to dear good Mrs. Cavely for stepping +in to mediate between her father and Mr. Tinman. And well might she be +amazed to hear the origin of their recent dispute. + +"It was," Mrs. Cavely said, "that Gippsland." + +Annette cried: "What?" + +"That Gippsland of yours, my dear. Your father will praise Gippsland +whenever my Martin asks him to admire the beauties of our neighbourhood. +Many a time has Martin come home to me complaining of it. We have no +doubt on earth that Gippsland is a very fine place; but my brother has +his idea's of dignity, you must know, and I only wish he had been more +used to contradiction, you may believe me. He is a lamb by nature. And, +as he says, 'Why underrate one's own country?' He cannot bear to hear +boasting. Well! I put it to you, dear Annette, is he so unimportant a +person? He asks to be respected, and especially by his dearest friend. +From that to blows! It's the way with men. They begin about trifles, +they drink, they quarrel, and one does what he is sorry for, and one +says more than he means. All my Martin desires is to shake your dear +father's hand, forgive and forget. To win your esteem, darling Annette, +he would humble himself in the dust. Will you not help me to bring these +two dear old friends together once more? It is unreasonable of your dear +papa to go on boasting of Gippsland if he is so fond of England, now is +it not? My brother is the offended party in the eye of the law. That is +quite certain. Do you suppose he dreams of taking advantage of it? He +is waiting at home to be told he may call on your father. Rank, dignity, +wounded feelings, is nothing to him in comparison with friendship." + +Annette thought of the blow which had felled him, and spoke the truth of +her heart in saying, "He is very generous." + +"You understand him." Mrs. Cavely pressed her hand. "We will both go to +your dear father. He may," she added, not without a gleam of feminine +archness, "praise Gippsland above the Himalayas to me. What my Martin +so much objected to was, the speaking of Gippsland at all when there was +mention of our Lake scenery. As for me, I know how men love to boast of +things nobody else has seen." + +The two ladies went in company to Van Diemen, who allowed himself to +be melted. He was reserved nevertheless. His reception of Mr. Tinman +displeased his daughter. Annette attached the blackest importance to +a blow of the fist. In her mind it blazed fiendlike, and the man who +forgave it rose a step or two on the sublime. Especially did he do +so considering that he had it in his power to dismiss her father and +herself from bright beaming England before she had looked on all the +cathedrals and churches, the sea-shores and spots named in printed +poetry, to say nothing of the nobility. + +"Papa, you were not so kind to Mr. Tinman as I could have hoped," said +Annette. + +"Mart Tinman has me at his mercy, and he'll make me know it," her father +returned gloomily. "He may let me off with the Commander-in-chief. He'll +blast my reputation some day, though. I shall be hanging my head in +society, through him." + +Van Diemen imitated the disconsolate appearance of a gallows body, in +one of those rapid flashes of spontaneous veri-similitude which spring +of an inborn horror painting itself on the outside. + +"A Deserter!" he moaned. + +He succeeded in impressing the terrible nature of the stigma upon +Annette's imagination. + +The guest at Elba was busy in adding up the sum of his own impressions, +and dividing it by this and that new circumstance; for he was totally +in the dark. He was attracted by the mysterious interview of Mrs. +Cavely and Annette. Tinman's calling and departing set him upon +new calculations. Annette grew cold and visibly distressed by her +consciousness of it. + +She endeavoured to account for this variation of mood. "We have been +invited to dine at the house on the beach to-morrow. I would not have +accepted, but papa... we seemed to think it a duty. Of course the +invitation extends to you. We fancy you do not greatly enjoy dining +there. The table will be laid for you here, if you prefer." + +Herbert preferred to try the skill of Mrs. Crickledon. + +Now, for positive penetration the head prepossessed by a suspicion is +unmatched; for where there is no daylight; this one at least goes about +with a lantern. Herbert begged Mrs. Crickledon to cook a dinner for him, +and then to give the right colour to his absence from the table of Mr. +Tinman, he started for a winter day's walk over the downs as sharpening +a business as any young fellow, blunt or keen, may undertake; +excellent for men of the pen, whether they be creative, and produce, or +slaughtering, and review; good, then, for the silly sheep of letters and +the butchers. He sat down to Mrs. Crickledon's table at half-past six. +She was, as she had previously informed him, a forty-pound-a-year cook +at the period of her courting by Crickledon. That zealous and devoted +husband had made his first excursion inland to drop over the downs to +the great house, and fetch her away as his bride, on the death of her +master, Sir Alfred Pooney, who never would have parted with her in life; +and every day of that man's life he dirtied thirteen plates at dinner, +nor more, nor less, but exactly that number, as if he believed there +was luck in it. And as Crickledon said, it was odd. But it was always a +pleasure to cook for him. Mrs. Crickledon could not abide cooking for +a mean eater. And when Crickledon said he had never seen an acorn, he +might have seen one had he looked about him in the great park, under the +oaks, on the day when he came to be married. + +"Then it's a standing compliment to you, Mrs. Crickledon, that he did +not," said Herbert. + +He remarked with the sententiousness of enforced philosophy, that no +wine was better than bad wine. + +Mrs. Crickledon spoke of a bottle left by her summer lodgers, who +had indeed left two, calling the wine invalid's wine; and she and her +husband had opened one on the anniversary of their marriage day in +October. It had the taste of doctor's shop, they both agreed; and as +no friend of theirs could be tempted beyond a sip, they were advised, +because it was called a tonic, to mix it with the pig-wash, so that it +should not be entirely lost, but benefit the constitution of the pig. +Herbert sipped at the remaining bottle, and finding himself in the +superior society of an old Manzanilla, refilled his glass. + +"Nothing I knows of proves the difference between gentlefolks and poor +persons as tastes in wine," said Mrs. Crickledon, admiring him as she +brought in a dish of cutlets,--with Sir Alfred Pooney's favourite sauce +Soubise, wherein rightly onion should be delicate as the idea of love in +maidens' thoughts, albeit constituting the element of flavour. Something +of such a dictum Sir Alfred Pooney had imparted to his cook, and +she repeated it with the fresh elegance of, such sweet sayings when +transfused through the native mind: + +"He said, I like as it was what you would call a young gal's blush at a +kiss round a corner." + +The epicurean baronet had the habit of talking in that way. + +Herbert drank to his memory. He was well-filled; he had no work to do, +and he was exuberant in spirits, as Mrs. Crickledon knew her countrymen +should and would be under those conditions. And suddenly he drew his +hand across a forehead so wrinkled and dark, that Mrs. Crickledon +exclaimed, "Heart or stomach?" + +"Oh, no," said he. "I'm sound enough in both, I hope." + +"That old Tinman's up to one of his games," she observed. + +"Do you think so?" + +"He's circumventing Miss Annette Smith." + +"Pooh! Crickledon. A man of his age can't be seriously thinking of +proposing for a young lady." + +"He's a well-kept man. He's never racketed. He had n't the rackets in +him. And she may n't care for him. But we hear things drop." + +"What things have you heard drop, Crickledon? In a profound silence +you may hear pins; in a hubbub you may hear cannon-balls. But I never +believe in eavesdropping gossip." + +"He was heard to say to Mr. Smith," Crickledon pursued, and she lowered +her voice, "he was heard to say, it was when they were quarreling over +that chiwal, and they went at one another pretty hard before Mr. Smith +beat him and he sold Mr. Smith that meadow; he was heard to say, there +was worse than transportation for Mr. Smith if he but lifted his finger. +They Tinmans have awful tempers. His old mother died malignant, though +she was a saving woman, and never owed a penny to a Christian a hour +longer than it took to pay the money. And old Tinman's just such +another." + +"Transportation!" Herbert ejaculated, "that's sheer nonsense, +Crickledon. I'm sure your husband would tell you so." + +"It was my husband brought me the words," Mrs. Crickledon rejoined with +some triumph. "He did tell me, I own, to keep it shut: but my speaking +to you, a friend of Mr. Smith's, won't do no harm. He heard them under +the battery, over that chiwal glass: 'And you shall pay,' says Mr. +Smith, and 'I sha'n't,' says old Tinman. Mr. Smith said he would have +it if he had to squeeze a deathbed confession from a sinner. Then old +Tinman fires out, 'You!' he says, 'you' and he stammered. 'Mr. Smith,' +my husband said and you never saw a man so shocked as my husband at +being obliged to hear them at one another Mr. Smith used the word damn. +'You may laugh, sir.'" + +"You say it so capitally, Crickledon." + +"And then old Tinman said, 'And a D. to you; and if I lift my finger, +it's Big D. on your back." + +"And what did Mr. Smith say, then?" + +"He said, like a man shot, my husband says he said, 'My God!'" + +Herbert Fellingham jumped away from the table. + +"You tell me, Crickledon, your husband actually heard that--just those +words?--the tones?" + +"My husband says he heard him say, 'My God!' just like a poor man shot +or stabbed. You may speak to Crickledon, if you speaks to him alone, +sir. I say you ought to know. For I've noticed Mr. Smith since that day +has never looked to me the same easy-minded happy gentleman he was when +we first knew him. He would have had me go to cook for him at Elba, but +Crickledon thought I'd better be independent, and Mr. Smith said to me, +'Perhaps you're right, Crickledon, for who knows how long I may be among +you?'" + +Herbert took the solace of tobacco in Crickledon's shop. Thence, with +the story confirmed to him, he sauntered toward the house on the beach. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The moon was over sea. Coasting vessels that had run into the bay for +shelter from the North wind lay with their shadows thrown shoreward on +the cold smooth water, almost to the verge of the beach, where there was +neither breath nor sound of wind, only the lisp at the pebbles. + +Mrs. Crickledon's dinner and the state of his heart made young +Fellingham indifferent to a wintry atmosphere. It sufficed him that the +night was fair. He stretched himself on the shingle, thinking of the +Manzanilla, and Annette, and the fine flavour given to tobacco by a dry +still air in moonlight--thinking of his work, too, in the background, as +far as mental lassitude would allow of it. The idea of taking Annette to +see his first play at the theatre when it should be performed--was +very soothing. The beach rather looked like a stage, and the sea like +a ghostly audience, with, if you will, the broadside bulks of black +sailing craft at anchor for representatives of the newspaper piers. +Annette was a nice girl; if a little commonplace and low-born, yet +sweet. What a subject he could make of her father! "The Deserter" +offered a new complication. Fellingham rapidly sketched it in fancy--Van +Diemen, as a Member of the Parliament of Great Britain, led away from +the House of Commons to be branded on the bank! What a magnificent fall! +We have so few intensely dramatic positions in English real life that +the meditative author grew enamoured of this one, and laughed out a +royal "Ha!" like a monarch reviewing his well-appointed soldiery. + +"There you are," said Van Diemen's voice; "I smelt your pipe. You're a +rum fellow, to belying out on the beach on a cold night. Lord! I don't +like you the worse for it. Twas for the romance of the moon in my young +days." + +"Where is Annette?" said Fellingham, jumping to his feet. + +"My daughter? She 's taking leave of her intended." + +"What's that?" Fellingham gasped. "Good heavens, Mr. Smith, what do you +mean?" + +"Pick up your pipe, my lad. Girls choose as they please, I suppose" + +"Her intended, did you say, sir? What can that mean?" + +"My dear good young fellow, don't make a fuss. We're all going to +stay here, and very glad to see you from time to time. The fact is, +I oughtn't to have quarrelled with Mart Tinman as I've done; I'm too +peppery by nature. The fact is, I struck him, and he forgave it. I +could n't have done that myself. And I believe I'm in for a headache +to-morrow; upon my soul, I do. Mart Tinman would champagne us; but, poor +old boy, I struck him, and I couldn't make amends--didn't see my way; +and we joined hands over the glass--to the deuce with the glass!--and +the end of it is, Netty--she did n't propose it, but as I'm in his--I +say, as I had struck him, she--it was rather solemn, if you had seen +us--she burst into tears, and there was Mrs. Cavely, and old Mart, and +me as big a fool--if I'm not a villain!" + +Fellingham perceived a more than common effect of Tin man's wine. He +touched Van Diemen on the shoulder. "May I beg to hear exactly what has +happened?" + +"Upon my soul, we're all going to live comfortably in Old England, and +no more quarreling and decamping," was the stupid rejoinder. "Except +that I did n't exactly--I think you said I exactly'?--I did n't bargain +for old Mart as my--but he's a sound man; Mart's my junior; he's rich. +He's eco ... he's eco... you know--my Lord! where's my brains?--but he's +upright--'nomical!" + +"An economical man," said Fellingham, with sedate impatience. + +"My dear sir, I'm heartily obliged to you for your assistance," returned +Van Diemen. "Here she is." + +Annette had come out of the gate in the flint wall. She started slightly +on seeing Herbert, whom she had taken for a coastguard, she said. He +bowed. He kept his head bent, peering at her intrusively. + +"It's the air on champagne," Van Diemen said, calling on his lungs to +clear themselves and right him. "I was n't a bit queer in the house." + +"The air on Tinman's champagne!" said Fellingham. + +"It must be like the contact of two hostile chemical elements." + +Annette walked faster. + +They descended from the shingle to the scant-bladed grass-sweep running +round the salted town-refuse on toward Elba. Van Diemen sniffed, +ejaculating, "I'll be best man with Mart Tinman about this business! +You'll stop with us, Mr.----what's your Christian name? Stop with us as +long as you like. Old friends for me! The joke of it is that Nelson +was my man, and yet I went and enlisted in the cavalry. If you talk of +chemical substances, old Mart Tinman was a sneak who never cared a dump +for his country; and I'm not to speak a single sybbarel about that..... +over there... Australia... Gippsland! So down he went, clean over. Very +sorry for what we have done. Contrite. Penitent." + +"Now we feel the wind a little," said Annette. + +Fellingham murmured, "Allow me; your shawl is flying loose." + +He laid his hands on her arms, and, pressing her in a tremble, said, +"One sign! It's not true? A word! Do you hate me?" + +"Thank you very much, but I am not cold," she replied and linked herself +to her father. + +Van Diemen immediately shouted, "For we are jolly boys! for we are jolly +boys! It's the air on the champagne. And hang me," said he, as they +entered the grounds of Elba, "if I don't walk over my property." + +Annette interposed; she stood like a reed in his way. + +"No! my Lord! I'll see what I sold you for!" he cried. "I'm an owner of +the soil of Old England, and care no more for the title of squire than +Napoleon Bonaparty. But I'll tell you what, Mr. Hubbard: your mother +was never so astonished at her dog as old Van Diemen would be to hear +himself called squire in Old England. And a convict he was, for he +did wrong once, but he worked his redemption. And the smell of my +own property makes me feel my legs again. And I'll tell you what, Mr. +Hubbard, as Netty calls you when she speaks of you in private: Mart +Tinman's ideas of wine are pretty much like his ideas of healthy smells, +and when I'm bailiff of Crikswich, mind, he'll find two to one against +him in our town council. I love my country, but hang me if I don't +purify it--" + +Saying this, with the excitement of a high resolve a upon him, Van +Diemen bored through a shrubbery-brake, and Fellingham said to Annette: + +"Have I lost you?" + +"I belong to my father," said she, contracting and disengaging her +feminine garments to step after him in the cold silver-spotted dusk of +the winter woods. + +Van Diemen came out on a fish-pond. + +"Here you are, young ones!" he said to the pair. "This way, Fellowman. +I'm clearer now, and it's my belief I've been talking nonsense. +I'm puffed up with money, and have n't the heart I once had. I say, +Fellowman, Fellowbird, Hubbard--what's your right name?--fancy an old +carp fished out of that pond and flung into the sea. That's exile! And +if the girl don't mind, what does it matter?" + +"Mr. Herbert Fellingham, I think, would like to go to bed, papa," said +Annette. + +"Miss Smith must be getting cold," Fellingham hinted. + +"Bounce away indoors," replied Van Diemen, and he led them like a bull. + +Annette was disinclined to leave them together in the smoking-room, and +under the pretext of wishing to see her father to bed she remained with +them, though there was a novel directness and heat of tone in Herbert +that alarmed her, and with reason. He divined in hideous outlines what +had happened. He was no longer figuring on easy ice, but desperate at +the prospect of a loss to himself, and a fate for Annette, that tossed +him from repulsion to incredulity, and so back. + +Van Diemen begged him to light his pipe. + +"I'm off to London to-morrow," said Fellingham. "I don't want to go, +for very particular reasons; I may be of more use there. I have a cousin +who's a General officer in the army, and if I have your permission--you +see, anything's better, as it seems to me, than that you should depend +for peace and comfort on one man's tongue not wagging, especially +when he is not the best of tempers if I have your permission--without +mentioning names, of course--I'll consult him." + +There was a dead silence. + +"You know you may trust me, sir. I love your daughter with all my heart. +Your honour and your interests are mine." + +Van Diemen struggled for composure. + +"Netty, what have you been at?" he said. + +"It is untrue, papa!" she answered the unworded accusation. + +"Annette has told me nothing, sir. I have heard it. You must brace your +mind to the fact that it is known. What is known to Mr. Tinman is pretty +sure to be known generally at the next disagreement." + +"That scoundrel Mart!" Van Diemen muttered. + +"I am positive Mr. Tinman did not speak of you, papa," said Annette, and +turned her eyes from the half-paralyzed figure of her father on Herbert +to put him to proof. + +"No, but he made himself heard when it was being discussed. At any rate, +it's known; and the thing to do is to meet it." + +"I'm off. I'll not stop a day. I'd rather live on the Continent," +said Van Diemen, shaking himself, as to prepare for the step into that +desert. + +"Mr. Tinman has been most generous!" Annette protested tearfully. + +"I won't say no: I think you are deceived and lend him your own +generosity," said Herbert. "Can you suppose it generous, that even in +the extremest case, he should speak of the matter to your father, and +talk of denouncing him? He did it." + +"He was provoked." + +"A gentleman is distinguished by his not allowing himself to be +provoked." + +"I am engaged to him, and I cannot hear it said that he is not a +gentleman." + +The first part of her sentence Annette uttered bravely; at the +conclusion she broke down. She wished Herbert to be aware of the truth, +that he might stay his attacks on Mr. Tinman; and she believed he had +only been guessing the circumstances in which her father was placed; but +the comparison between her two suitors forced itself on her now, when +the younger one spoke in a manner so self-contained, brief, and full of +feeling. + +She had to leave the room weeping. + +"Has your daughter engaged herself, sir?" said Herbert. + +"Talk to me to-morrow; don't give us up if she has we were trapped, it's +my opinion," said Van Diemen. "There's the devil in that wine of--Mart +Tinman's. I feel it still, and in the morning it'll be worse. What can +she see in him? I must quit the country; carry her off. How he did it, +I don't know. It was that woman, the widow, the fellow's sister. She +talked till she piped her eye--talked about our lasting union. On my +soul, I believe I egged Netty on! I was in a mollified way with that +wine; all of a sudden the woman joins their hands! And I--a man of +spirit will despise me!--what I thought of was, 'now my secret's safe!' +You've sobered me, young sir. I see myself, if that's being sober. I +don't ask your opinion of me; I am a deserter, false to my colours, +a breaker of his oath. Only mark this: I was married, and a common +trooper, married to a handsome young woman, true as steel; but she was +handsome, and we were starvation poor, and she had to endure persecution +from an officer day by day. Bear that situation in your mind.... +Providence dropped me a hundred pounds out of the sky. Properly +speaking, it popped up out of the earth, for I reaped it, you may say, +from a relative's grave. Rich and poor 's all right, if I'm rich and +you're poor; and you may be happy though you're poor; but where there +are many poor young women, lots of rich men are a terrible temptation to +them. That's my dear good wife speaking, and had she been spared to me +I never should have come back to Old England, and heart's delight and +heartache I should not have known. She was my backbone, she was my +breast-comforter too. Why did she stick to me? Because I had faith +in her when appearances were against her. But she never forgave this +country the hurt to her woman's pride. You'll have noticed a squarish +jaw in Netty. That's her mother. And I shall have to encounter it, +supposing I find Mart Tinman has been playing me false. I'm blown on +somehow. I'll think of what course I'll take 'twixt now and morning. +Good night, young gentleman." + +"Good night; sir," said Herbert, adding, "I will get information from +the Horse Guards; as for the people knowing it about here, you're not +living much in society--" + +"It's not other people's feelings, it's my own," Van Diemen silenced +him. "I feel it, if it's in the wind; ever since Mart Tinman spoke the +thing out, I've felt on my skin cold and hot." + +He flourished his lighted candle and went to bed, manifestly solaced by +the idea that he was the victim of his own feelings. + +Herbert could not sleep. Annette's monstrous choice of Tinman in +preference to himself constantly assailed and shook his understanding. +There was the "squarish jaw" mentioned by her father to think of. It +filled him with a vague apprehension, but he was unable to imagine that +a young girl, and an English girl, and an enthusiastic young English +girl, could be devoid of sentiment; and presuming her to have it, as one +must, there was no fear, that she would persist in her loathsome choice +when she knew her father was against it. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Annette did not shun him next morning. She did not shun the subject, +either. But she had been exact in arranging that she should not be more +than a few minutes downstairs before her father. Herbert found, that +compared with her, girls of sentiment are commonplace indeed. She had +conceived an insane idea of nobility in Tinman that blinded her to his +face, figure, and character--his manners, likewise. He had forgiven a +blow! + +Silly as the delusion might be, it clothed her in whimsical +attractiveness. + +It was a beauty in her to dwell so firmly upon moral quality. Overthrown +and stunned as he was, and reduced to helplessness by her brief and +positive replies, Herbert was obliged to admire the singular young +lady, who spoke, without much shyness, of her incongruous, destined mate +though his admiration had an edge cutting like irony. While in the turn +for candour, she ought to have told him, that previous to her decision +she had weighed the case of the diverse claims of himself and Tinman, +and resolved them according to her predilection for the peaceful +residence of her father and herself in England. This she had done a +little regretfully, because of the natural sympathy of the young +girl for the younger man. But the younger man had seemed to her +seriously-straightforward mind too light and airy in his wooing, like +one of her waltzing officers--very well so long as she stepped the +measure with him, and not forcible enough to take her off her feet. He +had changed, and now that he had become persuasive, she feared he would +disturb the serenity with which she desired and strove to contemplate +her decision. Tinman's magnanimity was present in her imagination to +sustain her, though she was aware that Mrs. Cavely had surprised her +will, and caused it to surrender unconsulted by her wiser intelligence. + +"I cannot listen to you," she said to Herbert, after listening longer +than was prudent. "If what you say of papa is true, I do not think he +will remain in Crikswich, or even in England. But I am sure the old +friend we used, to speak of so much in Australia has not wilfully +betrayed him." + +Herbert would have had to say, "Look on us two!" to proceed in his +baffled wooing; and the very ludicrousness of the contrast led him to +see the folly and shame of proposing it. + +Van Diemen came down to breakfast looking haggard and restless. "I +have 'nt had my morning's walk--I can't go out to be hooted," he said, +calling to his daughter for tea, and strong tea; and explaining to +Herbert that he knew it to be bad for the nerves, but it was an antidote +to bad champagne. + +Mr. Herbert Fellingham had previously received an invitation on behalf +of a sister of his to Crikswich. A dull sense of genuine sagacity +inspired him to remind Annette of it. She wrote prettily to Miss Mary +Fellingham, and Herbert had some faint joy in carrying away the letter +of her handwriting. + +"Fetch her soon, for we sha'n't be here long," Van Diemen said to him +at parting. He expressed a certain dread of his next meeting with Mart +Tinman. + +Herbert speedily brought Mary Fellingham to Elba, and left her there. +The situation was apparently unaltered. Van Diemen looked worn, like a +man who has been feeding mainly on his reflections, which was manifest +in his few melancholy bits of speech. He said to Herbert: "How you feel +a thing when you are found out!" and, "It doesn't do for a man with a +heart to do wrong!" He designated the two principal roads by which +poor sinners come to a conscience. His own would have slumbered but for +discovery; and, as he remarked, if it had not been for his heart leading +him to Tinman, he would not have fallen into that man's power. + +The arrival of a young lady of fashionable appearance at Elba was matter +of cogitation to Mrs. Cavely. She was disposed to suspect that it meant +something, and Van Diemen's behaviour to her brother would of itself +have fortified any suspicion. He did not call at the house on the beach, +he did not invite Martin to dinner, he was rarely seen, and when he +appeared at the Town Council he once or twice violently opposed his +friend Martin, who came home ruffled, deeply offended in his interests +and his dignity. + +"Have you noticed any difference in Annette's treatment of you, dear?" +Mrs. Cavely inquired. + +"No," said Tinman; "none. She shakes hands. She asks after my health. +She offers me my cup of tea." + +"I have seen all that. But does she avoid privacy with you?" + +"Dear me, no! Why should she? I hope, Martha, I am a man who may be +confided in by any young lady in England." + +"I am sure you may, dear Martin." + +"She has an objection to name the... the day," said Martin. "I have +informed her that I have an objection to long engagements. I don't like +her new companion: She says she has been presented at Court. I greatly +doubt it." + +"It's to give herself a style, you may depend. I don't believe her!" +exclaimed Mrs. Cavely, with sharp personal asperity. + +Brother and sister examined together the Court Guide they had purchased +on the occasion at once of their largest outlay and most thrilling +gratification; in it they certainly found the name of General +Fellingham. "But he can't be related to a newspaper-writer," said Mrs. +Cavely. + +To which her brother rejoined, "Unless the young man turned scamp. I +hate unproductive professions." + +"I hate him, Martin." Mrs. Cavely laughed in scorn, "I should say, I +pity him. It's as clear to me as the sun at noonday, he wanted Annette. +That's why I was in a hurry. How I dreaded he would come that evening +to our dinner! When I saw him absent, I could have cried out it was +Providence! And so be careful--we have had everything done for us from +on High as yet--but be careful of your temper, dear Martin. I will +hasten on the union; for it's a shame of a girl to drag a man behind her +till he 's old at the altar. Temper, dear, if you will only think of it, +is the weak point." + +"Now he has begun boasting to me of his Australian wines!" Tinman +ejaculated. + +"Bear it. Bear it as you do Gippsland. My dear, you have the retort in +your heart:--Yes! but have you a Court in Australia?" + +"Ha! and his Australian wines cost twice the amount I pay for mine!" + +"Quite true. We are not obliged to buy them, I should hope. I would, +though--a dozen--if I thought it necessary, to keep him quiet." + +Tinman continued muttering angrily over the Australian wines, with a +word of irritation at Gippsland, while promising to be watchful of his +temper. + +"What good is Australia to us," he asked, "if it does n't bring us +money?" + +"It's going to, my dear," said Mrs. Cavely. "Think of that when he +begins boasting his Australia. And though it's convict's money, as he +confesses--" + +"With his convict's money!" Tinman interjected tremblingly. "How long am +I expected to wait?" + +"Rely on me to hurry on the day," said Mrs. Cavely. "There is no other +annoyance?" + +"Wherever I am going to buy, that man outbids me and then says it's the +old country's want of pluck and dash, and doing things large-handed! A +man who'd go on his knees to stop in England!" Tinman vociferated in a +breath; and fairly reddened by the effort: "He may have to do it yet. I +can't stand insult." + +"You are less able to stand insult after Honours," his sister said, +in obedience to what she had observed of him since his famous visit to +London. "It must be so, in nature. But temper is everything just now. +Remember, it was by command of temper, and letting her father put +himself in the wrong, you got hold of Annette. And I would abstain even +from wine. For sometimes after it, you have owned it disagreed. And +I have noticed these eruptions between you and Mr. Smith--as he calls +himself--generally after wine." + +"Always the poor! the poor! money for the poor!" Tinman harped on +further grievances against Van Diemen. "I say doctors have said the +drain on the common is healthy; it's a healthy smell, nourishing. We've +always had it and been a healthy town. But the sea encroaches, and I say +my house and my property is in danger. He buys my house over my head, +and offers me the Crouch to live in at an advanced rent. And then he +sells me my house at an advanced price, and I buy, and then he votes +against a penny for the protection of the shore! And we're in Winter +again! As if he was not in my power!" + +"My dear Martin, to Elba we go, and soon, if you will govern your +temper," said Mrs. Cavely. "You're an angel to let me speak of it +so, and it's only that man that irritates you. I call him sinfully +ostentatious." + +"I could blow him from a gun if I spoke out, and he knows it! He's +wanting in common gratitude, let alone respect," Tinman snorted. + +"But he has a daughter, my dear." + +Tinman slowly and crackingly subsided. + +His main grievance against Van Diemen was the non-recognition of +his importance by that uncultured Australian, who did not seem to be +conscious of the dignities and distinctions we come to in our country. +The moneyed daughter, the prospective marriage, for an economical man +rejected by every lady surrounding him, advised him to lock up his +temper in submission to Martha. + +"Bring Annette to dine with us," he said, on Martha's proposing a visit +to the dear young creature. + +Martha drank a glass of her brother's wine at lunch, and departed on the +mission. + +Annette declined to be brought. Her excuse was her guest, Miss +Fellingham. + +"Bring her too, by all means--if you'll condescend, I am sure," Mrs. +Cavely said to Mary. + +"I am much obliged to you; I do not dine out at present," said the +London lady. + +"Dear me! are you ill?" + +"No." + +"Nothing in the family, I hope?" + +"My family?" + +"I am sure, I beg pardon," said Mrs. Cavely, bridling with a spite +pardonable by the severest moralist. + +"Can I speak to you alone?" she addressed Annette. + +Miss Fellingham rose. + +Mrs. Cavely confronted her. "I can't allow it; I can't think of it. +I'm only taking a little liberty with one I may call my future +sister-in-law." + +"Shall I come out with you?" said Annette, in sheer lassitude assisting +Mary Fellingham in her scheme to show the distastefulness of this lady +and her brother. + +"Not if you don't wish to." + +"I have no objection." + +"Another time will do." + +"Will you write?" + +"By post indeed!" + +Mrs. Cavely delivered a laugh supposed to, be peculiar to the English +stage. + +"It would be a penny thrown away," said Annette. "I thought you could +send a messenger." + +Intercommunication with Miss Fellingham had done mischief to her high +moral conception of the pair inhabiting the house on the beach. Mrs. +Cavely saw it, and could not conceal that she smarted. + +Her counsel to her brother, after recounting the offensive scene to him +in animated dialogue, was, to give Van Diemen a fright. + +"I wish I had not drunk that glass of sherry before starting," she +exclaimed, both savagely and sagely. "It's best after business. And +these gentlemen's habits of yours of taking to dining late upset me. I'm +afraid I showed temper; but you, Martin, would not have borne one-tenth +of what I did." + +"How dare you say so!" her brother rebuked her indignantly; and the +house on the beach enclosed with difficulty a storm between brother and +sister, happily not heard outside, because of loud winds raging. + +Nevertheless Tinman pondered on Martha's idea of the wisdom of giving +Van Diemen a fright. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The English have been called a bad-tempered people, but this is to judge +of them by their manifestations; whereas an examination into causes +might prove them to be no worse tempered than that man is a bad sleeper +who lies in a biting bed. If a sagacious instinct directs them to +discountenance realistic tales, the realistic tale should justify its +appearance by the discovery of an apology for the tormented souls. Once +they sang madrigals, once they danced on the green, they revelled in +their lusty humours, without having recourse to the pun for fun, an +exhibition of hundreds of bare legs for jollity, a sentimental wailing +all in the throat for music. Evidence is procurable that they have +been an artificially-reared people, feeding on the genius of inventors, +transposers, adulterators, instead of the products of nature, for the +last half century; and it is unfair to affirm of them that they are +positively this or that. They are experiments. They are the sons and +victims of a desperate Energy, alluring by cheapness, satiating with +quantity, that it may mount in the social scale, at the expense of their +tissues. The land is in a state of fermentation to mount, and the shop, +which has shot half their stars to their social zenith, is what verily +they would scald themselves to wash themselves free of. Nor is it in any +degree a reprehensible sign that they should fly as from hue and cry the +title of tradesman. It is on the contrary the spot of sanity, which bids +us right cordially hope. Energy, transferred to the moral sense, may +clear them yet. + +Meanwhile this beer, this wine, both are of a character to have killed +more than the tempers of a less gifted people. Martin Tinman invited Van +Diemen Smith to try the flavour of a wine that, as he said, he thought +of "laying down." + +It has been hinted before of a strange effect upon the minds of men who +knew what they were going to, when they received an invitation to dine +with Tinman. For the sake of a little social meeting at any cost, +they accepted it; accepted it with a sigh, midway as by engineering +measurement between prospective and retrospective; as nearly mechanical +as things human may be, like the Mussulman's accustomed cry of Kismet. +Has it not been related of the little Jew babe sucking at its mother's +breast in Jerusalem, that this innocent, long after the Captivity, +would start convulsively, relinquishing its feast, and indulging in +the purest. Hebrew lamentation of the most tenacious of races, at the +passing sound of a Babylonian or a Ninevite voice? In some such manner +did men, unable to refuse, deep in what remained to them of nature, +listen to Tinman; and so did Van Diemen, sighing heavily under the +operation of simple animal instinct. + +"You seem miserable," said Tinman, not oblivious of his design to give +his friend a fright. + +"Do I? No, I'm all right," Van Diemen replied. "I'm thinking of +alterations at the Hall before Summer, to accommodate guests--if I stay +here." + +"I suppose you would not like to be separated from Annette." + +"Separated? No, I should think I shouldn't. Who'd do it?" + +"Because I should not like to leave my good sister Martha all to herself +in a house so near the sea--" + +"Why not go to the Crouch, man?" + +"Thank you." + +"No thanks needed if you don't take advantage of the offer." + +They were at the entrance to Elba, whither Mr. Tinman was betaking +himself to see his intended. He asked if Annette was at home, and to his +great stupefaction heard that she had gone to London for a week. + +Dissembling the spite aroused within him, he postponed his very strongly +fortified design, and said, "You must be lonely." + +Van Diemen informed him that it would be for a night only, as young +Fellingham was coming down to keep him company. + +"At six o'clock this evening, then," said Tinman. "We're not fashionable +in Winter." + +"Hang me, if I know when ever we were!" Van Diemen rejoined. + +"Come, though, you'd like to be. You've got your ambition, Philip, like +other men." + +"Respectable and respected--that 's my ambition, Mr. Mart." + +Tinman simpered: "With your wealth!" + +"Ay, I 'm rich--for a contented mind." + +"I 'm pretty sure you 'll approve my new vintage," said Tinman. "It's +direct from Oporto, my wine-merchant tells me, on his word." + +"What's the price?" + +"No, no, no. Try it first. It's rather a stiff price." + +Van Diemen was partially reassured by the announcement. "What do you +call a stiff price?" + +"Well!--over thirty." + +"Double that, and you may have a chance." + +"Now," cried Tinman, exasperated, "how can a man from Australia know +anything about prices for port? You can't divest your ideas of diggers' +prices. You're like an intoxicating drink yourself on the tradesmen +of our town. You think it fine--ha! ha! I daresay, Philip, I should be +doing the same if I were up to your mark at my banker's. We can't all of +us be lords, nor baronets." + +Catching up his temper thus cleverly, he curbed that habitual runaway, +and retired from his old friend's presence to explode in the society of +the solitary Martha. + +Annette's behaviour was as bitterly criticized by the sister as by the +brother. + +"She has gone to those Fellingham people; and she may be thinking of +jilting us," Mrs. Cavely said. + +"In that case, I have no mercy," cried her brother. "I have borne"--he +bowed with a professional spiritual humility--"as I should, but it may +get past endurance. I say I have borne enough; and if the worst comes to +the worst, and I hand him over to the authorities--I say I mean him no +harm, but he has struck me. He beat me as a boy and he has struck me +as a man, and I say I have no thought of revenge, but I cannot have +him here; and I say if I drive him out of the country back to his +Gippsland!" + +Martin Tinman quivered for speech, probably for that which feedeth +speech, as is the way with angry men. + +"And what?--what then?" said Martha, with the tender mellifluousness of +sisterly reproach. "What good can you expect of letting temper get the +better of you, dear?" + +Tinman did not enjoy her recent turn for usurping the lead in their +consultations, and he said, tartly, "This good, Martha. We shall get the +Hall at my price, and be Head People here. Which," he raised his note, +"which he, a Deserter, has no right to pretend to give himself out to +be. What your feelings may be as an old inhabitant, I don't know, but I +have always looked up to the people at Elba Hall, and I say I don't +like to have a Deserter squandering convict's money there--with his +forty-pound-a-year cook, and his champagne at seventy a dozen. It's the +luxury of Sodom and Gomorrah." + +"That does not prevent its being very nice to dine there," said Mrs. +Cavely; "and it shall be our table for good if I have any management." + +"You mean me, ma'am," bellowed Tinman. + +"Not at all," she breathed, in dulcet contrast. "You are good-looking, +Martin, but you have not half such pretty eyes as the person I mean. I +never ventured to dream of managing you, Martin. I am thinking of the +people at Elba." + +"But why this extraordinary treatment of me, Martha?" + +"She's a child, having her head turned by those Fellinghams. But she's +honourable; she has sworn to me she would be honourable." + +"You do think I may as well give him a fright?" Tinman inquired +hungrily. + +"A sort of hint; but very gentle, Martin. Do be gentle--casual like--as +if you did n't want to say it. Get him on his Gippsland. Then if he +brings you to words, you can always laugh back, and say you will go to +Kew and see the Fernery, and fancy all that, so high, on Helvellyn +or the Downs. Why"--Mrs. Cavely, at the end of her astute advices and +cautionings, as usual, gave loose to her natural character--"Why that +man came back to England at all, with his boastings of Gippsland, I +can't for the life of me find out. It 's a perfect mystery." + +"It is," Tinman sounded his voice at a great depth, reflectively. Glad +of taking the part she was perpetually assuming of late, he put out his +hand and said: "But it may have been ordained for our good, Martha." + +"True, dear," said she, with an earnest sentiment of thankfulness to the +Power which had led him round to her way of thinking and feeling. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Annette had gone to the big metropolis, which burns in colonial +imaginations as the sun of cities, and was about to see something of +London, under the excellent auspices of her new friend, Mary Fellingham, +and a dense fog. She was alarmed by the darkness, a little in fear, too, +of Herbert; and these feelings caused her to chide herself for leaving +her father. + +Hearing her speak of her father sadly, Herbert kindly proposed to go +down to Crikswich on the very day of her coming. She thanked him, and +gave him a taste of bitterness by smiling favourably on his offer; but +as he wished her to discern and take to heart the difference between one +man and another, in the light of a suitor, he let her perceive that it +cost him heavy pangs to depart immediately, and left her to brood on his +example. Mary Fellingham liked Annette. She thought her a sensible +girl of uncultivated sensibilities, the reverse of thousands; not +commonplace, therefore; and that the sensibilities were expanding was +to be seen in her gradual unreadiness to talk of her engagement to Mr. +Tinman, though her intimacy with Mary warmed daily. She considered +she was bound to marry the man at some distant date, and did not feel +unhappiness yet. She had only felt uneasy when she had to greet and +converse with her intended; especially when the London young lady had +been present. Herbert's departure relieved her of the pressing sense +of contrast. She praised him to Mary for his extreme kindness to her +father, and down in her unsounded heart desired that her father might +appreciate it even more than she did. + +Herbert drove into Crikswich at night, and stopped at Crickledon's, +where he heard that Van Diemen was dining with Tinman. + +Crickledon the carpenter permitted certain dry curves to play round his +lips like miniature shavings at the name of Tinman; but Herbert asked, +"What is it now?" in vain, and he went to Crickledon the cook. + +This union of the two Crickledons, male and female; was an ideal one, +such as poor women dream of; and men would do the same, if they knew how +poor they are. Each had a profession, each was independent of the other, +each supported the fabric. Consequently there was mutual respect, as +between two pillars of a house. Each saw the other's faults with a sly +wink to the world, and an occasional interchange of sarcasm that was +tonic, very strengthening to the wits without endangering the habit of +affection. Crickledon the cook stood for her own opinions, and directed +the public conduct of Crickledon the carpenter; and if he went astray +from the line she marked out, she put it down to human nature, to which +she was tolerant. He, when she had not followed his advice, ascribed it +to the nature of women. She never said she was the equal of her husband; +but the carpenter proudly acknowledged that she was as good as a man, +and he bore with foibles derogatory to such high stature, by teaching +himself to observe a neatness of domestic and general management that +told him he certainly was not as good as a woman. Herbert delighted in +them. The cook regaled the carpenter with skilful, tasty, and economic +dishes; and the carpenter, obedient to her supplications, had promised, +in the event of his outliving her, that no hands but his should have +the making of her coffin. "It is so nice," she said, "to think one's own +husband will put together the box you are to lie in, of his own make!" +Had they been even a doubtfully united pair, the cook's anticipation of +a comfortable coffin, the work of the best carpenter in England, would +have kept them together; and that which fine cookery does for the +cementing of couples needs not to be recounted to those who have read a +chapter or two of the natural history of the male sex. + +"Crickledon, my dear soul, your husband is labouring with a bit of fun," +Herbert said to her. + +"He would n't laugh loud at Punch, for fear of an action," she replied. +"He never laughs out till he gets to bed, and has locked the door; and +when he does he says 'Hush!' to me. Tinman is n't bailiff again just +yet, and where he has his bailiff's best Court suit from, you may ask. +He exercises in it off and on all the week, at night, and sometimes in +the middle of the day." + +Herbert rallied her for her gossip's credulity. + +"It's truth," she declared. "I have it from the maid of the house, +little Jane, whom he pays four pound a year for all the work of the +house: a clever little thing with her hands and her head she is; and can +read and write beautiful; and she's a mind to leave 'em if they don't +advance her. She knocked and went in while he was full blaze, and bowing +his poll to his glass. And now he turns the key, and a child might know +he was at it." + +"He can't be such a donkey!" + +"And he's been seen at the window on the seaside. 'Who's your Admiral +staying at the house on the beach?' men have inquired as they come +ashore. My husband has heard it. Tinman's got it on his brain. He might +be cured by marriage to a sound-headed woman, but he 'll soon be wanting +to walk about in silk legs if he stops a bachelor. They tell me his old +mother here had a dress value twenty pound; and pomp's inherited. Save +as he may, there's his leak." + +Herbert's contempt for Tinman was intense; it was that of the young and +ignorant who live in their imaginations like spendthrifts, unaware of +the importance of them as the food of life, and of how necessary it is +to seize upon the solider one among them for perpetual sustenance when +the unsubstantial are vanishing. The great event of his bailiff's term +of office had become the sun of Tinman's system. He basked in its +rays. He meant to be again the proud official, royally distinguished; +meantime, though he knew not that his days were dull, he groaned under +the dulness; and, as cart or cab horses, uncomplaining as a rule, show +their view of the nature of harness when they have release to frisk in +a field, it is possible that existence was made tolerable to the jogging +man by some minutes of excitement in his bailiff's Court suit. Really +to pasture on our recollections we ought to dramatize them. There is, +however, only the testimony of a maid and a mariner to show that Tinman +did it, and those are witnesses coming of particularly long-bow classes, +given to magnify small items of fact. + +On reaching the hall Herbert found the fire alight in the smoking-room, +and soon after settling himself there he heard Van Diemen's voice at the +hall-door saying good night to Tinman. + +"Thank the Lord! there you are," said Van Diemen, entering the room. "I +couldn't have hoped so much. That rascal!" he turned round to the door. +"He has been threatening me, and then smoothing me. Hang his oil! It's +combustible. And hang the port he's for laying down, as he calls it. +'Leave it to posterity,' says I. 'Why?' says he. 