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diff --git a/old/65932-0.txt b/old/65932-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 13ec4e9..0000000 --- a/old/65932-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9159 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Royal Regiment and Other Novelettes, by -James Grant - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Royal Regiment and Other Novelettes - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: July 27, 2021 [eBook #65932] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROYAL REGIMENT AND OTHER -NOVELETTES *** - - - - - - - THE - - ROYAL REGIMENT - - AND - - OTHER NOVELETTES - - - - BY - - JAMES GRANT - - AUTHOR OF "THE ROMANCE OF WAR," "THE LORD HERMITAGE," - "VERE OF OURS," ETC. - - - - LONDON - GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED - BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL - GLASGOW, MANCHESTER, AND NEW YORK - - 1879 - - - - - LONDON: - BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LIMD., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. - - - - - JAMES GRANT'S NOVELS. - - _Price 2s. each. Fancy Boards._ - - THE ROMANCE OF WAR. - THE AIDE-DE-CAMP. - THE SCOTTISH CAVALIER. - BOTHWELL. - JANE SETON: OR, THE QUEEN'S ADVOCATE. - PHILIP ROLLO. - THE BLACK WATCH. - MARY OF LORRAINE. - OLIVER ELLIS; OR, THE FUSILEERS. - LUCY ARDEN: OR, HOLLYWOOD HALL. - FRANK HILTON: OR, THE QUEEN'S OWN. - THE YELLOW FRIGATE. - HARRY OGILVIE; OR, THE BLACK DRAGOONS. - ARTHUR BLANE. - LAURA EVERINGHAM; OR, THE HIGHLANDERS OF GLENORA. - THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. - LETTY HYDE'S LOVERS. - CAVALIERS OF FORTUNE. - SECOND TO NONE. - THE CONSTABLE OF FRANCE. - THE PHANTOM REGIMENT. - THE KING'S OWN BORDERERS. - THE WHITE COCKADE. - FIRST LOVE AND LAST LOVE. - DICK ROONEY. - THE GIRL HE MARRIED. - LADY WEDDERBURN'S WISH. - JACK MANLY. - ONLY AN ENSIGN. - ADVENTURES OF ROB ROY. - UNDER THE RED DRAGON. - THE QUEEN'S CADET. - SHALL I WIN HER? - FAIRER THAN A FAIRY. - ONE OF THE SIX HUNDRED. - MORLEY ASHTON. - DID SHE LOVE HIM? - THE ROSS-SHIRE BUFFS. - SIX YEARS AGO. - VERE OF OURS. - THE LORD HERMITAGE. - THE ROYAL REGIMENT. - THE DUKE OF ALBANY'S OWN HIGHLANDERS. - THE CAMERONIANS. - THE DEAD TRYST. - THE SCOT'S BRIGADE. - VIOLET JERMYN. - JACK CHALONER. - MISS CHEYNE OF ESSILMONT. - THE ROYAL HIGHLANDERS. - COLVILLE OF THE GUARDS. - DULCIE CARLYON. - PLAYING WITH FIRE. - DERVAL HAMPTON. - LOVE'S LABOUR WON. - - - - -CONTENTS. - -THE ROYAL REGIMENT. - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE RUTHVENS OF ARDGOWRIE - -CHAPTER II. - -THE FATAL DAY OF THE RUTHVENS - -CHAPTER III. - -THE CABINET OF SCINDIA - -CHAPTER IV. - -"PONTIUS PILATE'S GUARDS" - -CHAPTER V. - -AURELIA DARNEL - -CHAPTER VI. - -COLONEL SMASH - -CHAPTER VII. - -"LOVE WAS YET THE LORD OF ALL" - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE INSURRECTION - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE ABDUCTION OF AURELIA - -CHAPTER X. - -THE END GROWING NEAR - -CHAPTER XI. - -ST. EUSTACHE STORMED - -CHAPTER XII. - -CONCLUSION - - - -THE SECRET MARRIAGE - -THE STUDENT'S STORY - -CLARE THORNE'S TEMPTATION - -THE GREAT SEA SERPENT - - - -MILITARY "FOLK LORE." - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE RED COAT; A FEW NOTES CONCERNING ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY - -CHAPTER II. - -FURTHER NOTES ON ITS HISTORY AND ON REGIMENTALS - -CHAPTER III. - -FAMOUS AND ANCIENT BANNERS - -CHAPTER IV. - -FAMOUS AND ANCIENT CANNON - - - -STORY OF A MERCHANT CAPTAIN - -THE STORY OF RENÉE OF ANGERS - -ANNA SCHONLEBEN - -LAURA WENLOCK'S CHRISTMAS EVE - - - - -THE ROYAL REGIMENT. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE RUTHVENS OF ARDGOWRIE. - -"Thank Heaven, then I am not too late!" exclaimed Roland Ruthven, as -he sprung on the horse that awaited him at the door of the hotel -where he had arrived but an hour before; "there is no message for me -specially?" - -"None, sir," said the mounted groom, touching his hat, and shortening -his gathered reins. - -"My father----" - -"Is living still, Master Roland; but that is all, I fear," replied -the old man, with a sigh. - -"Come on then, Buckle, old fellow; I think the grey nag knows my -voice, though I have not been on his back for four years." - -And spurring his horse, "Master Roland," as the grey-haired groom -still called him, though he was nearer thirty than twenty years of -age, and had held Her Majesty's commission for ten of them, departed -at a rasping pace that soon left the stately streets, the spires and -shipping of Aberdeen far behind them. - -The royal residence at Balmoral had barely as yet been thought of, -and railways had not then penetrated into the valley of the Dee; -thus, all anxious as Roland Ruthven was to learn details of the -perilous illness of the fine old soldier his father--the only kinsman -he had in the world--at whose summons he had crossed two thousand -miles and more of sea, he could only trust now to the speed of his -horse, and without further questioning old Bob Buckle the groom, rode -at a hard and furious gallop along the old familiar ways that led -towards his home among the mountains, behind which the bright sun of -a glorious evening--one of the last in June--was sinking. - -Closely rode the old groom behind him, marvelling to find that the -little golden-haired boy, whom he had first trained to ride a shaggy -Shetlander, had now become a dark-whiskered, tall, and handsome man, -well set up by infantry drill, and with all that air and bearing -which our officers, beyond those of all other European armies, alone -acquire, developed in chest and muscle by every manly sport; and he -could recall, but with a sigh, how like "Master Roland" was now, to -what the old dying Laird his father had been at the same age, when -his regiment, the Royal Scots, was adding to its honours in the -Peninsula--more years ago than he cared to reckon now. - -And vividly in fancy too, did Roland Ruthven see before him the -figure and face of that handsome old man, ere the latter became lined -with care and thoughts and even his voice seemed to come distinctly -to his ear, as the familiar objects of the well-remembered scenery -came to view in quick succession, and at last Ardgowrie, the home of -his family, rose before him in the distance, its strong walls shining -redly in the setting sun. - -Situated among luxuriant woods, in all their summer greenery, -Ardgowrie presents the elements common to most of the northern -mansions of the same age and kind--a multitude of crow-stepped gables -encrusted with coats of arms, conical turrets, and angular dormer -windows, giving a general effect extremely rich and picturesque, as -their outlines cut the deep blue of the sky. - -Notwithstanding its age, Ardgowrie is unconnected with the usual -memories of crime and violence which form the general history of an -old Scottish feudal fortalice, and yet it stands in the glorious -valley of the Dee, between the central highlands and the fruitful -lowlands, where in former ages it has been said "that the inhabitants -of the two districts, thus joined by a common highway, were as unlike -each other in language, manners and character as the French and the -Germans, or the Arabs and the Caffres." - -"At last!" exclaimed Roland, with a sigh of satisfaction, as he -spurred his horse down a long and rather gloomy avenue of genuine old -Scottish firs, dignified and magnificent trees, with massive trunks -of dusky red, and foliage of bronze-like hue. "Ardgowrie at last!" -he added, as he reined up at the stately entrance of his home, for to -this moment had he looked forward with intense anxiety during the -long voyage from America, while his affectionate heart had beat -responsive to every throb of the mighty engines of the great Atlantic -steamer. - -_Home!_ How much does that word contain to the exile or the -wanderer! "What a feeling does that simple word convey to his ears, -who knows really the blessings of a home," says an Irish writer, who -found his grave in a far and foreign land; "that shelter from the -world, its jealousies and its envies, its turmoils and -disappointments, where like some land-locked bay the still, calm -waters sleep in silence, while the storm and hurricanes are roaring -without." - -The sound of hoofs in the avenue brought a number of domestics to -welcome him home in the kindly old Scottish way, and he had to shake -hands with all, especially with Gavin Runlet, the white-haired -butler, Elspat Gorm, the old Highland housekeeper, who had donned her -best black silk, with the whitest of "mutches," in honour of the -occasion: and then, too, came, though last, certainly not the least -in his own estimation, with eyes keen as those of an eagle, and -massive red beard, a thick-set sturdy figure, and bare limbs brown -and hairy as those of a mountain deer, the family piper, Aulay -Macaulay, whose boast it was that he came of the Macaulays of -Ardencaple, and was a worthier scion of the clan than the historian -of the same name. - -Aulay had his pipes under his left arm, but no note of triumph or -salute could come from them, when the Laird was in his dire -extremity, and a great hush seemed over all the household. He had -been a piper of the Royal Scots during the campaign in Burmah, and, -like Bob Buckle and several others of the grand old regiment, had -found a home with their loved Colonel at Ardgowrie. - -"Well, Elspat, old friend," said Roland, as he leaped from his -foam-flecked horse and tossed the reins to Bob Buckle, "how is my -father to-night?" - -"The doctor will tell you better than I," replied the old domestic, -quietly, and with bated voice; "he has, thank Heaven, fallen asleep -after a restless day, and, as sleep is like life to him----" - -"Let him not be disturbed. I shall see him when he wakens," said -Roland, as the servants fell back at his approach, and the butler and -housekeeper led the way to the dining-room, where a repast awaited -him, and at which they attended upon him in all the fussiness of -affection and reverence as the future head of the house. - -"Ewhow! but I am glad to see you here again, Master Roland," -exclaimed Elspat, with whom we need not trouble the reader much. -"Ewhow!" she continued, stroking his thick dark brown hair, as she -had been wont to do in his boyhood, "we have had an eerie time o't -wi' the Laird in his illness, and last night I thought the worst was -close at hand." - -"Why, Elspat? why?" asked Roland, pausing over the liver wing of a -chicken, while Runlet filled his glass with sparkling Moselle. - -"Because the dogs in the kennel howled fearfully." - -"Where was the keeper?" - -"A' the keepers in the world wouldna quiet them!" she replied, -shaking her old head. - -"Why?" - -"Dogs can see and ken when death enters a house." - -"Death!--is my father's case so bad?" asked Roland, growing very -pale, and setting down his glass. - -"Bad--it couldna weel be worse," said she, in a broken voice, as she -began to weep; "but the doctor--" - -"Is in the house, I understand. Tell him that I am here. Oh, -Elspat, have I crossed the broad Atlantic only to face death and -sorrow?" - -"Death and sorrow!" she added, shaking her head, "and I dread the -fifth of August--it has aye been a fatal day to the Ruthvens. It was -on that day your lady mother died, and on that day your uncle Philip, -that should have been Laird, went forth and returned no more!" - -Roland started impatiently to his feet, and something of a disdainful -smile crossed his handsome face. - -There is something grand and noble in the position of such a young -man as he was--the descendant and representative of a long line of -stainless ancestry, having the sense of carrying out its destiny in -the future, and being the transmitter to other times and generations -of its lofty traits and distinction. - -No gamblers, "legs," or turf transactions ever degraded the line of -Ardgowrie (pigeons there may have been, but never hawks), which, in a -collateral branch, represented the attainted Earls of Gowrie and -Lords of Ruthven, and if Roland had any weakness it was family pride, -which he inherited from his father, who had left nothing undone to -develop it; and with it grew the idea and conviction, that death were -better than for a Ruthven to do aught that was dishonourable. - -The second article of Roland's faith, like that of his father, was a -profound veneration for the old Royal Scots, in which so many of the -Ruthvens had lived and died, that they deemed it quite a family -regiment, and many knew of no home out of it, and many, too, in -battle or otherwise, had found their graves under its colours in all -parts of the world. - -As his father's son, Roland was a favourite with both battalions of -the Royal Regiment, and he was the life and soul of the mess, and the -most popular man in it. - -In friendly rivalry with his chief chum and brother-sub, Hector -Logan, of Loganbraes and that ilk (of whom more anon), he was the -"show man" of the Royals. None occupied the box-seat of the -regimental drag, or tooled the team to race-meetings or elsewhere, in -a better style than Roland; in the cricket field, when stumps were -down, and the runs were growing few, his batting and bowling were the -last hope of the regimental eleven; and at hurdle-racing or -steeple-chasing he was ever ready to ride any man's horse, however -desperate the leaps or wild the animal, if he had not entered one for -himself. Moreover, his good figure and social qualities, his known -wealth and high spirit, made him a prime favourite with the other sex -wherever the regiment went, and none could see any man's wife or -daughter more adroitly or gracefully through a crush at the Opera, or -anywhere else, than Roland Ruthven of the Royal Scots. - -In all this he was exactly what his proud old father had been before -him; but the latter indulged in aspirations that never occurred to -Roland. - -That even at this remote time Queen Victoria might restore the -earldom of Gowrie to his family after the lapse of two hundred and -forty years, had been the dearest hope of the old Colonel's life, -especially in his latter years. It was a child's whim; yet other -titles, such as Mar, Perth, and Kellie, had been restored, he was -wont to say. - -With all his long service he had failed to win great laurels as an -officer, and now his hopes were centred on his only son; but as yet -the fields of the Crimea had not been fought, and great wars seemed -to have become things of the past. - -Though ever kind, loving, and affectionate to Roland, the latter -found that in his latter years his father had become somewhat of a -stern, moody, and morose man, almost repellant to his county -neighbours, whom as years went on he seemed to avoid more and more, -and of this peculiarity Roland was thinking as the doctor, a spruce -and dapper little personage, entered with his professional smile, and -warmly welcomed him home, adding,-- - -"I have but to deplore the occasion of it, my dear sir." - -"But what is his ailment, doctor?" - -"I can scarcely say--it seems to be a general break up of the whole -system." - -"At his years that can scarcely be." - -"He has been sorely changed since you were last at Ardgowrie, my dear -sir; and there seems--there seems----" - -The doctor paused, and played nervously with his watch-chain. - -"There seems what?" asked Roland, bluntly. - -"Something that I scarcely like to hint at." - -"How, sir?" - -"Well, if you will pardon my saying so, he seems to suffer more from -illness of the mind than of the body." - -"Of the mind?" asked Roland, haughtily. - -"Yes; as if some secret preyed upon him. I have watched him closely -from time to time, for the last few years, and such, my dear sir, is -my firm conviction." - -"Your idea seems to me incomprehensible, doctor." - -"There is a skeleton in every house," said the other with a simper. - -"Sir, you forget yourself," exclaimed Roland, with haughty surprise. -"What skeleton could be in ours?" - -"Pardon me--I used but a proverb. Your father is awake now," he -added, as a distant bell rang. And Roland, considerably agitated and -ruffled by what had passed, repaired at once to the sick chamber. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE FATAL DAY OF THE RUTHVENS. - -The affectionate and filial heart of Roland was wrung by the wan and -haggard aspect of his father, who looked as grim and pale as that -other Patrick Ruthven, whose ghastly visage in his helmet had so -appalled the luckless Mary on the night that Rizzio was slain; but -the old man's eyes brightened, his colour came back for a time, and -his strength even seemed to rally as his son embraced him. - -"You have lost no time in attending my summons, Roland," said he, -retaining the latter's hand within his own. - -"I left Montreal by the first steamer, my dear father, but I got away -with difficulty." - -"Why?" - -"A revolt among the colonists is daily expected; but when I mentioned -your illness, the Colonel at once obtained leave for me from the -General at Halifax." - -"Dear old Geordie Wetherall! I remember him a sub in his first red -coat, when we were ensigns together, in the "rookery," as we called -it, in Edinburgh Castle. Ah, few of the Royals of that day are -surviving now. They have nearly all gone before me to the Land o' -the Leal! But in fancy I can see them all yet." - -Then, though ailing nigh unto death, true to his old instincts, -almost the first questions he asked of Roland were about their old -regiment, its strength and appearance, of the officers and rank and -file; and then he sighed again, to think that none remembered him -save old Geordie Wetherall, a veteran of the conquest of Java; and -all these questions Roland had to answer, ere he could lure his -father to speak of himself, and when the latter did so, his spirit -fell, his colour faded, and the momentary lustre died out of his -eyes, though the glassy glare of illness still remained. - -"I hope the alleged danger of this mysterious illness is -exaggerated," said Roland, tenderly and anxiously; "and that ere I -return to the regiment, I shall see you well and strong--ay, perhaps -taking your fences as of old with Bob Buckle at your back." - -The old Laird of Ardgowrie smiled sadly, and turned restlessly on his -pillow--and a handsome man he was, even in age, with a wonderful -likeness to his son, having the same straight nose and mouth clean -cut and chiselled, "the prerogative of the highly born," as Lever has -it--for Patrick Ruthven belonged to the untitled noblesse of -Scotland, the lineage of some of whom stretches far back into the -shadowy past. - -"I am lying in my last bed save one, Roland," said the sufferer, in -low concentrated voice; "we have not all died in our beds, we -Ruthvens of that ilk, but it shall be said that all have died with -honour except----" - -"Except _who_, father?" - -The old man trembled as if with ague, and closed his eyes, as he said -hoarsely-- - -"I cannot tell you--in time you will know all!" - -"You have been a good soldier to the Queen, father." - -"But a bad servant to her Master." - -"Do not speak thus!" said Roland, imploringly. - -"The heart knoweth its own bitterness; and I have been bad, evil, -wicked--false!" - -"This is some fancy." - -"It is _not_!" said Patrick Ruthven, emphatically. - -"Then can I make amends?" - -"You may, if it is not too late, my poor Roland. Oh, my God!" - -These mysterious words filled the listener with genuine grief and -alarm. Was it all some hallucination? What did they import or refer -to? For much in his father's moody and wayward life, in his latter -years especially, seemed to corroborate them, and to hint that there -was "a skeleton in the house," as the doctor had ventured to say. - -"I will have no clergyman about me," said the sufferer, petulantly -and almost passionately, in reply to some remark of Roland's. - -"Why?" - -"I hope to make my peace with God alone. The Reverend Ephraim Howie, -to whom I gave the living of Ardgowrie! What can he, or such as he, -do for me now?" - -"Oh, father!" - -"No one ever prospered who grew rich by fraud, it has been said--yet -have I, in a manner, prospered," added the old man, as if communing -with himself. - -"You, father?" exclaimed Roland, whose blood seemed to grow very cold. - -"Yes--I." - -"How--how?" - -"I cannot--dare not tell you. Hush!" he added, glancing stealthily -about, as Mr. Runlet, the butler, placed two shaded candles, in -massive antique silver holders, on the toilet table, and withdrew, -and Roland thought-- - -"Poor old man--his mind wanders!" - -"My mind is _not_ wandering." - -"I never said so, father." - -"But you seem to think so--I can read it in your eyes. I have been -successful in life, and leave at death a handsome fortune to one who -has _no_ right to it--_you_, my son--you whom I love better than my -own soul!" he exclaimed, in a broken voice that seemed full of tears, -and a great horror began to possess the heart of the listener. - -"Oh heaven--heaven! he is mad!" - -"Would that I had died at the head of the Royals, when I led them at -Nagpore!" - -Intense perplexity mingled with the natural grief of Roland, for the -whole tenor of this interview was so utterly beyond all that he could -have anticipated. - -In a half fatuous manner, the patient was muttering to himself, and -in great agony of mind, Roland listened intently. - -"Live it down, people say--I have lived it down--it was never known -indeed! Poor Philip--poor Philip! One may live down a lie, but not -the truth--it is the truth that hurts--that never may be lived down. -I ever thought a day of retribution would come, and it is -coming--fast!" - -"Retribution for what?" asked Roland, in a low but passionate voice. - -"Could I face the malevolence of the vulgar on one hand, and the -scorn of my equals on the other?--no--oh no!" continued his father, -speaking in a low voice, and at long gasping intervals, as if to -himself. "It has been truly said, that 'manner and tone of voice may -be made to give stabs, only less sharp and cowardly than vile and -baseless calumny.... There is no insolence like the insolence of the -well-born and well-bred; and the most vulgar and purse-proud wife of -the most purse-proud plutocrat is altogether inferior in her capacity -to inflict pain and give offence to the patrician lady of title.' I -have been spared all that--for I cast the die in secret!" - -"What die?" asked Roland imploringly. - -The old man regarded him wildly, as if for a time he had forgotten -his presence. - -"When I am dead and gone--dead and gone, dear Roland, you will know -all." - -"Why not now?" - -"Because I--even hovering on the brink of eternity--blush to tell -you. Oh, what a thing it is for a father to cower like a very craven -before his only son, and yet, Roland, you know how I have loved you. -When I am gone and buried, Roland, open the old Indian cabinet that I -found on the day when the Royals stormed Scindia's fortress of -Neembolah--read the sealed packet you will find there--and--and pray -for me." - -These were almost the last coherent words his father spoke; and he -uttered them with the veins in his temples throbbing, and as if the -most bitter of all emotions, self scorn, wrung his heart, and then he -seemed to sink fast. But he lingered for some days after this, and -though his words, manner, and injunction, filled Roland with grief -and intense curiosity, he resolved to obey him to the letter and not -open the cabinet till end came, and the doctor assured him it was -near now. - -"Under what hallucination can the poor old man be labouring?" thought -Roland, as he sat alone in the stately dining-room--a veritable -hall--and thought how proud he who was about to pass away to a dark -and narrow home, had been of Ardgowrie and all its details and -surroundings--its stately park where the deer made their lair among -the green ferns, its dark blue loch full of pike, and the pine -plantations where the pheasant pea-fowl were thick as the cones that -lay around them. - -Daily by the sun, nightly by the moon, for many centuries, had the -same shadows of the quaint old house been cast on the same places, -and it was now an epitome of a proud historic past. It had -entertained more than one king of Scotland, and everything in the old -mansion was on a grand scale, from the portraits by Jamesone and -Vandyck (who married a Ruthven of Gowrie, by the way) to the massive -cups won in many a race that glittered on the sideboard. Above the -latter, a splendid full-length of the "bonnie Earl" who was wont to -flirt with Anne of Denmark in Falkland Woods, and who on the 5th of -August, 1600, perished in the famous conspiracy, had its place of -honour; and among other portraits of later times, was one by Sir -Watson Gordon of the present proprietor, in his uniform as a field -officer of the Royal Scots. - -The massive mantelpiece of the early Stuart times ascended to the -ceiling. It was an exact copy of the famous one in Gowrie House at -Perth, and over it in Gothic letters was the same remarkable and -apposite legend borne by the former:-- - - "Truths long concealed at length emerge to light, - And controverted facts are rendered bright." - - -But Roland now perceived with genuine wonder, that the couplet had -been chiselled completely away, and the stone frieze was now smooth -and bare. - -"By whose orders was this done, Runlet?" he asked with angry surprise. - -"Those of the Laird, your father," replied the butler. - -"When?" - -"Just before his last illness." - -"Why?" - -"I cannot say, Mr. Roland, but he has done some queer things of -late," he added with diffidence. - -On that mantelpiece were cut the Ruthven arms, bars and lozenges, -within a border flowered and counter-flowered, crested with a goat's -head, and above them hung the tattered colours of Ruthven's battalion -of the 1st Royal Scots--one of four--which had borne them in triumph -from the plains of Corunna to the gates of Paris, covered with -trophies, among which are still the cross of St. Andrew and the -crowned thistle of James VI. - -Off the dining hall opened a long and lofty corridor hung with -moth-eaten tapestries of russet and green hues and with trophies of -arms, each having its history; such as the helmet of Sir Walter -Ruthven who died by the side of King David at the battle of Durham; -the sword of Sir William who became hostage for King James I.; the -pennon of the Master of Ruthven who fell at Flodden, and weapons of -later wars, with trophies of the chase, heads and skulls of lions -shot in Africa, tigers in Bengal, bears in Russia, of elephants from -the miasmatic Terrai of Nepaul--spoils wherever his father had -served; and of noble deer from the forests of the adjacent hills. - -From all these objects and the drooping colours of the grand old -regiment, Roland's eyes would wander again and again to settle on the -cabinet of Scindia, and he would marvel _what_ it contained--if -indeed it contained any secret whatever! - -With a fond, proud and yet sad smile he looked at the portrait of -more than one fair ancestress, and thought, - -"The girl I left behind me is fairer than them all!" - -For in Montreal he had left Aurelia Darnel de St. Eustache, whom we -shall meet in time. A kind of half-flirtation--something even more -tender and taking had subsisted between them, and but for his sudden -summons home, it would have assumed greater proportions and had a -firmer basis; he would have explained to her the nature and extent of -his love for her, and obtained some pledge or promise from her, with -the consent of her mother, for father she had none now; and when -Elspat Gorm spoke apprehensively of the 5th of August, as being "the -fatal day of the Ruthvens," he would think, with a smile, - -"I hope not, as it was on the evening of that day, I first met -Aurelia at our ball in Montreal! Would that I could tell the poor -old man who is passing away, of my love, and gain his permission to -address her; for she must know of my love for her and will await my -return; but I would that he could see her, even as I in memory see -her now!" - -And before him came a mental vision of a very beautiful girl, whose -dark hair and long black lashes contrasted with the pale delicacy of -her skin, her pencilled eyebrows rather straight than arched, a calm -loveliness in her face when, in repose, but a brightness over it all, -when she was animated, when her soft eyes lighted up and her lips -became tremulous. - -"Aurelia!" he whispered to himself, and marvelled if the time would -ever come, when he would bring her hither to be the queen of his -life, and of beautiful Ardgowrie. - -Day by day, his father was sinking, and all the powers of medicine -could do nothing for him; his ailment was not old age but a passing -away of the powers of life. The old Highland housekeeper, Elspat, -had much contempt for the nostrums of the doctor, and believing her -master to be under the spell of a gipsy-woman whom he had sent to -prison for theft, maintained that he would never be cured, until the -parings of his finger nails and a lock of his hair were buried in the -earth with a live cock, a remnant of ancient Paganrie, which the -reign of Victoria still finds prevailing in some parts of the -Highlands. - -So, as she fully expected, the morning of the 5th of August, saw the -old Laird expire peacefully, after playing fatuously with the -coverlet, and muttering that he could "hear the drums of the Royal -beating the old Scots March," and the lamenting wail of Macaulay's -pipe was heard on the terrace without, as Roland closed his father's -eyes, and, crushed with natural grief, knelt by the side of his bed, -and Elspat placed a plate containing a little salt on his breast. - -In due time, amid the lamentations of his tenantry, and while the -pipes woke the echoes of the glen, by the March of Gilliechriost (or -of the Follower of Christ), one of the oldest airs in existence, he -was laid in his last home, in the Ruthven aisle of Ardgowrie kirk, -and Roland found himself alone in the world. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE CABINET OF SCINDIA. - -Yes, Roland felt himself, most terribly alone now--far from the merry -mess and the daily companionship of his brother officers, in that -great old mansion, wherein for centuries generations of his ancestors -were born and had died, and which stood amid such wild and desolate, -yet beautiful scenery. - -Expected though his father's death had been, by Roland, the shock of -the event when it did occur, was so great, that it was not until two -days after the funeral, and when his legal agents and advisers, -Messrs. Hook and Crook, writers to Her Majesty's Signet, came to -consult him on certain matters concerning the estate, that he -bethought him of the old cabinet found by the Royals in Scindia's -fortress, and he sprang up with a start to execute the last commands -of his father the old Colonel. - -In the latter's desk he found the key--one of very curious -workmanship, and as he put it into the lock a singular sense of some -great and impending evil--a sense which had never impressed itself -upon him so vividly before--came over him, and seemed to whisper to -him to be prepared! - -Prepared for what? - -He had seen the old cabinet years ago; it was about four feet square, -formed of ebony inlaid with the finest ivory and mother-of-pearl with -many elaborate ornaments, and even some precious stones, and it had -been a gift from old Patrick Ruthven to his bride. - -With vivid painfulness too, there came before Roland, the last -expression of his father's face, and more than all, his eyes with -their restless feverish expression, and strangely lustrous glare. - -The doors of the beautiful cabinet unfolded and displayed two rows of -drawers, the handles of which were chased silver, and with nervous -haste, Roland opened these in quick succession. - -Therein he found old muster-rolls, reports and memoranda connected -with the First Royal Scots; letters and orders from brother-officers -who had found their graves in every quarter of the globe; -complimentary addresses from generals and magistrates, and all his -father's medals and orders. There too were letters from his mother -in their lover-days, faded and brown; letters of the lost uncle -Philip, and letters from Roland himself, even those he had written as -a schoolboy, with the now withered and dry locks of hair belonging to -those who had been loved and had long since departed. - -All the little relics and souvenirs that the poor old man had -treasured most in life were there; but what could the secret be, that -he had so strangely and with such evident emotion and pain referred -to, thought Roland, as in nervous haste and sorrow he drew out each -tiny drawer in succession--sorrow, for the hands that had touched and -the eyes that had seen them last were cold and still now in yonder -dark old vault. - -At last he found a packet carefully sealed with his father's crest, a -goat's-head embossed; but directed to no one. - -He tore it open, and found within the cover, a legal document tied -with red tape, and a page or two written by the hand of his father, -and bearing the latter's signature. - -Both these papers Roland read quickly, but he had to do so again and -again ere his startled mind could take in their contents. - -The first was the last will and testament of his grandfather General -Roland Ruthven, and the latter was a confession written by his father -concerning it. - -"My God--oh that this could ever be the case!" exclaimed Roland in a -broken and hollow voice, as he read them. Philip, the elder brother, -had in some mysterious manner incurred the high displeasure of the -general, who bequeathed his entire estate and fortune to Patrick, the -younger; but, repenting, had executed a second will superseding the -first; and this will, Roland's father had found and _suppressed_, -while, with a curse upon their father's name and memory, Philip -believing himself to be disinherited, went forth into the world and -was heard of no more! - -Philip who had never loved him, continued the old man's tremulously -written confession, was gone he knew not where, beyond all trace, so -that rumour even said he was dead; and to denounce himself then as -the possessor of the second will, was to cut away the ground from -under his own feet, when on the very eve of marriage with a girl, -whose family would not permit her to marry a penniless younger -son--so he had deemed himself thus not intentionally guilty, and that -no one's interests suffered by his silence. - -If he had followed the dictates of the highest principles, he would -at once have made the document known; but where was Philip? As time -went on Patrick Ruthven became conscience-struck, and he now charged -Roland with the task of making some amends if possible, by -discovering the lost man or his heirs, if lie had any. - -A bitter bequest indeed! - -With a painfully throbbing heart, and hands that trembled, Roland -laid the documents down and strove to collect his thoughts. The -first dull and stunning emotion, of confusion and unreality past, he -looked dreamily around him to see if he was not undergoing a species -of nightmare; but no! There was the stately old dining-hall, the -spacious Scottish fireplace with its silver fire-dogs, and here were -the ebony cabinet of Scindia, with the suppressed will, and the -signed confession of his father. - -It was a terrible shock to Roland Ruthven to find that his -father--his father of all men in the world!--whom through all the -years of his life he had looked up to with love and reverence, and -who seemed ever to him and to all who knew him, the model of -chivalrous honour, should have acted thus, and he actually wept over -the event! - -Again and again he read the confession that on one hand Philip had -never loved him, had exasperated the general; and on the other, there -was the chance--nay, the certainty--of a marriage being marred by the -production of the will which was now dated nearly forty years back. - -"Justice must be done, at all risks and hazards--but justice to -whom?" thought Roland. - -Ardgowrie seemed no longer his; as if touched by an enchanter's wand, -it seemed already to have passed away, wood, wold, and mountain, by -this cruel discovery. He felt homeless in a splendid home, his -worldly prospects ruined, and Aurelia Darnel, the only girl he had -ever loved, utterly lost to him! - -Why not destroy the will? - -But no--oh no! Roland felt his cheek crimson, as something seemed to -whisper of this in his ear, and then he recalled his dead father's -remorseful injunctions to himself. - -He looked up at the portrait of the lost and disinherited Philip--the -outcast son of a patrician race, as limned by the President of the -Scottish Academy. - -It represented a handsome young man, in a red hunting coat and cap, -with regular but rather pale features, dark blue eyes and well -defined eyebrows, with a pleasant smile that actually, to Roland's -then distempered fancy, seemed to light up, as he looked on the -portrait. - -Roland wiped the beady perspiration from his brow, and a moan as if -of pain escaped him, but again and again he muttered-- - -"Justice shall be done--justice if it be not too late--oh Heaven--too -late!" - -He stepped to the sideboard, filled a silver hunting cup with sherry, -drained it at a draught, and taking up the two fatal documents, -locked the Indian cabinet, and prepared to join Messrs. Hook and -Crook, who were busy with certain accounts and papers in the library. - -Of lawyers, Roland, as a soldier, had ever a wholesome dread, and he -shrank from the horror of disclosing this trickery on the part of his -father even to them, whose lives were too probably but one long and -tangled yarn of trickery and deceit; but again, he muttered that -justice must be done. - -His assumed coolness deserted him, his face became livid, and his -eyes sparkled with a strange light, when he spoke to them of the -papers he had found, and laid them before their legal eyes. - -Then his proud pale face flushed scarlet, his dark eyebrows were -knitted nearly into one, and his nether lip quivered with suppressed -emotion and intense mortification, and in some degree the lawyers -were also excited, but amazement was what they chiefly felt. - -"What did Mr. Ruthven intend to do?" - -"Justice," said he hoarsely. - -"But to whom?" - -"That is precisely what I have been asking of myself." - -"This will revoking the former disposition, is fully forty years old; -but it has never been recorded," said Mr. Hook. - -"And none know of its existence, save ourselves," added Mr. Crook -suggestively; "and it is a dreadful thing to lose so fine an -estate--so noble a heritage--by one stroke of a pen!" - -"But I quite agree with the young Laird, that some attempt should be -made to do justice, and endeavour to trace out Mr. Philip or his -heirs," said Mr. Hook, seeing in futurity a pyramid of -three-and-fourpences and six-and-eightpences. - -"To advertise for the lost one would degrade my father's name!" -exclaimed Roland passionately. - -"How else are we to go about it, my dear sir?" asked Mr. Hook, -pulling his nether lip reflectively; "but enquiries might be made----" - -"Where?" - -"Well--a rumour did go about at one time that your uncle had married -in Jamaica, Mexico, or somewhere." - -"I never heard of it." - -Neither had Mr. Hook, but he only threw out the hint to suggest -difficulty and complication, and in his simplicity Roland rapidly -adopted it. - -"Prosecute enquiries in both places," said he; "spare no -money--collect and pay in the rents as usual--though not a penny of -them shall come to me! You understand me, gentlemen?" - -They could better have understood his quietly putting alike the will -and confession into the fire. - -Why had not his father done so, and spared Roland this season of -shame and humiliation, of disappointment and sudden poverty? - -But his plans were adopted with decision and rapidity. - -"All the old servants will be retained as usual, gentlemen," said he, -after a painful pause, during which a swelling seemed to have risen -in his throat, "but no new ones will be engaged, and the whole -revenue of the estate shall be paid into the bank for the benefit of -the real heir, or of his children, if they can be found. I leave all -in your hands." - -"But you must have some little income out of the estate!" said the -astounded lawyers simultaneously. - -"Not a penny until I am proved to be indubitably the last and only -Ruthven of Ardgowrie and that ilk!" exclaimed Roland with emotion. - -"My dear sir, you can't live on your pay," suggested Mr. Hook. - -"I will try." - -"No one does now-a-days. Nor will you be able to marry." - -"I do not mean to marry," said Roland, whose voice fairly broke as he -thought of Aurelia Darnel; "but perhaps you may help me with a few -pounds till I get exchanged into a regiment in India, for meantime I -must rejoin the Royals." - -By this discovery in the Indian cabinet, Roland now learned bitterly -why the old legend above the mantel-piece had become obnoxious to his -father's eye, and been obliterated by his order! - -He looked at his family motto--the strongly apposite and ancient -motto of the Ruthvens--_Facta Probant_, and muttered-- - -"That of Argyle would suit me better now!" - -He felt that under pressure of the sudden change in his -circumstances, that to avoid surmises and explanations which it would -be impossible to make, his wisest mode of action would be to effect -an exchange into some other regiment where he was unknown; but his -own honour at that time of expected peril required that he should -rejoin the Scots Royals, and he could not yet bring his heart to quit -them, for the corps had been the home of his family for many -generations, quite as much as their ancestral abode of Ardgowrie. - -Moreover, he was well up the list of lieutenants now. He could -recall the emotions with which he first joined them in all the -freshness of boyhood, and felt, as a writer says, how "the first -burst of life is a glorious thing; youth, health, hope and -confidence, and all the vigour they lose in after years: life is then -like a splendid river, and we are swimming with the stream--no -adverse waves to weary, no billows to buffet us, we hold on our -course rejoicing." - -But all pride of birth, of race, and name had gone completely out of -Roland Ruthven for the time. - -Cards of condolence poured in upon him from the county people, but he -returned none; neither did he pay any visits; he felt himself a -species of usurper. - -"A morose fellow he has become," some said; "just like his father in -his latter years--moping and melancholy." - -A letter from his friend Hector Logan roused him a little, and made -him think of returning at once to the regiment. It was full of the -mess gossip and barrack news generally, and about a ball "where _la -belle_ Aurelia had appeared with a new and very remarkable admirer, a -Colonel Ithuriel Smash, of the United States army. If the row with -the colonists comes off," continued Logan, "some of us may lose our -chance of picking up a handsome heiress--for heiresses here are to be -had for the asking, some think; I don't. But a girl like Aurelia -Darnel, with a stray forty thousand pounds, and having also the -frankness and good taste to accept a nice fellow with whom to spend -it, is just the kind of girl for my complexion. Logan Braes and that -ilk, sound very well; but my pedigree is a powersight longer than my -rent-roll." - -The letter concluded by urging him to rejoin, as an outbreak among -the colonists was daily expected. - -Apart from Aurelia Darnel, concerning whom a change had come over his -future now, he felt in every way the necessity for action, and for -returning to America, and he felt, too, as if he would go mad, if he -lingered longer in Ardgowrie. - -Aurelia! could he go back to the charm of her society again, with -that horrible secret in his mind--the secret the cabinet had -contained, and which made him a penniless man! Yet, his thoughts -would wander again and again to the girl he had left beyond the broad -Atlantic, and doubts rather than hopes, fear rather than joy, crowded -upon him, all born of recent events. - -Perhaps absence might already have erased all memory of him, and he -was forgotten; and who was this new dangler--"admirer," Logan called -him, with the atrociously grotesque name? He had left her, without -any declaration of his love, and dared he make one now? Left her, at -that period, when, as Lever says, "love has as many stages as a -fever; when the feeling of devotion, growing every moment stronger, -is chequered by a doubt lest the object of your affections should -really be indifferent to you--thus suggesting all the torturing -agonies of jealousy to your distracted mind. At such times as these -a man can scarcely be very agreeable to the girl he loves; but he is -a confounded bore to a chance acquaintance." - -Aurelia Darnel was one of the wealthiest girls in Montreal. Could he -speak to her of love _now_? No--no! It was not to be thought of, -and in going back, he would avoid her, and devoutly hoped that the -expected "row" would come off, and the Royal Scots would have to take -the field. - -The two last days of his residence at Ardgowrie he spent in solitude -beside the Linn of Dee. There was something soothing to his soul in -the wild turmoil of the rushing torrent, from whence, the body of any -living thing that finds its way into it, can _never_ be recovered. - -What a change had come over Roland Ruthven, since last, in boyhood, -and just before he joined the Royals, he had gazed into those black -and surgy depths which fascinate the eye and render the brain giddy, -where the dead white of the foam contrasts so strongly with the -sombre tints of the turbulent cauldron, and the still blacker -uncertainties of the caverns beneath the rocks, as the Dee, there -terrible, yet beautiful thunders over the Linn on its passage to the -German Ocean. - -Roland felt keenly the change that had come over him, since last he -heard the familiar roar of his native stream; a new life, with the -regiment had been opened to him; but a blight had fallen upon it now. -Out of many a passing flirtation, his love for Aurelia stood -prominently forth on one hand; on the other was his father's sore -temptation (he could scarcely give it a harder name); yonder grand -old house, with all its turrets amid the stately woods, no longer -his; his future wasted, his love denied him, and his inheritance lost! - -It was a conviction hard to adopt and bear, yet Roland adopted and -bore it bravely, and turning his back, as he certainly believed, for -ever on Ardgowrie, departed to rejoin his regiment. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -"PONTIUS PILATE'S GUARDS." - -"Welcome back Ruthven!" cried Hector Logan. - -"Ruthven, my hearty, how goes it with you?" - -"Glad to see you with us again, though regret that you have crape on -your arm." - -Such were the greetings of Roland on his first appearance at mess, -when he rejoined, warmly welcomed by all; even the usually stolid -visages of the mess-waiters brightened as he took his seat. - -"A fresh cooper of wine to drink the health of Roland Ruthven," -exclaimed the President, who, though a young sub, had seen powder -burned with the Royals in Burmah. "Welcome back to the Guards of -Pontius Pilate!" - -He had not been very long absent, but after all he had undergone at -Ardgowrie it was a relief to Roland to hear the old "shop" talk -again--the old regimental jokes and news, who was for guard -to-morrow, who was on detachment; a moose-hunting party bound for the -shore of the St. Lawrence; how the last time "the Darnel's phaeton -was tooled by Logan, the horses "come home with devil a thing but the -splinter bar at their heels; the expected "row" with the colonists; -the ball or race that was coming off; the buttons of this corps, the -facings or epaulettes of that corps, and so forth. - -His old chum, Hector Logan, a tall and very handsome fellow, and some -others, could see by the deepened lines between Roland's dark -eyebrows, that something even more than his father's death affected -him; and also, that his old flow of brilliant conversation was gone. -They could detect that "something was wrong--a screw loose -somewhere," but could not conceive what it was. - -Ere he rejoined he had commissioned Logan to sell his horses--even to -Royal Scot, with whom he was wont to ride over the raspers -everywhere; to withdraw his name from several races and subscription -lists; and he had every way curtailed his expenses--shorn down -everything to the great surprise of more than one heedless young -fellow, and of the mess in general. - -"What the deuce does it all mean?" they asked of one another. - -"What is up, Ruthven?" asked Logan seriously; "is there anything -wrong? Your father dies, leaving you a fine old estate totally -unencumbered--a deuced deal more than we can say for many old -estates--and you sell off your horses, dogs, and so forth----" - -"How do you know it is unencumbered?" asked Roland, with some -sharpness of manner. "It is loaded--heavily loaded, indeed!" he -added, bitterly, as he thought of the long-hidden _will_. - -"Are you going in for a new excitement--that of being poor?" - -"Oh, Hector, you don't know who it is you chaff! Are the Darnels in -Montreal?" he asked, after a pause. - -"Yes;" I saw la belle Aurelia yesterday in busy Paul Street, close to -the Hôtel-Dieu; I knew her at once by the long glossy ringlet, the -_suivez-moi_--come-follow-me-lads--that hung down her back." - -"How your tongue runs on, Hector!" - -"Pardon me; I forgot that you were hit in that quarter." - -"Positively, Hector, I'll punch your head." - -"A fellow always makes a fool of himself about some girl or woman at -some time, and it is your case now, though I must admit that Aurelia -Darnel is one of the most attractive girls I have seen, and does -credit to your taste, Roland. Now that you are Laird of Ardgowrie -you'll make great running in that quarter." - -"Aurelia is too rich to care a straw even about Ardgowrie." - -"I don't know that, Ruthven." - -But the latter was in no mood for jesting, especially on such a -subject, and abruptly spoke of something else; for now, with all his -intense longing to see Aurelia once more, he actually dreaded the -thought of meeting her. - -"Better that I should avoid her, but in doing so, what will she think -of me?" he pondered, while manipulating a cigar (we had not yet -fought in the Crimea, thus cigarettes were as yet unknown among us). -"To see her again will be but torture. What course ought I to -follow--must I pursue, when, penniless as I know myself to be _now_, -her love is denied me! I must quit even the dear old regiment in -time, and begin a life of exile in India." - -The latter conviction, which had come strongly home to the heart of -Roland Ruthven, filled him with sincere regret, for he loved the -Royals, and was proud of them. A regiment, old in history, is, says -some one (Kinglake, we think), like the immortal gods, ever young and -ever glorious. - -And great, indeed, in fame, rich in glory, and old in history, are -the First Royal Scots--the most ancient regiment in the world, for -their traditions go back in an unbroken line to the twenty-four -Scottish Guards of Charles III. of France; thence to the Scottish -Garde du Corps which saved the life of St. Louis in 1254 in -Palestine, and fought in all the wars of France, at Agincourt, the -conquest of Naples, and at Pavia, where they were nearly cut to -pieces; even Francis was taken prisoner. - -In after years there were engrafted on them the remains of those -gallant Scottish bands which served in Bohemia under Sir Andrew Gray, -and under Sir John Hepburn in all the wars of Gustavus Adolphus, and -as the regiment of the Lords Douglas and Dunbarton--Dunbarton of "the -druns"--they returned to Scotland after the Restoration, and now at -this day their standards are so loaded by embroidered trophies, that -the blue silk--the national colour of Scotland--is nearly hidden, -while the _mere list_ of the battles and sieges in which they have -been engaged--ever with glory and honour--occupy ten closely printed -pages of the War Office Records. Even their rivals for three hundred -years, the famous Regiment de Picardie, could not equal this, though -in the French service they were wont to quiz the Royals as having -been "the Guards of Pontius Pilate who slept upon their posts." - -In all the armies of Europe we can find no parallel to their annals, -for there is nothing like it in the military history of any other -country. - -Among all our noble British Infantry--that infantry which, as -Bonaparte said, "never knew when it was beaten," and which, as Green -tells us in his "History of the English People" was first created -when William Wallace of Elderslie, drew up his Scottish spearmen, in -those solid squares before which the united chivalry of England and -Aquitaine went down: Amid all our "unconquerable British Infantry," -we say, none have such a brilliant inheritance of glory as the old -Royal Regiment. - -Hence it was that Roland Ruthven, whose family had served with it for -three or four generations, looked forward with extreme reluctance and -regret to the coming time when, by exchange or otherwise, he would be -compelled to serve in the ranks of another; and that the time was not -a distant one was rendered fully evident by letters which he had -received from his legal agents, Messrs. Hook and Crook, W.S., -Edinburgh. - -These assured him that they had obtained some certain knowledge of -the movements and marriage of his uncle Philip, and of his having -left heirs. They had traced him to Jamaica, and would ere long send -proofs of the said marriage, and of there being an heir to Ardgowrie. - -"An heir to Ardgowrie!" muttered Roland, through his clenched teeth. -Half expected though the tidings were, they sounded like a species of -death-knell to him now. - -"You look disturbed, old fellow," said Hector Logan, as Roland -crushed up and then tore the letter to pieces. - -"I am disturbed!" said he. - -"What are these--lawyer's letters?" - -"Yes, Hector." - -"Hah--a lawyer I always look upon as a species of rook with a devil -of a long bill. You'll get over it, I hope," he added, rolling the -leaf of his cigar round his finger. - -"I have got over it already," replied Roland; but his looks belied -his words; "but it is hard to have one's first and dearest hopes -blighted," he continued, thinking of Aurelia Darnel; -"disappointments, however, I suppose we get used to, like the eels to -the skinning." - -"Can I help you, Ruthven? Logan Braes are not exactly like the Bank -of England; but if a few hundreds----" - -"You cannot help me, old fellow--thanks." - -"Why?" - -"I cannot, and may not, tell you; it is a family trouble--a secret, -and a sore one." - -Some days elapsed before--under the alteration of his -circumstances--he could summon up courage to visit the Darnels; but -he felt the imperative necessity of doing so, after all the -hospitality he had received; and then, he would gradually cease to go -near them, whatever view might be taken of his changed conduct; but -after all that had passed between himself and Aurelia one visit was -necessary, and then--what next? - -He shivered as he thought of it with sorrow and shame. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -AURELIA DARNEL. - -At the usual hour for an afternoon visit Roland Ruthven, in his blue -undress uniform, with the handsome gilt shoulder scales then worn -(mufti was forbidden), left his sword in the entrance hall, and was -duly ushered into the handsome and spacious drawing-room of the -Chateau de St. Eustache, as Mrs., or rather Madame, Darnel's abode -was named, for she was a French Canadian, a widow and the heiress of -one of those seigneuries which are in so many instances in possession -of the families endowed with them by the kings of France. - -Over these seigneuries they formerly exercised the rights of _haute, -moyenne, et basse justice_; but these have become obsolete since -Wolfe carried the British colours up the heights of Abraham, and they -are now reduced to the right of building a mill, at which the vassal -must grind his corn at a fixed rate, and a fine if he desires to sell -the load which he holds from his overlord. - -Much of the reserve and pride of the old noblesse of France still -hover about these Canadian seigneurs, and Madame Darnel possessed -these characteristics in a very high degree. - -Neither she nor Aurelia were in the room, so Roland had a little time -to collect his thoughts. - -How much had happened--how altered were all his views and hopes of -life--since last he had sat on that particular sofa, and beheld the -view from these windows! - -He had come hither from the barracks on foot, as he had sold off all -his horses now, and he thought sadly--could it be otherwise--of the -stable court at Ardgowrie, with all its excellent stalls fitted with -enamelled mangers and encaustic tiles, and the artistic devices on -the iron heel posts, and for holding the pillar reins. - -This visit over, he thought he would go moose-hunting with Logan and -some others: activity out of doors being the best cure for love -according to certain writers. "Men try wine and cards," says Yates, -"both of which are instantaneous but fleeting remedies, and leave -them in a state of reaction, when they are doubly vulnerable; but -shooting or hunting, properly pursued, are thoroughly engrossing -while they last, and when they are over necessitate an immediate -recourse to slumber from the fatigue which they have induced." - -But while making these resolutions Roland, like one in a dream, -watched the view from Madame Darnel's windows: Montreal, the largest -of the three elevations near the city so named--its base surrounded -by country houses, with orchards and gardens, and its summit covered -with foliage; the city itself, with its lofty edifices of dark -limestone or of painted wood, its churches, monasteries, its -glittering spire, its shipping, and the St. Lawrence winding far away -in the distance, till he was roused by the rustle of a silk dress, -and Aurelia Darnel stood before him, and her hand was in his. - -"Miss Darnel!" - -"Mr. Ruthven!" - -The latter was the less self-possessed of the two. - -"I knew, Mr. Ruthven, that you would come to Montreal again," said -Aurelia, with one of her brightest smiles. - -"Were it but for a moment like this, I should have come," said -Roland, under the charm of her presence, forgetting the _rôle_ he -intended to adopt; "and your mamma?" - -"Is, unfortunately, from home; need I say how sorry we were for the -sad occasion which hurried you away." - -Roland coloured with pain, vexation, and sorrow; and before him -seemed to stand that horrible "last will and testament," which -beggared him! Aurelia Darnel, who had occupied his entire thoughts -since he left Montreal, was beside him now; but he had only common -places, the merest platidudes to offer her. His innate pride, -tenacity, and over-sensitiveness, now that he was poor, and she was -rich--he little knew how rich--tied up his tongue, and the love, he -trembled to avow, remained unspoken. - -We have already partially described Aurelia Darnel and the character -of her beauty. She was a girl of talent, with many accomplishments. -Her French, of course, was perfect, as she inherited it from her -mother; she played brilliantly, with a soft yet dashing touch; she -could sing little _chansons_ in the most seductive way, and was full -of those pretty graces and mannerisms which are peculiar to -continental girls; she had, too, a way of looking down, drooping her -long dark eyelashes, that was often the cause of more tenderness and -admiration in those she meant to dazzle, than when she looked up, or -straight forward. - -Offers she had had in plenty, and for two seasons she had been the -reigning belle of Montreal. By a subtile perception, Roland had been -distinctly conscious that she preferred him to any other man of her -acquaintance, and that her eye brightened and her smile sweetened at -his approach. - -He had ever felt a strange joy in her society, and a pride in being -seen with her, for is it not something to excite envy and jealousy by -being the favoured partner of the acknowledged belle of every ball! -In attractiveness her tone and manner were quite different to all -that Roland had met before, and yet he had moved in the best society -everywhere. - -Though but a few months had elapsed since he saw Aurelia last, her -figure seemed to have attained more roundness than before, and her -soft features a more decided character; most winning and shy was her -smile, most graceful her carriage, and sweet was her voice when she -welcomed him to Montreal again. - -"It is eight whole months since I had the pleasure of seeing you -last, Miss Darnel," said he, after a rather awkward pause. - -"Eight months--yes, true." - -"A gap in life--in my life at least." - -"Filled up by sadness?" - -"Exceeding sadness, and much mortification," said he. - -"I was but a little girl when papa died, yet I can remember what a -wrench it was. In losing your father--" - -"I lost more than him." - -"More!" - -She looked up at him inquiringly; could he tell her all he had -lost--his heritage--his grand old baronial home, a princely -estate--even honour itself, for thus, in his over-sensitiveness, did -Roland view the matter of the long-hidden will! - -"If matters remain quiet here among the colonists, Miss Darnell, I -mean to leave the regiment." - -"Leave the Scots Royals--the Royal Regiment!" she exclaimed with -surprise; "I thought it was the second home of your family; I have -often heard you say so." - -"It can no longer be mine." - -"Why?" - -"For reasons that I cannot tell--even to you." - -"Ah, pardon me; but what do you mean to do?" - -"Soldier still--of course." - -"But where?" - -"In India." - -"In India!" she exclaimed, with a depth of interest that made -Roland's heart beat wildly; "oh, how far, far away!" - -"Far away from you;--oh, Miss Darnel--Aurelia!" His heart was -rushing to his head. - -At that moment a visitor, Colonel Smash, of U.S. army, was announced, -and Roland withdrew, leaving unsaid all that he ought to have -said--that she expected him to say, and what he would have said, but -for the secret of that accursed cabinet of Scindia. - -Could she have looked into his heart and read his thoughts, through -the window which Vulcan wished had been placed in every human breast! - -Both Aurelia and Madame Darnel had a right to expect something more -to develop itself from the visit of Roland; but he felt himself a -very craven, and retired, leaving her with the most absurd of her -many admirers, Colonel Ithurial Smash, a long-legged, hard-featured, -and most ungainly New Yorker, whose rivalry was too contemptible for -Roland's consideration, though he did marvel whether one could -"possibly parade a fellow," for interrupting one's conversation with -his cousin--for in this degree of relationship the "Colonel" somehow -stood to Aurelia Darnel. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -COLONEL SMASH. - -After this, many days elapsed, and Roland, having ever before him the -last crushing communication of Messrs. Hook and Crook, never went -near the Chateau de St. Eustache, much to the surprise of Logan, -whose mind was sorely exercised on that subject, and on some new and -unwonted peculiarities of temper and system which he discovered in -his old friend and once jolly comrade. - -Aurelia, too, felt some surprise at his protracted absence, and that -she never saw him at the promenades and public places where she had -been wont to see him before. - -She was thinking could he have fallen in love with some one else--she -always thought he loved _her_--some one in Scotland where he had -been? If so, what business had he to come to her and talk, and act, -and look, too, as if he were free and fetterless? Could he have been -playing with her, making a fool of her all along? How coldly and -quietly he had talked about going to India, too. - -Ah no! could she have seen Roland Ruthven at that very time! He was -kissing, looking at, smoothing out, and caressing a tiny kid glove, -which he had begged from her at that very ball where they first met, -on the 5th of August--the fatal day of the Ruthvens, as Elspat Gorm -was wont to call it. - -"Roland, old fellow," said Logan, dropping into his quarters one -evening when he was dressing for mess, "what is up--you look like the -ace of spades? Never saw a fellow so changed in all my life." - -"One day you may know all, Hector--meantime, don't worry me," replied -Roland, with the hair brushes suspended in action above his thick -head of dark brown hair, while Logan smoked and talked. His toilet -table bespoke taste and that wealth which he no longer possessed, -with its ivory-handled brushes having on them the Ruthven arms; his -dressing-case of silver-gilt, with gold-topped essence bottles in -nests of blue velvet; rings, jewelled studs, and sleeve-links, lay -there scattered about, with pipe heads of rare fashion and costly -material. - -"You are not using that girl well, Roland--you know what I mean; -before you went on leave you were like her shadow, and now----" - -"I can't get over my scruples about--about----" - -"What, in the name of heaven?" - -"Well, about making up to a girl who has a fortune--a very handsome -income, at all events--when I am so out at the elbows." - -"Out at the elbows--are you mad?" - -"The thing would look ill--yet I could make a little running with -her," said Roland, with a dreary attempt to be lively. - -"I should think so. Ruthven of Ardgowrie out at the elbows--why, man -alive, what the devil has come to you? You could marry Miss Darnel -without exciting anybody but her special admirers. There is no -'establishment' to break up; no fair denizen of such a villa as is -proverbial at St. John's Wood to tear her dyed locks, and demand a -monetary kind of 'loot'--so I say again, what the deuce has come to -you?" asked Logan, with genuine surprise. - -"That which I cannot tell." - -"Even to me?" asked the other reproachfully. - -"Even to you, old fellow, just yet." - -"This passes my comprehension." - -"The misfortune that has befallen me passes mine." - -"She is a delightful girl, Roland," said Logan, after a pause, during -which he had been reflectively preparing another cigar; "she never -misses fire in the way of a repartee or a brilliant rejoinder." - -"In that I agree with you," replied Roland, quietly. - -"How cold you are." - -"I am far from feeling so, any way," said Roland, with a sigh. - -"Can't make you out, by Jove! In the Chateau de St. Eustache, unless -I am very much mistaken, you have gone in for some very effective -bits of flirtation, in which the inconstant moon played no -inconsiderable part." - -"Flirtation, Logan? I never could flirt with Aurelia Darnell." - -"Indeed!" said the other incredulously; "why?" - -"Because I love her too sincerely." - -"Yet you never go near that house where you have often acted almost -as host to the whole garrison, and where that horrible Yankee Colonel -has the field all to himself." - -"Oh! he is a cousin of some sort--but what the devil is he to me?" - -"Well--he is a good shot I hear." - -"A shot--d--n him!" said Ronald, with considerable irritation of -manner; "I would think very little of parading him on the other side -of the Canadian frontier." - -"I don't doubt that, Ronald, old man; but he has fought several -duels, and successfully I hear." - -"With double-barrelled rifles, at two hundred yards' distance, each -man posted behind a tree, and dodging every way to dodge the other's -fire. Well, I would meet him that way if he wished it. I have asked -the Colonel to mess." - -"To mess?" - -"Yes." - -"That fellow! What will the Colonel and others think? Your reason -is, I suppose, to keep up a connecting link with the Chateau?" - -"Perhaps so," said Roland, wearily; and, sooth to say, that was his -sole reason. - -"Well, if with the rental of Ardgowrie, you can't----" - -"Please not to speak of Ardgowrie," said Roland impatiently, as he -thrust himself into his shell-jacket; "there go the drums for mess." - -It was impossible that Aurelia could have any regard, even, amenity, -for this horrible American cousin, the Colonel; yet if she had, -Roland felt that the changed circumstances of his own fortune tied up -his tongue and would render his attentions an interference; yet it -was scarcely possible for him to look on such a dangler or admirer -with total indifference. - -The Colonel, of whom we shall have more to relate anon, came duly to -mess, where his appearance and bearing caused some speculation, and -not a little secret mirth among Roland's brother officers, who were -all men of a very good style and tone. - -Lean, wiry, and powerfully made, he was above the middle height, had -sharp aquiline features of an exaggerated type, that might not have -been bad but for a chronic expression of vulgar suspicion and -'cuteness that played about his eyes, giving him a rather hangdog -look; moreover, he had lost three front teeth in a row in Arkansas. -He was closely shaven all save a long square goatee imperial that -quivered when he spoke. Then he had a nervous way of clutching his -hat and banging it against his thigh, with a curious but unmeaning -energy. His clothes were loosely made, and he wore enormous cuffs, -collar and studs. Every way, he looked, as Logan said, "like a man -you would rather drink with than fight with, any day." - -The Colonel had of course the usual American ideas about equality, -and "the sovereign people," with considerable contempt for the little -island, from whence "the Britishers came." - -Doubtless he had never seen such a dinner-table us the mess of the -Royals before, with all its massive and magnificent silver trophies, -epergnes, and goblets--even the White House could not equal it; thus -his utter bewilderment excited as much amusement as his _gaucherie_, -for he picked his teeth with a silver fork, rinsed his mouth with the -contents of his finger-glass, and so forth; but he made good use of -his time in more ways than one, as we shall show. - -"Strike me ugly, but this is a fine set of fixings! and that one in -particular," he added, tapping with his knife a magnificent vase -presented to the corps by its colonel, the late Duke of Kent. - -As a friend of the Darnels, Roland was very attentive to "the -Colonel," who was very loquacious on the subject of the local -excitement among the Canadians of the Lower Province, then agitated -by factious men who sought to dictate to the Government measures -which were not deemed conducive to the welfare of the State, were -actually preparing to rise in arms, and counted on the sympathy and -support of American filibusters and all manner of desperate and -broken fellows from beyond the frontier. - -During the summer of that year, and while Roland had been in -Scotland, the House of Assembly had refused to proceed in its -deliberations until the demand for a total alteration of the -legislative powers was complied with; and this was followed by the -appearance of many of the colonists in arms, and by serious -violations of the law. - -On these matters, and the prospects of a row with the authorities, -"the Colonel" was more loquacious than became a guest at a regimental -mess; but more than once his phraseology excited the risibility of -even the waiters. When offered wine, he asked if he "couldn't get -some egg-nogg." He described the dry goods store he had once kept at -Baltimore, and of the two clubs there, of which he was chairman, the -"black snakes" and the "plug uglies," and Roland's bewilderment grew -very great to think that such a man as this could be even an -acquaintance, far less some remote kinsman of Aurelia Darnel. - -Like all Americans, he boasted a good deal and had a sovereign -contempt for every other constitution in the world save that of the -United States, draining all kinds of wine in quick succession, and -ever and anon announcing that he "was dry as thunder," till Roland -felt as one in a fever for having such a guest, and saw the -commanding officer regarding him with a rather mingled expression of -face. - -In short, it proved in the end that Colonel Smash was a spy of the -intended insurgents, and contrived to glean up a considerable amount -of information as to the positions and strength of the Queen's troops -in Lower Canada, all of which he duly committed to his notebook. - -He sat late, or early rather, and never left the mess table till the -sweet, low notes of the old Scottish reveille were waking the echoes -of the lonely barrack-square when he went forth, as Logan said, "like -an inveterate soaker, without a hair of his coat being turned." - -Assisted by Roland, through the medium of cigars and -brandy-and-water, Logan was going over the books of his company, to -wit, the ledger, day-book, and the acquittance roll, which is -rendered every month to the commanding officer--an investigation to -Hector of a very solemn nature, whereat there was much occasional -anathematising, twisting of the moustache, appealing glances cast to -the ceiling, a secret totting off of sums under the table, much -rubbing of the chin, and many references to a ready-reckoner--when -they were interrupted by the adjutant, who came clattering in with -sword and belt on, and his face full of importance. - -"What's the row?" asked Logan, looking up. - -"Row enough!" replied the adjutant, laughing; "these colonial beggars -are up in arms, and four companies of ours have to take the field -to-morrow in the direction of Chambly, with some cavalry, a howitzer, -and two six-pounders!" - -"Bravo--anything is better than _this_ sort of work!" exclaimed -Logan, tossing the books aside. "At what hour do we fall-in?" - -"Immediately after the men have breakfasted." - -Roland looked at his watch; the November evening was darkening fast; -he borrowed the adjutant's horse, gave a few instructions rapidly to -his servant, and in a few minutes more was spurring in the direction -of the Chateau de St. Eustache. - -Come what might of it, he had resolved to see once more Aurelia -Darnel, and bid her farewell. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -"LOVE WAS YET THE LORD OF ALL." - -Many mails had come to headquarters without any fresh intelligence -from Messrs. Hook and Crook concerning the lost or rival heir to -Ardgowrie, and Roland Ruthven had gathered a little courage from that -circumstance, and with it even love strengthened in his heart as he -rode on. - -What a credit such a wife, such a girl, such a brilliant young -matron, as Aurelia would be, representing at balls, dinners, and -everything, the married ladies of the regiment! She would be the -veritable Queen of the Scots Royals! But that could not--might not -be, so far as Roland was concerned if the heir of his uncle were -actually found; and in this mingled mood of mind he spurred onward -the adjutant's horse, in a mode that must rather have surprised that -quiet quadruped, to bid Aurelia, it might be, a last farewell. - -With all the advantages of a highly cultivated mind, trained in one -of the best West End educational establishments, she possessed all -the attractive manners of a French girl, with the honest fearlessness -of an English one, innocent of worldly trickery and the deceits of -society, and yet she was a girl well calculated to shine amidst that -charmed circle. - -Roland had shown her innumerable attentions, but, as we have -elsewhere said, till he could arrange with his father as to his -future he had spoken no word distinctly of love to her yet; and now -he dared not! - -The polite or politic coldness he had displayed of late, was thus -very different to the bearing towards her which the girl, from his -past conduct, had every right to expect. She was piqued and rather -prepared for a flirtation with Logan or any one else; and thus at -balls or elsewhere a lot of men were always hovering about her, among -whom was too often the obnoxious Colonel Smash, the low state of -whose exchequer would have made an alliance with the heiress of St. -Eustache a very pleasant speculation. - -Roland, with his pay only, or little more--the sum he accorded to -himself out of the rents of Ardgowrie, and meant to refund--felt that -he had no right to ask her hand, or seek to lure her from amid -objects and associations endeared to her by taste and her earlier -years, and, more than all, from the luxuries by which she was -surrounded. - -And yet it was with him, as it is with some others, barriers to his -hopes and wishes only made these wishes and hopes all the more keen; -and thus whenever he left her he would pause and commune with himself -from time to time, conning over her words and her glances, as if to -glean therefrom whether he was indifferent to her or not. - -The doubts and fears that agitated Roland's heart were painful and -poignant; had he been as he ought to have been, Laird of Ardgowrie, -fortalice and manor, wood and mountain, with what honest confidence -would he have told her of the love he dared not speak of _now_! - -Yet it was so sweet to dream on; for the artless simplicity of -Aurelia's manner, and the freshness of her untutored heart, had led -him to know and feel that the greatest personal attractions may be -second to excelling qualities in the girl one loves. - -When he entered the familiar drawing-room, with its air of culture -and wealth, pictures, statuettes, and bronzes, and saw from the -windows the familiar view he might now be looking upon for the last -time, Aurelia did not hear him announced. She was alone, seated at -the piano, and singing one of those _Chansons Canadiennes_, as they -are named, which she had learned from her mother, for among the -French Canadians of all ranks there linger yet the _chansons_, -_refrains_, and _barcarolles_, brought from Brittany and La Vendée by -their ancestors three hundred years ago; and when Roland suddenly -appeared by her side, she started, and arose, surprise mingling with -her smile of pleasure, as the hour was an unusual one for a visit. - -"I do not ask you to resume your singing, Miss Darnel," said Roland, -in a voice that lacked all firmness, "as I have but a few minutes to -remain with you, and these may, perhaps, be the last we shall ever -spend together." - -Her glance drooped, then she lifted her long, silky and most killing -lashes, and Roland gazed with unconcealed tenderness into her eyes, -which were of that deeply dark blue, which at times and in some -lights, especially by night, seem almost black. - -"You are, then, going to India?" she asked, in a breathless voice. - -"No, Miss Darnel; and yet I am come to say good-bye." - -"Good-bye?" - -"We take the field to-morrow." - -"Against whom?" she asked, growing very pale; "the Insurgents?" - -"Yes--the French malcontents and others, I am sorry to say." - -"And to-morrow--oh, that is sudden indeed--mamma is from -home--and--and----" - -Roland could see how her bosom heaved; his heart was rushing to his -head, and he drew nearer to her. A black velvet riband, that hung -down her back from her delicate white neck, was awry; he put it -straight, and then trembled. No one surpassed Roland Ruthven in -confidence with women, or at a little bout of _persiflage_ with a -jolly flirting girl; but now he was very silent and sad. - -The frill of lace that encircled her neck was ruffled in one place, -and by a delicate and almost caressing touch he smoothed it as her -own brother might have done; then his hands stole softly downward and -took each, of hers, while his heart beat like lightning. - -"Miss Darnel." - -She was trembling now, and her sweet face quivered. - -"Aurelia." - -"Well, Mr. Ruthven." - -"I am about to leave, it may be for ever." - -"Do not say so!" she said, almost imploringly, while her eyes filled -with tears. - -"If anything in this world could make me feel like the Roland Ruthven -of a year ago, hopeful, trustful, and happy, it is to see that I am -not indifferent to you. Aurelia--my love--my darling!" - -She looked at him wistfully for a moment, and ere her white eyelids -drooped, a long kiss came, and then a silence, full of happiness most -strangely blended with an emotion of intense gratitude, while his arm -went round her, and her face was nestled in his neck, and he began, -at broken intervals, much that was soft nonsense; but "it was the -nonsense which every woman loves to hear from one man (at least) -during her life-time." - -Then suddenly, while still retaining her hands, and looking at her -with infinite tenderness, he told of his great love for her, but how -poverty had tied his tongue--poverty brought upon him through a will -executed by his grandfather, which deprived him of all he possessed -in the world, save his sword, for now the lost heir of Ardgowrie had -been found, and no doubt by this time knew of his good fortune. - -Roland had to repeat this more than once ere she quite understood -him, for Aurelia felt as one in a dream--but a dream of happiness, -for "is there any other time," says some one, "like that, when the -knowledge comes upon you, that you are singled out, that you are -admired most, that one other person is happy only when near you, that -eyes are watching for your eyes, that a hand is waiting to touch your -hand, when every speech has a new meaning, every word a bewildering -significance." - -"And you do love me?" she asked, in a low cooing whisper that filled -his heart with rapture; he could only utter a deep sigh, and kiss her -again. - -"And you are poor--Roland?" - -"As I have told you," he replied, his heart thrilling again at her -utterance of his Christian name for the _first_ time. - -"Well--I am rich--all _I_ have is yours; I am my own mistress, and -mamma loves me too well, and you also, to thwart our wishes." - -"Darling Aurelia--it is incredible--that--that----" - -Roland knew not what he was about to say, so solved the difficulty -with a long caress, from which Aurelia suddenly started back, as she -now perceived they had a listener. - -Unseen by both, Colonel Ithuriel Smash had been standing in the -archway of the outer drawing-room, with a curiously malignant -expression on his very marked visage, for he had evidently overheard -and overseen the whole interview. His presence occasionally at the -Château de St. Eustache was only tolerated by Madame Darnel because -he was penniless, his store in 75th Avenue having been sold up; and -now he was fostering, on the strength of a very remote relationship, -some very bold views with regard to Aurelia. - -"Jerusalem, apple-sauce, and earthquakes, my young Britisher, but you -make yourself quite at home in the house of my kinsman!" exclaimed -the Colonel, who had concocted an effervescing drink in a long -tumbler, and was leisurely stirring it with the jack-knife used by -him for cutting his pig-tail tobacco; "I wonder blood has not been -shed about you before this, Miss Aurelia Darnel." - -"Blood!" exclaimed Roland, swelling with indignation. - -"Jerusalem! but it may be shed soon." - -"But, that I am under orders for Chambly to-morrow, I might -condescend to punish your insolence and your daring intrusion!" - -Roland pressed the hand of Aurelia again, and in doing so deftly -slipped a ring upon her engaged finger; he then kissed her -deliberately and withdrew (just as the servants came in with lights), -exchanging with Smash one of those unmistakable glances that is -expressive of--and rivets for life--a hate that dies not, fired by -the secret instinct of mutual enmity; yet Roland despised himself for -having a foe so ignoble. - -That night, without delaying an hour, Colonel Ithuriel Smash took his -departure in the direction of _Chambly_! - -Of so little importance had his presence been, that Aurelia never -missed him as she sat alone, in a dream of joy that was not unclouded -with anxiety for the cause of Roland's departure, and yet it was that -event which brought the joy to pass, by laying bare the secret heart -of each. - -So the girl smiled fondly to herself, as she gazed at and kissed -again and again her engagement-ring; and it seemed as if her former -life had passed away and a new one of greater sunshine and brightness -had begun; and long she sat there looking dreamily at the lovely moon -(shining over the spires of Montreal), round as the shield of Fingal, -her sweet face wreathed with smiles that no eyes could see, unless -they were those of the old man who dwelleth therein. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE INSURRECTION. - -Roland's heart was brimming with happiness and gratitude for the love -and generosity of Aurelia Darnel, and it seemed actually to dance in -his breast joyously, when, next morning, the four companies detailed -for service marched from Montreal, with the colours flying, the -bayonets fixed, and the band playing the old regimental quick-step of -the pre-Revolution days, varied by the pipes,-- - - "Dumbarton's drums beat bonnie O," - -in memory of the Colonel, that loyal and gallant Earl, who followed -his royal master into exile and died at St. Germains. - -A hundred times Roland asked himself, why had he not tested the great -love of Aurelia before? why had he lost so much time and so much -happiness? A little time--the insurrection ended, and he would be by -her side again, as he had somewhat needlessly assured her in a -passionate little farewell note, dispatched that morning. - -A little time? Alas, the first day of absence seemed to consist of -at least seventy-two hours! - -The force which now took the field by order of Lieutenant General Sir -John Colborne (afterwards Lord Seaton), G.C.B., Colonel of the -Cameronians, a wounded veteran of the Peninsular war, consisted of -detachments of the 24th, 32nd, and 66th Regiments, with one howitzer, -under the Hon. Colonel Charles Gore, son of the Earl of Arran, and -afterwards Deputy Quartermaster-General in Canada, who marched -towards St. Denis and St. Charles, with orders to arrest certain -armed traitors who were alleged to be in these villages. - -At the same time, Colonel Wetherall, with his four companies of the -Royal Scots Regiment, Captain David's troop of Montreal Cavalry, a -detachment of the 66th, and two six-pounders, was to move on the -last-named village to assist a magistrate in executing the warrants. - -The month was November, the weather severe, and the roads bad; the -men were in heavy marching order, with knapsacks, great coats and -blankets, camp-kettles, and with the arms and ammunition of the day, -making up a load of seventy-five pounds twelve ounces per man; but -all were in the highest spirits. Anything seemed better than moping -in barracks, and when the music ceased as they marched "at ease," -they made the forests resound to their merry choruses. - -All parts of the country thereabout which have not been cleared for -cultivation are covered with timber, and he alone, says a traveller, -who has visited these regions of interminable forest can form an -adequate idea of their dreariness, yet there the red oak, the white -pine, the beech, elm, cedar, and maple mingle their branches _ad -infinitum_. - -Here and there a lonely clearing was passed, where, amid lofty trees -devoid of lateral branches, their stems or stumps scorched and -blackened by fire, stood the log hut of a settler, who, with his -wild-looking brood, came forth to gaze with wonder, perhaps -hostility, at the passing troops. - -In autumn these magnificent forests assume hues of every -shade--yellow, brown, and red--under sunsets which present the most -glorious assemblages of clouds. But winter was the season now; the -leaves had fallen; the humming-birds and fire-flies had departed, and -the wild fowl had taken refuge on the lakes or the St. Lawrence. - -The force under Colonel Wetherall crossed the Richelieu River by the -upper ferry at the village of Chambly, where, in the days of the -monarchy, the French had a strong palisaded fort; but the nature of -the roads and the unfavourable weather seriously impeded his march, -while information having reached him that the rebels in arms at St. -Charles had been greatly increased in numbers, and had with them a -number of lawless American or Yankee "sympathisers," under his late -guest, Colonel Smash, whom he remembered at the mess, eating peas -with his knife and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand; so he -made a halt at St. Hilaire, until he could be joined by a fifth -company of the 1st Royal Scots under Hector Logan. - -On that night it was evident that the country was alarmed. Instead -of the stillness usual to the time, the clanging of church bells was -heard at intervals, with the barking of dogs, the report of firearms -occasionally, the blowing of conches and horns, red alarm-fires -blazed up on the dark summits of the distant hills; and more than -once horsemen in hot haste dashed past the advanced sentinels without -responding to their challenge, and as the troops, as yet, were only -acting in support of the civil power, they could not fire upon these -strangers. - -This was the night of the 24th November, and to Roland, like many -others, it was a sleepless one, as he commanded an out-picket and had -to visit his sentinels every hour. - -On one side of his post rolled the mighty river, reflecting in its -ripples the star-spangled sky; on the other, stretched away into -darkness and utter obscurity the vast dingles of an American forest, -planted and grown by nature. - -His mind was full of that last evening with Aurelia and all its sweet -details. On his odious rival he scarcely bestowed a thought, and he -felt happier than an emperor in his palace, as he lay there, with his -cloak around him, his sword and pistols at hand, his head pillowed on -a pine-log, and all oblivious of the rattlesnakes, which there are -six feet long. Near him was Robert Bruce, one of his sentinels, -treading softly to and fro, with bayonet fixed, and singing to -himself the old Scottish barrackroom ditty:-- - - "Poor Willie was landed at bonnie Dumbarton, - Where the stream from Loch Lomond runs into the sea, - While at home in sweet Ireland, he left Mary Martin, - With a babe at her breast and a child at her knee." - - -The night passed in quietude, apart from the alarming sounds -mentioned; on the 25th November the march was resumed, and on coming -within a mile of St. Charles, puffs of white smoke spirted out of the -dark jungly brushwood on the opposite side of the river, as the -rebels daringly opened a straggling fire upon Her Majesty's troops. -A Royal Scot was struck down by Roland's side, and several were -wounded. - -Rifle shots were also fired from a barn in front. - -"Push on, Logan!" exclaimed Colonel Wetherall; "push on and storm -that place at the point of the bayonet!" - -Logan advanced with his company at a rush; his powerful arm burst in -the door; the place was taken, all in it bayoneted or put to flight, -and then it was set in flames, the whole affair occupying little more -than the time we take to narrate the episode. - -Near St. Charles were more than fifteen hundred insurrectionists -under Papineau and Colonel Smash, posted in a strong and closely -stockaded work from which they opened a sharp and serious fire, the -echoes of which the adjacent forest repeated with a thousand -reverberations, while the whole place seemed enveloped in white -smoke, streaked with flashes of red fire. - -The Royals responded with several rounds well thrown in; but they had -stormed too many such, works in Burmah, the land of stockades, to -linger in attacking this one. - -A breach was beaten in by axe and hammer, and cannon shot together. -In three minutes the place was carried by storm and its occupants -bayoneted, shot down, or put to flight; but not before seventeen of -the Royals, and four of the 66th were killed, and a great number -wounded, while Colonel Wetherall and Major Warde had their horses -shot under them, and Roland's cheek was grazed by a rifle shot. - -The mingled curses and imprecations, yells of agony and rage, seemed -to fill the air, when the roar of the firing died away, and the -prisoners were disarmed and secured. "Every officer and man behaved -nobly," says the dispatch of Colonel Wetherall. "Major Warde carried -the right of the position in good style, and Captain George Mark -Glasgow's Artillery did good execution; he is a most zealous officer; -and Captain David's troop of Montreal Cavalry rendered essential -service during the charge." - -The murder of stray soldiers from time to time, and particularly that -of George Weir, a young lieutenant of the 32nd Cornish Light -Infantry, who was bound to a cart, and hacked to pieces with his own -sword, by certain miscreants (among whom Ithuriel Smash was supposed -to be one), now began to infuse in the minds of the troops much of -that rancour which adds to the severity of a civil strife. - -After the stockade had been uprooted and destroyed, the troops -returned to St. Hilaire and remained in cantonments for three days. -There a dragoon of the Montreal Cavalry arrived with the mail, which -brought from Aurelia Darnel the first letter she had ever addressed -him, and the sight of her hand-writing raised Roland at once to the -seventh heaven of delight. We know not whether he kissed it, but -think it extremely probable that he did, if no one was near. - -As the contents of love-letters are of interest to the recipients -thereof alone, and the said contents, with all their half-fatuous -endearments and double diminutives, are at times rather grotesque, -the reader need not be troubled with that of Aurelia, save in one -part thereof. - -"I told dearest mamma of all that had passed between us, shewed her -our engagement ring, and added, that as soon as leisure permitted, -you would write to her on that subject. She was agitated, the dear -old soul, and tearful at the fear of losing me; but kissed me many -times, and said she was certain we would be happy together, and that -she loved you with all her heart. Oh, think of that, Roland! But we -shall have mamma to live with us, won't we dearest, when I am your -own--your very own? She will be a comfort to us both, and not at all -like the proverbial 'mother-in-law' of the novel and play. But I -must now conclude, as we are both on the eve of starting for our -Seigneury of St. Eustache, where the French people are taking up -arms; but they love mamma so much, that she hopes she may prevail -upon them to refrain from breaking the Queen's peace. So adieu till -I write you from there, dearest, dearest," &c., &c. - -And then, of course, there was a postscript, containing "cartloads of -kisses." - -Had she told Madame Darnel about the long-hidden will and his changed -circumstances? - -Roland rather supposed not; she was generous and loving enough, in -her love and joy to have forgotten all about the matter! - -Roland found an entire day's occupation in reading again and again -the letter of Aurelia, nor was it fairly consigned to that -breast-pocket in his uniform which contained her glove, till the -warning drum beat on the 28th, when the troops marched to attack -another body of the rebels, who had taken post at Point Oliviere, and -had actually constructed there an abatis of felled trees for the -purpose of cutting off the retreat of Wetherall's entire force! - -But when the Royals came in sight, with their brass-drums beating and -fixed bayonets gleaming bright and keen in the cold winter sun, and -deployed from the line of march with coolness and confidence into -companies for attack, after exchanging a few shots, the rebels lost -all heart, and fled, with the loss of their cannon, which Roland -captured at the head of his company, sword in hand, together with -twenty-five prisoners, and then rescued his captain, a brave fellow, -who in the first advance got entangled among the branches of the -abatis and ran thus the serious risk of being shot down helpless; and -for all this, Roland was elaborately and honourably mentioned in -Colonel Wetherall's dispatch to Sir John Colborne. - -On the same day the Colonel's force returned to Chambly with the -captured guns and prisoners; but though elated by their success every -officer and man was suffering greatly from the heavy and chill rain -which turned into mud the wretched roads that were already knee-deep -in snow. - -Meanwhile tidings reached them that the Queen's forces, under Colonel -Gore, had encountered such formidable obstruction, and opposition, -and, moreover, endured so much from the severity of the Canadian -winter, which had set in with all its bitterness, that they had been -compelled to fall back from St. Denis, and retire. - -Marching was now laborious work, for when frost came, the troops had -to wear _creepers_, or plates of spikes strapped to their feet. - -The snow lay so deep that one might almost imagine no power of the -sun would ever melt it; and, at times, when the leafless trees are -coated on every branch and twig with ice, whole forests seem to be -turned into crystal, when the rays of light produce ten thousand -prisms, and most wonderful is the effect if there is a slight breeze -to set them in motion. - -Wetherall had partially, by his great success, arrested the rebellion -in his own quarter; but it was in all its strength elsewhere, and the -troops had many severe and harassing duties to perform amid the frost -and snow of a very severe winter. It has justly been said that the -British officer is essentially a dandy, that "the neatly and closely -cropped hair, the well-trimmed mustache, the set up figure, the -spotless gloves, boots bright as a mirror, and the general air of -dandyism are the outward symbols of those qualities which make men -good soldiers." - -It no doubt is so. The set up figure remained, but in Canada at that -particular juncture, the dandyism had nearly departed, as much as it -did in the Crimea. - -Amid these duties, Roland could have no letters from Aurelia; neither -could he write, for the postal arrangements were completely -suspended, or could only be carried on by parties of armed men. - -At last there came a day--one of horror--and Roland never forgot it! - -"Look here, old fellow," said Logan, with a bright expression on his -handsome face, bringing him a copy of the _Montreal Gazette_ some -weeks old; "as Byron says, 'pleasant 'tis to see one's name in -print--'" - -"Even in the 'Army List?'" - -"Yes, and proud was I when first I saw my name there," said Logan. - -"Well, whose name is in print now?" - -"Yours." - -"Mine!" A sickening thought occurred to Roland of the story of the -concealed will, Ardgowrie, and the discovered heir or heirs, for -though he had schooled himself to face the idea, it was a bitter one; -therefore, it was only a relief to his mind to find, that the matter -referred to, was the fact that he was favourably mentioned and -thanked in General Orders by Sir John Colborne, commanding Her -Majesty's forces in Canada. "for his gallantry displayed on the 28th -of November last, at the abatis of Point Oliviere." - -As he read it he thought of Aurelia, and the pleasure such a notice -would afford her; and was carelessly running his eyes over the -columns of the paper, when they caught her name--_her name_--and -mentioned in a way that made his blood turn alternately cold as ice, -and hot as fire! - -When proceeding in her sledge, with her daughter Aurelia, Madame -Darnel had been stopped and surrounded near her own seigneury "by a -band of rebels under the notorious Colonel Smash, for whose arrest a -reward is now offered." - -The old lady had been subjected to such violence, that she had -fainted and been borne to the house of the curé insensible, while her -beautiful daughter was brutally carried off by the "Yankee -Sympathiser," and was now, if alive, a helpless prisoner in his hands -at St. Eustache. - -Roland was petrified with grief and dismay by intelligence, so -deplorable--so terrible! Logan, full of just anger and great -indignation, was speaking to him, but Roland knew not what he said. - -The former was recalling the views "the Colonel" had with regard to -Aurelia; he recalled, too, his eavesdropping, his rancorous hatred, -threats, and jealousy; he recalled, also, the whole character and -bearing of the man, and when he thought of the soft, gentle, and -beautiful Aurelia being helpless in his power, at such a time, when -the whole of Lower Canada was rent by civil dissension, outrage, and -bloodshed, and when the Queen's troops were menaced everywhere, the -heart of Roland seemed to die within him! - -Again and again had Roland thought, while angry pride mingled with -love and gratitude, that in marrying Aurelia, he would deprive her of -no luxury to which she had been accustomed,--horses and carriages in -summer, the sledge in winter, a dressing maid, or the thousand and -one little things which wealth can procure, because _she_ had that; -but he had longed to make her mistress of Ardgowrie! - -Now--now, when he had lost her, perhaps for ever, how pitiful and -minor seemed all such considerations. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE ABDUCTION OF AURELIA. - -In the main, the newspaper report was correct. - -Madame Darnel, with the amiable object in view stated in the letter -of Aurelia, had been proceeding with her toward her own estate, which -was near the pleasant and well-built village of St. Eustache, in -Lower Canada. It consisted then of about a hundred houses, a -handsome church and parsonage, and is situated near the mouth of the -river Du Chine. - -Her sledge was a handsome and fashionable one; the day was clear and -bright, the snow, though deep, was frozen hard, and the sledge glided -along delightfully. It was drawn by two fine horses, with showy -harness, set off by high hoops with silver bells on the saddles, with -rosettes of ribbon and streamers of coloured horse-hair on the -bridles; and Aurelia--her charming face flushed and pinky with frosty -air, a cosy boa round her slender neck, her hand, through gloved, -inserted in a sable muff,--was enjoying to the utmost the gay jingle -of the bells, the nice crisp sound of the runners of the sledge, when -suddenly and involuntarily a shrill scream broke from her, when at a -turn of the road near the river, where the cuttings in the banked-up -snow lay deep between two rows of picket-fencing, a musket was fired, -and their driver fell forward, a corpse, shot through the head, and -the vehicle was surrounded by a mob of men. - -Infuriated or sullen, but all ruffianly in aspect, these men nearly -all wore fur caps, with large flaps down their cheeks, enormous pea -jackets or blanket coats patched and tattered, with India-rubber -shoes, or moose-skin mocassins, or thick cloth boots with high -leggings. - -All were armed with pikes, pitch-forks, swords, and pistols; many had -fowling pieces; many more had muskets and bayonets, and wore -cross-belts stolen from Government armouries or stripped from the -slain; and some carried their ammunition in hunting pouches and shot -bags. - -One who seemed the leader wore a huge coat of buffalo hide, and -looked like some great wild animal, for of the human face, nothing -was visible, but a long blue nose and a pair of red and blood-shot -eyes. - -"Jerusalem and ginger nuts, but that was a shot well put in!" -exclaimed this personage, whose voice there was no mistaking, and the -two horrified and helpless creatures found that they were in the -hands of that gang of the insurgents--the most dastardly and -lawless--led by Ithuriel Smash. - -Their first emotions on finding themselves in the centre of such a -savage throng, were undoubtedly those of extreme terror and shrinking -delicacy; but Madame Darnel for a time forgot her naturally womanish -apprehensions, collected the powers of her mind, and throwing up her -veil, confronted the whole band, which mustered more than a hundred -men. - -Among that mob were many on whom Aurelia and her mother had conferred -countless acts of kindness and charity in sickness and health; but, -like low-born and ungrateful cowards, they hung back now, when they -should have rushed to her defence. - -Certainly, to some of the French insurgents, the appeal of Madame -Darnel, a handsome woman about forty years of age, with an -intelligent and sweet expression in her well-cut features, and every -way a person of refinement and delicacy, was not without a little -effect; but the announcement of Smash that her daughter was his -affianced wife who "intended to slope with one of the 'tarnal -Britishers," against whom they were in arms, deprived poor Aurelia of -all sympathy, and a roar of menace escaped his hearers. - -"Is this conduct your return for my kindness and charity to a -creature so immensely beneath me?" asked Madame Darnel. - -"As whom?" asked Smash. - -"You, fellow!" - -"D--n your cussed impudence! Now then, Aurelia, come along, white -face. You look as if you required a box of our New York -'Never-say-die or Health-restoring pills,'" said Smash; and a shriek -burst from the girl as his coarse fingers with their long spiky nails -grasped her tender arm, and she was literally torn away from her -horrified mother, who fainted, and was borne off by some of the -better disposed to the house of the curé. - -Followed by the armed rabble, the helpless Aurelia incapable of all -resistance, was dragged through the village of St. Eustache, and -taken a literal prisoner, or victim, to her mother's house which -adjoined, the seigneury of the Darnels, wherein Colonel Smash had -established his headquarters. - -For a moment or two she thought to conciliate her chief captor. - -Tears big and bright were welling in her dark blue eyes; her bonnet -and veil had been torn off, and her dark hair all unconfined rolled -over her back and shoulders, as she stood with clasped hands and -pleading looks before the so-called Colonel. - -"Do shake hands with me," she condescended in her first fear to say; -"shake hands, Ithuriel--let us be friends, and send me back to mamma, -or bring her here." - -"Friends--friends be darned!" roared Ithuriel, whose plug of pigtail -dropped out of his lantern jaws, after which he proceeded to air it -on the point of his jack knife, while eyeing her with mingled -malevolence and admiration, and seated himself on a table. "You -won't give me a kiss, I suppose; but I can take as many as I like, I -reckon; and you look as if you scarcely remembered me--Ithuriel -Alcibiades Smash. Strike me ugly, but that's a bad compliment. -But," added the bantering ruffian, "I calculate I'll survive it! -Flirtation and courtship are two very different things, Miss Aurelia, -and I ain't disposed to flirt with you, as you'll find out before -long." - -Smash did not yet molest her; but she knew not what he might do if he -imbibed much brandy, as he had a bottle beside him, and was helping -himself liberally to the contents thereof, while he talked; and she -eyed him with fast-growing alarm. - -That he had shot the poor sledge-driver, an old and faithful domestic -whom she had known from childhood, Aurelia never doubted; and that -deed added to her unfathomable loathing and horror of him. She -shivered in his presence, and shuddered whenever he drew near her. -She glanced wildly at the room door, but escape was hopeless. He saw -the glance and laughed aloud. - -Was she acting in a melo-drama with the ruffian, as the heavy villain -of the piece? Was it all a dream? It almost seemed so, the whole -situation with all its contingent horrors and future uncertainties, -appeared so new, so unnatural and unreal! He seemed to read her -thoughts, for he said,-- - -"Was it not to spite that tarnation Britisher, who used to come into -the room with an opera hat under his arm, like a roasted fowl with -its gizzard, I might give you a little time to think of marrying me." - -"Marry _you_!" exclaimed Aurelia in a peculiar tone, that filled him -with rage and caused him to indulge in much language that was "more -pagan than parliamentary" till he roused her scorn and anger. - -"Coarse fool, and worse than fool! how dare you use language that is -unfit for me to hear?" - -"'Guess your Britisher will never see his wretched little island -again--too many rifle bullets flying for that," said he irrelevantly, -as he saw how every reference to Roland affected her. "You -encouraged that 'ere Britisher," continued the Colonel, still airing -his quid on his jack knife. - -"Encouraged--how dare you say so?" - -"Dare--there is no daring in it, my dear. Who commands here--you or -I?" - -"Sir, you presume upon your relationship in some way with mamma, to -talk to me thus, surely." - -"I presume only on my own love for you, and would keep you, a -daughter of Canada, as I would a daughter of America, from the -contamination of that 'tarnal red-coated British slave!" - -Still, as yet, save when dragging her to the house--her own father's -house--he had not laid hands on her. With all his roughness and -innate brutality, he felt that there was an undefinable something in -the grand hauteur, the excessive delicacy, the tone of refinement, in -the general aspect and bearing of Aurelia, that quelled, while it -secretly "riled" him. - -He noticed the very expression of her nostrils, the quiver of her -proud lip and the flash of her dark blue eye--the flash of scorn and -loathing when she replied to him, and he quailed under it--he, the -utter American rowdy! But this emotion began to die as he drained -another bumper of stiff brandy and water, and he took to blustering -and swearing again. - -"Do not use language such as this--and to me," said Aurelia, putting -her trembling hands to her ears; "surely you do not know the nature -of oaths." - -"Don't I? I calculate I've sworn enough to sink a seventy-four-gun -ship," said he, with a mocking laugh; "but surely," he added, drawing -nearer her, and adopting a coaxing tone and bearing, "in time you'll -forget all about that fellow, and see the necessity of quietly -becoming Mrs. Ithuriel Smash, when you cannot make a _better of it_." - -The girl's heart seemed to give a great bound, and then to die within -her, at these words, the look that accompanied and the dreadful -inference to be deduced from them. - -"Anyhow, I calculate that I shan't forget the evening I saw you and -that yaw-haw beast of a Britisher giving each other such nice tokens -of your mutual good-will--he giving you what he calls his heart--and -you making a free gift of the whole seigneury of St. Eustache! If -once he comes within the reach of my rifle...!" - -The Colonel was unable to express what would happen then. He -clenched hands and set his great yellow teeth with such force, that -his quid slipped down his throat and nearly choked him. - -Two or three days were passed by Aurelia in extreme misery and -captivity, and almost hourly she was warned by Smash that his -patience would soon be exhausted, and he would "send for the parson." - -She secluded herself in her own room, and found for a little time a -temporary protector in Papineau, one of the rebel leaders, a dapper -little French colonist, who had now come to concert measures for the -defence of the village, and urged that the young lady must not be -intruded upon. - -"Snakes alive! man, don't I tell you she is to be my wife?" roared -Smash. - -"_Mon Dieu_, my dear Colonel, that may be so," replied Papineau, -taking a pinch in the old Parisian fashion; "win the heiress, but woo -her gently. A lady can only receive in her own apartment a clergyman -or a doctor." - -"And a hairdresser," added the barber of the village who was there, -armed to the teeth. - -"By Jerusalem, then, I'll go as a hairdresser and scalp her, if she -gives me more trouble! I'll teach her that I'm half-horse, -half-alligator!" exclaimed Smash, who by this time was intoxicated to -a dangerous extent. - -A violent illness--the fever of great fear--had prostrated Madame -Darnel. - -Separated from the latter, Aurelia was without the little protection -her presence might have afforded. She was glad to keep beside the -female domestics of the seigneury, from among whom she was often -haled forth shrieking to endure the extraordinary love-speeches of -Smash; at last the women quitted the house in terror, and she was -left there alone--alone with a man whom she now loathed with a fear -indescribable! - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE END GROWING NEAR. - -The sea was frozen now for miles upon miles along the coast, there -were no electric cables as yet, and inland all postal communication -was cut off by concurrent events. No news came to Roland from -Messrs. Hook and Crook, and for all that he knew to the contrary, the -newly-found heirs might have eaten their Christmas pudding and drunk -the new year in, at Ardgowrie! - -But Roland gave not a thought to such matters now! He had become -changed in appearance, too; he was thinner, and two or three lines -appeared about his eyes, where none had been visible before; and -times there were when he thought himself going mad with the bitter -strain upon his thoughts. - -He had but a wild, clamorous craving and gnawing at the heart--a -fierce longing to quit Chambly and set out for St. Eustache. But -Roland Ruthven was a soldier of the Queen, and was chained to his -post. His place was with the colours of the Royal Scots. - -The cold at this time was intense; in the village market-place were -masses of beef, sheep, and deer frozen hard as they had been for -months, having been killed when the severe weather first set in. -There, too, were plucked fowls, fish of all kinds frozen hard, and -eels as stiff as walking-sticks. Even the milk was sold by the -pound, and the loaves of bread, frozen hard the moment they left the -oven, had to be literally sawn into slices, and half-and-half grog -froze. - -The snow was deeper than it had ever been seen by that proverbial -party who is to be found everywhere, "the oldest inhabitant," and -military operations were out of the question. Guards, when relieving -others, frequently took over the arms of the old guard being unable -to carry their own; and once Roland found a sentinel frozen dead, -hard and stiff and pale as the snow around him, in his sentry-box, -with his glazed eyes glaring horribly out of their sockets. He was -Robert Bruce, already mentioned, who, poor fellow, would sing upon -his post no more. - -But amid all this, the mess often thought and talked of punkahs, of -Bengal curries, green chillies, devilled biscuits, and other -"up-country" memories, as if the very mention of such things would -keep them warm! And at that merry mess-table Roland always felt -himself to be now--how different from past times!--the skeleton at -the banquet. - -But there comes an end to all things, and relief came ere long to the -agonised mind of Roland. He was seated in his billet--a miserable -wood-cutter's hut at Chambly,--when, one morning, Hector Logan burst -in upon him like a gale of wind, bringing a tempest of snow with him. - -"News for you, Ruthven!" he cried, shaking himself like a -Newfoundland dog; "splendid news! We are to march at once." - -"For where?" - -"St. Eustache, my boy." - -"St. Eustache!" exclaimed Roland, starting to his feet. - -"St. Eustache it is. I have just seen the Colonel with the General's -order in his hand." - -"Thank God!" exclaimed he, with great fervour; "we shall soon gain -tidings now--you know of _whom_?" - -"True, old fellow!" - -"Yes--and vengeance too, perhaps!" added Roland, but his heart sank -at the thought of how unavailing might be all human vengeance _now_! - -Never did soldier prepare to take the field with greater alacrity -than Roland Ruthven. The chances of Fate or of war might have -compelled him to remain where he was, like Tantalus, in his pool, or -to move in some other direction than St. Eustache! - -It all came to pass thus. - -The severity of the weather had abated a little, and even while it -lasted rapine and outrage had reigned supreme in the disaffected -districts. Sir John Colborne, on the 13th December, with all his -disposable forces, set out on his march from Montreal, and -Wetherall's little column was to join him on the way to St. Eustache -to seize that place and scour the country about the Lake of the Two -Mountains, where the insurgents under Papineau, Smash, and others had -barbarously driven out all the loyal inhabitants, leaving many of -them to perish miserably among the snow; and a vast extent of country -was ravaged and pillaged. - -Sharing Roland's anxiety, Hector Logan was in the highest spirits, -when the troops moved off and turned their backs on Chambly, as they -devoutly hoped, for ever. - -Evening was approaching when the march began, without music, and the -drummers had their drums slung behind them. The soldiers had their -buff belts above their great coats. The musket-locks had been -inspected and fresh ammunition served to all, which, as the men said -to each other smilingly, "looked like business." - -"No 'beauty and the bowl' for us to night, Roland, by Jove," said -Logan, as he set his face to the fierce northern blast, which came -sweeping from the Pole itself over half a world of snow, rasping the -cheek like the roughest file. - -Roland commanded the advanced guard, which consisted of two sections, -with detached files, and as they were penetrating into disturbed -districts, Colonel Wetherall repeated to him the usual orders and -cautions to be observed when entering defiles or hollow-ways, -ascending hills, with flank objects, and so on, and never did the -young officer feel more sternly zealous in his life. - -After proceeding some miles, just as the moon rose and the guard -entered a hollow-way, where the cutting in the drifted snow was deep, -Roland heard his first advanced file challenge some one and cock his -musket. Then a man on horseback appeared, who replied in broken -English. - -Roland drew his sword, and on hurrying to the front found that his -next advanced files had stopped the stranger, who appeared to be a -peasant--a French settler. He wore an old-fashioned _capote_ and -mocassins of cow-hide; and had a rifle slung across his back. - -"You are a Frenchman, I perceive?" said Roland. - -"Monsieur l'officier," replied the man, saluting him, "je suis -Canadien." - -"Why are you armed?" - -"For my own protection, monsieur." - -"That may or may not be. Where do you live?" - -"My farm is on the Rivière de Chine." - -"Has it been burned?" - -"No, monsieur." - -"That in itself looks suspicious," said Roland, while the stranger -glanced uneasily at the dark mass of the grey-coated and cross-belted -column, now descending the slope in the moonlight. - -"From whence came you last?" asked Roland. - -"The village of St. Eustache, monsieur." - -Roland's heart leaped; it was with difficulty he could ask the next -question. - -Did he know aught of a young lady who was in the hands of Mie -insurgents? - -"Mademoiselle Darnel--yes, monsieur. She is still in the house of -the Seigneur with Colonel Smash, or perhaps in the church which is -fortified. She is married to him, people say--or, rather, _he_ has -married _her_," added the fellow, with a grin, which nearly tempted -Roland in his then mood of mind to run him through the body. - -He felt sick, sick at heart; but in a little time he would know -all--the worst! - -"Corporal Burns," said he, with a voice strangely broken, as the -listening soldiers told, "take this fellow, with a file of men, to -the rear. The Colonel may wish to question him. Forward, lads!" he -added, as the peasant was taken, in great tribulation of mind, -towards the column, and once more the march of the advanced guard was -resumed, and Roland Ruthven tramped on, so full of agitating thoughts -that he never knew his cigar had been cold and out for half an hour -or more. - -The junction was duly effected with the column of Sir John Colborne; -the Royal Scots Regiment, the Montreal Rifles, and Globinsky's -Volunteers, were formed in one brigade under Colonel Wetherall. The -latter force was dispatched through the forests that border the upper -road leading to the point to be attacked, with orders to drive back -and disperse all pickets and parties of the insurgents, while the -remainder of the brigade crossed the Ottawa, or Grande Rivière, on -the ice on the 14th of December. - -There along the Ottawa, the then snow-covered country is undulating, -thickly covered with fine wood, except on the western bank of the -river, where for some twelve miles have been laid out townships, -chiefly occupied by Irish, and American settlers. Below that of -Chatham the old French Seigneuries begin. - -The advance on the enemy's stronghold now began from several points. - -In Roland's heart much of the ardour and fierce excitement incident -to the march had died away, or rather taken the form of unspeakable -anxiety and grief, especially when on the 14th of December he saw -before him St. Eustache, with its wooden houses and orchards of bare -apple-trees, the cold winter sunlight tipping the spire of the -church, and the vanes of the large white house, wherein Roland knew -that she might be, though the man taken over night informed Colonel -Wetherall that it was not improbable she might be in the church, -which the rebels considered the key of their position. - -"Patience--patience!" he muttered, "patience yet awhile!" - -No magistrate being with the troops, Sir John Colborne, while still -at a little distance from the place, resolved to send forward an -officer with the printed proclamation. For this service Roland at -once volunteered. Tying a white handkerchief to the blade of his -sword, in token of truce, he borrowed his friend the adjutant's -horse, and galloped forward to the first line of stockades or outer -defences, behind which the dark forms of armed rebels were seen -clustering thick as bees, and at the windows of the seigneur's house. - -The whole troops watched with anxiety the brief parley that seemed to -ensue; then it was suddenly cut short by a lamentable crime. A -stream of smoke came from the window of a house, the report of a -musket rang out on the clear frosty air, Roland's horse was seen to -rear, with its rider lying back on the crupper, but his knees still -in the stirrups, to all appearance a corpse, as Nolan's was borne -back from Balaclava! - -A shout of rage burst from the Royals; the artillery opened, and all -pressed forward to the attack, intent on dire vengeance, at a -well-ordered rush. - -By barricades, palisades, trenches, and loopholing the houses, the -church, and its presbytery, Papineau, Smash, and their bands of -rebels, had left nothing undone to render St. Eustache a somewhat -formidable post; and they were encouraged by the knowledge that other -bodies of their compatriots had fortified themselves at St. Benoit -and elsewhere. - -These preparations had, luckily for poor Aurelia, occupied much of -her ungainly suitor's time, but he found himself at full leisure on -the eventful 14th of December, and he began his system of annoyance -again. - -"The Colonel" had never sacrificed much to the graces, and his late -occupations in St. Eustache had effectually prevented him from doing -so at all; thus his appearance was every way the reverse of -prepossessing. - -In her own house, surrounded by familiar objects, though havoc and -wanton destruction were visible on every hand, Aurelia had after a -time gathered a fictitious courage, for was she not at home! But -what struck her as curious was, that in this fellow's strange -love-making he had never spoken of _love_, for, sooth to say, he knew -not what, in its purer sense, the sweet emotion meant; and by partial -successes, particularly the failure of Colonel Gore's column before -St. Denis, he was now so swelled and inflated with pride that he -threatened to explode like a Woolwich torpedo, and ever and anon he -would say to Aurelia,-- - -"Snakes! I could scarcely expect you to marry me right off the reel, -slick at once; but I may grow weary of giving you time, so listen to -me!" (here he registered one of his awful oaths) "rather than that -blazing Britisher should succeed, I'd job my bowie into you!" - -If St. Eustache were attacked, and the Queen's troops defeated, then -indeed did Aurelia know that one way or other her fate would be -sealed. Indeed, it might be sealed either way! - -Cold though the season--it could not well be colder--so hot was the -constitution of the Colonel (or his "coppers," as he phrased it), -that he was always compounding curious effervescing drinks in long -tumblers from the contents of Madame Darnel's cellars; but on the -morning in question he said-- - -"Aurelia, my dear, I have a bumper of that old mydeary, which -belonged to your dad, old Darnel! Snakes! but it _is_ the stuff. -Not the mixtour of hickory and Jamaikey rum we get in New York," he -added, draining a tumbler of the late Mr. Darnel's most cherished -Madeira, much to the alarm of his shrinking listener, as intoxication -always added, if possible, to the Colonel's vulgarity. - -"Ah--ah!" said little M. Papineau, regarding him with a smile, -snuff-box in hand, "the ancient Persians--if we are to believe -history--never undertook any great matter, and never discoursed of -aught that referred to policy or public interest, till they were at -least, as the sailors say, three sheets in the wind, and you seem to -be of their opinion. And now I must go round our posts." - -And, bowing with mock courtesy to Aurelia, he took his sword and -pistols, and withdrew, stuffing them into the belt that girt his -buffalo coat. - -Afraid almost to close her eyes at night, the poor girl had now an -unslept, wild, and hunted look in them, with black circles round -them; her face was deadly pale, and her once beautiful dark silky -hair, never dressed now, was twisted in one great uncombed mass at -the back of her head. Smash saw all this plainly enough, but he was -pitiless as a Canadian bear, and only muttered,-- - -"Darn, me, but I'll tame her yet, and break her spirit or her heart!" - -A little cry escaped her--a cry of joy, but more she dared not utter, -for lo! from the windows of the room she could see, advancing over -the waste of far extending snow through which the great Montreal road -lay, the dark masses of the approaching troops, dark because all were -in their grey overcoats; but the fixed bayonets glittered like a grey -steely forest; the bright colours, crimson, blue, and gold, were -waving in the sun, here and there the rays of the latter were -reflected from a brass drum. - -The heads of the infantry columns halted, and a distant flash or -gleam seemed to pass along the ranks as the arms were "ordered" and -the men stood "at ease;" the artillery were all well to the front, -unlimbered and wheeled round, the horses untraced and taken to the -rear, and while one solitary officer was seen galloping towards St. -Eustache, a ferocious interjection escaped Ithuriel Smash, and a roar -of voices burst over all the place, when some thousand men grasped -their arms--weapons of every description. - -How wildly with hope beat the heart of Aurelia at this moment! But -she closed her ears to the cries she heard around her, from the -colonists and their American sympathisers. - -"Sacré Anglais! Blood for blood!" - -"Down with the Red slaves of Queen Victoria!" - -"Death to the island savages!" - -"We'll whip the 'tarnal Britishers into the sea!" - -And so forth, the phrases only alike in their spirit of ferocity. -Meanwhile the solitary and adventurous officer was coming galloping -on. At last he drew near that portion of the rudely-constructed -works or fortifications (that connected all the houses and gardens of -St. Eustache) which was immediately overlooked by the windows of the -room in which she was compelled to remain with Ithuriel Smash, who, -on the officer reining in his horse and waving his flag of truce, -threw up a sash to hear what he had to say. - -"Listen, my good people," he cried, displaying a paper, "to the -proclamation of Lieutenant-General Sir John Colborne, G.C.B. and -G.C.H., Commander-in-Chief of all Her Britannic Majesty's forces in -Canada:-- - -"Our Sovereign Lady the Queen chargeth and commandeth all the persons -here assembled in Eustache, immediately to disperse themselves, and -peaceably depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, -upon the pains contained in the Acts made in the 27th year of King -George the Third, to prevent tumultuous risings and assemblies." - -A yell of scorn and defiance responded to the reading of this brief -document. Meanwhile a moan escaped Aurelia, and a fierce chuckle -Colonel Smash; and so occupied was the former in looking at her -lover, that she took no heed of the Colonel, who softly and silently -locked a musket, took aim, and fired. - -Then a piercing shriek escaped Aurelia, as Roland, to all appearance -dead or dying, prostrate backward on the crupper of his horse, was -borne by it to the rear. - -"Jerusalem and earthquakes!" said the assassin, laughing. "No need -to waste a second bullet now!" - -"Oh Father in Heaven, but this is too much--too much!" cried Aurelia, -as she fell on her knees and covered her face with her hands. - -"Is it?" said the ruffian, with another fiendish laugh, while -proceeding to reload. "Now I think the game is in my own hands in -more ways than one, Aurelia Darnel. We've dug up the war-hatchet, -and ain't going to smoke the painted calumet of peace now!" - -She fell prone on her face in a swoon, and thus Ithuriel Smash had to -leave her, to come round as best she might, as other work was cut out -for him now, as the troops were closing up fast on every hand, and -already the guns of Glasgow's artillery had begun to knock everything -in the village to pieces. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -ST. EUSTACHE STORMED. - -We have no intention of keeping the reader in suspense. - -The shot fired at Roland had missed him, and only barked a tree; for -though he was so close, recent potations had rendered "the Colonel's" -aim a very unsteady one; but his intended victim, inspired by a -sudden idea born of his own coolness and decision of purpose, gripped -the horse with his knees, and, feigning death to escape further -firing, fell back on the crupper of his saddle, and in this way was -carried safely to the rear, followed by the yells and derisive -laughter of the insurgents. - -Believing their favourite officer slain, a shout of rage burst from -the Royals, and every man made a forward step in eager anticipation -of the order to advance. - -"A flag of truce fired on!" exclaimed old Sir John Colborne, starting -in his stirrups with honest grief and indignation. "Forward, -Wetherall, to the attack and lead your column up the central street!" - -"I have escaped, General, by a miracle and a ruse," said Roland, -reining in his horse and sitting erect in his saddle, to the surprise -of all who saw him; "and now I shall rejoin my company." - -He resigned the steed to its owner, and the attack at once -began--indeed it had begun, for the artillery had already opened -fire, and stone and timber were alike going crashing down beneath it. - -Covered by the Montreal Rifle Corps, the First Royals advanced, -steadily firing up the central street, and seized all the most -defensible houses. Logan was then despatched by Colonel Wetherall, -with orders to bring up some of the artillery; but he was driven back -by the fire of the rebels from the lower windows of the church of St. -Eustache, till the officer commanding the artillery had promptly -conceived where his services were wanted, and galloping into the -village by the rear, endeavoured to blow or burst open the door of -the sacred edifice, but completely failed to do so, so dense and -heavy was the barricade of earth behind it; but some companies of the -Royals and Rifles from the neighbouring houses opened a terrible fire -of musketry upon the occupants of the church, whose shrieks and yells -came through the windows, which were almost instantly divested of -every vestige of glass. - -After an hour of heavy cross-firing, and the door still defying every -effort of our troops, the Scots Royals attacked the presbytery, which -was full of men, forced an entrance, led by their officers, sword in -hand, and now ensued a terrible scene, for they bayoneted nearly -every man in the place, and then set it in flames, while scores of -desultory combats were going on in the streets without. - -There, in many places, streams and pools of crimson blood dyed the -pure white snow; in others, by repeated footsteps and struggles, it -was trod to slush and snowy mire, wherein the dead and dying lay -weltering--the breath of the latter, in many instances their last -respiration, curling away like steam upon the frosty air of the keen -Canadian winter day, while on all hands were heard strange cries, -oaths, and yells. - -"Vive la République Canadien! A bas les Anglais!" cried the French -Colonists. - -"A bas la Reine! A bas la Ligne!" - -"Vive Papineau!" - -"Down with British rule; death to old Colborne and his red-coats!" - -Such were the shouts on one side; on the other, only the din of the -heavy file firing, and at times that ringing united cheer, the import -or instinct of which there is no mistaking. - -By this time the smoke of the blazing presbytery had enveloped the -whole church, which, as a wooden edifice, it was supposed would soon -catch fire. Now Roland remembered the supposition of the French -peasant, that Aurelia might be there, and we may imagine the -sensations with which he beheld the dark smoke-wreaths eddying around -its taper spire! - -"Carry the church by storm!" was now the order of Sir John Colborne; -and while a straggling fire was poured upon the column, from the -house of the seigneur and others, Wetherall ordered his -grenadiers--we had such soldiers still--to lead the van, the post of -honour and peril being ever theirs by traditional right. - -The blood of all the troops was fairly up, and as the column went -forward surging and storming, and firing with the bayonets pointed -upward at an angle, the soldiers of the Royal Regiment raised the -shout of "Scotland for ever!"--a _cri de guerre_ first used by the -Greys at Waterloo, and last by the Duke of Albany's Highlanders at -the storming of Kotah in 1858. - -Pouring in by the shattered windows, leaping over every obstacle, and -plunging like a torrent among the armed crowd within the church, the -Royals made a terrible havoc, and among those who fought here was -Roland, as yet untouched, and amid all the carnage and mad confusion -around him, having but one thought in his heart. - -At the same time, some other of the battalion companies, led by Major -Ward and Captain Bell (afterwards Sir George and colonel of the -regiment in 1868), a Peninsular officer who in this war commanded the -fort and garrison of Coteau du Lac, an important post on the -frontier, and received the thanks of Sir John Colborne for his -exertions in recovering all the 24-pound guns and 4000 shot from the -bottom of the river, and getting them in position amid the winter -snows to face the rebels--led these and other officers we say, the -rest of the Royals gradually fought their way into the church by the -rear, and bayoneting all who resisted, set it on fire, and the -corpses were consumed in the flames. - -One hundred and eighteen men taken prisoners. - -"_Quartier! Quartier! Je me livre a vous!_" (I yield myself up to -you) was now the cry of the French colonists. - -"Quarter for the love of God, and her Majesty the Queen!" echoed the -British rebels, on finding that all was over. - -Papineau, if there, was nowhere to be found; and Smash, though seen -often, had disappeared. - -In the apartment where we left her, Aurelia Darnel had heard all the -dreadful uproar around her--the myriad horrible sounds of a combat on -which she dared not look, and she lay in a corner, gathered, as it -were, in a heap, though on her knees, unable even to form a prayer, -stunned, crushed, and bewildered, with but one thought--"Roland dead!" - -Steps, sounds rather, drew near the room; the door was flung open and -Ithuriel Smash, pale as death, bleeding from more than one wound in -his body, and with a dreadful rattle-snake expression in his eyes--an -expression of agony, madness, and rage, staggered in; then he fell on -his hands, and came crawling slowly, panting and groaning, towards -her, leaving a track of his own blood--"the trail of the serpent" -behind him on the floor. - -His long knife was clenched in his teeth; his murderous intention was -plain--to slay her would be his last effort, and in the corner where -she crouched, Aurelia could not escape him! - -She uttered a low wail of despair, ending in an involuntary shriek -for help--help for the love of God! And help came. - -Poetic and dramatic justice would require that the obnoxious Colonel -Smash should perish by the hand of Roland; but responsive to her cry, -there burst into the room, Logan of Logan Braes and a few of the -Royals, by whom he was speedily bayoneted like a reptile or mad dog, -and he died, biting at the bayonets, like a dog or a savage. - -Logan tenderly raised the half-dead girl from the floor, and in a few -minutes after, the caressing arms of Roland, caressing and -reassuring, were around her--and she felt safe then--doubly safe with -him and her mother. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -CONCLUSION. - -With the civil war in Canada, our story has little more to do. - -Suffice it that for a brief time, Roland Ruthven, after seeing Madame -Darnel and her daughter safe in their chateau of St. Eustache at -Montreal, had again to join the troops, who advanced to St. Benoit, -where, so great was the terror excited by the recent victorious -assault, that no opposition was offered, and the rebels sent -delegates to say humbly, that they would, without conditions, lay -their arms down, and they were conveyed under escort to Montreal, to -meet the meed of their crimes. - -The good result of all these operations was the return of the -colonists to their homes, and the disappearance of all armed parties -of insurgents. About the same season, however, in the following -year, when the deep snows of the Canadian winter began to fall, there -was a second rising in Lower Canada; but it was again crushed by the -energy and gallantry of Sir John Colborne at Napierville, and for -these and other services, the Queen created the fine old soldier a -peer of Great Britain. - -Prior to these events some startling changes occurred in the history -of the two principal characters in our little narrative. - -The Darnel estate at St. Eustache was utterly destroyed; the mansion -had been ruined or burned, the lands ravaged, and the circumstances -of the once wealthy widow were sorely impaired; her horses, -carriages, and many other luxuries had to be dispensed with and -economy become the new order of the day; but now, safe at her own -home at Montreal, all the beauty and gaiety of Aurelia returned, and -after all she had undergone, even poverty seemed, a slight matter to -face--as yet. - -"O Roland darling!" said she, with a little laugh, as they stood -together in a window of the château one evening in the spring, -looking towards Montreal steeped in the sunset, and where the -greenery of the woods was deepening faster than it ever does in -Britain at the same season, vegetation maturing with wondrous -rapidity the moment the snow disappears; "O, Roland--I am poor as -yourself now, and yet you still talk of marrying me and going to -India; but could I take my poor mamma there?" - -Roland's loving countenance fell. - -"You lost your noble estate by a will; I my seigniory--or nearly all -of it--by civil war; our fortune is ruined." - -"Yet--we must not--cannot part, after all--after all!" - -"Oh no--no!" murmured the girl, fondly and plaintively, with her -sweet face pillowed on his breast. - -Next day Roland arrived with a face full of such excitement, wonder, -and so many varying expressions, that Aurelia knew not what to make -of him and his incoherences for some time at least. - -That morning the regimental postman brought him a letter, the first -words of which, however much expected, made a lump rise in his throat. - -It was from his legal agents, Messrs. Hook and Crook, Writers to the -Signet, and dated from Edinburgh:-- - - -"DEAR SIR,"--(It used to be _my_ dear sir once) "We beg to acquaint -you, with much regret, that we have now traced out and learned -authentically who are _the heirs of the marriage of your deceased -uncle_, the late Mr. Philip Ruthven, eldest son of General Roland -Ruthven, who went to Jamaica." - - -Roland felt very sick as he read, and paused; then summing up -courage, he resumed the obnoxious epistle, and read on. - - -"From the latter place that gentleman went to Canada, where he -married a lady of Montreal, by whom he had several children, all of -whom are dead save one, Miss Aurelia Darnel de St. Eustache" ("Oh, my -God!" thought Roland, "what miracle is this?"), for he took the name -of Darnel to please the family of his wife, who was the daughter of a -wealthy French seigneur. - -"We regret to be the medium of such very bad news, but of course are -now taking the usual legal measures to execute the will of the late -General Ruthven, according to your own instructions." - - -So Aurelia was his cousin, the daughter of the lost Philip, who had -quitted Scotland in disgust, never to return, and she was the heiress -of Ardgowrie! - -And he--what was he? For weal or woe her affianced husband. It was -all like the plot of a drama; and some time elapsed before Roland -could realise the whole situation; but there was the prosaic letter -of the lawyers, which, under _other_ circumstances, might have seemed -to cut his very heart-strings. - -Now how innocuous it was! - -Another hour found him by the side of Aurelia, and to attempt to -record all the explanations and loving incoherences, astonishment and -joy of _that_ particular interview would be a difficult task indeed; -but even while speaking to her, and while her voice was in his ear, -Roland seemed to see before him the cabinet of Scindia, with the now -baffled secret it contained. - -If Roland had now, in a modified sense, to blush at, and feel shame, -for his father's duplicity in the matter of the will--a duplicity -born of the various emotions we have already described, dislike -between brothers, temptation offered on one hand, the dread of losing -the ambitious girl he loved on the other--and then the total -disappearance of Philip, he had to blush before one who had accepted -him as a husband when their positions were very different, when all -the odds of wealth and landed property were, as once again, in her -favour, and he was still the penniless soldier with his sword alone. - -And Roland, as he looked on Aurelia again, recalled the youthful -portrait of his lost uncle Philip at Ardgowrie, and saw, or thought -he saw, how closely she resembled it. - -We have little more to add. - -The Darnel estates, we have said, were ruined; but Ardgowrie was yet -in all its baronial glory; to Ardgowrie they would go, and sell the -former, so it was all settled ere the Canadian summer came swiftly -on; thus the reader may be assured that they were married long before -the month of August, so old Elspat Gorm's "fatal day" of the Ruthvens -was fully evaded. Nor need we add, though we do so, that jolly -Hector Logan was groomsman, and old General Colborne gave the bride -away. - -In winning Aurelia, Poland regained his inheritance, but he never -left the old Royal Regiment, or returned finally to Ardgowrie, till -he had, like his father before him, been long a popular colonel of -the corps. - - - - -THE SECRET MARRIAGE. - -In famous old Cornwall, known as "the Land of Tin," in the days of -Solomon--the land of Druid Cromlechs and Celtic circles, of those -mysterious sarcophagi named Kistvaens, wherein lie the bones of a -race unknown--the land of many wondrous relics of a vanished past, -lies the scene of the following events. - -Not far from that part of the coast which is washed by the British -Channel stands Restormel Court, at the time of our story--a few years -ago--the seat of Sir Launcelot Tredegarth Tresilian, Bart., a proud -old gentleman, whose chief, if not only failing was an inordinate -pride of family; and hence whose principal regret was, that though he -had heirs to succeed him in his estate, there was none to follow him -in his title, which had been bestowed upon him by the late King -William IV. for certain political services. His two sons had been -killed in the service of the country. One had fallen in Central -India and the other in the Crimea, and as the baronetcy was limited -by diploma "to the heirs male of his own body," he had to rest him -content with the knowledge that he was the first and last baronet of -Restormel Court. - -Occupying the site of a castle demolished by the French when they -landed in Cornwall during the reign of Henry VI., the latter is an -edifice much older than it looks. - -The whole house was an epitome of the past; trophies of war and the -chase--coats of mail and stags' horns--decorated the hall, and some -of the rooms had remained untouched since the days of the "Virgin -Queen," hung with tapestry, which was lifted to give entrance; -hearths intended for wood alone, and andirons--heraldic griffins--to -support the logs; and there were curious cabinets, Cromwellian -chairs, and carved _prie-Dieu_ of all kinds. - -On one evening in autumn, the present lord of Restormel Court was -lingering over his wine--some choice old Madeira, which had been -carefully iced for him by the butler--in company with his two -nephews, the eldest of whom was understood to be, and acknowledged by -himself and all, as his future heir. - -Sir Launcelot, verging then on his eightieth year, was a pale, thin, -and wasted-looking man. He was toying with his wine-glass, and from -time to time contemplating his wasted white hands, on each of which a -diamond glittered; and then he looked at his nephews, who were -intently conversing near the fire. - -They were both men about thirty-eight and forty years of age -respectively. Arthur Tresilian, the eldest, and ever the prime -favourite, was remarkably handsome, with fine, regular features. - -His brother, Basset Tresilian, who followed the legal profession with -success in London, was less athletic, but quite as striking in figure. - -Somehow people, especially in Cornwall, did not like Mr. Basset -Tresilian; and his periodical visits to the Court added no brightness -to the circle usually to be met there. - -"Well, boys" (for though men, the old baronet, by force of habit, -called them boys still), "fill your glasses, and don't leave me to -drink alone. Egad! in my time fellows didn't shirk their wine as you -do; but it is all cigars and odious pipes now. Well, Basset, what -does he say? Is he inclined to follow the example you so boldly set -him some sixteen years ago, and take unto himself a wife?" - -"I cannot say, sir. It is of a horse we were talking." - -"A horse--pshaw! You were wise to marry young, Basset. _I_ did so!" -said Sir Launcelot. - -"I have had no reason to repent me thereof," replied Basset, -complacently. "My family are charming; Mona is a fine girl in face -and figure." - -"Quite a Tresilian--eh?" said the old man, proudly. - -"And your nephew, Lance, is as handsome a boy as any in London. I -have, indeed, prospered every day since I placed the marriage hoop on -Marion's finger." - -"Egad! you sing your own praises well, nephew Basset," said the -baronet, after a pause. "But you, Arthur--why have you not imitated -this fine example? I cannot last for ever, and I don't want my -estates to go begging for owners." - -Arthur coloured with too evident vexation. - -"They cannot beg far, dear uncle," he replied, "while I have the good -fortune to be your heir; and, then, Basset----" - -"His sons, you would say?" - -"Yes," replied the other, with a faint voice; for Basset was -regarding him so keenly that he felt his colour deepen. - -"What is the booby blushing for?" asked Sir Launcelot, laughing. -"Blushing at forty! By Jove! I was cured of it at fourteen! Will -you ride with--I mean, drive over with me to Carn Mornal to-morrow? -My friend Trelawny has three fine daughters, and I should like you to -make their acquaintance. Tresilian and Trelawny would quarter well -on a shield; or would it be _impaled_? Will you go, Arthur?" - -"I regret to say it is impossible, sir." - -"When--why?" - -"I have been a whole month at the Court, and am now due at a friend's -house near--near London." - -"London again? The last time you started for London, Trelawny gave -me some hints that you never went in that direction so far as the -borders of Devonshire. I can't understand your total indifference to -the society of ladies, and this resolute celibacy at your time of -life. D--n it, sir, it don't look well! and I only hope you hav'n't -conceived some unworthy attachment--I mean unworthy the name of -Tresilian." - -"I have not, sir," replied the other, almost angrily for he still -felt the keen legal eye of Basset upon him. "I shall never, I hope, -do anything unworthy of the name we bear in common." - -"Thank you, Arthur boy. Give me your hand." - -"And now, uncle--leaving you and Basset to the Madeira--I'll smoke a -cigar in the stable, and look at that horse I mean to take away with -me to-morrow." - -And anxious to close a conversation, the subject of which pained him -deeply, Arthur Tresilian left the stately dining-room, and strolled -over the beautiful lawn towards the stable court. - -"Can Basset suspect me? Does he know anything? No! no!--he cannot! -My poor Diana!" he muttered, "still this humiliating concealment, and -no hope save through the death of that poor old man. Accursed be -this silly pride of birth!" - -* * * * * - -"How long papa has been away from us--a whole month!" - -"When will papa be home, mamma dear? The cottage seems so dull -without him!" - -Such were the questions two handsome boys--one was now quite a lad of -eighteen--asked of a lady on each side of whom they stood -caressingly, while she hastily read a letter which had just come by -post. - -"In four days, dearest boys, he returns to leave us _no more_!" she -exclaimed, with joy, as she fondly kissed them both, and once more -turned to her letter. - - -"RESTORMEL COURT, Sept. 8. - -"MY DARLING DIANA,--My uncle, Sir Launcelot, is gone, poor man! He -was found dead abed by his valet this morning. No cause is assigned -but old age, yet he was hearty as a brick last night over his -Madeira, rallying Basset and me. Well, he has gone, with all his -overstrained and old-fashioned ideas of birth, and all that sort of -thing. And now for our marriage, dearest--now all justice can be -done to you, my much enduring one! I am the sole heir to Restormel, -and your Arthur after me. I have written to the curate of H----, -Jersey, for the attested copy of our marriage left with him, and -expect it by return of post. Kiss our boys for me, and believe me, -dearest Diana, your affectionate husband, - -"ARTHUR." - - -Yet she remarked that it was addressed, as usual. "Mrs. Lydiard, -Carn Spern Cottage," forgetting that she was unknown by any other -name. - -"It is well named Carn Spern--the Carn of Thorns--for in some -respects, with all our happiness, such has it been to me; but -now--now all that is at an end! and blessed be God therefor! Yet it -is through death--the death of an old man, however--a very old man! -My boys--my innocent boys!--they are so young--they must never know -our secret! Yet--how to explain to them the change of name from -Lydiard to Tresilian? I must be silent as yet, and consult dear -Arthur about this." - -And now to go back a little way in the private life of Arthur -Tresilian. The favourite nephew and acknowledged heir of his -paternal uncle, he had ever been supplied by the latter with a -handsome allowance. When travelling or sojourning for a time in -Jersey, he had there made the acquaintance of Diana Lydiard, then a -girl barely done with her schooling. Her rare beauty fascinated him; -but, unfortunately, she was the daughter of one who, at Restormel -Court, would have been deemed as a mere tradesman. Arthur knew that -he should mortify, offend, and disoblige irrevocably the proud old -Sir Launcelot if he made such a _mésalliance_ as to marry Diana -Lydiard openly; for he knew that his uncle's immense fortune was -entirely at his own disposal, and that he was quite capable of -cutting him off with the proverbial "shilling" and leaving the whole -to Basset--the careful, plodding, and thrifty Basset. - -So they were married; but wherever they went they passed as Mr. and -Mrs. Lydiard, the maiden name of Diana. The marriage was duly -registered in his name in the book of the little Jersey church, and -an attested copy of it was lodged with the incumbent who performed -the ceremony. - -Arthur Tresilian took his girl-wife to the Continent, as he could -then with a safe conscience write home for remittances. - -Amid these wanderings two boys were born to them--Arthur and Ralf, -whom she so named after her father, and each boy seemed a -reproduction of either parent: for the eldest had all the personal -attributes of the father--was bluff, bold, and manly; while the -latter had all the dark beauty and gentleness of his mother. On the -education of these boys Arthur Tresilian spared nothing, and both -were already highly accomplished. Everywhere they had the best -masters money could procure; but no profession was decided on for -Arthur, the eldest, as the _false name_ and the expected wealth -raised alike doubts and objections as to what should be done. - -Diana Lydiard was the daughter of a tradesman--true; but amid the -love she bore her husband, and the luxuries by which his wealth -enabled him to surround her, she had ever felt her position to be -anomalous, and with it the pride that struggled against shame--a -shame that at times became blended with vague fear and sorrow for the -future. - -And now for the last three years the secret family of Arthur -Tresilian had been settled in a little sequestered spot named Carn -Spern, near Trevose Head, a rocky cape that juts into the sea -westward of Padstow, and some thirty miles or so distant from -Restormel Court. There he was known simply as Mr. Lydiard, and by -the frequency of his absence was supposed to be a commercial -traveller; but as the little family lived quietly, made few -acquaintances, and incurred no debts, their lives glided by unnoticed -and uncared for by all save the poor, to whom the charity of Mrs. -Lydiard was a proverb, and something more solid too. - -Through some unseen agency a whisper of an alleged improper -connection formed by Arthur did reach the ears of Basset Tresilian, -and through him, those of old Sir Launcelot, and in the fury and -indignation of the latter, his lofty and aristocratic scorn, he had a -foretaste of what awaited him, and the three beings he loved most on -earth, if the reality became known. - -And now the proud old man was dead, and all necessity for concealment -was at an end. Arthur Tresilian succeeded to Restormel Court, with -thirty thousand pounds a year; Basset to eight thousand pounds, the -baronet's gold repeater, and all the legal works in his library. - -"It is well the boys have gone to fish, I have so much to say to you, -Diana darling," said Arthur, as he flung his hat away, and clasped -his little wife to his breast. "And about the resumption of our -name, Diana, they must simply be told that I have succeeded to an -estate which requires a change in our designation." - -"Excellent, Arthur." - -"To-morrow I must start for St. ----." - -"For Jersey?" - -"Yes, Diana, I am anxious personally to get the attested copy of our -marriage certificate by the curate who married us, or a new one from -the records. I shall fill up the time of absence by writing my will -in your favour and the boys, to make all sure, for one never knows -what may happen. When you see me again, Di, both documents shall be -snug in this old pocket-book my father gave me." - -And laughingly he tapped the heirloom, a handsome scarlet and gilt -morocco book, on the boards of which were the Tresilian arms, -surmounted by a griffin, stamped in gold. - -"A strange little episode, almost a romantic one, has occurred during -your absence, dear," said Mrs. Tresilian, for so we must now call -her; "Arthur has quite fallen in love with a young lady, whom he has -met riding her pony among the green lanes near Padstow." - -"Arthur--that mere boy. It won't last long, Di." - -"I hope not, and so will you, perhaps, when I tell who she is, and -the risk we have run: Mona Tresilian!" - -"What, my brother Basset's daughter?" - -"Yes, Arthur." - -"But the girl has gone to London with him, and that will end the -affair. And now to-morrow, darling, I must leave you by the train -for Falmouth, whence I shall take the steamer to Jersey. When I -return the carriage shall be sent on here for you and our two dear -little fellows, as I wish you to enter Restormel Court in the state -that befits you, though my uncle's hatchment still hangs above its -_porte cochère_." - -Next day she was alone once more, and he had sailed hopefully on his -errand. - -The hour she had pined for during eighteen years--never so much as -after the birth of her boy Arthur--when she should sink the dubious -name of Lydiard and be acknowledged as the wife of Arthur Tresilian, -had come at last, and a thrill of the purest joy filled her heart. -In her anxiety for her children's future she felt small sorrow for -the death of the octogenarian. How should she feel more? - -His absurd pride had kept her under a species of cloud for eighteen -years, as a person unknown to the world, and as one even now to be -recognised with wonder--yea, perchance with doubt. - -The period of her life so longed for, not for its wealth, but when -she and her children should take their place in the world as -Tresilians, had come at last. There are times when an hour seems -long. Oh, then, how long must days, and weeks, and months, appear, -when they roll into years? All time passes inexorably, however. -While she sat reflecting thus her eldest son was engaged elsewhere, -but not, as she thought, with his fishing-rod. - -"And you are going to London with your papa?" said he to a -fair-haired and blue-eyed girl, who was clad in deep mourning, and -who had pulled up her pony in one of the grassy and shady lanes near -the unsavoury old fishing town of Padstow. - -"Yes, and we leave by the train to-night." - -"And I shall see you----" - -"Perhaps never again, Arthur," replied the girl, with her face full -of smiles and tears, for she was less affected than her lover. "I -shall never forget you, Mr. Lydiard, or all the pleasant walks and -meetings we have had, by these green lanes, by the Bray-hill above -the sea, and ever so many places more." - -"And you call me Mr. Lydiard? Oh, Mona, can you leave me so coldly?" -he asked, sadly; "may I not write to you in London?" - -"Ah, good heavens, no!" she exclaimed, with all a school-girl's -terror. "What would mamma say? And then there is papa!" - -It was delightful to have a lover; but not delightful that the fact -should come to the ears of such a papa as Mr. Basset Tresilian. - -"Then I have no hope?" - -"Yes, you have," said she, playfully tickling his face with her -riding switch. - -"Oh, name it, Mona!" - -"I have an uncle named Tresilian down here in this country." - -"He who succeeded to Restormel Court, or some such place?" - -"Exactly, Arthur--the same." - -"Well?" asked Arthur, little thinking that she referred to his own -and well-loved father. - -"Papa thinks we shall spend our Christmas holidays with him.