'Because the young ones +'ll be better able to take care of themselves,' says I, and he insists +on an explanation. I gave it to him. Out he bursts like a wasp's +nest. He may have said what he did say in temper. He seemed sorry +afterwards--poor old Mart! The scoundrel talked of Horse Guards and +telegraph wires." + +"Scoundrel, but more ninny," said Herbert, full of his contempt. "Dare +him to do his worst. The General tells me they 'd be glad to overlook +it at the Guards, even if they had all the facts. Branding 's out of the +question." + +"I swear it was done in my time," cried Van Diemen, all on fire. + +"It's out of the question. You might be advised to leave England for a +few months. As for the society here--" + +"If I leave, I leave for good. My heart's broken. I'm disappointed. I'm +deceived in my friend. He and I in the old days! What's come to him? +What on earth is it changes men who stop in England so? It can't be the +climate. And did you mention my name to General Fellingham?" + +"Certainly not," said Herbert. "But listen to me, sir, a moment. Why not +get together half-a-dozen friends of the neighbourhood, and make a clean +breast of it. Englishmen like that kind of manliness, and they are sure +to ring sound to it." + +"I couldn't!" Van Diemen sighed. "It's not a natural feeling I have +about it--I 've brooded on the word. If I have a nightmare, I see +Deserter written in sulphur on the black wall." + +"You can't remain at his mercy, and be bullied as you are. He makes you +ill, sir. He won't do anything, but he'll go on worrying you. I'd stop +him at once. I'd take the train to-morrow and get an introduction to the +Commander-in-Chief. He's the very man to be kind to you in a situation +like this. The General would get you the introduction." + +"That's more to my taste; but no, I couldn't," Van Diemen moaned in his +weakness. "Money has unmanned me. I was n't this kind of man formerly; +nor more was Mart Tinman, the traitor! All the world seems changeing for +the worse, and England is n't what she used to be." + +"You let that man spoil it for you, sir." Herbert related Mrs. +Crickledon's tale of Mr. Tinman, adding, "He's an utter donkey. I should +defy him. What I should do would be to let him know to-morrow morning +that you don't intend to see him again. Blow for, blow, is the thing he +requires. He'll be cringing to you in a week." + +"And you'd like to marry Annette," said Van Diemen, relishing, +nevertheless, the advice, whose origin and object he perceived so +plainly. + +"Of course I should," said Herbert, franker still in his colour than his +speech. + +"I don't see him my girl's husband." Van Diemen eyed the red hollow +in the falling coals. "When I came first, and found him a healthy man, +good-looking enough for a trifle over forty, I 'd have given her gladly, +she nodding Yes. Now all my fear is she's in earnest. Upon my soul, +I had the notion old Mart was a sort of a boy still; playing man, you +know. But how can you understand? I fancied his airs and stiffness were +put on; thought I saw him burning true behind it. Who can tell? He seems +to be jealous of my buying property in his native town. Something frets +him. I ought never to have struck him! There's my error, and I repent +it. Strike a friend! I wonder he didn't go off to the Horse Guards at +once. I might have done it in his place, if I found I couldn't lick him. +I should have tried kicking first." + +"Yes, shinning before peaching," said Herbert, astonished almost as +much as he was disgusted by the inveterate sentimental attachment of Van +Diemen to his old friend. + +Martin Tinman anticipated good things of the fright he had given the man +after dinner. He had, undoubtedly, yielded to temper, forgetting pure +policy, which it is so exceeding difficult to practice. But he had +soothed the startled beast; they had shaken hands at parting, and Tinman +hoped that the week of Annette's absence would enable him to mould her +father. Young Fellingham's appointment to come to Elba had slipped Mr. +Tinman's memory. It was annoying to see this intruder. "At all events, +he's not with Annette," said Mrs. Cavely. "How long has her father to +run on?" + +"Five months," Tinman replied. "He would have completed his term of +service in five months." + +"And to think of his being a rich man because he deserted," Mrs. Cavely +interjected. "Oh! I do call it immoral. He ought to be apprehended and +punished, to be an example for the good of society. If you lose time, +my dear Martin, your chance is gone. He's wriggling now. And if I could +believe he talked us over to that young impudent, who has n't a penny +that he does n't get from his pen, I'd say, denounce him to-morrow. I +long for Elba. I hate this house. It will be swallowed up some day; I +know it; I have dreamt it. Elba at any cost. Depend upon it, Martin, you +have been foiled in your suits on account of the mean house you inhabit. +Enter Elba as that girl's husband, or go there to own it, and girls will +crawl to you." + +"You are a ridiculous woman, Martha," said Tinman, not dissenting. + +The mixture of an idea of public duty with a feeling of personal rancour +is a strong incentive to the pursuit of a stern line of conduct; and +the glimmer of self-interest superadded does not check the steps of +the moralist. Nevertheless, Tinman held himself in. He loved peace. He +preached it, he disseminated it. At a meeting in the town he strove to +win Van Diemen's voice in favour of a vote for further moneys to +protect "our shores." Van Diemen laughed at him, telling him he wanted a +battery. "No," said Tinman, "I've had enough to do with soldiers." + +"How's that?" + +"They might be more cautious. I say, they might learn to know their +friends from their enemies." + +"That's it, that's it," said Van Diemen. "If you say much more, my +hearty, you'll find me bidding against you next week for Marine Parade +and Belle Vue Terrace. I've a cute eye for property, and this town's +looking up." + +"You look about you before you speculate in land and house property +here," retorted Tinman. + +Van Diemen bore so much from him that he asked himself whether he could +be an Englishman. The title of Deserter was his raw wound. He attempted +to form the habit of stigmatizing himself with it in the privacy of +his chamber, and he succeeded in establishing the habit of talking to +himself, so that he was heard by the household, and Annette, on her +return, was obliged to warn him of his indiscretion. This development of +a new weakness exasperated him. Rather to prove his courage by defiance +than to baffle Tinman's ambition to become the principal owner of houses +in Crikswich, by outbidding him at the auction for the sale of Marine +Parade and Belle Vue Terrace, Van Diemen ran the houses up at the +auction, and ultimately had Belle Vue knocked down to him. So fierce was +the quarrel that Annette, in conjunction with Mrs. Cavely; was called on +to interpose with her sweetest grace. "My native place," Tinman said +to her; "it is my native place. I have a pride in it; I desire to own +property in it, and your father opposes me. He opposes me. Then says I +may have it back at auction price, after he has gone far to double the +price! I have borne--I repeat I have borne too much." + +"Are n't your properties to be equal to one?" said Mrs. Cavely, smiling +mother--like from Tinman to Annette. + +He sought to produce a fondling eye in a wry face, and said, "Yes, I +will remember that." + +"Annette will bless you with her dear hand in a month or two at the +outside," Mrs. Cavely murmured, cherishingly. + +"She will?" Tinman cracked his body to bend to her. + +"Oh, I cannot say; do not distress me. Be friendly with papa," the girl +resumed, moving to escape. + +"That is the essential," said Mrs. Cavely; and continued, when Annette +had gone, "The essential is to get over the next few months, miss, and +then to snap your fingers at us. Martin, I would force that man to sell +you Belle Vue under the price he paid for it, just to try your power." + +Tinman was not quite so forcible. He obtained Belle Vue at auction +price, and his passion for revenge was tipped with fire by having it +accorded as a friend's favour. + +The poisoned state of his mind was increased by a December high wind +that rattled his casements, and warned him of his accession of property +exposed to the elements. Both he and his sister attributed their +nervousness to the sinister behaviour of Van Diemen. For the house on +the beach had only, in most distant times, been threatened by the sea, +and no house on earth was better protected from man,--Neptune, in the +shape of a coastguard, being paid by Government to patrol about it +during the hours of darkness. They had never had any fears before Van +Diemen arrived, and caused them to give thrice their ordinary number of +dinners to guests per annum. In fact, before Van Diemen came, the +house on the beach looked on Crikswich without a rival to challenge its +anticipated lordship over the place, and for some inexplicable reason +it seemed to its inhabitants to have been a safer as well as a happier +residence. + +They were consoled by Tinman's performance of a clever stroke in +privately purchasing the cottages west of the town, and including +Crickledon's shop, abutting on Marine Parade. Then from the house on the +beach they looked at an entire frontage of their property. + +They entered the month of February. No further time was to be lost, +"or we shall wake up to find that man has fooled us," Mrs. Cavely said. +Tinman appeared at Elba to demand a private interview with Annette. His +hat was blown into the hall as the door opened to him, and he himself +was glad to be sheltered by the door, so violent was the gale. Annette +and her father were sitting together. They kept the betrothed gentleman +waiting a very long time. At last Van Diemen went to him, and said, +"Netty 'll see you, if you must. I suppose you have no business with +me?" + +"Not to-day," Tinman replied. + +Van Diemen strode round the drawing-room with his hands in his pockets. +"There's a disparity of ages," he said, abruptly, as if desirous to pour +out his lesson while he remembered it. "A man upwards of forty marries +a girl under twenty, he's over sixty before she's forty; he's decaying +when she's only mellow. I ought never to have struck you, I know. And +you're such an infernal bad temper at times, and age does n't improve +that, they say; and she's been educated tip-top. She's sharp on grammar, +and a man may n't like that much when he's a husband. See her, if you +must. But she does n't take to the idea; there's the truth. Disparity +of ages and unsuitableness of dispositions--what was it Fellingham +said?--like two barrel-organs grinding different tunes all day in a +house." + +"I don't want to hear Mr. Fellingham's comparisons," Tinman snapped. + +"Oh! he's nothing to the girl," said Van Diemen. "She doesn't stomach +leaving me." + +"My dear Philip! why should she leave you? When we have interests in +common as one household--" + +"She says you're such a damned bad temper." + +Tinman was pursuing amicably, "When we are united--" But the frightful +charge brought against his temper drew him up. "Fiery I may be. Annette +has seen I am forgiving. I am a Christian. You have provoked me; you +have struck me." + +"I 'll give you a couple of thousand pounds in hard money to be off the +bargain, and not bother the girl," said Van Diemen. + +"Now," rejoined Tinman, "I am offended. I like money, like most men who +have made it. You do, Philip. But I don't come courting like a pauper. +Not for ten thousand; not for twenty. Money cannot be a compensation to +me for the loss of Annette. I say I love Annette." + +"Because," Van Diemen continued his speech, "you trapped us into that +engagement, Mart. You dosed me with the stuff you buy for wine, while +your sister sat sugaring and mollifying my girl; and she did the trick +in a minute, taking Netty by surprise when I was all heart and no head; +and since that you may have seen the girl turn her head from marriage +like my woods from the wind." + +"Mr. Van Diemen Smith!" Tinman panted; he mastered himself. "You shall +not provoke me. My introductions of you in this neighbourhood, my +patronage, prove my friendship." + +"You'll be a good old fellow, Mart, when you get over your hopes of +being knighted." + +"Mr. Fellingham may set you against my wine, Philip. Let me tell you--I +know you--you would not object to have your daughter called Lady." + +"With a spindle-shanked husband capering in a Court suit before he goes +to bed every night, that he may n't forget what a fine fellow he was one +day bygone! You're growing lean on it, Mart, like a recollection fifty +years old." + +"You have never forgiven me that day, Philip!" + +"Jealous, am I? Take the money, give up the girl, and see what friends +we'll be. I'll back your buyings, I'll advertise your sellings. I'll pay +a painter to paint you in your Court suit, and hang up a copy of you in +my diningroom." + +"Annette is here," said Tinman, who had been showing Etna's tokens of +insurgency. + +He admired Annette. Not till latterly had Herbert Fellingham been so +true an admirer of Annette as Tinman was. She looked sincere and she +dressed inexpensively. For these reasons she was the best example +of womankind that he knew, and her enthusiasm for England had the +sympathetic effect on him of obscuring the rest of the world, and +thrilling him with the reassuring belief that he was blest in his blood +and his birthplace--points which her father, with his boastings +of Gippsland, and other people talking of scenes on the Continent, +sometimes disturbed in his mind. + +"Annette," said he, "I come requesting to converse with you in private." + +"If you wish it--I would rather not," she answered. + +Tinman raised his head, as often at Helmstone when some offending +shopwoman was to hear her doom. + +He bent to her. "I see. Before your father, then!" + +"It isn't an agreeable bit of business, to me," Van Diemen grumbled, +frowning and shrugging. + +"I have come, Annette, to ask you, to beg you, entreat--before a third +person--laughing, Philip?" + +"The wrong side of my mouth, my friend. And I'll tell you what: we're in +for heavy seas, and I 'm not sorry you've taken the house on the beach +off my hands." + +"Pray, Mr. Tinman, speak at once, if you please, and I will do my best. +Papa vexes you." + +"No, no," replied Tinman. + +He renewed his commencement. Van Diemen interrupted him again. + +"Hang your power over me, as you call it. Eh, old Mart? I'm a Deserter. +I'll pay a thousand pounds to the British army, whether they punish me +or not. March me off tomorrow!" + +"Papa, you are unjust, unkind." Annette turned to him in tears. + +"No, no," said Tinman, "I do not feel it. Your father has misunderstood +me, Annette." + +"I am sure he has," she said fervently. "And, Mr. Tinman, I will +faithfully promise that so long as you are good to my dear father, I +will not be untrue to my engagement, only do not wish me to name any +day. We shall be such very good dear friends if you consent to this. +Will you?" + +Pausing for a space, the enamoured man unrolled his voice in +lamentation: "Oh! Annette, how long will you keep me?" + +"There; you'll set her crying!" said Van Diemen. "Now you can run +upstairs, Netty. By jingo! Mart Tinman, you've got a bass voice for love +affairs." + +"Annette," Tinman called to her, and made her turn round as she was +retiring. "I must know the day before the end of winter. Please. In kind +consideration. My arrangements demand it." + +"Do let the girl go," said Van Diemen. "Dine with me tonight and I'll +give you a wine to brisk your spirits, old boy." + +"Thank you. When I have ordered dinner at home, I----and my wine agrees +with ME," Tinman replied. + +"I doubt it." + +"You shall not provoke me, Philip." + +They parted stiffly. + +Mrs. Cavely had unpleasant domestic news to communicate to her brother, +in return for his tale of affliction and wrath. It concerned the +ungrateful conduct of their little housemaid Jane, who, as Mrs. Cavely +said, "egged on by that woman Crickledon," had been hinting at an +advance of wages. + +"She didn't dare speak, but I saw what was in her when she broke a +plate, and wouldn't say she was sorry. I know she goes to Crickledon and +talks us over. She's a willing worker, but she has no heart." + +Tinman had been accustomed in his shop at Helmstone--where heaven +had blessed him with the patronage of the rich, as visibly as rays of +supernal light are seen selecting from above the heads of prophets in +the illustrations to cheap holy books--to deal with willing workers that +have no hearts. Before the application for an advance of wages--and he +knew the signs of it coming--his method was to calculate how much he +might be asked for, and divide the estimated sum by the figure 4; which, +as it seemed to come from a generous impulse, and had been unsolicited, +was often humbly accepted, and the willing worker pursued her lean and +hungry course in his service. The treatment did not always agree with +his males. Women it suited; because they do not like to lift up their +voices unless they are in a passion; and if you take from them the +grounds of temper, you take their words away--you make chickens of them. +And as Tinman said, "Gratitude I never expect!" Why not? For the reason +that he knew human nature. He could record shocking instances of the +ingratitude of human nature, as revealed to him in the term of his +tenure of the shop at Helmstone. Blest from above, human nature's +wickedness had from below too frequently besulphured and suffumigated +him for his memory to be dim; and though he was ever ready to own +himself an example that heaven prevaileth, he could cite instances of +scandal-mongering shop-women dismissed and working him mischief in the +town, which pointed to him in person for a proof that the Powers of +Good and Evil were still engaged in unhappy contention. Witness Strikes! +witness Revolutions! + +"Tell her, when she lays the cloth, that I advance her, on account of +general good conduct, five shillings per annum. Add," said Tinman, "that +I wish no thanks. It is for her merits--to reward her; you understand +me, Martha?" + +"Quite; if you think it prudent, Martin." + +"I do. She is not to breathe a syllable to cook." + +"She will." + +"Then keep your eye on cook." + +Mrs. Cavely promised she would do so. She felt sure she was paying five +shillings for ingratitude; and, therefore, it was with humility that she +owned her error when, while her brother sipped his sugared acrid liquor +after dinner (in devotion to the doctor's decree, that he should take +a couple of glasses, rigorously as body-lashing friar), she imparted to +him the singular effect of the advance of wages upon little Jane--"Oh, +ma'am! and me never asked you for it!" She informed her brother how +little Jane had confided to her that they were called "close," and how +little Jane had vowed she would--the willing little thing!--go about +letting everybody know their kindness. + +"Yes! Ah!" Tinman inhaled the praise. "No, no; I don't want to be +puffed," he said. "Remember cook. I have," he continued, meditatively, +"rarely found my plan fail. But mind, I give the Crickledons notice +to quit to-morrow. They are a pest. Besides, I shall probably think of +erecting villas." + +"How dreadful the wind is!" Mrs. Cavely exclaimed. "I would give that +girl Annette one chance more. Try her by letter." + +Tinman despatched a business letter to Annette, which brought back a +vague, unbusiness-like reply. Two days afterward Mrs. Cavely reported to +her brother the presence of Mr. Fellingham and Miss Mary Fellingham +in Crikswich. At her dictation he wrote a second letter. This time the +reply came from Van Diemen: + + "My DEAR MARTIN,--Please do not go on bothering my girl. She does + not like the idea of leaving me, and my experience tells me I could + not live in the house with you. So there it is. Take it friendly. + I have always wanted to be, and am, + + "Your friend, + + "PHIL." + +Tinman proceeded straight to Elba; that is, as nearly straight as the +wind would allow his legs to walk. Van Diemen was announced to be +out; Miss Annette begged to be excused, under the pretext that she was +unwell; and Tinman heard of a dinner-party at Elba that night. + +He met Mr. Fellingham on the carriage drive. The young Londoner presumed +to touch upon Tinman's private affairs by pleading on behalf of the +Crikledons, who were, he said, much dejected by the notice they had +received to quit house and shop. + +"Another time," bawled Tinman. "I can't hear you in this wind." + +"Come in," said Fellingham. + +"The master of the house is absent," was the smart retort roared at him; +and Tinman staggered away, enjoying it as he did his wine. + +His house rocked. He was backed by his sister in the assurance that he +had been duped. + +The process he supposed to be thinking, which was the castigation of +his brains with every sting wherewith a native touchiness could ply +immediate recollection, led him to conclude that he must bring Van +Diemen to his senses, and Annette running to him for mercy. + +He sat down that night amid the howling of the storm, wind whistling, +water crashing, casements rattling, beach desperately dragging, as by +the wide-stretched star-fish fingers of the half-engulphed. + +He hardly knew what he wrote. The man was in a state of personal +terror, burning with indignation at Van Diemen as the main cause of +his jeopardy. For, in order to prosecute his pursuit of Annette, he had +abstained from going to Helmstone to pay moneys into his bank there, +and what was precious to life as well as life itself, was imperilled +by those two--Annette and her father--who, had they been true, had +they been honest, to say nothing of honourable, would by this time have +opened Elba to him as a fast and safe abode. + +His letter was addressed, on a large envelope, + + "To the Adjutant-General, + + "HORSE GUARDS." + +But if ever consigned to the Post, that post-office must be in London; +and Tinman left the letter on his desk till the morning should bring +counsel to him as to the London friend to whom he might despatch it +under cover for posting, if he pushed it so far. + +Sleep was impossible. Black night favoured the tearing fiends of +shipwreck, and looking through a back window over sea, Tinman saw with +dismay huge towering ghostwhite wreaths, that travelled up swiftly on +his level, and lit the dark as they flung themselves in ruin, with a +gasp, across the mound of shingle at his feet. + +He undressed: His sister called to him to know if they were in +danger. Clothed in his dressing-gown, he slipped along to her door, to +vociferate to her hoarsely that she must not frighten the servants; and +one fine quality in the training of the couple, which had helped them to +prosper, a form of self-command, kept her quiet in her shivering fears. + +For a distraction Tinman pulled open the drawers of his wardrobe. His +glittering suit lay in one. And he thought, "What wonderful changes +there are in the world!" meaning, between a man exposed to the wrath of +the elements, and the same individual reading from vellum, in that suit, +in a palace, to the Head of all of us! + +The presumption is; that he must have often done it before. The fact is +established, that he did it that night. The conclusion drawn from it is, +that it must have given him a sense of stability and safety. + +At any rate that he put on the suit is quite certain. + +Probably it was a work of ingratiation and degrees; a feeling of the +silk, a trying on to one leg, then a matching of the fellow with it. O +you Revolutionists! who would have no state, no ceremonial, and but one +order of galligaskins! This man must have been wooed away in spirit to +forgetfulness of the tempest scourging his mighty neighbour to a bigger +and a farther leap; he must have obtained from the contemplation of +himself in his suit that which would be the saving of all men, in +especial of his countrymen--imagination, namely. + +Certain it is, as I have said, that he attired himself in the suit. He +covered it with his dressing-gown, and he lay down on his bed so garbed, +to await the morrow's light, being probably surprised by sleep acting +upon fatigue and nerves appeased and soothed. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Elba lay more sheltered from South-east winds under the slopes of down +than any other house in Crikswich. The South-caster struck off the cliff +to a martello tower and the house on the beach, leaving Elba to repose, +so that the worst wind for that coast was one of the most comfortable +for the owner of the hall, and he looked from his upper window on a sea +of crumbling grey chalk, lashed unremittingly by the featureless piping +gale, without fear that his elevated grounds and walls would be open +at high tide to the ravage of water. Van Diemen had no idea of calamity +being at work on land when he sat down to breakfast. He told Herbert +that he had prayed for poor fellows at sea last night. Mary Fellingham +and Annette were anxious to finish breakfast and mount the down to gaze +on the sea, and receiving a caution from Van Diemen not to go too near +the cliff, they were inclined to think he was needlessly timorous on +their account. + +Before they were half way through the meal, word was brought in of great +breaches in the shingle, and water covering the common. Van Diemen sent +for his head gardener, whose report of the state of things outside took +the comprehensive form of prophecy; he predicted the fall of the town. + +"Nonsense; what do you mean, John Scott?" said Van Diemen, eyeing his +orderly breakfast table and the man in turns. "It does n't seem like +that, yet, does it?" + +"The house on the beach won't stand an hour longer, sir." + +"Who says so?" + +"It's cut off from land now, and waves mast-high all about it." + +"Mart Tinman?" cried Van Diemen. + +All started; all jumped up; and there was a scampering for hats and +cloaks. Maids and men of the house ran in and out confirming the news of +inundation. Some in terror for the fate of relatives, others pleasantly +excited, glad of catastrophe if it but killed monotony, for at any rate +it was a change of demons. + +The view from the outer bank of Elba was of water covering the space +of the common up to the stones of Marine Parade and Belle Vue. But at a +distance it had not the appearance of angry water; the ladies thought it +picturesque, and the house on the beach was seen standing firm. A second +look showed the house completely isolated; and as the party led by Van +Diemen circled hurriedly toward the town, they discerned heavy cataracts +of foam pouring down the wrecked mound of shingle on either side of the +house. + +"Why, the outer wall's washed away," said Van Diemen. "Are they in real +danger?" asked Annette, her teeth chattering, and the cold and other +matters at her heart precluding for the moment such warmth of sympathy +as she hoped soon to feel for them. She was glad to hear her father say: + +"Oh! they're high and dry by this time. We shall find them in the +town And we'll take them in and comfort them. Ten to one they have n't +breakfasted. They sha'n't go to an inn while I'm handy." + +He dashed ahead, followed closely by Herbert. The ladies beheld them +talking to townsfolk as they passed along the upper streets, and did not +augur well of their increase of speed. At the head of the town water was +visible, part of the way up the main street, and crossing it, the +ladies went swiftly under the old church, on the tower of which were +spectators, through the churchyard to a high meadow that dropped to a +stone wall fixed between the meadow and a grass bank above the level of +the road, where now salt water beat and cast some spray. Not less than +a hundred people were in this field, among them Crickledon and his wife. +All were in silent watch of the house on the beach, which was to east +of the field, at a distance of perhaps three stonethrows. The scene was +wild. Continuously the torrents poured through the shingleclefts, and +momently a thunder sounded, and high leapt a billow that topped the +house and folded it weltering. + +"They tell me Mart Tinman's in the house," Van Diemen roared to Herbert. +He listened to further information, and bellowed: "There's no boat!" + +Herbert answered: "It must be a mistake, I think; here's Crickledon says +he had a warning before dawn and managed to move most of his things, and +the people over there must have been awakened by the row in time to get +off." + +"I can't hear a word you say;" Van Diemen tried to pitch his voice +higher than the wind. "Did you say a boat? But where?" + +Crickledon the carpenter made signal to Herbert. They stepped rapidly up +the field. + +"Women feels their weakness in times like these, my dear," Mrs. +Crickledon said to Annette. "What with our clothes and our cowardice it +do seem we're not the equals of men when winds is high." + +Annette expressed the hope to her that she had not lost much property. +Mrs. Crickledon said she was glad to let her know she was insured in +an Accident Company. "But," said she, "I do grieve for that poor man +Tinman, if alive he be, and comes ashore to find his property wrecked +by water. Bless ye! he wouldn't insure against anything less common than +fire; and my house and Crickledon's shop are floating timbers by this +time; and Marine Parade and Belle Vue are safe to go. And it'll be a +pretty welcome for him, poor man, from his investments." + +A cry at a tremendous blow of a wave on the doomed house rose from the +field. Back and front door were broken down, and the force of water +drove a round volume through the channel, shaking the walls. + +"I can't stand this," Van Diemen cried. + +Annette was too late to hold him back. He ran up the field. She was +preparing to run after when Mrs. Crickledon touched her arm and implored +her: "Interfere not with men, but let them follow their judgements when +it's seasons of mighty peril, my dear. If any one's guilty it's me, for +minding my husband of a boat that was launched for a life-boat here, +and wouldn't answer, and is at the shed by the Crouch--left lying there, +I've often said, as if it was a-sulking. My goodness!" + +A linen sheet bad been flung out from one of the windows of the house on +the beach, and flew loose and flapping in sign of distress. + +"It looks as if they had gone mad in that house, to have waited so long +for to declare theirselves, poor souls," Mrs. Crickledon said, sighing. + +She was assured right and left that signals had been seen before, and +some one stated that the cook of Mr. Tinman, and also Mrs. Cavely, were +on shore. + +"It's his furniture, poor man, he sticks to: and nothing gets round the +heart so!" resumed Mrs. Crickledon. "There goes his bed-linen!" + +The sheet was whirled and snapped away by the wind; distended doubled, +like a flock of winter geese changeing alphabetical letters on the +clouds, darted this way and that, and finally outspread on the waters +breaking against Marine Parade. + +"They cannot have thought there was positive danger in remaining," said +Annette. + +"Mr. Tinman was waiting for the cheapest Insurance office," a man +remarked to Mrs. Crickledon. + +"The least to pay is to the undertaker," she replied, standing on +tiptoe. "And it's to be hoped he 'll pay more to-day. If only those +walls don't fall and stop the chance of the boat to save him for more +outlay, poor man! What boats was on the beach last night, high up and +over the ridge as they was, are planks by this time and only good for +carpenters." + +"Half our town's done for," one old man said; and another followed him +in a pious tone: "From water we came and to water we go." + +They talked of ancient inroads of the sea, none so serious as this +threatened to be for them. The gallant solidity, of the house on +the beach had withstood heavy gales: it was a brave house. Heaven be +thanked, no fishing boats were out. Chiefly well-to-do people would +be the sufferers--an exceptional case. For it is the mysterious and +unexplained dispensation that: "Mostly heaven chastises we." + +A knot of excited gazers drew the rest of the field to them. Mrs. +Crickledon, on the edge of the crowd, reported what was doing to Annette +and Miss Fellingham. A boat had been launched from the town. "Praise +the Lord, there's none but coastguard in it!" she exclaimed, and excused +herself for having her heart on her husband. + +Annette was as deeply thankful that her father was not in the boat. + +They looked round and saw Herbert beside them. Van Diemen was in the +rear, panting, and straining his neck to catch sight of the boat now +pulling fast across a tumbled sea to where Tinman himself was perceived, +beckoning them wildly, half out of one of the windows. + +"A pound apiece to those fellows, and two if they land Mart Tinman +dry; I've promised it, and they'll earn it. Look at that! Quick, you +rascals!" + +To the east a portion of the house had fallen, melted away. Where it +stood, just below the line of shingle, it was now like a structure +wasting on a tormented submerged reef. The whole line was given over to +the waves. + +"Where is his sister?" Annette shrieked to her father. + +"Safe ashore; and one of the women with her. But Mart Tinman would stop, +the fool! to-poor old boy! save his papers and things; and has n't a +head to do it, Martha Cavely tells me. They're at him now! They've got +him in! There's another? Oh! it's a girl, who would n't go and leave +him. They'll pull to the field here. Brave lads!--By jingo, why ain't +Englishmen always in danger!--eh? if you want to see them shine!" + +"It's little Jane," said Mrs. Crickledon, who had been joined by her +husband, and now that she knew him to be no longer in peril, kept her +hand on him to restrain him, just for comfort's sake. + +The boat held under the lee of the house-wreck a minute; then, as +if shooting a small rapid, came down on a wave crowned with foam, to +hurrahs from the townsmen. + +"They're all right," said Van Diemen, puffing as at a mist before his +eyes. "They'll pull westward, with the wind, and land him among us. I +remember when old Mart and I were bathing once, he was younger than me, +and could n't swim much, and I saw him going down. It'd have been hard +to see him washed off before one's eyes thirty years afterwards. Here +they come. He's all right. He's in his dressing-gown!" + +The crowd made way for Mr. Van Diemen Smith to welcome his friend. Two +of the coastguard jumped out, and handed him to the dry bank, while +Herbert, Van Diemen, and Crickledon took him by hand and arm, and +hoisted him on to the flint wall, preparatory to his descent into the +field. In this exposed situation the wind, whose pranks are endless when +it is once up, seized and blew Martin Tinman's dressing-gown wide as two +violently flapping wings on each side of him, and finally over his head. + +Van Diemen turned a pair of stupefied flat eyes on Herbert, who cast +a sly look at the ladies. Tinman had sprung down. But not before the +world, in one tempestuous glimpse, had caught sight of the Court suit. + +Perfect gravity greeted him from the crowd. + +"Safe, old Mart! and glad to be able to say it," said Van Diemen. + +"We are so happy," said Annette. + +"House, furniture, property, everything I possess!" ejaculated Tinman, +shivering. + +"Fiddle, man; you want some hot breakfast in you. Your sister has gone +on--to Elba. Come you too, old Man; and where's that plucky little girl +who stood by--" + +"Was there a girl?" said Tinman. + +"Yes, and there was a boy wanted to help." Van Diemen pointed at +Herbert. + +Tinman looked, and piteously asked, "Have you examined Marine Parade and +Belle Vue? It depends on the tide!" + +"Here is little Jane, sir," said Mrs. Crickledon. + +"Fall in," Van Diemen said to little Jane. + +The girl was bobbing curtseys to Annette, on her introduction by Mrs. +Crickledon. + +"Martin, you stay at my house; you stay at Elba till you get things +comfortable about you, and then you shall have the Crouch for a year, +rent free. Eh, Netty?" + +Annette chimed in: "Anything we can do, anything. Nothing can be too +much." + +Van Diemen was praising little Jane for her devotion to her master. + +"Master have been so kind to me," said little Jane. + +"Now, march; it is cold," Van Diemen gave the word, and Herbert stood +by Mary rather dejectedly, foreseeing that his prospects at Elba were +darkened. + +"Now then, Mart, left leg forward," Van Diemen linked his arm in his +friend's. + +"I must have a look," Tinman broke from him, and cast a forlorn look of +farewell on the last of the house on the beach. + +"You've got me left to you, old Mart; don't forget that," said Van +Diemen. + +Tinman's chest fell. "Yes, yes," he responded. He was touched. + +"And I told those fellows if they landed you dry they should have--I'd +give them double pay; and I do believe they've earned their money." + +"I don't think I'm very wet, I'm cold," said Tinman. + +"You can't help being cold, so come along." + +"But, Philip!" Tinman lifted his voice; "I've lost everything. I tried +to save a little. I worked hard, I exposed my life, and all in vain." + +The voice of little Jane was heard. + +"What's the matter with the child?" said Van Diemen. + +Annette went up to her quietly. + +But little Jane was addressing her master. + +"Oh! if you please, I did manage to save something the last thing when +the boat was at the window, and if you please, sir, all the bundles is +lost, but I saved you a papercutter, and a letter Horse Guards, and here +they are, sir." + +The grateful little creature drew the square letter and paper-cutter +from her bosom, and held them out to Mr. Tinman. + +It was a letter of the imposing size, with THE HORSE GUARDS very +distinctly inscribed on it in Tinman's best round hand, to strike his +vindictive spirit as positively intended for transmission, and give him +sight of his power to wound if it pleased him; as it might. + +"What!" cried he, not clearly comprehending how much her devotion had +accomplished for him. + +"A letter to the Horse Guards!" cried Van Diemen. + +"Here, give it me," said little Jane's master, and grasped it nervously. + +"What's in that letter?" Van Diemen asked. "Let me look at that letter. +Don't tell me it's private correspondence." + +"My dear Philip, dear friend, kind thanks; it's not a letter," said +Tinman. + +"Not a letter! why, I read the address, 'Horse Guards.' I read it as it +passed into your hands. Now, my man, one look at that letter, or take +the consequences." + +"Kind thanks for your assistance, dear Philip, indeed! Oh! this? Oh! +it's nothing." He tore it in halves. + +His face was of the winter sea-colour, with the chalk wash on it. + +"Tear again, and I shall know what to think of the contents," Van Diemen +frowned. "Let me see what you've said. You've sworn you would do it, and +there it is at last, by miracle; but let me see it and I'll overlook it, +and you shall be my house-mate still. If not!----" + +Tinman tore away. + +"You mistake, you mistake, you're entirely wrong," he said, as he +pursued with desperation his task of rendering every word unreadable. + +Van Diemen stood fronting him; the accumulation of stores of petty +injuries and meannesses which he had endured from this man, swelled +under the whip of the conclusive exhibition of treachery. He looked so +black that Annette called, "Papa!" + +"Philip," said Tinman. "Philip! my best friend!" + +"Pooh, you're a poor creature. Come along and breakfast at Elba, and you +can sleep at the Crouch, and goodnight to you. Crickledon," he called to +the houseless couple, "you stop at Elba till I build you a shop." + +With these words, Van Diemen led the way, walking alone. Herbert was +compelled to walk with Tinman. + +Mary and Annette came behind, and Mary pinched Annette's arm so sharply +that she must have cried out aloud had it been possible for her to feel +pain at that moment, instead of a personal exultation, flying wildly +over the clash of astonishment and horror, like a sea-bird over the +foam. + +In the first silent place they came to, Mary murmured the words: "Little +Jane." + +Annette looked round at Mrs. Crickledon, who wound up the procession, +taking little Jane by the hand. Little Jane was walking demurely, with a +placid face. Annette glanced at Tinman. Her excited feelings nearly rose +to a scream of laughter. For hours after, Mary had only to say to her: +"Little Jane," to produce the same convulsion. It rolled her heart and +senses in a headlong surge, shook her to burning tears, and seemed to +her ideas the most wonderful running together of opposite things ever +known on this earth. The young lady was ashamed of her laughter; but +she was deeply indebted to it, for never was mind made so clear by that +beneficent exercise. + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + Adversary at once offensive and helpless provokes brutality + Causes him to be popularly weighed + Distinguished by his not allowing himself to be provoked + Eccentric behaviour in trifles + Excited, glad of catastrophe if it but killed monotony + Generally he noticed nothing + Good jokes are not always good policy + I make a point of never recommending my own house + Indulged in their privilege of thinking what they liked + Infants are said to have their ideas, and why not young ladies? + Lend him your own generosity + Men love to boast of things nobody else has seen + Naughtily Australian and kangarooly + Not in love--She was only not unwilling to be in love + Rich and poor 's all right, if I'm rich and you're poor + She began to feel that this was life in earnest + She dealt in the flashes which connect ideas + She sought, by looking hard, to understand it better + Sunning itself in the glass of Envy + That which fine cookery does for the cementing of couples + The intricate, which she takes for the infinite + Tossed him from repulsion to incredulity, and so back + Two principal roads by which poor sinners come to a conscience + + + + +THE GENTLEMAN OF FIFTY AND THE DAMSEL OF NINETEEN + +(An early uncompleted and hitherto unpublished fragment.) + +By GEORGE MEREDITH + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HE + +Passing over Ickleworth Bridge and rounding up the heavily-shadowed +river of our narrow valley, I perceived a commotion as of bathers in a +certain bright space immediately underneath the vicar's terrace-garden +steps. My astonishment was considerable when it became evident to me +that the vicar himself was disporting in the water, which, reaching no +higher than his waist, disclosed him in the ordinary habiliments of his +cloth. I knew my friend to be one of the most absent-minded of men, +and my first effort to explain the phenomenon of his appearance +there, suggested that he might have walked in, the victim of a fit of +abstraction, and that he had not yet fully comprehended his plight; but +this idea was dispersed when I beheld the very portly lady, his partner +in joy and adversity, standing immersed, and perfectly attired, some +short distance nearer to the bank. As I advanced along the bank opposed +to them, I was further amazed to hear them discoursing quite equably +together, so that it was impossible to say on the face of it whether a +catastrophe had occurred, or the great heat of a cloudless summer day +had tempted an eccentric couple to seek for coolness in the directest +fashion, without absolute disregard to propriety. I made a point +of listening for the accentuation of the 'my dear' which was being +interchanged, but the key-note to the harmony existing between husband +and wife was neither excessively unctuous, nor shrewd, and the connubial +shuttlecock was so well kept up on both sides that I chose to await the +issue rather than speculate on the origin of this strange exhibition. I +therefore, as I could not be accused of an outrage to modesty, permitted +myself to maintain what might be invidiously termed a satyr-like watch +from behind a forward flinging willow, whose business in life was to +look at its image in a brown depth, branches, trunk, and roots. The sole +indication of discomfort displayed by the pair was that the lady's hand +worked somewhat fretfully to keep her dress from ballooning and puffing +out of all proportion round about her person, while the vicar, who stood +without his hat, employed a spongy handkerchief from time to time in +tempering the ardours of a vertical sun. If you will consent to imagine +a bald blackbird, his neck being shrunk in apprehensively, as you may +see him in the first rolling of the thunder, you will gather an image of +my friend's appearance. + +He performed his capital ablutions with many loud 'poofs,' and a casting +up of dazzled eyes, an action that gave point to his recital of the +invocation of Chryses to Smintheus which brought upon the Greeks +disaster and much woe. Between the lines he replied to his wife, whose +remarks increased in quantity, and also, as I thought, in emphasis, +under the river of verse which he poured forth unbaffled, broadening +his chest to the sonorous Greek music in a singular rapture of +obliviousness. + +A wise man will not squander his laughter if he can help it, but will +keep the agitation of it down as long as he may. The simmering of humour +sends a lively spirit into the mind, whereas the boiling over is but +a prodigal expenditure and the disturbance of a clear current: for the +comic element is visible to you in all things, if you do but keep +your mind charged with the perception of it, as I have heard a great +expounder deliver himself on another subject; and he spoke very truly. +So, I continued to look on with the gravity of Nature herself, and I +could not but fancy, and with less than our usual wilfulness when we +fancy things about Nature's moods, that the Mother of men beheld this +scene with half a smile, differently from the simple observation of +those cows whisking the flies from their flanks at the edge of the +shorn meadow and its aspens, seen beneath the curved roof of a broad +oak-branch. Save for this happy upward curve of the branch, we are +encompassed by breathless foliage; even the gloom was hot; the little +insects that are food for fish tried a flight and fell on the water's +surface, as if panting. Here and there, a sullen fish consented to take +them, and a circle spread, telling of past excitement. + +I had listened to the vicar's Homeric lowing for the space of a minute +or so--what some one has called, the great beast-like, bellow-like, roar +and roll of the Iliad hexameter: it stopped like a cut cord. One of +the numerous daughters of his house appeared in the arch of white +cluster-roses on the lower garden-terrace, and with an exclamation, +stood petrified at the extraordinary spectacle, and then she laughed +outright. I had hitherto resisted, but the young lady's frank and +boisterous laughter carried me along, and I too let loose a peal, and +discovered myself. The vicar, seeing me, acknowledged a consciousness +of his absurd position with a laugh as loud. As for the scapegrace +girl, she went off into a run of high-pitched shriekings like twenty +woodpeckers, crying: I Mama, mama, you look as if you were in Jordan!' + +The vicar cleared his throat admonishingly, for it was apparent that +Miss Alice was giving offence to her mother, and I presume he thought it +was enough for one of the family to have done so. + +'Wilt thou come out of Jordan?' I cried. + +'I am sufficiently baptized with the water,' said the helpless man... + +'Indeed, Mr. Amble,' observed his spouse, 'you can lecture a woman for +not making the best of circumstances; I hope you'll bear in mind that +it's you who are irreverent. I can endure this no longer. You deserve +Mr. Pollingray's ridicule.' + +Upon this, I interposed: 'Pray, ma'am, don't imagine that you have +anything but sympathy from me.'--but as I was protesting, having my +mouth open, the terrible Miss Alice dragged the laughter remorselessly +out of me. + +They have been trying Frank's new boat, Mr. Pollingray, and they've +upset it. Oh! oh' and again there was the woodpeckers' chorus. + +'Alice, I desire you instantly to go and fetch John the gardener,' said +the angry mother. + +'Mama, I can't move; wait a minute, only a minute. John's gone about the +geraniums. Oh! don't look so resigned, papa; you'll kill me! Mama, come +and take my hand. Oh! oh!' + +The young lady put her hands in against her waist and rolled her body +like a possessed one. + +'Why don't you come in through the boat-house?' she asked when she had +mastered her fit. + +'Ah!' said the vicar. I beheld him struck by this new thought. + +'How utterly absurd you are, Mr. Amble!' exclaimed his wife, 'when you +know that the boat-house is locked, and that the boat was lying under +the camshot when you persuaded me to step into it.' + +Hearing this explanation of the accident, Alice gave way to an +ungovernable emotion. + +'You see, my dear,' the vicar addressed his wife, she can do nothing; +it's useless. If ever patience is counselled to us, it is when accidents +befall us, for then, as we are not responsible, we know we are in other +hands, and it is our duty to be comparatively passive. Perhaps I may say +that in every difficulty, patience is a life-belt. I beg of you to be +patient still.' + +'Mr. Amble, I shall think you foolish,' said the spouse, with a nod of +more than emphasis. + +My dear, you have only to decide,' was the meek reply. + +By this time, Miss Alice had so far conquered the fiend of laughter that +she could venture to summon her mother close up to the bank and extend a +rescuing hand. Mrs. Amble waded to within reach, her husband following. +Arrangements were made for Alice to pull, and the vicar to push; both in +accordance with Mrs. Amble's stipulations, for even in her extremity +of helplessness she affected rule and sovereignty. Unhappily, at the +decisive moment, I chanced (and I admit it was more than an inadvertence +on my part, it was a most ill-considered thing to do) I chanced, I say, +to call out--and that I refrained from quoting Voltaire is something in +my favour: + +'How on earth did you manage to tumble in?' + +There can be no contest of opinion that I might have kept my curiosity +waiting, and possibly it may be said with some justification that I +was the direct cause of my friend's unparalleled behaviour; but could a +mortal man guess that in the very act of assisting his wife's return to +dry land, and while she was--if I may put it so--modestly in his hands, +he would turn about with a quotation that compared him to old Palinurus, +all the while allowing his worthy and admirable burden to sink lower and +dispread in excess upon the surface of the water, until the vantage of +her daughter's help was lost to her; I beheld the consequences of my +indiscretion, dismayed. I would have checked the preposterous Virgilian, +but in contempt of my uplifted hand and averted head, and regardless of +the fact that his wife was then literally dependent upon him, the vicar +declaimed (and the drenching effect produced by Latin upon a lady at +such a season, may be thought on): + + Vix primos inopina quies laxaverat artus, + Et super incumbens, cum puppis parte revulsa + Cumque gubernaclo liquidas projecit in undas.' + +It is not easy when you are unacquainted with the language, to retort +upon Latin, even when the attempt to do so is made in English. Very few +even of the uneducated ears can tolerate such anti-climax vituperative +as English after sounding Latin. Mrs. Amble kept down those sentiments +which her vernacular might have expressed. I heard but one groan that +came from her as she lay huddled indistinguishably in the arms of her +husband. + +'Not--praecipitem! I am happy to say,' my senseless friend remarked +further, and laughed cheerfully as he fortified his statement with a run +of negatives. 'No, no'; in a way peculiar to him. 'No, no. If I plant my +grey hairs anywhere, it will be on dry land: no. But, now, my dear; he +returned to his duty; why, you're down again. Come: one, two, and up.' + +He was raising a dead weight. The passion for sarcastic speech was +manifestly at war with common prudence in the bosom of Mrs. Amble; +prudence, however, overcame it. She cast on him a look of a kind that +makes matrimony terrific in the dreams of bachelors, and then wedding +her energy to the assistance given she made one of those senseless +springs of the upper half of the body, which strike the philosophic eye +with the futility of an effort that does not arise from a solid basis. +Owing to the want of concert between them, the vicar's impulsive +strength was expended when his wife's came into play. Alice clutched her +mother bravely. The vicar had force enough to stay his wife's descent; +but Alice (she boasts of her muscle) had not the force in the other +direction--and no wonder. There are few young ladies who could pull +fourteen stone sheer up a camshot. + +Mrs. Amble remained in suspense between the two. + +Oh, Mr. Pollingray, if you were only on this side to help us,' Miss +Alice exclaimed very piteously, though I could see that she was half mad +with the internal struggle of laughter at the parents and concern for +them. + +'Now, pull, Alice,' shouted the vicar. + +'No, not yet,' screamed Mrs. Amble; I'm sinking.' + +'Pull, Alice.' + +'Now, Mama.' + +'Oh!' + +'Push, Papa.' + +'I'm down.' + +'Up, Ma'am; Jane; woman, up.' + +'Gently, Papa: Abraham, I will not.' + +'My dear, but you must.' + +'And that man opposite.' + +'What, Pollingray? He's fifty.' + +I found myself walking indignantly down the path. Even now I protest my +friend was guilty of bad manners, though I make every allowance for him; +I excuse, I pass the order; but why--what justifies one man's bawling +out another man's age? What purpose does it serve? I suppose the +vicar wished to reassure his wife, on the principle (I have heard him +enunciate it) that the sexes are merged at fifty--by which he means, I +must presume, that something which may be good or bad, and is generally +silly--of course, I admire and respect modesty and pudeur as much as any +man--something has gone: a recognition of the bounds of division. There +is, if that is a lamentable matter, a loss of certain of our young +tricks at fifty. We have ceased to blush readily: and let me ask you to +define a blush. Is it an involuntary truth or an ingenuous lie? I know +that this will sound like the language of a man not a little jealous of +his youthful compeers. I can but leave it to rightly judging persons to +consider whether a healthy man in his prime, who has enough, and is not +cursed by ambition, need be jealous of any living soul. + +A shriek from Miss Alice checked my retreating steps. The vicar was +staggering to support the breathing half of his partner while she +regained her footing in the bed of the river. Their effort to scale +the camshot had failed. Happily at this moment I caught sight of Master +Frank's boat, which had floated, bottom upwards, against a projecting +mud-bank of forget-me-nots. I contrived to reach it and right it, and +having secured one of the sculls, I pulled up to the rescue; though +not before I had plucked a flower, actuated by a motive that I cannot +account for. The vicar held the boat firmly against the camshot, while +I, at the imminent risk of joining them (I shall not forget the combined +expression of Miss Alice's retreating eyes and the malicious corners of +her mouth) hoisted the lady in, and the river with her. From the seat +of the boat she stood sufficiently high to project the step towards +land without peril. When she had set her foot there, we all assumed an +attitude of respectful attention, and the vicar, who could soar over +calamity like a fairweather swallow, acknowledged the return of his wife +to the element with a series of apologetic yesses and short coughings. + +'That would furnish a good concert for the poets,' he remarked. 'A +parting, a separation of lovers; "even as a body from the watertorn," +or "from the water plucked"; eh? do you think--"so I weep round her, +tearful in her track," an excellent--' + +But the outraged woman, dripping in grievous discomfort above him, made +a peremptory gesture. + +'Mr. Amble, will you come on shore instantly, I have borne with your +stupidity long enough. I insist upon your remembering, sir, that you +have a family dependent upon you. Other men may commit these follies.' + +This was a blow at myself, a bachelor whom the lady had never persuaded +to dream of relinquishing his freedom. + +'My dear, I am coming,' said the vicar. + +'Then, come at once, or I shall think you idiotic,' the wife retorted. + +'I have been endeavouring,' the vicar now addressed me, 'to prove by a +practical demonstration that women are capable of as much philosophy as +men, under any sudden and afflicting revolution of circumstances.' + +'And if you get a sunstroke, you will be rightly punished, and I shall +not be sorry, Mr. Amble.' + +'I am coming, my dear Jane. Pray run into the house and change your +things.' + +'Not till I see you out of the water, sir.' + +'You are losing your temper, my love.' + +'You would make a saint lose his temper, Mr. Amble.' + +'There were female saints, my dear,' the vicar mildly responded; and +addressed me further: 'Up to this point, I assure you, Pollingray, no +conduct could have been more exemplary than Mrs. Amble's. I had got her +into the boat--a good boat, a capital boat--but getting in myself, we +overturned. The first impulse of an ordinary woman would have been to +reproach and scold; but Mrs. Amble succumbed only to the first impulse. +Discovering that all effort unaided to climb the bank was fruitless, +she agreed to wait patiently and make the best of circumstances; and she +did; and she learnt to enjoy it. There is marrow in every bone. My dear. +Jane, I have never admired you so much. I tried her, Pollingray, in +metaphysics. I talked to her of the opera we last heard, I think fifty +years ago. And as it is less endurable for a woman to be patient in +tribulation--the honour is greater, when she overcomes the fleshy trial. +Insomuch,' the vicar put on a bland air of abnegation of honour, 'that +I am disposed to consider any male philosopher our superior; when you've +found one, ha, ha--when you've found one. O sol pulcher! I am ready to +sing that the day has been glorious, so far. Pulcher ille dies.' + +Mrs. Amble appealed to me. 'Would anybody not swear that he is mad to +see him standing waist-deep in the water and the sun on his bald head, +I am reduced to entreat you not to--though you have no family of your +own--not to encourage him. It is amusing to you. Pray, reflect that such +folly is too often fatal. Compel him to come on shore.' + +The logic of the appeal was no doubt distinctly visible in the lady's +mind, though it was not accurately worded. I saw that I stood marked +to be the scape goat of the day, and humbly continued to deserve well, +notwithstanding. By dint of simple signs and nods of affirmative, and +a constant propulsion of my friend's arm, I drew him into the boat, +and thence projected him up to the level with his wife, who had perhaps +deigned to understand that it was best to avoid the arresting of his +divergent mind by any remark during the passage, and remained silent. No +sooner was he established on his feet, than she plucked him away. + +'Your papa's hat,' she called, flashing to her daughter, and streamed +up the lawn into the rose-trellised pathways leading on aloft to the +vicarage house. Behind roses the weeping couple disappeared. The last +I saw of my friend was a smiting of his hand upon his head in a vain +effort to catch at one of the fleeting ideas sowed in him by the quick +passage of objects before his vision, and shaken out of him by abnormal +hurry. The Rev. Abraham Amble had been lord of his wife in the water, +but his innings was over. He had evidently enjoyed it vastly, and I now +understood why he had chosen to prolong it as much as possible. Your +eccentric characters are not uncommonly amateurs of petty artifice. +There are hours of vengeance even for henpecked men. + +I found myself sighing over the enslaved condition of every Benedict of +my acquaintance, when the thought came like a surprise that I was alone +with Alice. The fair and pleasant damsel made a clever descent into the +boat, and having seated herself, she began to twirl the scull in the +rowlock, and said: 'Do you feel disposed to join me in looking after the +other scull and papa's hat, Mr. Pollingray?' I suggested 'Will you +not get your feet wet? I couldn't manage to empty all the water in the +boat.' + +'Oh' cried she, with a toss of her head; I wet feet never hurt young +people.' + +There was matter for an admonitory lecture in this. Let me confess I was +about to give it, when she added: But Mr. Pollingray, I am really afraid +that your feet are wet! You had to step into the water when you righted +the boat: + +My reply was to jump down by her side with as much agility as I +could combine with a proper discretion. The amateur craft rocked +threateningly, and I found myself grasped by and grasping the pretty +damsel, until by great good luck we were steadied and preserved from the +same misfortune which had befallen her parents. She laughed and blushed, +and we tottered asunder. + +'Would you have talked metaphysics to me in the water, Mr. Pollingray?' + +Alice was here guilty of one of those naughty sort of innocent speeches +smacking of Eve most strongly; though, of course, of Eve in her best +days. + +I took the rudder lines to steer against the sculling of her single +scull, and was Adam enough to respond to temptation: 'I should perhaps +have been grateful to your charitable construction of it as being +metaphysics.' + +She laughed colloquially, to fill a pause. It had not been coquetry: +merely the woman unconsciously at play. A man is bound to remember the +seniority of his years when this occurs, for a veteran of ninety and a +worn out young debauchee will equally be subject to it if they do +not shun the society of the sex. My long robust health and perfect +self-reliance apparently tend to give me unguarded moments, or lay me +open to fitful impressions. Indeed there are times when I fear I +have the heart of a boy, and certainly nothing more calamitous can be +conceived, supposing that it should ever for one instant get complete +mastery of my head. This is the peril of a man who has lived soberly. +Do we never know when we are safe? I am, in reflecting thereupon, +positively prepared to say that if there is no fool like what they +call an old fool (and a man in his prime, who can be laughed at, is the +world's old fool) there is wisdom in the wild oats theory, and I shall +come round to my nephew's way of thinking: that is, as far as Master +Charles by his acting represents his thinking. I shall at all events be +more lenient in my judgement of him, and less stern in my allocutions, +for I shall have no text to preach from. + +We picked up the hat and the scull in one of the little muddy bays of +our brown river, forming an amphitheatre for water-rats and draped with +great dockleaves, nettle-flowers, ragged robins, and other weeds for +which the learned young lady gave the botanical names. It was pleasant +to hear her speak with the full authority of absolute knowledge of her +subject. She has intelligence. She is decidedly too good for Charles, +unless he changes his method of living. + +'Shall we row on?' she asked, settling her arms to work the pair of +sculls. + +'You have me in your power,' said I, and she struck out. Her shape is +exceedingly graceful; I was charmed by the occasional tightening in of +her lips as she exerted her muscle, while at intervals telling me of her +race with one of her boastful younger brothers, whom she had beaten. I +believe it is only when they are using physical exertion that the eyes +of young girls have entire simplicity--the simplicity of nature as +opposed to that other artificial simplicity which they learn from their +governesses, their mothers, and the admiration of witlings. Attractive +purity, or the nice glaze of no comprehension of anything which is +considered to be improper in a wicked world, and is no doubt very +useful, is not to my taste. French girls, as a rule, cannot compete +with our English in the purer graces. They are only incomparable when as +women they have resort to art. + +Alice could look at me as she rowed, without thinking it necessary to +force a smile, or to speak, or to snigger and be foolish. I felt towards +the girl like a comrade. + +We went no further than Hatchard's mile, where the water plumps the poor +sleepy river from a sidestream, and, as it turned the boat's head quite +round, I let the boat go. These studies of young women are very well +as a pastime; but they soon cease to be a recreation. She forms an +agreeable picture when she is rowing, and possesses a musical laugh. Now +and then she gives way to the bad trick of laughing without caring or +daring to explain the cause for it. She is moderately well-bred. I hope +that she has principle. Certain things a man of my time of life learns +by associating with very young people which are serviceable to him. What +a different matter this earth must be to that girl from what it is to +me! I knew it before. And--mark the difference--I feel it now. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SHE + +Papa never will cease to meet with accidents and adventures. If he only +walks out to sit for half an hour with one of his old dames, as he calls +them, something is sure to happen to him, and it is almost as sure that +Mr. Pollingray will be passing at the time and mixed up in it. + +Since Mr. Pollingray's return from his last residence on the Continent, +I have learnt to know him and like him. Charles is unjust to his +uncle. He is not at all the grave kind of man I expected from Charles's +description. He is extremely entertaining, and then he understands the +world, and I like to hear him talk, he is so unpretentious and uses just +the right words. No one would imagine his age, from his appearance, and +he has more fun than any young man I have listened to. + +But, I am convinced I have discovered his weakness. It is my fatal. +peculiarity that I cannot be with people ten minutes without seeing some +point about them where they are tenderest. Mr. Pollingray wants to be +thought quite youthful. He can bear any amount of fatigue; he is always +fresh and a delightful companion; but you cannot get him to show even +a shadow of exhaustion or to admit that he ever knew what it was to lie +down beaten. This is really to pretend that he is superhuman. I like +him so much that I could wish him superior to such--it is nothing other +than--vanity. Which is worse? A young man giving himself the air of +a sage, or--but no one can call Mr. Pollingray an old man. He is a +confirmed bachelor. That puts the case. Charles, when he says of him +that he is a 'gentleman in a good state of preservation,' means to be +ironical. I doubt whether Charles at fifty would object to have the same +said of Mr. Charles Everett. Mr. Pollingray has always looked to his +health. He has not been disappointed. I am sure he was always very good. +But, whatever he was, he is now very pleasant, and he does not talk to +women as if he thought them singular, and feel timid, I mean, confused, +as some men show that they feel--the good ones. Perhaps he felt so once, +and that is why he is still free. Charles's dread that his uncle will +marry is most unworthy. He never will, but why should he not? Mama +declares that he is waiting for a woman of intellect, I can hear her: +'Depend upon it, a woman of intellect will marry Dayton Manor.' Should +that mighty event not come to pass, poor Charles will have to sink the +name of Everett in that of Pollingray. Mr. Pollingray's name is the +worst thing about him. When I think of his name I see him ten times +older than he is. My feelings are in harmony with his pedigree +concerning the age of the name. One would have to be a woman of profound +intellect to see the advantage of sharing it. + +'Mrs. Pollingray!' She must be a lady with a wig. + +It was when we were rowing up by Hatchard's mill that I first perceived +his weakness, he was looking at me so kindly, and speaking of his +friendship for papa, and how glad he was to be fixed at last, near to us +at Dayton. I wished to use some term of endearment in reply, and said, I +remember, 'Yes, and we are also glad, Godpapa.' I was astonished that he +should look so disconcerted, and went on: 'Have you forgotten that you +are my godpapa?' + +He answered: 'Am I? Oh! yes--the name of Alice.' + +Still he looked uncertain, uncomfortable, and I said, 'Do you want to +cancel the past, and cast me off?' + +'No, certainly not'; he, I suppose, thought he was assuring me. + +I saw his lips move at the words I cancel the past,' though he did not +speak them out. He positively blushed. I know the sort of young man +he must have been. Exactly the sort of young man mama would like for +a son-in-law, and her daughters would accept in pure obedience when +reduced to be capable of the virtue by rigorous diet, or consumption. + +He let the boat go round instantly. This was enough for me. It struck +me then that when papa had said to mama (as he did in that absurd +situation) 'He is fifty,' Mr. Pollingray must have heard it across the +river, for he walked away hurriedly. He came back, it is true, with the +boat, but I have my own ideas. He is always ready to do a service, but +on this occasion I think it was an afterthought. I shall not venture to +call him 'Godpapa' again. + +Indeed, if I have a desire, it is that I may be blind to people's +weakness. My insight is inveterate. Papa says he has heard Mr. +Pollingray boast of his age. If so, there has come a change over him. +I cannot be deceived. I see it constantly. After my unfortunate speech, +Mr. Pollingray shunned our house for two whole weeks, and scarcely bowed +to us when coming out of church. Miss Pollingray idolises him--spoils +him. She says that he is worth twenty of Charles. Nous savons ce que +nous savons, nous autres. Charles is wild, but Charles would be above +these littlenesses. How could Miss Pollingray comprehend the romance of +Charles's nature? + +My sister Evelina is now Mr. Pollingray's favourite. She could not say +Godpapa to him, if she would. Persons who are very much petted at home, +are always establishing favourites abroad. For my part, let them praise +me or not, I know that I can do any thing I set my mind upon. At present +I choose to be frivolous. I know I am frivolous. What then? If there is +fun in the world am I not to laugh at it? I shall astonish them by and +by. But, I will laugh while I can. I am sure, there is so much misery in +the world, it is a mercy to be able to laugh. Mr. Pollingray may think +what he likes of me. When Charles tells me that I must do my utmost to +propitiate his uncle, he cannot mean that I am to refrain from laughing, +because that is being a hypocrite, which I may become when I have gone +through all the potential moods and not before. + +It is preposterous to suppose that I am to be tied down to the views of +life of elderly people. + +I dare say I did laugh a little too much the other night, but could +I help it? We had a dinner party. Present were Mr. Pollingray, Mrs. +Kershaw, the Wilbury people (three), Charles, my brother Duncan, +Evelina, mama, papa, myself, and Mr. and Mrs. (put them last for +emphasis) Romer Pattlecombe, Mrs. Pattlecombe (the same number of +syllables as Pollingray, and a 'P' to begin with) is thirty-one years +her husband's junior, and she is twenty-six; full of fun, and always +making fun of him, the mildest, kindest, goody old thing, who has never +distressed himself for anything and never will. Mrs. Romer not only +makes fun, but is fun. When you have done laughing with her, you can +laugh at her. She is the salt of society in these parts. Some one, as we +were sitting on the lawn after dinner, alluded to the mishap to papa and +mama, and mama, who has never forgiven Mr. Pollingray for having seen +her in her ridiculous plight, said that men were in her opinion greater +gossips than women. 'That is indisputable, ma'am,' said Mr. Pollingray, +he loves to bewilder her; 'only, we never mention it.' + +'There is an excuse for us,' said Mrs. Romer; 'our trials are so great, +we require a diversion, and so we talk of others.' + +'Now really,' said Charles, 'I don't think your trials are equal to +ours.' + +For which remark papa bantered him, and his uncle was sharp on him; and +Charles, I know, spoke half seriously, though he was seeking to draw +Mrs. Romer out: he has troubles. + +From this, we fell upon a comparison of sufferings, and Mrs. Romer took +up the word. She is a fair, smallish, nervous woman, with delicate hands +and outlines, exceedingly sympathetic; so much so that while you are +telling her anything, she makes half a face in anticipation, and is +ready to shriek with laughter or shake her head with uttermost grief; +and sometimes, if you let her go too far in one direction, she does +both. All her narrations are with ups and downs of her hands, her eyes, +her chin, and her voice. Taking poor, good old Mr. Romer by the roll +of his coat, she made as if posing him, and said: 'There! Now, it's +all very well for you to say that there is anything equal to a woman's +sufferings in this world. I do declare you know nothing of what we +unhappy women have to endure. It's dreadful! No male creature can +possibly know what tortures I have to undergo.' + +Mama neatly contrived, after interrupting her, to divert the subject. +I think that all the ladies imagined they were in jeopardy, but I knew +Mrs. Romer was perfectly to be trusted. She has wit which pleases, +jusqu'aux ongles, and her sense of humour never overrides her discretion +with more than a glance--never with preparation. + +'Now,' she pursued, 'let me tell you what excruciating trials I have to +go through. This man,' she rocked the patient old gentleman to and fro, +'this man will be the death of me. He is utterly devoid of a sense of +propriety. Again and again I say to him--cannot the tailor cut down +these trowsers of yours? Yes, Mr. Amble, you preach patience to women, +but this is too much for any woman's endurance. Now, do attempt to +picture to yourself what an agony it must be to me:--he will shave, and +he will wear those enormously high trowsers that, when they are braced, +reach up behind to the nape of his neck! Only yesterday morning, as I +was lying in bed, I could see him in his dressing-room. I tell you: he +will shave, and he will choose the time for shaving early after he has +braced these immensely high trowsers that make such a placard of him. +Oh, my goodness! My dear Romer, I have said to him fifty times if I have +said it once, my goodness me! why can you not get decent trowsers such +as other men wear? He has but one answer--he has been accustomed to wear +those trowsers, and he would not feel at home in another pair. And what +does he say if I continue to complain? and I cannot but continue to +complain, for it is not only moral, it is physical torment to see +the sight he makes of himself; he says: "My dear, you should not have +married an old man." What! I say to him, must an old man wear antiquated +trowsers? No! nothing will turn him; those are his habits. But, you +have not heard the worst. The sight of those hideous trowsers totally +destroying all shape in the man, is horrible enough; but it is +absolutely more than a woman can bear to see him--for he will +shave--first cover his face with white soap with that ridiculous +centre-piece to his trowsers reaching quite up to his poll, and then, +you can fancy a woman's rage and anguish! the figure lifts its nose by +the extremist tip. Oh! it's degradation! What respect can a woman have +for her husband after that sight? Imagine it! And I have implored him +to spare me. It's useless. You sneer at our hbops and say that you +are inconvenienced by them but you gentlemen are not degraded,--Oh! +unutterably!--as I am every morning of my life by that cruel spectacle +of a husband.' + +I have but faintly sketched Mrs. Romer's style. Evelina, who is prudish +and thinks her vulgar, refused to laugh, but it came upon me, as the +picture of 'your own old husband,' with so irresistibly comic an effect +that I was overcome by convulsions of laughter. I do not defend myself. +It was as much a fit as any other attack. I did all I could to arrest +it. At last, I ran indoors and upstairs to my bedroom and tried hard to +become dispossessed. I am sure I was an example of the sufferings of my +sex. It could hardly have been worse for Mrs. Romer than it was for me. +I was drowned in internal laughter long after I had got a grave face. +Early in the evening Mr. Pollingray left us. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HE + +I am carried by the fascination of a musical laugh. Apparently I am +doomed to hear it at my own expense. We are secure from nothing in this +life. + +I have determined to stand for the county. An unoccupied man is a prey +to every hook of folly. Be dilettante all your days, and you might as +fairly hope to reap a moral harvest as if you had chased butterflies. +The activities created by a profession or determined pursuit are +necessary to the growth of the mind. + +Heavens! I find myself writing like an illegitimate son of La +Rochefoucauld, or of Vauvenargues. But, it is true that I am fifty years +old, and I am not mature. I am undeveloped somewhere. + +The question for me to consider is, whether this development is to be +accomplished by my being guilty of an act of egregious folly. + +Dans la cinquantaine! The reflection should produce a gravity in men. +Such a number of years will not ring like bridal bells in a man's ears. +I have my books about me, my horses, my dogs, a contented household. I +move in the centre of a perfect machine, and I am dissatisfied. I rise +early. I do not digest badly. What is wrong? + +The calamity of my case is that I am in danger of betraying what is +wrong with me to others, without knowing it myself. Some woman will be +suspecting and tattling, because she has nothing else to do. Girls +have wonderfully shrewd eyes for a weakness in the sex which they are +instructed to look upon as superior. But I am on my guard. + +The fact is manifest: I feel I have been living more or less uselessly. +It is a fat time. There are a certain set of men in every prosperous +country who, having wherewithal, and not being compelled to toil, become +subjected to the moral ideal. Most of them in the end sit down with our +sixth Henry or second Richard and philosophise on shepherds. To be no +better than a simple hind! Am I better? Prime bacon and an occasional +draft of shrewd beer content him, and they do not me. Yet I am sound, +and can sit through the night and be ready, and on the morrow I shall +stand for the county. + +I made the announcement that I had thoughts of entering Parliament, +before I had half formed the determination, at my sister's lawn party +yesterday. + +'Gilbert!' she cried, and raised her hands. A woman is hurt if you do +not confide to her your plans as soon as you can conceive them. She must +be present to assist at the birth, or your plans are unblessed plans. + +I had been speaking aside in a casual manner to my friend Amble, whose +idea is that the Church is not represented with sufficient strength +in the Commons, and who at once, as I perceived, grasped the notion +of getting me to promote sundry measures connected with schools and +clerical stipends, for his eyes dilated; he said: 'Well, if you do, I +can put you up to several things,' and imparting the usual chorus of +yesses to his own mind, he continued absently: 'Pollingray might be made +strong on church rates. There is much to do. He has lived abroad and +requires schooling in these things. We want a man. Yes, yes, yes. It's a +good idea; a notion.' + +My sister, however, was of another opinion. She did me the honour to +take me aside. + +'Gilbert, were you serious just now?' + +'Quite serious. Is it not my characteristic?' + +'Not on these occasions. I saw the idea come suddenly upon you. You were +looking at Charles.' + +'Continue: and at what was he looking?' + +'He was looking at Alice Amble.' + +'And the young lady?' + +'She looked at you.' + +I was here attacked by a singularly pertinacious fly, and came out of +the contest with a laugh. + +'Did she have that condescension towards me? And from the glance, +my resolution to enter Parliament was born? It is the French +vaudevilliste's doctrine of great events from little causes. The slipper +of a soubrette trips the heart of a king and changes the destiny of a +nation-the history of mankind. It may be true. If I were but shot into +the House from a little girl's eye!' + +With this I took her arm gaily, walked with her, and had nearly +overreached myself with excess of cunning. I suppose we are reduced to +see more plainly that which we systematically endeavour to veil from +others. It is best to flutter a handkerchief, instead of nailing up a +curtain. The principal advantage is that you may thereby go on deceiving +yourself, for this reason: few sentiments are wholly matter of fact; but +when they are half so, you make them concrete by deliberately seeking +either to crush or conceal them, and you are doubly betrayed--betrayed +to the besieging eye and to yourself. When a sentiment has grown to be a +passion (mercifully may I be spared!) different tactics are required. By +that time, you will have already betrayed yourself too deeply to dare to +be flippant: the investigating eye is aware that it has been purposely +diverted: knowing some things, it makes sure of the rest from which +you turn it away. If you want to hide a very grave case, you must speak +gravely about it.--At which season, be but sure of your voice, and +simulate a certain depth of sentimental philosophy, and you may once +more, and for a long period, bewilder the investigator of the secrets +of your bosom. To sum up: in the preliminary stages of a weakness, be +careful that you do not show your own alarm, or all will be suspected. +Should the weakness turn to fever, let a little of it be seen, like a +careless man, and nothing will really be thought. + +I can say this, I can do this; and is it still possible that a pin's +point has got through the joints of the armour of a man like me? + +Elizabeth quitted my side with the conviction that I am as considerate +an uncle as I am an affectionate brother. + +I said to her, apropos, 'I have been observing those two. It seems to me +they are deciding things for themselves.' + +'I have been going to speak to you about them Gilbert,' said she. + +And I: 'The girl must be studied. The family is good. While Charles is +in Wales, you must have her at Dayton. She laughs rather vacantly, don't +you think? but the sound of it has the proper wholesome ring. I will +give her what attention I can while she is here, but in the meantime I +must have a bride of my own and commence courting.' + +'Parliament, you mean,' said Elizabeth with a frank and tender smile. +The hostess was summoned to welcome a new guest, and she left me, +pleased with her successful effort to reach my meaning, and absorbed by +it. + +I would not have challenged Machiavelli; but I should not have +encountered the Florentine ruefully. I feel the same keen delight in +intellectual dexterity. On some points my sister is not a bad match for +me. She can beat me seven games out of twelve at chess; but the five I +win sequently, for then I am awake. There is natural art and artificial +art, and the last beats the first. Fortunately for us, women are +strangers to the last. They have had to throw off a mask before they +have, got the schooling; so, when they are thus armed we know what we +meet, and what are the weapons to be used. + +Alice, if she is a fine fencer at all, will expect to meet the ordinary +English squire in me. I have seen her at the baptismal font! It is +inconceivable. She will fancy that at least she is ten times more subtle +than I. When I get the mastery--it is unlikely to make me the master. +What may happen is, that the nature of the girl will declare itself, +under the hard light of intimacy, vulgar. Charles I cause to be absent +for six weeks; so there will be time enough for the probation. I do not +see him till he returns. If by chance I had come earlier to see him and +he to allude to her, he would have had my conscience on his side, and +that is what a scrupulous man takes care to prevent. + +I wonder whether my friends imagine me to be the same man whom they knew +as Gilbert Pollingray a month back? I see the change, I feel the change; +but I have no retrospection, no remorse, no looking forward, no feeling: +none for others, very little, for myself. I am told that I am losing +fluency as a dinner-table talker. There is now more savour to me in a +silvery laugh than in a spiced wit. And this is the man who knows +women, and is far too modest to give a decided opinion upon any of their +merits. Search myself through as I may, I cannot tell when the change +began, or what the change consists of, or what is the matter with me, +or what charm there is in the person who does the mischief. She is +the counterpart of dozens of girls; lively, brown-eyed, brown-haired, +underbred--it is not too harsh to say so--underbred slightly; +half-educated, whether quickwitted I dare not opine. She is undoubtedly +the last whom I or another person would have fixed upon as one to work +me this unmitigated evil. I do not know her, and I believe I do not care +to know her, and I am thirsting for the hour to come when I shall study +her. Is not this to have the poison of a bite in one's blood? The wrath +of Venus is not a fable. I was a hard reader and I despised the sex +in my youth, before the family estates fell to me; since when I have +playfully admired the sex; I have dallied with a passion, and not read +at all, save for diversion: her anger is not a fable. You may interpret +many a mythic tale by the facts which lie in your own blood. My emotions +have lain altogether dormant in sentimental attachment. I have, I +suppose, boasted of, Python slain, and Cupid has touched me up with an +arrow. I trust to my own skill rather than to his mercy for avoiding a +second from his quiver. I will understand this girl if I have to submit +to a close intimacy with her for six months. There is no doubt of the +elegance of her movements. Charles might as well take his tour, and +let us see him again next year. Yes, her movements are (or will be) +gracious. In a year's time she will have acquired the fuller tones and +poetry of womanliness. Perhaps then, too, her smile will linger instead +of flashing. I have known infinitely lovelier women than she. One I have +known! but let her be. Louise and I have long since said adieu. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SHE + +Behold me installed in Dayton Manor House, and brought here for the +express purpose (so Charles has written me word) of my being studied, +that it may be seen whether I am worthy to be, on some august future +occasion--possibly--a member (Oh, so much to mumble!) of this +great family. Had I known it when I was leaving home, I should have +countermanded the cording of my boxes. If you please, I do the packing, +and not the cording. I must practise being polite, or I shall be +horrifying these good people. + +I am mortally offended. I am very very angry. I shall show temper. +Indeed, I have shown it. Mr. Pollingray must and does think me a goose. +Dear sir, and I think you are justified. If any one pretends to guess +how, I have names to suit that person. I am a ninny, an ape, and mind +I call myself these bad things because I deserve worse. I am flighty, +I believe I am heartless. Charles is away, and I suffer no pangs. The +truth is, I fancied myself so exceedingly penetrating, and it was my +vanity looking in a glass. I saw something that answered to my nods and +howd'ye-do's and--but I am ashamed, and so penitent I might begin making +a collection of beetles. I cannot lift up my head. + +Mr. Pollingray is such a different man from the one I had imagined! What +that one was, I have now quite forgotten. I remember too clearly what +the wretched guesser was. I have been three weeks at Dayton, and if +my sisters know me when I return to the vicarage, they are not foolish +virgins. For my part, I know that I shall always hate Mrs. Romer +Pattlecombe, and that I am unjust to the good woman, but I do hate her, +and I think the stories shocking, and wonder intensely what it was that +I could have found in them to laugh at. I shall never laugh again for +many years. Perhaps, when I am an old woman, I may. I wish the time had +come. All young people seem to me so helplessly silly. I am one of them +for the present, and have no hope that I can appear to be anything else. +The young are a crowd--a shoal of small fry. Their elders are the select +of the world. + +On the morning of the day when I was to leave home for Dayton, a +distance of eight miles, I looked out of my window while dressing--as +early as halfpast seven--and I saw Mr. Pollingray's groom on horseback, +leading up and down the walk a darling little, round, plump, black cob +that made my heart leap with an immense bound of longing to be on it and +away across the downs. And then the maid came to my door with a letter: + +'Mr. Pollingray, in return for her considerate good behaviour and +saving of trouble to him officially, begs his goddaughter to accept +the accompanying little animal: height 14 h., age 31 years; hunts, is +sure-footed, and likely to be the best jumper in the county.' + +I flew downstairs. I rushed out of the house and up to my treasure, and +kissed his nose and stroked his mane. I could not get my fingers away +from him. Horses are so like the very best and beautifullest of women +when you caress them. They show their pleasure so at being petted. They +curve their necks, and paw, and look proud. They take your flattery +like sunshine and are lovely in it. I kissed my beauty, peering at his +black-mottled skin, which is like Allingborough Heath in the twilight. +The smell of his new saddle and bridle-leather was sweeter than a garden +to me. The man handed me a large riding-whip mounted with silver. I +longed to jump up and ride till midnight. + +Then mama and papa came out and read the note and looked, at my darling +little cob, and my sisters saw him and kissed me, for they are not +envious girls. The most distressing thing was that we had not a +riding-habit in the family. I was ready to wear any sort. I would have +ridden as a guy rather than not ride at all. But mama gave me a promise +that in two days a riding-habit should be sent on to Dayton, and I had +to let my pet be led back from where he came. I had no life till I was +following him. I could have believed him to be a fairy prince who had +charmed me. I called him Prince Leboo, because he was black and good. I +forgive anybody who talks about first love after what my experience has +been with Prince Leboo. + +What papa thought of the present I do not know, but I know very well +what mama thought: and for my part I thought everything, not distinctly +including that, for I could not suppose such selfishness in one so +generous as Mr. Pollingray. But I came to Dayton in a state of arrogant +pride, that gave assurance if not ease to my manners. I thanked Mr. +Pollingray warmly, but in a way to let him see it was the matter of a +horse between us. 'You give, I register thanks, and there's an end.' + +'He thinks me a fool! a fool! + +'My habit,' I said, 'comes after me. I hope we shall have some rides +together.' + +'Many,' replied Mr. Pollingray, and his bow inflated me with ideas of my +condescension. + +And because Miss Pollingray (Queen Elizabeth he calls her) looked half +sad, I read it--! I do not write what I read it to be. + +Behold the uttermost fool of all female creation led over the house by +Mr. Pollingray. He showed me the family pictures. + +'I am no judge of pictures, Mr. Pollingray.' + +'You will learn to see the merits of these.' + +'I'm afraid not, though I were to study them for years.' + +'You may have that opportunity.' + +'Oh! that is more than I can expect.' + +'You will develop intelligence on such subjects by and by.' + +A dull sort of distant blow struck me in this remark; but I paid no heed +to it. + +He led me over the gardens and the grounds. The Great John Methlyn +Pollingray planted those trees, and designed the house, and the +flower-garden still speaks of his task; but he is not my master, and +consequently I could not share his three great-grandsons' veneration +for him. There are high fir-woods and beech woods, and a long ascending +narrow meadow between them, through which a brook falls in continual +cascades. It is the sort of scene I love, for it has a woodland grandeur +and seclusion that leads, me to think, and makes a better girl of me. +But what I said was: 'Yes, it is the place of all others to come and +settle in for the evening of one's days.' + +'You could not take to it now?' said Mr. Pollingray. + +'Now?' my expression of face must have been a picture. + +'You feel called upon to decline such a residence in the morning of your +days?' + +He persisted in looking at me as he spoke, and I felt like something +withering scarlet. + +I am convinced he saw through me, while his face was polished brass. +My self-possession returned, for my pride was not to be dispersed +immediately. + +'Please, take me to the stables,' I entreated; and there I was at home. +There I saw my Prince Leboo, and gave him a thousand caresses.' + +'He knows me already,' I said. + +Then he is some degrees in advance of me,' said Mr. Pollingray. + +Is not cold dissection of one's character a cruel proceeding? And I +think, too, that a form of hospitality like this by which I am invited +to be analysed at leisure, is both mean and base. I have been kindly +treated and I am grateful, but I do still say (even though I may have +improved under it) it is unfair. + +To proceed: the dinner hour arrived. The atmosphere of his own house +seems to favour Mr. Pollingray as certain soils and sites favour others. +He walked into the dining-room between us with his hands behind him, +talking to us both so easily and smoothly cheerfully--naturally and +pleasantly--inimitable by any young man! You hardly feel the change +of room. We were but three at table, but there was no lack of +entertainment. Mr. Pollingray is an admirable host; he talks just enough +himself and helps you to talk. What does comfort me is that it gives +him real pleasure to see a hearty appetite. Young men, I know it for +a certainty, never quite like us to be so human. Ah! which is right? I +would not miss the faith in our nobler essence which Charles has. +But, if it nobler? One who has lived longer in the world ought to know +better, and Mr. Pollingray approves of naturalness in everything. I have +now seen through Charles's eyes for several months; so implicitly that +I am timid when I dream of trusting to another's judgement. It is, +however, a fact that I am not quite natural with Charles. + +Every day Mr. Pollingray puts on evening dress out of deference to his +sister. If young men had these good habits they would gain our respect, +and lose their own self-esteem less early. + +After dinner I sang. Then Mr. Pollingray read an amusing essay to us, +and retired to his library. Miss Pollingray sat and talked to me of +her brother, and of her nephew--for whom it is that Mr. Pollingray +is beginning to receive company, and is going into society. Charles's +subsequently received letter explained the 'receive company.' I could +not comprehend it at the time. + +'The house has been shut up for years, or rarely inhabited by us for +more than a month in the year. Mr. Pollingray prefers France. All his +associations, I may say his sympathies, are in France. Latterly he seems +to have changed a little; but from Normandy to Touraine and Dauphiny--we +had a triangular home over there. Indeed, we have it still. I am never +certain of my brother.' + +While Miss Pollingray was speaking, my eyes were fixed on a Vidal crayon +drawing, faintly coloured with chalks, of a foreign lady--I could have +sworn to her being French--young, quite girlish, I doubt if her age was +more than mine. + +She is pretty, is she not?' said Miss Pollingray. + +She is almost beautiful,' I exclaimed, and Miss Pollingray, seeing my +curiosity, was kind enough not to keep me in suspense. + +'That is the Marquise de Mazardouin--nee Louise de Riverolles. You will +see other portraits of her in the house. This is the most youthful of +them, if I except one representing a baby, and bearing her initials.' + +I remembered having noticed a similarity of feature in some of the +portraits in the different rooms. My longing to look at them again was +like a sudden jet of flame within me. There was no chance of seeing them +till morning; so, promising myself to dream of the face before me, I +dozed through a conversation with my hostess, until I had got the French +lady's eyes and hair and general outline stamped accurately, as I hoped, +on my mind. I was no sooner on my way to bed than all had faded. The +torment of trying to conjure up that face was inconceivable. I lay, and +tossed, and turned to right and to left, and scattered my sleep; but by +and by my thoughts reverted to Mr. Pollingray, and then like sympathetic +ink held to the heat, I beheld her again; but vividly, as she must have +been when she was sitting to the artist. The hair was naturally crisped, +waving thrice over the forehead and brushed clean from the temples, +showing the small ears, and tied in a knot loosely behind. Her eyebrows +were thick and dark, but soft; flowing eyebrows; far lovelier, to my +thinking, than any pencilled arch. Dark eyes, and full, not prominent. +I find little expression of inward sentiment in very prominent eyes. On +the contrary they seem to have a fish-like dependency of gaze on what is +without, and show fishy depths, if any. For instance, my eyes are rather +prominent, and I am just the little fool--but the French lady is my +theme. Madame la Marquise, your eyes are sweeter to me than celestial. +I never saw such candour and unaffected innocence in eyes before. Accept +the compliment of the pauvre Anglaise. Did you do mischief with them? +Did Vidal's delicate sketch do justice to you? Your lips and chin and +your throat all repose in such girlish grace, that if ever it is my good +fortune to see you, you will not be aged to me! + +I slept and dreamed of her. + +In the morning, I felt certain that she had often said: 'Mon cher +Gilbert,' to Mr. Pollingray. Had he ever said: 'Ma chere Louise?' He +might have said: 'Ma bien aimee!' for it was a face to be loved. + +My change of feeling towards him dates from that morning. He had +previously seemed to me a man so much older. I perceived in him now a +youthfulness beyond mere vigour of frame. I could not detach him from my +dreams of the night. He insists upon addressing me by the terms of +our 'official' relationship, as if he made it a principle of our +intercourse. + +'Well, and is your godpapa to congratulate you on your having had a +quiet rest?' was his greeting. + +I answered stupidly: 'Oh, yes, thank you,' and would have given worlds +for the courage to reply in French, but I distrusted my accent. At +breakfast, the opportunity or rather the excuse for an attempt, was +offered. His French valet, Francois, waits on him at breakfast. Mr. +Pollingray and his sister asked for things in the French tongue, and, +as if fearing some breach of civility, Mr. Pollingray asked me if I knew +French. + +Yes, I know it; that is, I understand it,' I stuttered. Allons, nous +parlerons francais,' said he. But I shook my head, and remained like a +silly mute. + +I was induced towards the close of the meal to come out with a few +French words. I was utterly shamefaced. Mr. Pollingray has got the +French manner of protesting that one is all but perfect in one's +speaking. I know how absurd it must have sounded. But I felt his +kindness, and in my heart I thanked him humbly. I believe now that a +residence in France does not deteriorate an Englishman. Mr. Pollingray, +when in his own house, has the best qualities of the two countries. He +is gay, and, yes, while he makes a study of me, I am making a study of +him. Which of us two will know the other first? He was papa's college +friend--papa's junior, of course, and infinitely more papa's junior now. +I observe that weakness in him, I mean, his clinging to youthfulness, +less and less; but I do see it, I cannot be quite in error. The truth +is, I begin to feel that I cannot venture to mistrust my infallible +judgement, or I shall have no confidence in myself at all. + +After breakfast, I was handed over to Miss Pollingray, with the +intimation that I should not see him till dinner. + +'Gilbert is anxious to cultivate the society of his English neighbours, +now that he has, as he supposes, really settled among them,' she +remarked to me. 'At his time of life, the desire to be useful is +almost a malady. But, he cherishes the poor, and that is more than an +occupation, it is a virtue.' + +Her speech has become occasionally French in the construction of the +sentences. + +'Mais oui,' I said shyly, and being alone with her, I was not rebuffed +by her smile, especially as she encouraged me on. + +I am, she told me, to see a monde of French people here in September. +So, the story of me is to be completer, or continued in September. I +could not get Miss Pollingray to tell me distinctly whether Madame la +Marquise will be one of the guests. But I know that she is not a widow. +In that case, she has a husband. In that case, what is the story of her +relations towards Mr. Pollingray? There must be some story. He would not +surely have so many portraits of her about the house (and they travel +with him wherever he goes) if she were but a lovely face to him. I +cannot understand it. They were frequent, constant visitors to one +another's estates in France; always together. Perhaps a man of Mr. +Pollingray's age, or perhaps M. le Marquis--and here I lose myself. +French habits are so different from ours. One thing I am certain of: no +charge can be brought against my Englishman. I read perfect rectitude +in his face. I would cast anchor by him. He must have had a dreadful +unhappiness. + +Mama kept her promise by sending my riding habit and hat punctually, but +I had run far ahead of all the wishes I had formed when I left home, +and I half feared my ride out with Mr. Pollingray. That was before I had +received Charles's letter, letting me know the object of my invitation +here. I require at times a morbid pride to keep me up to the work. +I suppose I rode befittingly, for Mr. Pollingray praised my seat on +horseback. I know I can ride, or feel the 'blast of a horse like my +own'--as he calls it. Yet he never could have had a duller companion. +My conversation was all yes and no, as if it went on a pair of crutches +like a miserable cripple. I was humiliated and vexed. All the while I +was trying to lead up to the French lady, and I could not commence with +a single question. He appears to, have really cancelled the past in +every respect save his calling me his goddaughter. His talk was of the +English poor, and vegetation, and papa's goodness to his old dames in +Ickleworth parish, and defects in my education acknowledged by me, but +not likely to restore me in my depressed state. The ride was beautiful. +We went the length of a twelve-mile ridge between Ickleworth and +Hillford, over high commons, with immense views on both sides, and +through beech-woods, oakwoods, and furzy dells and downs spotted with +juniper and yewtrees--old picnic haunts of mine, but Mr. Pollingray's +fresh delight in the landscape made them seem new and strange. Home +through the valley. + +The next day Miss Pollingray joined us, wearing a feutre gris and green +plume, which looked exceedingly odd until you became accustomed to it. +Her hair has decided gray streaks, and that, and the Queen Elizabeth +nose, and the feutre gris!--but she is so kind, I could not even smile +in my heart. It is singular that Mr. Pollingray, who's but three years +her junior, should look at least twenty years younger--at the very +least. His moustache and beard are of the colour of a corn sheaf, and +his blue eyes shining over them remind me of summer. That describes him. +He is summer, and has not fallen into his autumn yet. Miss Pollingray +helped me to talk a little. She tried to check her brother's enthusiasm +for our scenery, and extolled the French paysage. He laughed at her, for +when they were in France it was she who used to say, 'There is nothing +here like England!' Miss Fool rode between them attentive to the +jingling of the bells in her cap: 'Yes' and 'No' at anybody's command, +in and out of season. + +Thank you, Charles, for your letter! I was beginning to think my +invitation to Dayton inexplicable, when that letter arrived. I cannot +but deem it an unworthy baseness to entrap a girl to study her without +a warning to her. I went up to my room after I had read it, and wrote +in reply till the breakfast-bell rang. I resumed my occupation an hour +later, and wrote till one o'clock. In all, fifteen pages of writing, +which I carefully folded and addressed to Charles; sealed the envelope, +stamped it, and destroyed it. I went to bed. 'No, I won't ride out +to-day, I have a headache!' I repeated this about half-a-dozen times to +nobody's knocking on the door, and when at last somebody knocked I +tried to repeat it once, but having the message that Mr. Pollingray +particularly wished to have my company in a ride, I rose submissively +and cried. This humiliation made my temper ferocious. Mr. Pollingray +observed my face, and put it down in his notebook. 'A savage +disposition,' or, no, 'An untamed little rebel'; for he has hopes of me. +He had the cruelty to say so. + +'What I am, I shall remain,' said I. + +He informed me that it was perfectly natural for me to think it; and +on my replying that persons ought to know themselves best: 'At my age, +perhaps,' he said, and added, 'I cannot speak very confidently of my +knowledge of myself.' + +'Then you make us out to be nothing better than puppets, Mr. +Pollingray.' + +'If we have missed an early apprenticeship to the habit of self-command, +ma filleule.' + +'Merci, mon parrain.' + +He laughed. My French, I suppose. + +I determined that, if he wanted to study me, I would help him. + +'I can command myself when I choose, but it is only when I choose.' + +This seemed to me quite a reasonable speech, until I found him looking +for something to follow, in explanation, and on coming to sift my +meaning, I saw that it was temper, and getting more angry, continued: + +'The sort of young people who have such wonderful command of themselves +are not the pleasantest.' + +'No,' he said; 'they disappoint us. We expect folly from the young.' + +I shut my lips. Prince Leboo knew that he must go, and a good gallop +reconciled me to circumstances. Then I was put to jumping little furzes +and ditches, which one cannot pretend to do without a fair appearance +of gaiety; for, while you are running the risk of a tumble, you are +compelled to look cheerful and gay, at least, I am. To fall frowning +will never do. I had no fall. My gallant Leboo made my heart leap with +love of him, though mill-stones were tied to it. I may be vexed when I +begin, but I soon ride out a bad temper. And he is mine! I am certainly +inconstant to Charles, for I think of Leboo fifty times more. Besides, +there is no engagement as yet between Charles and me. I have first to be +approved worthy by Mr. and Miss Pollingray: two pairs of eyes and ears, +over which I see a solemnly downy owl sitting, conning their reports of +me. It is a very unkind ordeal to subject any inexperienced young woman +to. It was harshly conceived and it is being remorselessly executed. I +would complain more loudly--in shrieks--if I could say I was unhappy; +but every night I look out of my window before going to bed and see the +long falls of the infant river through the meadow, and the dark woods +seeming to enclose the house from harm: I dream of the old inhabitant, +his ancestors, and the numbers and numbers of springs when the +wildflowers have flourished in those woods and the nightingales have +sung there. And I feel there will never be a home to me like Dayton. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +HE + +For twenty years of my life I have embraced the phantom of the fairest +woman that ever drew breath. I have submitted to her whims, I have +worshipped her feet, I have, I believe, strengthened her principle. I +have done all in my devotion but adopt her religious faith. And I have, +as I trusted some time since, awakened to perceive that those twenty +years were a period of mere sentimental pastime, perfectly useless, +fruitless, unless, as is possible, it has saved me from other follies. +But it was a folly in itself. Can one's nature be too stedfast? The +question whether a spice of frivolousness may not be a safeguard has +often risen before me. The truth, I must learn to think, is, that my +mental power is not the match for my ideal or sentimental apprehension +and native tenacity of attachment. I have fallen into one of the pits of +a well-meaning but idle man. The world discredits the existence of pure +platonism in love. I myself can barely look back on those twenty years +of amatory servility with a full comprehension of the part I have been +playing in them. And yet I would not willingly forfeit the exalted +admiration of Louise for my constancy: as little willingly as I would +have imperilled her purity. I cling to the past as to something in which +I have deserved well, though I am scarcely satisfied with it. According +to our English notions I know my name. English notions, however, are not +to be accepted in all matters, any more than the flat declaration of a +fact will develop it in alt its bearings. When our English society +shall have advanced to a high civilization, it will be less expansive +in denouncing the higher stupidities. Among us, much of the social +judgement of Bodge upon the relations of men to women is the stereotyped +opinion of the land. There is the dictum here for a man who adores a +woman who is possessed by a husband. If he has long adored her, and +known himself to be preferred by her in innocency of heart; if he has +solved the problem of being her bosom's lord, without basely seeking to +degrade her to being his mistress; the epithets to characterise him in +our vernacular will probably be all the less flattering. Politically we +are the most self-conscious people upon earth, and socially the frankest +animals. The terrorism of our social laws is eminently serviceable, for +without it such frank animals as we are might run into bad excesses. +I judge rather by the abstract evidence than by the examples our fair +matrons give to astounded foreigners when abroad. + +Louise writes that her husband is paralysed. The Marquis de Mazardouin +is at last tasting of his mortality. I bear in mind the day when he +married her. She says that he has taken to priestly counsel, and, like +a woman, she praises him for that. It is the one thing which I have +not done to please her. She anticipates his decease. Should she be +free--what then? My heart does not beat the faster for the thought. +There are twenty years upon it, and they make a great load. But I have +a desire that she should come over to us. The old folly might rescue me +from the new one. Not that I am any further persecuted by the dread that +I am in imminent danger here. I have established a proper mastery over +my young lady. 