--he is -so jolly!--and, somehow, it will go hard with me if I don't get an -invitation for Mr. Arthur Lydiard." - -An expression of thanks and quietude spread over the young man's -face, mingled with great sadness, for she added,-- - -"I must go now--must leave you, Arthur." - -"Oh, Mona! Mona! it seems so hard to lose you now!" - -"My darling Arthur!" exclaimed the girl, giving way to a shower of -tears, as his arms encircled her slender waist, and she permitted her -soft, bright face to fall upon his shoulder. But at that moment they -were rudely interrupted. - -Arthur felt himself seized by the arm and thrust violently aside by a -grave and stern-looking man about forty years of age. This person -was in mourning, and instinct told the lover that he must be Mona's -father. He seized her pony by the bridle, and--after darting a -furious glance at Arthur, a glance not unmingled with surprise, as he -saw in his face a likeness to some one, he knew not whom--led the -young lady away through a wicket in a thick beech-hedge and shut it. -Ere he did so, however, he turned and said to Arthur,-- - -"Whoever you are, young fellow, let such tomfoolery cease. This -young lady leaves to-night for London. Attempt to write to, or -follow her, at your peril; and I may add that we shall dispense with -the pleasure of your distinguished society at Restormel Court in the -Christmas week." - -Arthur's spirit was proud and fiery. He made a spring towards the -little gate, but checked himself; he felt that he dared not confront, -in wrath, the father of the girl he loved, and so he turned sadly and -hopelessly away, like a good, simple-hearted lad as he was, to tell -his mother all about it, for he concealed nothing from her; but, -somewhat to his surprise and chagrin, instead of sympathising with -his disappointment, or betraying indignation at the "flinty-hearted -father," she laughed merrily, smiled, and kissed him, thrusting at -the same time into her bosom a letter she had just received from her -husband. - -"But I shall never see her more, mamma," urged Arthur, piteously. - -"You shall, Arthur--you shall! be assured of that. Did your own -mamma ever deceive you?" - -"No, no, never!" replied Arthur, hopefully. - -"And she is to be at Restormel--is that the name of the place?" - -"Yes, mamma; Restormel Court--a grand place, they say." - -"At Christmas? Well, Arthur, and you shall be there too, or your -mamma is no true prophetess." - -Diana's husband had reached Jersey in safety, and gone to the little -secluded church of St. ----, where they had offered their mutual vows -to heaven on that eventful morning, so well remembered still, when -their only witnesses were the parish clerk and sexton. - -"The poor old curate"--so ran his letter--"you remember his thin, -spare figure, with a long black, rusty coat, diagonal shovel hat, -gaiters, and white choker--has gone to his last home under the old -yew-tree that for centuries has guarded the burial-ground. By a -destructive fire in the vestry the whole of the marriage registers, -and some of the baptismal ditto, have perished before the copies -thereof were transmitted to headquarters--wherever that may be; but I -have, most fortunately, oh, my Diana! by the special providence of -heaven, secured _the attested copy_ of our marriage lines, which the -old curate made at my request from the now defunct register. It was -found among his papers by his successor, and is now in my -possession--in the old scarlet pocket-book, together with my will, -which I have carefully drawn up in favour of you and our boys, and -signed before witnesses. I mean to spend two days here with an old -friend, and shall return by the steamer _Queen Guinevère_, which -leaves Jersey for Falmouth on Friday, and which, by-the-bye, has on -board a large sum in specie coming from France to England." - -"Friday? On Saturday I shall see him!" thought the wife in her -heart, with a sigh of relief, and a prayer of thanks to heaven. "The -register of their marriage had perished! _What if the attested copy -had been lost?_ Oh, what then would have been the fate, the future, -of their idolized sons--her tall and handsome Arthur, her merry -little dark-eyed Ralf?" - -Thursday passed; Friday, too; then came Saturday, but no Arthur -Tresilian, or Lydiard, as she had to call him still at Carn Spern. -There came tidings, however, that the _Queen Guinevère_ had left -Jersey duly, but had never reached Falmouth. Great was the anxiety, -grief, and terror of the little family at Carn Spern; for there had -been a severe storm in the Channel, and many ships had been driven -ashore about the Lizard and Land's End; but none of these were -steamers, and a whisper began to spread abroad that the _Queen -Guinevère_ must have foundered and gone down at sea, or some trace of -her would have been found upon the coast. But all doubts were -speedily resolved, when, on the third day after she was due at -Falmouth, Derrick Polkinghorne, coxswain of the Padstow life-boat, -discovered her shattered hull sunk and wedged in a chasm of the rocks -near the lighthouse on Trevose Head. How she had come to be stranded -there on the other side of Cornwall was a mystery to all, unless she -had been blown by the late tempest completely round the Land's End, -and been forced to run for shelter by St. Ives and Ligger Bay. Much -wreckage and many bodies were cast on the beach; but, though none of -them proved to be that of Arthur Tresilian--or Mr. Lydiard, as he was -called--no doubt remained in the anguished mind of Diana that he had -perished, and she at once wrote to his brother Basset, announcing the -event, her existence, and the legal claims of herself and her -children. - -All this complication proved very startling to Basset. He knew -nothing of his brother's Jersey journey, though he always suspected -his secret ties; but, ignoring the latter, he at once put his -household in super-mourning, and took possession of Restormel Court -as his own, leaving, however, no means untried to prove the death by -drowning of Arthur Tresilian, though the name of Lydiard was borne on -the list of passengers. - -The following day saw Diana and her sons, attired in deepest -mourning, at the Court, requesting an audience with Mr. Basset -Tresilian--her close cap and concealed hair, her long crape weepers, -and face deadly with pallor, announcing her recent widowhood, which -Basset viewed with a sneer, as with a haggard eye she looked at the -stiff ancestral portraits, the cedar carvings of the stately library, -the blazing fire, the gleaming tiles, and picturesque furniture of -white and gold and crimson velvet. - -She announced with quiet dignity, yet not without doubt and much -perturbation, that she came as the widow of the late Mr. Tresilian, -to claim her place, and the places of his children, at Restormel -Court. He replied, calmly-- - -"You have proofs, I presume, of all this, Mrs.--Mrs. Lydiard?" - -"Mrs. Tresilian, sir!" said she, while her Arthur, in silence and -bewilderment, recognised an uncle in the father of his Mona. - -Alas! Diana had neither the certificate nor the will; both had gone -down into the deep, with her hapless husband. She had, however, the -letter referring to those documents: but Basset, after a furtive -glance at the fire, tossed it hack to her contemptuously, saying-- - -"I have heard of you before, madam--years ago, too. My brother is -drowned, and you are now poor. I dislike death and poverty, and all -that sort of thing; but I'll do what I can in the way of Christian -charity, and have your hulking boys bound to trades. But you must -leave this place at once; the ladies of my family must not come in -contact with--such as you." - -She rose, and left the stately house mechanically, with one hand on -Arthur's arm and the other on the neck of Ralf; and she looked at -them in agony--the latter her little pet, the other the stately king -of the playing fields, and captain of the school eleven, to be -tradesmen! - -Deep in the hearts of both boys sank their mother's grief; but -deepest in the heart of Arthur, who felt himself called upon to do -something--he knew not what. - -He spent hours and days upon the solitary rock above where the wreck -lay, looking at the spot with haggard eyes. Oh, if that shattered -hull had a voice--had the dead that came ashore the power of -utterance, the secret of his father's fate might be revealed; but -three months had passed, and who could doubt it now? One morning -early, as he came to the accustomed spot, under the grim shadow of -Trevose Head, he found the puffins scared away, and the solitude -invaded by others--one of whom he knew well, Derrick Polkinghorne, a -bold and hardy native of the Scilly Isles, where people spend so much -of their time on the boisterous ocean that for one who dies abed nine -are drowned; and, by order of Lloyd's agent, he was preparing a -diving bell to examine the wreck, as much specie was known to be on -board of her. - -"Mornin', Muster Lydiard," said he, for he and Arthur had frequently -boated together; "that's a smart yacht outside the Lines. Sir -Launcelot Tresilian's she was--Master Basset's now." - -"What is her name?" - -"_The Bashful Maid_." - -"She sails like a duck!" - -"She does. Ah, there's ne'er a craft out o' Cowes like that 'ere -_Bashful Maid_!--'specially when she's got a dandy rigged astarn; -then she hugs the wind beautiful! Just goin' down to 'ave a squint -at this here wreck." - -"Take me with you, Derrick; for heaven's sake do!" implored the lad. - -"What on earth do you want down there?" - -"Only a scrap of paper, perhaps, Derrick." - -"Then you ain't like to find it, you ain't." - -"I should like to see the deck my father stood on last." - -"I understand that, I does. Come, then. I wonders as he went to sea -in that craft, for last time she left Falmouth the rats rushed out of -her in thousands; and they never does that for nothin'. But as for -finding paper here, you'll be like them as mistook the mild reflex of -the lunar horb for a remarkably fine Stilton. But here we goes; and -now take care on yourself." - -With a thrill of awe and horror, oddly not unmingled with delight and -a sense of novelty, Arthur took his place beside Derrick on the seat -that was placed across the bell, which at once began to descend. -Light was admitted by convex lenses, through which were seen the long -trailing weeds, the creeping things of ocean, and now and then the -sea-green faces of the blackening dead! - -They passed downward into the water, which surged against the sides -of the bell, and rippled over the lenses till they were close to the -bulged wreck. Her starboard bow was completely smashed upon the -rocks; the cargo had been washed out, and was still oozing forth by -degrees. Already barnacles and weeds were growing on it, and dreary, -dreary and desolate looked that shattered hull at the bottom of the -sea; and Arthur surveyed it with tears of the keenest grief. - -"Suppose a shark stuck its nose into the bell?" said Polkinghorne. - -"I don't care if one did," said Arthur. - -"A dead body? and, by Jove, here's one coming in grim earnest. On -his face, it's a man. Women allus floats on their backs; how's that, -Muster Lydiard?" - -"My name is----" but he checked himself, for now a corpse, which -Derrick had roused with his pole, came slowly athwart the stage at -the bottom of the bell, and remained there. - -Suddenly a cry escaped Arthur! The grey great coat upon it, all -sodden and studded with weeds and limpets, he recognised as one -usually worn by his lost father, and, longing to know more, he -implored Derrick to examine it; for himself, he dared not move, or -breathe, or think! Oh, could it be, that those poor remains, half -devoured by fish, and floating face downward in the sea, were all -that remained of his handsome and beloved father? - -"Hold on, lad, shut your eyes; and I'll soon see," cried the resolute -diver, as he lowered himself to the loathsome task of examining the -remains. - -Arthur dared not look; but ere long a cold metal watch was placed in -his hand. - -"It is not papa's," said he, with a sigh of relief, that ended in a -cry of horror, for as those in charge of the bell began to raise it, -the water surged within it and dashed about the corpse, which came -against him again and again, till Derrick, who was investigating its -pockets, thrust it with his pole out of the bell, which in another -minute was suspended over the sunny surface of the sea. - -"See, Muster Lydiard, I've found a pocket-book into that ere poor -fellow's overcoat," said Derrick. - -"It is my papa's!" shrieked the lad; "his old scarlet book, with his -arms and crest upon it." - -And in that book, safe and dry, were the lost will and certificate of -marriage. - -"But, oh," moaned the lad, when he had told his mother this startling -occurrence, as he sank half sick upon her breast, "if that was poor -papa I saw, he came from his grave in the sea, mamma, with those -papers for you!" - -But the body was soon known to be that of a channel pilot. - -Ere the end of that week Basset Tresilian had to change his tone, and -Diana and her sons took legal steps to make her the mistress and them -the masters of Restormel Court. So autumn drew towards winter; but -ere the sad widow quitted Carn Spern, one night a carriage drew up, a -man alighted, full of bustle and excitement; a well-known voice was -heard, and Arthur Tresilian, the elder, was clasped in the arms of -his half-fainting wife. - -Washed overboard from the steamer, he had been picked up by a vessel -bound for Cuba; his coat had been donned by the pilot, so there was -an end of all the sorrow and mystery. - - - - -THE STUDENT'S STORY. - -It is a ghastly tale I have to tell, in some respects; but so far as -regards its close, I have some reason to congratulate myself, and to -feel, that "All is well that ends well." - -It is almost an old story now, though I was an actor in it; but the -world is ever reproducing itself in some form or fashion. Was there -not an instance, in the August of 1870, of a resurrection taking -place at Harrington, when all that quiet locality was startled from -its propriety by the discovery of a body cast in its shroud beside -its grave, which had been violated to procure the jewellery with -which the deceased had been interred? My adventure, however, refers -to the regular old "body-snatching" times, before unclaimed subjects -were supplied to the anatomical theatres from our public hospitals, -and when houseless ruffians of the lowest and vilest type made a -livelihood by their loathsome and almost nameless trade. - -I had graduated at the great medical school of Edinburgh, after a -hard tussle with Hunter and Fyfe's Anatomies, Bell on the Bones, the -cell theories of Schwan, and even grappling with some of the abstruse -and now exploded speculations of Gall and Spurzheim. I had mastered -all; I had been solemnly "capped" in the old Academia Jacobi VI. -Regis Scotorum, by the Reverend Principal L---- (now in his grave); I -had undergone all the jollity of the graduation dinner, and with -_Frederick Mortimer, M.D._, duly figuring on my portmanteau, found -myself, with my college chum, Bob Asher (who, by the way, had _not_ -passed), sailing from the harbour of Leith for London, in the Royal -Adelaide, one of the only two steamers which then plied between these -ports. - -Though "plucked" for the third time, poor Bob was in no way cast -down. With him, study at Edinburgh had been all a sham. He had duly -"matriculated," and sent the ticket as a proof thereof to his father, -who duly paid for classes he never attended, and expensive books he -never read. But Bob had always plenty of money then, at least, while -I had barely wherewith to pay my class fees and lodgings in -Clerk-street, a quiet place near the University. - -At last I had the letters "M.D." appended to my name--those magical -letters which open the secrets of households, the chambers of the -fairest, the purest, and most modest and refined to the perhaps -hitherto wild, and it may be "rake-hell" student, who is thereby -transformed suddenly into a member of the learned profession, and a -grave and responsible member of society. - -A comfortable home, board, and washing, with forty pounds per annum -whereon to enjoy the luxuries of this life, were the inducements -which drew me back to London, where I became duly inducted as -assistant to Dr. Crammer, in Bedford-street, Strand, one of those -old-fashioned practitioners who always had a lighted crimson bottle -flaming over the door by night, and had a dingy little room off the -entrance hall, with a skull or two on a side table, snakes in "good -spirits" on the mantleshelf, and which by its appurtenances seemed -laboratory, surgery, and library in one. - -The doctor's practice was more fashionable, however, than one might -have expected from his locality, and many a patient of his I visited -in the statelier regions of Piccadilly and those pretty villas that -face Buckingham Palace and the Green Park. Dr. Crammer was a fussy -and pompous little man, with a bald head, an ample paunch, and a -general exterior like that of the well-known Mr. Pickwick. He was -vain of his aristocratic practice, and more vain of none than of the -family of Sir Percival Chalcot, whose eldest daughter was said to be -one of the handsomest girls in London, and whose son was in the -Household Brigade. - -I flattered myself then that I had rather a taking manner and -gentlemanly exterior; and that old Crammer was a little vain of me as -an assistant, especially after I passed at Apothecaries' Hall--an -absurdity necessary then for graduates of the Scotch Universities, -who otherwise, in London, were liable to imprisonment. - -I soon remarked, however, that he never sent me to the baronet's. -Every visit there he made in person, and by himself; every dose of -medicine, however infinitesimal, was conveyed there by his own hand; -for he liked to have it to say to a friend _en passant_, "I am just -going to," or, "have come from Sir Percival Chalcot. Lady Chalcot is -unwell;" or, "Miss Gertrude over-danced herself at the Palace last -night." So that great house, near where now the stately arch is -overtopped by that hideous statue of Wellington, was to me as a -sealed book. I soon ceased to think about it, and gave all my -attention and skill to the smaller fry in the neighbourhood of the -Strand; and between St. Clement's and St. Martin's there is scope -enough, heaven knows! - -One day a professional visit had taken me farther westward than -usual, and I was sitting wearily on a seat in Hyde Park, near the -statue of Achilles, watching the occasional carriages rolling past--I -say occasional, for it was an hour or two before the fashionable -time--when a cry roused me, and I saw a spirited horse coming along -the drive at a terrific pace. Its head was down, and it had -evidently the bit between its teeth; while the reins, which had -escaped the hand of the rider, a lady, were dangling between, the -forelegs. She seemed a skilful horsewoman, and kept her saddle well. -I saw her floating skirt, her streaming veil, her pale face, and -wild, imploring glance as she came on. - -One or two men attempted to catch the bridle, but were instantly -knocked over. - -I leaped the iron railing, and by the greatest good fortune contrived -to snatch the reins, to gather them together at the same instant, to -twist the curb behind the horse's jaw, thus arresting his progress; -and then, with a strength I did not think myself possessed of, to -bear it furiously back upon its haunches. At the same moment that I -thus mastered it, I was conscious of hearing something snap; a -dreadful pain shot through my left arm, which hung powerless by my -side; but the lady who was both young and beautiful, with a -charmingly minute face, and large dark hazel eyes gave me a glance -expressive of intense relief and gratitude. - -"Thank you, sir--thank you. Oh, how shall I ever sufficiently thank -you?" she muttered hurriedly with pallid lips. - -"It was well done, miss--splendidly done of the gentleman," said her -old gray-haired groom, who came up at a rasping pace. "Another -instant and the blind brute would have dashed you ag'in yonder gate." - -"My papa shall thank you for this, sir; at present I am unable to -speak," she added. - -So also was I; but she knew not the extent of the injury I had -suffered, as she bowed and rode away, her horse being now led by the -groom, who had taken its bridle; while I was left there with my -broken limb, and without any clue as to who she was, save her -handkerchief, which I had picked up on the walk, and in a corner of -which was the single letter "G." - -For a time I felt very faint; but at that juncture Bob Asher drove -past in his phaeton, and took me home. Old Crammer set the bone, -which progressed favourably, and after a few days I was able to go -abroad a little, with my arm in a leather case and black sling. - -The face of the girl I had saved--a haunting face, indeed--dwelt in -my memory; and now that danger was past, I thought of the episode -with pleasure, for I had scarcely a female friend in London; and I -wondered in my heart if she ever thought of the humble pedestrian to -whom she owed so much, and who had so suffered in her cause. I could -scarcely flatter myself that she did so, for she was evidently by her -air and bearing, and by the mettle of the horses ridden by herself -and her groom, one of the "upper ten thousand;" one in wealth, if not -in rank and position, far above an assistant to a sawbones in the -Strand. She might be married, too; yet she had nothing of the matron -in her appearance. - -But often, when I had the opportunity, I went back to the place where -I had checked that furious horse, and looked, but in vain, for it and -its bright-eyed rider; so I kept the little lace-edged handkerchief -as a _souvenir_ of the occurrence. - -About a fortnight after this, Crammer was summoned to attend the -deathbed of an aunt at Gravesend--one from whom he had some monetary -expectations that were not to be neglected. The whole _onus_ of our -practice thus for a time fell on me, and I was worked very hard. -Among many other visits to pay, was one at the house of Sir Percival -Chalcot, from whom a message came for Crammer, urging his attendance -without delay. Ordering the little "pill-box," as we called his -brougham, I drove off in state to explain about his absence, and -offer _my_ professional services. - -A tall servant, in showy livery, with the invariable whiskers and -calves of his fraternity in London, ushered me along the marble -vestibule up a stately staircase, adorned by pictures and statuary, -into a beautiful little library, where Sir Percival, a tall, thin, -and aristocratic-looking old gentleman, received me politely, but -somewhat pompously, and with an air of puzzle and surprise. - -"It was Doctor Crammer I most particularly wished to see," said he; -"and he may be absent some days, you say? Very awkward--especially -as he, and he alone, knows the general constitution of my family. I -dislike to consult a young man on the nervous disorder of a young -lady, but I may mention to you that my eldest daughter has been -engaged for a year past to a friend; the settlements are all drawn -out most satisfactorily, I assure you; everything has been adjusted -for the marriage, even to the line of their continental tour; but for -the last three months she has sunk into exceedingly low spirits. She -suffers from nervous depression, and at times is quite listless. -Now, I think that something bracing--some system of tonics--you -understand?" - -"Sir Percival, could I see Miss Chalcot?" - -"Well--yes, certainly; that, of course, will be necessary first." - -"What is her age, may I ask?" - -"Twenty. Please to follow me." - -He led me into a magnificent drawing-room, through the festooned -curtains of which I saw another beyond with the buhl and marqueterie -tables, easy chairs, couches, mirrors, and glass shades, peculiar to -such apartments. There was a pleasant odour of flowers and perfume; -and there, seated on a low folding-chair, was a young lady, in a -maize-coloured silk dress, the tint of which well became her rich -dark beauty. On the soft carpet we approached unheard, or, if -noticed, she never deigned to move, and I could observe the superb -development of her figure, which looked more like the maturity of -twenty-eight than twenty. - -Her attitude was expressive of perfect listlessness; a book lay on -her knee, but her eyes were bent on vacancy. The purity of her -profile was most pleasing; her eyelashes were long and black, and -curled at the tips. The masses of her dark chestnut-coloured hair -were looped up on her head in such a manner as to show the delicacy -and contour of her throat and cheek, the complexion of which was pale -and clear. Her nose was straight, with nostrils deeply curved; and -the lips were full, as if with a fixed pout. - -"It is the doctor, my dear girl," said Sir Percival. - -But she only raised her shoulders and eyebrows a little, and became -again, still and quiet. - -"Gertrude, dearest, 'tis the doctor. I told you that I should send -for him." - -"He is welcome," replied the girl, as she raised her large, dark, and -at that time sullen-looking eyes to mine; and then added, "But this -is not Dr. Crammer, papa." - -"It is his assistant, Dr.--Dr.--Colliner." - -"Oh, papa!" she exclaimed, suddenly starting to her feet, as the -whole expression of her face changed; "it is the gentleman who saved -me in the Park, when that horrid animal----and your arm, sir--was it -injured on that occasion? Oh, I hope not!" - -"It was broken----" - -"Oh, good heavens!--and for me!" - -"In such a cause I should have risked the arms of Briareus, had I -possessed them!" said I, with enthusiasm. - -"Permit me to thank you, sir," said the baronet, stiffly and grandly. -"I always thought that the gentleman who had rendered my family a -service so important would have done us the honour to have left his -card, at least." - -"But I knew not whom I had aided, sir, or where to call." - -"Most true," said Miss Chalcot; "I left you in such rude haste; but, -then, I was so alarmed!" - -"And now, Miss Chalcot, permit me to feel your pulse." - -I put my fingers on the delicate wrist. Her pulse was going like -lightning for a time; then it became intermittent; then feeble, as -the old listless expression of inquietude stole over her fine face -again, as her mind, probably by the object of my visit, reverted to -its old train of thought, whatever it was. - -Sir Percival regarded us dubiously over the point of his high, thin, -aristocratic nose. I was evidently too young, perhaps too -goad-looking, or had too great an air of _empressement_ about me, to -suit his ideas of a medical adviser for his daughter, so he said, -coldly and loftily-- - -"Without disparagement to you, sir, I think I should rather have -Crammer's opinion, Dr.---Dr. Lorimer." - -"Mortimer," I suggested, mildly. - -"Ah, yes! If he don't come soon to town, I'll have Clarke or Cooper -to see her." - -"Then I shall bid you good morning," said I, assuming my hat; but -turning again to the daughter, while he was ringing the bell for the -servant--he of the calves and whiskers--to order the "pill-box," I -said, "I have often gone to the scene of your accident, at _the same -hour_, to look for you. Pardon me saying this; but your face so -dwelt in my memory." - -"At the same hour--it was about _two_ in the afternoon," said she, -with a bright smile. - -"Yes--good evening, Dr. Short," blundered the baronet. - -My name was evidently not worth his committal to memory. - -And I drove away, feeling happy in the consciousness that I had seen -her again, and that, though _engaged_, as I had been told, I should -see her again where we first met, for her bright glance of -intelligence told me _that_. - -Her father had shown pretty pointedly--with all his punctilio, almost -rudely--that he had no further use for my professional services; but -I felt deeply smitten by the beauty of the girl. I strove in vain to -thrust her image from my thoughts, and recalled again and again the -galling information that she was the betrothed bride of some beast--I -rated him "a beast"--unknown; but strove in vain; and found myself -going to sleep that night in my den above the surgery in Bedford -Street, with her laced handkerchief under my pillow, like a lover of -romance, with all the roar of the prosaic Strand in my ears. - -Next afternoon--Crammer was dutifully at his rich aunt's funeral--saw -me in the park, and occupying the same seat from whence I started to -arrest the runaway horse. Every fair _equestrienne_ I saw in the -distance made my heart beat quicker; but how joyous were its -emotions--how high its pulses--when, exactly at the hour of two, I -saw her come trotting slowly along the walk, accompanied by the same -old groom, and draw up, with her little gauntletted glove tight on -the bridle rein, just before me. I came forward, and, after raising -my hat, presented my hand, which I felt to be trembling. - -"Somehow, I thought you would be here," said she, with charming -frankness, "and how is your arm? Better still, I trust." - -"I shall have the splints off to-morrow, Miss Chalcot." - -"That is good--I'm so thankful! Do you know that though this is only -the third time we have met, Dr. Mortimer, I feel quite as if we were -old friends? You must have thought my reception of you rather -ungracious yesterday." - -"Nay; but for what does your papa think you require medical advice? -You seem perfectly well." - -Her face fell--her features, or the expression of them, changed as I -spoke. - -"That is my secret. No doctor can cure me, or 'minister to a mind -diseased;' not that mine is precisely so," she added, with a merry, -ringing laugh. "Neither papa nor mamma can understand me. I lack -decision and firmness, I fear. Dark women are imagined to be fiery, -and all that sort of thing; but it is the fair little women of this -world who possess the firmest will and greatest strength of -character." - -"But you are subject to low spirits, your papa hinted." - -"Not naturally; but for a year past my heart has begun to fail me in -hopes of the future, why, or how, I cannot tell you; and now, dear -Dr. Mortimer, good morning," and away she trotted, with a pleasant -smile and a graceful bow, leaving me rooted to the spot with -admiration of her beauty, the craving to see her again strong in my -heart, and conflicting with the fear that she was fickle, and wearied -of her engagement, or had conceived a fancy for some one else, a year -ago. - -From that period she had begun to date her emotions of sadness. - -A year ago, I had been a hard student in my little den in Clerk -Street, Edinburgh, a dim shadow in the distance now. - -"Go it, old boy," said Bob Asher, who came suddenly upon me -a-foot--the phaeton was gone now--"that's not one of old Crammer's -patients surely. You are getting on, Fred, and if you wish to -continue doing so always talk most to the women, and middle-aged -ones; flatter the young girls, but on the sly only; and make a most -fatherly fuss with the babies, however ugly or squally, at all times." - -Rashly heedless of what the old groom might think or report on the -subject, I had an interview there almost daily, for a few brief -minutes; at times it was but a bow and a smile, if she was -accompanied by friends, or more especially by her brother; and it -went hard with me but I made my professional visits and old Crammer's -practice suit my plans--if plans I had--for I had given myself up to -the intoxication of--yes, of loving Gertrude Chalcot, though she -seemed placed above me by Fate as far as the planets are above the -earth; but with the conviction came reflections that were not in my -mind when the charm of her presence absorbed every other thought and -feeling. - -When I was alone came calmer thoughts. She was engaged, though to -whom I knew not, and she might just be amusing herself with me for -the time, while I was laying at her feet the purest love of an honest -and affectionate heart. - - Why did I love her? Curious fool, be still! - Is human love the fruit of human will? - - -Engaged to another--whose ring was doubtless on her finger--another, -who had the privilege of kissing and caressing her, while I had but a -formal interview, a park rail between, and the eyes of an observant -old groom upon us. I felt as jealous as a Turk or Spaniard at the -idea. One day I briefly implored her to meet me a-foot in another -part of the park. She agreed to do so, and we had the opportunity of -an explanation. I shall never forget how charming my dark-eyed and -dark-haired beauty looked in a yellow crape bonnet--that tint ever so -suitable to a brunette--with violet flowers between it and her pure -complexion. - -In language that was broken, but which the emotions of my heart -inspired, I told her of the enchantment her society was to me; of the -love that was becoming a part of my nature, the love that had been so -almost ever since I had seen her, and led me to treasure her -handkerchief (which I then drew from my breast); but, I added, that -as she was plighted to another--more than all, as she was so rich and -I so poor, I had come to the bitter resolution of seeing her no more, -and quitting England for some distant colony. - -"You love me then?" she asked, calmly, and with downcast eyes. - -"Love you! Oh, words cannot tell you how fondly, Gertrude." - -"Then I, too, am the victim of circumstances. By the manoeuvres of -mamma, who is a great matchmaker, in the very year of my _début_ in -London she contrived, I scarcely know how, to have me engaged to a -man for whom I cared nothing then, and, oh, how much less now! A -young girl of eighteen, his presence dazzled, his attentions -flattered me, and that was the whole matter. I tolerated him. I -have done all I can to delay the marriage for many months by feigning -illness; but papa and mamma say that to make a regular break off will -prove such an _esclandre_ in society. Yet is my life, all my future, -to be sacrificed for the myth we call society? I foresee too clearly -what my fate will be, to pass through existence unloving and unloved; -but it is heaven's will, or rather mamma's pleasure." - -"Oh, that I were rich, Gertrude, or that men could not stigmatise me -as an adventurer and fortune-hunter, as they will be sure to do, if -I--I----" - -"Did what?" - -"Proposed the alternative." - -"Fear nothing, Fred, but speak. I need advice." - -The sound of my name on her lips, the intense sweetness of her eyes -and sorrow of her air, rendered me blind to all but her beauty, her -love, and the passion that was in my own heart, and oblivious of -those who might be passing near--and afterwards we had soon cruel -reason to believe that we were not only seen, but watched, as it was -quite unusual for her to be out a-foot and alone--I told her that if -she would rely upon my affection and honour, on the love with which -she had already inspired me, it would be the duty of my life to -render hers happy; that I would save her from the delusive snare -called "society," and the thraldom of her proud old father and -calculating mother. Of course, I didn't call them so to her. I -spoke with boldness, decision, and facility, for love and passion -lent me power. I looked into her eyes and saw an answering light; -but she answered, pale and trembling the while-- - -"You are poor, you say, my dear Fred. Now papa is rich, and -ambitious of being richer. Alas! you must be satisfied with----" - -"What?--your friendship? Oh, Gertrude, can you speak so coldly, and -to me?" - -Her tears fell fast. - -"You overrate my powers of endurance. To be your friend, and even -that only in secret,--to see you, after your avowal to me, the wife -of another perhaps, rendering all my existence hereafter a blank." - -"I do not mean that, Fred. Alas! I know not what I do mean," she -added, weeping so bitterly that my heart was pained. - -"Mean--say that you will be mine, and not the wife of this mysterious -other." - -"To-morrow I shall be here again--to-morrow shall end all!" - -She held up her sweet face; no one seemed near. With the speed of -thought I pressed my lips to hers--for the first and the last time on -this side of the grave, as it proved--and we separated in a tumult of -joy. - -Next day I kept my appointment without fail, but not without -difficulty, as I had a long and troublesome operation to perform in a -totally different direction, near Wimpole Street. I waited till I -could linger no longer, and quitted the park slowly, filled by doubts -and dread, and by the hope that visitors--something -unavoidable--anything but illness, caprice, or change of mind--had -prevented my bright Gertrude from meeting me. - -If her beauty, humility, and sweetness dazzled and won me on one -hand, her father's insolent hauteur--for, like her brother, the -Guardsman, he always "cut me dead" in the street--piqued me on the -other. I was a gentleman by birth and education as well as either, -and what was more, I was the graduate of an ancient university; yet I -disdained to risk being stigmatised as a fortune-hunter, which would -surely be said of me, as Gertrude had some eight thousand pounds -yearly of her own. But the girl loved me, and the conviction of that -rendered me blind to everything. - -The morning of the second day brought me a note from her, dated from -St. George's Place. - -A note! - -We had met again and again by arrangement, but never had I got a note -from her, and I read and kissed it a score of times, and committed -many other absurdities while studying the bad writing, which somehow -seemed totally unlike that of a lady; but then poor Gertrude had -never ventured to write to me before. - -It contained but three lines, saying that she was unable to meet me -as usual, for reasons I should learn if I would call, and see her -after luncheon time, as papa and mamma had left town, and she should -be quite alone. - -The boldness of this proceeding was so altogether unlike her, and so -strange, that my mind became filled with vague fears of some -impending calamity, and I counted every moment till, with a heart, -the pulses of which certainly beat fast, I rang the sonorous bell at -the door of the lofty house in St. George's Place, _then_ a more -fashionable locality than now, for the house itself. is changed into -a public building. I had never before entered it but once, though -many a promenade I had made before its stately plate-glass windows, -in hopes of obtaining a glimpse, however brief, of her I loved so -dearly. - -"Jeames"--he of the calves and whiskers--opened the door rather -wider, I thought, than before, and his usually stolid and stupefied -visage wore a strange expression. That might all have been fancy, -for _he_ could not know the secrets of his mistress. I warily did -not ask for her; but on giving my card, inquired for "Sir Percival -Chalcot, or either of the ladies," certain that she I wanted alone -was "at home." - -The tall loafer in livery bowed, and ushered me up the great -staircase once again; but instead of opening the door of the -glittering drawing-room, where I expected to be met by the beaming -face, the tender eyes, and radiant figure of her I loved, I was shown -into the library, and found myself face to face with the baronet -himself. - -He looked as high-nosed and aristocratic as ever, and, moreover, as -grim and pale and stern as death. He barely acknowledged my somewhat -bewildered bow--I felt conscious that I had not been sent for -professionally--and instead of asking me to be seated, he took a -chair himself, and left me standing opposite. Folding one leg over -the other, and putting the tips of his fingers together, as he lay -back, and mostly looked up to the ceiling-- - -"Sir," said he, "my son has, doubtless, informed you in his note of -this morning that I wished to see you?" - -"Your son, Sir Percival--I received no note from him!" I replied, in -utter bewilderment. "If Miss Chalcot is indisposed----" - -"Do not dare to name Miss Chalcot, fellow! She is by this time in -France." - -"In France?" I repeated faintly, and with a sinking heart. - -"Yes; and beyond the reach of beggarly adventurers and _chevaliers -d'industrie_." - -(So the letter had been a forgery by the brother--a lure for me.) - -"Listen to me, sir, and attend," said the old man, gravely and -calmly, "for it is the last time I shall ever degrade myself by -addressing so contemptible a trickster!" - -"Trickster, Sir Percival!" I exclaimed. "Your injurious language----" - -"I said trickster," he continued, with a mock bow. "All has now been -discovered; the secret meetings in the Park, the artful plans you -have laid to worm yourself into the affections of a silly and -_wealthy_ young girl, luring her heart from the man--the gentleman, I -mean--she is to marry; causing the delay of that marriage; making -scandal and gossip even among the menials of my own household. Miss -Chalcot, sir, has been sent to the Continent, and I hereby inform you -that if you venture to follow, to trace, to speak with, or to write -to her, THIS is but a small instalment of what is in store for you!" - -And ere I could think or act, the savagely-proud old man had snatched -up a heavy riding-whip that lay at hand, and dealt me two severe cuts -fairly across the face, almost laying it open, as if with a sword -blade. - -"Madman!" I exclaimed; "dare you strike me?" - -"I _have_ struck you twice, sir," said he, with a disdainful smile, -as he reseated himself. - -"You are old, and your white hairs protect you; but you have a son, -and I'll have him out at Chalk Farm"--it was really Chalk Farm -_then_--"and--and--but, oh heaven!--he is the brother of Gertrude!" - -"Bah! I thought so, you presumptuous beggar! Go--go! or I shall -chastise you again. Go, I say! and remember well my words and my -warning!" - -I was trying to say something--I know not what--when the door opened -and his son appeared with several servants, and before I could speak, -I was thrust, dragged, beaten by many clenched hands, and forcibly -expelled--yea, literally spurned--into the public street--I, -Frederick Mortimer, M.D., &c., &c. - -Right well did they know--old Chalcot and his son--that the very -magnitude and depth of the insult to which they subjected me would -protect them, and that, for her sake, they might have torn me limb -from limb without revenge on my part. Yet every nerve and fibre -tingled with shame and passion as I crossed the street, and while -endeavouring to conceal my discoloured and lacerated face by my -handkerchief, sought the seclusion of the park opposite, going to the -very place where I was wont to meet my lost Gertrude, and where the -charm of her presence seemed to hover still. - -But where was she? - -There I remained for some hours, in a state difficult to conceive. -The insults to which I had been subjected drove me to the verge of -insanity. My situation was unique, and I cannot now analyse or -describe all the emotions that surged through my brain--memory -furnishes nothing that will connect them. But there were rage and -shame, grief, hatred, and love, and sorrow. It was here but -yesterday she had said, prophetically, "To-morrow should end all!" - -And all was _ended, indeed_! - -France!--she was in France; there would I follow her, and yet be -revenged upon them all. I started up to seek old Crammer, and resign -my situation as his assistant. - -The afternoon was far advanced, and many a patient must have been -sorely neglected by that time. But what cared I if the world had -burst like a bomb-shell beneath my feet? I sought the house in -Bedford Street, with the red bottle in the fanlight, to find that its -crimson glow paled beside the hue of Crammer's face. He was -literally boiling and choking with indignation at me. - -He had received due intimation of my "insolence and presumption" from -Sir Percival; was desired to send in his account, and appear at the -house no more. Thus his most aristocratic patients were lost to him -for ever. - -Ere I could speak, he took the initiative, and dismissed me, and that -night found me in a humble residence, near the Temple, with, a few -pounds in my purse, my worldly goods a portmanteau and a few medical -books ("Bell on the Bones,") seeking to soothe my thoughts by the aid -of an execrable cigar and a little weak brandy and water. - -The bright bubble had burst! I had lost Gertrude, and she, being -facile, or having little will of her own, on finding that she had -lost me, would too probably make peace with her own family by -fulfilling the engagement that was so odious to her. - -As this conviction forced itself upon me, I could have wept; then I -would start up, and mutter of going to France ere it might be too -late; but I had no money, and travelling in those pre-railway times -was not the cheap luxury it is now. Moreover, I knew not how or -where to seek her; and while doubts grew thus, and time went on, I -might lose her for ever. - -The result of all this was that the next day saw me in a raging -fever, and months elapsed ere I was convalescent. For some time -after sense returned I knew not where I was, or what had happened to -me. Close by a table sat a familiar figure in his shirt-sleeves, -smoking, and occasionally taking a pull at a pint of stout. These -pleasures he varied by reading aloud from a medical work, on pharmacy -apparently, and breaking into a scrap from a song, thus:-- - -"'_Plumbi subacet_: an aqueous solution of the salt produced with the -acetate and oxide of lead. A dense, clear liquid. Colourless, -odourless, and slightly alkaline in taste. Produces a white coating -on glass.' _Plumbi subacet_--that's the ticket! - - "'He was a jolly old cock, and he cared not a d--n - For the laws or the new police, - And he thought mighty little of taking a lamb, - If he only fancied the fleece.' - - -"'_Sodæ chloratæ_: a solution of carbonate of soda, after the -absorption of chlorine gas. A clear liquid, and colourless. -Odour----'" - -"Bob--Bob Asher!" said I, in a faint voice, and he started at once to -my bedside; and from him I got a history of how ill I had been, and -how he had been my chief attendant; how sore trials had come upon -himself, and that, by his father's failure, he was at the lowest ebb -now for funds, but had betaken himself to study, and meant to pass -now. - -"But who the deuce is this Gertrude of whom you have been raving for -weeks past? Not she 'of Wyoming'--eh, Fred?" - -I told him my story, and he was excessively indignant. - -"Why, death alive!" said he, "Chalcot is only a baronet, and in the -civil line of precedence--that is pretty like a full corporal in the -army--the second round of the long ladder of rank. I'd have chucked -the old beggar over his own window!" - -"Not if you loved his daughter, Bob," said I mournfully. - -"Well, no, perhaps." - -"And you are reading up?" - -"Hard, Fred. I am doing the 'Modified Examination' in pharmacy, and -think I shall pass now." - -I had been three months ill. Three months! Bob told me that the -Chalcots' town house was still shut up, and no one knew in what part -of the Continent they were travelling. Our separation seemed -confirmed now. The dread of never again beholding that sweet face, -with the bright eyes and the pretty crape bonnet, grew strong within -me, and the idea that she might already have become the wife of -another added to my torture of mind. - -But lack of funds compelled me bestir myself anon, and through Bob's -kind offices, and my own known skill while attending in the -hospitals, I was fortunate enough to obtain temporary employment with -Professor Sir ---- ----, then the most celebrated anatomical lecturer -in England, as an under demonstrator, my duties, as I may inform the -uninitiated, consisting to a great extent in the preparation of the -various subjects for minute dissection prior to his lectures; and -during the hot weather in London, I know of no task more nauseous, -repulsive, or typhoid in its chances and nature. However, such work -is as necessary for the progress of science and the conservation of -life and health in others as the terrible task of procuring the -necessary subjects was then--when the tables of anatomical theatres -and dissecting-rooms depended mostly, if not solely, on the results -of felony--often of murder--and the abduction of the tenants of the -tear-bedewed grave--an abduction in many instances, happily, never -known to relatives. - -The duties assigned to me at the rooms of Sir ---- ---- brought me in -contact, under cloud of night, with wretches whose character was -revolting, and caused me to shudder. Scores of bodies were brought -me--valued at from five to twenty guineas each. - -Use and wont is everything, and by me at that time they were viewed -as coolly and callously as we may the fish that lie on marble slabs -in the curer's window. - -Weary with a long day's work at the dissecting-room, I had retired to -my little lodgings, and thinking sadly over the bright past that -could come no more, I felt disposed to ask heaven, upbraidingly, why -I had ever been cast under the spell of Gertrude, when I was startled -by the unusual sound of carriage-wheels stopping before my humble -place. There were steps on the rickety stairs, and to my -astonishment the professor entered, and shutting the door, said he -wished to speak to me alone, as he had suddenly "an expedition" to -suggest to me--one that would require decision and care to carry out, -as so many morbid and vulgar rumours of violated graves were abroad, -and the suspected, if caught, had but small chance of mercy from the -mob. - -"But, Sir ---- ----, surely you don't expect me to go on such an -errand?" I asked, with an incredulous smile. - -"By Jove, but I do!" said he, laughing. "I have frequently done so, -when a student here, in many a fetid London burying ground, now -closed up or built over; but this is a most particular case--a -subject we must positively have for demonstration, and, if possible -to skeletonize afterwards." - -"Is it peculiar, then?" - -"Most peculiar!" - -My curiosity was excited. - -"Where is the burying-ground?" I asked. - -"At R----, eight miles from town. No 'outrage,' as they call it, has -occurred there. The place is unwatched and open. Would go with you -myself--but two, you see--should be just in the way. Yesterday an -old woman was buried there. Cholera, they say, caused her death; but -anything is called cholera now. She was fifty-eight years old, and -known well in the neighbourhood for a singular malformation of the -spinal column, and I must have that portion of her for my museum; but -as the old dame will not be very heavy you may as well bring the -whole of her. Young Phosfat, so long my assistant, who has the -practice there, has written me all about it. Take a trap and Bob -Asher with you--he's game for anything--to-morrow afternoon, and, if -you can, manage the matter without fuss. We'll call her an old Dutch -woman in the class, say she came pickled in a cask from Holland." - -The whole affair was a little exciting, so the high spirits of Bob -Asher, who had frequently been engaged in such affairs in the -churchyards of Edinburgh, decided me at once. We hired a dog-cart, -took large overcoats with us, as the nights were chilly, a cloak, a -coil of rope, heavy sticks, and even a brace of pistols for an -extreme emergency, which I prayed devoutly might not occur, and we -soon left London behind us. - -Tom Phosfat was duly prepared by a letter from the professor for our -arrival. He was a bachelor, and made us thoroughly welcome, so we -had supper and a glass of grog with him: I should rather say several -glasses of grog--too many for the work we had to do. However, we set -out at midnight for the churchyard, which stood apart from the -village, on the borders of a wide waste common, dark, secluded among -trees, and lonely. - -The night was gloomy and starless, and not a sound was heard--not -even a withered leaf whirled by the passing wind--as we left the -horse and trap under the shadow of a high hedge and vaulted over the -low churchyard wall. My heart beat quickly, all the more so that -Tom's brandy had been pretty potent. - -The mouldering tombstones, half sunk in the long reedy grass, and -tossing nettles, studded all the mournful place. God's acre seemed -very solemn that night. The lonely old church, old as the days of -the third Edward, half hidden by ivy, and spotted by lichens, raised -its square Norman tower against the vapour-laden sky, and quaint -heads and demon faces were peeping out of the mouldings and gargoyles -upon us. - -"You know the grave, Phosfat?" said I. - -"Yes--hush--this must be it. There is no other new one in the -ground," stuttered Tom, who had imbibed too much. - -"This seems the burial place of wealthy people," said Bob Asher. -"The old dame must have had money and to spare." - -"By Jove, it is open!" said I, in a low whisper. - -"It has not been quite filled up--boards are over it; only some -branches and soil thrown in. How is this?" - -"The bricking of the vault has been postponed till to-morrow," said -Bob Asher, shovelling out the _débris_. "We have no time to lose, -Fred. Shall we break open, the top of the coffin, and use the rope -to pull up the subject by the neck? That was the way with Knox's -fellows in Edinburgh." - -"Nay," said I, "by such a process the spinal column may be disturbed; -and that won't suit the professor's purpose." - -"Look round, and listen well; here goes then," and half turning the -coffin on its side, Bob and Tom, by inserting their shovels under the -lid, burst it up with a hideous jarring sound, and then the ghostly -tenant was seen, enveloped in a shroud of white from head to foot; -and even to us, prepared as we were for it, that figure had something -horrible in its angular rigidity. Muffling _it_ in the dark cloak, I -cast it over my shoulder, and deposited it in a sitting position--the -_rigor mortis_ had passed away apparently--between the seat and -splash-board of the trap. My companions meanwhile rearranged the -grave and coffin as we had found them. Voices and lights now scared -us. Phosfat was so tipsy that I had to leave Bob Asher to take care -of him; and casting our shovels and rope into a clover field, I drove -at a break-neck pace towards London, intensely anxious to reach the -professor's house before day should dawn, lest the police or a -passer-by might detect something weird in the person who was my -companion. - -It seemed to me that we had not proceeded a mile townward, between -hedgerows, when the waning moon, hitherto invisible, began to glimmer -over Hampstead Heath, shedding a ghostly farewell ray upon the silent -country, where not a dog barked. - -A strange sound, like the murmur of a voice, came to my ears at -times. Was it a pursuit? I looked anxiously back, and even pulled -up for an instant. Behind all was silent--but, oh, almighty heaven! -what was this? - -The old woman was moving---her feeble hands essayed to lift the cloth -that covered her face! A wild spasm of terror contracted my heart; -and any one but a medical man, I am assured, would have abandoned the -trap and an adventure so terrible; but the idea of a recovery from -trance immediately flashed upon my mind, and my first thought was, -the professor would not get the prized vertebræ after all. I lifted -the almost inanimate woman beside me, and felt that she was warm, -fleshy too, and had a returning pulse, which the motion of the trap -accelerated. I uncovered her face that she might respire, and a wild -cry escaped me--a cry that rang far over the heath. - -Heavens! Was I going mad outright? She was Gertrude!