'Nous avons change de role'. Alice is subdued; she laughs +feebly, is becoming conscious--a fact to be regretted, if I desired to +check the creature's growth. There is vast capacity in the girl. She +has plainly not centred her affections upon Charles, so that a man's +conscience might be at ease if--if he chose to disregard what is due to +decency. But, why, when I contest it, do I bow to the world's opinion +concerning disparity of years between husband and wife? I know +innumerable cases of an old husband making a young wife happy. My +friend, Dr. Galliot, married his ward, and he had the best wife of any +man of my acquaintance. She has been publishing his learned manuscripts +ever since his death. That is an extreme case, for he was forty-five +years her senior, and stood bald at the altar. Old General Althorpe +married Julia Dahoop, and, but for his preposterous jealousy of her, +might be cited in proof that the ordinary reckonings are not to be a +yoke on the neck of one who earnestly seeks to spouse a fitting mate, +though late in life. But, what are fifty years? They mark the prime of a +healthy man's existence. He has by that time seen the world, can decide, +and settle, and is virtually more eligible--to use the cant phrase of +gossips--than a young man, even for a young girl. And may not some fair +and fresh reward be justly claimed as the crown of a virtuous career? + +I say all this, yet my real feeling is as if I were bald as Dr. Galliot +and jealous as General Althorpe. For, with my thorough knowledge of +myself, I, were I like either one of them, should not have offered +myself to the mercy of a young woman, or of the world. Nor, as I am and +know myself to be, would I offer myself to the mercy of Alice Amble. +When my filleule first drove into Dayton she had some singularly +audacious ideas of her own. Those vivid young feminine perceptions and +untamed imaginations are desperate things to encounter. There is nothing +beyond their reach. Our safety from them lies in the fact that they are +always seeing too much, and imagining too wildly; so that, with a little +help from us, they may be taught to distrust themselves; and when they +have once distrusted themselves, we need not afterwards fear them: their +supernatural vitality has vanished. I fancy my pretty Alice to be in +this state now. She leaves us to-morrow. In the autumn we shall have her +with us again, and Louise will scan her compassionately. I desire that +they should meet. It will be hardly fair to the English girl, but, if +I stand in the gap between them, I shall summon up no small quantity of +dormant compatriotic feeling. The contemplation of the contrast, too, +may save me from both: like the logic ass with the two trusses of hay on +either side of him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SHE + +I am at home. There was never anybody who felt so strange in her home. +It is not a month since I left my sisters, and I hardly remember that +I know them. They all, and even papa, appear to be thinking about such +petty things. They complain that I tell them nothing. What have I to +tell? My Prince! my own Leboo, if I might lie in the stall with you, +then I should feel thoroughly happy! That is, if I could fall asleep. +Evelina declares we are not eight miles from Dayton. It seems to me I +am eight millions of miles distant, and shall be all my life travelling +along a weary road to get there again just for one long sunny day. +And it might rain when I got there after all! My trouble nobody knows. +Nobody knows a thing! + +The night before my departure, Miss Pollingray did me the honour +to accompany me up to my bedroom. She spoke to me searchingly about +Charles; but she did not demand compromising answers. She is not in +favour of early marriages, so she merely wishes to know the footing upon +which we stand: that of friends. I assured her we were simply friends. +'It is the firmest basis of an attachment,' she said; and I did not look +hurried. + +But I gained my end. I led her to talk of the beautiful Marquise. This +is the tale. Mr. Pollingray, when a very young man, and comparatively +poor, went over to France with good introductions, and there saw and +fell in love with Louise de Riverolles. She reciprocated his passion. +If he would have consented to abjure his religion and worship with her, +Madame de Riverolles, her mother, would have listened to her entreaties. +But Gilbert was firm. Mr. Pollingray, I mean, refused to abandon his +faith. Her mother, consequently, did not interfere, and Monsieur de +Riverolles, her father, gave her to the Marquis de Marzardouin, a roue +young nobleman, immensely rich, and shockingly dissipated. And she +married him. No, I cannot understand French girls. Do as I will, it is +quite incomprehensible to me how Louise, loving another, could suffer +herself to be decked out in bridal finery and go to the altar and +take the marriage oaths. Not if perdition had threatened would I have +submitted. I have a feeling that Mr. Pollingray should have shown at +least one year's resentment at such conduct; and yet I admire him for +his immediate generous forgiveness of her. It was fatherly. She was +married at sixteen. His forgiveness was the fruit of his few years' +seniority, said Miss Pollingray, whose opinion of the Marquise I cannot +arrive at. At any rate, they have been true and warm friends ever since, +constantly together interchangeing visits. That is why Mr. Pollingray +has been more French than English for those long years. + +Miss Pollingray concluded by asking me what I thought of the story. I +said: 'It is very strange French habits are so different from ours. I +dare say... I hope..., perhaps... indeed, Mr. Pollingray seems happy +now.' Her idea of my wits must be that they are of the schoolgirl +order--a perfect receptacle for indefinite impressions. + +'Ah!' said she. 'Gilbert has burnt his heart to ashes by this time.' + +I slept with that sentence in my brain. In the morning, I rose and +dressed, dreaming. As I was turning the handle of my door to go down to +breakfast, suddenly I swung round in a fit of tears. It was so piteous +to think that he should have waited by her twenty years in a slow +anguish, his heart burning out, without a reproach or a complaint. I saw +him, I still see him, like a martyr. + +'Some people,' Miss Pollingray said, I permitted themselves to think +evil of my brother's assiduous devotion to a married woman. There is not +a spot on his character, or on that of the person whom Gilbert loved.' + +I would believe it in the teeth of calumny. I would cling to my belief +in him if I were drowning. + +I consider that those twenty years are just nothing, if he chooses to +have them so. He has lived embalmed in a saintly affection. No wonder he +considers himself still youthful. He is entitled to feel that his future +is before him. + +No amount of sponging would get the stains away from my horrid red +eyelids. I slunk into my seat at the breakfast-table, not knowing that +one of the maids had dropped a letter from Charles into my hand, and +that I had opened it and was holding it open. The letter, as I found +afterwards, told me that Charles has received an order from his uncle +to go over to Mr. Pollingray's estate in Dauphiny on business. I am not +sorry that they should have supposed I was silly enough to cry at the +thought of Charles's crossing the Channel. They did imagine it, I know; +for by and by Miss Pollingray whispered: 'Les absents n'auront pas tort, +cette fois, n'est-ce-pas? 'And Mr. Pollingray was cruelly gentle: an +air of 'I would not intrude on such emotions'; and I heightened their +delusions as much as I could: there was no other way of accounting for +my pantomime face. Why should he fancy I suffered so terribly? He talked +with an excited cheerfulness meant to relieve me, of course, but there +was no justification for his deeming me a love-sick kind of woe-begone +ballad girl. It caused him likewise to adopt a manner--what to call it, +I cannot think: tender respect, frigid regard, anything that accompanies +and belongs to the pressure of your hand with the finger-tips. He said +goodbye so tenderly that I would have kissed his sleeve. The effort to +restrain myself made me like an icicle. Oh! adieu, mon parrain! + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + A wise man will not squander his laughter if he can help it + A woman is hurt if you do not confide to her your plans + Gentleman in a good state of preservation + Imparting the usual chorus of yesses to his own mind + In every difficulty, patience is a life-belt + Knew my friend to be one of the most absent-minded of men + Rapture of obliviousness + Telling her anything, she makes half a face in anticipation + When you have done laughing with her, you can laugh at her + + + + + +THE SENTIMENTALISTS + +AN UNFINISHED COMEDY + +By George Meredith + + DRAMATIS PERSONAE + HOMEWARE. + PROFESSOR SPIRAL. + + ARDEN,............. In love with Astraea. + + SWITHIN,........... Sympathetics. OSIER, + + DAME DRESDEN,...... Sister to Homeware. + + ASTRAEA,........... Niece to Dame Dresden and Homeware. + + LYRA,.............. A Wife. + LADY OLDLACE. + VIRGINIA. + WINIFRED. + + THE SENTIMENTALISTS + + AN UNFINISHED COMEDY + +The scene is a Surrey garden in early summer. The paths are shaded by +tall box-wood hedges. The--time is some sixty years ago. + + SCENE I + + PROFESSOR SPIRAL, DAME DRESDEN, LADY OLDLACE, + VIRGINIA, WINIFRED, SWITHIN, and OSIER + +(As they slowly promenade the garden, the professor is delivering one of +his exquisite orations on Woman.) + +SPIRAL: One husband! The woman consenting to marriage takes but one. For +her there is no widowhood. That punctuation of the sentence called death +is not the end of the chapter for her. It is the brilliant proof of her +having a soul. So she exalts her sex. Above the wrangle and clamour of +the passions she is a fixed star. After once recording her obedience +to the laws of our common nature--that is to say, by descending once to +wedlock--she passes on in sovereign disengagement--a dedicated widow. + + (By this time they have disappeared from view. HOMEWARE appears; + he craftily avoids joining their party, like one who is unworthy of + such noble oratory. He desires privacy and a book, but is disturbed + by the arrival of ARDEN, who is painfully anxious to be polite to + 'her uncle Homeware.') + + SCENE II + + HOMEWARE, ARDEN + +ARDEN: A glorious morning, sir. + +HOMEWARE: The sun is out, sir. + +ARDEN: I am happy in meeting you, Mr. Homeware. + +HOMEWARE: I can direct you to the ladies, Mr. Arden. You will find them +up yonder avenue. + +ARDEN: They are listening, I believe, to an oration from the mouth of +Professor Spiral. + +HOMEWARE: On an Alpine flower which has descended to flourish on English +soil. Professor Spiral calls it Nature's 'dedicated widow.' + +ARDEN: 'Dedicated widow'? + +HOMEWARE: The reference you will observe is to my niece Astraea. + +ARDEN: She is dedicated to whom? + +HOMEWARE: To her dead husband! You see the reverse of Astraea, says the +professor, in those world-infamous widows who marry again. + +ARDEN: Bah! + +HOMEWARE: Astraea, it is decided, must remain solitary, virgin cold, +like the little Alpine flower. Professor Spiral has his theme. + +ARDEN: He will make much of it. May I venture to say that I prefer my +present company? + +HOMEWARE: It is a singular choice. I can supply you with no weapons for +the sort of stride in which young men are usually engaged. You belong to +the camp you are avoiding. + +ARDEN: Achilles was not the worse warrior, sir, for his probation in +petticoats. + +HOMEWARE: His deeds proclaim it. But Alexander was the better chieftain +until he drank with Lais. + +ARDEN: No, I do not plead guilty to Bacchus. + +HOMEWARE: You are confessing to the madder form of drunkenness. + +ARDEN: How, sir, I beg? + +HOMEWARE: How, when a young man sees the index to himself in everything +spoken! + +ARDEN: That might have the look. I did rightly in coming to you, sir. + +HOMEWARE: 'Her uncle Homeware'? + +ARDEN: You read through us all, sir. + +HOMEWARE: It may interest you to learn that you are the third of the +gentlemen commissioned to consult the lady's uncle Homeware. + +ARDEN: The third. + +HOMEWARE: Yes, she is pursued. It could hardly be otherwise. Her +attractions are acknowledged, and the house is not a convent. Yet, Mr. +Arden, I must remind you that all of you are upon an enterprise held to +be profane by the laws of this region. Can you again forget that Astraea +is a widow? + +ARDEN: She was a wife two months; she has been a widow two years. + +HOMEWARE: The widow of the great and venerable Professor Towers is not +to measure her widowhood by years. His, from the altar to the tomb. As +it might be read, a one day's walk! + +ARDEN: Is she, in the pride of her youth, to be sacrificed to a +whimsical feminine delicacy? + +HOMEWARE: You have argued it with her? + +ARDEN: I have presumed. + +HOMEWARE: And still she refused her hand! + +ARDEN: She commended me to you, sir. She has a sound judgement of +persons. + +HOMEWARE: I should put it that she passes the Commissioners of Lunacy, +on the ground of her being a humorous damsel. Your predecessors had also +argued it with her; and they, too, discovered their enemy in a whimsical +feminine delicacy. Where is the difference between you? Evidently +she cannot perceive it, and I have to seek: You will have had many +conversations with Astraea? + +ARDEN: I can say, that I am thrice the man I was before I had them. + +HOMEWARE: You have gained in manhood from conversations with a widow in +her twenty-second year; and you want more of her. + +ARDEN: As much as I want more wisdom. + +HOMEWARE: You would call her your Muse? + +ARDEN: So prosaic a creature as I would not dare to call her that. + +HOMEWARE: You have the timely mantle of modesty, Mr. Arden. She has +prepared you for some of the tests with her uncle Homeware. + +ARDEN: She warned me to be myself, without a spice of affectation. + +HOMEWARE: No harder task could be set a young man in modern days. Oh, +the humorous damsel. You sketch me the dimple at her mouth. + +ARDEN: Frankly, sir, I wish you to know me better; and I think I can +bear inspection. Astraea sent me to hear the reasons why she refuses me +a hearing. + +HOMEWARE: Her reason, I repeat, is this; to her idea, a second wedlock +is unholy. Further, it passes me to explain. The young lady lands +us where we were at the beginning; such must have been her humorous +intention. + +ARDEN: What can I do? + +HOMEWARE: Love and war have been compared. Both require strategy and +tactics, according to my recollection of the campaign. + +ARDEN: I will take to heart what you say, sir. + +HOMEWARE: Take it to head. There must be occasional descent of lovers' +heads from the clouds. And Professor Spiral,--But here we have a belated +breeze of skirts. + + (The reference is to the arrival of LYRA, breathless.) + + SCENE III + + HOMEWARE, ARDEN, LYRA + +LYRA: My own dear uncle Homeware! + +HOMEWARE: But where is Pluriel? + +LYRA: Where is a woman's husband when she is away from him? + +HOMEWARE: In Purgatory, by the proper reckoning. But hurry up the +avenue, or you will be late for Professor Spiral's address. + +LYRA: I know it all without hearing. Their Spiral! Ah, Mr. Arden! You +have not chosen badly. The greater my experience, the more do I value my +uncle Homeware's company. + + (She is affectionate to excess but has a roguish eye withal, as of + one who knows that uncle Homeware suspects all young men and most + young women.) + +HOMEWARE: Agree with the lady promptly, my friend. + +ARDEN: I would gladly boast of so lengthened an experience, Lady +Pluriel. + +LYRA: I must have a talk with Astraea, my dear uncle. Her letters breed +suspicions. She writes feverishly. The last one hints at service on the +West Coast of Africa. + +HOMEWARE: For the draining of a pestiferous land, or an enlightenment of +the benighted black, we could not despatch a missionary more effective +than the handsomest widow in Great Britain. + +LYRA: Have you not seen signs of disturbance? + +HOMEWARE: A great oration may be a sedative. + +LYRA: I have my suspicions. + +HOMEWARE: Mr. Arden, I could counsel you to throw yourself at Lady +Pluriel's feet, and institute her as your confessional priest. + +ARDEN: Madam, I am at your feet. I am devoted to the lady. + +LYRA: Devoted. There cannot be an objection. It signifies that a man +asks for nothing in return! + +HOMEWARE: Have a thought upon your words with this lady, Mr. Arden! + +ARDEN: Devoted, I said. I am. I would give my life for her. + +LYRA: Expecting it to be taken to-morrow or next day? Accept my +encomiums. A male devotee is within an inch of a miracle. Women had been +looking for this model for ages, uncle. + +HOMEWARE: You are the model, Mr Arden! + +LYRA: Can you have intended to say that it is in view of marriage you +are devoted to the widow of Professor Towers? + +ARDEN: My one view. + +LYRA: It is a star you are beseeching to descend. + +ARDEN: It is. + +LYRA: You disappoint me hugely. You are of the ordinary tribe after all; +and your devotion craves an enormous exchange, infinitely surpassing the +amount you bestow. + +ARDEN: It does. She is rich in gifts; I am poor. But I give all I have. + +LYRA: These lovers, uncle Homeware! + +HOMEWARE: A honey-bag is hung up and we have them about us. They would +persuade us that the chief business of the world is a march to the +altar. + +ARDEN: With the right partner, if the business of the world is to be +better done. + +LYRA: Which right partner has been chosen on her part, by a veiled +woman, who marches back from the altar to discover that she has chained +herself to the skeleton of an idea, or is in charge of that devouring +tyrant, an uxorious husband. Is Mr. Arden in favour with the Dame, +uncle? + +HOMEWARE: My sister is an unsuspicious potentate, as you know. +Pretenders to the hand of an inviolate widow bite like waves at a rock. + +LYRA: Professor Spiral advances rapidly. + +HOMEWARE: Not, it would appear, when he has his audience of ladies and +their satellites. + +LYRA: I am sure I hear a spring-tide of enthusiasm coming. + +ARDEN: I will see. + + (He goes up the path.) + +LYRA: Now! my own dear uncle, save me from Pluriel. I have given him the +slip in sheer desperation; but the man is at his shrewdest when he is +left to guess at my heels. Tell him I am anywhere but here. Tell him I +ran away to get a sense of freshness in seeing him again. Let me have +one day of liberty, or, upon my word, I shall do deeds; I shall console +young Arden: I shall fly to Paris and set my cap at presidents and +foreign princes. Anything rather than be eaten up every minute, as I am. +May no woman of my acquaintance marry a man of twenty years her senior! +She marries a gigantic limpet. At that period of his life a man becomes +too voraciously constant. + +HOMEWARE: Cupid clipped of wing is a destructive parasite. + +LYRA: I am in dead earnest, uncle, and I will have a respite, or else +let decorum beware! + + (Arden returns.) + +ARDEN: The ladies are on their way. + +LYRA: I must get Astraea to myself. + +HOMEWARE: My library is a virgin fortress, Mr. Arden. Its gates are open +to you on other topics than the coupling of inebriates. + + (He enters the house--LYRA disappears in the garden--Spiral's + audience reappear without him.) + + SCENE IV + + DAME DRESDEN, LADY OLDLACE, VIRGINIA, WINIFRED, + ARDEN, SWITHIN, OSIER + +LADY OLDLACE: Such perfect rhythm! + +WINIFRED: Such oratory! + +LADY OLDLACE: A master hand. I was in a trance from the first sentence +to the impressive close. + +OSIER: Such oratory is a whole orchestral symphony. + +VIRGINIA: Such command of intonation and subject! + +SWITHIN: That resonant voice! + +LADY OLDLACE: Swithin, his flow of eloquence! He launched forth! + +SWITHIN: Like an eagle from a cliff. + +OSIER: The measure of the words was like a beat of wings. + +SWITHIN: He makes poets of us. + +DAME DRESDEN: Spiral achieved his pinnacle to-day! + +VIRGINIA: How treacherous is our memory when we have most the longing to +recall great sayings! + +OSIER: True, I conceive that my notes will be precious. + +WINIFRED: You could take notes! + +LADY OLDLACE: It seems a device for missing the quintessential. + +SWITHIN: Scraps of the body to the loss of the soul of it. We can allow +that our friend performed good menial service. + +WINIFRED: I could not have done the thing. + +SWITHIN: In truth; it does remind one of the mess of pottage. + +LADY OLDLACE: One hardly felt one breathed. + +VIRGINIA: I confess it moved me to tears. + +SWITHIN: There is a pathos for us in the display of perfection. Such +subtle contrast with our individual poverty affects us. + +WINIFRED: Surely there were passages of a distinct and most exquisite +pathos. + +LADY OLDLACE: As in all great oratory! The key of it is the pathos. + +VIRGINIA: In great oratory, great poetry, great fiction; you try it +by the pathos. All our critics agree in stipulating for the pathos. My +tears were no feminine weakness, I could not be a discordant instrument. + +SWITHIN: I must make confession. He played on me too. + +OSIER: We shall be sensible for long of that vibration from the touch of +a master hand. + +ARDEN: An accomplished player can make a toy-shop fiddle sound you a +Stradivarius. + +DAME DRESDEN: Have you a right to a remark, Mr. Arden? What could have +detained you? + +ARDEN: Ah, Dame. It may have been a warning that I am a discordant +instrument. I do not readily vibrate. + +DAME DRESDEN: A discordant instrument is out of place in any civil +society. You have lost what cannot be recovered. + +ARDEN: There are the notes. + +OSIER: Yes, the notes. + +SWITHIN: You can be satisfied with the dog's feast at the table, Mr. +Arden! + +OSIER: Ha! + +VIRGINIA: Never have I seen Astraea look sublimer in her beauty than +with her eyes uplifted to the impassioned speaker, reflecting every +variation of his tones. + +ARDEN: Astraea! + +LADY OLDLACE: She was entranced when he spoke of woman descending from +her ideal to the gross reality of man. + +OSIER: Yes, yes. I have the words [reads]: 'Woman is to the front of +man, holding the vestal flower of a purer civilization. I see,' he says, +'the little taper in her hands transparent round the light, against +rough winds.' + +DAME DRESDEN: And of Astraea herself, what were the words? 'Nature's +dedicated widow.' + +SWITHIN: Vestal widow, was it not? + +VIRGINIA: Maiden widow, I think. + +DAME DRESDEN: We decide for 'dedicated.' + +WINIFRED: Spiral paid his most happy tribute to the memory of her late +husband, the renowned Professor Towers. + +VIRGINIA: But his look was at dear Astraea. + +ARDEN: At Astraea? Why? + +VIRGINIA: For her sanction doubtless. + +ARDEN: Ha! + +WINIFRED: He said his pride would ever be in his being received as the +successor of Professor Towers. + +ARDEN: Successor! + +SWITHIN: Guardian was it not? + +OSIER: Tutor. I think he said. + + (The three gentlemen consult Osier's notes uneasily.) + +DAME DRESDEN: Our professor must by this time have received in full +Astraea's congratulations, and Lyra is hearing from her what it is to +be too late. You will join us at the luncheon table, if you do not feel +yourself a discordant instrument there, Mr. Arden? + +ARDEN (going to her): The allusion to knife and fork tunes my strings +instantly, Dame. + +DAME DRESDEN: You must help me to-day, for the professor will be tired, +though we dare not hint at it in his presence. No reference, ladies, to +the great speech we have been privileged to hear; we have expressed our +appreciation and he could hardly bear it. + +ARDEN: Nothing is more distasteful to the orator! + +VIRGINIA: As with every true genius, he is driven to feel humbly human +by the exultation of him. + +SWITHIN: He breathes in a rarified air. + +OSIER: I was thrilled, I caught at passing beauties. I see that here and +there I have jotted down incoherencies, lines have seduced me, so that +I missed the sequence--the precious part. Ladies, permit me to rank him +with Plato as to the equality of women and men. + +WINIFRED: It is nobly said. + +OSIER: And with the Stoics, in regard to celibacy. + + (By this time all the ladies have gone into the house.) + +ARDEN: Successor! Was the word successor? + + (ARDEN, SWITHIN, and OSIER are excitedly searching the notes + when SPIRAL passes and strolls into the house. His air of + self-satisfaction increases their uneasiness they follow him. + ASTRAEA and LYRA come down the path.) + + SCENE V + + ASTRAEA, LYRA + +LYRA: Oh! Pluriel, ask me of him! I wish I were less sure he would not +be at the next corner I turn. + +ASTRAEA: You speak of your husband strangely, Lyra. + +LYRA: My head is out of a sack. I managed my escape from him this +morning by renouncing bath and breakfast; and what a relief, to be in +the railway carriage alone! that is, when the engine snorted. And if +I set eyes on him within a week, he will hear some truths. His idea of +marriage is, the taking of the woman into custody. My hat is on, and on +goes Pluriel's. My foot on the stairs; I hear his boot behind me. In +my boudoir I am alone one minute, and then the door opens to the +inevitable. I pay a visit, he is passing the house as I leave it. He +will not even affect surprise. I belong to him, I am cat's mouse. And +he will look doating on me in public. And when I speak to anybody, he is +that fearful picture of all smirks. Fling off a kid glove after a round +of calls; feel your hand--there you have me now that I am out of him for +my half a day, if for as long. + +ASTRAEA: This is one of the world's happy marriages! + +LYRA: This is one of the world's choice dishes! And I have it planted +under my nostrils eternally. Spare me the mention of Pluriel until he +appears; that's too certain this very day. Oh! good husband! good +kind of man! whatever you please; only some peace, I do pray, for the +husband-haunted wife. I like him, I like him, of course, but I want to +breathe. Why, an English boy perpetually bowled by a Christmas pudding +would come to loathe the mess. + +ASTRAEA: His is surely the excess of a merit. + +LYRA: Excess is a poison. Excess of a merit is a capital offence in +morality. It disgusts, us with virtue. And you are the cunningest of +fencers, tongue, or foils. You lead me to talk of myself, and I hate the +subject. By the way, you have practised with Mr. Arden. + +ASTRAEA: A tiresome instructor, who lets you pass his guard to +compliment you on a hit. + +LYRA: He rather wins me. + +ASTRAEA: He does at first. + +LYRA: Begins Plurielizing, without the law to back him, does he? + +ASTRAEA: The fencing lessons are at an end. + +LYRA: The duetts with Mr. Swithin's violoncello continue? + +ASTRAEA: He broke through the melody. + +LYRA: There were readings in poetry with Mr. Osier, I recollect. + +ASTRAEA: His own compositions became obtrusive. + +LYRA: No fencing, no music, no poetry! no West Coast of Africa either, I +suppose. + +ASTRAEA: Very well! I am on my defence. You at least shall not +misunderstand me, Lyra. One intense regret I have; that I did not +live in the time of the Amazons. They were free from this question of +marriage; this babble of love. Why am I so persecuted? He will not +take a refusal. There are sacred reasons. I am supported by every woman +having the sense of her dignity. I am perverted, burlesqued by the fury +of wrath I feel at their incessant pursuit. And I despise Mr. Osier and +Mr. Swithin because they have an air of pious agreement with the Dame, +and are conspirators behind their mask. + +LYRA: False, false men! + +ASTRAEA: They come to me. I am complimented on being the vulnerable +spot. + +LYRA: The object desired is usually addressed by suitors, my poor +Astraea! + +ASTRAEA: With the assumption, that as I am feminine I must necessarily +be in the folds of the horrible constrictor they call Love, and that I +leap to the thoughts of their debasing marriage. + +LYRA: One of them goes to Mr. Homeware. + +ASTRAEA: All are sent to him in turn. He can dispose of them. + +LYRA: Now that is really masterly fun, my dear; most creditable to you! +Love, marriage, a troop of suitors, and uncle Homeware. No, it would +not have occurred to me, and--I am considered to have some humour. +Of course, he disposes of them. He seemed to have a fairly favourable +opinion of Mr. Arden. + +ASTRAEA: I do not share it. He is the least respectful of the sentiments +entertained by me. Pray, spare me the mention of him, as you say of your +husband. He has that pitiful conceit in men, which sets them thinking +that a woman must needs be susceptible to the declaration of the mere +existence of their passion. He is past argument. Impossible for him +to conceive a woman's having a mind above the conditions of her sex. A +woman, according to him, can have no ideal of life, except as a ball to +toss in the air and catch in a cup. Put him aside.... We creatures are +doomed to marriage, and if we shun it, we are a kind of cripple. He +is grossly earthy in his view of us. We are unable to move a step +in thought or act unless we submit to have a husband. That is his +reasoning. Nature! Nature! I have to hear of Nature! We must be above +Nature, I tell him, or, we shall be very much below. He is ranked among +our clever young men; and he can be amusing. So far he passes muster; +and he has a pleasant voice. I dare say he is an uncle Homeware's good +sort of boy. Girls like him. Why does he not fix his attention upon one +of them; Why upon me? We waste our time in talking of him.... The secret +of it is, that he has no reverence. The marriage he vaunts is a mere +convenient arrangement for two to live together under command of nature. +Reverence for the state of marriage is unknown to him. How explain my +feeling? I am driven into silence. Cease to speak of him.... He is the +dupe of his eloquence--his passion, he calls it. I have only to trust +myself to him, and--I shall be one of the world's married women! Words +are useless. How am I to make him see that it is I who respect the state +of marriage by refusing; not he by perpetually soliciting. Once married, +married for ever. Widow is but a term. When women hold their own against +him, as I have done, they will be more esteemed. I have resisted and +conquered. I am sorry I do not share in the opinion of your favourite. + +LYRA: Mine? + +ASTRAEA: You spoke warmly of him. + +LYRA: Warmly, was it? + +ASTRAEA: You are not blamed, my dear: he has a winning manner. + +LYRA: I take him to be a manly young fellow, smart enough; handsome too. + +ASTRAEA: Oh, he has good looks. + +LYRA: And a head, by repute. + +ASTRAEA: For the world's work, yes. + +LYRA: Not romantic. + +ASTRAEA: Romantic ideas are for dreamy simperers. + +LYRA: Amazons repudiate them. + +ASTRAEA: Laugh at me. Half my time I am laughing at myself. I should +regain my pride if I could be resolved on a step. I am strong to resist; +I have not strength to move. + +LYRA: I see the sphinx of Egypt! + +ASTRAEA: And all the while I am a manufactory of gunpowder in this quiet +old-world Sabbath circle of dear good souls, with their stereotyped +interjections, and orchestra of enthusiasms; their tapering delicacies: +the rejoicing they have in their common agreement on all created things. +To them it is restful. It spurs me to fly from rooms and chairs and +beds and houses. I sleep hardly a couple of hours. Then into the early +morning air, out with the birds; I know no other pleasure. + +LYRA: Hospital work for a variation: civil or military. The former +involves the house-surgeon: the latter the grateful lieutenant. + +ASTRAEA: Not if a woman can resist... I go to it proof-armoured. + +LYRA: What does the Dame say? + +ASTRAEA: Sighs over me! Just a little maddening to hear. + +LYRA: When we feel we have the strength of giants, and are bidden to +sit and smile! You should rap out some of our old sweet-innocent garden +oaths with her--'Carnation! Dame!' That used to make her dance on her +seat.--'But, dearest Dame, it is as natural an impulse for women to have +that relief as for men; and natural will out, begonia! it will!' We ran +through the book of Botany for devilish objurgations. I do believe our +misconduct caused us to be handed to the good man at the altar as the +right corrective. And you were the worst offender. + +ASTRAEA: Was I? I could be now, though I am so changed a creature. + +LYRA: You enjoy the studies with your Spiral, come! + +ASTRAEA: Professor Spiral is the one honest gentleman here. He does +homage to my principles. I have never been troubled by him: no silly +hints or side-looks--you know, the dog at the forbidden bone. + +LYRA: A grand orator. + +ASTRAEA: He is. You fix on the smallest of his gifts. He is +intellectually and morally superior. + +LYRA: Praise of that kind makes me rather incline to prefer his +inferiors. He fed gobble-gobble on your puffs of incense. I coughed and +scraped the gravel; quite in vain; he tapped for more and more. + +ASTRAEA: Professor Spiral is a thinker; he is a sage. He gives women +their due. + +LYRA: And he is a bachelor too--or consequently. + +ASTRAEA: If you like you may be as playful with me as the Lyra of our +maiden days used to be. My dear, my dear, how glad I am to have you +here! You remind me that I once had a heart. It will beat again with you +beside me, and I shall look to you for protection. A novel request +from me. From annoyance, I mean. It has entirely altered my character. +Sometimes I am afraid to think of what I was, lest I should suddenly +romp, and perform pirouettes and cry 'Carnation!' There is the bell. We +must not be late when the professor condescends to sit for meals. + +LYRA: That rings healthily in the professor. + +ASTRAEA: Arm in arm, my Lyra. + +LYRA: No Pluriel yet! + + (They enter the house, and the time changes to evening of the same + day. The scene is still the garden.) + + SCENE VI + + ASTRAEA, ARDEN + +ASTRAEA: Pardon me if I do not hear you well. + +ARDEN: I will not even think you barbarous. + +ASTRAEA: I am. I am the object of the chase. + +ARDEN: The huntsman draws the wood, then, and not you. + +ASTRAEA: At any instant I am forced to run, + Or turn in my defence: how can I be + Other than barbarous? You are the cause. + +ARDEN: No: heaven that made you beautiful's the cause. + +ASTRAEA: Say, earth, that gave you instincts. Bring me down + To instincts! When by chance I speak awhile + With our professor, you appear in haste, + Full cry to sight again the missing hare. + Away ideas! All that's divinest flies! + I have to bear in mind how young you are. + +ARDEN: You have only to look up to me four years, + Instead of forty! + +ASTRAEA: Sir? + +ARDEN There's my misfortune! + And worse that, young, I love as a young man. + Could I but quench the fire, I might conceal + The youthfulness offending you so much. + +ASTRAEA: I wish you would. I wish it earnestly. + +ARDEN: Impossible. I burn. + +ASTRAEA: You should not burn. + +ARDEN 'Tis more than I. 'Tis fire. It masters will. + You would not say I should not' if you knew fire. + It seizes. It devours. + +ASTRAEA: Dry wood. + +ARDEN: Cold wit! + How cold you can be! But be cold, for sweet + You must be. And your eyes are mine: with them + I see myself: unworthy to usurp + The place I hold a moment. While I look + I have my happiness. + +ASTRAEA: You should look higher. + +ARDEN: Through you to the highest. Only through you! + Through you + The mark I may attain is visible, + And I have strength to dream of winning it. + You are the bow that speeds the arrow: you + The glass that brings the distance nigh. My world + Is luminous through you, pure heavenly, + But hangs upon the rose's outer leaf, + Not next her heart. Astraea! my own beloved! + +ASTRAEA: We may be excellent friends. And I have faults. + +ARDEN: Name them: I am hungering for more to love. + +ASTRAEA: I waver very constantly: I have + No fixity of feeling or of sight. + I have no courage: I can often dream + Of daring: when I wake I am in dread. + I am inconstant as a butterfly, + And shallow as a brook with little fish! + Strange little fish, that tempt the small boy's net, + But at a touch straight dive! I am any one's, + And no one's! I am vain. + Praise of my beauty lodges in my ears. + The lark reels up with it; the nightingale + Sobs bleeding; the flowers nod; I could believe + A poet, though he praised me to my face. + +ARDEN: Never had poet so divine a fount + To drink of! + +ASTRAEA: Have I given you more to love + +ARDEN: More! You have given me your inner mind, + Where conscience in the robes of Justice shoots + Light so serenely keen that in such light + Fair infants, I newly criminal of earth,' + As your friend Osier says, might show some blot. + Seraphs might! More to love? Oh! these dear faults + Lead you to me like troops of laughing girls + With garlands. All the fear is, that you trifle, + Feigning them. + +ASTRAEA: For what purpose? + +ARDEN: Can I guess? +ASTRAEA: + + I think 'tis you who have the trifler's note. + My hearing is acute, and when you speak, + Two voices ring, though you speak fervidly. + Your Osier quotation jars. Beware! + Why were you absent from our meeting-place + This morning? + + +ARDEN: I was on the way, and met + Your uncle Homeware + +ASTRAEA: Ah! + +ARDEN: He loves you. + +ASTRAEA: He loves me: he has never understood. + He loves me as a creature of the flock; + A little whiter than some others. + Yes; He loves me, as men love; not to uplift; + Not to have faith in; not to spiritualize. + For him I am a woman and a widow + One of the flock, unmarked save by a brand. + He said it!--You confess it! You have learnt + To share his error, erring fatally. + +ARDEN: By whose advice went I to him? + +ASTRAEA: By whose? + Pursuit that seemed incessant: persecution. + Besides, I have changed since then: I change; I change; + It is too true I change. I could esteem + You better did you change. And had you heard + The noble words this morning from the mouth + Of our professor, changed were you, or raised + Above love-thoughts, love-talk, and flame and flutter, + High as eternal snows. What said he else, + My uncle Homeware? + +ARDEN: That you were not free: + And that he counselled us to use our wits. + +ASTRAEA: But I am free I free to be ever free! + My freedom keeps me free! He counselled us? + I am not one in a conspiracy. + I scheme no discord with my present life. + Who does, I cannot look on as my friend. + Not free? You know me little. Were I chained, + For liberty I would sell liberty + To him who helped me to an hour's release. + But having perfect freedom... + +ARDEN: No. + +ASTRAEA: Good sir, + You check me? + +ARDEN: Perfect freedom? + +ASTRAEA: Perfect! + +ARDEN: No! + +ASTRAEA: Am I awake? What blinds me? + +ARDEN: Filaments + The slenderest ever woven about a brain + From the brain's mists, by the little sprite called + Fancy. + A breath would scatter them; but that one breath + Must come of animation. When the heart + Is as, a frozen sea the brain spins webs. + +ASTRAEA: 'Tis very singular! + I understand. + You translate cleverly. I hear in verse + My uncle Homeware's prose. He has these notions. + Old men presume to read us. + +ARDEN: Young men may. + You gaze on an ideal reflecting you + Need I say beautiful? Yet it reflects + Less beauty than the lady whom I love + Breathes, radiates. Look on yourself in me. + What harm in gazing? You are this flower + You are that spirit. But the spirit fed + With substance of the flower takes all its bloom! + And where in spirits is the bloom of the flower? + +ASTRAEA: 'Tis very singular. You have a tone + Quite changed. + +ARDEN: You wished a change. To show you, how + I read you... + +ASTRAEA: Oh! no, no. It means dissection. + I never heard of reading character + That did not mean dissection. Spare me that. + I am wilful, violent, capricious, weak, + Wound in a web of my own spinning-wheel, + A star-gazer, a riband in the wind... + +ARDEN: A banner in the wind! and me you lead, + And shall! At least, I follow till I win. + +ASTRAEA: Forbear, I do beseech you. + +ARDEN: I have had + Your hand in mine. + +ASTRAEA: Once. + +ARDEN: Once! + Once! 'twas; once, was the heart alive, + Leaping to break the ice. Oh! once, was aye + That laughed at frosty May like spring's return. + Say you are terrorized: you dare not melt. + You like me; you might love me; but to dare, + Tasks more than courage. Veneration, friends, + Self-worship, which is often self-distrust, + Bar the good way to you, and make a dream + A fortress and a prison. + +ASTRAEA: Changed! you have changed + Indeed. When you so boldly seized my hand + It seemed a boyish freak, done boyishly. + I wondered at Professor Spiral's choice + Of you for an example, and our hope. + Now you grow dangerous. You must have thought, + And some things true you speak-save 'terrorized.' + It may be flattering to sweet self-love + To deem me terrorized.--'Tis my own soul, + My heart, my mind, all that I hold most sacred, + Not fear of others, bids me walk aloof. + Who terrorizes me? Who could? Friends? Never! + The world? as little. Terrorized! + +ARDEN: Forgive me. + +ASTRAEA: I might reply, Respect me. If I loved, + If I could be so faithless as to love, + Think you I would not rather noise abroad + My shame for penitence than let friends dwell + Deluded by an image of one vowed + To superhuman, who the common mock + Of things too human has at heart become. + +ARDEN: You would declare your love? + +ASTRAEA: I said, my shame. + The woman that's the widow is ensnared, + Caught in the toils! away with widows!--Oh! + I hear men shouting it. + +ARDEN: But shame there's none + For me in loving: therefore I may take + Your friends to witness? tell them that my pride + Is in the love of you? + +ASTRAEA: 'Twill soon bring + The silence that should be between us two, + And sooner give me peace. + +ARDEN: And you consent? + +ASTRAEA: For the sake of peace and silence I consent, + You should be warned that you will cruelly + Disturb them. But 'tis best. You should be warned + Your pleading will be hopeless. But 'tis best. + You have my full consent. Weigh well your acts, + You cannot rest where you have cast this bolt + Lay that to heart, and you are cherished, prized, + Among them: they are estimable ladies, + Warmest of friends; though you may think they soar + Too loftily for your measure of strict sense + (And as my uncle Homeware's pupil, sir, + In worldliness, you do), just minds they have: + Once know them, and your banishment will fret. + I would not run such risks. You will offend, + Go near to outrage them; and perturbate + As they have not deserved of you. But I, + Considering I am nothing in the scales + You balance, quite and of necessity + Consent. When you have weighed it, let me hear. + My uncle Homeware steps this way in haste. + We have been talking long, and in full view! + + SCENE VII + + ASTRAEA, ARDEN, HOMEWARE + +HOMEWARE: Astraea, child! You, Arden, stand aside. + Ay, if she were a maid you might speak first, + But being a widow she must find her tongue. + Astraea, they await you. State the fact + As soon as you are questioned, fearlessly. + Open the battle with artillery. + +ASTRAEA: What is the matter, uncle Homeware? + +HOMEWARE (playing fox): What? + Why, we have watched your nice preliminaries + From the windows half the evening. Now run in. + Their patience has run out, and, as I said, + Unlimber and deliver fire at once. + Your aunts Virginia and Winifred, + With Lady Oldlace, are the senators, + The Dame for Dogs. They wear terrific brows, + But be not you affrighted, my sweet chick, + And tell them uncle Homeware backs your choice, + By lawyer and by priests! by altar, fount, + And testament! + +ASTRAEA: My choice! what have I chosen? + +HOMEWARE: She asks? You hear her, Arden?--what and whom! + +ARDEN: Surely, sir!... heavens! have you... + +HOMEWARE: Surely the old fox, + In all I have read, is wiser than the young: + And if there is a game for fox to play, + Old fox plays cunningest. + +ASTRAEA: Why fox? Oh! uncle, + You make my heart beat with your mystery; + I never did love riddles. Why sit they + Awaiting me, and looking terrible? + +HOMEWARE: It is reported of an ancient folk + Which worshipped idols, that upon a day + Their idol pitched before them on the floor + +ASTRAEA: Was ever so ridiculous a tale! + +HOMEWARE To call the attendant fires to account + Their elders forthwith sat... + +ASTRAEA: Is there no prayer + Will move you, uncle Homeware? + +HOMEWARE: God-daughter, + This gentleman for you I have proposed + As husband. + +ASTRAEA: Arden! we are lost. + +ARDEN: Astraea! + Support him! Though I knew not his design, + It plants me in mid-heaven. Would it were + Not you, but I to bear the shock. My love! + We lost, you cry; you join me with you lost! + The truth leaps from your heart: and let it shine + To light us on our brilliant battle day + And victory + +ASTRAEA: Who betrayed me! + +HOMEWARE: Who betrayed? + Your voice, your eyes, your veil, your knife and fork; + Your tenfold worship of your widowhood; + As he who sees he must yield up the flag, + Hugs it oath-swearingly! straw-drowningly. + To be reasonable: you sent this gentleman + Referring him to me.... + +ASTRAEA: And that is false. + All's false. You have conspired. I am disgraced. + But you will learn you have judged erroneously. + I am not the frail creature you conceive. + Between your vision of life's aim, and theirs + Who presently will question me, I cling + To theirs as light: and yours I deem a den + Where souls can have no growth. + +HOMEWARE: But when we touched + The point of hand-pressings, 'twas rightly time + To think of wedding ties? + +ASTRAEA: Arden, adieu! + + (She rushes into house.) + + SCENE VIII + + ARDEN, HOMEWARE + +ARDEN: Adieu! she said. With her that word is final. + +HOMEWARE: Strange! how young people blowing words like clouds + On winds, now fair, now foul, and as they please + Should still attach the Fates to them. + +ARDEN: She's wounded + Wounded to the quick! + +HOMEWARE: The quicker our success: for short + Of that, these dames, who feel for everything, + Feel nothing. + +ARDEN: Your intention has been kind, + Dear sir, but you have ruined me. + +HOMEWARE: Good-night. (Going.) + +ARDEN: Yet she said, we are lost, in her surprise. + +HOMEWARE: Good morning. (Returning.) + +ARDEN: I suppose that I am bound + (If I could see for what I should be glad!) + To thank you, sir. + +HOMEWARE: Look hard but give no thanks. + I found my girl descending on the road + Of breakneck coquetry, and barred her way. + Either she leaps the bar, or she must back. + That means she marries you, or says good-bye. + (Going again.) + +ARDEN: Now she's among them. (Looking at window.) + +HOMEWARE: Now she sees her mind. + +ARDEN: It is my destiny she now decides! + +HOMEWARE: There's now suspense on earth and round the spheres. + +ARDEN: She's mine now: mine! or I am doomed to go. + +HOMEWARE: The marriage ring, or the portmanteau now! + +ARDEN: Laugh as you like, air! I am not ashamed + To love and own it. + +HOMEWARE: So the symptoms show. + Rightly, young man, and proving a good breed. + To further it's a duty to mankind + And I have lent my push, But recollect: + Old Ilion was not conquered in a day. + (He enters house.) + +ARDEN: Ten years! If I may win her at the end! + + CURTAIN + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + A great oration may be a sedative + A male devotee is within an inch of a miracle + Above Nature, I tell him, or, we shall be very much below + As in all great oratory! The key of it is the pathos + Back from the altar to discover that she has chained herself + Cupid clipped of wing is a destructive parasite + Excess of a merit is a capital offence in morality + His idea of marriage is, the taking of the woman into custody + I am a discordant instrument I do not readily vibrate + I like him, I like him, of course, but I want to breathe + I who respect the state of marriage by refusing + Love and war have been compared--Both require strategy + Peace, I do pray, for the husband-haunted wife + Period of his life a man becomes too voraciously constant + Pitiful conceit in men + Rejoicing they have in their common agreement + Self-worship, which is often self-distrust + Suspects all young men and most young women + Their idol pitched before them on the floor + Were I chained, For liberty I would sell liberty + Woman descending from her ideal to the gross reality of man + Your devotion craves an enormous exchange + + + + +MISCELLANEOUS PROSE + + +CONTENTS: + + INTRODUCTION TO W. M. THACKERAY'S "THE FOUR GEORGES" + A PAUSE IN THE STRIFE. + CONCESSION TO THE CELT. + LESLIE STEPHEN. + CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE SEAT OF WAR IN ITALY LETTERS WRITTEN TO THE + 'MORNING POST' FROM THE SEAT OF WAR IN ITALY. + + + + +INTRODUCTION TO W. M. THACKERAY'S "THE FOUR GEORGES" + + +WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY was born at Calcutta, July 18, 1811, the +only child of Richmond and Anne Thackeray. He received the main part of +his education at the Charterhouse, as we know to our profit. Thence he +passed to Cambridge, remaining there from February 1829 to sometime +in 1830. To judge by quotations and allusions, his favourite of the +classics was Horace, the chosen of the eighteenth century, and generally +the voice of its philosophy in a prosperous country. His voyage from +India gave him sight of Napoleon on the rocky island. In his young +manhood he made his bow reverentially to Goethe of Weimar; which did not +check his hand from setting its mark on the sickliness of Werther. + +He was built of an extremely impressionable nature and a commanding +good sense. He was in addition a calm observer, having 'the harvest of a +quiet eye.' Of this combination with the flood of subjects brought up +to judgement in his mind, came the prevalent humour, the enforced +disposition to satire, the singular critical drollery, notable in his +works. His parodies, even those pushed to burlesque, are an expression +of criticism and are more effective than the serious method, while they +rarely overstep the line of justness. The Novels by Eminent Hands do not +pervert the originals they exaggerate. 