--Gertrude -Chalcot!--pale as death could make her, yet living still, her hazel -eyes lurid and sunken, her dark hair falling about her face. - -All that followed was like a swift nightmare: the drive to town, -muffled in my overcoat and cloak; the abandonment of the trap in the -street; her conveyance in secret to my lodgings, and placing her -cosily in my own bed till I could get her other quarters and -attendance. Luckily, Bob Asher, and the professor too, came about -mid-day, or I should soon have been fit for Hanwell. - -* * * * - -How all this came to pass was very simple. Unwedded still, she had -returned with her family to England in wretched health; her illness -took a more serious form, and would seem to have culminated in a -species of trance, with the medical technicalities of which it might -be wearisome to trouble the reader. Suffice it, that the alarm of -cholera was abroad, and the local terror at R---- induced her -interment, as, perhaps, in too many other cases, hastily and -prematurely; hence the vault being left unfinished, permitted her to -respire, and our adventure--a mistake by the way--ended in her -rescue, though a great horror of what her fate might have been filled -my heart, and for a long period we were compelled to conceal from her -the awful place in which she was found. - -Under our united care she recovered fast. But my space is short. - -Sweet is the union of lovers after a separation; but, with all its -charm, much that was sad, startling, and even terrible, mingled with -ours. She was mine now. Not even that proud and cruel father, who -had so fiercely spurned me, could dispute the claim, I thought. -Mine--oh, how strangely and how terribly mine! - -The close of the year saw us married, Bob Asher acting as groomsman -with great _éclat_. Sir ---- ---- took me as a partner, and for a -month I went with my bride to Baden. There, one day, at the _table -d'hôte_, she found herself face to face with her own parents. The -alarm, the consternation, the scene, proved frightful; but all ended -in a complete reconciliation, and Christmas-day saw us all happy at -Chalcot Park, and I felt, on seeing my blooming Gertrude, in all the -splendour of her beauty, opening the yearly ball, that I could with a -whole heart forgive even her father for his pride and fury on the day -that saw us separated. - - - - -CLARE THORNE'S TEMPTATION. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -"After all that has been, and is no more--after all that has passed -between us, but never can pass again, why are we fated to meet--and -_here_?" wailed the girl, Clare Thorne, in her heart (for though a -wedded wife, she was but a girl yet, being barely in her twentieth -year), as she suddenly saw, with strangely-mingled emotions of joy, -fear, and sorrow, the face of Fred Wilmot. - -It was on a Sunday morning early, ere the East Indian sun was quite -up, and in the cantonment church of Mirzapatam, a few miles from the -Jumna, that this unexpected recognition took place. - -The girl heard not the voice of the preacher, her husband Cecil -Thorne, the chaplain of the station; she forgot for a time where she -was, and her thoughts fled--fled away from that strange-looking -cantonment church, with its long punkahs pulled by nut-brown coolies -(who watched with amazement "the white man's poojah") moving alike -over the head of the preacher and his congregation, when even at that -early hour the air was breathless, and when the ring-necked -paraquets, green pigeons, and other birds twittered in and out at the -open jalousies--fled home, while her heart seemed to stand -still--home to a quaint old English church in beautiful Kent, with -its low broad Norman arches, its stained glass windows, its -sculptured effigies, above which old iron helmets hung, and spiders -spun their dusty webs undisturbed--for there it had been that she had -last seen the face she now looked on, breathlessly, the face of her -first love and _then_ betrothed, Fred Wilmot, ere misfortune -separated them, and a cruel fate sent her to Central India, to become -the wife of the Reverend Cecil Thorne. - -On the preceding day a new regiment had marched in, but she knew not -till that moment at the morning sermon, that among its officers was -Lieutenant Frederick Wilmot, till she saw him with his men, in his -braided white kalkee uniform, carrying under one arm his pith helmet, -encircled by a blue veil, and looking with his lithe form, embrowned -face, dark grey eyes and heavy moustache, handsomer than ever, and so -unlike her husband, Cecil Thorne, in his flowing white Indian cassock. - -Square in figure, grave, massive, and commanding in form, the latter -was a man, who, though all kindness and gentleness, seldom smiled and -never laughed, and was one all unsuited to the volatile Clare; yet -she had married him for a home; though knowing that every thought and -impulse of her mind were at variance with his, and had given herself -to him because she was heart-sick with the struggle for daily bread -as a governess, and feared her hopeless future when left alone in -India. A few years before--for he was much her senior--Cecil Thorne -had been a hard-working curate on £80 per annum in one of the most -squalid parts of the English metropolis, and was thankful to accept -from the Bishop of Calcutta the post he held at the remote and -sun-baked station of Mirzapatam. He was a good man, truly a soldier -of Heaven, and among the sick and the dying, did many a task of -mercy, from which even the doctors, and all, save the sisters of -charity, shrank, especially in the times of famine and cholera. - -Intent on his sermon, he saw not the glance of mutual recognition -between Clare and Wilmot, the grave bow exchanged, and the paleness -that came over the two young eager faces, whose troubled gaze sought -each other from time to time, as their thoughts went back to their -past-- - - "The love that took an early root, - And had an early doom." - - -"Why are we fated to meet again, and _here_?" was the ever-recurring -thought of Clare, as she strove to fix her eyes on the grave face of -her husband and listen to his eloquence, but she heard it not. - -Her face was not a beautiful one, but it was sweet, earnest, and most -winning in all its varying expressions. - -India had paled it already, but the light of her dark hazel eyes, the -warm tint of her rosebud lips, and her rich brown hair, almost black -in hue, were all unchanged as when Wilmot had covered them with -kisses and caresses, in the sad hour of their severance that seemed -so long ago. - -In due time the service was over, the congregation dispersing and -departing on horseback or in buggies, while the new regiment, to the -clangour of its band, was marching into its lines, and Fred Wilmot, -she knew, was with it. Fearful that he might address her ere the -column was formed, she remained nervously in her seat, striving to -pray for strength of purpose, or for her past dull content, and then, -when she deemed herself safe, drove home alone, for her husband, -though hot the coming noon, had sick and other visits to pay. - -Clare feared that Wilmot might call at their bungalow on the -following day, as every one calls on every one else on arriving at a -new station in India; so she resolved to take her horse and be out of -his way in the cool of the evening, and also early on the following -morning, but to evade him always in the narrow European circle at -Mirzapatam she knew would be impossible. - -That day her husband was long absent on his parochial duties, and -Clare was not sorry; she wanted time for thought--but thought only -took the line of refining, and a comparison of what was now the -inevitable, with what might have _been_. - -Clare was formed by nature for excitement, society, music, and -gaiety, she did not like to be left to mope as a parson's wife "in -the station to which the Lord had called her," as her husband -constantly phrased it; and she had been wont to writhe under his -advice as to how she was to comport herself, what she was to wear and -not to wear, and to avoid the groups of young officers about the -"Band Stand," and all risk of _gup_ or gossip. His intense goodness, -his awful sense of propriety, even his fervid piety, had bored and -wearied the young wife ere their dull honeymoon was well over; for -though a good girl in every way, Clare was not pious, as Mr. Thorne -understood piety. She went, per order, to church twice on Sunday, -but flatly refused to teach "little niggers" in the mission schools, -and he groaned in spirit over her contumacy. The excitement she -wished, was not to be found in visiting old Hindoo women and teaching -naked little boys that the precepts of Menou, the lawgiver, were -idolatry. - -"Oh dear, for what did you marry me, Cecil?" she asked one evening -impatiently, when she heard the strains of military music coming from -the forbidden band-stand, and knew that all the little gaiety of the -place was centred there. - -"To be a helpmate to me, Clare," he replied gravely, "and to share -with me, so far as becomes my wife, my labours in the vineyard of our -Divine Master. In our little Bengali church are regular Sabbath -services and weekly prayer-meetings; there are four _patshalas_ or -elementary schools; but to not one of these have you gone; there are -much evangelistic work and colportage work to be done, yet you assist -in them not, and will not even sing the hymns I have translated from -the _Tembavani_." - -"If I did, Cecil--dear Cecil, would you let me go even once a week to -the military promenade--I do so love the band?" she asked, with her -eyes full of tears. - -"No; such frivolity becomes not my wife," was the firm reply. - -Repiningly she obeyed his dictum in every respect, and when other -ladies ventured to remonstrate with her, Clare, to do her justice, -ever upheld her husband, and treated him with respect and honour. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -Next day, ere the sun had risen, Clare Thorne, attended by Chuttur -Sing, her native groom, went forth for her morning ride while the air -was yet cool and delicious, and in every European she saw dreading to -meet Wilmot, left the station behind her at a canter. She was clad -in a light brown holland habit, trimmed with red braid; she wore a -broad hat and long feather, and looked strikingly handsome. - -Once or twice she looked back to the cantonment, and murmured to -herself how strange it was to think that he should be there--he, -after all! The civilians' bungalows were built on the little hills, -where a puff of wind might be caught; but the barracks and sepoy -lines occupied the centre of an arid and unsheltered plain, where -never came a breath of wind to fan the withered cheek, or to drive -away the fever and sickness for ever lingering there. As usual, the -_site_ of the cantonments was a blunder, and there our soldiers were -doomed to languish, swelter, and perish by cholera or sunstroke, for -the barracks had been built, and being so, had to be occupied. - -"Poor Brown is down with cholera this morning." "Poor Brown! another -told off to die. There are four doctors with him; but all in Europe -couldn't give him another day in this world." Such were usually the -first morning greetings in Mirzapatam when the bugles blew "the -assembly." "And Smith of the 1st Bengal died about gun fire." "But -that trump, Thorne, the chaplain, never left him till, with his own -hands, he had closed his eyes." "When is the funeral?" "In orders, -for sunset--the cool of the evening; _cool_ at Mirzapatam!" - -"Would Wilmot escape, or be going forth soon on a gun-carriage, as so -many went, from that horrible barrack!" thought Clare, as she rode on -towards the Jumna, where she knew the country grew beautiful; and she -shivered as she thought of the life she led now. - -Though her husband was chaplain to a military station, officers -seldom or never, except when on duty, entered his bungalow; so the -male visitors there consisted only of eurasian and native catechists, -colporteurs, and teachers. To Clare it was an intolerable existence, -and as she saw, when fever abated, the gay and happy lives led by the -other ladies of the garrison, she repined sorely, and thinking of all -these things, she rode slowly toward the Jumna. - -Down from the Ghaut of Etawah the river was rolling in its beauty -amid the most wondrous greenery in the world. There were oleanders -(the pride of the jungles) sending forth their delicious perfumes -from clusters of pink and white blossoms; the baubool, with its bells -of gold, the sensation plant, and thousand others all growing -together, while the _byahs_, or crested sparrows, looked like clouds -of gold as they floated in flocks over these and the waters of the -river. Yet, lovely though the scene, the English girl, as she reined -up her horse, thought she would rather have looked upon the Weald of -her native Kent! - -The same idea was in the heart of another, who was slowly approaching -her, an officer in undress, with pith-helmet and loose white patrol -jacket. He urged his horse close to Clare, and a little exclamation -escaped her. - -"Oh, fatality!" she murmured, on finding herself face to face with -Fred Wilmot; and fatality it seemed indeed, that they should by -chance have chosen the same hour and the same pathway, amid the many -that diverged from the breathless cantonments. He sprang from his -horse, and grasping the bridle with one hand, presented the other to -her. - -"Mrs. Thorne--Clare!" said he, in a broken voice, and as he uttered -her name there came into his face a light, an almost divine -tenderness, such as she had never seen in it, even in their sweet -past time--the light of love, the joy of a great passion. - -"I _am_ Mrs. Thorne, and we must remember that now, Fred," said she; -but without drawing back her hand. None was near but Chuttur Sing, -who certainly thought he would not have liked to have seen _his_ wife -_tête-à-tête_ with the _sahib-logue_, in that solitary place, for to -the Bengalees the ease of European society is an enigma they fail to -understand. - -"Till I saw you yesterday, I knew not in what part of India you -were," said Wilmot, with his gaze fixed eagerly upon her now pallid -face, "and now they tell me that you are the wife of that man--our -chaplain, a morose and gloomy fellow----" - -"My husband, Mr. Wilmot," said Clare, now withdrawing her hand, and -shortening her gathered reins. - -"_Mr._ Wilmot!" he exclaimed, almost reproachfully. - -"My husband!" she repeated, with sorrowful emphasis. - -"I beg your pardon, Clare. I am not likely to forget the fact," said -he, with deep dejection; "but changed though the relations--broken -the tie--between us, may I not be still your friend? I--I," he -continued, in a voice so pathetic that her soul was moved, "I who was -once so much dearer than any friend could be?" - -"We must forget all that--friends? No, it is impossible! Better -not--better not--oh, what fatality sent you here!" she added, -restraining with difficulty her tears, and aware that the black-beady -eyes of Chuttur Sing were upon her--Chuttur Sing of the spindle legs -and huge red turban. - -"You have not forgotten the past, then, Clare?" - -"No--but I have sought to love my husband as a wife should." - -"Sought?" he asked, inquiringly. - -"Well--I have striven." - -"But oh, Clare, we can neither love nor forget at will," said he. -"May I come to visit you?" - -"No--decidedly no!" - -"Why, Clare?" - -"My husband!" she replied, firmly enough. - -"He knows nothing of our past--he never heard of me. Think how dear -we were to each other, Clare--how much we have to remember." - -"All the more reason to study the art of forgetting," replied Clare, -whose hot tears were falling fast now, "and to show the necessity for -your not coming near our bungalow." - -"But if all our fellows, from the colonel down to the youngest sub, -leave their cards for you and Mr. Thorne, save me, what will he -think?" - -"I cannot say," sighed Clare, wearily. - -"I must come, then, to avoid remark. May I?" - -"If you must, you may." - -"Thanks, Clare--thanks; may I escort you home?" - -"No--oh no--let us return separate," said she, nervously, and they -parted, she urging her horse at a hand-gallop back to the arid plain, -where the lines of Mirzapatam were now quivering, and to all -appearance vibrating, in the hot rays of the uprisen sun. - -So when Fred Wilmot called that evening at the Rev. Mr. Thorne's -bungalow, he was cordially received by that gentleman, and by his -wife politely, as a--stranger! Clad in a thin dress, through which -her delicate arms and the contour of her bosom were apparent, she was -reclining in a long-armed Indian cane chair, with all her dark-brown -hair cast loose over her back and shoulders, just as her ayah had -left it for coolness; and very charming and girlish she looked, -especially when her colour heightened. The fragrant odour of the -recently wetted _tatties_, or window-screens, pervaded a large -uncarpeted drawing-room. An hour and more was passed in pleasant -conversation. No reference whatever _could_ be made to the past, so -from that hour each of those _two_ felt that the game of duplicity -was beginning. The piano--which had its feet immersed in saucers of -water to save it from creeping insects--was more than once resorted -to; and Mr. Thorne was surprised to find how many airs and duets his -wife and the new comer knew in common. He could little dream how -often they had practised them _together_, in that sweet Kentish -village so long ago, it seemed now. That night Fred Wilmot slept -little. He had more than the mosquitos to keep him awake, while in -the verandah without the _wallah_ pulled drowsily at the cord of the -punkah. - -"Innocent, pure and artless as ever--poor Clare--poor darling!" -thought he; "oh, what avail my money and position now--now that she -is that sombre fellow's wife--yet all men speak well of him here. -What are her dark eyes, her rich hair, her sweet English beauty to me -now!" - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -Clare Thorne's life had been so dull, that one can scarcely wonder if -she found the advent of Wilmot at the cantonment, and his visits, -most welcome, though they filled her with a vague alarm--an undefined -fear of violating trust and propriety. We have said that the Thornes -had few visitors; this arose from the distaste the chaplain had of -society and the general gravity of his demeanour; but Fred Wilmot -cared little for all that; it was not him he came to see. - -No thought of evil was in the innocent heart of Clare; nor was there -in the heart of Wilmot, to do him justice, though he abandoned -himself to the perilous charm of seeking the society of the girl who -once loved him so well--from whom he had been separated, and who felt -with him in common "that _death_ in life, the days that are no more." -A little time the regiment would be moving further up country, and -all would then be at an end. Meanwhile both were playing with edged -tools! - -Clare and her husband could not understand each other. His nature, -which with all his apparent gloom was a passionate one, had no outlet -save his great love for her, and his greater for religion. For him -the dull routine of his daily life was enough; but Clare longed, like -the girl she was, for amusement, excitement, display, society, and -yet in gay British India she was condemned by this good and amiable, -but fervid ascetic, to lead a life which, to one of her temperament, -was one of unspeakable martyrdom. - -She might, perhaps, under better auspices, have forgotten her first -love in time, and learned to like, as much as she respected, her -husband, had he only made some allowance for her weakness and -foibles, and not judged her so hardly and set before her a standard -of excellence which she was unable to attain. - -But the crisis of her life was coming fast to Clare Thorne. - -Her husband began to dislike the frequent visits and the somewhat -brotherly familiarity of Wilmot with his wife; there was something in -it undefinable. It was the reverse of flirtation, for his demeanour -was grave, respectful and sympathetic, and in these elements the -danger seemed to lie. Clare's bearing and tone were irreproachable; -yet a suspicion, at which he blushed, was roused in the honest heart -of Cecil Thorne. - -"If it should be!" he muttered, with his firm white teeth clenched. -Then he would watch and dissemble; but even that seemed a stain on -his own rectitude. Thus one day he said, abruptly: - -"Clare, that officer--Mr. Wilmot, has been here again. I see his -music strewed all over the piano." - -"Well, Cecil?" - -"I forbid his visits--that is all!" - -"Forbid his visits!" repeated Clare, startled, crushed, and blushing -crimson; "then you must tell him so yourself." - -"Why, madam?" - -"He is an old friend of my family, and--and----" - -"You, and he too, never said a word of this before!" - -"I thought you knew it," faltered Clare, who found that she had made -a sad mistake. - -"Old friend--he is about five-and-twenty only. What brought him here -to-day?" - -"To give us these tickets for the garrison ball." - -"Ball--you know I never go to balls." - -"But may I?" - -"No--you may _not_!" - -Poor Clare repined bitterly and wept profusely, but not for the first -time in her life, and her husband, who knew that all Mirzapatam was -on tip-toe about the forbidden ball, eyed her with a lowering -expression. But he knew that he must exert his authority, or -scandals might ensue, and he felt that Wilmot must cross his -threshold no more. Indeed, the ball-tickets were returned to him, -and when next he visited the abode of Mr. Thorne, that gentleman, who -never did things by halves, and who deemed he had a duty to perform -to religion, to himself, and society, gave the young officer a pretty -distinct hint that his visits could be dispensed with, and Fred -retired, his heart swollen with rage, mortification, and sorrow. - -Shame and anger mingled with the sorrow of Clare. How tiresome of -him to go on this way to her in their present abode, of all places in -the world! Scandal--the thing he dreaded--would be sure to come of -it. A great gloom now fell upon Clare, and the ball--girl-like--the -forbidden ball rankled in her heart; Thorne supposed this gloom was -caused by the banishment of Wilmot only; but that had merely -something to do with it. - -Was she, that he loved and trusted, wronging him cruelly in her -heart? Was he nursing a traitress in his bosom? Sooth to say, the -hitherto placid and plodding Cecil Thorne began to think, and -sometimes say, all manner of desperate things to his scared and -shrinking little wife, whose changed manner he attributed to Wilmot's -influence, and he cursed the hour that ever the new regiment marched -into Mirzapatam. - -Loving his wife as he did, he would rather have seen her lying in her -grave and himself reading the burial service over her, than living as -a disgraced woman. Then, if there was great sorrow, there would be -no shame, and she would be gone where never more dishonour could -menace, or shame assail her. - -"Clare, child," said he, "my little wife is my all to me. The soul -that sinneth shall pay the wages of sin." - -"But I have not sinned!" she exclaimed, passionately. - -"As yet," said he, pointedly and coldly; "thank Heaven, my eyes were -opened in time! Think of what would be my misery and our conjoint -dishonour--I, a priest of the Church! Think of how our once happy -home might have been desecrated and the bitterness of a love that is -slighted!" - -"You make too much or too little of all this!" - -"I do not!" - -"Oh, Cecil--Cecil--my dear husband--I have no forgiveness to ask of -you; I only seek your pity." - -"I _do_ pity you," he replied, grimly, and thought the while, - -"She can speak to me thus--with that fellow's kisses fresh upon her -lips!" For he had undefined suspicions that Wilmot saw her yet, from -time to time. - -"How tiresome--how absurd is this jealousy!" thought Clare; yet her -own conscience told her it was neither absurd nor mistaken _now_; and -all this passed on the night of the forbidden ball! - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -Mr. Thorne's suspicions were right; they _had_ been meeting, without -design at first; ample though the cantonment, how could it be -otherwise? - -"Dear, good Fred," she said, one day, as they met among the baubool -trees near an old ruined tomb--the tomb of Abu Mirza--"I want you to -help me--you alone can do so." - -"In what way?" he asked, looking at her in his old tender manner. - -"To be good and proper--to keep in the straight path of propriety, -and avoid all chance of scandal." - -"You are quoting some sermon of Thorne's now." - -"I am not--I mean it; we must speak no more; _will_ you help me?" - -"Yes," said he, in a choking voice; "yes--if I can," and his mode of -beginning was pressing her to his heart, and covering her face with -kisses. - -From this it may be inferred that the threads of the old, old story -had become strong as cables again! She had been rent from Wilmot by -Fate, and revenge at Fate made him selfish to her and pitiless to -all, especially to her husband, who had, by forbidding his visits, at -once given their intimacy a colouring it did not then possess. Now -things were said that they had never said before, and wild schemes of -plainly running away together--where, it mattered not--were more than -openly hinted at by Wilmot. Be it sinful or not, she felt that she -loved him better than her own life; his was the only mind that could -hold dominion over hers; yet it was one infinitely inferior to that -of Cecil Thorne; and his was the only hand whose touch thrilled the -smallest fibres of her frame. She worshipped Wilmot, who, as he -gazed into her eyes, could read there the struggle that was passing -between conscience and passion, and how the latter was certain to -triumph. - -"Trust me--trust me," he whispered in her ear. - -"I will trust you--I will, Freddy!" she replied, choked in tears. - -"My own darling--to be my own at last---and after _all_!" - -Clare knew what scandal and gossip were in England; but "gup" in -India was fiercer, deeper, more trumpet-tongued, and already in fancy -she saw every public print teeming with the story of her elopement -and her husband's shame. - -"He thinks too much of the other world to care much for this, or me!" -she thought; but in that she wronged Thorne, who loved her dearly and -devotedly, though in a cold and undemonstrative way, while Wilmot was -all passion and energy. - -"Oh, the scandal--the scandal we shall give!" said she, wringing her -hands. - -"Scandals die!" said he; "the world goes too fast now-a-days for -anything--even for a wonder---to live long; and we shall seek a land -where none shall know our names or the miserable story of our past." - -"Oh, Fred!" wailed the girl, "I was brought up by my mother, in the -careful avoidance of all evil, all that was sinful and unholy; and -now I am sinking into an ocean of unholiness in loving you, better -than I love my own soul!" - -"Do not thus upbraid yourself, my innocent darling," said he, in a -quiet but passionate tone. - -"Innocent? Oh, my God! who will call me innocent, good, or pure -to-morrow? Yet, the life I bear maddens me." - -"That life will soon be a thing of the past. I am wealthy now, my -darling; the bar that poverty put between us is removed. I can give -you a home like a palace, in any part of Europe, far, far away from -this breathless India; and once my wife----" - -"Oh--Wilmot!" - -"My darling---I will give you all the love a human heart can render -you--the dearest of love and a new life." - -"But not with that which makes life alone worth having." - -He regarded her passionately, anxiously, and entreatingly. - -She felt that if she hesitated--deliberated--she would be lost, and -must become, in any land, even though unknown, a social outlaw, a -virtual outcast. All this rushed upon her mind, though she said it -not, and with all its minor details of mortification and bitterness, -as she lay with her face hidden on the breast of Wilmot. - -He smiled fondly, yet sadly, down upon her bent head, and clasped her -trembling fingers in his stronger hands, and turning up her white and -desperate little face, he dared, in the excess and blindness of his -passion, to call on heaven to hear that she would never have cause to -regret the step she was about to take. - -And so they separated with reluctance, though in haste, aware that -when they met again it would be to part no more! - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -Fred Wilmot had obtained a year's leave from the general commanding -at Mirzapatam, and had taken all his measures for their mutual flight. - -He was to meet her at evening gun-fire, near the old ruined tomb in -the baubool grove, when Aloodeen, his native valet, would bring his -buggy. In this they would proceed to the branch line that joined the -greater line at Allahabad, from whence they could take the great -Peninsular Railway to Calcutta, long before reaching which all traces -of them would be lost! - -It was early morning when the scheme was planned; a whole day was to -elapse ere it could be put in operation; yet it seemed to pass with -frightful rapidity to Clare, who felt like one in a dream, or as if -it was some other person, and not herself, who was to meet Wilmot at -the tomb of Abu Mirza. - -Her silence, her pre-occupation, her nervousness, more than all, the -whiteness of her little face, could not fail to attract the attention -of her husband who, with unwonted tenderness, bent over her, and, -taking her cheeks between his hands, said,-- - -"Look up, little woman--why, what is the matter with you?" - -She closed her eyes, which dared not meet his earnest, honest, and -searching gaze. - -He then took her little hands caressingly in his, and felt, with -alarm, that though the atmosphere without was stifling, they were icy -cold and trembling. - -"Is there anything wrong, Clare? What is the matter with you, my -darling little wife?" - -Still she was silent, for her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth, -and she could only sigh in her heart secretly. - -"Oh, heaven--what am I to do? Avoid the temptation--flee the -sin--yea, even confess all--ere it be too late!" - -Then she thought of her husband's frigidity of manner, his intense -sense of morality, religion, purity, and rectitude, and her timid -heart died within her. - -"God help us, child," said Cecil Thorne, "I hope that no illness has -seized you." - -He thought wildly over the several fever and cholera beds he had been -beside of late, and the strong man felt his soul die within him with -fear, as he saw alternately the wistfulness and wild excitement in -his wife's eyes. - -"A doctor must be summoned," he exclaimed; "qui hi--hollo, there, -Chuttur Sing!" - -"Oh, no, Cecil, dearest," said she, with something between a sob and -a hysterical laugh; "it is only the heat that affects me--and the -thunder," she added, as a peal went hustling through the sultry air -overhead. - -A storm came on; the rain fell in torrents, and Clare, while in the -act of selecting the garments and necessaries she would have to take -with her, and while carefully selecting and putting aside, for some -_other_ and worthier wife, it might be, the few jewels her husband's -moderate means had enabled him to give her (Delhi bracelets of -champac-work, and so forth), actually began to hope that, if the -tempest of falling rain continued, the very flight for which she was -preparing might be arrested, ere it was too late, and thus that her -sore temptation might pass away! - -The innocent words, the tender anxiety and trusting goodness of the -man she was about to abandon and deceive, and the knowledge, that in -time to come, there would be an amount of grief, shame, and sorrow -for her, that would be known in its degree but to God and himself, -wrung her heart, and filled her eyes with hot and blinding tears. - -But the storm passed; the thunder died away beyond the hills that -look down on the Jumna; the rain cooled the atmosphere, and the arid -soil around the sun-baked cantonment soon absorbed it, to the last -huge, warm drop that had fallen; and Clare knew that her lover would -be truly, tenderly, and inexorably awaiting her at the old tomb, when -the time of their fatal tryst came. - -The cantonment ghuries--little gongs that hung near the guard-house -doors--clanged the hours in succession, and in one more Clare knew -that the sun would set. She was alone, for her husband was away, -attending some sick beds; when he returned, she knew that her place -would be vacant, and that she could never look upon his grave, -earnest, and handsome face again. She sunk on her knees beside her -bed, buried her face in her cold hands, and while she shivered in the -agony of her conflicting thoughts, she prayed for strength to avoid -her temptation, or that she might die in her mingled remorse and -yearning love. - -But her prayer was unheard: the hour came, and saw her, with a little -travelling bag in her hand, stealing like a culprit from her -husband's home, and taking the most unfrequented path to the tomb of -Abu Mirza, the tiny white marble dome of which was glistening in the -last rays of the sun above the golden bloom of the baubool trees. -The brain of Clare seemed to reel; her temples felt on fire; all -within her soul and around her seemed a mass of chaos, she could -arrange, disentangle nothing; and almost in despair gave up the -attempt to do so; but not the fatal design of meeting her former -lover; for the die was cast! - -In the distance she could hear the soldiers' children and some of the -Christianised natives singing in the Mission School; their united -voices came through the open windows on the calm pure air of the -Indian night, and she could hear her husband accompanying them on an -indifferent harmonium, so earnestly and humbly in the service of his -Master, in the hymn he had translated from the _Tembavani_:-- - - "Whilst Thee, with tongues of splendour, - The orbs of heaven praise, - Whilst groves to Thee their voices, - With tongues of brilliance raise: - Whilst Thee, with tongues of joyance - All gay wood-warblers sing; - Whilst praise to Thee, wood-flowerets, - From tongues of fragrance fling: - And whilst with tongues of clearness, - The water-floods applaud Thee, - With the tongue that Thou hast given, - Shall I not daily laud Thee?" - - -"Poor Cecil--how unworthy I am of you!" thought she, and tears -started to her eyes afresh as she thought of him and the _morrow_! - -Her heart gave a convulsive leap and she stood still for a moment as -the evening gun boomed over the cantonments when the sun set, and -then the darkness fell instantly, as it always does in India where -there is no twilight, and she saw Fred Wilmot instantly approach her, -but from what point she scarcely knew. He was attired in plain -clothes, for travelling evidently, but he was bareheaded, and she -could see that his face looked most startlingly pale, that also pain -and bewilderment were in it, and that he scarcely seemed to see her. -Something in his looks and manner rooted Clare to the spot. - -"Fred--Fred--Wilmot!" she cried, in a low voice, but, without -stopping, he gave her one sad glance expressive of pity and love, -sorrow and pain, and passing on towards the tomb, left her -alone--alone and bewildered, while a new sense of great fear that she -could not analyse, caused her to rush towards the house she had so -lately quitted. - -At the door she met her husband, full of excitement and agitation. - -"You abroad, Clare," he exclaimed, with grave surprise; "have you -then heard what has happened--ah, your white face tells me that you -have?" - -"What has happened, Cecil?" she asked, in a low, breathless voice. - -"Poor Wilmot--God forgive me if I have wronged him!--has just been -murdered and robbed by his native servant, a Patan scoundrel named -Aloodeen." - -"Murdered?" - -"Yes---just as the sunset gun was fired." - -In a swoon Clare fell at his feet like one who was dead. - -He had been stabbed to the heart! Who, or what was it in his -likeness that Clare had seen at the place they were to meet? She was -saved from her great temptation--saved to remain a sorrowing and -innocent wife. She never again saw the face of Wilmot, even in a -dream, though often in the years to come she decked his lonely grave -with flowers. - - - - -THE GREAT SEA SERPENT. - -From all we have read and heard of a singular sea-monster that has -been seen from time to time in various parts of the ocean, it is -difficult to doubt that some such creature, or creatures rather, may -exist; though the reiterated allegations of "old salts," that they -_do_ exist, may be but a relic of that dark superstition known as -serpent-worship, which once prevailed over a great part of the world, -and which still lingers in India, particularly among the Nagas, and -of which snake-charming is a remnant. - -How long this singular worship lingered in Western Europe we may -gather from the "Atlas Geographus," published in 1711, which says, -"there are _still_ remains of this idolatory" in Lithuania, where the -Boors keep adders in their houses, and pay them profound respect -while professing Christianity; and also, that few families in -Samogitia, are without serpents as household gods. - -Some years before this time, Sigismund, Baron of Herbestein, tells -us, in his commentaries on Muscovy, that at Troki, eight miles from -Wilna, his host acquainted him, that he had chanced to buy a hive of -bees from one of the serpent-worshippers, whom he persuaded, with -much reluctance, to worship the true God and kill his serpent. A -short time after, in passing that way, he found the poor fellow -miserably tortured and deformed, his face wrinkled and twisted away; -and inquiring the cause, he answered, "That this judgment had come -upon him for killing his god, and that he would have to endure -greater torments if he did not return to his former worship." - -In the sacred writings, but more particularly in the 8th chapter of -Jeremiah and the 58th Psalm, are allusions to the taming or keeping -of serpents; and Dr. Thomas Shaw found the same superstition -prevailing in Barbary in 1757 (Travels). - -Indian serpent-charming to this day, as we have said, is no doubt a -remnant of that form of worship which spread all over the world, it -may be from some dim tradition of the serpents of Eden and of Aaron's -rod, that we have the Scandinavian _jormagundr_, among the fictions -of the Edda, and to which Scott refers as-- - - "That sea-snake, tremendous curled, - Whose monstrous circle guards the world." - - -The serpent and the circle were alike the emblem of eternity, and -Odin was supposed to have at times the power of taking the aspect of -the former; and a remnant of the same superstition is still to be -found in Scotland in the knot-work upon Celtic crosses and Highland -dirk-hilts. - -In June, 1721 (as we are told in the "Historical Register" for the -following year, sold by T. Norris, at the _Looking-Glass_ on London -Bridge), there appeared a terrible snake off the coast of Naples, not -far from the Ponte-della-Maddalena, under which the river Sebeto -flows into the sea, and it devoured a fisherman in presence of many -of his friends, who had barely time to effect their escape. - -The latter, fearing that the presence of this monster might destroy -their fishery, and anxious to avenge their companion, made several -weapons (harpoons?) of iron, and large hooks, and, putting to sea on -the 6th of June in strong boats, discovered the great fish, and -baited their lines with large pieces of horse-flesh, and ran a strong -rope with a slip from the stem to the stern of a ship. - -Rushing furiously at the boat, the snake was caught into the -slip-knot, and ultimately drawn on shore, when, on being measured, it -was found to be "twenty Neapolitan palms long. His mouth was -excessively wide, having three rows of teeth in the form of a saw in -the upper jaw, and but one row in the under. He weighed sixteen -_coutares_, or about four hundred-weight. In the stomach were found -the skull of a man, two legs, part of the backbone and ribs." - -These were supposed to have been portions of the unfortunate -fisherman, whom he had devoured some days before. By order of the -Council of Health it was burned, lest it might infect the air. - -The writer adds, that Johnson (to whom we shall refer presently) -mentions similar fish--one that weighed eight hundred-weight; another -that weighed four thousand pounds, and in the stomach of which was -found a man, in a complete suit of armour! - -It is a curious fact that recent scientific research has revealed the -existence in the sea, at the greatest depths, of most minute and -wonderfully formed organisms, the beauty and rarity of which -necessarily secure our admiration; but instances of animals of -enormous size being met with beyond those already known, are few and -far between. This fact may be accounted for by the circumstance, -that while it is easy to construct instruments for capturing the -smaller creatures living in the deep, it is a very different matter -to entrap and secure an unseen monster, whose very size must endow -him with enormous strength. The whale, so far as we know, is the -largest denizen of the deep. Whether it is possible that it can be -equalled by giants of some other order or race, is the point which -public curiosity is very keen to have settled. - -The appearance of great snakes at sea is recorded by more than one -old voyager; but it would seem to have been only of late years that -the idea of their existence has been generally confined to one, -familiar to us all as the "Great sea-serpent." - -In _Opuscula Omnia Botanic Thomæ Johnsoni_, 1629, we have an account -of a great serpent captured off Sandwich by two men, who found it -stranded among the shoal water by the sea-shore. It is described as -being fifty feet long, and of a fiery colour. We are also told that -they conveyed the carcase home, and after _eating_ it, stuffed the -skin with hay, to preserve it "as a perpetual remembrance of the -fact." - -In David Crantz's "History of Greenland," published in 1766, we have -an extract (illustrated by a drawing) concerning the _kraken_, from -the narrative of a Captain Paul Egede, supposed to be the brother of -a famous Danish missionary of the same name. The kraken, it is -however necessary to remark, is the northern name for a giant -cuttle-fish, the existence of such a monster being now a matter of -scientific fact. - -"On the 6th of July, 1734," says this old seaman, "as I was -proceeding on my second voyage to Greenland, in the latitude of the -Cape of Good Hope, a hideous monster was seen to raise its body so -high above the water that its head overtopped our main-sail. It had -a pointed nose, and spouted out water like a whale; instead of fins -it had great broad flaps like wings; its body seemed to be grown over -with shell-work, and its skin was very rugged and uneven; when it -dived into the water again, it threw up its tail, which was like that -of a serpent, and was at least a whole ship's length above the water; -we judged the body to be equal in bulk to our ship, and to be three -or four times as long." - -Eric Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen, celebrated in his days as a -naturalist, though he never actually saw it or met any one who _had_ -seen it, believed implicitly in the great sea-serpent existing -somewhere; and in his writings has a good deal to tell us about its -ways and habits; and it is upon record that Sir Lawrence de Ferry, -commander of the old castle of Bergen, not only saw the monster, but -shot at it on the high seas, wounded it, was pursued by it, in its -pain and fury, so closely that he narrowly escaped with his life. - -In 1801 there was cast ashore on the coast of Dorsetshire a snake -twenty-eight feet in length and twenty feet in circumference; but -this has since been alleged to have been a Basking-shark; and the -same has been said of a great snake-like carcaso that was beaten to -pieces by a tempest, and cast ashore on one of the Orkney Isles in -the autumn of 1809, and some fragments of which, the _Scots Magazine_ -for that year states, were lodged in the Museum of the Edinburgh -University. - -A very distinct description of the sea-serpent occurs in Dr. Hooker's -_Testimony_ respecting it, and communicated to Dr. Brewster's -_Journal of Science_. About half-past six o'clock on a cloudless -evening at sea, the doctor heard suddenly a rushing noise ahead of -the ship, which at first he supposed to be a whale spouting, but soon -found to be a colossal serpent, of which he made a sketch as it -passed the vessel at fifty yards' distance, slowly, neither turning -to the right nor left. "As soon as his head had reached the stern, -he gradually laid it down in a horizontal position with his body, and -floated along like the mast of a vessel. That there was upwards of -sixty feet visible, is shown by the circumstance that the length of -the ship was a hundred and twenty feet, and that at the time his head -was off the stern, the other end had not passed the main-mast.... -His motion in the water was meandering, like that of an eel; and the -wake he left behind him, was like that occasioned by a small craft -passing through the water.... The humps on his back resembled in -size and shape those of a dromedary." - -Dr. Hooker states further, that the description precisely accorded -with that of a serpent seen five years before by Captain Bennett of -Boston. At a later period, three officers in Her Majesty's -service--namely, Captain Sullivan, Lieutenant Maclachlan, and Ensign -Malcolm of the Rifle Brigade--beheld a similar creature gambolling in -the sea near Halifax; but they asserted that it was at least one -hundred and eighty feet in length, and thicker than the trunk of a -moderately sized tree. Nor must we forget the official account which -was transmitted in 1848 to the Lords of the Admiralty, by Captain -Peter M'Quhae of Her Majesty's ship _Dædalus_, past which, he and his -crew saw the great sea-serpent swimming merrily--a document which -produced, or provoked, a learned paper in the _Westminster Review_; -while Professor Owen asserted that what was seen from the deck of the -_Dædalus_, would be nothing more than a large seal borne rapidly -southward on a floe or iceberg. - -Recently, the appearances of the serpent have been amusingly frequent -and clearly detailed. He has been seen in the north seas and the -south seas, and in many places nearer home; in the Frith of Forth, -off Filey Bay and the North Foreland, off Hastings and the Isle of -Arran, the Menai Strait and Prawle Point; and in 1875, a battle -between it and a whale was viewed from the deck of the good ship -_Pauline_ of London, Captain Drevar, when proceeding with a cargo of -coals from Shields to Zanzibar, destined for Her Majesty's ship -_London_. When the _Pauline_ reached the region of the trade-winds -and equatorial currents, she was carried out of her course, and after -a severe storm, found herself off Cape Roque, where several -sperm-whales were seen playing about her. While the crew were -watching them, they suddenly beheld a sight that filled every man on -board with terror. Starting straight from the bosom of the deep, a -gigantic serpent rose and wound itself twice in two mighty coils -round the largest of the whales, which it proceeded to crush in -genuine boa-constrictor fashion. In vain did the hapless whale -struggle, lash the water into foam, and even bellow, for all its -efforts were as nothing against the supernatural powers of its -dreadful adversary, whose strength "may be further imagined," says a -leader in the _Daily Telegraph_, "from the fact that the ribs of the -ill-fated fish were distinctly heard cracking one after the other -with a report like that of a small cannon. Soon the struggles of the -wretched whale grew fainter and fainter; its bellowings ceased, and -the great serpent sank with its prey beneath the surface of the -ocean." - -Its total length was estimated at fifty yards, and its aspect was -allowed to be simply "terrific." Twice again it reared its crest -sixty feet out of the water, as if meditating an attack upon the -_Pauline_, which bore away with all her canvas spread. Her crew told -their terrible story. But critics there were who averred that what -they had seen was no serpent at all, but only a bottle-nosed whale -attacked by grampuses! - -In a letter to the London prints concerning this affair, we have -another description of our old friend the serpent, as he appeared off -St. David's Head, to John Abes, mate of a merchantman, in 1863. "I -was the first who saw the monster, and shouted out. A -terrible-looking thing it was! Seen at a little distance in the -moonlight, his two eyes appeared about the size of _plates_, and were -very bright and sparkling." All on board thought his length about -ninety feet; but as he curled and twirled rapidly, it was a difficult -matter to determine. Captain Taylor ordered him to be noosed -lasso-fashion with a rope, which John Abes tells us he got on the -bowsprit to throw, but in the attempt threw himself overboard. "The -horror of my feelings at the moment I must leave you to imagine," -continues this remarkable epistle (which is dated from Totterdown, -Bristol, September 19, 1875). "The brute was then within a few yards -of me, with its monstrous head and wavy body, looking ten times more -terrible than it did on board the brig. I shiver even now when I -think of it. Whether the noise made by throwing the ropes over to -save me scared him, I cannot say; but he went down suddenly, though -not more so than I came up. After a few minutes he appeared some -distance from us, and then we lost him." - -When next we hear of the sea-serpent after his adventure off Cape -Roque, he was beheld by the crew of no less a ship than Her Majesty's -yacht the _Osborne_, the captain and officers of which, in June, -1877, forwarded an official report to the Admiralty, containing an -account of the monster's appearance off the coast of Sicily on the -2nd of that month. "The time was five o'clock in the afternoon. The -sea was exceptionally smooth, and the officers were provided with -good telescopes. The monster had a smooth skin, devoid of scales, a -bullet-shaped head, and a face like an alligator. It was of immense -length, and along the back was a ridge of fins about _fifteen_ feet -in length and _six_ feet apart. It moved slowly, and was seen by all -the ship's officers." - -This account was further supplemented by a sketch in a well-known -illustrated paper, from the pencil of Lieutenant W. P. Hynes of the -_Osborne_, who, to the above description, adds, that the fins were of -irregular height, and about forty feet in extent, and "as we were -passing through the water at ten and a-half knots, I could only get a -view of it 'end on.'" "It was about fifteen or twenty feet broad at -the shoulders, with flappers or fins that seemed to have a -semi-revolving motion. From the top of the head to the part of the -back where it became immersed, I should consider about fifty feet, -and that seemed about a third of the whole length. All this part was -smooth, resembling a seal." - -In the following month, the Scottish prints reported, that when the -Earl of Glasgow's steam-yacht _Valetta_ was cruising off Garroch -Head, on the coast of Bute, with a party of ladies and gentlemen on -board, an enormous fish or serpent, forty feet in length and about -fifteen in diameter, suddenly rose from the sea. Under sail and -steam the _Valetta_ gave chase. A gentleman on board speared it with -a salmon "leister;" on which the serpent dived, and after a time -reappeared with the iron part of the weapon sticking in its back. -The monster scudded along for some minutes, again dived, and was not -seen afterwards. There is little doubt, however, that the animal -which figured in this instance was a very large basking-shark -(_Selache maxima_). - -An animal of exactly similar shape and dimensions was reported as -being seen in the subsequent August by twelve persons in -Massachusetts Bay; and soon after on three different occasions in the -same quarter by the crew of a coasting vessel. - -In May, 1877, the "sea-serpent" would seem to have shifted his -quarters to the Indian Ocean, which it must be remarked is the -habitat of the true sea-snakes. On the 21st of that month, in -latitude 2° north and longitude 90° 53' east, the monster was alleged -to have been seen by the crew of the barque _Georgina_, bound from -Rangoon to Falmouth. It seemed to be about fifty feet long, "grey -and yellow in colour, and ten or eleven inches thick. It was on view -for about twenty minutes, during which time it crossed the bow, and -ultimately disappeared under the port quarter." A second account of -this affair stated, that "for some days previously the crew had seen -several smaller serpents, of from six to ten feet in length, playing -about the vessel." - -Strange as all these stories seem, it is difficult to suppose they -are all quite untrue, for, nautical superstition apart, we have the -ready testimony of various men of education and veracity. That there -is only one serpentine monster in the ocean, is an idea which the -great disparity in the various descriptions would seem to contradict; -and certainly the most astounding aspect presented by this supposed -and most ubiquitous animal, was his form and size when seen by the -officers of the Queen's yacht off the coast of Sicily; though it is -somewhat singular that these gentlemen made no attempt to kill or -capture the mighty fish, or whatever it was they saw. - -By way of conclusion to these remarks we may briefly summarise the -chief facts presented by "sea-serpent tales" as they appear under the -light of scientific criticism. There is, it must firstly be -remarked, nothing in the slightest degree improbable in the idea that -an ordinary species of sea-snake, belonging to a well-known group of -reptiles, may undergo a gigantic development and appear as a monster -serpent of the deep. The experience of comparative anatomists is -decidedly in agreement with such an opinion. Largely developed -individuals of almost every species of animals and plants -occasionally occur. Within the past few years new species of -cuttle-fishes--of dimensions compared with which the largest of -hitherto known forms are mere pigmies--have been brought to light. -And if huge cuttle-fishes may thus be developed, why, it may be -asked, may not sea-snakes of ordinary size be elevated, through -extraordinary development, to become veritable "leviathans" of the -deep? That there is a strong reason for belief in the veracity of -sea-serpent tales, is supported by the consideration of the utter -want of any motive for prevarication, and by the very different and -varied accounts given of the monsters seen. That the appearances -cannot always be explained on the supposition that lifeless objects, -such as trees, sea-weed, &c., have been seen, is equally evident from -the detailed nature of many of the accounts of the animals, which -have been inspected from a near distance. And it may also be -remarked that in some cases, in which largely developed sea-snakes -themselves may not have appeared, certain fishes may have represented -the reptilian inhabitants of the ocean. As Dr. Andrew Wilson has -insisted, a giant tape-fish viewed from a distance would personate a -"sea-serpent" in a very successful manner; and there can be no doubt -that tape-fishes have occasionally been described as "sea-serpents." - -On the whole, if we admit the probability of giant-developments of -ordinary species of sea-snakes, or the existence (and why not?) of -enormous species of sea-snakes and certain fishes _as yet unknown to -science_, the solution of the sea-serpent problem is not likely to be -any longer a matter of difficulty.* - - -* Since writing the above, the _Daily News_, of September, 1878, -reported the appearance of the serpent, "twenty metres long and -two-thirds of a metre in diameter," off Aalesund, on the coast of -Norway. - - - - -MILITARY "FOLK LORE." - - - -CHAPTER I. - - THE RED COAT; A FEW NOTES CONCERNING ITS - ORIGIN AND HISTORY. - -"_Red_, of the colour of blood, one of the primitive colours," we are -told by Walker; "red-coat, a name of contempt for a soldier," he adds -unpleasantly below; but Colonel James in his Military Dictionary -renders it more probably, as "the familiar term for a British -soldier." - -Colonel Mackinnon (in his "History of the Coldstream Guards") and -other writers have attributed the introduction or adoption of the -British uniform to William III.; but there are sufficient proofs of -its having been common alike to England and to Scotland long before -the revolution in 1688. - -That red was originally deemed a warlike colour, though now worn only -by the British and, till the Holstein war, by the Danish troops, -there is abundant evidence.* - - -* The red of the Danish army was darker than ours. In 1702, their -cavalry, line, and militia, wore iron-grey, with green stockings; but -there were some exceptions. The first named force had buff coats, -and in warm weather rode with hats, their helmets hanging at their -saddle bows. Lobat's dragoons were clad in red, lined with white; -the regiment of Jutland wore white, lined with red, red breeches and -black cravats; and the Queen's own Guards wore fine -scarlet.--_Travels in the Retinue of the English Envoy, in_ 1702. - - -Bellona, the sister of Mars, is depicted by ancient painters and -described by the poets as being clad in garments stained with blood, -and the planet which bears the name of the warlike god is known by -its ruddy appearance. This hue arises simply from the atmosphere, -and hence the bards of classical antiquity named the planet after the -god of battles. To show that in savage lands some of those old ideas -still prevail, Colonel James Grant in his "Walk Across Africa," with -the gallant and lamented Speke, mentions that his valet Uledi told -him, "that in his native country of Uhiao, the people imagined that -all foreigners eat human flesh, and that cloth was dyed _scarlet_ -with human blood." - -In heraldry, _gules_ is the vermilion colour in the arms of -commoners; but without elaboration, our present object is to trace -the origin and the gradual adoption of our national uniform, "the old -red rag (as our soldiers call it) that tells of England's glory." - -The colour was deemed eminently martial and war-like by the Romans, -among whom the _paludamentum_, the military robe or cloak of a -general, was scarlet, bordered with purple. Juvenal (vol. vi.) -mentions officers clad in a scarlet dress, and according to Livy, -such was also the attire of the lictors who attended the consul in -war. - -Scarlet is mentioned among the colours used by the Britons for dyeing -their skins in the time of Julius Cæsar; but their favourite herb was -glastum, or woad, called _glas_ by the Celts, _i.e._, blue, that they -might look dreadful in battle. - -The _red_ uniform of the British Army was adopted simply from the -circumstance, that it was the royal colour of the kingdoms of England -and Scotland, centuries before the union of the crowns or of the -countries; red and blue being the royal livery of England, red and -yellow the royal livery of Scotland. In the latter country, red has -ever been the judicial colour, worn by the Lords of Council and -Session, the magistrates of Edinburgh and other cities, as well as by -the students of some of the universities. - -The Royal Crowns of England and Scotland were always lined with -scarlet, though James IV. for a time adopted imperial purple. The -surcoat of the Knights of the Garter is crimson; and in the apparel -of those of the Bath we find the surcoat, breeches and stockings all -red, as directed at the revival of the Order by George I. in 1725. - -Scarlet faced with blue was the uniform of the City Guard of -Edinburgh, a corps which existed from the days of Flodden until those -of Waterloo. - -In England, scarlet and blue had long been the two chief colours of -the cloth directed for the array of the king's troops; in the time of -the Crusades the English wore white crosses; but Henry VIII. had -troops in white with a red cross. From the commencement of the -fourteenth century the Scots wore blue surcoats with white St. -Andrew's crosses thereon. Scotch and English soldiers were wont in -those days to taunt each other as _Blue-coat_ and _White-coat_. - -The Memoirs of Kirkaldy of Grange record an instance of this kind in -a sham fight. - -In the afternoon of the 2nd March, 1571, a party of Sir William -Kirkaldy's soldiers were marched from Edinburgh Castle, which they -approached again at 8 p.m., with white English surcoats over their -armour. On drawing near they were challenged thus: - -"Who are ye that trouble the Captain in the silence of night?" - -"The army of the Queen of England," replied the mock assailants with -a discharge of arquebusses. Blank volleys promptly responded from -the walls, during which they freely bestowed upon each other the -taunts and scurrility which the Scots and their Southern neighbours -used in battle as liberally as hard blows. - -"Begone, ye lubbards! Away, _Blue-coats_! - -"I defy thee, _White-coat!_ dyrt upon your teeth! Hence, knaves, to -your mistress--her soldiers shall not come here," &c. The cannon -were then discharged, upon which the mock Englishmen took to flight, -after an hour's skirmish in the dark, which filled the peaceable -portion of the citizens with dismay, and drew forth some prophetic -remarks from John Knox, who heard the clamour from his house in the -Netherbow. - -The favourite colours of the House of Tudor were green and white. At -the battle of St. Aubyn, Sir Edward Wydeville was slain, at the head -of a vast body of Bretons, whom, to deceive the enemy, he had clad in -_white_ English doublets with red St. George's crosses thereon. - -White and red were the colours worn by Richard II. as his livery, and -during his reign they were favourites with his courtiers and the -citizens of London, a large company of whom, headed by the mayor, all -wearing these, the king's colours, met him and the queen on -Blackheath, and conducted them in state to the Palace of Westminster. -At the coronation of Henry IV. we find the English peers wearing a -long scarlet tunic, called a _houppelande_, with a cape above it; the -knights and esquires present wore the same kind of tunic, but without -the cape. - -In 1432, when Henry IV. returned from France, he was met at Eltham by -the Lord Mayor of London, who was arrayed in crimson velvet with a -baldrick of gold, attended by three henchmen dressed in suits of red -spangled with silver, and by the aldermen wearing gowns of scarlet -with purple hoods. Then in 1535 we find Henry VIII. donning a -crimson velvet jerkin with purple satin sleeves, and among the items -of his voluminous wardrobe are enumerated, "a cloke of skarlette with -a brodegarde of right crymson velvette; a dublette of carnacion -coloured sattin embrowdered with damaske gold; a jacquette of the -same," and several other "dubieties" and "clokes" of similar -sanguinary hues; and during his reign we find the first decided -approach to the uniform of the future British Army. - -"Henry VIII. passed to Bulloigne with an army divided into three -battalions," says a curious work, printed at London in 1630.* "In -the vantguard were 12,000 footmen and 500 light-horsemen, cloathed in -blew jackets, with red guards. The middleward (where the King was), -consisted of 20,000 footmen, clothed with red jackets and yellow -guards. In the rereward was the Duke of Norfolk, and with him an -army like in number and apparell to the first, saving that therein -served 1000 Irishmen, _all naked_, save their mantles and their -thicke-gathered skirts." This indicates a costume like that of the -Highlanders. - - -* "Relations of the most famovs kingdoms, throwout the world." - - -On this occasion, in 1544, Henry was attended by his Body-Guard of -Pensioners, each of whom "was accompanied by three mounted -men-at-arms, dressed in suits of _red and yellow damask_, the plumes -of themselves and steeds being of a like colour." ("Account of the -Gentlemen-at-arms.") In battle they wore complete armour, their -horses being "barded from counter to tail," _i.e._, with a spiked -frontlet for the head, criniere to guard the mane, a poitrinal or -breast-plate, and a croupiere or buttock-piece. - -Contemporaneously we find his nephew, James V. of Scotland, having a -body-guard established in 1532, consisting of 300 men of Edinburgh, -clad in scarlet doublets faced with blue, with blue bonnets, gilt -partizans and daggers. - -Henry's "Bulleners," as they were named, were conspicuous in their -scarlet dress at the battle of Pinkie, in 1547, where they were -commanded by the Lord Gray, and where they were driven back in -confusion, leaving the staff of the royal standard in the hands of -the Scots. In Patten's quaint account of this battle, he mentions, -incidentally, that "Sir Miles Patrick being nigh, espied one in a -_red doublet_, whom he took thereby to be an Englishman." - -In a letter of Sir John Harrington's, we find the pay and clothing of -Queen Elizabeth's troops in Ireland detailed at some length, but the -colours are not stated. For an officer in winter, "a cassock of -broad cloth, with bays, and trimmed with silk lace, 27_s._ 6_d_. A -doublet of canvas, with silk buttons, and lined with white linen, -costing 14_s._ 5_d_. Two shirts, three pairs of kersey stockings, -three pairs of shoes of neat's leather, at 2_s._ 4_d._ per pair, and -one pair of Venetians, of broad Kentish cloth with silver lace, at -15_s._ 4_d._" - -On the 23rd July, 1601, 1500 of her men arrived from England, clad in -_red cassocks_, to share in the siege of Ostend.--(History of the -Siege.) Of these, says Stowe, 1000 were Londoners, and they are now -represented by Her Majesty's 3rd Foot, or Kentish Buffs. - -We find no trace of the national colours at the coronation of Charles -I. as King of Scotland, in 1633, at Edinburgh, where he was escorted -by the Gentlemen Pensioners, under the Earl of Suffolk, and the -Yeomen of the Guard, under the Earl of Holland. We are told by -Spalding that he was accompanied by "his ordinary English Guards, -clad in his livery, having _brown velvet_ coats, side (_i.e._, close) -to their hough, and beneath with boards of black velvet, and His -Majesty's armes wrought in raised and embossed work of silver and -gold upon the back and breast of ilk coat. This was the ordinary -weed of His Majesty's Foot Guards." Those furnished by Edinburgh -were clad in "white satin doublets, black velvet breeches, silk -stockings, hats, feathers, and scarfs. These gallants had dainty -muskets, pikes, and gilded partizans." On this auspicious occasion, -all the Scottish peerage wore their usual robes of crimson velvet. -In this King's reign, David Ramsay, who was an officer of Gustavus -Adolphus, when appearing to fight a duel with Lord Reay, wore a coat -of scarlet (according to Sanderson's "History of England"), so -thickly laced with silver that the ground of the cloth was scarcely -visible. - -Singularly enough, scarlet was early adopted among the grim Scottish -Covenanters. At the battle of Kilsythe, where Montrose routed their -troops with great slaughter, we find that "the red-coat musketeers" -were cut to pieces by Viscount Aboyne and his Gordons. It may be -worth mentioning here that the chequer on the bonnets of our Highland -regiments was first adopted by the clans under Montrose, as -significant of the _fess-cheque_ of the House of Stuart. The great -Marquis wore scarlet at his barbarous execution in Edinburgh, in -1650; and in the course of that year we find Sir James Balfour -recording, in his "Memorialls of Church and Staite," that an English -ship was made a prize by the Scots, who found in her "eleven hundred -elles of broad clothe, seven hundred suites of made clothes, and als -many _read cottes_, 250 carabines, 500 muskets, with powder and -matches," being supplies for the troops of Cromwell, several of whose -regiments appear, however, to have been clad in blue. - -Balfour, at this period, mentions on several occasions the -"four-tailled" coats of the Scottish infantry and artillery, which -must have been something like the old Highland doublet now worn by -our Highland corps. - -At the Restoration, when forces were established in England and -Scotland, each country having its separate guards, line, and -artillery, scarlet was the colour almost uniformly adopted, save in -one instance, when the King clothed in blue, faced with red, the -Royal Regiment of English Horse Guards, which was embodied on the -26th August, 1661, under Aubrey, Earl of Oxford. These colours it -still retains; but a corps of marines raised about the same time, -oddly enough, wore yellow coats--the old Dutch uniform.* - - -* William III. had a regiment of Dutch Horse in London, styled the -Blue Horse Guards; they returned to Holland on the 20th March, 1689, -after which the present Oxford Blues got that appellation permanently. - - -On the 2nd April in the same year, 1661, the Scottish Life Guards -rode through the city of Edinburgh "in gallant order," says Nicol the -Diarist, "their carbines upon their saddles, and swords drawn in -their hands. It pleased His Majesty to clothe their trumpeters and -the master of the kettle-drum in very rich apparel." Colours were -presented, and soon after the King gave to each gentleman a buff coat. - -In February, 1683, General Sir Thomas Dalzell obtained from the Privy -Council at Edinburgh a licence permitting the manufacturers at -Newmills "to import 2536 ells of _stone-grey_ cloth from England," -for his dragoon regiment, the _Scots Greys_, which had been raised -two years before--hence their costume, as well as their grey horses, -may have led to their present well-known appellation. This grey -cloth cost five shillings an ell. - -In May of the same year, Colonel John Grahame of Claverhouse imported -from England 150 ells of red cloth, 40 ells of white, and 550 dozen -of buttons, for the use of the Life Guards, and the Council ordained -that the uniform of the Scottish infantry should be "of such a dye as -shall be thought fit to distinguish sojours from other skulking and -vagrant persons, who have hitherto imitated the uniform of the King," -and red was the dye so universally adopted that in 1685 we find 300 -ells of it ordered by Captain Patrick Grahame for the City Guard of -Edinburgh. - -The Cavalier trooper, Captain Crichton, writes of the Scottish -cavalry in _red_ in 1676; and in 1684 we find that the dress of the -Coldstream Guards was a red coat lined with green, red stockings, red -breeches, and white sashes.* "The colonel and other officers, when -on duty, to wear their gorgets." - - -* Royal Orders, &c. - - -In Sir Patrick Hume's account of Argyle's descent upon Scotland -(printed in Rose's Observations upon the historical works of Mr. -Fox), among the Scottish forces led by the Earl of Dumbarton, he -says, "wee saw in view a regiment of red-coat foot, too strong for us -to attacque." This was the Scots Royals, or 1st Regiment of the -Line. Before the victorious charge at Killiecrankie, Viscount Dundee -is said to have substituted a green for a scarlet uniform over his -buff coat; and the former colour is yet considered ominous to those -of his name who wear it.* - - -* Browne's "History of the Highlands." - - -Some years before the Revolution, Grenadier companies had been added -to the English and Scottish establishments. - -Charles II. having resolved to introduce hand-grenades, on the 13th -April, 1678, issued a warrant for a company of one hundred men to be -added to the Holland regiment, under the command of Captain John -Bristoe, to be armed with those explosives, and to be styled -Grenadiers. A similar company was soon added to every other corps in -both countries. These soldiers carried fusils with bayonets, -hatchets, and swords. Their uniform was different from that of the -musketeer and pikeman; the two latter had round hats with broad brims -turned up on one side, the former a fur cap with a lofty crown; they -also wore cravats "of fox tailes." - -"In 1678," says Evelyn in his Diary, "were brought into the service a -new sort of soldiers called Grenadiers, who were dextrous at flinging -hand-grenades, every one having a pouch full; they wore furred caps -with coped crowns like Janizaries, which made them look very fierce, -and some had hoods hanging down behind. Their clothing being pybald, -yellow, and red." Such was the origin of our "British Grenadiers" of -immortal memory! - -According to Fosbroke, after throwing the grenade, on receiving the -words "Fall on," they rushed on the enemy with hatchets, which they -wore in addition to muskets, slings, swords, and daggers. - -The Scottish Government, in 1702, raised a corps of Horse Grenadier -Guards, afterwards incorporated with the United forces, and now -represented by the Life Guards. - -Towards the close of the 17th century, the clothing of the British -troops varied; hence, we find, that in the year 1685, when the North -Lincolnshire (now 10th) Regiment of Foot was raised by John, Earl of -Bath, it wore blue coats, which were lined with red, and the men had -waistcoats, breeches, and stockings all of red, and round Cavalier -hats with broad brims, which were turned up on one side, and -ornamented with red ribbons. The companies of pikemen* alone wore -red worsted sashes. Shortly after the Revolution in 1688, the 10th -Foot were clothed in scarlet, like the rest of the British Infantry. - - -* The _last_ pike perhaps used in the British Service we saw carried -by a sergeant of Captain Wyatt's Company of the Royal Artillery in -1835, when marching for embarkation for Britain, out of Signal Hill -Barracks in Newfoundland. - - -In 1687, the "old Tangier Regiment," or, Queen's Own Foot (now the -2nd Regiment), which was raised in 1661, for the defence of that -portion of Africa which was ceded to Britain as the dowry of the -Infanta of Portugal, wore a red frock coat with skirts turned back, -loose green knickerbockers, white stockings, black broad-brimmed -hats, looped up on one side, and shoes with rosettes. In the buff -belts were long rapiers and fixing daggers, while a collar of -bandoliers was worn across the chest. - -William III. ordained in 1698, "that no person whatsoever should -presume to wear scarlet or red cloth for livery, except such as are -in His Majesty's service, or the Guards," yet, for all that, scarlet -was, and is still, the livery of more than one noble family in -Scotland. - -The 3rd, or Kentish Buffs, were so called from the circumstance of -their being the first corps whose accoutremeuts were made of leather -prepared from the hide of the buffalo. Their waistcoats, breeches, -and facings were, however, all of the same buff colour in 1665, -according to Captain Grose. For nearly the same reason, the 31st, or -Huntingdonshire Foot, raised in 1702, call themselves the "Young -Buffs." In the Army List, the 78th Highlanders are styled the -Ross-shire Buffs; and in some old lists, the 56th, or West Essex -Regiment, raised in 1755, figured by their pet name of _Pompadours_, -their facings being then, as now, purple, the favourite colour of -Madame's gown and fontange. While on the subject of uniform and -equipment, we may mention that in the Memoirs of Sergeant Donald -Macleod, "who having returned wounded, with the corpse of General -Wolfe, was admitted an out-pensioner of Chelsea in 1759, and is now* -in his 103rd year," we have an absurd statement to the effect, that -when he enlisted in the 1st Royal Scots, "as a boy in the Scottish -service under King William III.," they were accoutred with steel -caps, bows and arrows (?). He might as well have added scalp locks -and war paint. Singular to say, this nonsense has been reproduced by -Miss Strickland in her Life of Queen Anne. Long prior to the time -given, the regiment wore its orthodox red coat, faced and lined with -blue, and was armed with good match-lock muskets, the "cocked lunts" -of which revealed their whereabouts, in the dark, to Monmouth's -cavalry on the night before the battle of Sedgemoor. - - -* 1791. Published by Sewell, Cornhill. - - -Of old, the London militia, though all dressed in scarlet, were known -by their facings, and not by numbers. - -In the list of officers, commissioned for the City, on the 24th -December, 1698, we have those of the orange, yellow, white, red, -green, and blue regiments; and concerning these corps the following -interesting proclamation was posted up throughout London, when the -Highlanders under Prince Charles were advancing on Derby. - -"Notice is hereby given, that every officer and soldier in the six -regiments of militia, without waiting for beat of drum, or any other -notice, do, immediately on hearing the said signals, repair with -their arms and the usual quantity of powder and ball, to their -respective rendezvous; the red regiment upon Tower-hill, the _green_ -regiment in Guildhall-yard, the _yellow_ in St. Paul's Churchyard, -the _white_ at the Royal Exchange, the _blue_ in Old Fish-street, and -the _orange_ in West Smithfield."* - - -* In 1759 this corps was ordered by its Colonel to adopt blue -clothing. - - -It is hence that in Foote's humorous farce, "The Mayor of Garratt," -Major Sturgeon is made to say that he had served under Jeffery -Dunstable, knight, Lord Mayor of London, and Colonel of the _yellow_. - -Prince Charles Edward was partial to the national uniform, and -frequently wore it. He is represented in red, in the miniature which -he gave to his secretary, Murray of Broughton, one of nine painted on -copper, as gifts to his principal adherents. His Life Guards, under -Lord Elcho, wore blue faced with red; but, in his small and gallant -army, the Duke of Perth's regiment, wore scarlet uniforms. (Vide -Spalding Club Miscell., vol. i.) - -A scarlet uniform worn by Cardinal York, before he took holy orders, -and probably when he commanded a body of French and Irish troops at -Dunkirk, in 1745, is now preserved at Inzievar House, Fifeshire, -having been preserved by Edgar of Keithwick, who was long attached to -the last of the Stuarts, in the capacity of secretary. - -Like the light cavalry, most of the militia corps would seem to have -been originally dressed in blue. According to an old ballad, the -Lothian regiment were so clad at the Battle of Bothwell-bridge in -1679. - -The uniform of the first-named force has frequently varied. In 1784, -the clothing of the 17th, and similar corps, was changed from scarlet -to blue. They wore blue in the Peninsula, and in 1830 were clad in -scarlet again, when the moustache, which they and other corps had -adopted, was ordered to be shaved off. (Records of the 17th Lancers.) - -The old Scottish Guard of the French kings wore hoquetons of white, -"in token of their unspotted fidelity," but the other Scottish troops -in the French service, the Gendarmes Écossais, who took precedence of -all the household troops, and the Infanterie Écossais, which took -rank after the 12th regiment of the old French line, wore blue, while -scarlet was the dress of the Irish brigades of the Louis' in later -years. - -Our Chasseurs Brittaniques, a foreign corps, consisting in some -instances, of deserters from every army in Europe, wore the national -uniform, and thus, when on duty, frequently caused confusion and -mistakes by their ignorance of the English language. - -In 1742, the coats and breeches of the line were tightened, and the -hats were looped up on three sides, and in that year, the 7th, or -South British Fusiliers, and the 21st, or North British Fusiliers, -figured in the high conical cap which came into vogue with the -Prussian tactics. Their coats had no collars, the skirts were -buttoned back and faced with blue. Numbers were first put on the -coat buttons in 1767. - -Red and yellow being, as we have stated, the royal livery of -Scotland, the facings of Scottish regiments have generally been of -the latter colour, and many that now wear blue, had yellow when first -embodied. - -The whole infantry of the East India Company wore the national -colour, and it is greatly to be regretted that, on the commencement -of our Volunteer movement, the Government did not enforce the -adoption of scarlet, instead of permitting the endless varieties of -silly colours and costumes now worn by many corps throughout the -United Kingdom. - -The statistics of European wars show us that the French, who are clad -in _blue_, suffered a greater loss in proportion than the British, -who wear _red_, when under fire. An old Peninsula officer, whose -letter is before us, mentions, "When our Light Company, and the -company of the 60th Rifles (green), attached to our brigade, were -skirmishing on the same ground (against the enemy), the latter lost -more than we did, although composed chiefly of Germans, who are -proverbially cautious skirmishers. This is an important subject. I -saw, at the Battle of Vittoria, the wonderful effect of the imposing -appearance of the British line on the enemy. After they had been -driven from their position and completely scattered, many glorious -attempts were made by their officers to rally them on some heights -behind the ridge on which our line was advancing. It became an -object with the officer commanding the Light Companies, which were -scattered in pursuit, to get them arrayed for the attack of a column -which formed on one of those heights at some distance in our front, -and thus became a rallying point to the thousands who were flying -from the ridge in helpless confusion. - -"Before we had a sufficient number of the pursuers collected to -attack this formidable column, it broke and bolted, its soldiers -disappearing among the racing mobs who threw away their arms and fled -towards the Pyrenees. While wondering what had caused so sudden a -panic among men who, but a moment before, seemed ready to adhere -until death to their officers, we--the skirmishers--looked back to -the ridge, and saw a sight which I shall never forget. The whole -British line crowned the mountains, from wing to wing, looking like a -wall of fire, their bayonets glittering in the sun, as they moved -steadily, silently, and presenting a glorious picture of power and -order. This sight it was which struck the enemy to the heart, and -made him fly from his new position in sudden panic. No army, -although double the number, if clad in sombre uniform, could ever -make such an appearance, or produce such an effect as this."* - - -* At the commencement of the Volunteer movement, this letter was -addressed to the author of this paper, who was then actively engaged -in the formation of a corps now wearing grey. - - -Our uniforms have frequently varied according to the climate in which -corps have been stationed. The kilt has generally proved too warm -for Indian service, and white trousers are substituted. In the -Caffre war the 74th Highlanders wore short dark blouses, tartan -tunics, and hummal bonnets, _i.e._, without feathers. In Canada the -King's Dragoon Guards lately wore busbies of fur, blue pea-jackets, -and long boots lined with sheepskin in winter. The Ashanti uniform -is still remembered. - -Save the Blues, all our cavalry wore scarlet, until the middle of -George III.'s reign, when blue was adopted for the Light corps; but -silver-grey, with red facings, was worn by all dragoons, while -serving in India, until 1820. Eleven years after, scarlet was -resumed for all corps except the Horse Guards and Hussars; but blue -was ordered again for all Lancers and Light Dragoons in 1840. - -Blue has always been worn by the Royal Regiment of Artillery, which -was first embodied in England in the year 1750, by Colonel William -Belford, who commanded that arm of the service at the battle of -Culloden, four years before. The facings, vests, and breeches were -all scarlet. - -Hussars were first introduced in our service in 1793, and Lancers -after the battle of Waterloo; but so early as 1794 we had a corps of -Lancers, named the British Uhlans, formed out of the remains of the -French Royalist army, and which, with the Hussars of Choiseul, Salm, -and Rohan, perished in the fatal expedition to Quiberon in 1796. - -Uniform has ever been considered a badge alike of honour and service; -thus, in the _Gazette_ for June, 1867, we find that Her Majesty was -graciously pleased to permit a retired Captain of the Edinburgh, or -Queen's Own Regiment of Militia, "to retain his rank and _wear his -uniform_ in consideration of his long service in that corps." - -We have had the pleasure of knowing more than one brave veteran -officer, who treasured affectionately "the old red rag," in which he -had followed Picton, Grahame, or the Iron Duke, and in which he had -been wounded on the glorious fields of Spain or in the crowning -victory of Waterloo; and in every age there has been some eccentric -enthusiast who stuck manfully to fashions that had departed. - -In 1808, many an old officer would as soon have cut off his head as -his pigtail when the Horse Guards ordered the army to be shorn of -that remarkable appendage. Old Sir Thomas Dalyell, of Binns (first -Colonel of the Scots Greys), who rode yearly to London to kiss the -hand of King Charles II., adhered to the close-sleeved doublet of the -days of James VI. This, with his portentous vow-beard (which he had -sworn never to cut after the execution of Charles I), "when he was in -London never failed to draw after him a great crowd of boys, who -constantly attended him at his lodgings, and followed him with huzzas -as he went to Court and returned from it. As he was a man of humour, -he would always thank them for their civilities when he left them at -the door to go to the King, and would let them know exactly at what -hour he intended to come out again and return to his lodgings." -(Memoirs of Captain Crichton, the Cavalier Trooper.) - -General Preston, who commanded the same regiment in the Seven Years' -War, and who died colonel of it, at Bath in 1785, was the last -British officer who wore a buff coat. An officer who served with him -records that at the capture of Zerenberg, Preston received more than -a dozen of sword-cuts, which fell harmlessly on his "buff-jerkin." - -Old Colonel Charles Donellan, who commanded the 48th, and was wounded -at Talavera (mortally, we believe), was the last officer who adhered -to the antique three-cornered Nivernois hat; and there was a General -Cameron, in the same campaign, who adhered to the Highland bonnet, -and never would adopt the cocked hat. - -At Dettingen, George II. appeared in the same red coat which he had -worn when serving under Marlborough. Thackeray says, "On public -occasions he always displayed the hat and coat he wore on the famous -day of Oudenarde, and the people laughed, but kindly, at the odd old -garment, for bravery never goes out of fashion." At Minden, in 1759, -we find the luckless Lord George Sackville leading the cavalry in the -same red coat which he had worn as a youth at Fontenoy; and the same -sentiment has prevailed in the humbler ranks of the service. - -An aged soldier, named Robert Ferguson, who died at Paisley in 1811, -in his ninety-seventh year, preserved to the last, as a precious -relic, the old red coat of the 22nd Foot (Handysides, wherein -Sterne's father was a captain), in which he had been wounded at the -battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy, just as future years may see some -veteran preserving the faded and perhaps blood-stained tunic which he -wore with Raglan at Sebastopol, or with Havelock at Lucknow. - -We have thus attempted to trace the history of that scarlet uniform, -which is so inseparably connected with the past, the present, and the -future glory of the British Isles. It is the garb which first fires -the enthusiasm and ambition of our youth, and is ever kindly and -affectionately remembered by our white-haired veterans in old age, -for there is something almost filial in the emotion with which an old -soldier recalls the uniform, the facings, and badges of his regiment, -whatever its number might have been, from the 1st Royal Scots to the -Rifle Brigade. There is not a battle-field, honourable to Britain, -or a portion of the globe where our drums have beaten, but where it -has formed the shroud of many a noble and gallant heart--so all -honour, say we, to "the old Red Coat, that tells the tale of -England's glory!" - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -FURTHER NOTES ON ITS HISTORY AND ON REGIMENTALS. - -In the preceding chapter, the origin of the British uniform was -plainly deduced from the fact of scarlet being the Royal livery alike -of England and of Scotland, and hence its adoption as a general -national colour. To these notes we purpose to add a few more on the -gradual progress of badges and distinctions in the service. - -The red cross of St. George was the general badge of England from the -Crusades, till the time of Edward IV., and by an act of the Scottish -Parliament passed in 1385, during the reign of Robert III., every -soldier was ordained "to wear a white St. Andrew's Cross on his back -and breast, which, if his surcoat was white, was to be broidered on a -circle or square of black cloth." - -In the time of Henry VIII., a red St. George's cross on a white -surcoat was adopted as the distinguishing badge of English troops; -and in an order to raise men for the service of Mary I., in the -northern counties, she directs, that "they be clothed in whyt, with -redde-crosses on ye arme, in ye olde maner." - -These red crosses were destined to figure soon after, at the battle -of Ancrum in 1544, when, as the ballad has it, the stream - - "Ran red with English blood, - For the Douglas true and the bold Buccleugh, - 'Gainst keen Lord Evers stood." - - -When the English were routed, 700 Scottish outlaws of broken border -clans, who had joined them, threw aside their red crosses, and -joining their countrymen, made a merciless slaughter of the fugitives -with axe and spear, shouting to each other the while, "Remember -Broomhouse!" - -Love of the sanguinary colour seems to have spread rapidly, and so, -as some one has it, "no true Englishman can either fight, or hunt, to -his satisfaction, save in a red coat," but badges were speedily added -thereto. - -Stowe records in his Survey of London, that "Robert Neville, Earl of -Warwick, with 600 men all in red jackets, embroidered with _ragged -staves_ before and behind, was lodged in Warwicke Lane; in whose -house there was oftentimes six oxen eaten at a breakfast, and every -tavern was full of his meat, for he that had any acquaintance in that -house, might have as much of sodden or roasted meat as he could prick -and carry away on a long dagger." - -The proposal that the medical officers of all European armies should -wear one great distinguishing badge, by which their profession might -be known, is not a new one, for we find Ralph Smith, in the time of -Elizabeth, after telling us that military "surgeons should be men of -sobrietie, of good conscience, and skillfull in that science, able to -heal all scars and wounds, especially to take out a pellet, &c., must -wear their Baldricke, whereby they may be known in time of slaughter, -as it is their charter in the field." - -In this reign the Cavalry wore scarlet cloaks; but in the stirring -times of Cromwell, with red and blue, a reddish-brown was much used -by both horse and foot; hence he says in one of his letters, "I had -rather have a plain russet-coated captain, that knoweth what he -fights for, and loves what he knowes, than that which you call 'a -gentleman,' and is nothing else." - -Of all the colours for uniforms, the most absurd were some of those -adopted by our Rifle Volunteers, in their too wary desire to be -unseen. A battalion of the Italian Legion, raised during the Crimean -war, was clad in silver grey; and it was admitted by all competent -judges to be the colour best adapted for riflemen, and, moreover, -when handsomely laced and trimmed, it was very becoming. This was -the favourite colour of the Indian Light Cavalry. - -When contrasted with the tight tunics, tiny shackos, and plain -trousers of the present day, the equipment of a corps of the last, or -the preceding century, in its amplitude and variety, must have -presented a very different and very picturesque aspect. On the 8th, -or King's Own Regiment, being raised for King James, by Richard, Lord -Ferrars, the captains were armed with pikes, the lieutenants with -partisans, the ensigns with half-pikes, the sergeants with halberds; -thirty rank and file of each company were pikemen, seventy-three were -musketeers, and all carried swords. The waistcoats and breeches were -yellow; the uniform, scarlet lined with yellow; the stockings and -cravats white; the hats were _à la_ cavalier, turned up on one side, -and ornamented with flowing yellow ribbands. (Records 8th Foot.) - -Ten years before this time, each company consisted of thirty pikes, -sixty muskets, and ten men armed with light fusils, and "the tallest -men were always culled out as pikemen." (_Bruce on Military Law_, -1717.) - -The following description of a deserter, from the 22nd Foot, in those -days, is rather amusing, as to costume:-- - -"Run away, out of Captain Soames' Company, in his Grace the Duke of -Norfolk's regiment of Infantry, quartered at Newport, in Shropshire; -Roger Curtis, a barber surgeon, a little man with short black hair, a -little curled; round visage, fresh-coloured, in a light coloured -coat, with gold and silver buttons, red plush breeches and white hat; -he lived formerly at Downham Market, in Norfolk. Whoever will give -notice to Francis Baker, agent to the said regiment, in Hatton -Garden, so that he may be secured, shall have two guineas reward."* - - -* "London Gazette," 1689. - - -A spectator of the Camp of the Household Brigade, on Putney Heath, in -October, 1694, describes the three regiments of Guards as wearing -scarlet, of course; the 1st, faced with blue; the 2nd, or -"Cole-stream," with green; the 3rd Scots, with white; the officers -being distinguished by white scarves worn over the left shoulder, and -fringed with the colour of the regimental facings. The Holland -Regiment (Buffs), are described as wearing red, faced with -flesh-colour; the Queen's or Tangier Regiment, red, faced with -sea-green; the Lord Admiral's Regiment of Marines, raised in 1664 -(and afterwards incorporated by William III., with the 2nd Foot -Guards), in doublets and breeches of yellow. - -Until the reign of Her present Majesty, red was worn by all the -drummers and buglers of the regiment of Artillery; but although, from -the earliest period, it was deemed the great national colour of our -forces, it is somewhat remarkable that it was not adopted by the -English or Irish Militia, until the year 1759, and a song of that -period begins:-- - - "Ye mounseers, give ear, we have nothing to fear, - For the Militia are now clothed in RED, Sirs! - They have hearts that are stout and will never give out, - With Rockingham bold at their head, sirs! - You may brag and may boast, upon your own coast, - And parade it from Dunkirk to Calais; - But have a care now, how you venture too far, - In your flat-bottomed boats to make sallies." - - -Long denied a militia force, in dread of Jacobite influences, -Scotland had none from 1746 till the close of the last century, when, -ten years after the death of her "Bonnie Prince Charlie," ten -battalions were raised, and their colours and insignia (most of which -are now deposited in the Castle of Edinburgh) were designed by the -Court of the Lyon King of Arms, then Robert, Earl of Kinnoull, with -whom the applications for such were lodged. - -In our former chapter, the uniforms of the Irish and Scottish -regiments which belonged to the French Line, during the last century, -were referred to. These corps (according to the "Liste Historique -des Troupes de France," 1758,) were numbered as the 92nd, 93rd, 94th, -98th (Gardes de Jacques II.), 99th, and 109th, all Irish; the 107th -Royal Écossais under the Duke of Perth, and the 113th Écossais under -Lieutenant-General Lord Ogilvie, who died in Scotland in 1803. - -The two Scottish regiments wore coats and vests of blue, and their -hats were bound with gold. All their Irish brother exiles wore -scarlet, with white vests generally, and carried on their colours -black or yellow crosses, with the "Couronne d'Angleterre," which had -no braver or more bitter enemies, as the terrible day of Fontenoy -attested; and where they seem to have acted true to the spirit of the -Fenian song: - - "Oh, if the colour we must wear. - Is England's cruel red, - Let it remind us of the blood - That Ireland has shed!" - -And when our troops landed at Cancalle Bay in 1758, they were -surprised to find themselves stoutly opposed by entire battalions in -scarlet; and no wonder was it that they were so, for it was the Irish -Brigade, whose ranks were manned and officered by the sons and -grandsons of the adherents of King James, the same gallant Irish -Brigade which was welcomed to the British Establishment in 1794, and, -unfortunately, was soon after reduced. - -In our service, the White Horse of Hanover is borne on the colours of -the 3rd Dragoons, the 7th, 14th, 23rd, and 27th Foot, &c. This badge -is as old in history as the Welsh Dragon of the 10th Hussars and 12th -Lancers, having been the ancient cognisance of Saxony or -Westphalia,--a White Horse, on a field _gules_--borne for centuries -by the House of Brunswick. Henry the Proud, Duke of Bavaria, in -consequence of his marriage in 1123, with Gertrude, the lineal -descendant of Wittekind, last of the Saxon Kings, assumed the -armorial bearing of that Sovereign, if a barbarian so weak and savage -deserve the title. The banner of Wittekind originally bore a black -horse, which, on his compulsory conversion to Christianity, under the -sword of Charlemagne, was changed to white, as emblematic of his new -and purer faith. Hence our White Horse of Hanover and its motto _Nec -Aspera Terrent_, which appears on the colours of the regiments above -mentioned. It made its appearance in our service about the same time -as the hideous black leather cockade, so long retained in loyal -opposition to the White Rose of the Stuarts, and which is seen now -only on the hats of footmen. - -But the badge borne for the longest period in succession by the same -unbroken body of men, is undoubtedly the St. Andrew's Cross of the -1st Royals, who represent alike the Scottish Guard of St. Louis (the -comrades of "Quentin Durward" under Louis XI.), and the Green Brigade -of Scots, who served Gustavus Adolphus, a corps whose almost fabulous -antiquity was long a jest in the French service, as well as our own, -being twitted in both as the Guards of Pontius Pilate, who slept on -their post. - -A very remarkable instance of love of the "Old Red Coat" occurred -when the Scots Greys marched from Carlisle in April, 1766. A -troop-quartermaster named Robert Mackenzie, then in his eighty-eighth -year, was left behind, totally prostrated by age and infirmity. He -was born in Scotland in 1688, had joined the Greys in 1705, when Lord -John Hay was colonel, and was proverbially known as "the oldest -soldier in the service." - -The sound of the trumpets had scarcely died away homeward on the -north road, when the hand of death came on the old enthusiast, and -feeling that the hour of his dissolution was come, he insisted on -being clad in his full uniform, his boots were drawn on, his sword -girt about him, and thus accoutred, he expired, of sheer -"disappointment at his inability to proceed. He was carried to his -grave by six invalids; the pall being supported by six sergeants of -recruiting parties in the town, and the Cumberland Militia fired six -platoons at his interment." - -An old enthusiast of a similar kind, though of higher rank, was the -amiable General Charles O'Hara, the comrade of Granby and Ligonier, -Lieutenant-Colonel of the 22nd, somewhere before 1788, and who, in -the first year of the present century, died Governor of Gibraltar. -He was the last British officer who adhered to the uniform of the -Minden days, and to that remarkable style of cocked hat introduced by -the great Austrian Marshal, with its tall straight feather and large -black rosette on the dexter side; hence O'Hara was known in the -service as "the last of the Kevenhullers." - -At Gibraltar "he was buried with all the honours due to his rank," -wrote an officer of the 29th, who was present. "I had never before -seen the funeral of a general officer. There was his horse--the -well-known charger oh which we had so often seen him mounted--bearing -the boots and spurs of his departed master; on the coffin lay other -mournful insignia, the sword, the sash, and not the least prominent -memorial, the Kevenhuller hat, with its tall, unbending feather, and -I gazed on it for the last time." - -He was succeeded in his command by the father of her present Majesty. - -But in the quaint adherence to the costume of a past age, there are -few cases like one recorded by O'Keefe, the player, whose -recollections were published in 1826, and who mentions that in his -day, there was an aged captain, John Desbrissay, who walked about the -streets of Dublin, "unremarked," in the Cavalier dress of the reign -of Charles II. This, however, was before the time of the notorious -Wilkes. This eccentric veteran lived in Corkhill, Dublin, and his -name appears in the Army Lists for 1747, as agent for the 5th Horse, -5th Royal Irish Dragoons, 12th Foot, and several other corps -stationed in Dublin. - -County designations were not given until 1786, but numbers had been -introduced, and badges, pretty generally adopted for all corps of -Horse and Foot, on their colours, buttons, or belt-plates, prior to -the first year of George the Third's reign. - -In 1759, when Colonel John Hale (who came to London with the news of -Wolfe's fall, and the conquest of Canada) raised the 17th Light -Dragoons (now Lancers), it was ordered that "on the front of the -men's caps, and on the left breast of their uniform, there was to be -a death's head and cross-bones over it, and under the motto, 'or -glory;'" and this grim device (the badge of the famous Black -Brunswickers in later times) they still retain, like the old -Pomeranian Horse, who, since the days of Gustavus Adolphus, have worn -skulls and cross-bones on their high fur caps, and in Sweden are now -known as the King's Own Hussars. - -It was not until 1764 that the swords of the Grenadiers were -abolished, and the arms of the foot soldier were confined to the -musket and bayonet; and it was in that year when the officers and men -of our cavalry first wore the epaulette (in lieu of the old -aiguilette) on the left shoulder; at the same time, the jack-boots -were abolished, and the horses were ordered to have long tails. The -8th Light Dragoons, however, had long the peculiar favour of wearing -cross-belts for the pouch and sword. Having annihilated a corps of -Spanish Horse at Almenara in 1710, and equipped themselves with the -Spanish belts as trophies, they wore them in memory of that event -until January, 1776, when they were abolished, and, at the same time -the helmets were substituted for the cocked hats.