'Sieyes an abbe, now a ferocious +lifeguardsman,' stretches the face of the rollicking Irish novelist +without disfeaturing him; and the mysterious visitor to the palatial +mansion in Holywell Street indicates possibilities in the Oriental +imagination of the eminent statesman who stooped to conquer fact +through fiction. Thackeray's attitude in his great novels is that of the +composedly urbane lecturer, on a level with a select audience, assured +of interesting, above requirements to excite. The slow movement of the +narrative has a grace of style to charm like the dance of the Minuet de +la Cour: it is the limpidity of Addison flavoured with salt of a racy +vernacular; and such is the veri-similitude and the dialogue that they +might seem to be heard from the mouths of living speakers. When in this +way the characters of Vanity Fair had come to growth, their author was +rightly appreciated as one of the creators in our literature, he took at +once the place he will retain. With this great book and with Esmond and +The Newcomes, he gave a name eminent, singular, and beloved to English +fiction. + +Charges of cynicism are common against all satirists, Thackeray had to +bear with them. The social world he looked at did not show him heroes, +only here and there a plain good soul to whom he was affectionate in +the unhysterical way of an English father patting a son on the head. +He described his world as an accurate observer saw it, he could not be +dishonest. Not a page of his books reveals malevolence or a sneer at +humanity. He was driven to the satirical task by the scenes about him. +There must be the moralist in the satirist if satire is to strike. The +stroke is weakened and art violated when he comes to the front. But he +will always be pressing forward, and Thackeray restrained him as much as +could be done, in the manner of a good-humoured constable. Thackeray may +have appeared cynical to the devout by keeping him from a station in +the pulpit among congregations of the many convicted sinners. That the +moralist would have occupied it and thundered had he presented us with +the Fourth of the Georges we see when we read of his rejecting the +solicitations of so seductive a personage for the satiric rod. + +Himself one of the manliest, the kindliest of human creatures, it was +the love of his art that exposed him to misinterpretation. He did stout +service in his day. If the bad manners he scourged are now lessened to +some degree we pay a debt in remembering that we owe much to him, and if +what appears incurable remains with us, a continued reading of his works +will at least help to combat it. + + + + +A PAUSE IN THE STRIFE--1886 + +Our 'Eriniad,' or ballad epic of the enfranchisement of the sister +island is closing its first fytte for the singer, and with such result +as those Englishmen who have some knowledge of their fellows foresaw. +There are sufficient reasons why the Tories should always be able +to keep together, but let them have the credit of cohesiveness and +subordination to control. Though working for their own ends, they won +the esteem of their allies, which will count for them in the struggles +to follow. Their leaders appear to have seen what has not been +distinctly perceptible to the opposite party--that the break up of the +Liberals means the defection of the old Whigs in permanence, heralding +the establishment of a powerful force against Radicalism, with a capital +cry to the country. They have tactical astuteness. If they seem rather +too proud of their victory, it is merely because, as becomes them, they +do not look ahead. To rejoice in the gaining of a day, without having +clear views of the morrow, is puerile enough. Any Tory victory, it may +be said, is little more than a pause in the strife, unless when the +Radical game is played 'to dish the Whigs,' and the Tories are now fast +bound down by their incorporation of the latter to abstain from the +violent springs and right-about-facings of the Derby-Disraeli period. +They are so heavily weighted by the new combination that their +Jack-in-the-box, Lord Randolph, will have to stand like an ordinary +sentinel on duty, and take the measurement of his natural size. They +must, on the supposition of their entry into office, even to satisfy +their own constituents, produce a scheme. Their majority in the House +will command it. + +To this extent, then, Mr. Gladstone has not been defeated. The question +set on fire by him will never be extinguished until the combustible +matter has gone to ashes. But personally he meets a sharp rebuff. The +Tories may well raise hurrahs over that. Radicals have to admit it, +and point to the grounds of it. Between a man's enemies and his friends +there comes out a rough painting of his character, not without a +resemblance to the final summary, albeit wanting in the justly delicate +historical touch to particular features. On the one side he is abused as +'the one-man power'; lauded on the other for his marvellous intuition +of the popular will. One can believe that he scarcely wishes to march +dictatorially, and full surely his Egyptian policy was from step to step +a misreading of the will of the English people. He went forth on this +campaign, with the finger of Egypt not ineffectively levelled against +him a second time. Nevertheless he does read his English; he has, too, +the fatal tendency to the bringing forth of Bills in the manner of +Jove big with Minerva. He perceived the necessity, and the issue of the +necessity; clearly defined what must come, and, with a higher motive +than the vanity with which his enemies charge him, though not with such +high counsel as Wisdom at his ear, fell to work on it alone, produced +the whole Bill alone, and then handed it to his Cabinet to digest, too +much in love with the thing he had laid and incubated to permit of any +serious dismemberment of its frame. Hence the disruption. He worked +for the future, produced a Bill for the future, and is wrecked in the +present. Probably he can work in no other way than from the impulse of +his enthusiasm, solitarily. It is a way of making men overweeningly in +love with their creations. The consequence is likely to be that Ireland +will get her full measure of justice to appease her cravings earlier +than she would have had as much from the United Liberal Cabinet, but at +a cost both to her and to England. Meanwhile we are to have a House of +Commons incapable of conducting public business; the tradesmen to whom +the Times addressed pathetic condolences on the loss of their season +will lose more than one; and we shall be made sensible that we have an +enemy in our midst, until a people, slow to think, have taken counsel of +their native generosity to put trust in the most generous race on earth. + + + + +CONCESSION TO THE CELT--1886 + +Things are quiet outside an ant-hill until the stick has been thrust +into it. Mr. Gladstone's Bill for helping to the wiser government +of Ireland has brought forth our busy citizens on the top-rubble in +traversing counterswarms, and whatever may be said against a Bill that +deals roughly with many sensitive interests, one asks whether anything +less violently impressive would have roused industrious England to take +this question at last into the mind, as a matter for settlement. +The Liberal leader has driven it home; and wantonly, in the way of a +pedestrian demagogue, some think; certainly to the discomposure of the +comfortable and the myopely busy, who prefer to live on with a disease +in the frame rather than at all be stirred. They can, we see, pronounce +a positive electoral negative; yet even they, after the eighty and odd +years of our domestic perplexity, in the presence of the eighty and +odd members pledged for Home Rule, have been moved to excited inquiries +regarding measures--short of the obnoxious Bill. How much we suffer +from sniffing the vain incense of that word practical, is contempt of +prevision! Many of the measures now being proposed responsively to the +fretful cry for them, as a better alternative to correction by force +of arms, are sound and just. Ten years back, or at a more recent period +before Mr. Parnell's triumph in the number of his followers, they +would have formed a basis for the appeasement of the troubled land. +The institution of county boards, the abolition of the detested Castle, +something like the establishment of a Royal residence in Dublin, would +have begun the work well. Materially and sentimentally, they were the +right steps to take. They are now proposed too late. They are regarded +as petty concessions, insufficient and vexatious. The lower and the +higher elements in the population are fused by the enthusiasm of men who +find themselves marching in full body on a road, under a flag, at the +heels of a trusted leader; and they will no longer be fed with sops. +Petty concessions are signs of weakness to the unsatisfied; they prick +an appetite, they do not close breaches. If our object is, as we hear +it said, to appease the Irish, we shall have to give them the Parliament +their leader demands. It might once have been much less; it may be +worried into a raving, perhaps a desperate wrestling, for still more. +Nations pay Sibylline prices for want of forethought. Mr. Parnell's +terms are embodied in Mr. Gladstone's Bill, to which he and his band +have subscribed. The one point for him is the statutory Parliament, so +that Ireland may civilly govern herself; and standing before the world +as representative of his country, he addresses an applausive audience +when he cites the total failure of England to do that business of +government, as at least a logical reason for the claim. England has +confessedly failed; the world says it, the country admits it. We +have failed, and not because the so-called Saxon is incapable of +understanding the Celt, but owing to our system, suitable enough to us, +of rule by Party, which puts perpetually a shifting hand upon the reins, +and invites the clamour it has to allay. The Irish--the English too in +some degree--have been taught that roaring; in its various forms, is the +trick to open the ears of Ministers. We have encouraged by irritating +them to practise it, until it has become a habit, an hereditary +profession with them. Ministers in turn have defensively adopted the +arts of beguilement, varied by an exercise of the police. We grew +accustomed to periods of Irish fever. The exhaustion ensuing we named +tranquillity, and hoped that it would bear fruit. But we did not plant. +The Party in office directed its attention to what was uppermost and +urgent--to that which kicked them. Although we were living, by common +consent; with a disease in the frame, eruptive at intervals, a national +disfigurement always a danger, the Ministerial idea of arresting it +for the purpose of healing was confined, before the passing of Mr. +Gladstone's well-meant Land Bill, to the occasional despatch of +commissions; and, in fine, we behold through History the Irish malady +treated as a form of British constitutional gout. Parliament touched +on the Irish only when the Irish were active as a virus. Our later +alternations of cajolery and repression bear painful resemblance to the +nervous fit of rickety riders compounding with their destinations that +they may keep their seats. The cajolery was foolish, if an end was in +view; the repression inefficient. To repress efficiently we have to +stifle a conscience accusing us of old injustice, and forget that we are +sworn to freedom. The cries that we have been hearing for Cromwell or +for Bismarck prove the existence of an impatient faction in our midst +fitter to wear the collars of those masters whom they invoke than to +drop a vote into the ballot-box. As for the prominent politicians +who have displaced their rivals partly on the strength of an implied +approbation of those cries, we shall see how they illumine the councils +of a governing people. They are wiser than the barking dogs. Cromwell +and Bismarck are great names; but the harrying of Ireland did not settle +it, and to Germanize a Posen and call it peace will find echo only in +the German tongue. Posen is the error of a master-mind too much given to +hammer at obstacles. He has, however, the hammer. Can it be imagined +in English hands? The braver exemplar for grappling with monstrous +political tasks is Cavour, and he would not have hinted at the iron +method or the bayonet for a pacification. Cavour challenged debate; he +had faith in the active intellect, and that is the thing to be prayed +for by statesmen who would register permanent successes. The Irish, +it is true, do not conduct an argument coolly. Mr. Parnell and his +eighty-five have not met the Conservative leader and his following in +the Commons with the gravity of platonic disputants. But they have +a logical position, equivalent to the best of arguments. They are +representatives, they would say, of a country admittedly ill-governed by +us; and they have accepted the Bill of the defeated Minister as final. +Its provisions are their terms of peace. They offer in return for that +boon to take the burden we have groaned under off our hands. If we +answer that we think them insincere, we accuse these thrice accredited +representatives of the Irish people of being hypocrites and crafty +conspirators; and numbers in England, affected by the weapons they have +used to get to their present strength, do think it; forgetful that +our obtuseness to their constant appeals forced them into the extremer +shifts of agitation. Yet it will hardly be denied that these men love +Ireland; and they have not shown themselves by their acts to be insane. +To suppose them conspiring for separation indicates a suspicion that +they have neither hearts nor heads. For Ireland, separation is immediate +ruin. It would prove a very short sail for these conspirators before the +ship went down. The vital necessity of the Union for both, countries, +obviously for the weaker of the two, is known to them; and unless we +resume our exasperation of the wild fellow the Celt can be made by such +a process, we have not rational grounds for treating him, or treating +with him, as a Bedlamite. He has besides his passions shrewd sense; and +his passions may be rightly directed by benevolent attraction. This is +language derided by the victorious enemy; it speaks nevertheless what +the world, and even troubled America, thinks of the Irish Celt. More of +it now on our side of the Channel would be serviceable. The notion that +he hates the English comes of his fevered chafing against the harness of +England, and when subject to his fevers, he is unrestrained in his cries +and deeds. That pertains to the nature of him. Of course, if we have no +belief in the virtues of friendliness and confidence--none in regard to +the Irishman--we show him his footing, and we challenge the issue. +For the sole alternative is distinct antagonism, a form of war. Mr. +Gladstone's Bill has brought us to that definite line. Ireland having +given her adhesion to it, swearing that she does so in good faith, +and will not accept a smaller quantity, peace is only to be had by our +placing trust in the Irish; we trust them or we crush them. Intermediate +ways are but the prosecution of our ugly flounderings in Bogland; and +dubious as we see the choice on either side, a decisive step to right or +left will not show us to the world so bemired, to ourselves so miserably +inefficient, as we appear in this session of a new Parliament. With his +eighty-five, apart from external operations lawful or not, Mr. Parnell +can act as a sort of lumbricus in the House. Let journalists watch and +chronicle events: if Mr. Gladstone has humour, they will yet note a +peculiar smile on his closed mouth from time to time when the alien body +within the House, from which, for the sake of its dignity and ability to +conduct its affairs, he would have relieved it till the day of a +warmer intelligence between Irish and English, paralyzes our machinery +business. An ably-handled coherent body in the midst of the liquid +groups will make it felt that Ireland is a nation, naturally dependent +though she must be. We have to do with forces in politics, and the great +majority of the Irish Nationalists in Ireland has made them a force. + +No doubt Mr. Matthew Arnold is correct in his apprehensions of the +dangers we may fear from a Dublin House of Commons. The declarations +and novel or ultra theories might almost be written down beforehand. +I should, for my part, anticipate a greater danger in the familiar +attitude of the English metropolitan Press and public toward an +experiment they dislike and incline to dread:--the cynical comments, the +quotations between inverted commas, the commiserating shrug, cold irony, +raw banter, growl of menace, sharp snap, rounds of laughter. Frenchmen +of the Young Republic, not presently appreciated as offensive, have had +some of these careless trifles translated for them, and have been stung. +We favoured Germany with them now and then, before Germany became the +first power in Europe. Before America had displayed herself as greatest +among the giants that do not go to pieces, she had, as Americans +forgivingly remember, without mentioning, a series of flicks of the +whip. It is well to learn manners without having them imposed on us. +There are various ways for tripping the experiment. Nevertheless, when +the experiment is tried, considering that our welfare is involved in its +not failing, as we have failed, we should prepare to start it cordially, +cordially assist it. Thoughtful political minds regard the measure as a +backward step; yet conceiving but a prospect that a measure accepted by +Home Rulers will possibly enable the Irish and English to step +together, it seems better worth the venture than to pursue a course of +prospectless discord! Whatever we do or abstain from doing has now its +evident dangers, and this being imminent may appear the larger of +them; but if a weighing of the conditions dictates it, and conscience +approves, the wiser proceeding is to make trial of the untried. Our +outlook was preternaturally black, with enormous increase of dangers +when the originator of our species venturesomely arose from the posture +of the 'quatre pattes'. We consider that we have not lost by his +temerity. In states of dubitation under impelling elements, the instinct +pointing to courageous action is, besides the manlier, conjecturably the +right one. + + + + +LESLIE STEPHEN--1904 + +When that noble body of scholarly and cheerful pedestrians, the Sunday +Tramps, were on the march, with Leslie Stephen to lead them, there was +conversation which would have made the presence of a shorthand writer a +benefaction to the country. A pause to it came at the examination of +the leader's watch and Ordnance map under the western sun, and void +was given for the strike across country to catch the tail of a train +offering dinner in London, at the cost of a run through hedges, over +ditches and fellows, past proclamation against trespassers, under +suspicion of being taken for more serious depredators in flight. The +chief of the Tramps had a wonderful calculating eye in the observation +of distances and the nature of the land, as he proved by his discovery +of untried passes in the higher Alps, and he had no mercy for pursy +followers. I have often said of this life-long student and philosophical +head that he had in him the making of a great military captain. He would +not have been opposed to the profession of arms if he had been captured +early for the service, notwithstanding his abomination of bloodshed. +He had a high, calm courage, was unperturbed in a dubious position, and +would confidently take the way out of it which he conceived to be the +better. We have not to deplore that he was diverted from the ways of +a soldier, though England, as the country has been learning of late, +cannot boast of many in uniform who have capacity for leadership. His +work in literature will be reviewed by his lieutenant of Tramps, one +of the ablest of writers!--[Frederic W. Maitland.]--The memory of it +remains with us, as being the profoundest and the most sober criticism +we have had in our time. The only sting in it was an inoffensive +humorous irony that now and then stole out for a roll over, like a furry +cub, or the occasional ripple on a lake in grey weather. We have nothing +left that is like it. + +One might easily fall into the pit of panegyric by an enumeration of his +qualities, personal and literary. It would not be out of harmony with +the temper and characteristics of a mind so equable. He, the equable, +whether in condemnation or eulogy. Our loss of such a man is great, for +work was in his brain, and the hand was active till close upon the time +when his breathing ceased. The loss to his friends can be replaced only +by an imagination that conjures him up beside them. That will be no task +to those who have known him well enough to see his view of things +as they are, and revive his expression of it. With them he will live +despite the word farewell. + + + + +CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE SEAT OF WAR IN ITALY + +LETTERS WRITTEN TO THE MORNING POST FROM THE SEAT OF WAR IN ITALY FROM +OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT + +FERRARA, June 22, 1866. + +Before this letter reaches London the guns will have awakened both the +echo of the old river Po and the classical Mincio. The whole of the +troops, about 110,000 men, with which Cialdini intends to force the +passage of the first-named river are already massed along the right +bank of the Po, anxiously waiting that the last hour of to-morrow should +strike, and that the order for action should be given. The telegraph +will have already informed your readers that, according to the +intimation sent by General Lamarmora on Tuesday evening to the Austrian +headquarters, the three days fixed by the general's message before +beginning hostilities will expire at twelve p.m. of the 23rd of June. + +Cialdini's headquarters have been established in this city since +Wednesday morning, and the famous general, in whom the fourth corps +he commands, and the whole of the nation, has so much confidence, has +concentrated the whole of his forces within a comparatively narrow +compass, and is ready for action. I believe therefore that by to-morrow +the right bank of the Po will be connected with the mainland of the +Polesine by several pontoon bridges, which will enable Cialdini's corps +d'armee to cross the river, and, as everybody here hopes, to cross it in +spite of any defence the Austrians may make. + +On my way to this ancient city last evening I met General Cadogan and +two superior Prussian officers, who by this time must have joined Victor +Emmanuel's headquarters at Cremona; if not, they have been by this +time transferred elsewhere, more on the front, towards the line of the +Mincio, on which, according to appearance, the first, second, and third +Italian corps d'armee seem destined to operate. The English general +and the two Prussian officers above mentioned are to follow the king's +staff, the first as English commissioner, the superior in rank of the +two others in the same capacity. + +I have been told here that, before leaving Bologna, Cialdini held a +general council of the commanders of the seven divisions of which his +powerful corps d'armee is formed, and that he told them that, in spite +of the forces the enemy has massed on the left bank of the Po, between +the point which faces Stellata and Rovigo, the river must be crossed +by his troops, whatever might be the sacrifice this important operation +requires. Cialdini is a man who knows how to keep his word, and, for +this reason, I have no doubt he will do what he has already made up his +mind to accomplish. I am therefore confident that before two or three +days have elapsed, these 110,000 Italian troops, or a great part of +them, will have trod, for the Italians, the sacred land of Venetia. + +Once the river Po crossed by Cialdini's corps d'armee, he will boldly +enter the Polesine and make himself master of the road which leads +by Rovigo towards Este and Padua. A glance at the map will show your +readers how, at about twenty or thirty miles from the first-mentioned +town, a chain of hills, called the Colli Euganei, stretches itself from +the last spur of the Julian Alps, in the vicinity of Vicenza, gently +sloping down towards the sea. As this line affords good positions for +contesting the advance of an army crossing the Po at Lago Scuro, or at +any other point not far from it, it is to be supposed that the Austrians +will make a stand there, and I should not be surprised at all that +Cialdini's first battle, if accepted by the enemy, should take place +within that comparatively narrow ground which is within Montagnana, +Este, Terradura, Abano, and Padua. It is impossible to suppose that +Cialdini's corps d'armee, being so large, is destined to cross the Po +only at one point of the river below its course: it is extremely likely +that part of it should cross it at some point above, between Revere and +Stellata, where the river is in two or three instances only 450 metres +wide. Were the Italian general to be successful--protected as he will +be by the tremendous fire of the powerful artillery he disposes of--in +these twofold operations, the Austrians defending the line of the Colli +Euganei could be easily outflanked by the Italian troops, who would +have crossed the river below Lago Scuro. Of course these are mere +suppositions, for nobody, as you may imagine, except the king, Cialdini +himself, Lamarmora, Pettiti, and Menabrea, is acquainted with the +plan of the forthcoming campaign. There was a rumour at Cialdini's +headquarters to-day that the Austrians had gathered in great numbers +in the Polesine, and especially at Rovigo, a small town which they +have strongly fortified of late, with an apparent design to oppose the +crossing of the Po, were Cialdini to attempt it at or near Lago Scuro. +There are about Rovigo large tracts of marshes and fields cut by ditches +and brooks, which, though owing to the dryness of the season [they] +cannot be, as it was generally believed two weeks ago, easily inundated, +yet might well aid the operations the Austrians may undertake in order +to check the advance of the Italian fourth corps d'armee. The resistance +to the undertaking of Cialdini may be, on the part of the Austrians, +very stout, but I am almost certain that it will be overcome by the +ardour of Italian troops, and by the skill of their illustrious leader. + +As I told you above, the declaration of war was handed over to an +Austrian major for transmission to Count Stancowick, the Austrian +governor of Mantua, on the evening of the 19th, by Colonel Bariola, +sous-chef of the general staff, who was accompanied by the Duke Luigi +of Sant' Arpino, the husband of the amiable widow of Lord Burghersh. +The duke is the eldest son of Prince San Teodoro, one of the wealthiest +noblemen of Naples. In spite of his high position and of his family +ties, the Duke of Sant' Arpino, who is well known in London fashionable +society, entered as a volunteer in the Italian army, and was appointed +orderly officer to General Lamarmora. The choice of such a gentleman +for the mission I am speaking of was apparently made with intention, +in order to show the Austrians, that the Neapolitan nobility is as much +interested in the national movement as the middle and lower classes of +the Kingdom, once so fearfully misruled by the Bourbons. The Duke of +Sant' Arpino is not the only Neapolitan nobleman who has enlisted in the +Italian army since the war with Austria broke out. In order to show +you the importance which must be given to this pronunciamiento of the +Neapolitan noblemen, allow me to give you here a short list of the names +of those of them who have enlisted as private soldiers in the cavalry +regiments of the regular army: The Duke of Policastro; the Count of +Savignano Guevara, the eldest son of the Duke of Bovino; the Duke d'Ozia +d'Angri, who had emigrated in 1860, and returned to Naples six months +ago; Marquis Rivadebro Serra; Marquis Pisicelli, whose family had left +Naples in 1860 out of devotion to Francis II.; two Carraciolos, of the +historical family from which sprung the unfortunate Neapolitan admiral +of this name, whose head Lord Nelson would have done better not to +have sacrificed to the cruelty of Queen Caroline; Prince Carini, the +representative of an illustrious family of Sicily, a nephew of the +Marquis del Vasto; and Pescara, a descendant of that great general +of Charles V., to whom the proud Francis I. of France was obliged to +surrender and give up his sword at the battle of Pavia. Besides these +Neapolitan noblemen who have enlisted of late as privates, the Italian +army now encamped on the banks of the Po and of the Mincio may boast of +two Colonnas, a prince of Somma, two Barons Renzi, an Acquaviva, of the +Duke of Atri, two Capece, two Princes Buttera, etc. To return to the +mission of Colonel Bariola and the Duke of Sant' Arpino, I will add some +details which were told me this morning by a gentleman who left +Cremona yesterday evening, and who had them from a reliable source. The +messenger of General Lamarmora had been directed to proceed from Cremona +to the small village of Le Grazie, which, on the line of the Mincio, +marks the Austrian and Italian frontier. + +On the right bank of the Lake of Mantua, in the year 1340, stood a small +chapel containing a miraculous painting of the Madonna, called by the +people of the locality 'Santa Maria delle Grazie.' The boatmen and +fishermen of the Mincio, who had been, as they said, often saved from +certain death by the Madonna--as famous in those days as the modern +Lady of Rimini, celebrated for the startling feat of winking her +eyes--determined to erect for her a more worthy abode. + +Hence arose the Santuario delle Grazie. Here, as at Loretto and other +holy localities of Italy, a fair is held, in which, amongst a great +number of worldly things, rosaries, holy images, and other miraculous +objects are sold, and astounding boons are said to be secured at the +most trifling expense. The Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie enjoying +a far-spread reputation, the dumb, deaf, blind, and halt-in short, +people afflicted with all sorts of infirmities--flock thither during the +fair, and are not wanting even on the other days of the year. The church +of Le Grazie is one of the most curious of Italy. Not that there is +anything remarkable in its architecture, for it is an Italian Gothic +structure of the simplest style. But the ornamental part of the interior +is most peculiar. The walls of the building are covered with a double +row of wax statues, of life size, representing a host of warriors, +cardinals, bishops, kings, and popes, who--as the story runs--pretended +to have received some wonderful grace during their earthly existence. +Amongst the grand array of illustrious personages, there are not a few +humbler individuals whose history is faithfully told (if you choose to +credit it) by the painted inscriptions below. There is even a convict, +who, at the moment of being hanged, implored succour of the all-powerful +Madonna, whereupon the beam of the gibbet instantly broke, and the +worthy individual was restored to society--a very doubtful benefit after +all. On Colonel Bariola and the Duke of Sant' Arpino arriving at this +place, which is only five miles distant from Mantua, their carriage was +naturally stopped by the commissaire of the Austrian police, whose duty +was to watch the frontier. Having told him that they had a despatch to +deliver either to the military governor of Mantua or to some officer +sent by him to receive it, the commissaire at once despatched a mounted +gendarme to Mantua. Two hours had scarcely elapsed when a carriage drove +into the village of Le Grazie, from which an Austrian major of infantry +alighted and hastened to a wooden hut where the two Italian officers +were waiting. Colonel Bariola, who was trained in the Austrian military +school of Viller Nashstad, and regularly left the Austrian service in +1848, acquainted the newly-arrived major with his mission, which was +that of delivering the sealed despatch to the general in command +of Mantua and receiving for it a regular receipt. The despatch was +addressed to the Archduke Albert, commander-in-chief of the Austrian +army of the South, care of the governor of Mantua. After the major had +delivered the receipt, the three messengers entered into a courteous +conversation, during which Colonel Bariola seized an opportunity +of presenting the duke, purposely laying stress on the fact of his +belonging to one of the most illustrious families of Naples. It happened +that the Austrian major had also been trained in the same school where +Colonel Bariola was brought up--a circumstance of which he was reminded +by the Austrian officer himself. Three hours had scarcely elapsed from +the arrival of the two Italian messengers of war at Le Grazie, on the +Austrian frontier, when they were already on their way back to the +headquarters of Cremona, where during the night the rumour was current +that a telegram had been received by Lamarmora from Verona, in which +Archduke Albert accepted the challenge. Victor Emmanuel, whom I saw at +Bologna yesterday, arrived at Cremona in the morning at two o'clock, but +by this time his Majesty's headquarters must have removed more towards +the front, in the direction of the Oglio. I should not be at all +surprised were the Italian headquarters to be established by to-morrow +either at Piubega or Gazzoldo, if not actually at Goito, a village, as +you know, which marks the Italian-Austrian frontier on the Mincio. The +whole of the first, second, and third Italian corps d'armee are by this +time concentrated within that comparatively narrow space which lies +between the position of Castiglione, Delle Stiviere, Lorrato, and +Desenzano, on the Lake of Garda, and Solferino on one side; Piubega, +Gazzoldo, Sacca, Goito, and Castellucchio on the other. Are these three +corps d'armee to attack when they hear the roar of Cialdini's artillery +on the right bank of the Po? Are they destined to force the passage +of the Mincio either at Goito or at Borghetto? or are they destined to +invest Verona, storm Peschiera, and lay siege to Mantua? This is more +than I can tell you, for, I repeat it, the intentions of the +Italian leaders are enveloped in a veil which nobody--the Austrians +included--has as yet been able to penetrate. One thing, however, is +certain, and it is this, that as the clock of Victor Emmanuel marks +the last minute of the seventy-second hour fixed by the declaration +delivered at Le Grazie on Wednesday by Colonel Bariola to the Austrian +major, the fair land where Virgil was born and Tasso was imprisoned will +be enveloped by a thick cloud of the smoke of hundreds and hundreds of +cannon. Let us hope that God will be in favour of right and justice, +which, in this imminent and fierce struggle, is undoubtedly on the +Italian side. + +CREMONA, June 30, 1866. + +The telegraph will have already informed you of the concentration of the +Italian army, whose headquarters have since Tuesday been removed from +Redondesco to Piadena, the king having chosen the adjacent villa of +Cigognolo for his residence. The concentrating movements of the royal +army began on the morning of the 27th, i.e., three days after the bloody +fait d'armes of the 24th, which, narrated and commented on in different +manners according to the interests and passions of the narrators, still +remains for many people a mystery. At the end of this letter you will +see that I quote a short phrase with which an Austrian major, now +prisoner of war, portrayed the results of the fierce struggle fought +beyond the Mincio. This officer is one of the few survivors of a +regiment of Austrian volunteers, uhlans, two squadrons of which he +himself commanded. The declaration made by this officer was thoroughly +explicit, and conveys the exact idea of the valour displayed by the +Italians in that terrible fight. Those who incline to overrate the +advantages obtained by the Austrians on Sunday last must not forget that +if Lamarmora had thought proper to persist in holding the positions of +Valeggio, Volta, and Goito, the Austrians could not have prevented him. +It seems the Austrian general-in-chief shared this opinion, for, after +his army had carried with terrible sacrifices the positions of Monte +Vento and Custozza, it did not appear, nor indeed did the Austrians +then give any signs, that they intended to adopt a more active system of +warfare. It is the business of a commander to see that after a victory +the fruit of it should not be lost, and for this reason the enemy is +pursued and molested, and time is not left him for reorganization. +Nothing of this happened after the 24th--nothing has been done by the +Austrians to secure such results. The frontier which separates the two +dominions is now the same as it was on the eve of the declaration of +war. At Goito, at Monzambano, and in the other villages of the extreme +frontier, the Italian authorities are still discharging their duties. +Nothing is changed in those places, were we to except that now and then +an Austrian cavalry party suddenly makes its appearance, with the only +object of watching the movements of the Italian army. One of these +parties, formed by four squadrons of the Wurtemberg hussar regiment, +having advanced at six o'clock this morning on the right bank of the +Mincio, met the fourth squadron of the Italian lancers of Foggia and +were beaten back, and compelled to retire in disorder towards Goito and +Rivolta. In this unequal encounter the Italian lancers distinguished +themselves very much, made some Austrian hussars prisoners, and killed a +few more, amongst whom was an officer. The same state of thing, prevails +at Rivottella, a small village on the shores of the Lake of Garda, about +four miles distant from the most advanced fortifications of Peschiera. +There, as elsewhere, some Austrian parties advanced with the object of +watching the movements of the Garibaldians, who occupy the hilly ground, +which from Castiglione, Eseuta, and Cartel Venzago stretches to Lonato, +Salo, and Desenzano, and to the mountain passes of Caffaro. In the +last-named place the Garibaldians came to blows with the Austrians on +the morning of the 28th, and the former got the best of the fray. Had +the fait d'armes of the 24th, or the battle of Custozza, as Archduke +Albrecht calls it, been a great victory for the Austrians, why should +the imperial army remain in such inaction? The only conclusion we must +come to is simply this, that the Austrian losses have been such as +to induce the commander-in-chief of the army to act prudently on the +defensive. We are now informed that the charges of cavalry which +the Austrian lancers and the Hungarian hussars had to sustain near +Villafranca on the 24th with the Italian horsemen of the Aorta and +Alessandria regiments have been so fatal to the former that a whole +division of the Kaiser cavalry must be reorganised before it can be +brought into the field main. + +The regiment of Haller hussars and two of volunteer uhlans were almost +destroyed in that terrible charge. To give you an idea of this cavalry +encounter, it is sufficient to say that Colonel Vandoni, at the head of +the Aorta regiment he commands, charged fourteen times during the short +period of four hours. The volunteer uhlans of the Kaiser regiment had +already given up the idea of breaking through the square formed by the +battalion, in the centre of which stood Prince Humbert of Savoy, +when they were suddenly charged and literally cut to pieces by the +Alessandria light cavalry, in spite of the long lances they carried. +This weapon and the loose uniform they wear makes them resemble the +Cossacks of the Don. There is one circumstance, which, if I am not +mistaken, has not as yet been published by the newspapers, and it +is this. There was a fight on the 25th on a place at the north of +Roverbella, between the Italian regiment of Novara cavalry and a +regiment of Hungarian hussars, whose name is not known. This regiment +was so thoroughly routed by the Italians that it was pursued as far as +Villafranca, and had two squadrons put hors de combat, whilst the Novara +regiment only lost twenty-four mounted men. I think it right to mention +this, for it proves that, the day after the bloody affair of the +24th, the Italian army had still a regiment of cavalry operating at +Villafranca, a village which lay at a distance of fifteen kilometres +from the Italian frontier. A report, which is much accredited here, +explains how the Italian army did not derive the advantages it might +have derived from the action of the 24th. It appears that the orders +issued from the Italian headquarters during the previous night, and +especially the verbal instructions given by Lamarmora and Pettiti to +the staff officers of the different army corps, were either forgotten or +misunderstood by those officers. Those sent to Durando, the commander +of the first corps, seem to have been as follows: That he should have +marched in the direction of Castelnuovo, without, however, taking part +in the action. Durando, it is generally stated, had strictly adhered to +the orders sent from the headquarters, but it seems that General +Cerale understood them too literally. Having been ordered to march on +Castelnuovo, and finding the village strongly held by the Austrians, who +received his division with a tremendous fire, he at once engaged in the +action instead of falling back on the reserve of the first corps and +waiting new instructions. If such was really the case, it is evident +that Cerale thought that the order to march which he had received +implied that he was to attack and get possession of Castelnuovo, had +this village, as it really was, already been occupied by the enemy. In +mentioning this fact I feel bound to observe that I write it under the +most complete reserve, for I should be sorry indeed to charge General +Cerale with having misunderstood such an important order. + +I see that one of your leading contemporaries believes that it would be +impossible for the king or Lamarmora to say what result they expected +from their ill-conceived and worse-executed attempt. The result they +expected is, I think, clear enough; they wanted to break through the +quadrilateral and make their junction with Cialdini, who was ready +to cross the Po during the night of the 24th. That the attempt was +ill-conceived and worse-executed, neither your contemporary nor the +public at large has, for the present, the right to conclude, for no one +knows as yet but imperfectly the details of the terrible fight. What is +certain, however, is that General Durando, perceiving that the Cerale +division was lost, did all that he could to help it. Failing in this he +turned to his two aides-de-camp and coolly said to them: + +'Now, gentlemen, it is time for you to retire, for I have a duty to +perform which is a strictly personal one--the duty of dying.' On saying +these words he galloped to the front and placed himself at about twenty +paces from a battalion of Austrian sharp-shooters which were ascending +the hill. In less than five minutes his horse was killed under him, +and he was wounded in the right hand. I scarcely need add that his +aides-de-camp did not flinch from sharing Durando's fate. They bravely +followed their general, and one, the Marquis Corbetta, was wounded in +the leg; the other, Count Esengrini, had his horse shot under him. I +called on Durando, who is now at Milan, the day before yesterday. Though +a stranger to him, he received me at once, and, speaking of the action +of the 24th, he only said: 'I have the satisfaction of having done my +duty. I wait tranquilly the judgement of history.' + +Assuming, for argument's sake, that General Cerale misunderstood the +orders he had received, and that, by precipitating his movement, he +dragged into the same mistake the whole of Durando's corps--assuming, I +say, this to be the right version, you can easily explain the fact that +neither of the two contending parties are as yet in a position clearly +to describe the action of the 24th. Why did neither the one nor the +other display and bring into action the whole forces they could have had +at their disposal? Why so many partial engagements at a great distance +one from the other? In a word, why that want of unity, which, in +my opinion, constituted the paramount characteristic of that bloody +struggle? I may be greatly mistaken, but I am of opinion that neither +the Italian general-in-chief nor the Austrian Archduke entertained +on the night of the 23rd the idea of delivering a battle on the 24th. +There, and only there, lies the whole mystery of the affair. The total +want of unity of action on the part of the Italians assured to the +Austrians, not the victory, but the chance of rendering impossible +Lamarmora's attempt to break through the quadrilateral. This no one can +deny; but, on the other hand, if the Italian army failed in attaining +its object, the failure-owing to the bravery displayed both by the +soldiers and by the generals-was far from being a disastrous or +irreparable one. The Italians fought from three o'clock in the morning +until nine in the evening like lions, showing to their enemies and to +Europe that they know how to defend their country, and that they are +worthy of the noble enterprise they have undertaken. + +But let me now register one of the striking episodes of that memorable +day. It was five o'clock p.m. when General Bixio, whose division held an +elevated position not far from Villafranca, was attacked by three strong +Austrian brigades, which had debouched at the same time from three +different roads, supported with numerous artillery. An officer of the +Austrian staff, waving a white handkerchief, was seen galloping towards +the front of Bixio's position, and, once in the presence of this +general, bade him surrender. Those who are not personally acquainted +with Bixio cannot form an idea of the impression this bold demand +must have made on him. I have been told that, on hearing the word +'surrender,' his face turned suddenly pale, then flushed like purple, +and darting at the Austrian messenger, said, 'Major, if you dare to +pronounce once more the word surrender in my presence, I tell you--and +Bixio always keeps his word--that I will have you shot at once.' The +Austrian officer had scarcely reached the general who had sent him, than +Bixio, rapidly moving his division, fell with such impetuosity on the +Austrian column, which were ascending the hill, that they were thrown +pellmell in the valley, causing the greatest confusion amongst their +reserve. Bixio himself led his men, and with his aides-de-camp, +Cavaliere Filippo Fermi, Count Martini, and Colonel Malenchini, all +Tuscans, actually charged the enemy. I have been told that, on hearing +this episode, Garibaldi said, 'I am not at all surprised, for Bixio is +the best general I have made.' Once the enemy was repulsed, Bixio was +ordered to manoeuvre so as to cover the backward movement of the army, +which was orderly and slowly retiring on the Mincio. Assisted by the +co-operation of the heavy cavalry, commanded by General Count de Sonnaz, +Bixio covered the retreat, and during the night occupied Goito, a +position which he held till the evening of the 27th. + +In consequence of the concentrating movement of the Italian army which +I have mentioned at the beginning of this letter, the fourth army corps +(Cialdini's) still holds the line of the Po. If I am rightly informed, +the decree for the formation of the fourth army corps was signed by the +king yesterday. This corps is that of Garibaldi, and is about 40,000 +strong. An officer who has just returned from Milan told me this morning +that he had had an opportunity of speaking with the Austrian prisoners +sent from Milan to the fortress of Finestrelle in Piedmont. Amongst +them was an officer of a uhlan regiment, who had all the appearance of +belonging to some aristocratic family of Austrian Poland. Having been +asked if he thought Austria had really gained the battle on the 24th, he +answered: 'I do not know if the illusions of the Austrian army go so far +as to induce it to believe it has obtained a victory--I do not believe +it. He who loves Austria cannot, however, wish she should obtain such +victories, for they are the victories of Pyrrhus! + +There is at Verona some element in the Austrian councils of war which +we don't understand, but which gives to their operations in this present +phase of the campaign just as uncertain and as vacillating a character +as it possessed during the campaign of 1859. On Friday they are still +beyond the Mincio, and on Saturday their small fleet on the Lake of +Garda steams up to Desenzano, and opens fire against this defenceless +city and her railway station, whilst two battalions of Tyrolese +sharp-shooters occupy the building. On Sunday they retire, but early +yesterday they cross the Mincio, at Goito and Monzambano, and begin to +throw two bridges over the same river, between the last-named place +and the mills of Volta. At the same time they erect batteries at Goito, +Torrione, and Valeggio, pushing their reconnoitring parties of hussars +as far as Medole, Castiglione delle Stiviere, and Montechiara, this +last-named place being only at a distance of twenty miles from Brescia. +Before this news reached me here this morning I was rather inclined to +believe that they were playing at hide-and-seek, in the hope that the +leaders of the Italian army should be tempted by the game and repeat, +for the second time, the too hasty attack on the quadrilateral. This +news, which I have from a reliable source, has, however, changed my +former opinion, and I begin to believe that the Austrian Archduke +has really made up his mind to come out from the strongholds of +the quadrilateral, and intends actually to begin war on the very +battlefields where his imperial cousin was beaten on the 24th June 1859. +It may be that the partial disasters sustained by Benedek in Germany +have determined the Austrian Government to order a more active system +of war against Italy, or, as is generally believed here, that the +organisation of the commissariat was not perfect enough with the army +Archduke Albert commands to afford a more active and offensive action. +Be that as it may, the fact is that the news received here from several +parts of Upper Lombardy seems to indicate, on the part of the Austrians, +the intention of attacking their adversaries. + +Yesterday whilst the peaceable village of Gazzoldo--five Italian miles +from Goito--was still buried in the silence of night it was occupied by +400 hussars, to the great consternation of the people who were roused +from their sleep by the galloping of their unexpected visitors. The +sindaco, or mayor of the village, who is the chemist of the place, +was, I hear, forcibly taken from his house and compelled to escort the +Austrians on the road leading to Piubega and Redondesco. This worthy +magistrate, who was not apparently endowed with sufficient courage to +make at least half a hero, was so much frightened that he was taken +ill, and still is in a very precarious condition. These inroads are +not always accomplished with impunity, for last night, not far from +Guidizzuolo, two squadrons of Italian light cavalry--Cavalleggieri di +Lucca, if I am rightly informed--at a sudden turn of the road leading +from the last-named village to Cerlongo, found themselves almost face +to face with four squadrons of uhlans. The Italians, without numbering +their foes, set spurs to their horses and fell like thunder on the +Austrians, who, after a fight which lasted more than half an hour, were +put to flight, leaving on the ground fifteen men hors de combat, besides +twelve prisoners. + +Whilst skirmishing of this kind is going on in the flat ground of +Lombardy which lies between the Mincio and the Chiese, a more decisive +action has been adopted by the Austrian corps which is quartered in the +Italian Tyrol and Valtellina. A few days ago it was generally believed +that the mission of this corps was only to oppose Garibaldi should he +try to force those Alpine passes. But now we suddenly hear that the +Austrians are already masters of Caffaro, Bagolino, Riccomassino, and +Turano, which points they are fortifying. This fact explains the last +movements made by Garibaldi towards that direction. But whilst the +Austrians are massing their troops on the Tyrolese Alps the revolution +is spreading fast in the more southern mountains of the Friuli and +Cadorre, thus threatening the flank and rear of their army in +Venetia. This revolutionary movement may not have as yet assumed great +proportions, but as it is the effect of a plan proposed beforehand it +might become really imposing, more so as the ranks of those Italian +patriots are daily swollen by numerous deserters and refractory men of +the Venetian regiments of the Austrian army. + +Although the main body of the Austrians seems to be still concentrated +between Peschiera and Verona, I should not wonder if they crossed the +Mincio either to-day or to-morrow, with the object of occupying the +heights of Volta, Cavriana, and Solferino, which, both by their position +and by the nature of the ground, are in themselves so many fortresses. +Supposing that the Italian army should decide for action--and there is +every reason to believe that such will be the case--it is not unlikely +that, as we had already a second battle at Custozza, we may have a +second one at Solferino. + +That at the Italian headquarters something has been decided upon which +may hasten the forward movement of the army, I infer from the fact that +the foreign military commissioners at the Italian headquarters, who, +after the 24th June had gone to pass the leisure of their camp life +at Cremona, have suddenly made their appearance at Torre Malamberti, +a villa belonging to the Marquis Araldi, where Lamarmora's staff +is quartered. A still more important event is the presence of Baron +Ricasoli, whom I met yesterday evening on coming here. The President of +the Council was coming from Florence, and, after stopping a few hours +at the villa of Cicognolo, where Victor Emmanuel and the royal household +are staying, he drove to Torre Malamberti to confer with General +Lamarmora and Count Pettiti. The presence of the baron at headquarters +is too important an incident to be overlooked by people whose business +is that of watching the course of events in this country. And it should +be borne in mind that on his way to headquarters Baron Ricasoli stopped +a few hours at Bologna, where he had a long interview with Cialdini. +Nor is this all; for the most important fact I have to report to-day is, +that whilst I am writing (five o'clock a.m.) three corps of the Italian +army are crossing the Oglio at different points--all three acting +together and ready for any occurrence. This reconnaissance en force may, +as you see, be turned into a regular battle should the Austrians have +crossed the Mincio with the main body of their army during the course +of last night. You see that the air around me smells enough of powder to +justify the expectation of events which are likely to exercise a great +influence over the cause of right and justice--the cause of Italy. + +MARCARIA, July 3, Evening. + +Murray's guide will save me the trouble of telling you what this little +and dirty hole of Marcaria is like. The river Oglio runs due south, +not far from the village, and cuts the road which from Bozzolo leads to +Mantua. It is about seven miles from Castellucchio, a town which, since +the peace of Villafranca, marked the Italian frontier in Lower Lombardy. +Towards this last-named place marched this morning the eleventh division +of the Italians under the command of General Angioletti, only a month +ago Minister of the Marine in Lamarmora's Cabinet. Angioletti's division +of the second corps was, in the case of an attack, to be supported by +the fourth and eighth, which had crossed the Oglio at Gazzuolo four +hours before the eleventh had started from the place from which I am +now writing. Two other divisions also moved in an oblique line from +the upper course of the above-mentioned river, crossed it on a pontoon +bridge, and were directed to maintain their communications with +Angioletti's on the left, whilst the eighth and fourth would have formed +its right. These five divisions were the avant garde of the main body of +the Italian army. I am not in a position to tell you the exact line the +army thus advancing from the Oglio has followed, but I have been told +that, in order to avoid the possibility of repeating the errors which +occurred in the action of the 24th, the three corps d'armee have been +directed to march in such a manner as to enable them to present a +compact mass should they meet the enemy. Contrary to all expectations, +Angioletti's division was allowed to enter and occupy Castellucchio +without firing a shot. As its vanguard reached the hamlet of Ospedaletto +it was informed that the Austrians had left Castellucchio during the +night, leaving a few hussars, who, in their turn, retired on Mantua as +soon as they saw the cavalry Angioletti had sent to reconnoitre both the +country and the borough of Castellucchio. + +News has just arrived here that General Angioletti has been able to push +his outposts as far as Rivolta on his left, and still farther forward on +his front towards Curtalone. Although the distance from Rivolta to Goito +is only five miles, Angioletti, I have been told, could not ascertain +whether the Austrians had crossed the Mincio in force. + +What part both Cialdini and Garibaldi will play in the great struggle +nobody can tell. It is certain, however, that these two popular +leaders will not be idle, and that a battle, if fought, will assume the +proportions of an almost unheard of slaughter. + +GENERAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE ITALIAN ARMY, TORRE MALIMBERTI, July 7, +1866. + +Whilst the Austrian emperor throws himself at the feet of the ruler of +France--I was almost going to write the arbiter of Europe--Italy and its +brave army seem to reject disdainfully the idea of getting Venetia as a +gift of a neutral power. There cannot be any doubt as to the feeling +in existence since the announcement of the Austrian proposal by the +Moniteur being one of astonishment, and even indignation so far as Italy +herself is concerned. One hears nothing but expressions of this kind +in whatever Italian town he may be, and the Italian army is naturally +anxious that she should not be said to relinquish her task when +Austrians speak of having beaten her, without proving that she can beat +them too. There are high considerations of honour which no soldier or +general would ever think of putting aside for humanitarian or political +reasons, and with these considerations the Italian army is fully in +accord since the 24th June. The way, too, in which the Kaiser chose +to give up the long-contested point, by ignoring Italy and recognising +France as a party to the Venetian question, created great indignation +amongst the Italians, whose papers declare, one and all, that a fresh +insult has been offered to the country. This is the state of public +opinion here, and unless the greatest advantages are obtained by a +premature armistice and a hurried treaty of peace, it is likely to +continue the same, not to the entire security of public order in Italy. +As a matter of course, all eyes are turned towards Villa Pallavicini, +two miles from here, where the king is to decide upon either accepting +or rejecting the French emperor's advice, both of which decisions are +fraught with considerable difficulties and no little danger. The king +will have sought the advice of his ministers, besides which that of +Prussia will have been asked and probably given. The matter may be +decided one way or the other in a very short time, or may linger on for +days to give time for public anxiety and fears to be allayed and to calm +down. In the meantime, it looks as if the king and his generals had +made up their mind not to accept the gift. An attack on the Borgoforte +tete-de-pont on the right side of the Po, began on 5th at half-past +three in the morning, under the immediate direction of General Cialdini. +The attacking corps was the Duke of Mignano's. All the day yesterday the +gun was heard at Torre Malamberti, as it was also this morning between +ten and eleven o'clock. Borgoforte is a fortress on the left side of +the Po, throwing a bridge across this river, the right end of which is +headed by a strong tete-de-pont, the object of the present attack. +This work may be said to belong to the quadrilateral, as it is only an +advanced part of the fortress of Mantua, which, resting upon its rear, +is connected to Borgoforte by a military road supported on the Mantua +side by the Pietolo fortress. The distance between Mantua and Borgoforte +is only eleven kilometres. The fete-de-poet is thrown upon the Po; its +structure is of recent date, and it consists of a central part and of +two wings, called Rocchetta and Bocca di Ganda respectively. The lock +here existing is enclosed in the Rocchetta work. + +Since I wrote you my last letter Garibaldi has been obliged to desist +from the idea of getting possession of Bagolino, Sant' Antonio, and +Monte Suello, after a fight which lasted four hours, seeing that he +had to deal with an entire Austrian brigade, supported by uhlans, +sharp-shooters (almost a battalion) and twelve pieces of artillery. +These positions were subsequently abandoned by the enemy, and occupied +by Garibaldi's volunteers. In this affair the general received a +slight wound in his left leg, the nature of which, however, is so very +trifling, that a few days will be enough to enable him to resume active +duties. It seems that the arms of the Austrians proved to be much +superior to those of the Garibaldians, whose guns did very bad service. +The loss of the latter amounted to about 100 killed and 200 wounded, +figures in which the officers appear in great proportion, owing to their +having been always at the head of their men, fighting, charging, and +encouraging their comrades throughout. Captain Adjutant-Major Battino, +formerly of the regular army, died, struck by three bullets, while +rushing on the Austrians with the first regiment. On abandoning the +Caffaro line, which they had reoccupied after the Lodrone encounter--in +consequence of which the Garibaldians had to fall back because of the +concentration following the battle of Custozza--the Austrians have +retired to the Lardara fortress, between the Stabolfes and Tenara +mountains, covering the route to Tione and Trento, in the Italian +Tyrol. The third regiment of volunteers suffered most, as two of their +companies had to bear the brunt of the terrible Austrian fire kept up +from formidable positions. Another fight was taking place almost at the +same time in the Val Camonico, i.e., north of the Caffaro, and of Rocca +d'Anfo, Garibaldi's point d'appui. This encounter was sustained in the +same proportions, the Italians losing one of their bravest and best +officers in the person of Major Castellini, a Milanese, commander of +the second battalion of Lombardian bersaglieri. Although these and Major +Caldesi's battalion had to fall back from Vezza, a strong position was +taken near Edalo, while in the rear a regiment kept Breno safe. + +Although still at headquarters only two days ago, Baron Ricasoli has +been suddenly summoned by telegram from Florence, and, as I hear, +has just arrived. This is undoubtedly brought about by the new +complications, especially as, at a council of ministers presided over by +the baron, a vote, the nature of which is as yet unknown, was taken on +the present state of affairs. As you know very well in England, Italy +has great confidence in Ricasoli, whose conduct, always far from +obsequious to the French emperor, has pleased the nation. He is thought +to be at this moment the right man in the right place, and with the +great acquaintance he possesses of Italy and the Italians, and with the +co-operation of such an honest man as General Lamarmora, Italy may be +pronounced safe, both against friends and enemies. + +From what I saw this morning, coming back from the front, I presume that +something, and that something new perhaps, will be attempted to-morrow. +So far, the proposed armistice has had no effect upon the dispositions +at general headquarters, and did not stay the cannon's voice. In the +middle of rumours, of hopes and fears, Italy's wish to push on with the +war has as yet been adhered to by her trusted leaders. + + + + +HEADQUARTERS OF THE FIRST ARMY CORPS, + +PIADENA, July 8, 1866. + +As I begin writing you, no doubt can be entertained that some movement +is not only in contemplation at headquarters, but is actually provided +to take place to-day, and that it will probably prove to be against the +Austrian positions at Borgoforte, on the left bank of the Po. Up to +this time the tete-de-pout on the right side of the river had only been +attacked by General the Duke of Mignano's guns. It would now, on the +contrary, be a matter of cutting the communications between Borgoforte +and Mantua, by occupying the lower part of the country around the latter +fortress, advancing upon the Valli Veronesi, and getting round the +quadrilateral into Venetia. While, then, waiting for further news to +tell us whether this plan has been carried into execution, and whether +it will be pursued, mindless of the existence of Mantua and Borgoforte +on its flanks, one great fact is already ascertained, that the armistice +proposed by the Emperor Napoleon has not been accepted, and that the +war is to be continued. The Austrians may shut themselves up in their +strongholds, or may even be so obliging as to leave the king the +uncontested possession of them by retreating in the same line as their +opponents advance; the pursuit, if not the struggle, the war, if not the +battle, will be carried on by the Italians. At Torre Malamberti, where +the general headquarters are, no end of general officers were to be seen +yesterday hurrying in all directions. I met the king, Generals Brignone, +Gavone, Valfre, and Menabrea within a few minutes of one another, and +Prince Amadeus, who has entirely recovered from his wound, had +been telegraphed for, and will arrive in Cremona to-day. No precise +information is to be obtained respecting the intentions of the +Austrians, but it is to be hoped for the Italian army, and for the +credit of its generals, that more will be known about them now than was +known on the eve of the famous 24th of June, and on its very morning. +The heroism of the Italians on that memorable day surpasses any possible +idea that can be formed, as it did also surpass all expectations of the +country. Let me relate you a few out of many heroic facts which only +come to light when an occasion is had of speaking with those who +have been eyewitnesses of them, as they are no object of magnified +regimental--orders or, as yet, of well-deserved honours. Italian +soldiers seem to think that the army only did its duty, and that, +wherever Italians may fight, they will always show equal valour and +firmness. Captain Biraghi, of Milan, belonging to the general staff, +having in the midst of the battle received an order from General +Lamarmora for General Durando, was proceeding with all possible speed +towards the first army corps, which was slowly retreating before the +superior forces of the enemy and before the greatly superior number of +his guns, when, while under a perfect shower of grape and canister, he +was all of a sudden confronted by, an Austrian officer of cavalry who +had been lying in wait for the Italian orderly. The Austrian fires his +revolver at Biraghi; and wounds him in the arm. Nothing daunted, +Biraghi assails him and makes him turn tail; then, following in pursuit, +unsaddles him, but has his own horse shot down under him. Biraghi +disentangles himself, kills his antagonist, and jumps upon the latter's +horse. This, however, is thrown down also in a moment by a cannon ball, +so that the gallant captain has to go back on foot, bleeding, and +almost unable to walk. Talking of heroism, of inimitable endurance, and +strength of soul, what do you think of a man who has his arm entirely +carried away by a grenade, and yet keeps on his horse, firm as a +rock, and still directs his battery until hemorrhage--and hemorrhage +alone--strikes him down at last, dead! Such was the case with a +Neapolitan--Major Abate, of the artillery--and his name is worth the +glory of a whole army, of a whole war; and may only find a fit companion +in that of an officer of the eighteenth battalion of bersaglieri, who, +dashing at an Austrian flag-bearer, wrenches the standard out of his +hands with his left one, has it clean cut away by an Austrian officer +standing near, and immediately grapples it with his right, until his own +soldiers carry him away with his trophy! Does not this sound like Greek +history repeated--does it not look as if the brave men of old had +been born again, and the old facts renewed to tell of Italian heroism? +Another bersagliere--a Tuscan, by name Orlandi Matteo, belonging to that +heroic fifth battalion which fought against entire brigades, regiments, +and battalions, losing 11 out of its 16 officers, and about 300 out of +its 600 men--Orlandi, was wounded already, when, perceiving an Austrian +flag, he makes a great effort, dashes at the officer, kills him, takes +the flag, and, almost dying, gives it over to his lieutenant. He is +now in a ward of the San Domenico Hospital in Brescia, and all who have +learnt of his bravery will earnestly hope that he may survive to be +pointed out as one of the many who covered themselves with fame on that +day. If it is sad to read of death encountered in the field by so many a +patriotic and brave soldiers, it is sadder still to learn that not a few +of them were barbarously killed by the enemy, and killed, too, when they +were harmless, for they lay wounded on the ground. The Sicilian colonel, +Stalella, a son-in-law of Senator Castagnetto, and a courageous man +amongst the most courageous of men; was struck in the leg by a bullet, +and thrown down from his horse while exciting his men to repulse the +Austrians, which in great masses were pressing on his thinned column. +Although retreating, the regiment sent some of his men to take him away, +but as soon as he had been put on a stretcher [he] had to be put down, +as ten or twelve uhlans were galloping down, obliging the men to hide +themselves in a bush. When the uhlans got near the colonel, and when +they had seen him lying down in agony, they all planted their lances in +his body. + +Is not this wanton cruelty--cruelty even unheard of cruelty that no +savage possesses? Still these are facts, and no one will ever dare to +deny them from Verona and Vienna, for they are known as much as it was +known and seen that the uhlans and many of the Austrian soldiers were +drunk when they began fighting, and that alighting from the trains they +were provided with their rations and with rum, and that they fought +without their haversacks. This is the truth, and nothing beyond it has +to the honour of the Italians been asserted, whether to the disgrace +or credit of their enemies; so that while denying that they ill-treat +Austrian prisoners, they are ready to state that theirs are well treated +in Verona, without thinking of slandering and calumniating as the Vienna +papers have done. + +This morning Prince Amadeus arrived in Cremona, where a most spontaneous +and hearty reception was given him by the population and the National +Guard. He proceeded at once by the shortest way to the headquarters, so +that his wish to be again at the front when something should be done has +been accomplished. This brave young man, and his worthy brother, Prince +Humbert, have won the applause of all Italy, which is justly proud of +counting her king and her princes amongst the foremost in the field. + +I have just learned from a most reliable source that the Austrians have +mined the bridge of Borghetto on the Mincio, so that, should it be blown +up, the only two, those of Goito and Borghetto, would be destroyed, and +the Italians obliged to make provisional ones instead. I also hear that +the Venetian towns are without any garrison, and that most probably all +the forces are massed on two lines, one from Peschiera to Custozza and +the other behind the Adige. + +You will probably know by this time that the garrison of Vienna had on +the 3rd been directed to Prague. The news we receive from Prussia is on +the whole encouraging, inasmuch as the greatly feared armistice has been +repulsed by King William. Some people here think that France will not +be too hard upon Italy for keeping her word with her ally, and that the +brunt of French anger or disapproval will have to be borne by Prussia. +This is the least she can expect, as you know! + +It is probable that by to-morrow I shall be able to write you more about +the Italo-Austrian war of 1866. + +GONZAGA, July 9, 1866. + +I write you from a villa, only a mile distant from Gonzaga, belonging +to the family of the Counts Arrivabene of Mantua. The owners have never +reentered it since 1848, and it is only the fortune of war which has +brought them to see their beautiful seat of the Aldegatta, never, it is +to be hoped for them, to be abandoned again. It is, as you see, 'Mutatum +ab illo.' Onward have gone, then, the exiled patriots! onward will go +the nation that owns them! The wish of every one who is compelled to +remain behind is that the army, that the volunteers, that the fleet, +should all cooperate, and that they should, one and all, land on +Venetian ground, to seek for a great battle, to give the army back the +fame it deserves, and to the country the honour it possesses. The king +is called upon to maintain the word nobly given to avenge Novara, and +with it the new Austrian insulting proposal. All, it is said, is ready. +The army has been said to be numerous; if to be numerous and brave, +means to deserve victory, let the Italian generals prove what Italian +soldiers are worthy of. If they will fight, the country will support +them with the boldest of resolutions--the country will accept a +discussion whenever the Government, having dispersed all fears, will +proclaim that the war is to be continued till victory is inscribed on +Italy's shield. + +As I am not far from Borgoforte, I am able to learn more than the mere +cannon's voice can tell me, and so will give you some details of the +action against the tete-de-pont, which began, as I told you in one of +my former letters, on the 4th. In Gorgoforte there were about 1500 +Austrians, and, on the night from the 5th to the 6th, they kept up +from their four fortified works a sufficiently well-sustained fire, the +object of which was to prevent the enemy from posting his guns. This +fire, however, did not cause any damage, and the Italians were able to +plant their batteries. Early on the 6th, the firing began all along the +line, the Italian 16-pounders having been the first to open fire. The +Italian right was commanded by Colonel Mattei, the left by Colonel +Bangoni, who did excellent work, while the other wing was not so +successful. The heaviest guns had not yet arrived owing to one of +those incidents always sure to happen when least expected, so that the +40-pounders could not be brought to bear against the forts until later +in the day. The damage done to the works was not great for the moment, +but still the advantage had been gained of feeling the strength of +the enemy's positions and finding the right way to attack them. The +artillerymen worked with great vigour, and were only obliged to desist +by an unexpected order which arrived about two p.m. from General +Cialdini. The attack was, however, resumed on the following day, and +the condition of the Monteggiana and Rochetta forts may be pronounced +precarious. As a sign of the times, and more especially of the just +impatience which prevails in Italy about the general direction of the +army movements, it may not be without importance to notice that the +Italian press has begun to cry out against the darkness in which +everything is enveloped, while the time already passed since the 24th +June tells plainly of inaction. It is remarked that the bitter gift +made by Austria of the Venetian provinces, and the suspicious offer +of mediation by France, ought to have found Italy in greatly different +condition, both as regards her political and military position. Italy +is, on the contrary, in exactly the same state as when the Archduke +Albert telegraphed to Vienna that a great success had been obtained over +the Italian army. These are facts, and, however strong and worthy of +respect may be the reasons, there is no doubt that an extraordinary +delay in the resumption of hostilities has occurred, and that at the +present moment operations projected are perfectly mysterious. Something +is let out from time to time which only serves to make the subsequent +absence of news more and more puzzling. For the present the first +official relation of the unhappy fight of the 24th June is published, +and is accordingly anxiously scanned and closely studied. It is a +matter of general remark that no great military knowledge is required to +perceive that too great a reliance was placed upon supposed facts, and +that the indulgence of speculations and ideas caused the waste of so +much precious blood. The prudence characterising the subsequent moves +of the Austrians may have been caused by the effects of their opponents' +arrangements, but the Italian commanders ought to have avoided the +responsibility of giving the enemy the option to move. + +It is clear that to mend things the utterance of generous and patriotic +cries is not sufficient, and that it must be shown that the vigour of +the body is not at all surpassed by the vigour of the mind. It is also +clear that many lives might have been spared if there had been greater +proofs of intelligence on the part of those who directed the movement. + +The situation is still very serious. Such an armistice as General von +Gablenz could humiliate himself enough to ask from the Prussians has +been refused, but another which the Emperor of the French has advised +them to accept might ultimately become a fact. For Italy, the purely +Venetian question could then also be settled, while the Italian, the +national question, the question of right and honour which the army +prizes so much, would still remain to be solved. + +GONZAGA, July 12, 1866. + +Travelling is generally said to be troublesome, but travelling with and +through brigades, divisions, and army corps, I can certify to be more +so than is usually agreeable. It is not that Italian officers or Italian +soldiers are in any way disposed to throw obstacles in your way; but +they, unhappily for you, have with them the inevitable cars with the +inevitable carmen, both of which are enough to make your blood freeze, +though the barometer stands very high. What with their indolence, what +with their number and the dust they made, I really thought they would +drive me mad before I should reach Casalmaggiore on my way from +Torre Malamberti. I started from the former place at three a.m., with +beautiful weather, which, true to tradition, accompanied me all +through my journey. Passing through San Giovanni in Croce, to which the +headquarters of General Pianell had been transferred, I turned to the +right in the direction of the Po, and began to have an idea of +the wearisome sort of journey which I would have to make up to +Casalmaggiore. On both sides of the way some regiments belonging to the +rear division were still camped, and as I passed it was most interesting +to see how busy they were cooking their 'rancio,' polishing their arms, +and making the best of their time. The officers stood leisurely about +gazing and staring at me, supposing, as I thought, that I was travelling +with some part in the destiny of their country. Here and there some +soldiers who had just left the hospitals of Brescia and Milan made their +way to their corps and shook hands with their comrades, from whom only +illness or the fortune of war had made them part. They seemed glad to +see their old tent, their old drum, their old colour-sergeant, and also +the flag they had carried to the battle and had not at any price allowed +to be taken. I may state here, en passant, that as many as six flags +were taken from the enemy in the first part of the day of Custozza, and +were subsequently abandoned in the retreat, while of the Italians +only one was lost to a regiment for a few minutes, when it was quickly +retaken. This fact ought to be sufficient by itself to establish the +bravery with which the soldiers fought on the 24th, and the bravery with +which they will fight if, as they ardently wish; a new occasion is given +to them. + +As long as I had only met troops, either marching or camping on the +road, all went well, but I soon found myself mixed with an interminable +line of cars and the like, forming the military and the civil train of +the moving army. Then it was that it needed as much patience to keep +from jumping out of one's carriage and from chastising the carrettieri, +as they would persist in not making room for one, and being as dumb to +one's entreaties as a stone. When you had finished with one you had to +deal with another, and you find them all as obstinate and as egotistical +as they are from one end of the world to the other, whether it be on the +Casalmaggiore road or in High Holborn. From time to time things seemed +to proceed all right, and you thought yourself free from further +trouble, but you soon found out your mistake, as an enormous ammunition +car went smack into your path, as one wheel got entangled with another, +and as imperturbable Signor Carrettiere evidently took delight at a +fresh opportunity for stoppage, inaction, indolence, and sleep. I soon +came to the conclusion that Italy would not be free when the Austrians +had been driven away, for that another and a more formidable foe--an +enemy to society and comfort, to men and horses, to mankind in general +would have still to be beaten, expelled, annihilated, in the shape of +the carrettiere. If you employ him, he robs you fifty times over; if you +want him to drive quickly, he is sure to keep the animal from going +at all; if, worse than all, you never think of him, or have just been +plundered by him, he will not move an inch to oblige you. Surely the +cholera is not the only pestilence a country may be visited with; and, +should Cialdini ever go to Vienna, he might revenge Novara and the +Spielberg by taking with him the carrettieri of the whole army. + +At last Casalmaggiore hove in sight, and, when good fortune and the +carmen permitted, I reached it. It was time! No iron-plated Jacob +could ever have resisted another two miles' journey in such company. At +Casalmaggiore I branched off. There were, happily, two roads, and not +the slightest reason or smallest argument were needed to make me choose +that which my cauchemar had not chosen. They were passing the river at +Casalmaggiore. I went, of course, for the same purpose, somewhere else. +Any place was good enough--so I thought, at least, then. New adventures, +new miseries awaited me--some carrettiere, or other, guessing that I was +no friend of his, nor of the whole set of them, had thrown the jattatura +on me. + +I alighted at the Colombina, after four hours' ride, to give the +horses time to rest a little. The Albergo della Colombina was a great +disappointment, for there was nothing there that could be eaten. I +decided upon waiting most patiently, but most unlike a few cavalry +officers, who, all covered with dust, and evidently as hungry and as +thirsty as they could be, began to swear to their hearts' content. In an +hour some eggs and some salame, a kind of sausage, were brought up, +and quickly disposed of. A young lieutenant of the thirtieth infantry +regiment of the Pisa brigade took his place opposite, and we were soon +engaged in conversation. He had been in the midst and worst part of the +battle of Custozza, and had escaped being taken prisoner by what seemed +a miracle. He told me how, when his regiment advanced on the Monte Croce +position, which he practically described to me as having the form of an +English pudding, they were fired upon by batteries both on their flanks +and front. The lieutenant added, however, rather contemptuously, that +they did not even bow before them, as the custom appears to be--that +is, to lie down, as the Austrians were firing very badly. The cross-fire +got, however, so tremendous that an order had to be given to keep down +by the road to avoid being annihilated. The assault was given, the +whole range of positions was taken, and kept too for hours, until +the infallible rule of three to one, backed by batteries, grape, and +canister, compelled them to retreat, which they did slowly and in order. +It was then that their brigade commander, Major General Rey de Villarey, +who, though a native of Mentone, had preferred remaining with his king +from going over to the French after the cession, turning to his son, who +was also his aide-de-camp, said in his dialect, 'Now, my son, we must +die both of us,' and with a touch of the spurs was soon in front of +the line and on the hill, where three bullets struck him almost at once +dead. The horse of his son falling while following, his life was spared. +My lieutenant at this moment was so overcome with hunger and fatigue +that he fell down, and was thought to be dead. He was not so, however, +and had enough life to hear, after the fight was over, the Austrian +Jagers pass by, and again retire to their original positions, where +their infantry was lying down, not dreaming for one moment of pursuing +the Italians. Four of his soldiers--all Neapolitans he heard coming in +search of him, while the bullets still hissed all round; and, as soon as +he made a sign to them, they approached, and took him on their shoulders +back to where was what remained of the regiment. It is highly creditable +to Italian unity to hear an old Piedmontese officer praise the levies +of the new provinces, and the lieutenant took delight in relating that +another Neapolitan was in the fight standing by him, and firing as fast +as he could, when a shell having burst near him, he disdainfully gave it +a look, and did not even seek to save himself from the jattatura. + +The gallant lieutenant had unfortunately to leave at last, and I was +deprived of many an interesting tale and of a brave man's company. I +started, therefore, for Viadana, where I purposed passing the Po, the +left bank of which the road was now following parallel with the stream. +At Viadana, however, I found no bridge, as the military had demolished +what existed only the day before, and so had to look out for in +formation. As I was going about under the porticoes which one meets in +almost all the villages in this neighbourhood, I was struck by the sight +of an ancient and beautiful piece of art--for so it was--a Venetian +mirror of Murano. It hung on the wall inside the village draper's shop, +and was readily shown me by the owner, who did not conceal the pride he +had in possessing it. It was one of those mirrors one rarely meets +with now, which were once so abundant in the old princes' castles and +palaces. It looked so deep and true, and the gilt frame was so light, +and of such a purity and elegance, that it needed all my resolution to +keep from buying it, though a bargain would not have been effected very +easily. The mirror, however, had to be abandoned, as Dosalo, the nearest +point for crossing the Po, was still seven miles distant. By this +time the sun was out in all its force, and the heat was by no means +agreeable. Then there was dust, too, as if the carrettieri had been +passing in hundreds, so that the heat was almost unbearable. At last the +Dosalo ferry was reached, the road leading to it was entered, and the +carriage was, I thought, to be at once embarked, when a drove of oxen +were discovered to have the precedence; and so I had to wait. This under +such a sun, on a shadeless beach, and with the prospect of having to +stay there for two hours at least, was by no means pleasant. It took +three-quarters of an hour to put the oxen in the boat, it took half an +hour to get them on the other shore, and another hour to have the ferry +boat back. The panorama from the beach was splendid, the Po appeared in +all the mighty power of his waters, and as you looked with the glass at +oxen and trees on the other shore, they appeared to be clothed in +all the colours of the rainbow, and as if belonging to another world. +Several peasants were waiting for the boat near me, talking about the +war and the Austrians, and swearing they would, if possible, annihilate +some of the latter. I gave them the glass to look with, and I imagined +that they had never seen one before, for they thought it highly +wonderful to make out what the time was at the Luzzara Tower, three +miles in a straight line on the other side. The revolver, too, was a +subject of great admiration, and they kept turning, feeling, and staring +at it, as if they could not make out which way the cartridges were put +in. One of these peasants, however, was doing the grand with the others, +and once on the subject of history related to all who would hear how he +had been to St. Helena, which was right in the middle of Moscow, where +it was so very cold that his nose had got to be as large as his head. +The poor man was evidently mixing one night's tale with that of the next +one, a tale probably heard from the old Sindaco, who is at the same time +the schoolmaster, the notary, and the highest municipal authority in the +place. + +I started in the ferry boat with them at last. While crossing they got +to speak of the priests, and were all agreed, to put it in the mildest +way, in thinking extremely little of them, and only differed as to what +punishment they should like them to suffer. + +On the side where we landed lay heaps of ammunition casks for the corps +besieging Borgoforte. Others were conveyed upon cars by my friends the +carrettieri, of whom it was decreed I should not be quit for some time +to come. Entering Guastalla I found only a few artillery officers, +evidently in charge of what we had seen carried along the route. +Guastalla is a neat little town very proud of its statue of Duke +Ferrante Gonzaga, and the Croce Rossa is a neat little inn, which may be +proud of a smart young waiter, who actually discovered that, as I wanted +to proceed to Luzzara, a few miles on, I had better stop till next +morning, I did not take his advice, and was soon under the gate of +Luzzara, a very neat little place, once one of the many possessions +where the Gonzagas had a court, a palace, and a castle. The arms over +the archway may still be seen, and would not be worth any notice but for +a remarkable work of terracotta representing a crown of pines and +pine leaves in a wonderful state of preservation. The whole is so +artistically arranged and so natural, that one might believe it to be +one of Luca della Robbia's works. Luzzara has also a great tower, which +I had seen in the distance from Dosalo, and the only albergo in the +place gives you an excellent Italian dinner. The wine might please one +of the greatest admirers of sherry, and if you are not given feather +beds, the beds are at least clean like the rooms themselves. Here, as it +was getting too dark, I decided upon stopping, a decision which gave me +occasion to see one of the finest sunsets I ever saw. As I looked from +the albergo I could see a gradation of colours, from the purple red to +the deepest of sea blue, rising like an immense tent from the dark green +of the trees and the fields, here and there dotted with little white +houses, with their red roofs, while in front the Luzzara Tower rose +majestically in the twilight. As the hour got later the colours +deepened, and the lower end of the immense curtain gradually +disappeared, while the stars and the planets began shining high above. +A peasant was singing in a field near by, and the bells of a church were +chiming in the distance. Both seemed to harmonise wonderfully. It was a +scene of great loveliness. + +At four a.m. I was up, and soon after on the road to Reggiolo, and then +to Gonzaga. Here the vegetation gets to be more luxuriant, and every +inch of ground contributes to the immense vastness of the whole. Nature +is here in full perfection, and as even the telegraphic wire hangs +leisurely down from tree to tree, instead of being stuck upon poles, +you feel that the romantic aspect of the place is too beautiful to be +encroached upon. All is peace, beauty, and happiness, all reveals to you +that you are in Italy. + +In Gonzaga, which only a few days ago belonged to the Austrians, the +Italian tricolour is out of every window. As the former masters retired +the new advanced; and when a detachment of Monferrato lancers entered +the old castle town the joy of the inhabitants seemed to be almost +bordering on delirium. The lancers soon left, however. The flag only +remains. + +July 11. + +Cialdini began passing the Po on the 8th, and crossed at three points, +i.e., Carbonara, Carbonarola, and Follonica. Beginning at three o'clock +in the morning, he had finished crossing upon the two first pontoon +bridges towards midnight on the 9th. The bridge thrown up at Follonica +was still intact up to seven in the morning on the 10th, but the troops +and the military and the civil train that remained followed the Po +without crossing to Stellata, in the supposed direction of Ponte +Lagoscura. + +Yesterday guns were heard here at seven o'clock in the morning, and up +to eleven o'clock, in the direction of Legnano, towards, I think, +the Adige. The firing was lively, and of such a nature as to make one +surmise that battle had been given. Perhaps the Austrians have awaited +Cialdini under Legnano, or they have disputed the crossing of the Adige. +Rovigo was abandoned by the Austrians in the night of the 9th and 10th. +They have blown up the Rovigo and Boara fortresses, have destroyed the +tete-de-pont on the Adige, and burnt all bridges. They may now seek to +keep by the left side of this river up to Legnano, so as to get under +the protection of the quadrilateral, in which case, if Cialdini can +cross the river in time, the shock would be almost inevitable, and would +be a reason for yesterday's firing. They may also go by rail to Padua, +when they would have Cialdini between them and the quadrilateral. In any +case, if this general is quick, or if they are not too quick for him, +according to possible instructions, a collision is difficult to be +avoided. + +Baron Ricasoli has left Florence for the camp, and all sorts of rumours +are afloat as to the present state of negotiations as they appear +unmistakably to exist. The opinions are, I think, divided in the high +councils of the Crown, and the country is still anxious to know the +result of this state of affairs. A splendid victory by Cialdini might +at this moment solve many a difficulty. As it is, the war is prosecuted +everywhere except by sea, for Garibaldi's forces are slowly advancing in +the Italian Tyrol, while the Austrians wait for them behind the walls of +Landaro and Ampola. The Garibaldians' advanced posts were, by the latest +news, near Darso. + +The news from Prussia is still contradictory; while the Italian press is +unanimous in asking with the country that Cialdini should advance, +meet the enemy, fight him, and rout him if possible. Italy's wishes are +entirely with him. + +NOALE, NEAR TREVISO, July 17, 1866. + +From Lusia I followed General Medici's division to Motta, where I left +it, not without regret, however, as better companions could not easily +be found, so kind were the officers and jovial the men. They are now +encamped around Padua, and will to-morrow march on Treviso, where the +Italian Light Horse have already arrived, if I judge so from their +having left Noale on the 15th. From the right I hear that the advanced +posts have proceeded as far as Mira on the Brenta, twenty kilometres +from Venice itself, and that the first army corps is to concentrate +opposite Chioggia. This corps has marched from Ferrara straight on to +Rovigo, which the forward movement of the fourth, or Cialdini's corps +d'armee, had left empty of soldiers. General Pianell has still charge +of it, and Major-General Cadalini, formerly at the head of the Siena +brigade, replaces him in the command of his former division. General +Pianell has under him the gallant Prince Amadeus, who has entirely +recovered from his chest wound, and of whom the brigade of Lombardian +grenadiers is as proud as ever. They could not wish for a more skilled +commander, a better superior officer, and a more valiant soldier. Thus +the troops who fought on the 24th June are kept in the second line, +while the still fresh divisions under Cialdini march first, as fast as +they can. This, however, is of no avail. The Italian outposts on the +Piave have not yet crossed it, for the reason that they must keep +distances with their regiments, but will do so as soon as these get +nearer to the river. If it was not that this is always done in regular +warfare, they could beat the country beyond the Piave for a good many +miles without even seeing the shadow of an Austrian. To the simple +private, who does not know of diplomatic imbroglios and of political +considerations, this sudden retreat means an almost as sudden retracing +of steps, because he remembers that this manoeuvre preceded both the +attacks on Solferino and on Custozza by the Austrians. To the officer, +however, it means nothing else than a fixed desire not to face the +Italian army any more, and so it is to him a source of disappointment +and despondency. He cannot bear to think that another battle is +improbable, and may be excused if he is not in the best of humour when +on this subject. This is the case not only with the officers but with +the volunteers, who have left their homes and the comfort of their +domestic life, not to be paraded at reviews, but to be sent against the +enemy. There are hundreds of these in the regular army-in the cavalry +especially, and the Aosta Lancers and the regiment of Guides are half +composed of them. If you listen to them, there ought not to be the +slightest doubt or hesitation as to crossing the Isongo and marching +upon Vienna. May Heaven see their wishes accomplished, for, unless +crushed by sheer force, Italy is quite decided to carry war into the +enemy's country. + +The decisions of the French government are looked for here with great +anxiety, and not a few men are found who predict them to be unfavourable +to Italy. Still, it is hard for every one to believe that the French +emperor will carry things to extremities, and increase the many +difficulties Europe has already to contend with. + +To-day there was a rumour at the mess table that the Austrians had +abandoned Legnano, one of the four fortresses of the quadrilateral. I do +not put much faith in it at present, but it is not improbable, as we +may expect many strange things from the Vienna government. It would have +been much better for them, since Archduke Albert spoke in eulogistic +terms of the king, of his sons, and of his soldiers, while relating the +action of the 24th, to have treated with Italy direct, thus securing +peace, and perhaps friendship, from her. But the men who have ruled so +despotically for years over Italian subjects cannot reconcile themselves +to the idea that Italy has at last risen to be a nation, and they even +take slyly an opportunity to throw new insult into her face. You can +easily see that the old spirit is still struggling for empire; that the +old contempt is still trying to make light of Italians; and that the +old Metternich ideas are still fondly clung to. Does not this deserve +another lesson? Does not this need another Sadowa to quiet down +for ever? Yes; and it devolves upon Italy to do it. If so, let only +Cialdini's army alone, and the day may be nigh at hand when the king may +tell the country that the task has been accomplished. + +A talk on the present state of political affairs, and on the peculiar +position of Italy, is the only subject worth notice in a letter from the +camp. Everything else is at a standstill, and the movements of the fine +army Cialdini now disposes of, about 150,000 men, are no longer full of +interest. They may, perhaps, have some as regards an attack on Venice, +because Austrian soldiers are still garrisoning it, and will be obliged +to fight if they are assailed. It is hoped, if such is the case, +that the beautiful queen of the Adriatic will be spared a scene of +devastation, and that no new Haynau will be found to renew the deeds of +Brescia and Vicenza. + +The king has not yet arrived, and it seems probable he will not come for +some time, until indeed the day comes for Italian troops to make their +triumphal entry into the city of the Doges. + +The heat continues intense, and this explains the slowness in advancing. +As yet no sickness has appeared, and it must be hoped that the +troops will be healthy, as sickness tries the morale much more than +half-a-dozen Custozzas. + +P.S.--I had finished writing when an officer came rushing into the inn +where I am staying and told me that he had just heard that an Italian +patrol had met an Austrian one on the road out of the village, and +routed it. This may or may not be true, but it was must curious to see +how delighted every one was at the idea that they had found 'them' at +last. They did not care much about the result of the engagement, which, +as I said, was reported to have been favourable. All that they cared +about was that they were close to the enemy. One cannot despair of an +army which is animated with such spirits. You would think, from the +joy which brightens the face of the soldiers you meet now about, that a +victory had been announced for the Italian arms. + +DOLO, NEAR VENICE, July 20, 1866. + +I returned from Noale to Padua last evening, and late in the night I +received the intimation at my quarters that cannon was heard in the +direction of Venice. It was then black as in Dante's hell, and raining +and blowing with violence--one of those Italian storms which seem to +awake all the earthly and heavenly elements of creation. There was no +choice for it but to take to the saddle, and try to make for the front. +No one who has not tried it can fancy what work it is to find one's way +along a road on which a whole corps d'amee is marching with an enormous +materiel of war in a pitch dark night. This, however, is what your +special correspondent was obliged to do. Fortunately enough, I had +scarcely proceeded as far as Ponte di Brenta when I fell in with an +officer of Cialdini's staff, who was bound to the same destination, +namely, Dolo. As we proceeded along the road under a continuous shower +of rain, our eyes now and then dazzled by the bright serpent-like +flashes of the lightning, we fell in with some battalion or squadron, +which advanced carefully, as it was impossible for them as well as for +us to discriminate between the road and the ditches which flank it, for +all the landmarks, so familiar to our guides in the daytime, were in one +dead level of blackness. So it was that my companion and myself, after +stumbling into ditches and out of them, after knocking our horses' heads +against an ammunition car, or a party of soldiers sheltered under some +big tree, found ourselves, after three hours' ride, in this village of +Dolo. By this time the storm had greatly abated in its violence, and +the thunder was but faintly heard now and then at such a distance as +to enable us distinctly to hear the roar of the guns. Our horses +could scarcely get through the sticky black mud, into which the white +suffocating dust of the previous days had been turned by one night's +rain. We, however, made our way to the parsonage of the village, for we +had already made up our minds to ascend the steeple of the church to get +a view of the surrounding country and a better hearing of the guns +if possible. After a few words exchanged with the sexton--a staunch +Italian, as he told us he was--we went up the ladder of the church +spire. Once on the wooden platform, we could hear more distinctly the +boom of the guns, which sounded like the broadsides of a big vessel. +Were they the guns of Persano's long inactive fleet attacking some of +Brondolo's or Chioggia's advanced forts? Were the guns those of some +Austrian man-of-war which had engaged an Italian ironclad; or were they +the 'Affondatore,' which left the Thames only a month ago, pitching into +Trieste? To tell the truth, although we patiently waited two long hours +on Dolo church spire, when both I and my companion descended we were not +in a position to solve either of these problems. We, however, thought +then, and still think, they were the guns of the Italian fleet which had +attacked an Austrian fort. + +CIVITA VECCHIA, July 22, 1866. + +Since the departure from this port of the old hospital ship 'Gregeois' +about a year ago, no French ship of war had been stationed at Civita +Vecchia; but on Wednesday morning the steam-sloop 'Catinat,' 180 +men, cast anchor in the harbour, and the commandant immediately on +disembarking took the train for Rome and placed himself in communication +with the French ambassador. I am not aware whether the Pontifical +government had applied for this vessel, or whether the sending it was +a spontaneous attention on the part of the French emperor, but, at any +rate, its arrival has proved a source of pleasure to His Holiness, as +there is no knowing what may happen In troublous times like the present, +and it is always good to have a retreat insured. + +Yesterday it was notified in this port, as well as at Naples, that +arrivals from Marseilles would be, until further notice, subjected to +a quarantine of fifteen days in consequence of cholera having made its +appearance at the latter place. A sailing vessel which arrived from +Marseilles in the course of the day had to disembark the merchandise +it brought for Civita Vecchia into barges off the lazaretto, where the +yellow flag was hoisted over them. This vessel left Marseilles five days +before the announcement of the quarantine, while the 'Prince Napoleon' +of Valery's Company, passenger and merchandise steamer, which left +Marseilles only one day before its announcement, was admitted this +morning to free pratique. Few travellers will come here by sea now. + +MARSEILLES, July 24. + +Accustomed as we have been of late in Italy to almost hourly bulletins +of the progress of hostilities, it is a trying condition to be suddenly +debarred of all intelligence by finding oneself on board a steamer for +thirty-six hours without touching at any port, as was my case in coming +here from Civita Vecchia on board the 'Prince Napoleon.' But, although +telegrams were wanting, discussions on the course of events were rife +on board among the passengers who had embarked at Naples and Civita +Vecchia, comprising a strong batch of French and Belgian priests +returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, well supplied with rosaries and +chaplets blessed by the Pope and facsimiles of the chains of St. Peter. +Not much sympathy for the Italian cause was shown by these gentlemen +or the few French and German travellers who, with three or four +Neapolitans, formed the quarterdeck society; and our Corsican captain +took no pains to hide his contempt at the dilatory proceedings of +the Italian fleet at Ancona. We know that the Prussian minister, M. +d'Usedom, has been recently making strenuous remonstrances at Ferrara +against the slowness with which the Italian naval and military forces +were proceeding, while their allies, the Prussians, were already near +the gates of Vienna; and the conversation of a Prussian gentleman +on board our steamer, who was connected with that embassy, plainly +indicated the disappointment felt at Berlin at the rather inefficacious +nature of the diversion made in Venetia, and on the coast of Istria by +the army and navy of Victor Emmanuel. He even attributed to his minister +an expression not very flattering either to the future prospects of +Italy as resulting from her alliance with Prussia, or to the fidelity of +the latter in carrying out the terms of it. I do not know whether this +gentleman intended his anecdote to be taken cum grano salis, but I +certainly understood him to say that he had deplored to the minister the +want of vigour and the absence of success accompanying the operations of +the Italian allies of Prussia, when His Excellency replied: 'C'est bien +vrai. Ils nous ont tromps; mais que voulez-vous y faire maintenant? Nous +aurons le temps de les faire egorger apres.' + +It is difficult to suppose that there should exist a preconceived +intention on the part of Prussia to repay the sacrifices hitherto made, +although without a very brilliant accompaniment of success, by the +Italian government in support of the alliance, by making her own +separate terms with Austria and leaving Italy subsequently exposed to +the vengeance of the latter, but such would certainly be the inference +to be drawn from the conversation just quoted. + +It was only on arriving in the port of Marseilles, however, that the +full enmity of most of my travelling companions towards Italy and the +Italians was manifested. A sailor, the first man who came on board +before we disembarked, was immediately pounced upon for news, and +he gave it as indeed nothing less than the destruction, more or less +complete, of the Italian fleet by that of the Austrians. At this +astounding intelligence the Prussian burst into a yell of indignation. +'Fools! blockheads! miserables! Beaten at sea by an inferior force! Is +that the way they mean to reconquer Venice by dint of arms? If ever they +do regain Venetia it will be through the blood of our Brandenburghers +and Pomeranians, and not their own.' During this tirade a little old +Belgian in black, with the chain of St. Peter at his buttonhole by way +of watchguard, capered off to communicate the grateful news to a group +of his ecclesiastical fellow-travellers, shrieking out in ecstasy: + +'Rosses, Messieurs! Ces blagueurs d'Italiens ont ete rosses par +mer, comme ils avaient ete rosses par terre.' Whereupon the reverend +gentlemen congratulated each other with nods, and winks, and smiles, +and sundry fervent squeezes of the hand. The same demonstrations would +doubtless have been made by the Neapolitan passengers had they belonged +to the Bourbonic faction, but they happened to be honest traders with +cases of coral and lava for the