*--("Records, 4th -and 8th Hussars.") - - -* It was in 1794 that the Blues resumed for a time the cuirasses, -which the Corps had not worn since their march to Salisbury in 1688. - - -Singularly enough, the 90th Light Infantry (still affectionately -remembered in Scotland as Sir Thomas Graham's Perthshire Greybreeks), -when serving under Abercrombie, in Egypt, wore helmets of brass, and -being taken for dismounted Dragoons, were vigorously charged by the -French cavalry at the battle of Alexandria. In the _mêlée_, their -Lieutenant-Colonel, old Lord Hill of gallant memory, received a ball -on his helmet, which brought him to the ground, though it failed to -penetrate the brass metal, of which it was composed. - -In these brief memoranda on uniforms and equipment, to enter -elaborately on the dress of our Highland regiments, or its antiquity -and advantages, would take up too much space. - -Apart from written history, song, or tradition, there are in Scotland -many records of vast age carved in stone, such as the Cross at -Dupplin and the tomb at Nigg--both works prior to the eighth -century,--which represent the Caledonian Warriors kilted to the knee, -exactly like our Highland regiments now; and on the last-named -memorial, the figure has a purse or sporran. - -The first regiments of Highlanders embodied were two battalions -raised, among other Scottish levies, by the government of Mary Queen -of Scots, in 1552, to aid Henry II. of France in his wars. Each man -would seem to have provided his own kilt or tartans, as the Scottish -Privy Council ordain that they shall be "substantiouslie accompturit, -with jack and plait, steilbonett, sword and buckler, new hose and new -doublett of canvouse, at the least, and sleeves of plait or splints, -with one speir of sax ell long or thereby." These men were chiefly -drawn from the same glens, and by the same noble family, which in -later years enrolled the 92nd Gordon Highlanders of Egyptian and -Peninsular fame. - -The early Highland corps were remarkably jealous of any alteration or -innovation in their costume, real or fancied, and hence a dangerous -mutiny broke out among the West Fencibles, in Edinburgh Castle, in -1778, in consequence of some changes that were proposed, particularly -in the adoption of a cartridge-box, which they oddly alleged "no -Highland regiment had ever worn before." A portion of the battalion -was ultimately surrounded on Leith Links (where they had flung their -pouches mutinously at the feet of the General), and compelled, by the -10th Light Dragoons, to adopt them at the point of the sword; but the -remainder in the Castle broke out into open revolt, raised the -drawbridge, and threatened to turn the guns on the city; nor did the -matter end, until one Fencible was sentenced to be shot, and another -to receive a thousand lashes, punishments which were, however, -commuted. - -In the following year occurred the dangerous mutiny at Leith, when -seventy recruits for the 42nd and 71st, on a rumour being -mischievously spread that they had been betrayed into a Lowland -corps, which wore trousers, fought with the South Fencibles, till -forty-five of them were shot down and bayonetted. - -In 1811 we had two Greek regiments raised in the Ionian Isles, the -1st and 2nd Light Infantry, which were kilted, and wore the full -Albanian costume. - -All these various distinctions in uniform, badges, and insignia which -we have briefly noted, and others, such as the Sphinx of Egypt, the -Tiger of India, the Lion of Nassau, the Dragon of China, the Eagle of -France, the Elephant of Assaye,* the Castle and Key of Gibraltar -(_Montis insignia Calpe_), and all the other noble emblems borne on -the colours of our various regiments, are the historical HERALDRY of -the service, and are worthy of the highest consideration. - - -* The 74th and 78th Highland Regiments are entitled to carry a third -colour for Assaye. The antelope was bestowed on the 6th Foot, in the -war of the Spanish Succession, with the motto _vi et armis_, which -they seem to have relinquished till 1878, though it used to be -painted on the knapsacks, as on an old one possessed by the Corps in -1825, remained to testify. The Scots Greys, who forgot their old -motto "SECOND TO NONE," resumed it in 1871. The origin of it seems -scarcely known; but Colonel Darby Griffith, who so gallantly led the -Greys at the battles of Balaclava, Inkermann, and the Tchernaya, in a -letter to the author on the subject, says, "It is well authenticated -that the Greys were raised in Scotland before the 1st Dragoons were -raised in England, as also were the Coldstream before the Grenadier -Guards. The English Regiments were accorded the No. 1, as taking -precedence; but as a kind of atonement, both the Coldstream and the -Scots Grey have the motto 'SECOND TO NONE.' Aldershot, 15th May, -1865." - - -They are eminently calculated to produce the _esprit de corps_, a -just pride and honourable rivalry; and, by the past glories they -represent, to inspire in our army that heroic virtue of which the -elder Pitt spoke so eloquently in Parliament, when he said of our -troops, in the debate upon pay:-- - -"To the virtue of the British Army we have hitherto trusted; to that -virtue, small as the army is, we must still trust; and without that -virtue, the Lords, the Commons, and the people of England may -intrench themselves behind parchment up to the teeth; but the sword -will find a passage to the vitals of the constitution!" - -Hence it is, that even the lace, the buttons, and other insignia of a -corps are so carefully shorn from the uniform of the unhappy soldier -who is disgraced, and rendered incapable of bearing arms again; and -when writing of those things, perhaps we cannot do better than close -this article by an anecdote which records one of the most startling -instances of wholesale disgrace that ever occurred in a European army. - - - -THE DEGRADATION OF THE REGIMENT OF ABO. - -In all armies corps have frequently been punished _en masse_, by -being sent on foreign service or hazardous duty out of their turn, -for the crimes of individuals, for general discontent, or for mutiny. -Some have been exterminated, like the Janizzaries and the Mamelukes; -decimated, like the Chapelgorris, or Red Caps, a battalion, of 800 -Guipuzcoan Volunteers, famous in the army of the Queen of Spain; or, -like that Carlist Regiment, which, for sundry acts of sacrilege, was -formed in line, and had every tenth file, with his coverer, taken out -and shot. - -In the "Art of War, 1720," we are told that during the campaign in -Holland, a captain, and his entire company, belonging to an Italian -regiment, were hanged in line for desertion at Emerich, in the Duchy -of Cleves; and in later times, in our own service, the 6th Royal -Irish Dragoons, a fine old corps, consisting originally of nine -troops, embodied under Colonel James Wynne, in the winter of 1688, -with the Harp and Garter on their colours,--a corps that was brigaded -with the Greys on the extreme right in the campaigns of Marlborough, -and which, after serving with characteristic bravery in all our wars -till those of the French Revolution, was disbanded in 1798 (for -alleged sympathy with the Irish Insurgents), when General Lord -Rossmore was their colonel; and since when, as a mark of the royal -displeasure, their place and number remained vacant in the Army List -for sixty years, until the present 5th Royal Irish Lancers were -embodied in 1858; but in no instance was there ever a wholesale -disgrace inflicted on a corps such as that to which the King of -Sweden, Gustavus III., subjected the unfortunate Regiment of Abo. - -When in the year 1788 he suddenly attacked Russia, victory remained -undecided in a naval engagement between his fleet under the Duke of -Sudermania and that of the Empress under the Scoto-Russian Admiral -Greig, and his nobles who served in the Marine refused to act further -in a war, which seemed to have no cause but the will of the King. -Gustavus was inflamed by this opposition; he wished an object on -which to vent his wrath and pride, and soon found one in the Regiment -of Abo. - -A brief armistice had ensued, during which he summoned a diet at -Stockholm, where, on the 22nd February, 1789, by a preponderance of -three inferior states, a declaration placed in his hands unlimited -power, and he still resolved to prosecute the hopeless war against -Russia. - -In the army, at the head of which he placed himself, was this -Regiment of Finlanders from Abo, a province which comprehends a part -of Eastern Bothnia and the Aland Isles, whose inhabitants are a hardy -and industrious race. The regiment fought with all the hereditary -bravery of the old Finns, and served at the capture of several small -towns; but the arms of Gustavus were unsuccessful by land, where his -measures were disconcerted by an event which he could not have -foreseen. - -After making all his preparations to storm the strong fort and town -of Fredericksham, which had been ceded to the Empress Elizabeth in -1743, and the repossession of which would have opened to him the -gates of the Russian capital, his officers, and chiefly those of the -Finnish Regiment of Abo, flatly refused to pass the frontier, -alleging as a reason, "that the constitution of the Swedish kingdom -would not permit them to be accessory to foreign war which the nation -had not sanctioned." - -This put an end to what was named the Finland Expedition; it gave the -enemy time to put themselves in a perfect state of defence, and -filled Gustavus with fresh fury; but despite the attempts of the -Russians to intercept him, he reached Borgo, an old seaport in the -district of Nyeland, where he established his headquarters, and where -his first act was to assemble the whole Swedish Army, under arms, on -the 8th of June, 1789, in front of the town, and along the margin of -the river, which there flows into the Gulf of Finland. - -A hollow square of contiguous close columns of Horse, Dragoons and -Infantry was then formed; the whole were ordered to prime and load -with ball-cartridge. The Artillery were unlimbered and loaded with -round and cannister shot, in case of resistance, though none, save a -very few, knew precisely what was about to ensue. - -Then the fated Regiment of Abo, which had taken so marked a part in -the defection before Fredericksham, was marched in a solid close -column of companies into the centre of this vast hollow square, with -its colours flying; and a hum of expectation and surprise, not -unmixed with dismay, pervaded the whole assembled masses. - -By Gustavus, a king whose ruling passions were heroism and -selfishness, vanity and ambition, they were ordered to "ground their -arms," which were at once taken away, with all their swords, -bayonets, and accoutrements. - -They were then ordered to strip off their regimental coats, and -appear in their shirts and breeches. The officers were deprived of -their epaulettes and commissions, and were cashiered on the spot. - -Their colours were then rent from the poles and torn to pieces, the -poles being broken under foot, while the drums were defaced by -persons appointed to do so. - -The whole battalion then passed from the right of companies out of -the hollow square by single files, while a general hiss was -maintained by the whole army until the last man had quitted it; and -the united sound of this unpleasant expression of contempt rising -into the still air, by the sea-shore, is said to have had a very -singular and remarkable effect on those who heard it. - -Though thus broken up and disbanded, the Corps was not set adrift; -for the whole of the privates were drafted into the different -battalions of the Artillery, and long after the fiery Gustavus had -perished by the hand of the regicide Ankerström, it was a bitter -taunt in the Swedish army to have belonged to "the degraded Regiment -of Abo." - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -FAMOUS AND ANCIENT BANNERS. - -In all ages and in all armies, the greatest veneration has ever been -manifested by soldiers for their ensigns and standards, as being the -veritable representation and embodiment of the national glory and -honour, or it might be of a righteous cause. In the ages of -classical antiquity, the religious care taken of these emblems was -extraordinary. The soldiers worshipped them, and swore by them, as -some European troops still do. The Roman Legionaries incurred -certain death if they lost them in battle; and Livy tells us, that to -animate them, the standards were sometimes thrown among the enemy, -that they might be recaptured at all hazards. - -In all armies at the present day, regimental standards are -consecrated by a religious ceremony, have the highest military -honours paid to them, and when too old for use, are solemnly -deposited in a church, or sometimes burned, or buried with all the -honours of war; and by the Queen's Regulations (Section VII.) are -finally marched from their last parade, to the air of "Auld lang -Syne." - -Among the most famous banners of antiquity, may be enumerated the -Labaram of Constantine, the Oriflamme of France, those of Otho IV., -of Philip Augustus, of Bayard, Joan of Arc, and Mahomet. - -Like most ancient banners, the origin of the Labaram was alleged to -be miraculous, and surrounded by fables, though the reign of -Constantine was so glorious, that it required not the meretricious -aid of prodigy. When on his march against Maxentius, he is said to -have seen in the heavens a cross of flame like the Greek letter X -inverted in the form of a square cross, and in Greek around it, the -words _Conquer by this_. Eusebius further relates, that next night, -the Saviour appeared to him, and ordered him to make a military -standard, in the form of the cross he had seen, which he did, and was -always successful in war. Its name has not unfrequently been written -Laborum, to signify that the cross should put an end to the _labours_ -and persecutions of the Christians; and it was supposed the guards to -whom this miraculous banner was intrusted, were always invulnerable -in battle. - -At the battle of Bouvines, the imperial standard of Otho IV., like -that of the English--the banner of St. John of Beverley on the field -of Northallerton--was hoisted from a frame, raised on four wheels. -Upon it was painted a dragon, above which was a gilded eagle. On -that day the royal standard of France was a gilded staff, with a -white silk colour, powdered with fleurs-de-lis, which had become the -national arms. "The old crowns of the kings of Lombardy," says -Voltaire, "of which there are very exact prints in Muratori, are -mounted with this ornament, which is nothing more than the head of a -spear, tied with two other pieces of crooked iron." - -The banner used by the Chevalier Bayard, when he gallantly took -command of Mézieres, and defended it against 40,000 Spaniards under -Charles V., is still preserved in the Hôtel de Ville of that place. - -Joan of Arc, bore with her in all her battles and sieges a -consecrated banner, which was believed to be miraculous, and was -revered as holy. It was white silk, and bore a figure representing -the Supreme Being, grasping the world, and surrounded by -fleurs-de-lis. Clad in white armour, with this standard in her -hands, she entered Orleans on the 29th of April, 1429, in the face of -a vastly superior English force, and lodged it with herself, in the -house of Jacques Bouchier. She had previously declared, at the -moment when Dunois, repulsed, was sounding the retreat, that when her -standard touched the city wall, the assailants should enter. "It was -touched. The assailants burst in. On the next day the siege was -abandoned and the force which had conducted it withdrew in good order -to the north." Joan bore this standard, also, at the capture of -Jargeau, when Suffolk was taken prisoner and his garrison put to the -sword, and it was in her hand, at her crowning glory, the coronation -of Charles VII. at Rheims. She stood with it before the high altar, -says Lord Mahon. "It had shared the danger," she observed, "and it -had a right to share the honour."--(Monstrelet, &c.) - -When tried as a witch and heretic by the Bishop of Beauvais and other -tools of the English, they asked her "why she put trust in her -standard, which had been consecrated by magical incantation?" But -she replied that she put trust alone in the Supreme Being, whose -image was impressed upon it. Then they demanded why she carried in -her hand that standard at the anointment and coronation of Charles at -Rheims; and again she answered, that the person who shared the danger -was entitled to share the glory. - -But the most famous banner in Europe or Asia at one time was -undoubtedly that of the Knights of the Temple. It was formed of -cloth, striped black and white, called in old French _Bauseant_, a -word which became the battle cry of the Templars. It bore on it the -red cross of the order, with the humble and pious inscription, _Non -nobis, Domine, sed nomini tuo, da gloriam_ (Not unto us, O Lord, not -unto us, but to Thy name give the glory!) - -_Bauseant_ was in old French the name for a piebald horse, or a horse -marked black and white (Roquefort-Ducange, &c.); and the word is -still preserved and used in its original sense in Scotland as -_bawsent_, as any reader of Burns's poems may remember. At the -commencement of a battle the Marshal took the standard of the order -from the sub-marshal, and unfurled it in the name of God. He then -named from five to ten of the brotherhood to surround and guard it; -one of these he made a knight-preceptor, who was to keep close by him -with another banner furled on a spear, to be instantly displayed if -any mishap befell the _Bauseant_. In the event of the Christians -being defeated, the Templar, under penalty of expulsion from the -order, was not to quit the field so long as the banner of the order -was flying; should no other red-cross flag be seen, he was at liberty -to join that of the Hospitallers, and was only to retire, as well as -he could, when the _Bauseant_ and every other Christian banner should -have disappeared. - -In "Ivanhoe" Scott spells the name of the banner _Beauseant_. - -In referring to the banner of the Templars, it is impossible to -forget that one so often displayed against the Christians, the -standard of the Prophet Mahomet, the unfurling of which was so -frequently threatened at the commencement of the Russo-Turkish war, a -ceremony which only takes place on gravest emergencies or occasions -of state. - -The origin of this standard is remarkable. When the Prophet lay on -his death-bed at Medina, while his mind was full of his projected -conquest of Syria, he summoned the chiefs of his host around him to -hear his last orders and wishes. While listening to his dying -utterances in silence and awe, Ayesha, the most beautiful and best -beloved of his wives, rushed into the room, and, tearing down a green -curtain which screened one end thereof, threw it before the chiefs, -and desired them to display it as the holy banner of Islam, and this -was actually done in many subsequent wars against the Christians and -others. By some it was said to have been the curtain that hung -before the apartments of Ayesha; and it has been permanently lodged -in the Seraglio at Constantinople, and is generally brought forth on -the occasion of a new sultan being girt with the sword of Osman, or -Othman; but it may shrewdly be doubted whether this banner--the -present _Tanjak-Sherif_--is the same that was unfurled at Bedr, and -which was upheld by nine hundred and fifty of Mahomet's disciples -against the whole power of Mecca, at Ohod, a mountain northward of -Medina, when Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet, fell. - -Though unvarying faith and tradition carry it back to the days of -Mahomet, there can be little doubt that it is the identical banner -which, in 1683, Kara Mustapha, nephew of the great Cuprogli, hoisted -on the walls of Vienna, though that city was not completely -conquered. Its display is always attended with much pomp and -ceremony. When unfurled it is always handed to the Scheik-ul-Islam, -or Grand Mufti, who combines in his own person the supreme power of -the law with the highest office of religion, who mounted on a -caparisoned steed, and, attended by the Sultan, bearing a drawn -scimitar, rides in procession through the streets of Constantinople, -escorted by the _Ulemas_, whose duty it is to proclaim that war has -been declared against the unbelievers. The scheik then assigns it to -the Commander-in-chief, whose duty it is to see that it is always -borne in front in battle. - -It is a veritable banner of blood, denying mercy to man, woman, and -child, on the display of which, as the Koran has it, "the earth will -shake, the mountains sink into dust, the seas blaze with fire, and -the hair of children grow white with anguish;" but for more than -three generations it has never been brought forth in hostility--at -least, not since the Empress Catharine sought to reinstate the -Christian Empire at Constantinople. Upon it is the dubious motto, -"All who draw the sword in the cause of Faith shall be rewarded with -temporal advantages." - -The Turks and Tartars were wont to make use of horses' tails for -their ensigns, and the number of these denoted the rank of their -commanders--the Sultan having seven, and the grand vizier only three, -&c. - -The alleged origin of the holy banner of Persia is curious. It is -said that during a battle which lasted three days between Saade and -Rustam, the usurper--the same who assassinated the reforming Sophi in -1499--the standard of the monarchy was captured, a circumstance that -caused excess of grief on one side and of joy on the other--one party -feeling that their _prestige_ had departed, and the other--that of -the usurper--deeming it a sure presage of future victory. This -war-like relic was simply the leathern apron of a blacksmith, who in -some remote time had been the William Wallace of Persia, for the -mastery of which the Saracens so long contended with the Turks; but -the badge of heroic poverty was disguised, and almost concealed, by -the profusion of gems which covered it. - -Undoubtedly, the banner which had the most distinct and glorious -history was the Oriflamme of France, first adopted in person by Louis -VI. in 1110, and which continued to be borne by the French -sovereigns, in addition to the Royal Standard, down to the time of -Charles VII., and the accounts of which have been entirely overlooked -by British historians and antiquaries. Before the time of Louis VI., -the Comtes de Vexin were bound by the charter of their lands, which -they held of the Abbey of St. Denis, to protect the domains of the -latter, and accordingly, on the approach of any danger or invasion, -they assembled their vassals and appeared before the Abbey, where -they received its banner, or gonfanon, which was borne before them in -battle in defence of the lands of the church. At a later period the -county of Vexin having been annexed to the crown, the kings of France -followed the pious example of the ancient counts, to whom they had -succeeded, and thus, in time, the oriflamme, as a royal standard of -France, supplanted that which had been hitherto borne, the alleged -cloak of St. Martin, of Tours--or rather the half thereof, as, -according to the Bollandists, he gave the other portion to a -shivering beggar at the gate of Amiens. - -He to whom the care of the banner was confided at the head of the -army, had the title of _Porte-Oriflamme_, and had the command of its -chosen guard, noble chevaliers and men-at-arms. He was ever a man of -prudence and approved valour, and his post led to higher honours. We -find in history, under Charles V. of France, a gentleman styled -Marshal of France, who was its bearer. It was an office for life, -and for death too, as his oath obliged him to perish, rather than -abandon the _Oriflamme_. - -Louis IX. lost it on his expedition to Egypt, as it fell, for a time, -into the hands of the infidels; and "the Oriflamme has not been in -use in our armies," says the _Dictionnaire Militaire_, 1758, "since -the English were absolute masters of Paris, after the death of -Charles VI." - -The Oriflamme was of flame-coloured silk--hence its name--uncharged, -and divided at the lower extremity into three portions ending in -green tassels. It was hung from a cross-yard, with two cords of silk -and gold to keep it from swinging in the wind, on the march, or when -in battle. - -The first _named_ in history as its bearer is Anscieu Seigneur de -Chevreuse, in 1294, under Philip le Bel. He had predecessors in the -time of Louis le Gros; but René Moreau is the last who, in 1450, was -commissioned with the real dignity of _Porte-Oriflamme_. Though -usually, till the first Revolution, lodged at St. Denis, it was -occasionally left for a time in the custody of its bearers; hence the -families of D'Harcourt and Beavron long affirmed that they were in -possession of the real Oriflamme, as successors of Pierre de Villiers -de Lisle Adam, who had been its bearer, and whose daughter married -the brave Jean Garencière. - -Louis VII. took it with him in his voyage to the Bosphorus and his -march through Hungary and Thrace. Philip Augustus had it displayed -in 1183, in the war against Philip of Alsace, Count of Flanders; -Galois, Seigneur de Montigne, bore it at the battle of Bouvines, and -Louis VIII. unfurled it in the war against the Albigeois in 1226. - -Louis IX. had it with him in the war against Henry III. of England in -1262, and, as stated, in his crusade against the infidels in Egypt; -De Chevreuse bore it under Philip in 1304; and the bearers were -successively, Raoul, surnamed _Herpin_, Seigneur d'Erquery in 1315; -Miles de Noyers de Vilbertin in 1328; Geoffry Lord of Charny in 1355; -Arnoul d'Andrehon in 1388; the Seigneur de L'Isle Adam in 1372; Sire -de la Trimoille and Guillaume de Bordes in 1383; Pierre d'Aumont, -surnamed _Hutin_, in 1397; and Guillaume Martel de Bocqueville in -1414. - -Louis XI. received the banner from the hands of Cardinal d'Alby in -1465, in the ancient church of St. Catharine _du Val des Écoliers_ at -Paris, prior to the war against the Burgundians, and after that, we -hear no more of the famous Oriflamme, which must have perished at the -sack of St. Denis in 1793; but a modern red-flag supplies its place -behind the altar there, at the present day. - -The so-called Raven-banner of Hubba the Dane, which was captured near -Northam in Devonshire, when he was slain in battle by the Saxons, in -869, and where his tomb is still shown, was simply a stuffed black -bird, probably of the raven species, which remained quiet when defeat -was at hand, but clapped its wings vigorously before a victory. - -The royal ensign of the West Saxons was a golden dragon; and thus we -hear often of the Dragon of Wessex in the fierce old fights during -the time of the Heptarchy. - -It was not until after the Synod of Oxford, in 1220, that the Red -Cross of St. George supplanted the martlets of St. Edward, up to that -date the patron of England. The Scottish Cross of St. Andrew has a -fabulous history exactly similar to that of the _Labaram_ of -Constantine, and dating back to the ninth century; but in neither -England nor Scotland has a banner of any antiquity been preserved, -unless we may enumerate as such the banner given to the citizens of -Edinburgh by Margaret of Oldenburg, Queen of James III., in 1482, and -still preserved there, under the local name of the Blue Blanket, or -Banner of the Holy Ghost, on the displaying of which, not only the -craftsmen of Edinburgh, but those of all Scotland, were bound to -appear in arms, under the Convener of the Trades. The fragment of it -that remains, shows that its colour was blue, crossed by the white -saltire of St. Andrew. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -FAMOUS AND ANCIENT CANNON. - -History shows us that in past ages there has ever and anon been in -most countries a fancy for forging or casting ponderous cannon, even -as there has been often in a spirit of rivalry, a fancy for building -great ships; and the result has very generally been that, in both -instances, there has been a mistake; for the great ships have been -almost invariably cast away, and the great guns have proved useless, -even for battery purpose; and it is not improbable that such may be -the result eventually with our "Woolwich Infants" and our eighty-one -ton guns. - -Though cannon are mentioned as having been used in a sea fight -between a Moorish King of Seville and a King of Tunis in the 13th -century, they first marked the inauguration of a new era in war when -Edward III. of England brought with him to the field of Cressi in -1346, five small pieces, made by whom is quite unknown; but there can -be little doubt that they were constructed in the mode of all early -cannon, of iron bars fitted together, hooped with rings and charged -with stone shot--not iron balls. - -Prior to Cressi, however, cannon had undoubtedly been used in sieges. -In 1338 there was one used at Cambrai from which cross-bows were -discharged, and several small guns of the same kind were used in the -following year at the investment of Quesnoy; again at the siege of -the then Moorish town of Algesiras, near Gibraltar, in 1342; and old -annals tell us of the overwhelming terror their explosion excited -among the enemy. - -Iron balls were first cast in the reign of Louis XI. in 1461; but -stone were in common use for a hundred years later. - -As time went on, cannon, though primitively formed as described, -increased in size that prodigious balls might be expelled from them -against walled places, in imitation of the ancient machine which they -had superseded; thus they soon became of enormous bore, until they -attained the dignity of bombardes, like Mons Meg in Edinburgh Castle; -but the difficulty of managing these pieces, and the growing -knowledge that iron shot of much less weight could be impelled -further by the use of better powder, gradually introduced the cast -metal cannon used at the present day. - -The five little cannon used at Cressi, to the wonder of the French -who had _none_, were doubtless the same that Edward used at the siege -of Calais in the following year. - -In 1366 the Venetians, when besieging a town now named Chioggia in -Lombardy, had with them two small pieces of artillery having leaden -balls, worked by Germans, according to Le Blond's "Elements of War," -dedicated to Louis of Lorraine; and battering guns were used by the -Turks against the Christians at Constantinople in 1394; but the great -bombardes were at their zenith when, in 1451, Mahomet II. began his -march against the same city, with fourteen gigantic guns, which threw -stone shot seventy-eight inches in circumference, weighing 800 lbs. -In the siege, traces of which remain to this day, the Christians are -supposed to have been without cannon, as they omitted to demolish the -great bridge of boats which was constructed by the Turks and conduced -so much to the reduction of the city. - -For more than four centuries the guns of Mahomet II. protected the -Dardanelles--the gate of the Eastern Empire; and, as an old traveller -relates, that as they were shotted when fired on holidays, land was -usually to be had very cheap on the opposite side of the straits. - -Though practically these great pieces of artillery have given place -to Krupp and other guns, they still remain on their old sites; but -cannon of this description can only be discharged with effect when -the object passes their line of fire, as they are not mounted on -carriages but built into a wall. Some of those at the Dardanelles -carry balls 26½ inches in diameter, and lie flat on a paved terrace -near the level of the water, where they opened on our fleet in 1808, -when Admiral Sir John Duckworth forced the passage of the Straits. - -By a granite shot from one of these, when the fleet returned, _H.M.S. -Royal George_ had her whole cutwater carried away; by another, the -mainmast of the Windsor Castle was cut in two like a fishing-rod; -another carried away the wheel of the _Repulse_, at the same moment -killing and wounding twenty-four men, and rendering the ship so -unmanageable, that but for the noble seamanship of her crew, she must -have gone on shore. - -A granite ball burst through the bows of the _Active_, and rolling -aft destroyed all in its career, till it was brought up abreast of -the main hatchway; a second tore away the whole barricade of her -forecastle and fell into the sea to starboard; a third lodged in the -bends abreast of the main-chains, and then tumbled overboard. -("Duckworth's Dispatches," &c.) - -Baron de Tott tells us that he had seen one of these guns, which had -been cast in the reign of Amurath, fired. Its ball weighed eleven -hundredweight, and required a charge of powder amounting to 330 -pounds. At the distance of 800 fathoms he saw this enormous globe -divide into three pieces, which crossed the strait and rebounded from -the rocks opposite. - -One of these guns was sent to Woolwich, in exchange for an Armstrong -breech-loader, and bears the inscription-- - -"_Help o Allah! Mahomet Khan, the son of Murad!_" - - -Louis XII. of France had a bombarde cast which is said to have thrown -a ball of 500 lbs. from the Bastile to Charenton; but the guns of -these times were destitute of trunnions, dolphin-rings, or -breech-buttons. - -Another enormous cannon of Mahomet II. is still to be seen, at -Negroponte, used at its capture by him from the Venetians in 1470. -It defends the south side of Kastro, and is the most remarkable -monument there. - -There is now preserved in the Castle of San Juliao da Barra, ten -miles from Lisbon, a gun that was captured at the siege of Diu, on -the southern coast of Gujirat, in 1546, by a gallant Portugese -cavalier, Dom John de Castro, which is destitute of the appliances -named, and is of some remarkable metal. It bears upon it a Hindoo -inscription, to the effect that it was cast in 1400. It is 20 feet 7 -inches long; its external diameter at the centre is 6 feet 3 inches, -and it discharges a ball one hundredweight. - -In ancient times there was a fondness for bestowing upon these great -guns some peculiar and dignified name. Twelve brass cannon cast in -1503 for Louis XII., being all of remarkable size, he named after the -greatest peers of France. The Spaniards and Portuguese named them -after certain saints; thus, when the Emperor Charles V. departed to -attack Tunis, his bombardes were named after the Twelve Apostles. - -In the Malaga there is still an 80-pounder of great antiquity named -the "Terrible." Two very curious 60-pounders in the arsenal at -Bremen are each named "The Messenger of Bad News;" an 80-pounder at -Berlin, now in the Royal Arsenal, is named "The Thunderer;" at Milan -there is a 70-pounder called the "Pimontelle" (or the little spicer); -and another at Bois le Duc is styled _Le Diable_. A third in the -Castle of St. Angelo at Rome, made of the nails which fastened the -copper-plates composing the roof of the ancient Pantheon, bears upon -it this inscription-- - - "_Ex clavis trabalibus porticus Agrippæ._" - - -Many of the cannon of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were -remarkable for their beautiful and ornate character. A decorated -Spanish cannon now preserved in the Paris Museum, is a fine example -of these florid pieces, which were always cast of brass or mixed -metal. - -Diego Ufano, in his treatise on Artillery, published in 1614, shows -us the metallic mixtures of copper, tin, and brass, and the -proportions of these, then used for cast pieces of cannon. - -The Russian arsenals are very rich in great and ancient cannon and -others of historical interest. - -In front of the first arsenal at the Kremlin, are ranged a wonderful -memorial of Napoleon's terrible retreat from Moscow, in the shape of -no less than 875 pieces of captured ordnance; of these 365 are -French, 189 are Austrian, 123 are Prussian, and the remainder bear -the royal insignia of Italy, Naples, Bavaria, Saxony, Westphalia, -Hanover, Spain, Würtemberg, Holland, and Poland. Many of these (says -Sutherland Edwards) are inscribed with pretentious names that -contrast strongly with their present humble position, such as the -"Invincible," the "Conqueror," the "Eagle," and so forth. In front -of the second arsenal is a wonderful collection of colossal cannon, -ranged in a long line, with the shortest in the centre; thus their -muzzles present a complete arc. The largest of these is a -4800-pounder, weighing, however, only forty tons! It has never been -fired, and is only remarkable as a piece of casting. - -An inscription on it tells that it was cast by the Russian -master-founder named Chokoff, in 1586, by order of the Czar Feodor, -who in that year conquered Siberia (the way to which was discovered -by the Cossack warrior Jermack), and of whom a clever representation, -on horseback, with crown and sceptre, appears close to the muzzle. -Beside it are six other large pieces, the smallest of which weighs -nearly four tons.--("The Russians at Home.") - -About the end of the fifteenth century the following guns were in -universal use:-- - - The Cannon-Royal . . . . . 48 pounder. - " Bastard-Cannon . . . . 36 " - " Half-Carthoun . . . . 24 " - " Culverin . . . . . . . 18 " - " Demi-Culverin . . . . 9 " - " Falcon . . . . . . . . 6 " - " Saker . . . . . . 6, 5, 8 " - " Basilisk (also). . . . 48 " - " Serpentine . . . . . . 4 " - " Aspik . . . . . . . . 2 " - " Dragon . . . . . . . . 6 " - " Syren . . . . . . . . 60 " - " Falconet . . . . . 3, 2, 1 " - " Moyenne . . . . . . . 12 ounces - - -By the middle of the seventeenth century, the largest cannon -generally used in the field were 24-pounders, or others like the -culverins of Nancy (18-pounders), so called from being first cast in -that city; while the smallest were 6 and 3-pounders. - -Mortars were first used to expel red-hot balls and large stones, long -ere shells were known. They are believed to have been of German -origin, and were used at the siege of Naples by Charles VIII. in -1435; but shells were first thrown out of them at the siege of -Wachtendonk in Gueldres, by the Count of Mansfield. Shells were -first invented by a citizen of Venloo, who, at a festival in honour -of the Duke of Cleves, contrived, unfortunately, by the explosion of -them, to reduce nearly the whole city to ashes. Maltus, an English -engineer, first taught the French how to use them at the siege of La -Motte in 1634. (Le Blond.) - -The howitzer differs from the mortar, being mounted on a field -carriage, like a gun; the chief difference being that the trunnions -of the first are at the end, and of the other in the middle. The -invention of the howitzer is subsequent to that of the mortar, as -from the latter it originated. - -The first man who invented the spiking of artillery was Gaspar -Vimercalus of Bremen, who thus nailed up the artillery of Sigismund -Malatesta. - -Rifled cannon are by no means a modern invention, and can be traced -far back into antiquity, as the _arquebuse-rayée_ of the French. - -No kind of gun has been more universally known and used all over -Europe and America than the carronade, or "smasher," as it was -called. Cast at the Carron Works in Scotland (hence their name), -they were the invention of General Robert Melville, an officer who -served under Lord Rollo of Duncrub, at the capture of Dominica in the -West Indies. Peculiarly constructed, and having a chamber for powder -like a mortar, they were shorter and lighter than ordinary cannon. - -Cast in mighty numbers for more than seventy years at Carron, they -were employed by the fighting and mercantile marine of all Europe and -America, till the time of the Crimean War. The first of them was -presented by the Carron Company to the family of General Melville, -with an inscription on the carriage, which records that the guns were -cast "for solid, ship, shell or carcase shot, and were first used -against the French fleet in 1799." - -Mr. Smiles, in his "Industrial Biography," tells us that when cannon -came to be employed in war, the vicinity of Sussex to the Cinque -Ports gave it an advantage over the iron districts of the north and -west of England, and for a long time the iron works of that county -had a monopoly in the manufacture of guns. The stone balls were hewn -from quarries at Maidstone Heath. An old mortar, which lay on Bridge -Green, near Frant, is said to have been the _first_ used in England. -The chamber was cast, but the tube consisted of hooped bars. - -In the Tower are some old hooped guns of the date of Henry VI. The -first cast-iron cannon of English make were made at Buxtead in -Sussex, in 1543, by Ralph Hogge, master founder, whose principal -assistant was Pierre Baude, a Frenchman. About the same time, Hogge -employed Peter Van Collet, a Flemish gunsmith, who, according to -Stowe, "caused to be made certain mortar pieces, being at the mouth -from eleven to nine inches wide, for the use whereof the said Peter -caused to be made certain hollow shot of cast iron, stuffed with -fyrwork, whereof the bigger sort has screws of iron to receive a -match to carry fire, to break in small pieces the said _hollow shot_, -whereof the smallest piece hitting a man would kill or spoil him." - -This is undoubtedly the parent of the explosive shell which has been -brought to such terrible perfection in the present day. Many of -Baude's brass and iron guns are still preserved in the Tower; and -perhaps from his foundry came that very beautiful gun which bears the -name of Henry VIII., 1541, and is preserved now at Southampton. - -Two old English guns are at present in the ducal castle of Blair, -whither they had been brought by the Athole family when Lords of the -Isle of Man. - -One is inscribed thus:-- - - -"Henricus Octavus; Thomas Scymoure Knighte, Receyvour of the Peel, -was Master of the King's Ordynans, when John and Robert Owyn made -this pese. Anno dni., 1544." - - -The other has the legend:-- - - -"Henry, Earle of Derbye, Lord of this Isle of Man, being here in May, -1577; named _Dorothe_. Henry Halsall, Receyvour of the Peele, bought -this pese, 1574." - - -This was the fourth Earl of Derby, a K.G., and he had named the gun -from his mother Dorothy, who was daughter of Thomas Howard, Duke of -Norfolk. - -The old brass gun, popularly known as Queen Anne's Pocket Pistol, was -once called Queen Elizabeth's, according to Colonel James. It was -cast at Utrecht in 1544, and is a 12-pounder, twenty feet long, -finely ornamented with figures in bas-relief. - -Scotland, which is rich in military and historical antiquities of all -kinds, can also boast of several ancient cannon, extant or in her -annals. - -In 1430, James I. had cast for him in Flanders a cannon of brass, -called the Lion of Scotland, bearing this inscription:-- - - "Illustri Jacobo Scottorum principe digno, - Regni magnified, dum fulmine castra reduco - Factus sum sub eo, nuncupar ego Leo." - - -"This," says Balfour in his _Annales_, "was the first canon or -bombard of any strength or bignes, that ever was in Scotland." Among -several ancient guns in the armory of the Grants of Grant in -Strathspey, is one of singular beauty, covered with figures of men on -horseback, and animals of the chase. It is four feet two inches -long, and seems to have been a Moyenne or wall piece, and is -inscribed:-- - - -"Dominus . Johannes . Grant . Miles . Vicecomes de Invernes . Me -fecit . in Germania, 1434." - - -The most ancient gun made in Britain is undoubtedly that bombarde -known as Mons Meg in Edinburgh Castle. An inscription on the _new_ -stock, cast at Woolwich in 1835, states that the gun "is _believed_ -to have been forged at _Mons_, in 1486." But this is proved now to -have been a gross mistake, an assertion which is utterly without -warrant, as an elaborate "History of Galloway" shows from proofs -indisputable that it was made by a smith of that county, in 1455, for -the service of James II. (then besieging the Castle of Threave), at a -place still named Knockcannon. It weighs six tons and a half, is -composed of malleable iron bars hooped together, and its balls, which -are all of Galloway granite, are twenty-one inches in diameter. - -Two of these shots fired from it compelled the castle to surrender in -the summer of 1455, and _both_ were found in 1841 amid the ruins--one -in the wall, the other in the draw-well; and both lay in a _direct -line_ from Knockcannon to the breach in the huge donjon tower. For -his work, M'Kim received the forfeited lands of Mollance, pronounced -in Scottish parlance, _Mowance_, and hence the tradition of "Meg" -being forged at _Mons_. In 1497, it accompanied the Scottish army -into England in the cause of Perkin Warbeck; to the siege of -Dumbarton in 1489, and many other scenes of strife. In 1681, the gun -burst, when firing a royal salute for James Duke of Albany, as two of -the fractured hoops still show. On these occasions, like the old -bombardes of the Dardanelles, it was generally _shotted_, as the -Royal Treasurer's Accounts contain many entries of payments, for -"finding and carrying _her_ bullet from Wardie Mure to the Castell." - -In 1509--thirty-four years before Ralph Hogge began to cast guns in -Sussex--James IV. employed Robert Borthwick, his master gunner, to -_cast_ a set of brass ordnance for Edinburgh Castle. Seven of these -were named by the king the _sisters_ of Borthwick--being all alike in -size and beauty. They were inscribed--- - - "_Machina sum, Stoto Borthweick Fabricata Roberto._" - -With ten other brass field-pieces, these guns were all taken by the -English at the battle of Flodden, where Borthwick was killed, and the -Earl of Surrey, who saw them, asserted that there were none finer in -the arsenals of King Henry. Several of these guns were retaken by -the Scots from the Earl of Hereford's army in 1544, and were long -preserved in the Castle of Edinburgh, on the walls of which, in the -siege of 1573, were a number of guns that bore the crowned -salamander, the badge of Francis I., and had perhaps been brought -from France by the Regent Duke of Chatelherault. - -An old cannon named _Dundee_, which had been used in war by the -Viscount of that name, was long preserved in the Castle of Kilchurn; -but has now disappeared. - -In the heart of British India there was, singular to say, found an -antique Scottish cannon, which is now shown in Edinburgh, and the -story of which is remarkable. At the siege of Bhurtpore in 1826, -among the guns on the ramparts was one of great calibre and -destructive power, popularly known among our soldiers by the absurd -name of "Sweet-lips," which was taken at the point of the bayonet by -H.M. 14th Foot. - -Beside it was found a Scottish brass cannon, an 18-pounder, -inscribed:-- - - "_Jacobus Menteith me fecit, Edinburgh, Anno Dom.,_ 1642." - -It at once attracted the attention of Captain (afterwards Colonel) -Lewis Carmichael, an old Peninsular officer, then aide-de-camp to Sir -Jasper Nicolls. On the day before the storm, with six grenadiers of -the 59th and four Ghoorkas, he had made a gallant dash into one of -the breaches, to reconnoitre it for the desperate work that was to -come, and he asked for the old Scottish cannon as a reward. It was -at once given, by order of the Governor-General, and he brought it -with him to Edinburgh, where it is preserved in the Museum of -Antiquities, with several other ancient guns, some of which belonged -to Sir Andrew Wood of Largo, Admiral of James III., and captain of -_the Yellow Frigate_; but how it came to be so far up country in -India, among the Jauts, it is difficult to conjecture, unless it had -belonged to one of the ships of the old and ill-fated Scottish East -India Company, which was ruined by the enmity and treachery of -William of Orange. - -British India has produced many pieces of ordnance, great in calibre -and remarkable in history; among them may be enumerated the great gun -of Hyder and Tippo, and the enormous cannon found at Agra, when that -place was captured by Lord Lake in 1803. It had trunnions, and was -furnished with four rings, two at the breech and two at the muzzle. -It was of brass, says Thorne, "and for magnitude and beauty stands -unrivalled. Its length was 14 feet 2 inches; its calibre 23 inches; -the weight of its ball, when of cast iron, 1500 lbs.; and its whole -weight 86,600 lbs., or a little above 38 tons." - -Though called brass, it was, according to common report, composed of -a mixture of precious metals. The _Shroffs_, or native bankers, were -of that opinion, as they offered £12,000 for it, merely to melt down. -Lord Lake preferred to send it as a trophy to Britain, and proceeded -to have it transported to Calcutta on a raft. It proved too heavy -for the latter, and capsizing sunk in the waters of the Ganges. - -Another curious piece of ordnance, locally known as _Jubbar Jung_, -fell into our hands at Ghuzuee in 1842. It was of brass and -beautifully ornamented; it carried 64-pound shot, and these being of -hammered iron whizzed as they passed through the air. It made some -havoc among the tents of our 40th Regiment, and the Huzarehs, -followers of Ali, who joined General Nott at the siege, implored him -to destroy "Jubbar Jung," for which they appeared to entertain a deep -religious horror. - -There are at this hour cannon at Bejapore, beside which our "Woolwich -Infants" and Armstrong 100-ton guns sink into insignificance. One of -these, called the _Mulk-e-Meidan_, or "Sovereign of the Plains," cast -by Roomi Khan, "the Turk of Roumelia," or first Monarch of Bejapore, -an Ottoman of Constantinople, weighs forty tons; and, to crown all, -Major Rennell mentions an old iron cannon at Dacca, which threw a -shot 465 pounds in weight! - -The last great gun actually used was King Theodore's huge bombarde at -Magdala in 1868, for which he had an enormous number of stone balls -made, and which he believed to be the Palladium of Abyssinia. It was -shattered to pieces among his troops, on their first attempt to use -it. - -The last and most remarkable invention in artillery is a much needed -fire-arm, which may supersede our boasted steel mountain ordnance, -"the jointed gun" of Sir William Armstrong, which can be unscrewed -into three separate pieces, each of which is light enough for -conveyance on the back of a horse, and when put together form a -powerful and long-range cannon, similar to the present field-piece. - -Such a gun would have been invaluable in Ashantee, or among the -mountains of Abyssinia; and the want of some such fire-arm was sorely -felt at times during the Indian mutiny, especially about its close, -when our moveable columns pursued the rebels in the deserts of -Bekaneer, where the gun carriages of even the flying artillery at -times sunk axle deep in the dry heavy sand, rendering them almost -useless for service. - -In Europe, this is peculiarly the age of enormous cannon. "Armour of -two feet in thickness," says a recent writer, "and guns of one -hundred tons in weight being now accomplished facts, and ships -already bigger than the _Inflexible_ being already in hand, we may -well ask ourselves, _What will be the next step?