Paris market, and therefore they merely +stood silent and aghast at the fatal news, with their eyes and mouths as +wide open as possible. I had no sooner got to my hotel than I inquired +for the latest Paris journal, when the France was handed me, and I +obtained confirmation in a certain degree of the disaster to the Italian +fleet narrated by the sailor, although not quite in the same formidable +proportions. + +Before quitting the subject of my fellow-passengers on board the 'Prince +Napoleon' I must mention an anecdote related to me, respecting the state +of brigandage, by a Russian or German gentleman, who told me he +was established at Naples. He was complaining of the dangers he had +occasionally encountered in crossing in a diligence from Naples to +Foggia on business; and then, speaking of the audacity of brigands in +general, he told me that last year he saw with his own eyes; in broad +daylight, two brigands walking about the streets of Naples with messages +from captured individuals to their relations, mentioning the sums which +had been demanded for their ransoms. They were unarmed, and in the +common peasants' dresses, and whenever they arrived at one of the houses +to which they were addressed for this purpose, they stopped and opened a +handkerchief which one of them carried in his hand, and took out an ear, +examining whether the ticket on it corresponded with the address of the +house or the name of the resident. There were six ears, all ticketed +with the names of the original owners in the handkerchief, which were +gradually dispensed to their families in Naples to stimulate: prompt +payment of the required ransoms. On my inquiring how it was that the +police took no notice of such barefaced operations, my informant told me +that, previous to the arrival of these brigand emissaries in town, +the chief always wrote to the police authorities warning them against +interfering with them, as the messengers were always followed by spies +in plain clothes belonging to the band who would immediately report +any molestation they might encounter in the discharge of their delicate +mission, and the infallible result of such molestation would be first +the putting to death of all the hostages held for ransom; and next, +the summary execution of several members of gendarmery and police force +captured in various skirmishes by the brigands, and held as prisoners of +war. + +Such audacity would seem incredible if we had not heard and read of so +many similar instances of late. + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + A very doubtful benefit + Americans forgivingly remember, without mentioning + As becomes them, they do not look ahead + Charges of cynicism are common against all satirists + Fourth of the Georges + Here and there a plain good soul to whom he was affectionate + Holy images, and other miraculous objects are sold + It is well to learn manners without having them imposed on us + Men overweeningly in love with their creations + Must be the moralist in the satirist if satire is to strike + Not a page of his books reveals malevolence or a sneer + Petty concessions are signs of weakness to the unsatisfied + Statesman who stooped to conquer fact through fiction + The social world he looked at did not show him heroes + The exhaustion ensuing we named tranquillity + Utterance of generous and patriotic cries is not sufficient + We trust them or we crush them + We grew accustomed to periods of Irish fever + + + + +ON THE IDEA OF COMEDY AND OF THE USES OF THE COMIC SPIRIT {1} + +[This etext was prepared from the 1897 Archibald Constable and Company +edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk] + +Good Comedies are such rare productions, that notwithstanding the wealth +of our literature in the Comic element, it would not occupy us long +to run over the English list. If they are brought to the test I shall +propose, very reputable Comedies will be found unworthy of their +station, like the ladies of Arthur's Court when they were reduced to the +ordeal of the mantle. + +There are plain reasons why the Comic poet is not a frequent apparition; +and why the great Comic poet remains without a fellow. A society of +cultivated men and women is required, wherein ideas are current and the +perceptions quick, that he may be supplied with matter and an audience. +The semi-barbarism of merely giddy communities, and feverish emotional +periods, repel him; and also a state of marked social inequality of the +sexes; nor can he whose business is to address the mind be understood +where there is not a moderate degree of intellectual activity. + +Moreover, to touch and kindle the mind through laughter, demands more +than sprightliness, a most subtle delicacy. That must be a natal gift +in the Comic poet. The substance he deals with will show him a startling +exhibition of the dyer's hand, if he is without it. People are ready to +surrender themselves to witty thumps on the back, breast, and sides; +all except the head: and it is there that he aims. He must be subtle +to penetrate. A corresponding acuteness must exist to welcome him. The +necessity for the two conditions will explain how it is that we count +him during centuries in the singular number. + +'C'est une etrange entreprise que celle de faire rire les honnetes +gens,' Moliere says; and the difficulty of the undertaking cannot be +over-estimated. + +Then again, he is beset with foes to right and left, of a character +unknown to the tragic and the lyric poet, or even to philosophers. + +We have in this world men whom Rabelais would call agelasts; that is to +say, non-laughers; men who are in that respect as dead bodies, which +if you prick them do not bleed. The old grey boulder-stone that has +finished its peregrination from the rock to the valley, is as easily +to be set rolling up again as these men laughing. No collision of +circumstances in our mortal career strikes a light for them. It is but +one step from being agelastic to misogelastic, and the [Greek text which +cannot be reproduced], the laughter-hating, soon learns to dignify his +dislike as an objection in morality. + +We have another class of men, who are pleased to consider themselves +antagonists of the foregoing, and whom we may term hypergelasts; the +excessive laughers, ever-laughing, who are as clappers of a bell, that +may be rung by a breeze, a grimace; who are so loosely put together that +a wink will shake them. + +'... C'est n'estimer rien qu'estioner tout le monde,' + +and to laugh at everything is to have no appreciation of the Comic of +Comedy. + +Neither of these distinct divisions of non-laughers and over-laughers +would be entertained by reading The Rape of the Lock, or seeing a +performance of Le Tartuffe. In relation to the stage, they have taken in +our land the form and title of Puritan and Bacchanalian. For though the +stage is no longer a public offender, and Shakespeare has been revived +on it, to give it nobility, we have not yet entirely raised it above +the contention of these two parties. Our speaking on the theme of Comedy +will appear almost a libertine proceeding to one, while the other will +think that the speaking of it seriously brings us into violent contrast +with the subject. + +Comedy, we have to admit, was never one of the most honoured of the +Muses. She was in her origin, short of slaughter, the loudest expression +of the little civilization of men. The light of Athene over the head of +Achilles illuminates the birth of Greek Tragedy. But Comedy rolled in +shouting under the divine protection of the Son of the Wine-jar, as +Dionysus is made to proclaim himself by Aristophanes. Our second Charles +was the patron, of like benignity, of our Comedy of Manners, which began +similarly as a combative performance, under a licence to deride and +outrage the Puritan, and was here and there Bacchanalian beyond the +Aristophanic example: worse, inasmuch as a cynical licentiousness is +more abominable than frank filth. An eminent Frenchman judges from the +quality of some of the stuff dredged up for the laughter of men and +women who sat through an Athenian Comic play, that they could have had +small delicacy in other affairs when they had so little in their choice +of entertainment. Perhaps he does not make sufficient allowance for the +regulated licence of plain speaking proper to the festival of the god, +and claimed by the Comic poet as his inalienable right, or for the fact +that it was a festival in a season of licence, in a city accustomed to +give ear to the boldest utterance of both sides of a case. However that +may be, there can be no question that the men and women who sat through +the acting of Wycherley's Country Wife were past blushing. Our tenacity +of national impressions has caused the word theatre since then to prod +the Puritan nervous system like a satanic instrument; just as one has +known Anti-Papists, for whom Smithfield was redolent of a sinister +smoke, as though they had a later recollection of the place than the +lowing herds. Hereditary Puritanism, regarding the stage, is met, to +this day, in many families quite undistinguished by arrogant piety. It +has subsided altogether as a power in the profession of morality; but it +is an error to suppose it extinct, and unjust also to forget that it had +once good reason to hate, shun, and rebuke our public shows. + +We shall find ourselves about where the Comic spirit would place us, +if we stand at middle distance between the inveterate opponents and the +drum-and-fife supporters of Comedy: 'Comme un point fixe fait remarquer +l'emportement des autres,' as Pascal says. And were there more in this +position, Comic genius would flourish. + +Our English idea of a Comedy of Manners might be imaged in the person of +a blowsy country girl--say Hoyden, the daughter of Sir Tunbelly Clumsy, +who, when at home, 'never disobeyed her father except in the eating of +green gooseberries'--transforming to a varnished City madam; with a loud +laugh and a mincing step; the crazy ancestress of an accountably fallen +descendant. She bustles prodigiously and is punctually smart in her +speech, always in a fluster to escape from Dulness, as they say the dogs +on the Nile-banks drink at the river running to avoid the crocodile. If +the monster catches her, as at times he does, she whips him to a froth, +so that those who know Dulness only as a thing of ponderousness, shall +fail to recognise him in that light and airy shape. + +When she has frolicked through her five Acts to surprise you with the +information that Mr. Aimwell is converted by a sudden death in the world +outside the scenes into Lord Aimwell, and can marry the lady in the +light of day, it is to the credit of her vivacious nature that she does +not anticipate your calling her Farce. Five is dignity with a trailing +robe; whereas one, two, or three Acts would be short skirts, and +degrading. Advice has been given to householders, that they should +follow up the shot at a burglar in the dark by hurling the pistol after +it, so that if the bullet misses, the weapon may strike and assure the +rascal he has it. The point of her wit is in this fashion supplemented +by the rattle of her tongue, and effectively, according to the testimony +of her admirers. Her wit is at once, like steam in an engine, the motive +force and the warning whistle of her headlong course; and it vanishes +like the track of steam when she has reached her terminus, never +troubling the brains afterwards; a merit that it shares with good wine, +to the joy of the Bacchanalians. As to this wit, it is warlike. In the +neatest hands it is like the sword of the cavalier in the Mall, quick to +flash out upon slight provocation, and for a similar office--to wound. +Commonly its attitude is entirely pugilistic; two blunt fists rallying +and countering. When harmless, as when the word 'fool' occurs, or +allusions to the state of husband, it has the sound of the smack of +harlequin's wand upon clown, and is to the same extent exhilarating. +Believe that idle empty laughter is the most desirable of recreations, +and significant Comedy will seem pale and shallow in comparison. Our +popular idea would be hit by the sculptured group of Laughter holding +both his sides, while Comedy pummels, by way of tickling him. As to a +meaning, she holds that it does not conduce to making merry: you might +as well carry cannon on a racing-yacht. Morality is a duenna to be +circumvented. This was the view of English Comedy of a sagacious +essayist, who said that the end of a Comedy would often be the +commencement of a Tragedy, were the curtain to rise again on the +performers. In those old days female modesty was protected by a fan, +behind which, and it was of a convenient semicircular breadth, the +ladies present in the theatre retired at a signal of decorum, to peep, +covertly askant, or with the option of so peeping, through a prettily +fringed eyelet-hole in the eclipsing arch. + +'Ego limis specto sic per flabellum clanculum.'-TERENCE. + +That fan is the flag and symbol of the society giving us our so-called +Comedy of Manners, or Comedy of the manners of South-sea Islanders under +city veneer; and as to Comic idea, vacuous as the mask without the face +behind it. + +Elia, whose humour delighted in floating a galleon paradox and wafting +it as far as it would go, bewails the extinction of our artificial +Comedy, like a poet sighing over the vanished splendour of Cleopatra's +Nile-barge; and the sedateness of his plea for a cause condemned even in +his time to the penitentiary, is a novel effect of the ludicrous. When +the realism of those 'fictitious half-believed personages,' as he +calls them, had ceased to strike, they were objectionable company, +uncaressable as puppets. Their artifices are staringly naked, and have +now the effect of a painted face viewed, after warm hours of dancing, +in the morning light. How could the Lurewells and the Plyants ever have +been praised for ingenuity in wickedness? Critics, apparently sober, +and of high reputation, held up their shallow knaveries for the world +to admire. These Lurewells, Plyants, Pinchwifes, Fondlewifes, Miss Prue, +Peggy, Hoyden, all of them save charming Milamant, are dead as last +year's clothes in a fashionable fine lady's wardrobe, and it must be an +exceptionably abandoned Abigail of our period that would look on them +with the wish to appear in their likeness. Whether the puppet show of +Punch and Judy inspires our street-urchins to have instant recourse to +their fists in a dispute, after the fashion of every one of the actors +in that public entertainment who gets possession of the cudgel, is open +to question: it has been hinted; and angry moralists have traced +the national taste for tales of crime to the smell of blood in our +nursery-songs. It will at any rate hardly be questioned that it is +unwholesome for men and women to see themselves as they are, if they +are no better than they should be: and they will not, when they have +improved in manners, care much to see themselves as they once were. That +comes of realism in the Comic art; and it is not public caprice, but the +consequence of a bettering state. {2} The same of an immoral may be said +of realistic exhibitions of a vulgar society. + +The French make a critical distinction in ce qui remue from ce qui +emeut--that which agitates from that which touches with emotion. In the +realistic comedy it is an incessant remuage--no calm, merely bustling +figures, and no thought. Excepting Congreve's Way of the World, which +failed on the stage, there was nothing to keep our comedy alive on +its merits; neither, with all its realism, true portraiture, nor much +quotable fun, nor idea; neither salt nor soul. + +The French have a school of stately comedy to which they can fly for +renovation whenever they have fallen away from it; and their having such +a school is mainly the reason why, as John Stuart Mill pointed out, +they know men and women more accurately than we do. Moliere followed +the Horatian precept, to observe the manners of his age and give his +characters the colour befitting them at the time. He did not paint in +raw realism. He seized his characters firmly for the central purpose +of the play, stamped them in the idea, and by slightly raising and +softening the object of study (as in the case of the ex-Huguenot, Duke +de Montausier, {3} for the study of the Misanthrope, and, according to +St. Simon, the Abbe Roquette for Tartuffe), generalized upon it so as +to make it permanently human. Concede that it is natural for human +creatures to live in society, and Alceste is an imperishable mark of +one, though he is drawn in light outline, without any forcible human +colouring. Our English school has not clearly imagined society; and +of the mind hovering above congregated men and women, it has imagined +nothing. The critics who praise it for its downrightness, and for +bringing the situations home to us, as they admiringly say, cannot but +disapprove of Moliere's comedy, which appeals to the individual mind to +perceive and participate in the social. We have splendid tragedies, we +have the most beautiful of poetic plays, and we have literary comedies +passingly pleasant to read, and occasionally to see acted. By literary +comedies, I mean comedies of classic inspiration, drawn chiefly from +Menander and the Greek New Comedy through Terence; or else comedies of +the poet's personal conception, that have had no model in life, and are +humorous exaggerations, happy or otherwise. These are the comedies of +Ben Jonson, Massinger, and Fletcher. Massinger's Justice Greedy we can +all of us refer to a type, 'with fat capon lined' that has been and +will be; and he would be comic, as Panurge is comic, but only a Rabelais +could set him moving with real animation. Probably Justice Greedy would +be comic to the audience of a country booth and to some of our friends. +If we have lost our youthful relish for the presentation of characters +put together to fit a type, we find it hard to put together the +mechanism of a civil smile at his enumeration of his dishes. Something +of the same is to be said of Bobadil, swearing 'by the foot of Pharaoh'; +with a reservation, for he is made to move faster, and to act. The comic +of Jonson is a scholar's excogitation of the comic; that of Massinger a +moralist's. + +Shakespeare is a well-spring of characters which are saturated with the +comic spirit; with more of what we will call blood-life than is to be +found anywhere out of Shakespeare; and they are of this world, but they +are of the world enlarged to our embrace by imagination, and by great +poetic imagination. They are, as it were--I put it to suit my present +comparison--creatures of the woods and wilds, not in walled towns, not +grouped and toned to pursue a comic exhibition of the narrower world of +society. Jaques, Falstaff and his regiment, the varied troop of Clowns, +Malvolio, Sir Hugh Evans and Fluellen--marvellous Welshmen!--Benedict +and Beatrice, Dogberry, and the rest, are subjects of a special study in +the poetically comic. + +His Comedy of incredible imbroglio belongs to the literary section. +One may conceive that there was a natural resemblance between him +and Menander, both in the scheme and style of his lighter plays. Had +Shakespeare lived in a later and less emotional, less heroical period of +our history, he might have turned to the painting of manners as well as +humanity. Euripides would probably, in the time of Menander, when Athens +was enslaved but prosperous, have lent his hand to the composition of +romantic comedy. He certainly inspired that fine genius. + +Politically it is accounted a misfortune for France that her nobles +thronged to the Court of Louis Quatorze. It was a boon to the comic +poet. He had that lively quicksilver world of the animalcule passions, +the huge pretensions, the placid absurdities, under his eyes in full +activity; vociferous quacks and snapping dupes, hypocrites, posturers, +extravagants, pedants, rose-pink ladies and mad grammarians, +sonneteering marquises, high-flying mistresses, plain-minded maids, +inter-threading as in a loom, noisy as at a fair. A simply bourgeois +circle will not furnish it, for the middle class must have the +brilliant, flippant, independent upper for a spur and a pattern; +otherwise it is likely to be inwardly dull as well as outwardly correct. +Yet, though the King was benevolent toward Moliere, it is not to the +French Court that we are indebted for his unrivalled studies of mankind +in society. For the amusement of the Court the ballets and farces were +written, which are dearer to the rabble upper, as to the rabble lower, +class than intellectual comedy. The French bourgeoisie of Paris were +sufficiently quick-witted and enlightened by education to welcome great +works like Le Tartuffe, Les Femmes Savantes, and Le Misanthrope, works +that were perilous ventures on the popular intelligence, big vessels to +launch on streams running to shallows. The Tartuffe hove into view as an +enemy's vessel; it offended, not Dieu mais les devots, as the Prince de +Conde explained the cabal raised against it to the King. + +The Femmes Savantes is a capital instance of the uses of comedy +in teaching the world to understand what ails it. The farce of the +Precieuses ridiculed and put a stop to the monstrous romantic jargon +made popular by certain famous novels. The comedy of the Femmes Savantes +exposed the later and less apparent but more finely comic absurdity +of an excessive purism in grammar and diction, and the tendency to +be idiotic in precision. The French had felt the burden of this new +nonsense; but they had to see the comedy several times before they were +consoled in their suffering by seeing the cause of it exposed. + +The Misanthrope was yet more frigidly received. Moliere thought it dead. +'I cannot improve on it, and assuredly never shall,' he said. It is one +of the French titles to honour that this quintessential comedy of +the opposition of Alceste and Celimene was ultimately understood and +applauded. In all countries the middle class presents the public which, +fighting the world, and with a good footing in the fight, knows the +world best. It may be the most selfish, but that is a question leading +us into sophistries. Cultivated men and women, who do not skim the cream +of life, and are attached to the duties, yet escape the harsher blows, +make acute and balanced observers. Moliere is their poet. + +Of this class in England, a large body, neither Puritan nor +Bacchanalian, have a sentimental objection to face the study of the +actual world. They take up disdain of it, when its truths appear +humiliating: when the facts are not immediately forced on them, they +take up the pride of incredulity. They live in a hazy atmosphere that +they suppose an ideal one. Humorous writing they will endure, perhaps +approve, if it mingles with pathos to shake and elevate the feelings. +They approve of Satire, because, like the beak of the vulture, it smells +of carrion, which they are not. But of Comedy they have a shivering +dread, for Comedy enfolds them with the wretched host of the world, +huddles them with us all in an ignoble assimilation, and cannot be used +by any exalted variety as a scourge and a broom. Nay, to be an exalted +variety is to come under the calm curious eye of the Comic spirit, +and be probed for what you are. Men are seen among them, and very +many cultivated women. You may distinguish them by a favourite phrase: +'Surely we are not so bad!' and the remark: 'If that is human nature, +save us from it!' as if it could be done: but in the peculiar Paradise +of the wilful people who will not see, the exclamation assumes the +saving grace. + +Yet should you ask them whether they dislike sound sense, they vow they +do not. And question cultivated women whether it pleases them to be +shown moving on an intellectual level with men, they will answer that it +does; numbers of them claim the situation. Now, Comedy is the fountain +of sound sense; not the less perfectly sound on account of the sparkle: +and Comedy lifts women to a station offering them free play for their +wit, as they usually show it, when they have it, on the side of sound +sense. The higher the Comedy, the more prominent the part they enjoy in +it. Dorine in the Tartuffe is common-sense incarnate, though palpably a +waiting-maid. Celimene is undisputed mistress of the same attribute in +the Misanthrope; wiser as a woman than Alceste as man. In Congreve's +Way of the World, Millamant overshadows Mirabel, the sprightliest male +figure of English comedy. + +But those two ravishing women, so copious and so choice of speech, who +fence with men and pass their guard, are heartless! Is it not preferable +to be the pretty idiot, the passive beauty, the adorable bundle of +caprices, very feminine, very sympathetic, of romantic and sentimental +fiction? Our women are taught to think so. The Agnes of the Ecole des +Femmes should be a lesson for men. The heroines of Comedy are like women +of the world, not necessarily heartless from being clear-sighted: they +seem so to the sentimentally-reared only for the reason that they use +their wits, and are not wandering vessels crying for a captain or a +pilot. Comedy is an exhibition of their battle with men, and that of men +with them: and as the two, however divergent, both look on one object, +namely, Life, the gradual similarity of their impressions must bring +them to some resemblance. The Comic poet dares to show us men and women +coming to this mutual likeness; he is for saying that when they draw +together in social life their minds grow liker; just as the philosopher +discerns the similarity of boy and girl, until the girl is marched away +to the nursery. Philosopher and Comic poet are of a cousinship in the +eye they cast on life: and they are equally unpopular with our wilful +English of the hazy region and the ideal that is not to be disturbed. + +Thus, for want of instruction in the Comic idea, we lose a large +audience among our cultivated middle class that we should expect to +support Comedy. The sentimentalist is as averse as the Puritan and as +the Bacchanalian. + +Our traditions are unfortunate. The public taste is with the idle +laughers, and still inclines to follow them. It may be shown by an +analysis of Wycherley's Plain Dealer, a coarse prose adaption of the +Misanthrope, stuffed with lumps of realism in a vulgarized theme to +hit the mark of English appetite, that we have in it the keynote of the +Comedy of our stage. It is Moliere travestied, with the hoof to his +foot and hair on the pointed tip of his ear. And how difficult it is for +writers to disentangle themselves from bad traditions is noticeable +when we find Goldsmith, who had grave command of the Comic in narrative, +producing an elegant farce for a Comedy; and Fielding, who was a master +of the Comic both in narrative and in dialogue, not even approaching to +the presentable in farce. + +These bad traditions of Comedy affect us not only on the stage, but in +our literature, and may be tracked into our social life. They are the +ground of the heavy moralizings by which we are outwearied, about Life +as a Comedy, and Comedy as a jade, {4} when popular writers, conscious +of fatigue in creativeness, desire to be cogent in a modish cynicism: +perversions of the idea of life, and of the proper esteem for the +society we have wrested from brutishness, and would carry higher. Stock +images of this description are accepted by the timid and the sensitive, +as well as by the saturnine, quite seriously; for not many look +abroad with their own eyes, fewer still have the habit of thinking +for themselves. Life, we know too well, is not a Comedy, but something +strangely mixed; nor is Comedy a vile mask. The corrupted importation +from France was noxious; a noble entertainment spoilt to suit the +wretched taste of a villanous age; and the later imitations of it, +partly drained of its poison and made decorous, became tiresome, +notwithstanding their fun, in the perpetual recurring of the same +situations, owing to the absence of original study and vigour of +conception. Scene v. Act 2 of the Misanthrope, owing, no doubt, to the +fact of our not producing matter for original study, is repeated in +succession by Wycherley, Congreve, and Sheridan, and as it is at second +hand, we have it done cynically--or such is the tone; in the manner of +'below stairs.' Comedy thus treated may be accepted as a version of the +ordinary worldly understanding of our social life; at least, in accord +with the current dicta concerning it. The epigrams can be made; but +it is uninstructive, rather tending to do disservice. Comedy justly +treated, as you find it in Moliere, whom we so clownishly mishandled, +the Comedy of Moliere throws no infamous reflection upon life. It is +deeply conceived, in the first place, and therefore it cannot be impure. +Meditate on that statement. Never did man wield so shrieking a +scourge upon vice, but his consummate self-mastery is not shaken while +administering it. Tartuffe and Harpagon, in fact, are made each to whip +himself and his class, the false pietists, and the insanely covetous. +Moliere has only set them in motion. He strips Folly to the skin, +displays the imposture of the creature, and is content to offer her +better clothing, with the lesson Chrysale reads to Philaminte and +Belise. He conceives purely, and he writes purely, in the simplest +language, the simplest of French verse. The source of his wit is clear +reason: it is a fountain of that soil; and it springs to vindicate +reason, common-sense, rightness and justice; for no vain purpose ever. +The wit is of such pervading spirit that it inspires a pun with meaning +and interest. {5} His moral does not hang like a tail, or preach from +one character incessantly cocking an eye at the audience, as in recent +realistic French Plays: but is in the heart of his work, throbbing +with every pulsation of an organic structure. If Life is likened to the +comedy of Moliere, there is no scandal in the comparison. + +Congreve's Way of the World is an exception to our other comedies, his +own among them, by virtue of the remarkable brilliancy of the writing, +and the figure of Millamant. The comedy has no idea in it, beyond the +stale one, that so the world goes; and it concludes with the jaded +discovery of a document at a convenient season for the descent of the +curtain. A plot was an afterthought with Congreve. By the help of a +wooden villain (Maskwell) marked Gallows to the flattest eye, he gets +a sort of plot in The Double Dealer. {6} His Way of the World might +be called The Conquest of a Town Coquette, and Millamant is a perfect +portrait of a coquette, both in her resistance to Mirabel and the manner +of her surrender, and also in her tongue. The wit here is not so salient +as in certain passages of Love for Love, where Valentine feigns madness +or retorts on his father, or Mrs. Frail rejoices in the harmlessness of +wounds to a woman's virtue, if she 'keeps them from air.' In The Way +of the World, it appears less prepared in the smartness, and is more +diffused in the more characteristic style of the speakers. Here, +however, as elsewhere, his famous wit is like a bully-fencer, not +ashamed to lay traps for its exhibition, transparently petulant for +the train between certain ordinary words and the powder-magazine of the +improprieties to be fired. Contrast the wit of Congreve with Moliere's. +That of the first is a Toledo blade, sharp, and wonderfully supple for +steel; cast for duelling, restless in the scabbard, being so pretty when +out of it. To shine, it must have an adversary. Moliere's wit is like a +running brook, with innumerable fresh lights on it at every turn of the +wood through which its business is to find a way. It does not run in +search of obstructions, to be noisy over them; but when dead leaves +and viler substances are heaped along the course, its natural song is +heightened. Without effort, and with no dazzling flashes of achievement, +it is full of healing, the wit of good breeding, the wit of wisdom. + +'Genuine humour and true wit,' says Landor, {7} 'require a sound and +capacious mind, which is always a grave one. Rabelais and La Fontaine +are recorded by their countrymen to have been reveurs. Few men have been +graver than Pascal. Few men have been wittier.' + +To apply the citation of so great a brain as Pascal's to our countryman +would be unfair. Congreve had a certain soundness of mind; of capacity, +in the sense intended by Landor, he had little. Judging him by his wit, +he performed some happy thrusts, and taking it for genuine, it is a +surface wit, neither rising from a depth nor flowing from a spring. + +'On voit qu'il se travaille e dire de bons mots.' + +He drives the poor hack word, 'fool,' as cruelly to the market for wit +as any of his competitors. Here is an example, that has been held up for +eulogy: + +WITWOUD: He has brought me a letter from the fool my brother, etc. etc. + +MIRABEL: A fool, and your brother, Witwoud? + +WITWOUD: Ay, ay, my half-brother. My half-brother he is; no nearer, upon +my honour. + +MIRABEL: Then 'tis possible he may be but half a fool. + +By evident preparation. This is a sort of wit one remembers to have +heard at school, of a brilliant outsider; perhaps to have been guilty +of oneself, a trifle later. It was, no doubt, a blaze of intellectual +fireworks to the bumpkin squire, who came to London to go to the theatre +and learn manners. + +Where Congreve excels all his English rivals is in his literary force, +and a succinctness of style peculiar to him. He had correct judgement, +a correct ear, readiness of illustration within a narrow range, in +snapshots of the obvious at the obvious, and copious language. He +hits the mean of a fine style and a natural in dialogue. He is at +once precise and voluble. If you have ever thought upon style you will +acknowledge it to be a signal accomplishment. In this he is a classic, +and is worthy of treading a measure with Moliere. The Way of the World +may be read out currently at a first glance, so sure are the accents of +the emphatic meaning to strike the eye, perforce of the crispness and +cunning polish of the sentences. You have not to look over them before +you confide yourself to him; he will carry you safe. Sheridan imitated, +but was far from surpassing him. The flow of boudoir Billingsgate in +Lady Wishfort is unmatched for the vigour and pointedness of the tongue. +It spins along with a final ring, like the voice of Nature in a fury, +and is, indeed, racy eloquence of the elevated fishwife. + +Millamant is an admirable, almost a lovable heroine. It is a piece of +genius in a writer to make a woman's manner of speech portray her. +You feel sensible of her presence in every line of her speaking. +The stipulations with her lover in view of marriage, her fine lady's +delicacy, and fine lady's easy evasions of indelicacy, coquettish +airs, and playing with irresolution, which in a common maid would be +bashfulness, until she submits to 'dwindle into a wife,' as she says, +form a picture that lives in the frame, and is in harmony with Mirabel's +description of her: + +'Here she comes, i' faith, full sail, with her fan spread, and her +streamers out, and a shoal of fools for tenders.' + +And, after an interview: + +'Think of you! To think of a whirlwind, though 'twere in a whirlwind, +were a case of more steady contemplation, a very tranquillity of mind +and mansion.' + +There is a picturesqueness, as of Millamant and no other, in her voice, +when she is encouraged to take Mirabel by Mrs. Fainall, who is 'sure she +has a mind to him': + +MILLAMANT: Are you? I think I have--and the horrid man looks as if he +thought so too, etc. etc. + +One hears the tones, and sees the sketch and colour of the whole scene +in reading it. + +Celimene is behind Millamant in vividness. An air of bewitching +whimsicality hovers over the graces of this Comic heroine, like the +lively conversational play of a beautiful mouth. + +But in wit she is no rival of Celimene. What she utters adds to her +personal witchery, and is not further memorable. She is a flashing +portrait, and a type of the superior ladies who do not think, not of +those who do. In representing a class, therefore, it is a lower class, +in the proportion that one of Gainsborough's full-length aristocratic +women is below the permanent impressiveness of a fair Venetian head. + +Millamant side by side with Celimene is an example of how far the +realistic painting of a character can be carried to win our favour; and +of where it falls short. Celimene is a woman's mind in movement, armed +with an ungovernable wit; with perspicacious clear eyes for the world, +and a very distinct knowledge that she belongs to the world, and is +most at home in it. She is attracted to Alceste by her esteem for his +honesty; she cannot avoid seeing where the good sense of the man is +diseased. + +Rousseau, in his letter to D'Alembert on the subject of the Misanthrope, +discusses the character of Alceste, as though Moliere had put him +forth for an absolute example of misanthropy; whereas Alceste is only a +misanthrope of the circle he finds himself placed in: he has a touching +faith in the virtue residing in the country, and a critical love of +sweet simpleness. Nor is he the principal person of the comedy to which +he gives a name. He is only passively comic. Celimene is the active +spirit. While he is denouncing and railing, the trial is imposed upon +her to make the best of him, and control herself, as much as a witty +woman, eagerly courted, can do. By appreciating him she practically +confesses her faultiness, and she is better disposed to meet him +half.way than he is to bend an inch: only she is une ame de vingt ans, +the world is pleasant, and if the gilded flies of the Court are silly, +uncompromising fanatics have their ridiculous features as well. Can she +abandon the life they make agreeable to her, for a man who will not be +guided by the common sense of his class; and who insists on plunging +into one extreme--equal to suicide in her eyes--to avoid another? That +is the comic question of the Misanthrope. Why will he not continue to +mix with the world smoothly, appeased by the flattery of her secret and +really sincere preference of him, and taking his revenge in satire of +it, as she does from her own not very lofty standard, and will by and by +do from his more exalted one? + +Celimene is worldliness: Alceste is unworldliness. It does not quite +imply unselfishness; and that is perceived by her shrewd head. Still he +is a very uncommon figure in her circle, and she esteems him, l'homme +aux rubans verts, 'who sometimes diverts but more often horribly vexes +her,' as she can say of him when her satirical tongue is on the run. +Unhappily the soul of truth in him, which wins her esteem, refuses to +be tamed, or silent, or unsuspicious, and is the perpetual obstacle to +their good accord. He is that melancholy person, the critic of everybody +save himself; intensely sensitive to the faults of others, wounded by +them; in love with his own indubitable honesty, and with his ideal of +the simpler form of life befitting it: qualities which constitute the +satirist. He is a Jean Jacques of the Court. His proposal to Celimene +when he pardons her, that she should follow him in flying humankind, and +his frenzy of detestation of her at her refusal, are thoroughly in the +mood of Jean Jacques. He is an impracticable creature of a priceless +virtue; but Celimene may feel that to fly with him to the desert: that +is from the Court to the country + +'Ou d'etre homme d'honneur on ait la liberte,' + +she is likely to find herself the companion of a starving satirist, like +that poor princess who ran away with the waiting-man, and when both were +hungry in the forest, was ordered to give him flesh. She is a fieffee +coquette, rejoicing in her wit and her attractions, and distinguished by +her inclination for Alceste in the midst of her many other lovers; +only she finds it hard to cut them off--what woman with a train does +not?--and when the exposure of her naughty wit has laid her under +their rebuke, she will do the utmost she can: she will give her hand to +honesty, but she cannot quite abandon worldliness. She would be unwise +if she did. + +The fable is thin. Our pungent contrivers of plots would see no +indication of life in the outlines. The life of the comedy is in the +idea. As with the singing of the sky-lark out of sight, you must love +the bird to be attentive to the song, so in this highest flight of +the Comic Muse, you must love pure Comedy warmly to understand the +Misanthrope: you must be receptive of the idea of Comedy. And to love +Comedy you must know the real world, and know men and women well enough +not to expect too much of them, though you may still hope for good. + +Menander wrote a comedy called Misogynes, said to have been the most +celebrated of his works. This misogynist is a married man, according to +the fragment surviving, and is a hater of women through hatred of his +wife. He generalizes upon them from the example of this lamentable +adjunct of his fortunes, and seems to have got the worst of it in the +contest with her, which is like the issue in reality, in the polite +world. He seems also to have deserved it, which may be as true to the +copy. But we are unable to say whether the wife was a good voice of her +sex: or how far Menander in this instance raised the idea of woman +from the mire it was plunged into by the comic poets, or rather satiric +dramatists, of the middle period of Greek Comedy preceding him and +the New Comedy, who devoted their wit chiefly to the abuse, and for +a diversity, to the eulogy of extra-mural ladies of conspicuous fame. +Menander idealized them without purposely elevating. He satirized a +certain Thais, and his Thais of the Eunuchus of Terence is neither +professionally attractive nor repulsive; his picture of the two +Andrians, Chrysis and her sister, is nowhere to be matched for +tenderness. But the condition of honest women in his day did not permit +of the freedom of action and fencing dialectic of a Celimene, and +consequently it is below our mark of pure Comedy. + +Sainte-Beuve conjures up the ghost of Menander, saying: For the love of +me love Terence. It is through love of Terence that moderns are able to +love Menander; and what is preserved of Terence has not apparently +given us the best of the friend of Epicurus. [Greek text which cannot be +reproduced] the lover taken in horror, and [Greek text] the damsel shorn +of her locks, have a promising sound for scenes of jealousy and a too +masterful display of lordly authority, leading to regrets, of the +kind known to intemperate men who imagined they were fighting with the +weaker, as the fragments indicate. + +Of the six comedies of Terence, four are derived from Menander; two, +the Hecyra and the Phormio, from Apollodorus. These two are inferior in +comic action and the peculiar sweetness of Menander to the Andria, the +Adelphi, the Heautontimorumenus, and the Eunuchus: but Phormio is a more +dashing and amusing convivial parasite than the Gnatho of the +last-named comedy. There were numerous rivals of whom we know next to +nothing--except by the quotations of Athenaeus and Plutarch, and the +Greek grammarians who cited them to support a dictum--in this as in the +preceding periods of comedy in Athens, for Menander's plays are counted +by many scores, and they were crowned by the prize only eight times. The +favourite poet with critics, in Greece as in Rome, was Menander; and +if some of his rivals here and there surpassed him in comic force, and +out-stripped him in competition by an appositeness to the occasion that +had previously in the same way deprived the genius of Aristophanes of +its due reward in Clouds and Birds, his position as chief of the comic +poets of his age was unchallenged. Plutarch very unnecessarily drags +Aristophanes into a comparison with him, to the confusion of the older +poet. Their aims, the matter they dealt in, and the times, were quite +dissimilar. But it is no wonder that Plutarch, writing when Athenian +beauty of style was the delight of his patrons, should rank Menander +at the highest. In what degree of faithfulness Terence copied Menander, +whether, as he states of the passage in the Adelphi taken from Diphilus, +verbum de verbo in the lovelier scenes--the description of the last +words of the dying Andrian, and of her funeral, for instance--remains +conjectural. For us Terence shares with his master the praise of an +amenity that is like Elysian speech, equable and ever gracious; like the +face of the Andrian's young sister: + +'Adeo modesto, adeo venusto, ut nihil supra.' + +The celebrated 'flens quam familiariter,' of which the closest +rendering grounds hopelessly on harsh prose, to express the sorrowful +confidingness of a young girl who has lost her sister and dearest +friend, and has but her lover left to her; 'she turned and flung herself +on his bosom, weeping as though at home there': this our instinct +tells us must be Greek, though hardly finer in Greek. Certain lines of +Terence, compared with the original fragments, show that he embellished +them; but his taste was too exquisite for him to do other than devote +his genius to the honest translation of such pieces as the above. +Menander, then; with him, through the affinity of sympathy, Terence; and +Shakespeare and Moliere have this beautiful translucency of language: +and the study of the comic poets might be recommended, if for that only. + +A singular ill fate befell the writings of Menander. What we have of him +in Terence was chosen probably to please the cultivated Romans; {8} and +is a romantic play with a comic intrigue, obtained in two instances, the +Andria and the Eunuchus, by rolling a couple of his originals into one. +The titles of certain of the lost plays indicate the comic illumining +character; a Self-pitier, a Self-chastiser, an Ill-tempered man, a +Superstitious, an Incredulous, etc., point to suggestive domestic +themes. + +Terence forwarded manuscript translations from Greece, that suffered +shipwreck; he, who could have restored the treasure, died on the way +home. The zealots of Byzantium completed the work of destruction. So we +have the four comedies of Terence, numbering six of Menander, with a few +sketches of plots--one of them, the Thesaurus, introduces a miser, whom +we should have liked to contrast with Harpagon--and a multitude of small +fragments of a sententious cast, fitted for quotation. Enough remains to +make his greatness felt. + +Without undervaluing other writers of Comedy, I think it may be said +that Menander and Moliere stand alone specially as comic poets of the +feelings and the idea. In each of them there is a conception of +the Comic that refines even to pain, as in the Menedemus of the +Heautontimorumenus, and in the Misanthrope. Menander and Moliere have +given the principal types to Comedy hitherto. The Micio and Demea of the +Adelphi, with their opposing views of the proper management of youth, +are still alive; the Sganarelles and Arnolphes of the Ecole des Maris +and the Ecole des Femmes, are not all buried. Tartuffe is the father of +the hypocrites; Orgon of the dupes; Thraso, of the braggadocios; Alceste +of the 'Manlys'; Davus and Syrus of the intriguing valets, the Scapins +and Figaros. Ladies that soar in the realms of Rose-Pink, whose language +wears the nodding plumes of intellectual conceit, are traceable to +Philaminte and Belise of the Femmes Savantes: and the mordant witty +women have the tongue of Celimene. The reason is, that these two poets +idealized upon life: the foundation of their types is real and in the +quick, but they painted with spiritual strength, which is the solid in +Art. + +The idealistic conceptions of Comedy gives breadth and opportunities of +daring to Comic genius, and helps to solve the difficulties it creates. +How, for example, shall an audience be assured that an evident and +monstrous dupe is actually deceived without being an absolute fool? In +Le Tartuffe the note of high Comedy strikes when Orgon on his return +home hears of his idol's excellent appetite. 'Le pauvre homme!' he +exclaims. He is told that the wife of his bosom has been unwell. 'Et +Tartuffe?' he asks, impatient to hear him spoken of, his mind suffused +with the thought of Tartuffe, crazy with tenderness, and again he +croons, 'Le pauvre homme!' It is the mother's cry of pitying delight at +a nurse's recital of the feats in young animal gluttony of her cherished +infant. After this masterstroke of the Comic, you not only put faith in +Orgon's roseate prepossession, you share it with him by comic sympathy, +and can listen with no more than a tremble of the laughing muscles to +the instance he gives of the sublime humanity of Tartuffe: + +'Un rien presque suffit pour le scandaliser, Jusque-le, qu'il se vint +l'autre jour accuser D'avoir pris une puce en faisant sa priere, Et de +l'avoir tuee avec trop de colere.' + +And to have killed it too wrathfully! Translating Moliere is like +humming an air one has heard performed by an accomplished violinist of +the pure tones without flourish. + +Orgon, awakening to find another dupe in Madame Pernelle, incredulous +of the revelations which have at last opened his own besotted eyes, is a +scene of the double Comic, vivified by the spell previously cast on the +mind. There we feel the power of the poet's creation; and in the sharp +light of that sudden turn the humanity is livelier than any realistic +work can make it. + +Italian Comedy gives many hints for a Tartuffe; but they may be found in +Boccaccio, as well as in Machiavelli's Mandragola. The Frate Timoteo of +this piece is only a very oily friar, compliantly assisting an intrigue +with ecclesiastical sophisms (to use the mildest word) for payment. +Frate Timoteo has a fine Italian priestly pose. + +DONNA: Credete voi, che'l Turco passi questo anno in Italia? + +F. TIM.: Se voi non fate orazione, si. + +Priestly arrogance and unctuousness, and trickeries and casuistries, +cannot be painted without our discovering a likeness in the long Italian +gallery. Goldoni sketched the Venetian manners of the decadence of the +Republic with a French pencil, and was an Italian Scribe in style. + +The Spanish stage is richer in such Comedies as that which furnished the +idea of the Menteur to Corneille. But you must force yourself to believe +that this liar is not forcing his vein when he piles lie upon lie. There +is no preceding touch to win the mind to credulity. Spanish Comedy is +generally in sharp outline, as of skeletons; in quick movement, as of +marionnettes. The Comedy might be performed by a troop of the corps +de ballet; and in the recollection of the reading it resolves to an +animated shuffle of feet. It is, in fact, something other than the true +idea of Comedy. Where the sexes are separated, men and women grow, as +the Portuguese call it, affaimados of one another, famine-stricken; and +all the tragic elements are on the stage. Don Juan is a comic character +that sends souls flying: nor does the humour of the breaking of a dozen +women's hearts conciliate the Comic Muse with the drawing of blood. + +German attempts at Comedy remind one vividly of Heine's image of his +country in the dancing of Atta Troll. Lessing tried his hand at it, with +a sobering effect upon readers. The intention to produce the reverse +effect is just visible, and therein, like the portly graces of the poor +old Pyrenean Bear poising and twirling on his right hind-leg and his +left, consists the fun. Jean Paul Richter gives the best edition of the +German Comic in the contrast of Siebenkas with his Lenette. A light of +the Comic is in Goethe; enough to complete the splendid figure of the +man, but no more. + +The German literary laugh, like the timed awakenings of their +Barbarossa in the hollows of the Untersberg, is infrequent, and rather +monstrous--never a laugh of men and women in concert. It comes of +unrefined abstract fancy, grotesque or grim, or gross, like the peculiar +humours of their little earthmen. Spiritual laughter they have not yet +attained to: sentimentalism waylays them in the flight. Here and there +a Volkslied or Marchen shows a national aptitude for stout animal +laughter; and we see that the literature is built on it, which is +hopeful so far; but to enjoy it, to enter into the philosophy of the +Broad Grin, that seems to hesitate between the skull and the embryo, and +reaches its perfection in breadth from the pulling of two square fingers +at the corners of the mouth, one must have aid of 'the good Rhine wine,' +and be of German blood unmixed besides. This treble-Dutch lumbersomeness +of the Comic spirit is of itself exclusive of the idea of Comedy, and +the poor voice allowed to women in German domestic life will account +for the absence of comic dialogues reflecting upon life in that land. I +shall speak of it again in the second section of this lecture. + +Eastward you have total silence of Comedy among a people intensely +susceptible to laughter, as the Arabian Nights will testify. Where the +veil is over women's-faces, you cannot have society, without which the +senses are barbarous and the Comic spirit is driven to the gutters of +grossness to slake its thirst. Arabs in this respect are worse than +Italians--much worse than Germans; just in the degree that their system +of treating women is worse. + +M. Saint-Marc Girardin, the excellent French essayist and master +of critical style, tells of a conversation he had once with an Arab +gentleman on the topic of the different management of these difficult +creatures in Orient and in Occident: and the Arab spoke in praise of +many good results of the greater freedom enjoyed by Western ladies, and +the charm of conversing with them. He was questioned why his countrymen +took no measures to grant them something of that kind of liberty. He +jumped out of his individuality in a twinkling, and entered into the +sentiments of his race, replying, from the pinnacle of a splendid +conceit, with affected humility of manner: 'YOU can look on them without +perturbation--but WE!'... And after this profoundly comic interjection, +he added, in deep tones, 'The very face of a woman!' Our representative +of temperate notions demurely consented that the Arab's pride of +inflammability should insist on the prudery of the veil as the +civilizing medium of his race. + +There has been fun in Bagdad. But there never will be civilization where +Comedy is not possible; and that comes of some degree of social equality +of the sexes. I am not quoting the Arab to exhort and disturb the +somnolent East; rather for cultivated women to recognize that the Comic +Muse is one of their best friends. They are blind to their interests +in swelling the ranks of the sentimentalists. Let them look with their +clearest vision abroad and at home. They will see that where they have +no social freedom, Comedy is absent: where they are household drudges, +the form of Comedy is primitive: where they are tolerably independent, +but uncultivated, exciting melodrama takes its place and a sentimental +version of them. Yet the Comic will out, as they would know if they +listened to some of the private conversations of men whose minds +are undirected by the Comic Muse: as the sentimental man, to his +astonishment, would know likewise, if he in similar fashion could +receive a lesson. But where women are on the road to an equal footing +with men, in attainments and in liberty--in what they have won +for themselves, and what has been granted them by a fair +civilization--there, and only waiting to be transplanted from life to +the stage, or the novel, or the poem, pure Comedy flourishes, and is, +as it would help them to be, the sweetest of diversions, the wisest of +delightful companions. + +Now, to look about us in the present time, I think it will be +acknowledged that in neglecting the cultivation of the Comic idea, we +are losing the aid of a powerful auxiliar. You see Folly perpetually +sliding into new shapes in a society possessed of wealth and leisure, +with many whims, many strange ailments and strange doctors. Plenty of +common-sense is in the world to thrust her back when she pretends to +empire. But the first-born of common-sense, the vigilant Comic, which is +the genius of thoughtful laughter, which would readily extinguish her at +the outset, is not serving as a public advocate. + +You will have noticed the disposition of common-sense, under pressure +of some pertinacious piece of light-headedness, to grow impatient and +angry. That is a sign of the absence, or at least of the dormancy, of +the Comic idea. For Folly is the natural prey of the Comic, known to +it in all her transformations, in every disguise; and it is with the +springing delight of hawk over heron, hound after fox, that it gives her +chase, never fretting, never tiring, sure of having her, allowing her no +rest. + +Contempt is a sentiment that cannot be entertained by comic +intelligence. What is it but an excuse to be idly minded, or personally +lofty, or comfortably narrow, not perfectly humane? If we do not +feign when we say that we despise Folly, we shut the brain. There is +a disdainful attitude in the presence of Folly, partaking of the +foolishness to Comic perception: and anger is not much less foolish than +disdain. The struggle we have to conduct is essence against essence. Let +no one doubt of the sequel when this emanation of what is firmest in us +is launched to strike down the daughter of Unreason and Sentimentalism: +such being Folly's parentage, when it is respectable. + +Our modern system of combating her is too long defensive, and carried on +too ploddingly with concrete engines of war in the attack. She has time +to get behind entrenchments. She is ready to stand a siege, before the +heavily armed man of science and the writer of the leading article or +elaborate essay have primed their big guns. It should be remembered that +she has charms for the multitude; and an English multitude seeing her +make a gallant fight of it will be half in love with her, certainly +willing to lend her a cheer. Benevolent subscriptions assist her to hire +her own man of science, her own organ in the Press. If ultimately she is +cast out and overthrown, she can stretch a finger at gaps in our ranks. +She can say that she commanded an army and seduced men, whom we thought +sober men and safe, to act as her lieutenants. We learn rather gloomily, +after she has flashed her lantern, that we have in our midst able +men and men with minds for whom there is no pole-star in intellectual +navigation. Comedy, or the Comic element, is the specific for the +poison of delusion while Folly is passing from the state of vapour to +substantial form. + +O for a breath of Aristophanes, Rabelais, Voltaire, Cervantes, Fielding, +Moliere! These are spirits that, if you know them well, will come when +you do call. You will find the very invocation of them act on you like a +renovating air--the South-west coming off the sea, or a cry in the Alps. + +No one would presume to say that we are deficient in jokers. They +abound, and the organisation directing their machinery to shoot them in +the wake of the leading article and the popular sentiment is good. + +But the Comic differs from them in addressing the wits for laughter; and +the sluggish wits want some training to respond to it, whether in public +life or private, and particularly when the feelings are excited. + +The sense of the Comic is much blunted by habits of punning and of using +humouristic phrase: the trick of employing Johnsonian polysyllables +to treat of the infinitely little. And it really may be humorous, of a +kind, yet it will miss the point by going too much round about it. + +A certain French Duke Pasquier died, some years back, at a very advanced +age. He had been the venerable Duke Pasquier in his later years up to +the period of his death. There was a report of Duke Pasquier that he +was a man of profound egoism. Hence an argument arose, and was warmly +sustained, upon the excessive selfishness of those who, in a world of +troubles, and calls to action, and innumerable duties, husband their +strength for the sake of living on. Can it be possible, the argument +ran, for a truly generous heart to continue beating up to the age of a +hundred? Duke Pasquier was not without his defenders, who likened him to +the oak of the forest--a venerable comparison. + +The argument was conducted on both sides with spirit and earnestness, +lightened here and there by frisky touches of the polysyllabic playful, +reminding one of the serious pursuit of their fun by truant boys, that +are assured they are out of the eye of their master, and now and then +indulge in an imitation of him. And well might it be supposed that the +Comic idea was asleep, not overlooking them! It resolved at last +to this, that either Duke Pasquier was a scandal on our humanity +in clinging to life so long, or that he honoured it by so sturdy a +resistance to the enemy. As one who has entangled himself in a labyrinth +is glad to get out again at the entrance, the argument ran about to +conclude with its commencement. + +Now, imagine a master of the Comic treating this theme, and particularly +the argument on it. Imagine an Aristophanic comedy of THE CENTENARIAN, +with choric praises of heroical early death, and the same of a stubborn +vitality, and the poet laughing at the chorus; and the grand question +for contention in dialogue, as to the exact age when a man should +die, to the identical minute, that he may preserve the respect of +his fellows, followed by a systematic attempt to make an accurate +measurement in parallel lines, with a tough rope-yarn by one party, and +a string of yawns by the other, of the veteran's power of enduring +life, and our capacity for enduring HIM, with tremendous pulling on both +sides. + +Would not the Comic view of the discussion illumine it and the +disputants like very lightning? There are questions, as well as persons, +that only the Comic can fitly touch. + +Aristophanes would probably have crowned the ancient tree, with the +consolatory observation to the haggard line of long-expectant heirs of +the Centenarian, that they live to see the blessedness of coming of a +strong stock. The shafts of his ridicule would mainly have been aimed +at the disputants. For the sole ground of the argument was the old man's +character, and sophists are not needed to demonstrate that we can very +soon have too much of a bad thing. A Centenarian does not necessarily +provoke the Comic idea, nor does the corpse of a duke. It is not +provoked in the order of nature, until we draw its penetrating +attentiveness to some circumstance with which we have been mixing our +private interests, or our speculative obfuscation. Dulness, insensible +to the Comic, has the privilege of arousing it; and the laying of a dull +finger on matters of human life is the surest method of establishing +electrical communications with a battery of laughter--where the Comic +idea is prevalent. + +But if the Comic idea prevailed with us, and we had an Aristophanes +to barb and wing it, we should be breathing air of Athens. Prosers now +pouring forth on us like public fountains would be cut short in the +street and left blinking, dumb as pillar-posts, with letters thrust into +their mouths. We should throw off incubus, our dreadful familiar--by +some called boredom--whom it is our present humiliation to be just alive +enough to loathe, never quick enough to foil. There would be a bright +and positive, clear Hellenic perception of facts. The vapours of +Unreason and Sentimentalism would be blown away before they were +productive. Where would Pessimist and Optimist be? They would in any +case have a diminished audience. Yet possibly the change of despots, +from good-natured old obtuseness to keen-edged intelligence, which is by +nature merciless, would be more than we could bear. The rupture of the +link between dull people, consisting in the fraternal agreement that +something is too clever for them, and a shot beyond them, is not to +be thought of lightly; for, slender though the link may seem, it is +equivalent to a cement forming a concrete of dense cohesion, very +desirable in the estimation of the statesman. + +A political Aristophanes, taking advantage of his lyrical Bacchic +licence, was found too much for political Athens. I would not ask to +have him revived, but that the sharp light of such a spirit as his might +be with us to strike now and then on public affairs, public themes, to +make them spin along more briskly. + +He hated with the politician's fervour the sophist who corrupted +simplicity of thought, the poet who destroyed purity of style, the +demagogue, 'the saw-toothed monster,' who, as he conceived, chicaned +the mob, and he held his own against them by strength of laughter, until +fines, the curtailing of his Comic licence in the chorus, and ultimately +the ruin of Athens, which could no longer support the expense of the +chorus, threw him altogether on dialogue, and brought him under the law. +After the catastrophe, the poet, who had ever been gazing back at the +men of Marathon and Salamis, must have felt that he had foreseen it; +and that he was wise when he pleaded for peace, and derided military +coxcombry, and the captious old creature Demus, we can admit. He had +the Comic poet's gift of common-sense--which does not always include +political intelligence; yet his political tendency raised him above the +Old Comedy turn for uproarious farce. He abused Socrates, but Xenophon, +the disciple of Socrates, by his trained rhetoric saved the Ten +Thousand. Aristophanes might say that if his warnings had been followed +there would have been no such thing as a mercenary Greek expedition +under Cyrus. Athens, however, was on a landslip, falling; none could +arrest it. To gaze back, to uphold the old times, was a most natural +conservatism, and fruitless. The aloe had bloomed. Whether right or +wrong in his politics and his criticisms, and bearing in mind the +instruments he played on and the audience he had to win, there is an +idea in his comedies: it is the Idea of Good Citizenship. + +He is not likely to be revived. He stands, like Shakespeare, an +unapproachable. Swift says of him, with a loving chuckle: + +'But as for Comic Aristophanes, The dog too witty and too profane is.' + +Aristophanes was 'profane,' under satiric direction, unlike his rivals +Cratinus, Phrynichus, Ameipsias, Eupolis, and others, if we are to +believe him, who in their extraordinary Donnybrook Fair of the day of +Comedy, thumped one another and everybody else with absolute heartiness, +as he did, but aimed at small game, and dragged forth particular women, +which he did not. He is an aggregate of many men, all of a certain +greatness. We may build up a conception of his powers if we mount +Rabelais upon Hudibras, lift him with the songfulness of Shelley, give +him a vein of Heinrich Heine, and cover him with the mantle of the +Anti-Jacobin, adding (that there may be some Irish in him) a dash of +Grattan, before he is in motion. + +But such efforts at conceiving one great one by incorporation of minors +are vain, and cry for excuse. Supposing Wilkes for leading man in a +country constantly plunging into war under some plumed Lamachus, with +enemies periodically firing the land up to the gates of London, and a +Samuel Foote, of prodigious genius, attacking him with ridicule, I +think it gives a notion of the conflict engaged in by Aristophanes. +This laughing bald-pate, as he calls himself, was a Titanic pamphleteer, +using laughter for his political weapon; a laughter without scruple, +the laughter of Hercules. He was primed with wit, as with the garlic he +speaks of giving to the game-cocks, to make them fight the better. And +he was a lyric poet of aerial delicacy, with the homely song of a jolly +national poet, and a poet of such feeling that the comic mask is at +times no broader than a cloth on a face to show the serious features +of our common likeness. He is not to be revived; but if his method +were studied, some of the fire in him would come to us, and we might be +revived. + +Taking them generally, the English public are most in sympathy with +this primitive Aristophanic comedy, wherein the comic is capped by the +grotesque, irony tips the wit, and satire is a naked sword. They +have the basis of the Comic in them: an esteem for common-sense. They +cordially dislike the reverse of it. They have a rich laugh, though +it is not the gros rire of the Gaul tossing gros sel, nor the polished +Frenchman's mentally digestive laugh. And if they have now, like a +monarch with a troop of dwarfs, too many jesters kicking the dictionary +about, to let them reflect that they are dull, occasionally, like the +pensive monarch surprising himself with an idea of an idea of his own, +they look so. And they are given to looking in the glass. They must see +that something ails them. How much even the better order of them will +endure, without a thought of the defensive, when the person afflicting +them is protected from satire, we read in Memoirs of a Preceding Age, +where the vulgarly tyrannous hostess of a great house of reception +shuffled the guests and played them like a pack of cards, with her exact +estimate of the strength of each one printed on them: and still this +house continued to be the most popular in England; nor did the lady ever +appear in print or on the boards as the comic type that she was. + +It has been suggested that they have not yet spiritually comprehended +the signification of living in society; for who are cheerfuller, brisker +of wit, in the fields, and as explorers, colonisers, backwoodsmen? +They are happy in rough exercise, and also in complete repose. The +intermediate condition, when they are called upon to talk to one +another, upon other than affairs of business or their hobbies, reveals +them wearing a curious look of vacancy, as it were the socket of an eye +wanting. The Comic is perpetually springing up in social life, and, it +oppresses them from not being perceived. + +Thus, at a dinner-party, one of the guests, who happens to have enrolled +himself in a Burial Company, politely entreats the others to inscribe +their names as shareholders, expatiating on the advantages accruing to +them in the event of their very possible speedy death, the salubrity +of the site, the aptitude of the soil for a quick consumption of their +remains, etc.; and they drink sadness from the incongruous man, and +conceive indigestion, not seeing him in a sharply defined light, that +would bid them taste the comic of him. Or it is mentioned that a newly +elected member of our Parliament celebrates his arrival at eminence by +the publication of a book on cab-fares, dedicated to a beloved female +relative deceased, and the comment on it is the word 'Indeed.' But, +merely for a contrast, turn to a not uncommon scene of yesterday in +the hunting-field, where a brilliant young rider, having broken his +collar-bone, trots away very soon after, against medical interdict, +half put together in splinters, to the most distant meet of his +neighbourhood, sure of escaping his doctor, who is the first person he +encounters. 'I came here purposely to avoid you,' says the patient. 'I +came here purposely to take care of you,' says the doctor. Off they +go, and come to a swollen brook. The patient clears it handsomely: the +doctor tumbles in. All the field are alive with the heartiest relish of +every incident and every cross-light on it; and dull would the man have +been thought who had not his word to say about it when riding home. + +In our prose literature we have had delightful Comic writers. Besides +Fielding and Goldsmith, there is Miss Austen, whose Emma and Mr. Elton +might walk straight into a comedy, were the plot arranged for them. +Galt's neglected novels have some characters and strokes of shrewd +comedy. In our poetic literature the comic is delicate and graceful +above the touch of Italian and French. Generally, however, the English +elect excel in satire, and they are noble humourists. The national +disposition is for hard-hitting, with a moral purpose to sanction it; or +for a rosy, sometimes a larmoyant, geniality, not unmanly in its verging +upon tenderness, and with a singular attraction for thick-headedness, to +decorate it with asses' ears and the most beautiful sylvan haloes. But +the Comic is a different spirit. + +You may estimate your capacity for Comic perception by being able to +detect the ridicule of them you love, without loving them less: and +more by being able to see yourself somewhat ridiculous in dear eyes, and +accepting the correction their image of you proposes. + +Each one of an affectionate couple may be willing, as we say, to die +for the other, yet unwilling to utter the agreeable word at the right +moment; but if the wits were sufficiently quick for them to perceive +that they are in a comic situation, as affectionate couples must be +when they quarrel, they would not wait for the moon or the almanac, or +a Dorine, to bring back the flood-tide of tender feelings, that they +should join hands and lips. + +If you detect the ridicule, and your kindliness is chilled by it, you +are slipping into the grasp of Satire. + +If instead of falling foul of the ridiculous person with a satiric rod, +to make him writhe and shriek aloud, you prefer to sting him under +a semi-caress, by which he shall in his anguish be rendered dubious +whether indeed anything has hurt him, you are an engine of Irony. + +If you laugh all round him, tumble him, roll him about, deal him a +smack, and drop a tear on him, own his likeness to you and yours to +your neighbour, spare him as little as you shun, pity him as much as you +expose, it is a spirit of Humour that is moving you. + +The Comic, which is the perceptive, is the governing spirit, awakening +and giving aim to these powers of laughter, but it is not to be +confounded with them: it enfolds a thinner form of them, differing from +satire, in not sharply driving into the quivering sensibilities, and +from humour, in not comforting them and tucking them up, or indicating a +broader than the range of this bustling world to them. + +Fielding's Jonathan Wild presents a case of this peculiar distinction, +when that man of eminent greatness remarks upon the unfairness of a +trial in which the condemnation has been brought about by twelve men of +the opposite party; for it is not satiric, it is not humorous; yet it is +immensely comic to hear a guilty villain protesting that his own 'party' +should have a voice in the Law. It opens an avenue into villains' +ratiocination. {9} And the Comic is not cancelled though we should +suppose Jonathan to be giving play to his humour. I may have dreamed +this or had it suggested to me, for on referring to Jonathan Wild, I do +not find it. + +Apply the case to the man of deep wit, who is ever certain of his +condemnation by the opposite party, and then it ceases to be comic, and +will be satiric. + +The look of Fielding upon Richardson is essentially comic. His method +of correcting the sentimental writer is a mixture of the comic and the +humorous. Parson Adams is a creation of humour. But both the conception +and the presentation of Alceste and of Tartuffe, of Celimene and +Philaminte, are purely comic, addressed to the intellect: there is no +humour in them, and they refresh the intellect they quicken to detect +their comedy, by force of the contrast they offer between themselves and +the wiser world about them; that is to say, society, or that assemblage +of minds whereof the Comic spirit has its origin. + +Byron had splendid powers of humour, and the most poetic satire that we +have example of, fusing at times to hard irony. He had no strong comic +sense, or he would not have taken an anti-social position, which +is directly opposed to the Comic; and in his philosophy, judged by +philosophers, he is a comic figure, by reason of this deficiency. 'So +bald er philosophirt ist er ein Kind,' Goethe says of him. Carlyle sees +him in this comic light, treats him in the humorous manner. + +The Satirist is a moral agent, often a social scavenger, working on a +storage of bile. + +The Ironeist is one thing or another, according to his caprice. Irony is +the humour of satire; it may be savage as in Swift, with a moral object, +or sedate, as in Gibbon, with a malicious. The foppish irony fretting +to be seen, and the irony which leers, that you shall not mistake its +intention, are failures in satiric effort pretending to the treasures of +ambiguity. + +The Humourist of mean order is a refreshing laugher, giving tone to the +feelings and sometimes allowing the feelings to be too much for him. But +the humourist of high has an embrace of contrasts beyond the scope of +the Comic poet. + +Heart and mind laugh out at Don Quixote, and still you brood on him. +The juxtaposition of the knight and squire is a Comic conception, the +opposition of their natures most humorous. They are as different as the +two hemispheres in the time of Columbus, yet they touch and are bound +in one by laughter. The knight's great aims and constant mishaps, his +chivalrous valiancy exercised on absurd objects, his good sense along +the highroad of the craziest of expeditions; the compassion he plucks +out of derision, and the admirable figure he preserves while stalking +through the frantically grotesque and burlesque assailing him, are in +the loftiest moods of humour, fusing the Tragic sentiment with the Comic +narrative. + +The stroke of the great humourist is world-wide, with lights of Tragedy +in his laughter. + +Taking a living great, though not creative, humourist to guide our +description: the skull of Yorick is in his hands in our seasons of +festival; he sees visions of primitive man capering preposterously under +the gorgeous robes of ceremonial. Our souls must be on fire when we wear +solemnity, if we would not press upon his shrewdest nerve. Finite and +infinite flash from one to the other with him, lending him a two-edged +thought that peeps out of his peacefullest lines by fits, like the +lantern of the fire-watcher at windows, going the rounds at night. The +comportment and performances of men in society are to him, by the vivid +comparison with their mortality, more grotesque than respectable. But +ask yourself, Is he always to be relied on for justness? He will fly +straight as the emissary eagle back to Jove at the true Hero. He will +also make as determined a swift descent upon the man of his wilful +choice, whom we cannot distinguish as a true one. This vast power of +his, built up of the feelings and the intellect in union, is often +wanting in proportion and in discretion. Humourists touching upon +History or Society are given to be capricious. They are, as in the +case of Sterne, given to be sentimental; for with them the feelings +are primary, as with singers. Comedy, on the other hand, is an +interpretation of the general mind, and is for that reason of necessity +kept in restraint. The French lay marked stress on mesure et gout, +and they own how much they owe to Moliere for leading them in simple +justness and taste. We can teach them many things; they can teach us in +this. + +The Comic poet is in the narrow field, or enclosed square, of the +society he depicts; and he addresses the still narrower enclosure of +men's intellects, with reference to the operation of the social world +upon their characters. He is not concerned with beginnings or endings or +surroundings, but with what you are now weaving. To understand his work +and value it, you must have a sober liking of your kind and a sober +estimate of our civilized qualities. The aim and business of the Comic +poet are misunderstood, his meaning is not seized nor his point of view +taken, when he is accused of dishonouring our nature and being hostile +to sentiment, tending to spitefulness and making an unfair use of +laughter. Those who detect irony in Comedy do so because they choose to +see it in life. Poverty, says the satirist, has nothing harder in itself +than that it makes men ridiculous. But poverty is never ridiculous to +Comic perception until it attempts to make its rags conceal its bareness +in a forlorn attempt at decency, or foolishly to rival ostentation. +Caleb Balderstone, in his endeavour to keep up the honour of a noble +household in a state of beggary, is an exquisitely comic character. In +the case of 'poor relatives,' on the other hand, it is the rich, whom +they perplex, that are really comic; and to laugh at the former, +not seeing the comedy of the latter, is to betray dulness of vision. +Humourist and Satirist frequently hunt together as Ironeists in pursuit +of the grotesque, to the exclusion of the Comic. That was an affecting +moment in the history of the Prince Regent, when the First Gentleman of +Europe burst into tears at a sarcastic remark of Beau Brummell's on the +cut of his coat. Humour, Satire, Irony, pounce on it altogether as +their common prey. The Comic spirit eyes but does not touch it. Put into +action, it would be farcical. It is too gross for Comedy. + +Incidents of a kind casting ridicule on our unfortunate nature instead +of our conventional life, provoke derisive laughter, which thwarts the +Comic idea. But derision is foiled by the play of the intellect. Most +of doubtful causes in contest are open to Comic interpretation, and any +intellectual pleading of a doubtful cause contains germs of an Idea of +Comedy. + +The laughter of satire is a blow in the back or the face. The laughter +of Comedy is impersonal and of unrivalled politeness, nearer a smile; +often no more than a smile. It laughs through the mind, for the mind +directs it; and it might be called the humour of the mind. + +One excellent test of the civilization of a country, as I have said, I +take to be the flourishing of the Comic idea and Comedy; and the test of +true Comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter. + +If you believe that our civilization is founded in common-sense (and +it is the first condition of sanity to believe it), you will, when +contemplating men, discern a Spirit overhead; not more heavenly than the +light flashed upward from glassy surfaces, but luminous and watchful; +never shooting beyond them, nor lagging in the rear; so closely attached +to them that it may be taken for a slavish reflex, until its features +are studied. It has the sage's brows, and the sunny malice of a faun +lurks at the corners of the half-closed lips drawn in an idle wariness +of half tension. That slim feasting smile, shaped like the long-bow, was +once a big round satyr's laugh, that flung up the brows like a fortress +lifted by gunpowder. The laugh will come again, but it will be of the +order of the smile, finely tempered, showing sunlight of the mind, +mental richness rather than noisy enormity. Its common aspect is one +of unsolicitous observation, as if surveying a full field and having +leisure to dart on its chosen morsels, without any fluttering eagerness. +Men's future upon earth does not attract it; their honesty and +shapeliness in the present does; and whenever they wax out of +proportion, overblown, affected, pretentious, bombastical, hypocritical, +pedantic, fantastically delicate; whenever it sees them self-deceived +or hoodwinked, given to run riot in idolatries, drifting into vanities, +congregating in absurdities, planning short-sightedly, plotting +dementedly; whenever they are at variance with their professions, and +violate the unwritten but perceptible laws binding them in consideration +one to another; whenever they offend sound reason, fair justice; +are false in humility or mined with conceit, individually, or in the +bulk--the Spirit overhead will look humanely malign and cast an oblique +light on them, followed by volleys of silvery laughter. That is the +Comic Spirit. + +Not to distinguish it is to be bull-blind to the spiritual, and to +deny the existence of a mind of man where minds of men are in working +conjunction. + +You must, as I have said, believe that our state of society is founded +in common-sense, otherwise you will not be struck by the contrasts the +Comic Spirit perceives, or have it to look to for your consolation. +You will, in fact, be standing in that peculiar oblique beam of light, +yourself illuminated to the general eye as the very object of chase and +doomed quarry of the thing obscure to you. But to feel its presence and +to see it is your assurance that many sane and solid minds are with you +in what you are experiencing: and this of itself spares you the pain of +satirical heat, and the bitter craving to strike heavy blows. You share +the sublime of wrath, that would not have hurt the foolish, but merely +demonstrate their foolishness. Moliere was contented to revenge himself +on the critics of the Ecole des Femmes, by writing the Critique de +l'Ecole des Femmes, one of the wisest as well as the playfullest of +studies in criticism. A perception of the comic spirit gives high +fellowship. You become a citizen of the selecter world, the highest we +know of in connection with our old world, which is not supermundane. +Look there for your unchallengeable upper class! You feel that you are +one of this our civilized community, that you cannot escape from it, +and would not if you could. Good hope sustains you; weariness does not +overwhelm you; in isolation you see no charms for vanity; personal pride +is greatly moderated. Nor shall your title of citizenship exclude you +from worlds of imagination or of devotion. The Comic spirit is not +hostile to the sweetest songfully poetic. Chaucer bubbles with it: +Shakespeare overflows: there is a mild moon's ray of it (pale with +super-refinement through distance from our flesh and blood planet) +in Comus. Pope has it, and it is the daylight side of the night half +obscuring Cowper. It is only hostile to the priestly element, when that, +by baleful swelling, transcends and overlaps the bounds of its office: +and then, in extreme cases, it is too true to itself to speak, and veils +the lamp: as, for example, the spectacle of Bossuet over the dead body +of Moliere: at which the dark angels may, but men do not laugh. + +We have had comic pulpits, for a sign that the laughter-moving and the +worshipful may be in alliance: I know not how far comic, or how much +assisted in seeming so by the unexpectedness and the relief of its +appearance: at least they are popular, they are said to win the ear. +Laughter is open to perversion, like other good things; the scornful and +the brutal sorts are not unknown to us; but the laughter directed by +the Comic spirit is a harmless wine, conducing to sobriety in the degree +that it enlivens. It enters you like fresh air into a study; as when +one of the sudden contrasts of the comic idea floods the brain like +reassuring daylight. You are cognizant of the true kind by feeling that +you take it in, savour it, and have what flowers live on, natural air +for food. That which you give out--the joyful roar--is not the better +part; let that go to good fellowship and the benefit of the lungs. +Aristophanes promises his auditors that if they will retain the ideas +of the comic poet carefully, as they keep dried fruits in boxes, their +garments shall smell odoriferous of wisdom throughout the year. The +boast will not be thought an empty one by those who have choice +friends that have stocked themselves according to his directions. Such +treasuries of sparkling laughter are wells in our desert. Sensitiveness +to the comic laugh is a step in civilization. To shrink from being an +object of it is a step in cultivation. We know the degree of refinement +in men by the matter they will laugh at, and the ring of the laugh; but +we know likewise that the larger natures are distinguished by the great +breadth of their power of laughter, and no one really loving Moliere is +refined by that love to despise or be dense to Aristophanes, though it +may be that the lover of Aristophanes will not have risen to the height +of Moliere. Embrace them both, and you have the whole scale of laughter +in your breast. Nothing in the world surpasses in stormy fun the scene +in The Frogs, when Bacchus and Xanthias receive their thrashings from +the hands of businesslike OEacus, to discover which is the divinity +of the two, by his imperviousness to the mortal condition of pain, and +each, under the obligation of not crying out, makes believe that his +horrible bellow--the god's iou--iou being the lustier--means only +the stopping of a sneeze, or horseman sighted, or the prelude to an +invocation to some deity: and the slave contrives that the god shall +get the bigger lot of blows. Passages of Rabelais, one or two in Don +Quixote, and the Supper in the Manner of the Ancients, in Peregrine +Pickle, are of a similar cataract of laughter. But it is not +illuminating; it is not the laughter of the mind. Moliere's laughter, in +his purest comedies, is ethereal, as light to our nature, as colour to +our thoughts. The Misanthrope and the Tartuffe have no audible laughter; +but the characters are steeped in the comic spirit. They quicken the +mind through laughter, from coming out of the mind; and the mind accepts +them because they are clear interpretations of certain chapters of the +Book lying open before us all. Between these two stand Shakespeare and +Cervantes, with the richer laugh of heart and mind in one; with much of +the Aristophanic robustness, something of Moliere's delicacy. + +The laughter heard in circles not pervaded by the Comic idea, will sound +harsh and soulless, like versified prose, if you step into them with +a sense of the distinction. You will fancy you have changed your +habitation to a planet remoter from the sun. You may be among +powerful brains too. You will not find poets--or but a stray one, +over-worshipped. You will find learned men undoubtedly, professors, +reputed philosophers, and illustrious dilettanti. They have in them, +perhaps, every element composing light, except the Comic. They read +verse, they discourse of art; but their eminent faculties are not under +that vigilant sense of a collective supervision, spiritual and present, +which we have taken note of. They build a temple of arrogance; they +speak much in the voice of oracles; their hilarity, if it does not dip +in grossness, is usually a form of pugnacity. + +Insufficiency of sight in the eye looking outward has deprived them of +the eye that should look inward. They have never weighed themselves in +the delicate balance of the Comic idea so as to obtain a suspicion of +the rights and dues of the world; and they have, in consequence, an +irritable personality. A very learned English professor crushed an +argument in a political discussion, by asking his adversary angrily: +'Are you aware, sir, that I am a philologer?' + +The practice of polite society will help in training them, and the +professor on a sofa with beautiful ladies on each side of him, may +become their pupil and a scholar in manners without knowing it: he is at +least a fair and pleasing spectacle to the Comic Muse. But the society +named polite is volatile in its adorations, and to-morrow will be +petting a bronzed soldier, or a black African, or a prince, or a +spiritualist: ideas cannot take root in its ever-shifting soil. It is +besides addicted in self-defence to gabble exclusively of the affairs of +its rapidly revolving world, as children on a whirligoround bestow their +attention on the wooden horse or cradle ahead of them, to escape from +giddiness and preserve a notion of identity. The professor is better +out of a circle that often confounds by lionizing, sometimes annoys by +abandoning, and always confuses. The school that teaches gently what +peril there is lest a cultivated head should still be coxcomb's, and the +collisions which may befall high-soaring minds, empty or full, is more +to be recommended than the sphere of incessant motion supplying it with +material. + +Lands where the Comic spirit is obscure overhead are rank with raw crops +of matter. The traveller accustomed to smooth highways and people not +covered with burrs and prickles is amazed, amid so much that is fair and +cherishable, to come upon such curious barbarism. An Englishman paid +a visit of admiration to a professor in the Land of Culture, and was +introduced by him to another distinguished professor, to whom he took +so cordially as to walk out with him alone one afternoon. The first +professor, an erudite entirely worthy of the sentiment of scholarly +esteem prompting the visit, behaved (if we exclude the dagger) with the +vindictive jealousy of an injured Spanish beauty. After a short prelude +of gloom and obscure explosions, he discharged upon his faithless +admirer the bolts of passionate logic familiar to the ears of flighty +caballeros:--'Either I am a fit object of your admiration, or I am not. +Of these things one--either you are competent to judge, in which case +I stand condemned by you; or you are incompetent, and therefore +impertinent, and you may betake yourself to your country again, +hypocrite!' The admirer was for persuading the wounded scholar that it +is given to us to be able to admire two professors at a time. He was +driven forth. + +Perhaps this might have occurred in any country, and a comedy of The +Pedant, discovering the greedy humanity within the dusty scholar, would +not bring it home to one in particular. I am mindful that it was in +Germany, when I observe that the Germans have gone through no comic +training to warn them of the sly, wise emanation eyeing them from aloft, +nor much of satirical. Heinrich Heine has not been enough to cause them +to smart and meditate. Nationally, as well as individually, when they +are excited they are in danger of the grotesque, as when, for instance, +they decline to listen to evidence, and raise a national outcry because +one of German blood has been convicted of crime in a foreign country. +They are acute critics, yet they still wield clubs in controversy. +Compare them in this respect with the people schooled in La Bruyere, La +Fontaine, Moliere; with the people who have the figures of a Trissotin +and a Vadius before them for a comic warning of the personal vanities +of the caressed professor. It is more than difference of race. It is the +difference of traditions, temper, and style, which comes of schooling. + +The French controversialist is a polished swordsman, to be dreaded +in his graces and courtesies. The German is Orson, or the mob, or a +marching army, in defence of a good case or a bad--a big or a little. +His irony is a missile of terrific tonnage: sarcasm he emits like a +blast from a dragon's mouth. He must and will be Titan. He stamps his +foe underfoot, and is astonished that the creature is not dead, but +stinging; for, in truth, the Titan is contending, by comparison, with a +god. + +When the Germans lie on their arms, looking across the Alsatian frontier +at the crowds of Frenchmen rushing to applaud L'ami Fritz at the Theatre +Francais, looking and considering the meaning of that applause, which +is grimly comic in its political response to the domestic moral of the +play--when the Germans watch and are silent, their force of character +tells. They are kings in music, we may say princes in poetry, good +speculators in philosophy, and our leaders in scholarship. That so +gifted a race, possessed moreover of the stern good sense which collects +the waters of laughter to make the wells, should show at a disadvantage, +I hold for a proof, instructive to us, that the discipline of the comic +spirit is needful to their growth. We see what they can reach to in that +great figure of modern manhood, Goethe. They are a growing people; +they are conversable as well; and when their men, as in France, and +at intervals at Berlin tea-tables, consent to talk on equal terms with +their women, and to listen to them, their growth will be accelerated and +be shapelier. Comedy, or in any form the Comic spirit, will then come to +them to cut some figures out of the block, show them the mirror, enliven +and irradiate the social intelligence. + +Modern French comedy is commendable for the directness of the study +of actual life, as far as that, which is but the early step in such a +scholarship, can be of service in composing and colouring the picture. +A consequence of this crude, though well-meant, realism is the collision +of the writers in their scenes and incidents, and in their characters. +The Muse of most of them is an Aventuriere. She is clever, and a certain +diversion exists in the united scheme for confounding her. The object of +this person is to reinstate herself in the decorous world; and either, +having accomplished this purpose through deceit, she has a nostalgie de +la boue, that eventually casts her back into it, or she is exposed in +her course of deception when she is about to gain her end. A very good, +innocent young man is her victim, or a very astute, goodish young man +obstructs her path. This latter is enabled to be the champion of the +decorous world by knowing the indecorous well. He has assisted in the +progress of Aventurieres downward; he will not help them to ascend. The +world is with him; and certainly it is not much of an ascension they +aspire to; but what sort of a figure is he? The triumph of a candid +realism is to show him no hero. You are to admire him (for it must be +supposed that realism pretends to waken some admiration) as a credibly +living young man; no better, only a little firmer and shrewder, than the +rest. If, however, you think at all, after the curtain has fallen, you +are likely to think that the Aventurieres have a case to plead against +him. True, and the author has not said anything to the contrary; he has +but painted from the life; he leaves his audience to the reflections of +unphilosophic minds upon life, from the specimen he has presented in the +bright and narrow circle of a spy-glass. + +I do not know that the fly in amber is of any particular use, but the +Comic idea enclosed in a comedy makes it more generally perceptible and +portable, and that is an advantage. There is a benefit to men in taking +the lessons of Comedy in congregations, for it enlivens the wits; and to +writers it is beneficial, for they must have a clear scheme, and even +if they have no idea to present, they must prove that they have made the +public sit to them before the sitting to see the picture. And writing +for the stage would be a corrective of a too-incrusted scholarly style, +into which some great ones fall at times. It keeps minor writers to a +definite plan, and to English. Many of them now swelling a plethoric +market, in the composition of novels, in pun-manufactories and in +journalism; attached to the machinery forcing perishable matter on a +public that swallows voraciously and groans; might, with encouragement, +be attending to the study of art in literature. Our critics appear to +be fascinated by the quaintness of our public, as the world is when +our beast-garden has a new importation of magnitude, and the creatures +appetite is reverently consulted. They stipulate for a writer's +popularity before they will do much more than take the position of +umpires to record his failure or success. Now the pig supplies the most +popular of dishes, but it is not accounted the most honoured of animals, +unless it be by the cottager. Our public might surely be led to try +other, perhaps finer, meat. It has good taste in song. It might be +taught as justly, on the whole, and the sooner when the cottager's view +of the feast shall cease to be the humble one of our literary critics, +to extend this capacity for delicate choosing in the direction of the +matter arousing laughter. + + + + +Footnotes: + +{1} A lecture delivered at the London Institution, February 1st, 1877. + +{2} Realism in the writing is carried to such a pitch in THE OLD +BACHELOR, that husband and wife use imbecile connubial epithets to one +another. + +{3} Tallemant des Reaux, in his rough portrait of the Duke, shows the +foundation of the character of Alceste. + +{4} See Tom Jones, book viii. chapter I, for Fielding's opinion of +our Comedy. But he puts it simply; not as an exercise in the +quasi-philosophical bathetic. + +{5} Femmes Savantes: + +BELISE: Veux-tu toute la vie offenser la grammaire? + +MARTINE: Qui parle d'offenser grand'mere ni grand-pere?' + +The pun is delivered in all sincerity, from the mouth of a rustic. + +{6} Maskwell seems to have been carved on the model of Iago, as by +the hand of an enterprising urchin. He apostrophizes his 'invention' +repeatedly. 'Thanks, my invention.' He hits on an invention, to say: +'Was it my brain or Providence? no matter which.' It is no matter which, +but it was not his brain. + +{7} Imaginary Conversations: Alfieri and the Jew Salomon. + +{8} Terence did not please the rough old conservative Romans; they liked +Plautus better, and the recurring mention of the vetus poeta in +his prologues, who plagued him with the crusty critical view of his +productions, has in the end a comic effect on the reader. + +{9} The exclamation of Lady Booby, when Joseph defends himself: 'YOUR +VIRTUE! I shall never survive it!' etc., is another instance.--Joseph +Andrews. Also that of Miss Mathews in her narrative to Booth: 'But such +are the friendships of women.'--Amelia. + + + + + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS FOR THE PG SHORT WORKS OF MEREDITH: + + A wise man will not squander his laughter if he can help it + A woman is hurt if you do not confide to her your plans + A generous enemy is a friend on the wrong side + A very doubtful benefit + A great oration may be a sedative + A male devotee is within an inch of a miracle + Above Nature, I tell him, or, we shall be very much below + Adversary at once offensive and helpless provokes brutality + All are friends who sit at table + All flattery is at somebody's expense + Americans forgivingly remember, without mentioning + As becomes them, they do not look ahead + As in all great oratory! The key of it is the pathos + Back from the altar to discover that she has chained herself + Be what you seem, my little one + Be philosophical, but accept your personal dues + Bed was a rock of refuge and fortified defence + But I leave it to you + Can believe a woman to be any age when her cheeks are tinted + Causes him to be popularly weighed + Charges of cynicism are common against all satirists + Civil tongue and rosy smiles sweeten even sour wine + Cupid clipped of wing is a destructive parasite + Dangerous things are uttered after the third glass + Distinguished by his not allowing himself to be provoked + Distrust us, and it is a declaration of war + Eccentric behaviour in trifles + Everywhere the badge of subjection is a poor stomach + Excess of a merit is a capital offence in morality + Excited, glad of catastrophe if it but killed monotony + Face betokening the perpetual smack of lemon + Fourth of the Georges + Generally he noticed nothing + Gentleman in a good state of preservation + Good jokes are not always good policy + Gratitude never was a woman's gift + Happiness in love is a match between ecstasy and compliance + Here and there a plain good soul to whom he was affectionate + His idea of marriage is, the taking of the woman into custody + Holy images, and other miraculous objects are sold + I who respect the state of marriage by refusing + I make a point of never recommending my own house + I like him, I like him, of course, but I want to breathe + I am a discordant instrument I do not readily vibrate + If I do not speak of payment + Imparting the usual chorus of yesses to his own mind + In every difficulty, patience is a life-belt + Indulged in their privilege of thinking what they liked + Infants are said to have their ideas, and why not young ladies? + Intellectual contempt of easy dupes + Invite indecision to exhaust their scruples + Is not one month of brightness as much as we can ask for? + It was harder to be near and not close + It is well to learn manners without having them imposed on us + Knew my friend to be one of the most absent-minded of men + Lend him your own generosity + Love and war have been compared--Both require strategy + Loving in this land: they all go mad, straight off + Men love to boast of things nobody else has seen + Men overweeningly in love with their creations + Modest are the most easily intoxicated when they sip at vanity + Must be the moralist in the satirist if satire is to strike + Nature is not of necessity always roaring + Naughtily Australian and kangarooly + Never reckon on womankind for a wise act + No flattery for me at the expense of my sisters + Not a page of his books reveals malevolence or a sneer + Not in love--She was only not unwilling to be in love + Nothing desirable will you have which is not coveted + Only to be described in the tongue of auctioneers + Peace, I do pray, for the husband-haunted wife + Period of his life a man becomes too voraciously constant + Petty concessions are signs of weakness to the unsatisfied + Pitiful conceit in men + Primitive appetite for noise + Rapture of obliviousness + Rejoicing they have in their common agreement + Respected the vegetable yet more than he esteemed the flower + Rich and poor 's all right, if I'm rich and you're poor + Self-incense + Self-worship, which is often self-distrust + She seems honest, and that is the most we can hope of girls + She sought, by looking hard, to understand it better + She might turn out good, if well guarded for a time + She began to feel that this was life in earnest + She dealt in the flashes which connect ideas + Sign that the evil had reached from pricks to pokes + So are great deeds judged when the danger's past (as easy) + Soft slumber of a strength never yet called forth + Spare me that word "female" as long as you live + Statesman who stooped to conquer fact through fiction + Sunning itself in the glass of Envy + Suspects all young men and most young women + Suspicion was her best witness + Sweet treasure before which lies a dragon sleeping + Telling her anything, she makes half a face in anticipation + That which fine cookery does for the cementing of couples + The intricate, which she takes for the infinite + The social world he looked at did not show him heroes + The alternative is, a garter and the bedpost + The exhaustion ensuing we named tranquillity + The mildness of assured dictatorship + Their idol pitched before them on the floor + They miss their pleasure in pursuing it + This mania of young people for pleasure, eternal pleasure + Tossed him from repulsion to incredulity, and so back + Two principal roads by which poor sinners come to a conscience + Utterance of generous and patriotic cries is not sufficient + We grew accustomed to periods of Irish fever + We like well whatso we have done good work for + We trust them or we crush them + Weak reeds who are easily vanquished and never overcome + Weak stomach is certainly more carnally virtuous than a full one + Were I chained, For liberty I would sell liberty + When we see our veterans tottering to their fall + When you have done laughing with her, you can laugh at her + Wins everywhere back a reflection of its own kindliness + Wits, which are ordinarily less productive than land + Woman descending from her ideal to the gross reality of man + Your devotion craves an enormous exchange + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Entire Short Works of George +Meredith, by George Meredith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHORT WORKS OF MEREDITH *** + +***** This file should be named 4499.txt or 4499.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/9/4499/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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