_" - - - - -STORY OF A MERCHANT CAPTAIN. - -About the time of the accession of George III. to the throne, few -domestic events made a greater sensation in the papers and -periodicals of the day than the adventures and fate of a sea-captain -named George Glass, especially in connection with a mutiny on board -the brig _Earl of Sandwich_. This remarkable man, who was one of the -fifteen children of John Glass, noted as the originator of the -Scottish sect known as the Glassites, was born at Dundee in 1725. -After graduating in the medical profession, he made several voyages, -as surgeon of a merchant-ship (belonging to London), to the Brazils -and the coast of Guinea; and in 1764, he published, by Dodsley, an -interesting work in one volume quarto, entitled _The History of the -Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands, translated from a -Spanish manuscript_. - -He obtained command of a Guinea trader, and made several successful -voyages, till the war with Spain broke out in January, 1762. Having -saved a good round sum, he equipped a privateer, and took command of -her as captain, to cruise against the French and Spaniards; but he -had not been three days at sea, when his crew mutinied, and sent him -that which is called in sea-phraseology a round-robin (a corruption -of an old French military term, the _ruban rond_, or round ribbon), -in which they wrote their names in a circle; hence none could know -who was the leader. - -Arming himself with his cutlass and pistols, Glass came on deck, and -offered to fight, hand to hand, any man who conceived himself to be -wronged in any way. But the crew, knowing his personal strength, his -skill and resolution, declined the challenge. He succeeded in -pacifying them by fair words; and the capture of a valuable French -merchantman a few days after put them all in excellent humour. This -gleam of good fortune was soon after clouded by an encounter with an -enemy's frigate, which, though twice the size of his privateer, Glass -resolved to engage; and for two hours they fought broadside to -broadside, till another French vessel bore down on him, and he was -compelled to strike his colours, after half his crew had been killed -and he had received a musket-shot in the shoulder. - -He remained for some time a French prisoner of war in the Antilles, -where he was treated with excessive severity; but upon being -exchanged, he resolved to embark the remainder of his fortune in -another privateer and "have it out," as he said, with the French and -Dons. But he was again taken in action, and lost everything he had -in the world. - -On being released a second time, he was employed by London merchants -in several voyages to the West Indies, in command of ships that -fought their way without convoy; and according to a statement in the -_Annual Register_, he was captured no less than _seven_ times. But -after various fluctuations of fortune, when the general peace took -place in 1763, he found himself possessed of two thousand guineas -prize-money, and the reputation of being one of the best merchant -captains in the Port of London. - -About that time a Company there resolved to make an attempt to form a -settlement on the west coast of Africa, by founding a harbour and -town midway between the Cape de Verd and the river Senegal. In the -London and other papers of the day we find many statements urging the -advantage of opening up the Guinea-trade; among others, a strange -letter from a merchant, who tells us he was taken prisoner in a -battle on that coast, and that when escaping he "crossed a forest -within view of the sea, where there lay elephants' teeth in -quantities sufficient to load one hundred ships." - -In the interests of this new Company Glass sailed in a ship of his -own to the coast of Guinea, and selected and surveyed a harbour at a -place which he was certain might become the centre of a great trade -in teak and cam woods, spices, palm oil and ivory, wax and gold. -Elated with his success, he returned to England, and laid his scheme -before the ministry, among whom were John Earl of Sandwich, Secretary -of State, and the Earl of Hillsborough, Commissioner of Trade and -Plantations. - -With truly national patience and perseverance he underwent all the -procrastinations and delays of office, but ultimately obtained an -exclusive right of trading to his own harbour for twenty years. -Assisted by two merchants--the Company would seem to have failed--he -fitted out his ship anew, and sailed for the intended harbour; and -sent on shore a man who knew the country well, to make propositions -of trade with the natives, who put him to death the moment they saw -him. - -Undiscouraged by this event, Captain Glass found means to open up a -communication with the king of the country, to lay before him the -wrong that had been done, and the advantages that were certain to -accrue from mutual trade and barter. The sable potentate affected to -be pleased with the proposal, but only to the end that he might get -Glass completely into his power; but the Scotsman was on his guard, -and foiled him. - -The king then attempted to poison the whole crew by provisions which -he sent on board impregnated by some deadly drug. Glass, by his -previous medical knowledge, perhaps, discovered this in time; but so -scarce had food become in his vessel, that he was compelled to go -with a few hands in an open boat to the Canaries, where he hoped to -purchase what he wanted from the Spaniards. - -In his absence the savages were encouraged to attack the ship in -their war-canoes; but were repulsed by a sharp musketry-fire opened -upon them by the remainder of the crew, who, losing heart by the -protracted absence of the captain, quitted his fatal harbour, and -sailed for the Thames, which they reached in safety. - -Meanwhile the unfortunate captain, after landing on one of the -Canaries, presented a petition to the Spanish governor to the effect -that he might be permitted to purchase food; but that officer, -inflamed by national animosity, cruelly threw him into a dark and -damp dungeon, and kept him there without pen, ink, or paper, on the -accusation that he was a spy. Being thus utterly without means of -making his case known, he contrived another way of communicating with -the external world. One account has it that he concealed a pencilled -note in a loaf of bread which fell into the hands of the British -consul; another states that he wrote with a piece of charcoal on a -ship-biscuit and sent it to the captain of a British man-of-war that -was lying off the island, and who with much difficulty, and after -being imprisoned himself, effected the release of Glass. The latter, -on being joined by his wife and daughter, who had come in search of -him, set sail for England in 1765, on board the merchant brig _Earl -of Sandwich_, Captain Cochrane. - -Glass doubtless supposed his troubles were now over; but the -knowledge that much of his property and a great amount of specie, one -hundred thousand pounds, belonging to others, was on board, induced -four of the crew to form a conspiracy to murder every one else and -seize the ship. These mutineers were respectively George Gidly, the -cook, a native of the west of England; Peter M'Kulie, an Irishman; -Andrew Zekerman, a Hollander; and Richard H. Quintin, a Londoner. On -three different nights they are stated to have made the attempt, but -were baffled by the vigilance of Captain Glass, rather than that of -his country man, Captain Cochrane; but at eleven o'clock at night on -the 30th of September, 1765, it chanced, as shown at their trial, -that these four miscreants had together the watch on deck, when the -_Sandwich_ was already in sight of the coast of Ireland; and when -Captain Cochrane, after taking a survey aloft, was about to return to -the cabin, Peter M'Kulie brained him with "an iron bar" (probably a -marline-spike), and threw him overboard. - -A cry that had escaped Cochrane alarmed the rest of the crew, who -were all dispatched in the same manner as they rushed on deck in -succession. This slaughter and the din it occasioned, roused Captain -Glass, who was below in bed; but he soon discovered what was -occurring, and, after giving one glance on deck, hurried away to get -his sword. M'Kulie, imagining the cause of his going back, went down -the steps leading to the cabin, and stood in the dark, expecting -Glass's return, and suddenly seized his arms from behind; but the -captain, being a man of great strength, wrenched his sword-arm free, -and on being assailed by the three other assassins, plunged his -weapon into the arm of Zekerman, when the blade became wedged or -entangled. It was at length wrenched forth, and Glass was slain by -repeated stabs of his own weapon, while his dying cries were heard by -his wife and daughter--two unhappy beings who were ruthlessly thrown -overboard and drowned. - -Besides these four victims, James Pincent, the mate, and three -others, lost their lives. The mutineers now loaded one of the boats -with the money, chests, and so forth, and then scuttled the -_Sandwich_, and landed at Ross on the coast of Ireland. But -suspicion speedily attached to them; they were apprehended, and, -confessing the crimes of which they had been guilty, were tried -before the Court of King's Bench, Dublin, and sentenced to death. -They were accordingly executed in St. Stephen's Green, on the 10th of -October, 1765. - - - - -THE STORY OF RENÉE OF ANGERS. - -Though it occurred so long ago as the time of Henry IV. of France, -the story we are about to relate formed one of the most remarkable -_causes célèbres_ before the Parliament of Paris, when Renée Corbeau, -a young demoiselle of Angers, in Normandy, by her eloquence in a -court of justice, and by her singular self-sacrifice, saved the life -of a false and dastardly lover, to whom she was devotedly attached. - -In the year 1594, when Henry IV., justly surnamed the Great (though -his passions betrayed him into errors and involved him in -difficulties), was on the throne of France, a young man named M. -Pousset, a native of Tees, an old episcopal city of Normandy, was -studying the Civil and Canon Law at the University of Angers, in -those days a famous seat of learning. While thus engaged, M. Pousset -was introduced to Mademoiselle Renée Corbeau, the daughter of a -citizen. She is described as having been a girl of great beauty of -person and with great modesty of manner, though witty and lively in -spirit, _folatré et caressante_, and full of nameless graces. -Everyone loved and admired Renée, and when but a youth Pousset sighed -for her. He soon learned to love her passionately, and we are told -"that he no longer lived but to see and converse with her." - -She in turn became deeply attached to Pousset, who proposed marriage, -and gave her, in writing, a document to that effect, though her -parents were in circumstances so limited that he dared not consult -his own (who were people of wealth, rank, and ambition) on this -important subject. So the lovers dreamed on, and on the faith of the -written promise, Renée, it would appear, yielded too far, and fell, -as her mother Eve fell before her; and then repentance came when too -late. - -The unfortunate Renée had, in time, to make a confidante of her -mother, who in her grief and anger revealed all to M. Corbeau. He -heaped the most bitter reproaches on their daughter, but agreed that -some plan should be adopted to bring Pousset, who was now studiously -absenting himself, to reason and a sense of justice. It was arranged -that he and Madame Corbeau should feign a journey to a little country -mansion they possessed not far from Angers, and that Renée should -press Pousset to visit her, when they should take advantage of the -occasion to surprise him; a project which was executed with complete -success. - -Thrown completely off his guard by this unexpected stratagem, the -lover said with much apparent candour: - -"Monsieur Corbeau, be not alarmed for the error which our love for -each other has led us into; but pardon us, I beseech you. My -intentions are still most honourable, and I shall be but too happy to -espouse your daughter." - -The incensed Corbeau was somewhat comforted by this prompt promise of -reparation, and sent immediately for a notary, his friend, who lived -close by. The latter drew up a formal contract of marriage in legal -form, and to this, with Renée, M. Pousset appended his signature and -seal, after which he took a tender farewell of the weeping girl, and -retired with the view of, reluctantly, breaking the matter to his -family; but so true is it that "affection is the root of love in -woman, and passion is the root of love in man," that from the hour in -which he signed the--to him--fatal contract, all his regard for Renée -evaporated. - -Her beauty and her sorrow alike failed to impress him now, and the -faithless Pousset repented him so bitterly of what he angrily deemed -a legal entanglement, that he hastened to Tees and unfolded the whole -of the affair to his father in a story artfully coloured and -fashioned to suit himself. - -M. Pousset the senior, who possessed a magnificent estate, never -doubted but that his amiable and facile _son_ had been entrapped by -an artful girl and her parents, and sternly told him that he could -never approve of his marriage with one whose portion was so small, -and desired him to commit her, the contract, and the whole affair, to -oblivion. While the document, signed and sealed existed, this, -however, proved impossible; so young Pousset, either by his father's -advice or his own inclination, took refuge in the bosom of the -Church, and was somewhat too speedily ordained sub-deacon, and then -deacon, thinking thereby to vitiate the power of the contract, and to -create for life an invincible barrier between himself and Renée. - -With all the grief and horror a tender and affectionate heart could -feel when love is so repaid by black perfidy, she heard these -tidings, and her soul seemed to die within her; but her old father, -who was filled with just indignation, and whose sword the ordination -of Pousset kept in its scabbard, raised a civil action against him -before the principal court at Angers for having deluded, and then -declined, to marry his daughter in the face of the notary's contract. - -The recreant was compelled to appear; but he appealed against the -order, and denied the jurisdiction of the court; hence the cause was -brought before the Parliament of Paris. Before this tribunal, then, -were brought the wrongs of Renée Corbeau, and the whole affair seemed -so cruel and odious to the judges--especially the fact of Pousset -having taken holy orders (and thereby degraded them) to evade the -contract of marriage--that they condemned him to espouse Renée or -lose his head by the sword of the executioner. - -He urged that the sanctity of holy orders utterly precluded the -former reparation. On this the court unanimously declared that he -must undergo the latter. He was accordingly replaced in the Bastile; -the priest who was to attend in his last moments came to prepare him -for death, and as all sentences were summarily executed in those -days, already the headsman awaited him. - -The heart of the poor girl, who loved him still, was now wrung with -new anguish and pity, and she accused herself of being the cause of -his approaching doom. Crushed by that dreadful conviction, in her -anxiety to save him, or at least have his sentence mitigated in some -manner, she conceived the idea of taking all the guilt of his -position upon _herself_. - -Hastening to the old Palais de Justice, she entered the great hall, -the centre of which was then occupied by the famous marble table -which Victor Hugo describes as being of a single piece, so long, and -so broad and thick, that it was doubtful if in the world there was -such another block of marble. Imploring the astonished judges to -hear her, she knelt before them, and while scarcely daring to raise -her eyes from the floor, she told them in trembling accents that in -condemning her lover-husband, for such she deemed him, they had -forgotten that she too was culpable; that by his death she would be -sunk into sorrow and covered with ignominy; and that while seeking to -avenge her, or repair her honour, they would bring upon her the -opprobrium of all France! - -The judges listened in bewildered silence, while in a low and still -more tremulous voice, Renée continued thus: - -"Messieurs--I will no longer conceal my crime. Remorse of conscience -now forces me to declare that, thinking you might compel M. Pousset -to marry me, I concealed the fact that I snared him into loving -me--that I loved him first, and was thus the source of all my own -sorrow! You deem it a crime that he took refuge in holy orders to -avoid the fulfilment of his contract; yet, messieurs, that was not -_his_ doing, but resulted from the will of a proud and avaricious -father, who is, in that matter, the real criminal. Spare him then, I -implore you--spare him to the world, if not to me! He has declared -that his orders preclude his marrying me; and for that declaration -you ordain that he must die. Oh, what matters his asserting that he -would formally espouse me if he could; and because he cannot, you -condemn him to die, after giving him _a choice_. Who here can doubt -that he would marry me in spite of his deacon's orders? Though I am -but a weak and foolish girl, I know that we may yet be wedded, could -we but obtain the dispensation of his Holiness Clement VIII. Daily -we expect in Paris his Legate, who possesses sovereign powers. At -his feet I will solicit that dispensation; and oh, be assured, -messieurs, that my love and my prayers will obtain it. Suspend your -terrible sentence, then, till he arrives." - -After a pause, during which she was overcome with agitation, she -spoke again: - -"Think of all he has endured since his sentence has been delivered, -and of all that I am enduring now! Should I have among you but a few -voices for me, ought these not to win me some favour of humanity over -the rest, though they be more in number! but alas! should all be -inflexible, permit me, in mercy at least, to die with him I love, and -by the same weapon." - -It is recorded that the unhappy Renée's prayer met with a very -favourable reception, and that the remarkable tone of her -self-accusation, of having "ensnared" M. Pousset, gave a new colour -to his alleged crime. "The judges," we are told, "lost not a word of -her oration, which was pronounced with a clear sweet voice, and her -words found a ready echo in their hearts, while the wonderful charms -of her person, her tears and her eloquence, were too powerful not to -melt, if they failed to persuade, men of humanity." - -She was requested to withdraw while they consulted, and the First -President, M. Villeroy, after collecting their votes, found himself -enabled to grant a _respite_ for six months, that a dispensation -might be obtained if possible; and on this being announced, the -plaudits of assembled thousands made the roof of the Palais de -Justice ring in honour of Pousset's best advocate, Renée Corbeau. - -Ere long the Roman Legate (Cardinal de Pellevé) came to Paris; but, -on hearing the ugly story of Pousset, he conceived such indignation -against him, for the whole tenor of his conduct, that he constantly -turned a deaf ear to every application in his favour. Soon the last -month of the respite drew to a close, and the fatal day was near when -Pousset must be brought forth to die! - -The unexpected hostility of the Legate cast Renée once more into -despair, an emotion all the more terrible that the announcement of M. -Villeroy had given her brilliant, perhaps happy, hopes. These, -however, did not die. She obtained an audience of Henry IV. soon -after he had stormed the town of Dreux and made his public entry into -Paris, and, as he was cognisant of her miserable story, on her knees -at his feet she once more sought an intercession for her doomed -lover, if he could be termed so still. - -Henry had too often felt the passion of love not to be moved by the -singular beauty of the suppliant, by her sorrow, and the eloquence -with which affection endowed her. He raised her from the floor and -besought her to take courage, as he would now be her friend and -advocate. - -The Cardinal de Pellevé could not decline the prayer of such an -intercessor as Henry the Great, and, as the luckless Pousset had not -received the higher orders of the priesthood, his Eminence granted a -dispensation in the name of Clement VIII. The marriage ceremony was -duly performed, in fulfilment of the contract signed at Angers, and -Renée Corbeau and the lover she had rescued "lived ever after in the -most perfect union; the husband ever regarding his wife as his -guardian angel, who had saved his life and honour." - - - - -ANNA SCHONLEBEN. - -THE BAVARIAN POISONER. - -This singular wretch, a woman of a nature so fiendish, and with whom -the destruction of human life by secret poisoning became a veritable -passion, was beheaded in the ancient city of Nuremberg, in Bavaria, -in April, 1810, after a protracted trial, that brought to light the -long catalogue of her iniquities. - -It would appear that she was born in Nuremberg in 1760, during the -reign of Maximilian Joseph--the same who concluded the famous treaty -with Maria Theresa--and was left an orphan by the death of both her -parents in 1765; but, as she was the heiress to some property, she -remained under guardianship, and was carefully educated till her -nineteenth year, when she was married--against her inclination, it is -asserted--to a notary named Zwanziger. - -Young, pretty, and accustomed to much gaiety in the house of her -wealthy guardian, the lonely life she felt herself condemned to pass -in the house of her husband formed an unpleasant contrast, all the -more so, as Zwanziger, when not absent on business, devoted his whole -time to the bottle and became a confirmed bibber. - -Anna meanwhile strove to forget her gloom and her griefs by novel -reading, her favourite works being the "Sorrows of Werter" and those -of Pamela; but the dissipation of Zwanziger, his neglect of his -profession, on one hand, and his lavish extravagance on the other, -soon brought them to wretchedness and ruin; and she, having -considerable personal attractions, though she appeared hideous and -repulsive at the time of her arraignment, "now attempted to prop the -falling establishment by making the best use of them;" and amid this -miserable state of affairs, Zwanziger died suddenly, leaving her to -continue her life, which was now one of deception and licentiousness, -alone. - -Her fortune wasted, her prospects blasted, she became filled with a -hatred of mankind, and with rage and bitterness at her fate. All the -better sympathies which her nature may have possessed in girlhood -faded out, and their place was taken by a stern and grim resolution -to better her now destitute condition at all risks and hazards. - -It does not seem to be clearly known when the idea of systematic -poisoning occurred to her, but it was eventually suspected that she -had disposed of her husband by this means, and before she was -received as housekeeper into the family of Herr Justiz-Amptman -Glaser. She had then spent many years as a wanderer, was fifty years -of age, and without a trace of her former charms. - -This was in 1808, when Glaser was residing at Pegnitz in Upper -Franconia, but was living apart from his wife. Anna Schonleben (for -she seldom seems to have taken her husband's name), having her own -ends in view, adopting the rôle of friendship, effected a -reconciliation between Glaser and his wife, who returned to his home, -and within a month after was seized by a sudden and mysterious -illness, of which she died in the greatest agony. - -As there was no appearance of Glaser wishing her to take the place of -the deceased, Anna quitted his service for that of the Herr -Justiz-Amptmann Grohmann, who was unmarried and only in his -thirty-eighth year. He was in delicate health; thus she had every -opportunity for studying to please him, by care, attention, and an -affectionate regard for his comforts; but age was against her; her -apparently unremitting attention won her no favour from Herr -Grohmann, who received all his medicines from her own hands, and -among them some dose, suggested by revenge, as he died on the 8th of -May, 1809, "his disease being accompanied by violent internal pains -of the stomach, dryness of the skin, _erbrechen_," &c. - -She acted her part so well, she appeared so inconsolable for his -loss, and won among his friends a character so high and valuable as a -careful and gentle sick-nurse, that she was almost immediately -received into the household of the Kammer-Amptmann Gebhard, in that -capacity. On the 13th of May, only five days after the death of -Grohmann, Madame Gebhard was delivered of a baby. Both mother and -child were doing well till the 16th, when the former was seized with -precisely the same symptoms before named, and after seven days of -agony--during which she frequently asserted that she had been -poisoned--she expired. - -The funeral over, the widower found himself unable to manage his -household and family, and not unnaturally thought he could not do -better than retain in his service, for that purpose, Anna Schonleben, -who had nursed his wife, as she had done his deceased friend, in -their last hours; so she remained in his house invested with all the -authority of _haushalterin_, though some of his friends hinted at the -inexpediency of having as an inmate one whom some fatality seemed to -attend. - -Gebhard laughed at this as superstitious; but there was one friend, -in particular, who recurred to this matter again and again so -pertinaciously--though upon what grounds he never precisely -explained--that he came to the resolution of acting upon his advice, -and to Anna he broke the subject of her impending dismissal, but as -gently as possible, for she had acquired a certain ascendancy over -him. - -She merely expressed her surprise and regret, and the subsequent day -was fixed for her departure to Bayreuth; but prior to that event she -resolved on a terrible revenge. She arranged all the rooms as usual, -and filled the _salzfasten_ in the kitchen, saying the while, that -"it was always the custom for those who left to fill it with salt for -those who came in their place;" and when the droski for her -conveyance came to the door, she took in her arms the infant child of -Gebhard--the infant whose mother she had poisoned, and which was now -five months old--and while feigning to caress it, she placed between -"its boneless gums" a soft biscuit soaked in milk. - -Then she drove away, but she had not been gone an hour, when the -child and every servant in the house became seized with spasms, -pains, and violent sickness. In this instance none, however, died; -but Gebhard, recalling the advice of his friend, now became full of -alarm and suspicion. The _salzfasten_, which Anna Schonleben had -been seen so fussily to fill, was examined, and a great quantity of -arsenic was found to be mixed with the salt. The barrel from which -the latter was taken was also submitted to chemical analysis, and -arsenic was found therein. - -It now came suddenly to the knowledge or memory of the simple and -confiding Kammer-Amptmann, that on one occasion, in the August of -1809, two gentlemen who had dined with him, were seized by the same -symptoms as his servants ere the cloth was well off the table; that -one of the servants, named Barbara Waldmann, with whom she had -frequent quarrels, was seized in the same fashion after taking a cup -of coffee from her hands; that she had once offered a lad named -Johann Kraus a glass of brandy in the cellar, which he declined on -seeing something white permeating through it; that on another -occasion, the deliverer of a message to whom she had given a glass of -white Rosenhourr, was sick and ill for days after, barely escaping -death; and, though last not least, Herr Gebhard remembered that on -the occasion of a dinner party, given on the 1st of September, after -partaking of the wine which _she_ brought from the cellar, he and all -his guests, five in number, were seized by the usual spasms and -sickness. - -Gebhard and others were astonished now, that the series of sudden -deaths and violent illnesses occurring to all who took anything from -the hand of the woman Schonleben, had not excited their suspicions -before. The bodies of those who had died were quietly exhumed; the -contents of the stomach of each were subjected to chemical analysis, -and the conclusion come to was that two of them at least had been -poisoned by arsenic; and reports were drawn up and depositions made, -while the culprit, all unaware of the Nemesis that was about to -overtake her, was living at Bayreuth, from whence she had the -hardihood to write to the Kammer-Amptmann more than one letter, in -which she bitterly reproached him for his base ingratitude in -dismissing from his service one who had been as a mother to his -motherless child. - -It is supposed that the object of these epistles was to procure her -reinstatement in his household, but on the 19th of October, to her -consternation, she was suddenly arrested, and on being searched, -three packets of poison--two being arsenic--were found upon her -person. After being brought to trial, she protested her innocence, -and acted with singular obstinacy and ingenuity combined, till the -16th of April, 1810, when she fairly broke down, and admitted having -murdered Madame Glaser by two doses of poison; but the moment the -confession left her lips, according to Feuerbach, she fell as if -struck by a thunderbolt, and in strong convulsions was removed to her -dungeon, under sentence of death. - -It is stated, that she had committed and attempted so many murders, -that they had lost all character of horror to her; that she merely -viewed them as petty indiscretions, or the punishing of those who -offended her or who stood in her way, till at last, to poison became -almost a pastime or a passion; hence, when the poison taken from her -at Bayreuth was shown to her some weeks afterwards, in the old castle -of Plassenburg at Culmbach, her eyes sparkled and her whole frame -seemed to vibrate with delight, as if she saw again, in that deadly -white drug, an old and valued friend or servant; but she admitted, -that fly-powder was what she chiefly used to revenge herself upon her -fellow-servants by mixing it with their beer; and that prior to -quitting the house of Gebhard she had frequently poisoned the coffee, -wine, and beer of such guests as she chose to dislike. She declared -openly, that her death was a fortunate thing for many people, as she -felt certain she could not have left off poisoning as long as she -lived. - -She steadily ascended the scaffold, bowed to the people, with a smile -on her old, wrinkled, and, then, hideous face, laid her head on the -block, and without shrinking or moving a muscle, had it struck off by -the axe of the public _scharfrichter_, or executioner; and so ended -this German _cause célèbre_. - - - - -LAURA WENLOCK'S CHRISTMAS EVE. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -"It cannot be that you are about to be married!" exclaimed Jack -Westbrook passionately as he held the girl's hands half forcibly and -gazed into her shrinking eyes; "I will not believe it--even from your -own lips." - -But the girl, silent and sad, hesitated to reply. - -The glory of an April sunset lay over all the sweet Kentish -landscape; a little tarn between two white chalk cliffs shone like -molten gold, with black coots swimming, and the pearly clouds -reflected on its surface; the emerald green buds were bursting in -their beauty in the coppice and hedgerows, where the linnet and the -speckled thrush were preparing their nests; the unclosing crocus and -the drooping daffodil were making the cottage gardens gay; and every -where, there were coming "fresh flowers and leaves to deck the dead -season's bier." - -It was a period of the opened year when unconsciously the human heart -feels hopeful and happy, even the hearts of the old and the ailing; -but the souls of those two who lingered, near the old Saxon lichgate, -roofed with ancient thatch and velvet moss, and by the old worn stile -that led to the village church of Craybourne, were sad indeed; they -were on the eve of parting, and--for ever! - -"It cannot be, Laura, that you are about to be married, after all," -repeated Jack Westbrook, a soldier-like young fellow, not much over -five and twenty, dark, handsome and clad in that kind of grey tweed -suit, which looks so gentlemanly when worn by one of good bearing and -style, and such Jack certainly was. - -"It is but too true--too true, Jack," replied Laura, while her tears -fell fast, and she strove to release her trembling hands from her -lover's passionate clasp. - -Laura Wenlock was more than merely handsome; in her soft face there -was a singular and piquante charm, a loveliness that was more -penetrating and of a higher order than mere regularity of feature, as -its expression varied so much--a charm that would have delighted an -artist, while it would have baffled his powers to reproduce it. Her -eyes were violet blue; her hair was auburn, shot with gold, and ruddy -golden it seemed ever in the sunshine. - -"You don't mean to say that you are about to marry _for_ money?" said -Westbrook impetuously. - -"Far from it, Jack--oh! don't think so meanly--so basely of me," -urged Laura piteously. - -"What then?" - -"_With_ money--sounds different, doesn't it, Jack, dear?" said the -girl with a sob and a sickly smile. - -Westbrook gnawed his thick brown moustache, and eyed her gloomily, -then almost malevolently and, anon; pleadingly, for his fate was in -her hands. - -"From all I have heard," said he, "I feared it would come to this; -but oh, no, no, surely it cannot be--that I am now to lose you!" - -"It must be; the fatal papers have already been prepared." - -"The settlements!" - -"Yes; debts beyond what we could ever have anticipated, have -overtaken my father, and you know that his vicarage here at -Craybourne is a poor one, Jack, a very poor one, and his poverty -would be the ruin of my two brothers. My marriage will be the saving -of them all--the Colonel is so rich." - -"Philip Daubeny, of Craybourne Hall?" - -"Yes," replied Laura, with averted eyes - -"I saw him struck down by the sun on the march between Jehanumbad and -Shetanpore; and I would, with all my heart, he were there still!" - -"Don't say so, Jack," urged the girl; "Colonel Daubeny is good, and -brave, and generous--oh, most generous! God knows, Jack, if you -would take me as I am, without a shilling, I would become your wedded -wife to-night," added Laura, blinded with tears; "but you want me to -wait for you, Jack, and I cannot wait, for the fate of those over -there--at home--is in my power," continued Laura, turning towards the -old thatched vicarage, the lozenged casements of which were -glittering in the sunshine between the stems of the trees. - -"To wait, of course," said he, huskily, and relinquishing her hands -in a species of sullen despair; "I have but little to live on just -yet, since I had to sell out of the Hussars after that infernal loss -on the Oaks, and, of course, I cannot supply you with equipages and -luxuries as Daubeny can do. But do have patience with me, Laura." - -"I cannot--I cannot!" wailed the girl; "the dreadful _why_ I have -told you a thousand times." - -"You never loved me truly." - -"You wrong me; no one has ever been more dear to me than you, Jack." - -He laughed bitterly. - -"Yet you will marry Philip Daubeny? Have you thought how shameful is -a mercenary marriage?" - -"I have, indeed, God knows how deeply, how bitterly and prayerfully, -in the silent night, when none could see my tears, save Him! Take -back your ring, dear Jack, and let us part friends;" and drawing the -emblem from her tiny finger, she touched it with her trembling lips, -and restored it to him. - -"Friends!" he exclaimed, bitterly and scornfully, while in his fine -dark eyes there shone a flash of light, where evil seemed to rival -love and sorrow, as he flung the golden hoop, with its pearl cluster, -into the tarn, and left her without another word or glance! He -strode away down the sequestered path that led to the churchyard -stile, crushing, as if vengefully, under his feet the wayside -flowers, the tender blossoms and sprays of spring; and the girl -watched him till his retreating figure disappeared in the shady vista -of the lane. - -Then she interlaced her slender fingers over her auburn hair and cast -her eyes upwards, full of sorrow and intense compunction for the pain -she had been compelled to inflict; but there was no despair in her -expression, nor was there in her heart, we hope. - -"God bless you, dear--dear Jack; you will forget me in time. All is -over now!" she murmured. - -But the memory of Westbrook's harassed face, and the winning sound of -his voice haunted her in the hours of the night as she lay feverish, -restless, in a passion of bitter weeping; and full of sad and -terrible thoughts, tossing from side to side, sleepless on her pillow. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -The marriage day came, and the chimes were ringing merrily in the old -square tower of the little vicarage church, scaring the swallows from -their nests amid the leaves and the clustering ivy, and, aware of the -event, numbers of the parishioners and of Colonel Daubeny's tenantry, -in their holiday attire, were toiling up the steep and picturesque -pathway that led through shady dingles to the quaint edifice which -overlooked the Cray. The humble old-fashioned organ gave forth its -most joyous notes; and what was wanting in splendour or decoration in -a church so old and rural, was amply made up by the masses of -flowers, many of them the rarest exotics from the conservatories of -Colonel Daubeny, and these garlanded the round chancel arch and the -short dumpy Saxon pillars, while the altar in its deep recess was gay -with them; when Laura, leaning on the arm of her father, the old -thin-faced and silver-haired Vicar, and followed by her six -bridesmaids, all lovely little girls, relatives of both families, -dressed alike, and attended closely, too, by her two brothers, the -thoughtless lads, whom she had sacrificed herself to serve and -advance in life, was led slowly up the church, the cynosure and -admiration of every eye, for all the people knew and loved her. - -The gift of the bridegroom--a handsome, grave, and manly-looking -fellow, whose hair, though only in his fortieth year, Indian service -had slightly streaked with grey, and whose best man was his old chum -and comrade, Charlie Fane--her bridal dress, priceless with satin and -lace, shone in the successive rays of sunlight as she passed the -painted windows, her bridal veil floated gracefully and gloriously -around her, by its folds hiding the ashy pallor of her charming face, -and her eyes that were aflame with unshed tears, and trembled to look -up, lest they should encounter those of Jack Westbrook, full of -upbraiding and bitterness; but Jack was at that moment miles away -occupying his mind with very different matters, though he well knew -what was then being enacted at Craybourne Church. - -She stood and knelt as one in a dream side by side with Philip -Daubeny at the altar rail before her father, and it certainly _did_ -strike the former with something of alarm rather than surprise, that -when she was ungloved by a fussy and blushing little bridesmaid, and -when she placed her hand steadily and without a tremor in his, it was -icy and cold, as that of Lucy Ashton on her ill-omened bridal morn. - -She uttered all the words of the service in a low and distinct voice, -yet never once were her dark blue eyes raised to those of the earnest -and generous Philip Daubeny, whose glances, moderated of course by -the knowledge that they were so closely observed, were full of love -and tenderness; and, in truth, even at that solemn moment, Laura felt -that though he had her highest respect and her genuine esteem, she -did not love him, and could only pray to Heaven, in her silent heart, -that the time might come when she should do so as a wedded wife. - -Laura bore up nobly. If she clung to her husband's arm, and thus -sent a thrill to his heart as they quitted the gloomy fane, with its -earthy odour, for the sunshine of the churchyard, where the cheers of -assembled hundreds greeted them, it was only because she felt weak, -and wondered when the time would come that would see her laid in -yonder vault, where all the Daubenys of past ages lay--the vault, -with its ponderous door, mildewed and rusty, and half-hidden by huge -fern leaves and churchyard nettles--and on reaching the Vicarage she -nearly fainted, greatly to the terror of Daubeny and the anxiety of -all. - -Avoiding the former, she clung to her father. - -"Kiss me, papa," she said again and again. "Kiss me, papa; are you -pleased with me--pleased with your poor Laura now?" - -"Yes, my darling, yes," replied the old Vicar, folding her in his -arms. He had heard much of Jack Westbrook: but thought that, so far -as himself and his family were concerned, "matters were now, indeed, -ordered for the best" in her marriage with the Squire of Craybourne. - -A man of the world--one who had seen twenty years of dangerous -military service in the East--Phil Daubeny was one of whom any woman -might be proud, handsome, wealthy, and well-born, and all thought -that Laura was as happy in her choice as in her heart; but the image -of Jack Westbrook, of whom he knew _nothing_, stood--and was for a -time fated to stand--as a barrier between her and the man she had -vowed to "love, honour, and obey;" and most earnestly in her soul did -she pray, as the carriage bore her from her beloved home for ever, -that never more in this world might Westbrook's path cross hers; but -not that she feared evil would come of it, for Laura was too wifely, -too pure, and too good for such an idea to occur to her. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -Amid the congratulations of friends, under the radiant smiles of her -husband, even when her head nestled on his shoulder and his strong -arm went lovingly round her; amid all the innumerable gaieties of -Paris, of Brussels--a new world to her--this ghost seemed morbidly to -haunt her; yet the honeymoon glided away, and the second month found -them, amid all the charms of midsummer, located in their luxurious -home at Craybourne Hall, from the upper oriels of which she could see -the smoke, from the old clustered chimneys of the Vicarage, curling -about the leafy coppice. - -Daubeny had missed something responsive, he knew not what, in his -wife, whose general listlessness, with a certain far-seeing -expression of eye, began to pain and bewilder him. He kept his -thoughts to himself; yet his brave and loving nature craved ever for -some secret sympathy which Laura failed to accord him, and so there -gradually began to yawn between them a chasm which neither could -define, and the existence of which they would stoutly have denied. -To Daubeny it became a source of keen and growing misery. But one -night the scales fell from his eyes. - -Finding himself alone and idle in London, he turned into the back -stalls of the opera. The piece had not commenced; the orchestra were -at the overture; the gas was somewhat low; and by some heedless -fellows who were sitting in front of him he heard _his own name_ -mentioned once or twice in conversation, and was compelled to listen, -thereto. - -"Jack Westbrook has got over it all now," one said. "Of course the -_sting_ of wounded self-esteem, at being thrown over for rich old -Phil Daubeny, rankled for a time. The fair Laura was his first -love--never saw such a pair of spoons in all my life, don't you -know--privately engaged, and all that sort of thing." - -"And now I have no doubt she will flirt with any man who will flirt -with her. Of course, it is always the way--and she don't care for -Daubeny, poor devil!" - -"I don't think she _will_ flirt," said the first speaker. - -"Bah! every woman has some weak point, if you can only find it out." - -"Most men, too, I suspect; but the fair Laura is clad in the armour -of virtue." - -"Jack Westbrook might find some weak points in that armour, too; and -he won't drop out of the hunt, perhaps." - -Then followed a reckless laugh that stung the soul of Daubeny to -madness. The Opera stalls were no place for that which is so -abhorrent in "society"--a scene; so instead of dashing their heads -together, as he felt inclined to do, he softly left the place just as -the overture ceased and the act-drop rose; and he went forth in a -tempest of that kind of rage which always becomes the more bitter for -having no immediate object to expend itself on; and even the speed of -the night express seemed a thousand degrees too slow as it bore him -homeward to Craybourne Hall. She had been engaged, had a lover--her -first lover, too--and all unknown to him! - -He had both seen and heard of Westbrook; but not in this character. -Her first love--her only love! How many uncounted kisses had, of -course, been exchanged, of which he knew naught (and had no business -with then)? How much of the bloom had been worn off the peach ere it -became his? He was full of black wrath, and saw much now that he saw -not before, and could quite account for all her coldness. Yet, -although he knew it not, the girl who had always esteemed was now -learning to _love_ him as she had never even loved Jack Westbrook! - -Late though the hour--the first of morning--he proceeded at once to -his wife's dressing-room, where she was awaiting his return in a -charming blue robe that made her fair beauty look more charming -still, for there were colour and brightness in her face and a -love-light in her eyes at his approach, till the abruptness of his -entrance and the set sternness of his white visage startled her. - -"Philip!" - -"Can it be true what I have heard to-night, Laura, that you loved -Westbrook, of the Hussars," he demanded, "and, while loving him, -married me for my money, and what I might do for the old Vicar and -his sons? Is it truth that, when he gave you to me at the altar of -yonder church, your marriage vow was a black lie and your false heart -teemed with love for another? Speak!" he thundered out; but she -could only lift her timid eyes to him imploringly, and spread her -little white hands in deprecation of the coming malediction. Her -voice was gone. "Your silence affirms all I have heard," he -continued, in accents that trembled with jealousy and sorrow. "Oh, -God, what a fool and dupe I have been!" - -"I know not what you have heard, Philip; but, as He hears me, I have -been a true and faithful wife to you." - -"In playing a part you did not feel," he cried scornfully, "but I -will aid your play no more. From this hour we meet never again on -earth. Here, in this house, for which you sold yourself, I shall -leave you, with all its luxuries, till such time as a more regular -separation can be brought about; and the sole sorrow of my heart is -now, that I cannot leave you free to wed this fellow Westbrook, the -cause of all your incompatibility and coldness to me." - -He flung away, and left her in a gust of fury. - -"Philip, Philip!" she exclaimed, but she heard the hall door close; -and then, as his steps died away in the distance, she fell on the -floor, overcome by her sudden and terrible emotions--startled, -shocked, and conscience-stricken. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -Days passed on--days of sorrow, anxiety, and futile watching for a -footfall that came no more. Whither he had gone she knew not, nor -could she discover, and she was left to her tears and unavailing -grief, amid the splendour of Craybourne Hall. She saw now how erring -she had been; that, while nursing a mere fancy, she had lost the true -love of a good and generous man, whose last words had been the first -harsh ones he had ever addressed to her. - -Gone! gone! She felt how much she really loved him now, and all the -more that a secret tie was coming, and must come ere Christmas, to -bind them stronger together. She must let him know of this dear -hope; but how? _Where_ had he gone? To death, perhaps, and she -might have a child in her bosom that Philip could never, never see! - -The weeks became months, and the heart of the strangely-widowed wife -grew sick and heavy as lead with hopeless waiting, watching, and -agonising yearning--dead even to the speculations of those around -her, to whom the absence of her husband seemed, of course, most -unaccountable, if not unkind and cruel. - -But for the sake of her child she wished that she might die when it -saw the light. Surely, then, Philip would forgive her when he saw -its little face, and she was laid within the vault, the mildewed and -rusted door of which she had regarded with a shudder on her marriage -morning--the vault where all the dead Daubenys lay. - -So in the fulness of time her baby was born--a little fairy boy--and -her father named it Philip, for him who was still so strangely -absent, and hot and burning were the tears with which Laura bedewed -its tiny face as it nestled in her bosom; and amid the new emotions -awakened by maternity she prayed God to forgive her for having longed -to die; for no baby in the world could be like hers, that lay so -round and soft and warm in her white bosom, and was fast growing so -like papa! - -But where was he wandering? Why was he not with her? Surely he -would return _now_? Yet the days still rolled monotonously on, and -winter drew nigh. The trees in Craybourne Chase were leafless; the -fern, amid which the deer made their lair, was turning red, and the -uplands became powdered with snow. - -"To what a dreary and dreadful Christmas do I look forward, papa!" -she exclaimed to the sorrowing old Vicar, "and I do so love him! -Philip, Philip, come back to me, and do not leave me thus to die!" -she would wail, ever and anon, in her helplessness. - -And now there came a day which she was fated never, never to forget! -Her husband's firm friend and old comrade, who had been his -groomsman, the stout-hearted and gallant Charlie Fane, arrived at -Craybourne with a face as white as the snow in the Weald of Kent--the -bearer of terrible tidings, which he had heard that morning at the -club, and these he had to break--he knew not _how_--to Laura, though -they had been broken abruptly enough to himself. - -Jack Westbrook had raised his head from the morning paper just as -Fane entered the room, - -"By Jove! look here, Charlie!" exclaimed Westbrook in an excited -tone, "there has been a dreadful accident to the train between Paris -and Calais, and among the killed--mangled out of all shape--the -report says, is Colonel Philip Daubeny, a British officer. His -card-case was found in his pocket." - -"My God! Poor Laura, poor Phil!" exclaimed Fane, as he took the -paper in his trembling hands, and in ten minutes after was _en route_ -for Craybourne Hall. - -"Poor devil!" thought Westbrook, as he lit a cigar; "who knows but I -may get the reversion of the widow, with her tin, after all?" - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -It was Christmas Eve at Craybourne Hall, as elsewhere all over the -Christian world; but the stillness as of death reigned there, and -Laura, a widow now in heart indeed, lay tossing restlessly on her -laced pillow, fighting, as it were, with the grim King, and forgetful -even of her infant. Never had that old hall, ever since the Tudor -days, seen a more sorrowful Christmas Eve. All the landscape around -it wore a shroud of ghastly white. The Cray was frozen in its bed, -and all the shrubs and trees seemed turned to crystal, that sparkled -with diamond lustre in the light of the moon and stars. Over the -snowy waste the Christmas bells in the old Vicarage church rang out -"Peace on Earth--Peace on Earth, and goodwill towards men;" but there -was no peace--peace of the heart, at least--in the stately hall; yet -such a winter had not been seen for years, and great things, the old -Kentish folks said, were sure to occur, for never had the holly been -so covered with scarlet berries. What a Christmas for Laura! - -In her chamber, dimly-lit and closely watched, she lay helpless and -stunned by the depth of her woe, and honest Charlie Fane, who had -seen much of human suffering in his time, watched her like a brother; -and, in that chamber, there was no sound heard but the sighs of the -sufferer and the chimes of the distant bells. - -Suddenly there was a noise of feet and voices in the corridor -without. A figure entered--was it the phantom of Philip Daubeny? - -No! the strong grasp that tightened on the hand of Fane forbade that -idea; and, in a moment more, the husband, looking pale and rather -worn, was bending over the wife who had fainted in his arms. In -Philip's face there was no sternness now, but passionate love, pity, -and tears, and agony, too, till Laura revived. - -"Not killed--not even injured, Philip?" exclaimed Fane. - -"No, thank Heaven! but a poor fellow was to whom I lent my Ulster -when hurrying homeward. Do you forgive me, darling Laura--forgive my -cruel desertion?" - -"Oh, yes, my love--my own Philip--all--all! And is the little fellow -not a darling too--and so like you, Philip?" said the broken, -half-hushed voice. - -And as Philip, with a bursting heart, hung over his wife and child, -he could hear more merrily than ever the joyous bells that told of -the promise given 1800 years ago to the Chaldean shepherds as they -watched their flocks by night in Judæa. - - - -BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LIMD., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. - - - - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROYAL REGIMENT AND OTHER -NOVELETTES *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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